ANIME, BUSINESS, Computers, CONS, JUST SAYING, ORIGINAL-GAMER.COM, PAX South, RANDOM STOPS, RANDOMIZER9.COM, TECH, Videogames, WEATHER, WHATS GOING ON, WORDS, Wreck-It Ralph

70 Things I Noticed During PAX South

conventions PAX South took place this past weekend in San Antonio, and I dropped in on behalf of originalgamer.com to help out with Video Game Jeopardy! and play some games.

Rainy and cold on Friday. Did the weather follow the Penny-Arcade guys down here?
First time I’ve ever seen people scalping tickets at a con.
Weird con idea: Coat check-in
Found it hilarious that OG forgot his battery pack and his phone died. Seriously, dude?
Dafuq with all the Seahawks jerseys? I thought these were supposed to be nerds?
Nice line for Video Game Jeopardy, hope my voice holds up
Men’s room was out of soap, hopefully that means people are using it
Actually, I didn’t use any. Sorry, guys, I was in a hurry
We’ve been doing Video Game Jeopardy for years and of course I goof up in front of our biggest audience by pulling up an answer when the contestant had it wrong
The guy won easily, no harm done there. *whew*
Despite all the Seahawks jerseys, ‘Cover Athletes’ was easily the most-hated Video Game Jeopardy! category
Somebody actually knew the obscure Atari 2600-related answer (Pele’s Soccer) Impressive.
The risk of picking random people for Video Game Jeopardy is that we may get folks that know little or know it all, we got two of the first and one of the second.
Had a case of mistaken identity after Video Game Jeopardy, hadn’t had that happen in a while.
Sorry, I have never worked at GameStop, though like many gamers, I’ve spent enough time at them for it to seem that way.
Thought someone was giving away bean bags until I realized it was a chill area. Derp.
Saturday-If you don’t mind walking a few blocks there’s a $2.50 per day parking lot under the freeway at E. Houston St.
Forgot to bring my 3DS on Friday, not making that mistake again!
I always bring a box of Rice Krispies Treats in my backpack. Just the thing to hold one over till the next meal.
Nerds love em too, which is good for sharing
Seriously. Anime, comic, furry, video game, whatever-con. Nerds flip for Rice Krispies Treats.
Left my gloves at a friend’s house a few weeks ago, sure would have come in handy today!
Random guy came up and offered me a Saturday badge because he was looking for a guy ‘with a red shirt and a fist on it.’ Lucky for him I’m honest.
Weird thing: He apparently didn’t notice I was already wearing a badge. Hope he found who he was looking for.
Saturday con day breakfast: Breakfast on a Bun with sausauge. If you don’t know what that is, have breakfast at Whataburger the next time you see one.
Oh, they do have a coat check here. Cool.
So one hall is to hold the line to get into the other one? I am a little disappoint.
Remember when arcades weren’t just fighting games? Pepperidge Farm remembers
Maybe its because I’ve been to E3 but my initial reaction to PAX was slightly underwhelmed
What was there was cool, but in terms of volume, other cons have more stuff. Quality vs. quantity, I suppose.
Also, I’m also not a OMG HARDCORE GAMER so I’m not exactly the ‘target audience.’
Plenty of signal, no data, thanks Cricket/AT&T!
Crisis: 3DS battery light turns red OH NOES I’LL MISS ALL THE STREETPASSES
Nintendo: Y U NO USE USB?
Good idea: Arriving half an hour early for a panel. Bad idea: Standing in line for about a half-hour waiting to get in
I own an iPad mini, a Windows 8 tablet, a smartphone and still ended up using paper and pen to take my notes. Yay for dead trees!
Weird moment: Sitting at the lower level of the Rivercenter food court eating, looking to my left, and seeing people’s feet.
They had shoes on, so it wasn’t that bad
Weirder moment: Seeing a Starbucks gift card next to said feet
Weirdest moment: Asking the owners of the feet if they had dropped it
The card wasn’t theirs and I was too honest to take it. Oh well!
Thought I saw the paleta man but it just a bicycle-rickshaw thing BOO
Scott Kurtz was the only celebrity I knew of, so I said hi, told him I enjoyed PvP and went on my merry way.
I probably weirded the dude out. Sorry man, couldn’t think of anything clever.
Booth observations: No demo, no write up.
I also don’t think my editor is interested in Kickstarter projects.
Saw one booth that looked like a T-shirt company-cum-game developer…huh?
I tended to ignore booths that had ‘just another’ shooter/platformer/adventure game. Yes, I’m jaded
No interest in mobile games, either. Sorry, guys /shrug
Loneliest booth was probably Gamechurch.com
Sitting across from an empty seat resting my feet and some gal just sits in it. I guess being pretty means not having manners.
The next gal that showed up after Ms. Thing left asked if the seat was taken. Go fig.
Not interested in swag, but Astronaut ice cream? Yes, please!
I have no idea why they had Astronaut ice cream.
Rest time = Streetpass harvest time!
Losing weight is good. Having to constantly pull up my jeans is annoying, made me like a bleeping teenager
I referred to the jean-tugs as the ‘reverse Picard maneuver’
Lots of compliments on my ‘I can wreck it!’ shirt again, woo!
Realized after the fact that I overpacked and should have left my Bluetooth mouse/keyboard at home.
Observation from OG: There were no volunteers barking at attendees like at other cons
Wonder if it’s because the attendees seem to be a mite older here?
Regardless, perhaps other cons need to jazz up their marketing and call their volunteers something else to add prestige and respect to what is a very thankless job. “Volunteer?” Boring. “Enforcers?” Oooh.
Not sure what I’m going to do for Sunday. I pretty much saw all the booths yesterday
Made darn sure to charge my 3DS last night
Also remembered to fill my water bottle before leaving the house this time. Mmm, home water.
The weather was so nice I almost forgot my coat when I left
Now that the event is over, I can finally delete all those ‘PLEASE COME SEE OUR STUFF’ emails from devs.
Great, now they’re finding me on my Twitter
Obligatory work item: My legs should not be this sore after the fact, need a gig where I *don’t* sit on my tail all day
PAX South is probably the best fan-run gaming convention around and I can see why folks love it so. Its not really my thing; if I go next year it’ll just be for a day. Plenty of my friends had a blast, though!

Books, Con Fluff 1, Con Fluff 2, CREATIVE, FlipSide Stories, FURRY, JUST SAYING, Nine to Five Lives, One Sheet Stories, Seven Super-Short Sci-Fi Stories, WORDS, Writing

Earth-Mine

writing
When I started writing fiction, I didn’t give much thought into linking my short stories together or having them take place in a shared universe. As time went on, I did find myself putting some of them into a few distinct worlds:

“Earth Prime” is our home-sweet-dimension, and given that the majority of my stories involve some combination of furries, super-science, and fantasy, I don’t know that many of them actually take place here. I do have a few sci-fi stories that take place ‘twenty minutes into the future,’ that is, near enough for us to relate to them (I hope!).

“Earth-F” is a parallel version of our world inhabited by furries. These stories tend to be humorous and I like to ‘Hanna-Barbera’ the names in those stories. For example, in a story that took place in a television studio, an older character referred to old-time TV stars such as “Mewcille Ball” and “Droopy Sales.” I know, I know!

On “Earth H-minus” mankind has destroyed itself in what becomes known as the “Final War” and after their intelligence has been increased due to increased mutations, the furries eventually inherit the Earth. One as-yet unpublished story takes places in a period where humans and furries coexist, though not harmoniously. Society is eventually rebuilt by the furries but I haven’t quite hammered out the predator/prey relationship rules yet or if the humans were completely eradicated. Yeah, its not exactly a happy place.

The ‘Enchanted Forest’ stories obviously happen in a fantasy world, but I haven’t done much there (like come up with a clever name) though it has been established that magic does have limits. For now, anyway.

I should probably sit down and figure out just where all my stories fit, because inevitably some reader out there is going to try to ‘connect the dots’ and completely screw it up. Well, assuming I haven’t already! 😀

Click here if you’d like to read some of those stories!

ANIME, CONS, FURRY, JUST SAYING, RANDOM STOPS, REALMSCON, WHATS GOING ON

35 Things I Noticed During RealmsCon 2014

Cosplay? Why not Zoidberg?

OMG the Corpus Christi humidity kills me, yet another reason I need to lose weight
The line for pre-registration was zero so I got my badges quickly. Always preregister, folks!
Both aisles of the Artist’s Alley hallway were being used, which made it little crowded
The bigger dealer area was nice, but they really need to put AA in a better spot
A few empty tables here and there in AA, sadly typical
The artists I knew that weren’t coming back to Realms after poor sales in the past, didn’t.
Sighted in AA: body-sized “Hug pillows?” YEAH, STILL NOT CREEPY AT ALL
Filling out paper form in the reg line always holds it up
No multi-arcade game machine in the game room? FAIL
GoPro cameras seem to be everywhere now for better or for worse
The Zoidberg cosplayer at right was probably my favorite one of the con
Note to self: leave the laptop in the CAR if you aren’t going to use it *huff*
I am sorry, Jena, but a sandwich and a hamburger are most definitely NOT the same thing. Guess it’s a “guy thing”
123456? Yeah, they’ll never guess *that* hotel WiFi password
Want to turn a decent hotel room into OMG BEST ROOM EVAR? Add a fridge and a microwave!
Gave my niece a ride to the con, she bought a tail while she was there…ONE OF US ONE OF US
Construction on Shoreline? Dammit Corpus!
I always see cases of water on the cheap at Stripes convenience stores except THE ONE TIME I ACTUALLY WANT TO BUY ONE >.<
You know you’re bushed when you don’t want to go up the stairs to eat on the second floor of Whataburger by the Bay
Apparently VIP passes allow one to skip lines, here, what a concept!
The actor playing Kirk in “Star Trek Continues” had a celebrity table and McCoy was in Artist’s Alley…typical
Holy cats, we managed to fill up a panel room and then some for the “Furry 101” panel
There are even a few furries present, which might have been cheating 😉
According to Wolfboy adding “-ies” to the end of an animal name makes it furry “insect-ies” “shark-ies”
I can’t argue against his logic, though.
MASSIVE con fail for not having projectors for either one of my panels even though I had requested them
Projectors were found but I had no screen so I had to project my presentations onto the wall at an angle and figure out how to darken the lights. -_-
Luckily I think I could do my e-book panel without one, but still!
What the fuzz was up with that guy that wanted to take a picture of all the furries jumping up in the air?
I was tickled that the schedule part of the conbook was titled ”Celebrity Schedules’ and my name was on it. Oh, you!
I don’t get the point of having someone watching the door at the end of Artist’s Alley, can’t they just, I don’t know, LOCK THE DOOR?
Seafood restaurant, why is your salad bar backwards?
There were only 8 people at my e-book panel, but those three very interested folks made it worth it
Since nothing was scheduled after e-books the panel room became an improvised fursuit lounge.
I lost two pounds over the weekend, perhaps I need to attend more cons!

FURRY, JUST SAYING

Lost Stripes

Miss ya, buddy

The weekend after Christmas last year, I adopted a cat from a local shelter. His ‘given name’ at the shelter was Reese, but I called him Stripe. He is a huge 10-plus pound brown furball with black stripes (hence the name) and a few patches of white here and there. I remember when I first took him out of his ‘catbox’ he freaked and tried to escape through the fireplace, and took to hiding behind the clothes dryer for a week or two.

After that adjustment period, we got along fairly well. Stripe loved attention and would happily sit on my lap and sleep while I sat on the sofa playing games or watching movies, taking time out ever so often to pet him. If he wasn’t on my lap he was usually napping nearby (see picture). He had a tendency to beg for food and would even hop on the back of my chair as I sat at the dining room table and try to see what I was eating. I would usually cave in and toss him a piece of meat, which he would often bat around for a few minutes before eating. He would also lie down on the floor and mew until I petted him or rubbed his belly.

The only issue I had with him was that he wanted attention all the time and often at the most inopportune times, like when I was cooking or trying to do work on the computer. For all his pining for attention, though, he was shy around new people, going as far as to retreat to his familiar clothes dryer hiding spot whenever guests would visit. Most of my friends said he was an odd cat, and I was hardly one to disagree. He snubbed the scratching post and cat tunnel I bought for him, but would bat plastic bottle caps around the floor all day long.

As is often the case with pets, our relationship had its rocky parts. I quickly learned that the combination of me being a wiggler and him being just a little bit bitey made it a bad idea to have him sleeping in the bed. He eventually developed a habit of clawing the sofas which resulted in several squirts of water from a spray bottle, which he despised. Seriously, if I even reached for the bottle, he would dash away in a heartbeat. There were more good times than bad, though. I started letting him outside in the afternoons and he seemed to enjoy exploring the yard and going about the neighborhood. As there aren’t many stray dogs around, I felt safe in letting him go out, but never after dark. When he’d had his fun, he would sit outside the side door and mew until I let him back in.

I let him out last Tuesday. He never came back.

I’ve gone out walking around the neighborhood, but Stripe has been nowhere to be found. Every morning after I wake up and every evening when I got home from work, I check the side door, but he’s never there. It’s been almost a week, and I’m already missing the little things, like how he’d wait outside my bedroom door in the mornings or when he would stand up and paw on my thigh while I sat working on the computer.

Part of me wonders if maybe he just wanted more attention than I could give him. I’d like to think (hope, really) that he ran off to be with someone else who could give him more time than I could. I’ve already cleaned up and put away the litter box and cat toys and will soon be vacuuming up his cat fur for the last time. He may not have been the ideal cat, but I wasn’t the best owner, either. I’m don’t know that I’ll be getting another pet anytime soon. Despite the implications, I’d rather he have run off because I was a lousy owner than to have something bad happen to him.

Good luck, Reese, wherever you are.

Con Fluff 2, FURRY, JUST SAYING, Uncategorized, WORDS, Writing

Second Lives

A real stinker

As a creator, you never know how your works are going to be received. Things done on just a whim can become your Next Big Thing while your Magnum Opus sits next to it unloved despite all of the blood, sweat and tears that have been (metaphorically, I hope) poured into it. You release your art into the wild and it’s up to John and Jane Q. Public to sort it all out.

In the same way that ‘stories write themselves,’ characters can take on a life of their own. “Chris the Watchfur” was intended to be a one-off character in a conbook story titled “The Tell-Tale Tie,” which can be found in the upcoming Con Fluff 2. The story and character were inspired by my friend Chris Holm, who took it upon himself to draw the character. A friend also drew the Watchfur as part of an artist Secret Santa, and when I later needed a villain for another conbook story, he made yet another appearance, this time as a supervillian with time-based superpowers. Oddly enough, other characters I have written for the explicit purpose of writing a series of stories with them have not managed to escape the confines of their first story.

Not bad for a one-off character, and a crook, no less!

Books, BUSINESS, Con Fluff 1, CONS, CREATIVE, FOOD, FURRY, HOUSE, JUST SAYING, RANDOM REVIEW, RANDOMIZER9.COM, TECH SUPPORT, WHATS GOING ON, WORDS, Writing

RANDOM REVIEW: 2013 A.D.

2013 As the final hours of the year tick away, I have to say that 2013 was a really good one for me.

After years of dealing with apartments and all that malarkey, I broke down and bought a house. Home ownership has been pretty awesome so far: I went from one-bedroom apartments to a two-bedroom house with a garage and a huge backyard and rabbits and I can barbeque and have friends over and I love it. Given the age of the house, home repairs and replacing things will eventually come but for now its been smooth sailing.

On the e-book front, I decided to try to sell printed copies of my work at a few conventions and events and failed spectacularly, at least from a business standpoint. I can count my total sales on my hands. People just don’t read much anymore, or at least not the types of folks that go to anime or furry conventions. On the plus side, I did get to talk to lots of folks, present some panels and if nothing else, hopefully inspire some folks to ‘go it alone’ themselves. I only published one new e-book (should have been two, but life and all that) and definitely need to up my output next year.

2013 was a fun year of conventions, camping, writing, video games, furries, cookies, home maintenance and most importantly, friends and family. I am optimistic that 2014 will be even better; my goal is to compete at least two story collections as well as the follow-up to “The Rules of Tech Support,” which is my best-seller so far. I am also hoping to attend some new conventions, make new friends, and well, get some work done on the house. So without any further ado:

MISSION START!

BUSINESS, JUST SAYING, RANDOMIZER9.COM, TECH, TECH SUPPORT, WHATS GOING ON, WORDS

“De-empathized”

Tech support folks are often accused of not caring about customer problems. Most of you won’t want to hear this (and the rest of you will nod your heads in agreement), but the unfortunate truth is that yeah, many of us in tech support really don’t care about your problem.

A tech support person hears so much wailing and gnashing of customer teeth over the course of their job that it eventually fails to have any meaningful effect. We eventually become ‘de-empathized’ and thus lose our ability to feel empathy or sympathy towards our customers. Most of us don’t start out with much to begin with so it doesn’t take very long to reach that point.

Why? A few reasons:

First, a tech can interact with a lot of customers, particularly if they do phone support. Let’s assume a tech talks to 20 customers over the course of a day: That adds up to 100 people over the course of a week, or 5,200 people in a year. Considering that the majority of them of them are calling because something is not working, a fairly high percentage of them are going to be angry, upset, and frustrated. While most people are civil, many are not, and of course, there are a few jerks, to put it politely. I submit to you that it is very difficult to hear all that negativity (to say nothing of the stupidity) and not have it affect you.

Secondly, techs get the same paycheck regardless of how many problems they fix or don’t fix. If a tech puts in extra effort its probably because you’re being nice, or at least civil, but there are usually no consequences for not being able to fix a problem. As much as I hate to admit, there are some problems that we can’t fix.

Finally, there is the repetition of hearing the same cries/pleads/screams for help day after day after day. When you hear every customer tell you their problem is a matter of life and death the phrase becomes meaningless. There is a saying that sums this attitude up best: “A failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” The constant exaggerating by customers only aggravates us further; are we supposed to believe that a customer just sat behind a computer for three hours on a stuck install?

Don’t confuse indifference for laziness, though: Those jaded-don’t-give-a-crap support people are still going to do their jobs, but they are going to do it without a single shred of touchy-feely-ness. I can’t pinpoint exactly when I stopped caring, but I haven’t cared about my customer’s problems for quite some time, now. Unfortunately the lack of empathy and concern can be heard loud in clear in my ‘phone voice’ at work, and I’ve been called out on it on occasion.

But just like I do when I hear the cry of ‘it has to be done now’ or ‘it was working yesterday’ or ‘its your company’s fault.’ I sigh, fix their problem or tell them it can’t be fixed, and move on to the next person. Its just water off an apathetic duck’s back.

BUSINESS, CONS, CREATIVE, FURRY, JUST SAYING, Oklacon, RANDOMIZER9.COM, WORDS

Faith In Humanity -1

It would appear that I may have been ripped off again by an artist at Oklacon this year. 😦 Last year I paid for a commission that I never received, and this year I ordered a print that has not yet arrived in the mail even though the seller said they would be sent out ‘as soon as we get home.’ I am holding out hope that it will appear in my mailbox any day now, but my optimism is fading now that its 2-1/2 weeks after the fact.

Part of it is my fault, I suppose: I’m often told that I have too much faith in people, and I don’t deny that’s probably true. I like to think that most people are honest, particularly if they are conducting business, so I didn’t bother getting the names of the folks involved. After all, they have my contact information and they can let me know if something comes up. Unfortunately, that also leaves me no recourse should the seller fail to deliver. (ba-doom tish) I hold out hope that the sellers weren’t being dishonest: maybe life got in the way, or they lost my address or USPS lost the package or their computer crashed or house burned down or something else happened to explain why I didn’t receive that which I paid for.

Like I said, too much faith in humanity.

It sucks that some less-than-honest (or perhaps incompetent) characters that were in the Dealer’s Den have to cast a cloud on what was otherwise an fun time. I plan to going back to Oklacon next year, but I’ll be holding onto my cash a little more tightly.

Naturally, the optimist in me still expects to find that print in the mailbox tomorrow, but he’ll eventually give up after another week…maybe.

Books, BUSINESS, CAMPING, CONS, COOKING, CREATIVE, FOOD, FURRY, JUST SAYING, Oklacon, RANDOM STOPS, RANDOMIZER9.COM, TECH, WHATS GOING ON, WORDS, Writing

51 Things I Noticed at Oklacon 11

oklaconlogo This year marked my second Oklacon, and I did a much better job of keeping up my usual list despite, or maybe because I kept it on old-fashioned paper!

Fursuit parts are apparently very good for keeping yourself warm.
This is a great con for attention whores: Just yell or talk very loudly and EVERYONE on the campsite can hear you.
Anyone playing the guitar at 7AM should be shot or at least kicked in the nards.
I’m thinking that its about time to retire my old Sears Hillary tent. 😦
I was happy I could get a signal on my Verizon iPad in nearby Watonga, OK, but then I got to the campsite annnd its gone!
Even instant cappuccino tastes great when you’ve been sleeping in 30-degree weather.
I’m not sure which is bothering me more: not wearing my university ring or not having a comb in my pocket.
Someday Dr. Nuka will tire of my ‘What’s up Doc?’ greeting and get all sciencey on my tail.
Somehow ‘All My Exes Live In Texas’ got stuck in my head.
They should probably make sure the participants are able to play volleyball out of suit first.
Plastic hammer + heavy metal stakes = FAIL
I was a bit overdue for a shave on Thursday but the cold is keeping me from doing so.
Good idea: Putting QR codes on my dealer’s table sign. Almost Good Idea: Putting QR codes on my dealer’s table sign at a con where cell reception sucks.
Maybe its just me, other folks seem to be doing just fine. Just what I need: another reason to dump Sprint.
I learned today that Canada apparently has its own version of Texas called Alberta. The thought that each country in the world may have its own ‘Texas’ might explain a lot…and fills me with fear.
One of the researchers was having problems with her camera and was getting frustrated, I had to quip: “This is the part where they usually call me at work.”
Even though I’m not at work, my tail was still dragging at about 4PM…should have had that second cup of coffee!
The collective rolling of eyes could almost be heard whenever someone insisted they were the only one in the furry fandom whose fursona was an X.
Best money I’ve spent recently: $15 for a small stool for sitting in the tent; its a little snug in the forbidden zone, but otherwise worked well.
Its funny how the lack of data turned my smartphone into a glorified watch…and a phone.
I only posted once to social media all weekend and haven’t missed it. It feels good to be talking to people that are actually sane.
The rain snuck up on us Friday night but surprisingly nothing got into the tent…there but for the grace of God go I.
Unlike last year, the bathrooms were kept up and I even contributed by plunging a few times and even fixing a toilet, nice to put that homeowner skill to use.
I should have been annoyed by Reville being played at 9am, but instead I found it amusing…because I was already awake.
My writing panel went well, four people showed up!
Hot dogs? At a furry con? Say it ain’t so!
My laptop is a battery…a big, frakking, heavy battery.
The zipper on my tent was misbehaving and the first thing that came to mind was ‘MY KINGDOM FOR SOME DUCT TAPE!’
Things I forgot to bring: wet naps, duct tape, mayonnaise and once again, a roll of toilet paper.
I could only not shave for so long, Saturday night the face fuzz was gone.
I might need to switch to Mountain Dew from coffee, the Dew seemed to keep Nuka going.
He graciously gave me one of his, and I gave him some of my cough drops, balance of the universe and all that.
Yeah, it was great to hear my dealer-neighbors bicker back and forth like an old married couple…which they probably were.
Furries apparently really hate sports, which is yet another way I stick out in that club in addition to being straight and over 30.
From the ‘clever idea’ department: Previous year’s con shirts: $12 for 1 or $10 for 2
Hearing the rules for ‘Predator and Prey’ made me think of ‘Calvinball.’
When in Rome: I got mustard on my camera’s strap during lunch and my first instinct was to try to suck/gnaw it off.
Part of me want to either stay in a tent alone or get an A-frame bunk next year…hmm.
f I had known coffee cups/mugs were going to be sold at the auction I would have been there in a shot.
I wonder what the organizer thought when I gave him my tax form that said “Sales: $4”
A guy nearby needed help tearing down his ‘insta-tent.’ I knew there was a reason I didn’t like those things.
Well, that and they cost twice as frakking much.
Very thankful to have a second person in the car on the drive home, I probably would have had to stop for sleep otherwise.
Saw so many Braum’s burger/ice cream/grocery joints on the drive up/back that we had to stop at one on the way home. Quite good! Still haven’t been to Waffle House.
Put over 1,100 miles on the Excelsior the whole trip and used up just over two and a half tankfuls of gas.
Flying J has REALLY good coffee. That, or drinking instant coffee at work for so long has ruined my taste buds.
We encountered absolutely zero traffic problems on I-35 from Oklahoma City all the way down UNTIL we hit San Antonio and spent 25 frakking minutes going the last 5 miles home…REALLY, SAN ANTONIO?
Good Idea: Empty fridge beforehand so no food goes bad during the drip. Problem: No food in fridge to eat upon return.
While I only sold 2 storybooks during the weekend, it was still 2 more than I sold during Furry Fiesta. *shrug*
Thank you, Sharon.
I can’t wait to do it again!

Computers, JUST SAYING, RANDOMIZER9.COM, TECH, Ubuntu, WHATS GOING ON, WHISKEY-TANGO-FOXTROT

Eww-buntu

Dafuq?

Well, that didn’t take long. Within 24 hours of installing Ubuntu (see previous post) onto my laptop, I found myself reaching for my Windows 7 restore discs. While wasn’t bad, it possessed one major flaw that kept it from staying on my laptop: it was horribly inefficient and significantly cut down its battery life.

I found that to be odd because one of the things I distinctly remembered about Linux was that it was efficient, but the fan on my laptop just wouldn’t stop spinning as I installed programs on it and got re-accustomed to the Ubuntu UI. While doing so, I had forgotten how convenient it was to have multiple desktops.

Getting back to my main point, running Ubuntu reduced the laptop’s battery life from 4-5 hours on Windows to under 3…and that was with Wi-Fi turned off. While I was processing that unfortunate turn of events, my screen started to glitch. This was a fresh install with all updates installed and barely any additional software on it. As awful as Windows supposedly is, I’ve NEVER had something like that happen so quickly. I have to say, I was very disappointed with the experience.

Already annoyed with the battery performance, I (metaphorically) flipped the table, opened the laptop’s DVD drive and inserted the first restore disc.

Ahh. That new Windows smell!

Eduardo Soliz

IT Guy, short story author, podcaster, and furry!

Category Archives: JUST SAYING