Happy New Years
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
2010
Wow, 2010, Jiminy Christmas Batman! No hyperdrives, no flying cars, no base on the moon, no ancient monolith starting life on Io (at least I think it was Io).
I don't have much to say, been kicking back and just enjoying my break. Now I'm getting ready to get back to school next week.
I did register a couple more domains the other day: alltech-nologic.com and alltech-nologic.net. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do with them, I'm thinking a tech rant/information site. Most likely something inline with my philosophy of if you complain about something, do something about it! 
I'll probably start with some basic stuff on webhosting and using things like local php.ini. Hell it'll give me a reason to become more familiar with everything I deal with in my job if I decide to go that route.
I haven't spent much time doing stuff with my 100 Day Challenge lately, I've been tempted to start over because I didn't give it a full go. A recurring theme over the last couple of weeks has been to relax and let things come. I keep seeing articles about relaxing your way to success showing up in my inbox and in my RSS reader. What have I got to lose besides some stress that's only breeding negative feelings and emotions?
I'm not sure about writing about the gifts I got for Christmas, really just because I feel like I would be bragging. But I am really grateful for the gifts I received. I have gotten a lot of use and enjoyment out of them. I guess I'll mention the two I've gotten the most use out of. Santa brought me a Nintendo DS and Chrono Trigger is on back order right now. But yeah I've borrowed Brain Age from Tom and been playing that every day since. My dad got me couple of Magic The Gathering Conflux pre-built decks (or whatever they are, 40 cards with a 15 card booster). I've been playing Magic pretty much everyday since. I've got 5 decks now So lots of fun there.
I also got word that I'm going to have two new little ones to spoil. My brother Tyler and his wife Makinley have a bundle of joy on the way, and my sister Brittney and her Husband Dave have their third child on the way. Really amazing given that Brittney is RH-.
Alright well everyone make it a great new year!
100 Day Challenge: Day 62
Wow, been really nerding it up the last few days.
My mom had borrowed some money from me a while ago (I'd forgotten about it) and she offered to sell me my little brother's Xbox 360 in exchange for the money. She only owed me 60$. At first I hesitated, I'm not sure why.
I realized a couple days later that the night she'd offered it to me, I'd been thinking earlier in the day that I really wanted to let my gamer side go and get into playing games again. Which lead to the thought: "I should buy a 360 or a PS3." Which was followed by: "I can't afford it right now." Kind of funny how things work out. I got a 360 with a hard drive, it's also a model with an HDMI output, and 3 games. HALO 3, Blue Dragon, and Kung Fu Panda.
Beat HALO 3 back when it first came out with Wayne, so I've been playing Blue Dragon. Heard it's supposed to be a really epic game. It seems like it, 3 discs worth of stuff and I think Xbox only uses DVDs. It'll be interesting to see how long it goes for. So far the games seems pretty solid, very reminiscent of the Final Fantasy series. The combat system seems pretty fluid and it has some subtle complexities that I'm figuring out, things like using the charge meter to choose how large of an area is affected by a spell as well as how long the spell will take to cast in relation to the rest of the combatants in the fight. It appears there are also some elemental factors as well. I'm only 5 hours into the game so I haven't had much to choose from as far as those go. There's a lot of speech in the game and the videos in game look like they're rendered on the fly in the same style the Zelda games on Nintendo 64 did. I'm hoping there will be some awesome cinematography done with the camera in game.
I also picked up a Magic Premium Deck the other day at Shopko. It's an all foil, Sliver deck. It seems like it has some serious potential for destruction. So far it hasn't fared too well though. I think I won 2 out of 5 games with Tom. Those were more due to bad mana draws on his part (mana starved). His Vampire deck just seems very well equipped to fight creature based decks. He's got Hideous Ends, for a converted mana cost of 3 he can destroy a non-black creature and deal 2 damage to the creature's controller, and a good number of his creatures have flying with deathtouch and lifelink. Wow just a really good combination. I think I can add some cancels to the deck to counter those spells, then I'd really like to add some more Crystaline Slivers. Pretty sweet for a converted cost of 2. I'm thinking I could add more more slivers, but it might be easier to add more Wild Pair cards into the deck. They allow me to cast a creature and then cast another create with the same total power and toughness. Now that I'm looking at the cards, I see some other strategies evolving.
I also just found out that they have Bamboo Blade on YouTube, wow talk about rounding out the nerd train A new console, a new Magic Deck, and a new Anime series to watch. Of course I'm also in inheriting a Sega Genesis soon as well. Wow, I am oozing with nerdiness. Now to balance things out I need to nerd out on my Karate practice.
Karate I've discovered is a something I'm having to redefine my goals in. I earned my 2nd Degree and now I'm wanting to focus elsewhere for a while, but at the same time I don't want to abandon it all together. Always the same problem for me, I find way too many things interesting and trying to focus on one or two at the expense of the others is a difficult choice.
It's got to be better than not having anything to get excited about.
I have a lot of excitement and enthusiasm for things. I must find a way to focus it.
Come to think of it, the whole point of doing this 100 Day Challenge is supposed to be learning how to work with the laws of the universe. I haven't been doing much of that. Well at least in a direct manner.
100 Day Challenge: Day 53
Wow, been almost a week since my last post...
This week has been pretty damn busy... Spent the majority of my weekend getting ready for my Math 1010 final. Which I bombed for some reason. Of course looking at the average for my class I'm right in the middle.
When the average on a final is: 55% I think that means there's a problem.
Wow, I'm a bit miffed about it... I have a feeling the final is a bunch of crap.
I'm going to run through other math books I have and going to go take the placement test, I will laugh when I test out of 1010 and probably 1050.
Wow, Had wanted to do a big day 50 recap, but oh well right in the middle of finals.
I'm glad they're over, I don't have to worry about school for over a month!
I am becoming incredibly frustrated with my vehicle situation. I'm left waiting for a loan payment to process before I get my car. I feel like I'm justified in feeling frustrated, I vented a little bit on my mom who is stuck in the middle of it. I just don't know what to do. My current vehicle does not like the cold, it will not go anywhere unless it's been warmed up for ten minutes. The gas mileage is horrible, on top of the heater not working.
I really should be grateful that I have a car, I don't have to walk in the cold.
Which lately it has been very cold. It's just after midnight right now and it's -8 degrees Fahrenheit. I really need to do something about the draft that comes in through the door to this place tomorrow.
But there is no bad weather, only the wrong clothes.
On the upside I got my new video card and installed it. I've been playing Deadspace for the last few days. I have the settings cranked all the way up. My computer is handling it like a champ.
On a side note, Dead Space is a beautiful game. Well beautiful in a disturbing sort of way, the graphics are amazing. I can only imagine what some of the more recent games look like on a high-end card. The game is amazingly well done, the graphics are detailed with a beautiful job done on the lighting and shadows. The music and sound effects do their job. I was actually expecting a shooter, but this game is definitely survival horror.
I've also started playing Magic The Gathering again. I haven't touched the game for a number of years, but my roommate got into playing and I started playing with his decks and remembered how interesting the game could be.
Alright well It's freezing down here, so I'm going to head to bed.
Everyone make it a great one.