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There’s Something About Dairy

Perhaps it is a consequence of growing up in a small town, but every so often I just HAVE to go to Dairy Queen. I don’t go for the Hunger-Buster or even the Dude, though, I’m there for the ice cream.

Dairy Queen’s soft serve is awesome; I always get a dipped cone or sundae after the meal. Its a simple pleasure that brings back memories of going to the Dairy Queen with the family as a child. Even now, I’ll join my folks at the Dairy Queen for lunch when I’m in town, and its still a good time. Sure they aren’t as fast as “the other guys” but that’s more time to spend talking amongst family as well as any friends that happen to drop by.

Times and people change, but a dipped cone always hits the spot.

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Hand-Held Hassle

Once upon a time, before cell phones did everything under the sun, I had a Palm TX. I also had a basic cell phone (you know, for actually TALKING to people) and I used my trusty Palm to keep a calendar, as a address/phone book and to jot down ideas whenever they happened to pop in my head.

Time went on, and I decided it was time to upgrade my cell phone. I had been using T-Mobile’s pay-as-you-go service for quite some time (best pre-paid plan, IMO) and as time passed on and I gained new friends, the number of minutes and text messages were getting to the point where getting a month-to-month plan was starting to make more sense.

Having been satisfied with my T-Mobile experience thus far, I decided to go to one of their stores and check out the shiny new phones (this was in late 2007). My hope was to get a phone that could do the PDA stuff that my Palm was currently doing, thus having everything in one handy device.

I went with a T-Mobile Dash running Windows Mobile 6.0. It appeared to have most of the stuff my TX did, and a full keyboard. I had to give up the touch screen, but for the most part it seemed like a good device.

Well, so much for that, Windows 6.0 sucks. I traded the simplicity of Palm’s PDA applications and functions for a hand-held version of Microsoft Outlook. That would be great if this was a work phone, but on a personal device it is annoying as all hell. The Calendar sucks and the Contacts list has too many damn fields.

There is also no program for typing in NOTES. I have to open Microsoft Word just to type in my farking grocery list. Some Brainiac at Microsoft also decided it would be a good idea to remove the ability to create new Office docs. “New Word Document?” Ain’t happening!

Instead, I keep a blank Word document on the phone, open it, and do a “Save As” whenever I wanted to create a new one. Farking brilliant.

Finally, Windows Mobile is just slow; I’m going to see which boots faster, my phone or my PC running Windows XP. Frankly, my money’s on the PC, and its so old it only has ONE core!

Not all is lost, though…

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“Nintendo”

The word ‘Nintendo’ literally translates as ‘leave luck to heaven’.

Make all the plans you want, but ultimately, you never know…

I said goodbye to the wife of an old friend today. She was 40 and had her first child two months ago.

RIP Melinda Hastings Garcia, may you be in God’s grace now and forever.

Sorry this isn’t about games.

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Why no one reads the newspaper anymore…

As one of the few people under 40 who still reads the newspaper I found this news to be very discouraging.

I discovered “MyCage” in the Express-News, and it quickly became one of my favorite newspaper comics. I suppose it is a sign of the times that I have to distinguish it as a “newspaper” comic to not only differentiate it from comic books, but also from webcomics.

What bothers me is the loss of a new and interesting strip when they could have easily dropped one of the older ones that is way past its prime. I will email the editor in a feeble attempt to convince him otherwise, but I think the decision has been made. I guess I’ll read it online now at another newspaper’s website.

Its another $1.60 a week back in my wallet, too.

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Online Killed The Split-Screen Star

So I have a guest over Saturday night, and we’re getting our Rock Band on and having a good time. My friend is asthmatic and I’m getting over the flu, so we got tired after a bit and decide to play something else.

I get a game from my collection and pop it in, expecting to find a 2-player split-screen mode…no dice. There is online play, but no split-screen. Okay, game number two…same result…a third game, and its STILL online only…we then punt and play Gears of War 2 instead.

I don’t know if this is a Xbox 360 thing, but what happened to local multiplayer? It seems silly that I can connect 4 controllers to my 360, but there aren’t very many GAMES that support 4 people playing on the same machine.

Online gaming is fun, but there are few things are more enjoyable in gaming than hearing the wailing and gnashing of teeth of your opponent as you pop them with a blue shell in Mario Kart…and few things more agonizing than hearing your opponent gloat after nailing you just before the finish line.

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Cutting the Cord

I’m not sure when it happened, but somewhere down the line, I just stopped watching television. Not completely, mind you, but I just can’t veg out like I used to behind the ol’ boob tube. The last show I tried to see was Heroes, and after missing a few episodes, I got lost and never tuned in again. I missed out on the Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica reboots, and except for NFL Football, Spurs games, and the news, there really isn’t anything I watch on a regular basis.

Thus, after waiting for 20 minutes and then watching the guy at the counter type for another 5 (hell, I hated my job at the cable company too, but I at least tried to be civil), I now no longer have cable TV. Its no biggie, though, I have some rabbit ears for the living room TV and I will have to get one of those converter box thingies for the bedroom TV, but I think I’ll live.

Besides, that $70 a month can go to other things…like video games 😉

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Super Musings

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, which means lots of folks getting together, eating too much, and rooting for teams that we normally don’t care about, because our team got beat like a narc at a biker rally (yes, I am a Dallas Cowboys fan).

I will be at a party myself, hanging out and chowing down and rooting for the Cardinals. Curiously enough, some folks said they were not going to the party because they did not care about the game.

Funny thing is, a Super Bowl party isn’t about the game. Its about getting together and seeing friends and hanging out and all that good stuff…there just happens to be a football game showing at the same time. I’ve noticed people tend to get more hyped up about the commercials and the half time show more than anything else anyway. Good for them, just so long as everyone is having a good time.

To be fair, a few of the more recent Super Bowl games have been great, but that isn’t always the case. This looks like it may be a potential blow-out if the Steelers can knock Kurt Warner six ways to Sunday, but who cares?

Its a good excuse to get together with friends and family and have a good time, so raise a glass, pass the chips, and GO CARDINALS!

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The Kids Next Door

I’ve had problems in the past with my next-door neighbors (not sure if I’ve biatched about it here) playing loud music. The funny part is, I never actually saw them. The first time it happened, I knocked on the door and they didn’t open the door, instead I had to tell them to turn it down through the door. The second time, they didn’t answer at all and after a call to the apartment office, I haven’t heard much since. I can’t help but think that we could have found some middle ground if they had just opened the door and talked to me face-to-face.

There are also some kids that live down the hall, I can often hear them running around outside my balcony. It never bothers me, as its more random (running around the building, for example) and also, it eventually stops. The kids were playing with a soccer ball today and I heard the occasional ‘thump’ against the side of the building. It was certainly not enough to raise my ire (not that it is easily raised) but frequent enough for me to notice. The thumping soon stopped. I thought the kids had gone inside, but soon there was a knock on the door.

The ball had ended up on my balcony and they wanted me to get it for them (insert ‘get off my lawn’ joke here). I told them I would get it and gave it to them.

It would seem the kids down the hall have more common sense than the kids next door.

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