Saturday, May 17, 2008

What I am Thinking

Clyde and I just finished a seventy five minute walk. I got the sweat on, Clyde got the pant on. On our walks, since Clyde is a horrible conversationalist, I had a bunch of time to think to my self. All kinds of stuff goes through my head.

On of my ideas was to write at least three things that I am thinking, in the vein of Sports Illustrateds Peter King's 'Ten Things I Think I Think'. I love that title. Only two things stop me from copying it. One, it would require me too come up with ten things every week. Many times the last seven thing I would be thinking would be, "Why in hell did I say I'd come up with ten things". Two, I think it is plagiarism. I wouldn't feel good about myself.

So, I toned my idea back to simply, 'What I am Thinking'. That way I am not forced to come up with ten all the time which would quickly burn me out. I will however try to come up with at least three, but I make no promises.

What is the difference between this and a regular blog post you ask? The difference is, these thing will not have paragraphs written out about them. Probably just a sentance or two. I am setting the bar low.

With all that said, here we go with the first "What I a Thinking".

  1. Man I am glad the sun is back in Seattle. I am writting from my back porch with my morning coffee on my left and my dog laying on my right. Life is good.
  2. Thank God baseball is played in summer. That way I don't 'have' to watch it. Nice weather opens a billion more interesting things to do than watch 'adult kickball'.
  3. Grey letters on silver keys washout in the sun. I am forced to touch type and watch the screen, which is good. I am actually not too bad at it, though speed is lacking. I have the spacebar and backspace down pat.
  4. Personal license plates are generally dumb. Much like drunken tattoos. Last night Carrie and I were behind a Mazda Tribute with the plates 'ROBSMAZ'. It got me thinking what if I got the plate 'MIKESAC' for our Acura. Unfortunately that would read as "Mike Sack" which doesn't sound good. Maybe the guys name was "Rob Smaz"...
  5. This was kinda fun.

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Monday, May 12, 2008

Summer Beers, Makes Me Feel Fine

Running through the jasmine of my mind...

That may be the only Seals and Croft reference you'll ever see on my blog.

I have made my decision of the beer that I will my beer of summer. Years ago it was Widmer Hefeweisen. Recently it has been Pacifico. This year I have chosen a new buddy to keep me company while sacrificing meat on the Webber.

Mike's 2008 Summer Beer is... (drums please)

New Belgian's Mothership Wit. Mmmm, Tasty!


This beer has a lot going for it. First of all, it is good. Second, it is readily available at my local supermarket. Thirdly, it is refreshing. Fourthly it is good.

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Sunday, May 11, 2008

Gone Gaming

Sorry for the inconvenience, I've been spending all spare time playing Grand Theft Auto IV. Regular broadcasting should resume soon.



I am pretty sure that this game is not going make me run down pedestrians, jack cars, pick up hookers, or any other criminal activity portrayed in the game. That said, if I had a child of gaming age, they would not be playing this game... But that isn't who it is made for. This is definitely an adult game.

Many people don't realize that gaming isn't just for the thirteen year old kid like it was when I was a ute. Kids on the bleeding edge of computer/console gaming (pong, space invaders, etc) are now in their thirties and forties. Technology has made it possible to make games deep enough to keep the attention of an adult. This game is a the pinnacle of that right now. It has a huge city where each block has it's own identity. There are seemingly hundreds of different pedestrians throughout, each with a different personality. You steal a car from one person and they run screaming, you steal another and if you don't take off quick the guy yanks you out and fights you.

Then there are the missions. They aren't laid out in you typical linear fashion. Do mission A, then B, then C, etc. This is sandbox style. You start with A, maybe do C, jump to E, then B... You still have to complete some before you get to others, but it makes you feel that you are calling the shots. It is like a chose your own adventure book, but in moving cartoon form.

They do a good job developing the characters. You feel for the main guy Niko. He's isn't a heartless shell. Past GTA's while really good, didn't hook me like this one has. I'll be sad when I have to part ways with him.

So far I have to say that this is my favorite game yet, and I am not even half way through. (I won't tell you how many hours I have into it...) It seems to get better ever new stone tha tI flip while playing. Hopefully I'll have it complete in a week or two. then I may just play again and make some different choices and see where those take me.

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Saturday, May 03, 2008

Microsoft Excel is My Bitch!

Lol, the title popped into my head and I had to write something... Too perfect!

This morning after I woke up, even before coffee, I pulled up to the old laptop and fired up Excel. I hit the Alt-F11 to get the VBA editor going and started writing a function that was on my mind all night long.

Yeah, I'm a geek. I'm not ashamed.

I get a lot of pleasure from making Excel do stuff above and beyond what it can do right out of the box. It is no different than wrenching on das auto, building a deck, completing a puzzle, or training a dog. There is a satisfaction of seeing something that looks good and works.

There is still a ton more for me to learn. Every day I discover new things that keep the wheels turning. I love teh [sic] technology!

A week ago I was locked up in a room with eleven other people randomly selected from my county's population. The dreaded jury duty, and I got to sit on a trial (I'll get in to that at a later time). Over four days we spent around ten hours in a windowless jury room unable to talk about the one thing that we had in common, the trial. So people talked about random stuff. One of the conversations that came up was how kids of today with all their electronics would not be able to survive if it was all taken away.

That is silly. We learn to use what we have. The reason that we have all this fancy stuff is that as humans we were given brains capable of looking at something an thinking, "hmmm, how can I do this better". If all modern conveniences were taken from us, we would just make them again.

I'm pretty sure that the same thing has been said by people with their heads up their in the sand since the beginning of time.

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