BYOBaby
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?
There Goes the Neighborhood
Ugh… well we got our new neighbors this week. I knew this would happen here eventually. We’d been lucky so far that the folks that have lived behind us were 1) a quiet single guy, 2) elderly woman, and 3) single college student.
Now make that 4) Two hoodlum roommates.
The way our place is situated our house is what you see from the street. But behind our house, literally in the back yard is another small house with a little two car garage. There’s one driveway that runs from the street out front of our house, to the alley in the back. It’s not ideal, but it works for now. I guess I had kinda gotten used to a single person always living there (I’m pretty sure it’s a one bedroom house), so there was always one car there. Made maneuvering around pretty doable. Now there’s two cars back there, which sure they are entitled… but it makes getting in and out of our half of the garage a pain in the ass now.
The worst part is that ever since they moved in, people have been coming and going all the freakin’ time. There were two high school aged kids that were sitting in the driveway, waiting for the new neighbors to get home for (no exaggeration) 4 hours. There’s not too many things kids that age will wait that long for, and I’m pretty sure none of them are legal.
Maybe I’m a grumpy old fart now. But I just don’t feel like putting up with it. This really isn’t a great time for a move, but since we aren’t locked in to a lease here, I’m really going to start looking around. Ugh. I can’t wait until we’re ready to buy a house.
12.21.10Final Fantasy XIII accomplished
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI3lqWhuQlA]
Well it took me forever, but I finally beat Final Fantasy XIII. Very worth it. Several folks on the IGN boards were pretty critical of it, but I thought it was great. Different than the few I’ve played, but not necessarily in a bad way.
Since FFX is the first game in the series I’ve played I always seem to use that as my benchmark. I’m a sucker for the cinematics and the new game didn’t leave me disappointed. While several of the scenes are pre-rendered at some high dollar CGI studio, a majority of them are real time and running on the PS3 hardware. They blend surprisingly well, and in the video I posted above, if you aren’t paying attention, you probably can’t tell which is which. I have to glance down at my original NES and just appreciate how far video games have come.
The story is another good ole’ “save the world”, “will we ever see each other again” tale. The thing about these games and the stories (for me at least) is that they are so damn long, and at times so frustrating, you can’t help but become emotionally invested in the characters. Even if the story isn’t a literary masterpiece. When you finally just beat some hard ass boss and you feel that sense of relief and victory, you also see those same emotions coming through the characters in the game. And when you fight that enemy and win, still only to have someone they love ripped away from them, it makes you want to know why. I’m a geek like that I guess.
So I’ll admit, against the grain of the Final Fantasy purists that spin ye olde tails of classic turn by turn, overworld exploring, 8-bit times, I play the game, for the scenes and stories in between the battles. I still enjoy PLAYING the game, don’t get me wrong. I love customizing the weapons, and filling the screen with huge numbers with the best of them. But if it weren’t for the dessert, I probably would skip the meal. There I said it!
In FFXIII The battles are pretty automated in that you aren’t picking every single attack, but you do get the ability to issue specific orders to the character you are controlling, and focus your party’s attacks on a single target. The real meat of the battle system is setting up paradigms. Basically mixing and matching combinations of specialties which you can readily switch in the middle of battle. You don’t have the luxury of having enough experience to just make everybody specialize in everything, so it’s best to diversify the disciplines of your characters so you have the flexibility to adjust to whatever the battle calls for.
All in all, I’ll probably find myself playing this game again sometime soon. The end wasn’t quite what I expected (in a good way) but I wish sometimes the endings weren’t quite so perfect. But then again, there’s my FFX bias shining through again.
Status Update
What a windy good for nothing day. You know those pictures NASA sends out of the Martian landscape they get from the rovers up there? Desolate, windblown, frigid… yeah, that’s today here in Great Bend. I opted out of walking to work today. Take away my street cred if you must, but I just wasn’t feeling it.
Andrea and I have been talking about whether or not to get our free membership to the gym going again. I’d hate to get it and not use it because it costs the station money whether we use it or not once we sign up for it. I know it’d be a good thing, but that place just closes too early. If you’re not wrapping up your workout by 8:30 then you’re liable to get locked in. And heading down anytime before 7:00pm is just madness. I know I’d be good for us though.
Everything at work is really starting to come together. It’s hard to believe the hell we were going though back in September with the whole system change. There’s another radio station here in town that has been stuck on the wrong satellite all day. Been giving Charlotte traffic reports all day. Nice to know that we’re not the only place in the world that’s had a rough time.
Other than that, just plugging along. I’m so darn proud of myself. I’ve got almost all of my Christmas shopping done already. Between the radio auction, and Black Friday deals online, I’ve knocked out about 90% of the Christmas list. It’s a big stress reliever actually. The money is spent already, so that’s behind us, and I don’t have to fret about what I’m going to bring as gifts for that trip to someone’s house we’re making THE NEXT DAY. I know nobody’s suprised, but there’s been several years I’ve been wandering Wal-Mart at 8PM Christmas Eve hunting with all my might to find a somewhat reasonable gift. This year… a breeze!
So keep on keepin’ on. And I’ll try to do the same on my end!
11.29.10Time is catching up with her.
God bless my Toronado. It has been by and far the best car I’ve ever owned. Reliable, comfortable, unique… I have a lot more emotionally invested in it than I do monetarily. And over the years since I’ve painted it (almost 4 years ago!) time has kept marching on to prove that it’s still a 25 year old car that’s seen the rigors of use every single day.
The plastic fillers on the front bumper have been cracking for a long time. The left front has finally let go. My power door lock switch on the drivers side busted. I think I’m just going to swap it with the passenger side for now. You can get a new switch for $25, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. And worst of all, with being forced into 25 winters worth of Kansas salty roads, the rust is just starting to take its toll. There’s a small spot on the front fender. Little bubbles behind the rear wheels, and I just noticed yesterday that it’s just barely starting to bubble through on the rear bumper. And of course the hail damage from the “Carpet Bombing of ’08”.
Mechanically, it’s still solid as a rock! I honestly still wouldn’t hesitate to change the oil and drive to California! It still gets decent gas milage. I recently made a trip to Wichita, back to Great Bend, to Hays and back to Great Bend on one tank of gas! Not bad for an old barge!
So I’m wrestling with the thought of spending any more money on cosmetics for the car. My thoughts are I need to be saving for the successor. Which if I spend what I did on this one, won’t take long! For now I’ll keep driving it. It still gets some compliments. And from about 20ft, it’s still a pretty sharp ride. But it’s like when you know the time is getting near, and you’re going to have to think about the day when you just have to let it go.
One last shot of the RCA
Off to Dad's from here. Kinda cool when you look back at what it was when I got it!
Hockey… I need a team.
I’m pretty unfamiliar with the NHL in general. But I love watching hockey, and I’ve been following the season a bit watching games online. But I just don’t really have anybody to root for. For now, just kinda root for the underdogs. I mean since the nearest team is hundreds of miles away I can’t really root for the home team.
So I’ve decided that in addition to playing for the Stanley Cup, all the NHL teams are also playing for my fan-dom this year. Yes that’s right. Whoever wins the championship this year will earn my allegiance as a life long fan. So c’mon guys! Play on!
You can’t have mine… So here’s yours!
Well, a while back Dad, Carrie and Jake came up to visit and I was showing off my little speakeasy down in the basement and they were admiring my old GE Console radio. While probably joking, they offered to buy it. First of all I really didn’t want to sell it… and second of all they offered WAY more than it’s worth and I just can’t go about ripping off family like that. Co-workers? Sure! But you gotta draw the line at being a shuckster somewhere, right?
So I had it in my mind that I’d keep my eyes peeled for something for them. Good ol’ Trading post came through for me eventually (same place I got the Blazer… watch out)! A guy north of town was selling this old radio. He was asking $75, I got it for $60 and felt like I paid too much…
Here it is:
$60.00? WTF was I thinking?
It's old. And unearthed from a tomb apparently.
What a gift. Who's gonna want this crusty old junk? Even for free? The wood might make good kindling for a fire I guess.
Speaking of starting a fire!
So I’m committed at this point. I figure worst case scenario, the radio sounded decent and if I couldn’t get it halfway respectable I’d just toss it in a corner and use it as a work bench or something. If the record player isn’t too far gone and it cleans up okay it might turn out halfway decent. The knobs are looking pretty ratty, and Brasso has always done me right in the past. You have to start somewhere, right?
They won't be original with the silver trimmed knobs and all. But they look a heck of a lot nicer! At least it'll have nice knobs!
Then I start hitting the cabinet with a rag to see what’s just dirt and grime, and what is really damaged. Then some Old English. I’m no woodsmith so I’m not coming within 10 feet of this thing with sand paper. I’d destroy the damn thing, so whatever is broken is going to have to stay broken. Turns out once all the crud is scraped away, and the Old English brings some of the shine back, it’s not in too bad of shape!
Thar be shine! Haven't cleaned the speaker grills yet.
I'm starting to feel better about this project!
The most frustrating part has been the record changer. I got a new needle no problem. But the mechanism itself just didn’t have the gusto to run through a whole change cycle. The old springs were weak. And once I got it taken out to grease it, I found that one of the mounts that holds the motor on was busted, so I had to fab up some new ones out of hardware store parts. It seems to be working now, but there were some hairy moments getting from there to here.
So without further adieu. Here it is in action: The 1964 RCA Victor Console Radio!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVwO30oHgL0]
11.23.10Something to do
I think I have an idea. If I can find the resources, I think I’m going do some video editing. Need to dust off my editor… and my skills. Stay tuned!
This Sucks
Well, here I am. Finally have a night after work where there’s not something going on no running around, or things that have to be done. And… I’m bored.
Damn!
I don’t know if it is lack of things to do, or lack of motivation to get started? I’d play some Guild Wars or Minecraft right now, but I don’t really want to set aside enough time to actually accomplish anything. Like my free time is SO </sarcasam> valuable that I can’t spend to much of it doing one thing, that now I’ve sat around and done Nothing. I’m racking my brain trying to think of all the stuff I was wishing I had time to do. Then talking myself out of doing it.
I might just go grab my next N64 game and start the next re-review.