Don’t go to bed early.
Last night was nice. It was the first night this week it seems that there wasn’t a ton of things going on. No ballgames to run, no computers to work on, no shopping or bowling or anything like that. Just a good evening to lay low and relax.
Andrea and I hung out and messed around on the computer for a while, then watched some TV. Ended up playing Crusin’ USA for a while and went coast to coast in just over 20 minutes. By about 8:30, Andrea is beat and turning in, and I decide I’ll go lay in bed with her and read some of the new Guild Wars book. I knock out a couple chapters and I’m asleep by 9:00 myself.
Now I usually wake up several times during the night, so that’s no surprise. But I was laying in bed about 2:30 this morning and just dying of thirst. Infact I remember dreaming that I was driving some company van from Dodge City to Cimarron and thinking to myself “I hope I get there soon because I’m dang thirsty!”
So I lay there for a short while until I decide to go ahead and get up and get a glass of milk. Polish that off and go lay back down and sink into bed. I get nice, cozy and comfortable, but now for whatever reason my mind is completely awake. I mean full alert WIDE AWAKE. But knowing it’s 2:30 I try to convince myself that sleep is a good thing. I lay tossing and turning for an hour and a half, maybe drifting off once or twice. But come 4:15 I just said screw it and here I am. Up and at it.
I’m probably going to pay for this this afternoon and it’s going to throw off my sleep schedule all weekend. Oh well. At least I got a blog post out of it!
B.G Willers still podcasting
Here’s a new one! What for? Who knows.
Talking babies (clarification: talking about babies), chillaxin, and old school gaming.
It could be the last 19 minutes of your life, so be sure you want to spend it listening to this!
A New N64 Controller: A Review
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwL5gwaQKuE]
A new unofficial N64 controller has come out in the last couple years that shares the same form factor of the original. Now ripping off the exact design of the N64 controller probably isn’t completely legit, but Nintendo is probably busy defending more profitable markets than the extinct hardware market so they get away with it. Whoever “they” is. There is no name of any manufacturer given on the packaging or on the controller.
All in all it was pretty much worth what I paid. $10 plus shipping. While new controllers are hard to find, turns out a good used one might be better than this knockoff.
My original un-used N64 controller to use as a benchmark for comparison.
Our knockoff contender. Is it good enough to stand as a replacement for future worn out N64 controllers?
Original black controller. All controllers shared the same button coloring despite the controller chassis color. Notice all buttons are bright and vivid in color.
On the new controller, button colors are slightly "dirty" compared to the original. The joystick slightly different, being flat on top instead of rounded, and is much stiffer than the original. This makes fine movement a challenge at times.
The underside of an N64 controller is fairly uneventful. Just the Z button and the Controller Pak slot. But what is there is solid and comfortable.
The seams don't line up perfectly, but they're close enough for the price. However there's no excuse for the completely crappy Controller Pak release button. It is by FAR the cheapest feeling part of the controller. Feels like it will break just by touching it! Z Button however, which is used far more often feels almost identical to the original.
All in all, I’d put this on par with the quality of most other third party controllers, however this one does have the benifit of being the same shape and practically the same feel of the original controller. It doesn’t carry the same sensitivity, but perhaps it would after breaking in the joystick a little bit. There’s no excuse for the piece of crap controller pak eject button. But all in all it’s probably worth the $10 asking price. I certianly wouldn’t pay more unless it was a good condition used official Nintendo 64 Controller. This one however, I’m content to go to town on in Mario Kart 64 and tear the heck out of it. Which is one thing I try to avoid with my good controllers. With these… who cares?
It’s ALIVE!
Andrea just finished building Mom a new computer. I had nothing to do with it. She ordered all the parts, and assembled the whole thing. She did a perfect job too from what I can tell!
Prepping the empty case.
There's something so clean an pure about building a new computer. It's like a blank canvas to paint on. And no one has mucked it up for you with stuff you'll never use.
The mother-to-be installing the motherboard.
Installing dual DVD burners, baby!
While Andrea was working on Mom's computer, Sydney knocked the the coolest coffee mug off the counter. It was so cool we never used it, just displayed it. Turns out one of our previous visitors stashed $40 in there. I'm guessing it was one of the moms. No one has fessed up yet though!
Fully built! Time to install and setup! Worked perfectly of course! I think this computer might be better than ours now!
The Bonus in Basketball
Worst rule – bar none. Nothing like taking the last two minutes of a ballgame and stretching it to a good 15 to 20 minutes. I understand why it’s there. You don’t want one team fouling intentionally and indefinitely to keep the other team from scoring, but there’s got to be a better way.
Proposition 1: Hockey style penalty box. After 5 team fouls in a half, the next personal foul results in the offending player visiting the penalty box. This would give the opposing team a “power play” where they have a numbers advantage until the offending player has served their time.
Proposition 2: Running Clock. I’m tired of this bullcrap where teams will foul intentionally, hoping the opposing player will miss their free throws and get the ball back. This is chickenshit. If you can’t beat the other team straight up in the time allotted YOU DON’T DESERVE TO WIN! (shocker). Once you have reached the bonus all current rules remain in place, the other team still shoots free throws and you can still get the ball back, but that whole time they’re shooting free throws, the clock keeps running. That’s what you get for pulling a bitch move.
Proposition 3: No bonus. Infact you eliminate free throws all together. This is my favorite and most convoluted. If you foul an offensive player in the act of shooting, play is stopped. The offensive player is then allowed to take an unguarded shot from the spot of the foul. If you foul somebody going in for a layup, then they get a free shot right there from underneath the basket. If you foul an offensive player before the shot. Play is stopped, and the offensive team puts the ball back in play at the spot of the foul.
Let’s face it, all the bonus accomplishes is to let a team that has under-performed until the end of the game have an opportunity to win. I know we’re supposed to live in a world where giving it your best is supposed to be good enough, and hell, I should probably just be glad that they still allow one team to win in the game of basketball. But there has to be a better, more honest way to play the game.
01.14.11Nintendo Thumb
Man, this hasn’t happened for quite some time. I set my N64 up in the bedroom instead of the basement because its just too damn cold down there right now. I braved the coldness with my little space heater for about an hour before I just said “screw it” moved my basement tv and the N64 up where it was actually above 60.
I played for about another hour on Super Mario N64 until it’s time for bed. I didn’t realize while I was playing… but once I got done I felt it. Just that tenderness and almost a feeling like when you just start getting a blister.
It’s the dreaded Nintendo thumb! An injury known to sideline some of the all time greatest players. Even in my own prime I was set back a few times by the injury. Right in the middle of working on world record Mario Kart 64 times. I would try to play through the pain, but when you realize that you can’t make the same cuts and you just aren’t as fast injured… that’s when you realize you’re better served to sit out and get healed up. Then you can be close to 100% when you get back into the game. Happens to everybody, right?
After last night I’m up to 40 stars. These are the easy ones though. Some of these later are just going to be nuts.
01.11.11BYOBaby
First off, I’m sorry that I haven’t kept up on the blog. No excuses. Just ma bad!
Tons have been going on. Mostly I’ve been either communication with people the ye olde fashioned way, or for the most part, just not communicating much at all.
The big news is that Andrea and I are going to be parents! Woo hoo! It’s hard to imagine and I haven’t fully grasped how my life is going to change yet. But I’ve obviously passed the point of no return.
The thing I’ve noticed is that everyone seems to want to welcome me to the club of misery. Like, “Hey, congratulations! … I hope you don’t like sleeping.” Or “Way to go! … Kiss goodbye to life for 18 years to forever“. Of course I’m naive but I just can’t imagine it being that terrible. I’m sure I’d feel differently if I this were more of a suprise, or if I weren’t ready for all the hassle and drama. But I really think Andrea and I are going to be pretty good parents. We work well together now, why wouldn’t that carry over into parenthood?
In spite of everyone’s efforts to wish doom upon us, I’m still incredibly excited and optimistic. To live in a world surrounded by idiots, it’s a very empowering feeling to know that I have the opportunity to put at least one good person out into the world. I’m excited to at least try.
So as I write this Andrea is going to be about 11 weeks along already and the doctor gave her a due date of August 4th. I have until then to enjoy all the perks of being kid-less. Any suggestions?