Just one more to go

Last night before I collapsed from a lack of sleep, I managed to complete both Sapphire and Ruby cups on Master. I was on such a roll that I won Ruby cup by almost 100 points and had a total of 14 attack (my previous high mark was 3 in a cup, I had 5 alone on the Half Pipe track). It was extremely satisfying, and now all that's left is to finish off Diamond cup. I made a couple attempts yesterday, but could not get past the 3rd track without dying.

You know you're a geek when...

So, Matrix Revolutions premiers in a few short days. Typically the Boston theaters have a midnight showing of big releases that my friends and I usually go to. The problem is that a lot of people try to get tickets for the show, so knowing when they are available is the utmost importance. So what do I do? I take a script my friend Matt wrote to check for shows and tweaked it a little bit so now it checks movietickets.com for midnight showings at the two theaters we normally go to for opening night. The really geeky thing is that when it does find a showing, it procedes to e-mail me and send a page to my phone letting me know tickets are available. God bless technology.

Update: Apparently all that work will be for nothing. Warner Brothers is doing what they call a "Zero Hour Global Premier". Essentially the first showing will happen around the world at exactly the same time, which happens to be 9AM Eastern time. This means I won't be able to see the first showing after all, because I want to see the movie and all, but not enough to take a vacation day to do it.

Trying for Master

Shane and I have been working furiously to finish all 4 cups in F-Zero GX on Master class to finally unlock the final cup, the AX cup. Seeing as how there are no F-Zero AX machines that I know of nearby, this is the only way we're going to get to play them. We're currently working on Sapphire Cup right now, and I've gotten to the point where I can pretty consistently finish in the top 3 in the points standings, but haven't been able to pull off the win. This is probably the hardest of the 4 cups for me because there are 2 races that I'm not very good at, where as all the other cups only have 1 (if that). I'm planning on going out tonight, so I probably won't get another shot at it until some time later this week. I will beat it eventually.

3x Thursday: 10/23/y2k+3: Suicide Solution

Once again, compliments of Missy Williams

1. Have you ever considered suicide as a means to an end?
   Absolutely. I was severely depressed pretty much since the age of 12. I often wondered if it was worth "continuing my worthless existence" (a phrase that appears multiple times in my private journal from those days).
2. Did you ever try, or come close to trying? You're still here, so why didn't you go thru with it?
   I've planned out my death on numerous occasions. I had thought of at least 40 different ways I could kill myself with little effort, quick and relatively painless. I've had 3 or 4 close brushes with actually following through on my plans, most were interrupted unwittingly by my parents or some friends. In the end, I was always able to find one thing worth living for, so I never actually followed through. These days, now that I'm medicated, I don't have suicidal thoughts much any more. I'm generally much more upbeat than I used to be too.
3. Why do you think people commit suicide? Do you think there's anything rational about it?
   Well in my case it was severe depression, which completely irrational. As for others, I couldn't say.

Bonus: What do you think of these famous people committing suicide? It happens everywhere all the time, but why do you think famous people commit suicide?
Well, a lot of the famous people who have committed suicide were drug addicts of some sort. Drugs can be great things if used properly, but a huge detriment if abused. They alter your perceptions of reality and can make things look much more bleak than they really are. It's only natural that some of them end up killing themselves, which is all the more reason for better addiction counseling and not tougher drug laws.

Guess I won't be going anywhere after all

Well, as I talked about before, I had a phone interview with a Microsoft recruiter last week. It didn't go particularly well, they were looking for someone with experience in writing test automation software. Somehow the fact that I listed that I had written a test harness for my company's APIs implies I'm qualified to do this kind of work. I knew after the interview that I basically had no shot at a call back, but that didn't prevent me from feeling a slight pang of disappointment when I got confirmation yesterday from the recruiter that I was no longer in consideration for the position.

Luckily I'm in a position where it doesn't hurt too much that the interview didn't go anywhere, but like I said in the earlier post, it's about time for me to think about moving on. This just means I have to start actively looking for something elsewhere, contact the people I know in the industry, and start polishing up my interviewing skills.

The mysteries of relationships revealed

Here's a couple of links to people who seem to think they have it all figured out:

Ferrett's Rules For Picking Up Chicks
Intellectual Whores

Now, both make plenty of sense. The cynical part of me sees the ladder rule applied again and again, myself playing out the role of Intellectual Whore to countless women. The other part of me though truly wants to believe it's all bullshit. We'll see who wins out.

What's my excuse this time?

I've been pretty quiet lately. First and foremost was the disheartening collapse that was game 7 of the ALCS. I had gone down to the city to watch the game with Matthew; I wanted to be there in the city when the Sox finally put the Yankees in their place. The game started off well enough; the Sox chased Clemens early with some good hitting, Pedro was battling but managed to keep the Yanks off the board. They made into the 8th inning with a 4-run lead. I figured for sure we'd see Timlin and then Williamson and was shocked when Pedro came back out. It became readily apparent he was tiring, and when the first run of the comeback scored I was screaming for Grady to take him out. When he didn't, I knew it was over. Grady had left pitchers in too long all year, mostly because the bullpen had been suspect. In the post season though, it had been the one thing that had rescued us when the offense was struggling. So when the Yankees tied the game, I literally passed out, I was so exhausted from cheering (not too mention a few too many beers), and literally sat down and passed out. I was woken up by Matt hitting me with his hat, right after Aaron Boone's homerun. I was upset, I screamed, I yelled, I even punched a wall hard enough to bruise my hand. I drove home and talked to Dave the entire way, bemoaning yet another year of baseball flushed down the drain.

Sunday's Patriots win was enough to mend the wound slightly, but hardly made up for the crushed spirit from Thursday. When I got home that night however, I had received an e-mail from a woman I had recently become very friendly with. She's leaving to move back to Florida this week, and not knowing when she would see me again, she wanted to let me know how she felt. I was completely taken aback; in all the time we had spent together we had never really discussed any sort of romantic relationship. There was occasional flirting, but I took it as just that. So when she told me that she often thought about what could have happened if we had met at a different time, under different circumstances, what could have been, I was floored. Last night I spent a night out with her (our last for the foreseeable future), where we both came to the conclusion that as much as we both would like to pursue the idea, the fact was she was moving back to Florida for the winter, and neither of us wanted to torture ourselves trying to make something work long distance. So we've decided to just remain friends for the time being, maybe to pursue the possibility somewhere down the line. Just another case of my life being full of bad timing.

Needless to say, the emotional roller coaster has left me a little drained, and with work still going full tilt, I have not had the time nor energy to write in the blog. I think I'm finally coming out of it, and hopefully I can get back to some sense of normalcy again. Only time will tell though.

3x Thursday: 10/16/y2k+3: On-line Shopping Frenzy

Thanks again to Missy for putting these up early:

1. What do you think of on-line shopping? Do you do it? Do you trust it?
   There are certain things I almost exclusively shop for on-line: Movies, Books, and usually Video Games. Typically the on-line retailers offer enough of a price cut that even after shipping it's still cheaper than buying those things in the store. I've also bought computer parts on-line, but that can be a crap shoot as far as prices go. Pricewatch and Shopper.com are both great resources and offer ratings for retailers, which helps alleviate my worries about the lesser named retailers. By and large though, I tend to buy from the on-line stores of big retailers (B&N, Best Buy, etc).
2. What types of things are okay to buy on-line? Which items do you prefer to buy 'for real'?
   Anything non-perishable I will buy on-line. I'm not a huge fan of grocery services, especially when produce is concerned. I'd much rather be able to pick my own fruits and vegetables.
3. What do you think of 3rd party sellers, or buying things used instead of new on-line? Is it to be trusted?
   This gets really sketchy. Buying used always carries with it an extra level of uncertainty because you can't be sure what they tell you about the condition is true without actually seeing for yourself. eBay offers sellers to put up pictures (which I always do when I sell), but there's nothing stopping someone from using your posted pictures to sell there stuff (this has happened to me multiple times). If I'm getting stuff on eBay I'm very wary of auctions that don't have pictures.

Bonus: Have you had any negative on-line shopping experiences?
Speaking of eBay, last year I was trying to get a Christmas present for my nephew. He's a huge fan of Yugi-Oh, so I thought I'd pick him up some cards. I found a good auction on eBay, he was selling lots of loose cards, said they had rares, etc, so I bid for 10 lots. Auction closed, I sent my payment, and he said he had sent the cards. 2 weeks later, no cards. I sent him an e-mail, he assured me they were sent. Another week, still no cards, there's lots of rumbling from other people saying they haven't gotten their cards, or they didn't get what they were promised. Christmas came and went, I never got my cards, I e-mailed him again, he said he'd send out a new batch. I never got my cards, and he strung me out long enough that I couldn't file a grevance with eBay and get my money back, but the seller's account was shut down. Just goes to show you though, that the seller rating doesn't always tell the whole story.

Just one more win

So last night, the Red Sox pounded out 9 runs, and Normar broke out of his funk in a big way with a 4 hit night as they pushed the Yankees to a game 7 in the ALCS. The game has so many subplots, it's ridiculous. Obviously the game has the giant significance of sending the winner to the World Series. Also, you've got Roger Clemens pitching what could possibly be his last game at Yankee stadium (or ever), Pedro Martinez coming to New York after the debacle that was game 3, and the ghosts of years gone by all looming over head. The Cubs couldn't shake the Marlins, even after being up 3-1 in the series, up 3-0 in the 8th of game 6, with their two best pitchers pitching games 6 and 7 at home. I can only hope that the Red Sox can get just one more win, because if they come out of this series on top, no matter what happens in the Series, I can hold my head up high because we took down the vaunted Yankees. Not to mention I want to see Dave shave his head (which he'd promised he'd do if the Sox beat the Yankees).

The fall movie season is off to a good start

I didn't mention it before, but Shane and I checked out Kill Bill on Friday. It far out-paced my expectations. I love the old 70s Japanese action/slasher flicks, and Tarentino does an amazing job with the genre. Uma Thurman is excellent in the role of "The Bride" (the one thing that kept bothering me about the movie was the fact they kept bleeping her name out). Lucy Liu is also wonderful as O-Ren Ishii (the anime interlude that covers O-Ren's background is also very well done). The action scenes looked good, there were only one or two moments where it didn't come off quite as well as it could have. And the blood, oh my was there a lot of fake blood. Fountains of blood were a regular occurrence throughout the movie. I was upset when the movie ended, knowing that I'll have to wait until next year to see the conclusion, but if the first half is any indication, it will be well worth the wait.

For the previews we got a sneak peak at Matrix Revolutions, which went in a completely different direction from Reloaded than I expected (which is a good thing, because I was rather disappointed with Reloaded). As well, with the upcoming finale of LotR, the fall looks to be moving toward wiping away the memory of a summer full of bloated sequels with over-rated actors and other garbage.

(As a semi-interesting side note, on my way out of the movie theater, I ran into Ted Johnson of the New England Patriots hobbling around on his crutches. I was too in shock from the movie to say anything other than "Hey look, it's Ted Johnson!")

On the losing end of a knife fight... with myself

So I was preparing my lunch yesterday I was trying to separate two frozen salmon burgers. I was using a knife to pry them apart when they split apart suddenly, allowing the knife to slide down and puncture the center of my hand. It was a very small wound and it didn't bleed very much, but I think I hit bone because my hand ached for a few hours. I decided it didn't warrant a trip to the hospital, so I picked up some gauze and bandage tape and cleaned and dressed the wound myself.

Today has been full of people asking, "What happened to your hand?". The response that garnered the most laughter was "I was in a knife fight, and the knife won." It's hard to tell people you work with that you were a complete moron.

The Dark Side is Calling

I received an e-mail from a Microsoft recruiter a couple of days ago seeing if I was interested in interviewing for a position with MSN Search. Now I'm pretty happy with my job right now (a few minor problems not withstanding), but I've decided to at least do the phone interview to see what it's all about. I've been doing the same work essentially for 3 years now and it's getting to the point where I have to seriously consider the next step. Of course, a move to Microsoft would mean a move to the left coast, leaving behind friends and family. It's a scary proposition, but if there was ever a point in my life I was ready to make the leap, it'd be now.

Of course this could all be moot any way as I may not even get offered anything, but it has gotten my brain moving in that direction. I've always had feelers out for other jobs in the New England area, but it may be time to start looking to see if there are opportunities elsewhere.

3x Thursday: 10/09/y2k+3: Human Nature

I missed last week in part because of Vegas, but here is this weeks 3xThursday, compliments of Missy

1. What happens when you get into a fight with someone? Do you blow up at each other and then talk it out, or does it just stew for all eternity, or what?
   Really depends on what the fight is over. I have been known to fly off the handle over stupid little things, but I think that's at least in part because I let the big things fester. I always try to talk it out, but it doesn't always work that way.
2. Why do you think humans behave the way they do when their emotions are on the line?
   No one likes to be hurt. And emotional pain can be just as painful as physical. I think it's just a survival reaction that people tend to get defensive.
3. Do you believe fights/arguments are healthy? Why?
   It's all about a balance. A relationship that has too many arguments obviously isn't going to work, but if there's too much in common, the relationship can get stale. The key is to find people who have just enough in common that you can stand being in the same room, but different enough that you can have discussions with more than one point of view.

Bonus: Do you believe humans have always been emotionally imbalanced creatures? Is there any hope for us?
As far back as history goes, there's stories of jealousy, betrayal, and love. Our emotions are a very real part of us. I'd much rather be the emotional roller coasters we are then some non-feeling automoton. That said, we've managed to make it this far without completely wiping each other out, so I'll hold on to some hope for the future.

Back from Sin City

Well actually, I got back Monday night just in time to see the Red Sox close out another 0-2 comeback in an ALDS (hopefully we won't have a repeat of that ALCS). I had to go back to work yesterday and had a busy day. When I left I headed straight to a bar and I didn't make it home last night until sometime at around 11. Today has been fairly relaxed, though I do have to make a stop at the grocery store to restock some things (a weekend away really throws a monkey wrench into my normal shopping patterns).

I had a wonderful time in Vegas. This time was much more enjoyable because I had a little more freer reign to gamble. The first day we were there, we actually took in a show at the Flamingo called "Bottoms Up". It's a "nude comedy review" which basically means it's a comedy routine interjected with topless women dancing (not exactly my cup of tea, but it was nearly free). The second night, a few of the guys and I ended up at Jaguar's, a strip club not too far from the hotel we were staying at. Let's just say it was a totally different experience than I was used to, but well worth every penny I spent. I also managed to get plenty of gambling in, and came pretty close to breaking even after a huge run of luck at the black jack tables Sunday night/Monday morning.

Probably the one thing I didn't do enough while I was in Vegas was sleep. I'm still pretty drained, and I've gotten a good nights sleep the last two nights. I need to take a vacation to recover from my vacation!