I'll let you be the judge.

Open DNS

Open DNS is quite possibly the most useful thing you can use to speed up your home network.  And it's free.  All you gotta do is plug in their DNS server addresses into your TCP/IP settings and you're good to go.

"But Rai," I hear you asking, "what is DNS anyway?"

In the simplest terms, DNS is the internet's phone book.  It translates URLs and hostnames into IP addresses for your network card to use to connect to other systems.  See, your network card doesn't understand, oh say, http://www.xanga.com  Instead, it uses DNS to translate the URL into Xanga's IP address, which it then uses to connect to the website.

"But Rai," I hear you asking, "doesn't my ISP already provide me with a DNS service?"

Yes they do.  Is it secure?  Is it thorough?  They might say it is.  But that could very well be a marketing ploy to get more money out of you.

Open DNS is thorough and secure.  They provide you with an often updated database of hostnames, domains and their corresponding IP's in order to provide you with a more secure and faster internet experience.  I'm serious about that too.  I have cable internet at home, and I plugged OpenDNS into my router and even I noticed an increase in speed.  It even works with mobile broadband.  I plugged OpenDNS into the DNS settings in the mobile connection for my Sprint Mobile Broadband device and I've noticed a serious speed increase when accessing websites.

But read up on it for yourself, and try it out.  It's free.  No sign up, no registration, no nothing required.  They provide the DNS server addresses at the bottom of each page of their site.

This is actually a pretty cool concept.  A program was written that takes a music file (midi or whatnot), analyzes it and produces the following:

It's a whole different approach to classical music.

So I'm gonna give something a try and see how it goes.  Every so often I get blindsided by friends and family with funny and/or witty videos.  I have a good laugh and then either share it with other friends or just forget it ever existed in the first place.  Well, maybe I should start putting them up here so I can never forget about them.  Let's start with something simple, yet funny.

The Assumption Song!

I may continue to do things like this with other videos, comics, and pictures... probably on a regular basis.  Yay me.

It's been awhile since I've made any kind of post.  I figure that I'm overdue at this point.  Besides, I've got a lot on my mind these days, and I wanna get it all written down so that I can get it all off my mind, whether or not that actually makes any kind of sense.

So anyway, my usual Christmas-time depression decided to hold over a couple of months for some odd reason.  Christmas last year was actually fairly enjoyable, in that I was busy enough helping my folks get stuff ready, in between work, to go to Franklin to see my grandparents, that I just did not have the time to be depressed.  I guess that's how it works.  If you keep yourself busy, you don't leave yourself enough time to reflect on the bad stuff in your life, and so you feel happier, I guess.  But now that things are slowing down, my mind turns to the crap in my life.

Before I get to that, I do have some good news.

Let's start with my job.

They promoted me.  I'm now a Team Lead for my district and an Information System Security Officer.  This comes with a lot of new responsibilities, outside of providing I.T. support.  It also comes with a pay raise.  A fat pay raise.   Because of that, my budget has increased significantly.  How significantly, I don't yet know.  I will know at the end of April, when my car and bike insurance renew.  Then I can look at my budget through the end of the year and see exactly how much money I can spend and when.  I watch my money like a hawk, and I do my best to predict how much money I will have in the future, assuming that I keep this job.

But keeping this job looks to be a simple task.  They like me, for god knows what reason.  As proof of this, they awarded me with their Quarterly Excellence Award.  I have it hanging on my wall in the server room where I work.  It also came with a cash award, which is going right into my car.  She needs new tires, an oil change, new spark plugs, and one of those $100 car washes.  Badly.  Now I have the money to do it.  I just gotta do it.

Outside of work, there is some more news.

My gaming group has decided, by unanimous decision, to resurrect the massive D&D game that we had been working on for more than the past ten years.  It had gone through many different runs, in three different versions of D&D, has been the source of many an argument, the source of many a funny story, and is basically the bane of our existence.  Where do I start on this monstrosity? 

It started in the early 90's, a friend of mine got an idea for a massive game that he wanted to run in D&D.  At the time, all he had was 2nd edition books.  It was not pretty.  He did not know how to run a game, and none of us had ever played.  We learned as we went along, and as was expected, it ended up being a train wreck.  We then got 3rd edition when it came out and started over.  This time we were able to better understand the rules, and the game lasted for much longer.  But this run fell apart as people began to get lives, and high school was ending for most of us.  It stagnated for a while.  It was picked up again when 3.5 edition came out.  And we ran it once more.  It was in this iteration that character's were undergoing unwanted magically induced sex changes, and the universe was destroyed (in game).  There was too much conflict in the party and so the DM bitched us out and said that we're starting over completely and everyone's characters better get along this time.  Well we did that, for the most part.  The last run was going well.  We were flowing as a party.  But then the DM started to burn out on it, and was getting depressed about the shit in his life (which is a completely different story), and so the game was put away for what we thought was the last time.  This has been the basis of our D&D experience over more than a decade.

We figured that it was done and over with.  The DM got into a relationship (again, a completely different story) and seemed happy for awhile.  He didn't need that game anymore, as he was getting something more... substantial.  Well that didn't last very long.  That relationship is over and now he's moved here with us and is picking up the monstrosity again.  Don't get me wrong.  That game is the most important to all of us who have been involved in it.  It's a huge undertaking and it takes all of us to make it work.  The new people in our group are beginning to understand why we're dropping other games, even LARPs to hunker down and continue work on this game.  It's that important.

This game has been a major part of our lives since high school.  It's often been seen as the tie that binds us.  It is what brought us together as friends.  At first, we named our gaming group after it (it has since been changed).  It's given us the experience we now have, and the competency with the rules of D&D to run our own games.  Bringing out the old notebooks and binders and dusting them off doesn't just give a feeling of nostalgia.  We have a lot of history with this game.  It gives us a sense of accomplishment.  Even though we've never finished the game, it's taught us all so much, not only about the game, but about ourselves.  It's that important.

Anyway, back to the real world.

My sister decided to divorce that idiot of a husband she has.  She just couldn't take him anymore.  I mean, he's an idiot, seriously.  She's now with a guy who works as a cook.  He often brings us food.  He's brought head cheese and muffaletta's for my dad.  He lent me his PS3 so I could play Metal Gear Solid 4.  He likes Star Wars and Star Trek, which my mom loves.  He's won points with everyone in my family.  My mom says that if my sister and this guy don't work out, we're adopting him.  My neice is still going strong, raising hell wherever she goes.  She's in school, in a special program for autistic children.  She's got a teacher that knows exactly how to handle her and she listens to that teacher.  Hopefully this is going to do her some good.

My brother finally decided that his friends aren't worth the trouble they put him through.  He told all of them where they could stick it, and moved to the northshore to be with the mother of his child.  They got married.  Did you read that right?  They got married.  Now he's working for an animal shelter, while she is still working at a high school, and at the same time, getting her degree.  No one saw that one coming.  And we're all proud of both of them.  My nephew is a terror, but what can you expect from a toddler, especially when my brother is the father?  And that boy is so smart.  We were all afraid that he would have some problems.  My sister-in-law is bipolar, and my brother had epilepsy when he was younger.  But my nephew, he's smart as a tack.

So that's the good news.

Let's move on to the bad news.

To start things off, Sonny ran away.  He ran out the front door on Lundi Gras and we haven't seen him since.  I was in Jackson, MS at the time.  My sister brought my niece over to spend the day with my mom.  What I think happened is that while the door was open, my niece spooked him and he bolted for the first open door he saw, the front door.  I put up fliers and ads and visited shelters.  No one's seen him.  I keep thinking the worst, but more than likely he got picked up and is being fat and happy inside someone else's home.  It's been difficult for me.  I was attached to that cat.  He was there for me when I came home from work.  He slept on me at night.  He depended on me for food, and attention.  Now he's not there anymore.  Every night I go to bed and expect to be jumped on.  But it never happens.  I really really miss him.  Since he's gone away, my sister gave us back Princess.  She's affectionate and fat and happy and all, but in all, a poor substitute for Sonny.  I've had the task of picking up his food bowl and litter pan and toys.  It's heart-wrenching.  It really is.

Moving on...

Once again I'm reminded about how unattractive I must be.  I put up a new personal ad, because I figure it's time for me to find a woman.  And so I wait and after a few days I get a couple of responses.  The responses were obscured advertisements for other personal ads sites.  It's really bad when the only responses to a personal ad is advertisements for other personal ads sites.  I must be the most uninteresting and unattractive person in the world.  And it's really very true.  My online characters are very successful, and I've learned not to divulge any information about the real me, because that's burned me in the past.  They lose interest when the learn about the real me.  Sigh.

My 10 year high school reunion is coming up.  I don't think I want to attend.  I never really liked those people aside from two of them out of... I don't remember how many were in my class.  I feel that I've accomplished plenty in these past ten years.  I've got a well paying government job with lots of responsibilities.  I've got two vehicles.  But really, it comes down to the fact that I really just don't care about the people that were in my class.  I especially don't care about my ex-girlfriend and her best friend who basically treated me like a tool.  When it comes to my high school class, I have very few fond memories.  I befriended the lowerclassmen.  Some of the ones who were in our circle of friends are the ones that I still talk to today.  I was really the only one in my class that were in that circle.  We were our own little clicke.  That's where my fond memories are.  Not with the people in my class.  Many of the girls in my class were either stuck up, bitches, or simply uninteresting, and uninterested.  The guys... well... teenagers.  You know how that is.  I have no interest in meeting up with them again.  I got my diploma.  That's all I care about from that school.  I just wish there was a way I could get them to stop asking me for money.

I spent some time with my friends last night.  I was talking to a friend about him perhaps getting his A+ certification.  He's done all the studying for it, and can take the test and pass it at any time.  The problem is that he doesn't have time.  He manages a self-storage facility, and works 60 hours a week.  I asked him if he could just get his dad, who actually owns the business, to cover for him for a couple hours.  His response?  "No way, I'm not letting anyone screw that place up.  It's my business and I have to keep it going."  And then he came to a realization: that was a responsible thing to say.  This depressed him.  We all got a kick from it.  But he does have a point.  I'm all grown up now.  I'm not in high school anymore.  I'm not in college anymore.  I'm in the real world, with a real 40 hours-a-week job, with real responsibilities that could have real reprecussions if I screw up.  I'm paying on two vehicles, out of my own money.  I'm paying utilities on my parent's house to help them out.  I've got credit cards.  I've got credit.  I have bills that I've only ever seen my parents pay.  I'm having to make decisions that I used to only hear about from my folks.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE!?  What happened to my youth?  I want it back!

It's depressing.

But anyway... that's all I got for now.

So I'm sure everyone has been wondering just where the heck I've been.

I haven't gone anywhere.

I've been here this whole time.  Nothing interesting happens anymore.  I suppose that's a good thing in some ways.  I've been keeping myself out of trouble and keeping myself employed.  And in this economy, that's probably the best thing for me to do.  I can't afford to lose my job, so I'm doing everything I can to make myself as valuable as possible.  I seem to be doing just that, as I've received a promotion as well as a new appointment.  They don't come with a raise just yet, but when review time comes around, I'll be able to toss those in and it should almost guarantee me a raise.  Note that I said almost.  There's no telling what these people will do.  They're over budget and looking to make cutbacks.  Hopefully I won't be on the chopping block.

My folks are doing well.  My sister is planning to divorce my idiot brother-in-law... about time.  My brother got married to the other of his baby, finally.  As for me, I'm just chugging along, trying to keep my head above water.  I don't really know what I'm going to end up doing with the rest of my life.  I'm going to turn 28 next January.  I've got a good job, but no girlfriend.  All I've got is my folks and my cat.  By the way, Sonny is doing well.  He's fat and happy, just as a cat should be.

That's really all there is to say.  Drop me a line sometime.

Just so everyone knows, we all weathered Gustav.  I didn't have to leave or anything like that.  But we're still without power, after two days.  Luckily though I'm going back to work tomorrow and my building has power which means the AC works!  So right now I'm hooked up to a neighbor's generator and I'm using my Sprint Mobile Broadband, which is hanging on by a thread right now.  So just so you all know, I'm okay, the family's okay, and the cats are okay.

It's been since June that I last posted.  Much has happened.  I just haven't felt a need to make a post about it all.  Well, I figured that at least one person out there might still be reading this, other than myself, so I guess I should post something.

First, let me link you to a few things.

First and foremost The Mother 3 Fan Translation Project.  Mother 3, which is the sequel to EarthBound, was never released to the US.  At first, it was going to be put on the N64, using the 64DD.  But the whole thing was scrapped.  It was then made into a project for the GBA, and was completed.  Unfortunately, Nintendo didn't feel that Mother 3 would sell in the US, and so did not translate the game.  The whole thing has been chronicled by the folks on Starmen.net.  (Also, apparantly they nearly got a hold of the development cartridges used to make the N64 version of Mother 3, but that's another story.)  But anyway, the Mother 3 project has been going on for quite some time, by a fellow called Tomato and a whole team of hackers and translators.  So you should go check out the project and give Mato and the team some love.

Combat Arms is a free game by Nexon.  It's a first person shooter, akin to Counter Strike.  Except this one is free.  No credit card required.  Ever.  You don't even buy extra stuff from them.  You have to earn everything in game.  It has several modes of play and a ton of customizable weapons and armor and uniforms.  It's a very fun game if you're into FPS games.  And it's secure.  They've implemented an anti-hacking system on both the client and server sides.  Look for me in the Regular servers.  I'm MegaRaichu.  You can usually find me playing Elimination or One Man Army games.

Zelda Classic - I'm probably late to the game on this one.  ZC is a DOS/Windows port of the original NES Legend of Zelda.  It also allows advanced users to create their own quests.  You can find all kinds of new adventures for Link in their quest database.  I recommend Basic 1st and Basic 2nd.  They're direct ports of the original quests, but with better graphics and some little additions.  They also have Mega Man themed games, and Metroid themed games.  They all look really good.  So it's definitely worth a look.

DOSBox - I know I'm late to the game on this one.  I finally got DOSBox to work on my computers.  The previous versions I tried in the past didn't agree with my machines.  So I had left it alone for a long time.  I finally went back and tried it again, and it finally worked.  Now I can play my old DOS games again.  I like to get my games from Home of the Underdogs and Abandonia.  There's something for everyone in the old DOS games of yesteryear.  And I consider myself to be a fairly serious retro-gamer.

So, the scooter is doing well.  We all went to Biloxi on a ride a few weeks ago.  I need to get a better seat for that thing.  Sitting on it for an hour at a time is really painful!  But otherwise, I really like this machine.  It's a pretty good starter for me.  Later on, after I finish paying it off, and a couple other things, I'm gonna start looking for a Ridley.  They make motorcycles with automatic transmissions.  Unfortunately, they cost as much as a new car.  So I gotta wait until I pay stuff off.

That's all I got for now. 

This past week has been very exciting for me.  I've come home broke and sunburnt, but I am happy about it.

First off, the office decided to strengthen it's filters on the proxy server so I lost pretty much everything on the internet.  I'm getting around that though.  I got a pretty good data plan from Sprint and with that plan I got their newest USB mobile modem at a serious discount.  I'm using it right now to put up this blog entry.  I got the unlimited data plan which is about $60 a month, which I can handle.  It's not very fast, only 1.6mbps at best.  That's a snail's pace compared to my home internet which is 12mbps.  That was the first part of my stimulous check.

My dad and I went over to Boyce Honda on saturday.  Sitting on the used vehicles side of the floor room they had a 2007 Silverwing, which is the Goldwing of scooters, with only 7000 miles on it.  It's a 600cc, parallel 6 cylinder engine, fully automatic.  This thing can top 100mph.  And it's big enough to fit two people.  And it's storage compartment is big enough to store my laptop and then some.  They were asking $6500.  After taxes, I got it for $7000.  Back when it was first made, it was $10,000.  Yep, I'm a proud owner of a brand new... well... used scooter.  I called up one of my buddies and told him about it and he said "So you got a Scooty Puff Jr. huh?" And I said "No, it's a Scooty Puff Sr.!"  So now I need to find a Scooty Puff Sr. (The Doombringer!) decal for my new scooter.  It was either that, or one of those tiny little 50cc things that you see couriers use in foriegn countries.  One of those would be Scooty Puff Jr.

Afterwards, me and my dad went over to Rouses to pick up a few things, and they had a big display of new charcoal grills and some propane grills.  Well my dad already has a propane grill, but it needs new burners.  So I got my dad one of the charcoal grills.  It was $119.  Not a bad price for the size of the grill.  It's got a shelf in the top half that you can put like bread or corn on.  So that was an early Father's Day gift for him.

Sunday me and my dad went riding out to the spillway, which is past Norco.  We were out for a good three hours.  We even crossed the Huey P. Long bridge and came back across it, although there was a wreck on the bridge that we had to wait for them to clear.  And when I got home, my arms started showing some color, and as most anyone should know, I burn badly.  But I'm wearing these like a badge of honor!  I successfully rode my scooter a very long distance, even on the interstate, and didn't get myself killed!  I consider that a victory in my book.  But the best part is that after that ride I took it to fill it up, since it was sitting at a quarter tank, and I filled it for $10.  I figure that on fumes, with mid-grade gas, it'd be $15 to $20.  I can't remember the last time I filled a tank for less than $20.  It felt good to do it again.

So after a small down payment on the scooter, and after buying a helmet and gloves, and that grill, I've pretty much spent my entire stimulous check.  And you know something?  I feel pretty damn good about it.

There comes a time in everyone's life when they just have to sit down and say "I just can't do it."  It has come to pass for me.  We are selling my dad's old motorcycle.  I have tried to ride the thing.  When I can get it to go, I can ride it just fine.  But, the problem is getting it to go.  I can't take the standard transmission.  The clutch and shifting is just something I cannot wrap my head around.  My dad has it down to a science, because when he was younger BACK IN THE STONE AGE most cars only had standard transmission so he grew up with that.  Every vehicle I've ever owned has come with automatic transmission.  I learned how to drive on an automatic.  I've never had to touch a clutch before trying to ride a motorcycle.

So we are selling the thing.  My sister wants it, and as tempting as having my brother-in-law take it without knowing how to ride it is... we're not giving it to her.  She delivers newspapers for a living.  She is half-asleep almost all the time.  She claims to know how to ride.  But I don't trust that.  My mom doesn't trust that.  And when me and my mom agree on things, my dad trusts our judgment over my sister's.  So we are selling it to my ex-roommate's current roommate.  He's a friend, he's working, he's ridden in the past.  He's taking the tests to get his motorcycle endorsement renewed.  And he's willing to pay up the full $1000 we're asking for the bike, all at once.  My sister wants to make installments of $100 a month.  That ain't happening.  So probably this weekend, me and my dad are gonna ride up to Hammond, where my friend lives, find a title transfer place, and sell the bike.  End of story.

But then what do I do?  Gas prices are killing me.  My car is easily a $60 - $70 tank, when running on fumes, and I have to fill up at least every two weeks, or sooner.  A motorcycle would be the best option, since it's a smaller tank and would have better gas mileage, right?  But I can't drive standard.  So I guess the next best thing would be to get a scooter, since most all of them are now automatic.  I really just want to ride to and from work.  The money in gas I'd save would eventually pay for the thing.  I was originally looking at Vespa's but their high end model goes for $7000.  Honda high ends are going for $6000.  We're gonna go look at them later.

There are some custom manufacturers that make motorcycles with automatic transmissions.  Unfortunately, they cost as much as a new car.  The nearest one to me is somewhere in Baton Rouge.  I suppose I'll get the scooter, and then when I have more money to blow, I'll trade it in towards one of those automatic motorcycles.

And the downside is that I'll be picked on by all the neighbors... who all have really nice motorcycles.  Sigh.