3D Glasses
August 2006
I finally attained vision coverage for the first time after working at EB for awhile, so I ended up immediately putting it to use. I had known that I might need them since both my parents have glasses. Moreover, Speed Limit signs along with various signs were difficult to read at times. =^_^=;

So after making my appointment at this optical place in Gurnee Mills, I went and got my eyes checked and was given a light prescription. Got all the bells and whistles as it was a lot cheaper. So it's got the UV coating along with the polycarbonate lenses. I put them on for the first time and suddenly everything looked 3d. Usually things that were further away got gradually more blurry, now everything was in focus, just at different distances. It kind of looked a bit surreal for awhile as I wore them and I like the way they look overall.

I only really need them for driving as my sight nearby isn't affected, so they are now my driving glasses. Yay. =^_^=

Human Error
August 19, 2006
You know the saying, if it isn't broke, don't fix it? I'm reminded of how that analogy can fit sometimes as I was poking around with the restore feature on this Sony laptop. Instead of bringing up the restore menu, it wrote something incorrectly causing the boot sector not to boot properly after hitting the F6 button after post to get the menu. I could not even get into the loading windows screen, it was just black. I was officially screwed, so, I did what any geek would after kicking himself for a few minutes and did the best to recover the problem.

I got an external drive enclosure for the laptop, accessed the data directly on another PC and found the data was still in tact so I attempted to recreate the recovery disc manually. I managed to write the DVD successfully and boot disc necessary. I rebooted the laptop, had it restore the main drive and leave the secondary alone and I did a restore of my laptop to the last backup I had which was before I moved out here so I lost all logs, pictures, downloads, bookmarks after that point. Sucks, but that was my own fault. *shrug*

After that, I also went to bowling and gave little_wolf his birthday card. Had an okay time, but the bowling place wasn't really my thing. Very loud and with occasional cigarette smoke.

Trunk Thumpin
August 25, 2006
I finally got my subwoofer back from California sent to me from the folks, and today was the big day that I got installed. It ended up costing a bit more than I thought because the guy at Best Buy had to replace the line from the battery to the back, but I didn't care at that point. If there wasn't juice going to it, nothing more you can really do and by the time he ends up having to pull it out to troubleshoot it it would have been cheaper just for him to replace the line. Turned out to have some corrosion and some sharp kinks in the line from what we saw. He hooked everything up and it wasn't kicking for some reason. I asked him to open it up and see if the connection was loose on the inside and sure enough it was. He was real awesome and gave me a great deal on the labor overall since I guess I bought the replacement power line.

So now I have the full car system I once had back in my 99 Honda Civic EX in California. With beautiful full stereo and thumping bass that can really move me with each hit of the bass lines. *swoon*

Movie & Game Additions
October & November 2006

PS2: Used Dot Hack v 3, Shin Megami Tensei, Ico, Shin Megami Devil Summoner, Digital Devil Saga 2, Xenosage II, and dot Hack GU.
Movies: Thundercats Vol 1, South Park, Another Chapelle Show, Futurama Vol 1, TMNT 2, Black Sheep, Land of the Dead, Reservoir Dogs, Dawn of the Dead, Resident Evil Apocalypse, X Files Season 5, Star Trek TNG last season, Nightmare on Elm Street Collection.

MFF 2006 & PS3/Wii Pickups
November 2006
So right before I left to MFF 2006, I went with Axle and our friend Mike to pick up my PS3 then off I went down to Schaumberg. The pickup was a simple in and out, then off we went down to MFF. Got checked in and found a lot of my friends I was hoping to see weren't there, and the ones I did were off with other friends. The best time I had was when I hung out with Kargo and a few furs to go out to eat. That was probably the best part out of the trip. I played the PS3 a bit after getting it updated a few times, but overall I didn't have many to hang out with as I kept having a hard time bumping into people.

After MFF, I picked up my Wii and took it home to hook it up and the other systems.

PS3 vs Wii at launch
November assessment
PS3 although pricey, I had purchased a nice FPS with a good story with it. The online store and features of the system were rather lacking but they were somewhat functional. The lack of some solid games were rather disappointing, but the free blue ray was a minor nice bonus, and the ability to play a majority of retro games was a good bonus. The system was whisper quiet and very sleek in design. Overall I saw the potential in the system and the Resistance Fall of Man game was a glimpse into what could be possible with the PS3.

The Wii had Zelda to start it off with, along with a few retro games that were continuing to be added every week. It took them awhile to start getting some real solid titles that just made you want to hit the buy button. The free Wii Sports game is real good when you have company, but by yourself it loses it's appeal over time as you start noticing the limitations of the motion detection in the Wii controller. Moreover, you start to see the battery life time become more apparent after a few days of solid use. Overall the system was designed well, and lacked a web browser that the PS3 had out of the box. I was able to test the gamecube compatibility and it worked rather easily.

Current assessment
The PS3 now has undergone several update patches which have addressed the compatibility issue with the retro PS1 & 2 games. Moreover, improved support for HD playback as well as various download features. The online store now has retro games that you can download to play on your PSP and PS3. They have filled the online store with demos and trailers of upcoming games. The memory compatibility has been upgraded to allow you to download and upload game saves to your PS2 memory card adapter that hooks up to the PS3. Along with enhancing the ability of the PS3 with the PSP interacting with it remotely and over the Internet, it now works with your local network to play movies, music, and pictures on computers sharing that media.

As I figured, there is a large push towards their Fall 2007 lineup of games, which I am eagerly looking forward to as being a refreshing change of pace as my PS3 library looks very lonely.

The Wii has unveiled the web browser along with the weather/news channels to add to the informational experience of the Wii being more friendly to all audiences in delivering Internet content. Moreover, it has now a large group of retro games available for download in it's arsenal which seems to be the major backbone for the Wii for most adult gamers. There has also been the release of Wii Play, or Wario ware, which are good games, but definitely need a group to get the full enjoyment out of them. The one notable addition I can personally name off is Resident Evil 4 for the Wii. I heard the controls really added to the depth and enjoyment of the game.

Overall both show that they will be having some improvements this coming Fall. With the new @ Home feature for the PS3 that will provide an interactive world similar to Second Life that has unique built in content and is free for use on the PSN. The Wii has a new interaction device for Wii Fit, that you stand on and also a new zapper adaptation unit to convert your controller and nunchuck to a rifle gun. With the many games scheduled for this year it looks like there will be a lot of good games coming out, but the time will undoubtedly tell as these games are released to the many gamers that await them.

Launch Title Game Reviews
Zelda: Twilight Princess was a beautiful game that I gave a 9.0 out of 10 for it's beautiful music usage, large world and challenging areas. I found some parts to be overly difficult such as finding all the poe souls and the bugs. The fishing was very well done using the interactive controller as it gave a strong feel of actually fishing. The small side quests kept things interesting at times and helped add depth to the world of Hyrule. The final battle with the end boss seemed a bit lacking as I had learned all these new moves but it didn't seem that entirely necessary to know them based upon how easy it seemed the battle to go. I expected him to be faster and much harder considering all I had to learn to get there. Along with a few minor things that annoyed me such as lack of transportation areas, and the wolf form of Link moving about like a horse, I gave it a 9 for a solid overall game performance as it still showed room for improvement in certain areas.

Resistance Fall of Man is a good overall shooter that has a lot of key elements and all about just blowing stuff away. The difficulty does increase as you go up to higher difficulty levels and the AI increases in intelligence from what I have been told. Moreover, the realism in certain areas of the game I thought was real good. As a FPS with the story, I thought it was a good 9 out of 10 as the added networking ability really helped carry this thing further with allowing you to play with so many players at once.

More to come...take care for now.

Current Feelings: accomplished
Current Background Music: Utada Hikaru - Passion ~A Story Never Ending~

( Read more... )

Current Feelings: indescribable
Current Background Music: Perpetuous Dreamer - The Sound Of Goodbye

Hi there,

I know I haven't spoken to you in awhile, and you may have written me off as ever speaking to you again, but here I am. There has been a lot going on and between all of that, I have had a story brewing in me that I am now going to attempt to begin the first of many posts in revealing it all. I wanted to wait until the story had some kind of better turning around then where it was going, and it has. I do not like writing about things that are sad as it gets too depressing to just have bad stuff to talk about.

Twists and Turns at the Workplace...
May 2006
As you may recall, they were last bringing in someone else to fill the shoes as an assistant manager. It didn't end up being me, instead it ended up being Jeff from the Gamestop store in Round Lake. I was a bit disappointed at the fact that I didn't get bumped up, but according to the numbers they wanted better than what I was producing. When Jeff came in he was knocking out some good numbers with selling the EB Edge cards which is a big focus now that the company was under the Gamestop way of doing things.

As things went along though, it was clear that things were going to get a bit bad as the pressure just kept on mounting with the district manager on getting higher Game Informer subscriptions along with higher pre-orders, along with used sales. With the least amount of people around, as hours were even more tight than before. On a good note though, I eventually started to get a better handle on how to do things at the store and for some short spurts I managed to have some nice weeks. However, overall, I was not providing the numbers they wanted which explains why they had Jeff pulled in.

Then I started to notice that Jeff was not doing very well in the maintaining things in the store, or prioritizing things properly so that tasks were done in a timely manner. Then his numbers started dropping, while me and Antario were beginning to keep up the slack. Work began to get more stressing in that was all they cared about, the numbers. We ended up hiring a couple more people to help pick up the slack, but both Jeff and Shaun ended up leaving the company during the summer, which put me and Antario in a big bind. As we had to pull doubles in order to accommodate the problem, and I would have done more doubles to help out Antario but since they were super stingy with the hours I wasn't able to work longer and get paid any overtime. As Gamestop is anti-overtime, they rather put an idiot behind the register than pay someone who could get the job done.

June/July 2006
After Jeff left, I was finally given the baton for assistant manager, and with that all of the more pressure of trying to meet deadlines and goals. I also had to train new people, and interview them as Antario pushed responsibility on to me so that I would end up getting more experience on what to do. I also got to better understand on how to work with people and to try to customize the kind of working style that would best fit for the situation. Learned how to better prioritize work and delegate work that was more important to help get the store flowing better. But I found it very difficult to find time to help customers in between all of the tasks that needed to be done with such little work force, and yet try to find replacements for the lack of people we now had. It was a big headache for awhile that me and Antario had to endure, but we managed to pull through.

Then Antario warned me of impending doom coming as the warnings got more stern and he was right. But the part that got us was that we were busting our ass trying to show the value in a magazine and card. I liked the EB Edge card as it was a great value, but thrusting up the price and a magazine with it I thought was really damn cheesy. The discount card gave you a discount on the used items, and also gave you a boost on your trade ins. However, the downside is when the Edge Card and the More Card (Gamestop card) started working at our store. Because some customers had a More Card already, so they didn't bother getting our card. They should have kept them separate and boosted revenue. But I predict that Gamestop will continue to go downhill.

November 2006
In the end, I ended up leaving EB Games/GameStop because of the fact that the company didn't give a rats ass about the employees. They showed signs of valuing people who would sell and not necessarily try to help the customer. The District Manager likely knows the kind of crap going on in her stores, but does not care as long as there are numbers to back up the actions. The company also got rid of the best manager I have ever seen in my entire life, and they did it because they wanted to pay a Gamestop manager less money then pay for a quality Manager who kept the shrink (theft) down. It is no wonder that Gamestop was doing poor before the merger, and put their entire company against a loan to buy out EB Games. As EB Games would have nothing to do with these backwards people and I am confident that they will sink like the titanic with these kinds of business practices.

To bottom line it for you, the company reminds me of a bad used car dealership, that just wants your money in some shady ways. The people that care about the customers will not get rewarded and eventually swapped away for the higher pressure salesmen in order for you to spend, spend, spend your money and trade in for fractions of what they turn around and sell it for. I don't recommend anyone to buy from EB Games or Gamestop, as they are now all Gamestops in disguise and the ways of the once great EB Games is gone. It saddens me, but EB Games before the merger, was a great company to work with, and had some promising benefits, unlike Gamestop.

The New Roommate...
May 2006
As some of you may know, Fox moved out in May down south with a friend down there. Scott, who was a roomie that we were housing temporarily went along with us for almost 4 months. As a result, we began to look for another roommate and we ended up taking up Frost's Mate Blaze for a roomie. Thankfully we didn't go very long without the fourth roommate, and Blaze was able to get a job just down the street. So the transition went relatively well and now we are 4 roomies instead of 5.

A Clean Engine is a Happy Engine...
May 11, 2006
There is a local detail place where I get my car washed, which also offered a steam cleaning of the engine with proper lubing of parts that need it. The engine cleaning was just a mere $40 and I must say when I opened that hood up it looked like I got it off the lot of a dealer. I highly recommend them and if you know me in the area, you should get your engine cleaned there by First Impression Auto Detail Inc. as they do a superb job with the cleanings.

Home Additions..
June 5, 2006
Finally got another bookcase to put some books that were sitting inside a box I still didn't unpack. =^_^=;; I also got another bookcase for the kitchen area and a small table for the small network devices we have so they are more out of the way and less ghetto looking. The place has looked a little better because of it too.

Black Circles Fill My Ears...
June 6, 2006
I finally did it! I bought 1.5" gaboon ebony solid plugs in my lobes and they are positively wonderful. I purchased them at Omerica Organic. I also have a nicely stretched 0 gauge septum that is still waiting for some nice jewelry too!

A birthday I rather forget...
July 31, 2006
So I finally got a year older again, and with that I decided to take my friends Axle, Eric and Mike out to Dave & Busters for a good time and eats. We arrived there in good spirits and I bought an appetizer for Mike and Axle as they had no monies. I ended up buying that combo deal where you pay like $15 and get a play card for the arcade for free with the meal. I ended up giving the card to Axle and Mike so they could at least enjoy some gaming while me and Eric went and played some games as I refilled my dusty D&B card back up with some cash. But before we headed to the arcade we enjoyed an hour of billiards before grabbing at the many games to be had in the arcade. I admit that I did have some fun playing the familiar games and yet towards the end of it...I felt a bit bummed that I ended up putting a lot of effort to make the day work out and felt a bit used, but I dunno...spending $60 and doing the driving just kinda left me feelin a bit empty. I tried not to show it as I was trying to have a good time...but ah well, it's just another day I suppose. I hung out with friends, and although my friends didn't have money I tried to make the best of it.

My parents gave me $60 and a birthday card so I guess on the other paw, I guess it all balanced out when I think about it.

Everything I hoped and more...
I did manage to beat the Okami video game on my PS2, and it was quite worth it. The story was done well and the ending was very moving to see to the very end. The benefits of beating the game unlocks special movie clips along with the soundtrack, and the ability to play again with a bit of a head start the next time around in stats. I still stand by my assessment that I made in a previous post about this being well worth it for anyone that likes adventure games and a fantasy that can captivate anyone who likes seeing old tales coming to life as you play the hero.

There are more posts to come, as I just touched upon some areas of work and a few highlights I wanted to note along the way that I wanted to share with you all out there. Until the next post, take care everybody...

Current Feelings: thoughtful
Current Background Music: Keane - Bend And Break

Hi! Miss me? =^_^=

Movie Recap for Summer 2006
Da Vinci Code
May 19, 2006
I personally enjoyed this movie as it gave some very interesting theories on what may be going on in the church and that there are a great many things that perhaps they don't want us to know. I have not read the book so I did not have any set standards to go into the movie, which is probably why I enjoyed it a lot. Definitely recommend it to those who like a conspiracy type of story within the with some action and twist in the plot as the story develops. I thought overall this was a movie I would like to have in my collection.

X-Men 3
May 26, 2006
This movie was...okay, it was bad, really bad. Not only do they start killing off some characters here and there but they even seem out of character for how they would act. Whether it would be not doing anything or doing too much, it just felt completely wrong and I had left the theater feeling rather disappointed with how this movie just did not carry the feel as the others did. Moreover, it just seemed so damn dark and when the movie finally ends you begin to even wonder if you want to see the fourth one considering how dark everything ends up. You may definitely want to rent this before purchasing, although I am VERY curious about the 3 alternate endings and the deleted scenes on the DVD version. Perhaps a script that I would have been more content with? We'll see...

Click
June 23, 2006
This movie really surprised me the most this year. I was expecting more of a similar Adam Sandler dumb story, basic comedy theme. I was surprised that this one had a story that was very out there in the whole remote control sense, however, how a person ended up using it and how it could be a nightmare. It had carried a message that I thought was rather insightful to the main character and at the same time to the audience as they took the journey with the character into his life as it progressed along with this "universal remote" that was a little too helpful than he would have wanted. The comedic parts helped the overall flow of interest and the cast was a delightful mix of talents that really lent to the overall enjoyment to the movie. This one is going in my collection for sure.

Superman Returns
June 30, 2006
Not exactly what I expected is probably the best start I could go into a review about this one. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. It had the settings, music, cast that really could pull off everything in general. What I thought was lacking was that the story took it in directions that didn't seem in character. How serious relations with Louis and Superman got, as well as how fast Superman kind of leapt right into Luther's trap. I thought the whole crystal exploitation idea was a bit over the top for me, it just didn't seem to have the right fit considering the previous movies. *shrug* I think the series can still go somewhere, but it's got me more in the middle ground of whether or not I will continue watching this series as it may progress on the big screen.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2
July 7, 2006
I ended up seeing this one with Axle and Mike who I treated to it so we could all watch it together. I enjoyed the movie as I thought, and as some of you may know how I like the previous installment this one definitely did a good job in making me interested in the third installment. I definitely like the mysteries surrounding Davey Jones and how it all ties in with Jack Sparrow. When it all ends you are left seeing a surprising old face and wondering if any recent deaths were really permanent after all. Good movie for sure. =^_^=

The Covenant
September 8th & 11th, 2006
This movie was rather cool as I had thought they would just do a same old kind of thing with the story. However, since I didn't see the full trailer that gave everything away I was able to enjoy the little twists in the story and had slowly gathered up who was the culprit behind the recent deaths that were plaguing the town. I liked the special effects and was glad it wasn't overdone to the point and actually fit the style of the characters who used them or chose not to use them. I definitely recommend this movie to those who like the magic/wiccan style on the big screen.

The Protector
September 17, 2006
As a birthday present to Axle, I offered him to take him out to eat or to take him to a movie of his choice. He chose the latter, so off we went to The Protector and I might say it was better than I expected. I had this movie off my radar completely and I will stay that it is jammed with action after you get beyond the slow lead in of the story breaking in the depth of how the main character had developed this sense of urgency for what he had to deal with throughout the movie. I must say though this movie probably has the most broken bone scenes I have ever seen. *wince* A definite good watch for those who like seeing an underdog trying to set things right and retrieve back his Elephant that was stolen from his home town, while avenging those that were dear to him.

DVD Movie Additions...
Since some of it may not be of interest, I'll just hit some highlight additions of the Star Trek entire movie collection, Deep Space Nine Season 5, Wayan Brothers Season 1, Mind of Mencia, Fun with Dick & Jane and Underworld 2. Just recently finished the DS9 and the Star Trek Movies I watched out of sequence for like a month or two after I got them. =^_^=; Yeah, yeah, I like Star Trek... 8p

Game News
Kingdom Hearts II
I finally beat Kingdom Hearts II during my long quiet period of non posting. I would have to say the game was enjoyable, but does not quite live up to the previous game in term of story. I would have liked to have had a bit more side stuff going on and perhaps larger areas to explore. The planets you could go to were very colourful and wonderful. Plus the first like hour or so of game play you are going, huh? Who is this guy? Because it doesn't quite fit in exactly where the first game left off, it resumes where the GBA game left off and that can really throw you off balance. Luckily though as you put the pieces together you can fill in the blanks and figure out what is going on in due time. The ending seemed a bit cheesy at a couple spots with that triangle special move bit here and there, but there were some parts that were particularly awesome such as the thousand lights coming at you with Sora & Riku, very cool. If I would rate Kingdom Hearts at being a 9, this would get an 8 out of 10, as it didn't do as good as the previous but still did good nonetheless.

The next one has to be for the PS3, and if so, it needs to take advantage of those new graphics and perhaps all of those nice cinemas we saw will be in that same quality on the PS3. *drool* =^_^=

Dance Factory
This game showed so much promise, but didn't quite deliver on what I was hoping for. Dance Factory is a game that is supposed to create dance steps for your own music collection. First, the interface of the menus is not exactly very smooth and intuitive in design as it tends to change the confirm button here and there. The game also creates some decent steps 3 out of 4 of the times we tried it. I imagine it may be due to the type of song or sensing it does with the beat sensing. It also lacks some good customization to the layout so you can make the game a bit more comfortable, as the bright random colours of the step arrows can be a bit much to focus on for the right step times. There is a lot of potential out of this game, but it looks like it was rushed a bit too quickly to the shelf for my taste. I recommend this one as a <$20 purchase, for the fun it could provide, but over that, forget it, not really worth the money.

Yakuza
I haven't played this one very in depth, but so far it does seem to be a good storyline that makes this game unique. It doesn't seem to have much in the way of exploring a lot of areas. However, what did catch my attention was the areas you did walk through had a lot of detail. There wasn't a lot of repetitive characters walking about, which caught my eye immediately. However, the whole Character VS Character fight screen with the camera panning around them like a fighter game was rather amusing and cheesy at times. The load times were a bit choking here and there, but it's clear due to the detail placed in the areas at times. I definitely would like this game, just at a lower price, probably at about ~$30-$40. $50 is a bit steep for me and not for this kind of game.

Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova
From what I have seen on this one, it looks like the selection of music tunes were okay, and it's a nice addition but nothing like really like OMG this is a must have. I dunno, perhaps all of these Stepmania files and ITG has tainted my expectations of a good song selection? I definitely won't be buying this one until much later I imagine.

Okami
There really needs to be a word that is made just for this game. It is beyond wonderful, unique, artistic, enjoyable, fun and did I mention you should probably buy it before it's gone? I have already logged over 40 hours into this fantastic game. This game is about you playing a wolf "Okami Amaterasu" who is actually a god using the form of a wolf to help a village she had helped 100 years ago rid evil out of the area with the help of a warrior Negi. She comes again when this evil is set loose again and you play her as you regain her abilities that were spread across the land and restore the beauty back to the land while ridding it of the evil. In between all of it you get to help the people with various tasks along the way (Side missions!!). If you want some more information into what the game is about you can check out: http://www.capcom.com/okami/ Plus you can also look at other reviewers who have given it amazing reviews @ http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/okami

Besides all of this stuff? I have other things to report, but for now it is going to be 1:30AM and I have to open the store this morning. =^_^=;; So I probably should hop into bed, but there are more posts to come and I have much to post about, but I will space it out into chunks so you can possibly digest it a bit easier. That being said, hope you are all doing well out there and thanks for listening.

Current Feelings: accomplished
Current Background Music: Wolfsheim - Find Your Gone (LP Version)

Hey...how's it going?  I know I haven't talked to you for awhile.  I don't have a great excuse, other then that I haven't really felt up for updating much.  Even though there has been a lot to post, with that, I'll just let you know what's been going on.

Work news
As you may recall, there was some possible lead about me getting promoted.  With Joe leaving, it allowed Jameson to bump up to Assistant Manager, and me to bump up to his spot of third key, meaning more hours (40 hours a week steady) and some increase in pay.  However, the hairy part was that it took awhile to get that cleared up because I had to bring the seriousness of this situation to my District Manager.  Thankfully, it all got sorted out after waiting for a few months in total and I got a small raise and finally in as a third key for the company.

On another note with work, it's been rather hectic with a lot of changes going on through the store the past couple months, with my time being drained by it we have taken on a new update to our point of sale terminals.  So some procedures have changed, a lot of price changes and items converting to different departments as well as whole new store layout to boot.  Throughout all the turmoil we were pulling through decently except that the game play has changed.  Before, the company focused on pre-played as being a top priority as well as trade ins.  Now it is all about reserves, which is a completely shift from our previous habits, not to mention our customer's habits.

Our store hasn't been doing very well number wise, because of the strong shift of direction and now we are near the bottom of the list for the district as of late.  We have slowly been trying to pull ourselves out of this rut and to boot, we have had a low amount of used product in the store so that isn't helping too much either with the decreased traffic.

Nah, I don't think so.
So Jameson quit this past Tuesday, which left the new assistant manager position in.  In case you were wondering, I didn't get the position, our District Manager is transferring a third key from another store to promote him.  I'm of course disappointed, but truthfully she has reasons in that our numbers aren't reflecting what the new requirements are just yet.  We are still trying to get on our feet and get our groove back to being back on top.  But with the way things are right now, it's an uphill climb that I am desperately trying to stay on top of for these new procedures.

Some progress in extracurriculars
Through the stuff that has been going on, I finally have been able to save up and buy a few things for myself that I have been waiting out for.  Finally got a new stereo put in my car that replaced my broken one from since like, Novemberish?  My friend Eric helped me install the speakers I have had sitting here for awhile from my previous car, into my car.  Man, it was a real bear getting them in as you had to remove a lot of paneling for the rear speakers.  It was annoyingly difficult to replace those speakers and I can't believe they made the design so ridiculous to replace them.  Hopefully my parents will send me my sub woofer and amp so I can place those in the back of my car to finish the complete stereo setup in the car.  Restored back to it's former glory and all the lovely sound thumping therein.  ahh...

Also got Beatmania US, which is a complete joke to the Japanese version.  The songs were really lame overall and the scoring system was very reduced.  I was actually getting AA for some songs, which is like insane.  I do hope that there is going to be an improvement on the subsequent versions, but time will eventually tell.  I also took the plunge into Kingdom Hearts II and I so far have 24 hours logged into the game on proud mode, which means that I still have a ways to go before finishing it.  I'll have a review once I finish the game.  My roommates have already finished it too, I feel so behind.  =;_;=  I have been playing it off and on with my free time, along with watching Star Trek TNG seasons 1, 2 & 3 which have been traded in to our store, and I couldn't pass these up.  We had a buy two, get the third free sale going for pre-played, plus with my discounts and that these were near mint.  I jumped all over it and I have had some mini marathons after I got them.  Speaking of a TV series, my friend Posi lent me Stargate SG1 seasons 1 & 2, which I just finished the marathon running of those this past week.  It was absolutely wonderful seeing the series again, after not seeing it for over a year since I moved here and lost the Sci Fi channel.  *sigh*

As for movies, I have also added some DVDs to my lonely DVD collection due to Sam Goody's going out of business sale.  I now have the following DVDs added to my collection: House of Flying Daggers, Tron 20th Anniversary Edition, The Interview with the Vampire, The Whole Ten Yards, The Butterfly Effect, Peter Pan, Fried Green Tomatoes, Hero, PCU, Dracula 2000, The Dark Crystal, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, In Living Color: Season One and Angel Season Four.

Oh yeah, had a marathon run of In Living Color and Angel, as the prices were too amazing to pass up!  I thoroughly enjoyed watching Angel again, it was nice seeing all of the characters and seeing the story unfold again after not seeing it for so long.  In Living Color reminded me of the ingenuity of the series for it's time and how it really just brought out a whole unique style to the television with it's cast.  Jim Carrey was about to launch in his career at the time and a few other actors were going to progress further in their own careers as well.

V for Vendettad
Saw V for Vendetta in theaters with friends last month, it was a good movie.  It didn't have a lot of new messages to show us, but it did really show us another character grown out of misdeeds of others.  The whole cause and effect in full circle from start to finish in a very poetic and livid way with a person's entire being to enact Justice.  Sadly, I can foresee such a world existing and who knows, we might be on the brink of such a world being created if the checks and balances continue to erode away.

Small projects...
I did some shopping for supplies for the Arcade box and now have the necessary wood and pieces to begin working on the cabinet.  I have just mainly been lacking time and trying to meet up with my friends to coordinate our efforts so that we can get cracking.  I imagine this project may be done by late summer at the current rate, but even so, it shall be awesome once completed and I shall make pictures of the progress as it unfolds.

I'm currently at 1 7/16" for my lobes at the moment, almost to 1 1/2" for both, then I can finally stop and get the jewelry I have had my eyes on for over a couple years.  All I can say is that it's about damn time!

Fox is moving...
My roommate Fox will be moving out soon, which is both good and bad.  The bad being that we may not have a replacement roommate yet.  If anyone is looking for a place to live in the immediate area, please let me know as I am looking for responsible applicants who want to room with a few other furs.

You know that saying, don't fix it unless it's broke...
I was trying to recreate some recovery files for my laptop, I thought I successfully backed up my data.  Hey, even the software said it copied all files successfully, what I should have done was spot checked a few pertinent files and for that fault of my own I have no excuse.  Therefore, after successfully formatting my laptop and managing to recreate my recovery discs for my laptop so I can send it in for repair theoretically soon, I lost all of my logs, some e-mails, new links and pictures collected for the past year.  I restored my last backup which was a little over a year ago, so a lot of data was lost.  It seems that any encrypted files were copied over as 0 bytes, and so I was rather...surprised at the lack of data for literally hundreds of files.  =-_-=;  I was a bit bummed, but got over the loss as it could have been worse and it was my fault for trusting Maxtor's partition copy program that ran through Windows and not a direct actual read of byte to byte of the entire partition that it implied.  *sigh*  Anyway, hope that prevents any of you out there from making the same terrible mistake.

Free time
Most of my free time has been spent either watching the dvds I have gathered, playing Kingdom Hearts II, working on various lil projects, grocery shopping/bill paying, or eating out with friends.  I ate out quite a bit last month alone!  Goodness, hanging out is spensive!  =-_-=;;  Mucho thanks to Posi for his kindness for treating me to dinner, he gave me an offer I couldn't refuse when I told him towards the end of the month that my eating out budget was quite tapped.

Future plans...
A lot of it is up in the air at the moment, and with spring now creeping up upon us, there is a lot to do ahead with the apartment, my job situation and also finding another roommate.  Take care everyone and I hope all of you are doing well through these turbulent times.  More to come, until the next post everybody!

Current Feelings: drained
Current Background Music: Utada Hikaru - Passion (English Version)

Hi Everyone,

Work Buzz
As you may recall, my boss Antario was coming back to the store and thankfully this past Monday he did just that.  With him back it has managed to calm me a great deal because he has already taken steps to get things ironed out for both me and Jamison asap.  Moreover, with him being back in the store I know things will be getting back on track.  Tony was sent out to another store and I hope to maybe give him a call to see how he is doing.

Apartment Billz
With that aside, and plus our gas bill in the apartment down it looks somewhat promising for funds to be less tight.  A few months ago not only was our gas bill higher because of the budget plan we are on counting on higher usage but also our electric was higher.  I managed to get the electric bill under paw as I had discussed things with everyone and also got Fox an oil filled electric heater instead of using the space heaters which can use well over 1400 Watts.  Whereas the one he has now is using 600-900 watts and can be positioned more closely to where he needs the heat.  It seems to be working well because the overall bill has dropped since it's use and our gas use is still reasonably low in comparison to what they projected us using.  Because of that our new bill is 1/3rd the amount they said previously for each month, which will free a good amount of money for more groceries instead of bare essentials and perhaps a few home improvement things (bookcase, pantry items, etc).

On another reason why I do not like this apartment, the water pipes are frozen!!!  So that's going to be a lot of fun for the next few days.  NOT!

Outta here!
I hope to be moving and with that things should be a lot better for everyone here because then we