Dimension Hatross

Ernie

2007-12-20T14:01:00.000-05:00

Photo courtesy of Julianne Gentile @ Flickr

On a wonderous day almost six years ago, Julie went into a pet store that we never frequented into due to the conditions of some of the animals kept there. She found two really cool ferrets, a very dark/black furred boy and another, chocolate colored boy that had a teddy bear face. The black one started to climb up my wife's sleeve, begging us to come home. The store claimed the two were brothers, so after we decided to take home the black one, I basically said we had to get both. We did. We named them Burt and Ernie. Burt became "Burt the Bear" since he was so dark he looked like a miniature bear, and Ernie became "Ernie Monster" and later, "Ernie Boloney".

Ernie had a few very distinct aspects to his personality. For one, he enjoyed human flesh. In the later years of his short life, he took to latching onto whatever exposed skin we made available to him, almost like a vampire. We were fairly sure it was just for sport, not malice. He had the most precious teddy bear face, which made this trait all the more hilarious. He loved this raggedy, old pink baby slipper and treated it like his only child. He was very possessive of this slipper and became very frustrated if another ferret touched it. He loved to hide dog food in the couch (we later found a large stash when we opened up the cloth underneath) and Whisker Lickins. Another favorite event was the splashing (emptying) of the water bowl in whatever cage he could gain access to. As a result, much to their chagrin, other ferrets housed with him rarely got any of the water, except out of the bottle! Ernie was always playful and later became a mentor to a new addition in 2006 called Sniffles. Sniffles now empties the water bowl on Ernie's behalf :)

Ernie developed a chronic intestinal problem that gradually became worse. We suspect it was some type of cancer. Despise constant treatments, Ernie left us peacefully today just after noon. He passed over the Rainbow Bridge in his sleep, the very best way possible. He's gone to join the rest of our beloved friends - Cupcake, Baby Kitty, Betty, Grover, and Bubbles. Interestingly enough, we stopped to grab a take-out dinner last night at the Chinese restaurant next to where we met Ernie. It was an odd coincidence. We even had Ernie with us in the car since we had just come back from a vet visit with him. All things in this world are a circle. Are there really coincidences?

There aren't words to describe our love for Ernie, but we will miss him dearly. Be at peace, Ernie, we love you - forever!

The following are lyrics by The Gathering, and the song is called Morphia's Waltz.

I see your eyes
Blue and wide open
Take your time
my divine creature
My arms will provide
undivided attention

Sleep, child sleep
rest your eyes
until the sun comes up
and you'll awake
to light, everyones day
up again

Rest your head
in my lap, honey
The day I wept
is when I had you my love

Sleep, child sleep
rest your eyes
until the sun comes up
and you'll awake
to light everyones day
up again

Upon the Vista

2006-12-13T08:19:00.000-05:00

So, I've been using Windows Vista Business edition for about 2 weeks now. The laptop I use at work doesn't support the video card, thus I can't see Aero Glass. Well, it keeps me from becoming jaded with the pretty graphics, right?

What I like about Vista:

• It's pretty. Even without Aero running, everything is crisper and all menus, etc are very high resolution. Looks great on an LCD screen.
• Folder browsing - It's easier once you get the hang of it. I am mixed on this. Navigation is pretty cool, since you can click on any part of the file path to drill back into a specific folder, even in the middle of the path. Think of a shopping site where you can narrow down your searches, then go back and click on a broader topic to widen your search again. However, the dropdown doesn't support your drive list by default. You get recent places you've been instead. A little annoying. Clicking on "Computer" in the left panel gets you to all your shared drives.
• CD burning - It's easier. Nothing more to say about that
• ZIP files - Imagine this, you can actually CREATE ZIP files now. Something XP should have had out of the box. Duh.
• User migration - It's done within the OS now, but you can still use the user migration tool (easier for mass configurations anyhow). But, if you are a home user, this will be a nice feature, provided you didn't have a system crash on the machine you are importing settings from.
• File sharing - If you turn it on, simple file sharing now really uses the "Shared" account settings for easy access to files you want people to see. Think of it as putting files into your peer to peer sharing directory with something like Kazaa. Users can browse the files. It's an easy way to transfer stuff back and forth with people, and great for multi-user workstations.
• Program level access - When futzed with, this will allow programs to run in an elevated user lever (i.e. higher than "User") for stupidly coded software that used to require full admin access to launch. These are softwares that administrators hate. Hate! Now, at least, I can have something launch at a heightened level without intervention.

Oh, and the screen snippit tool is pretty cool. Easier screenshot handling (you can crop on the fly, highlight windows/regions, etc). No more need for SnagIt!

What I hate about Vista:

• User Access Control - Holy hell. You get asked for every thing you do. I turned off the User Access Control right away. This can be GPO'd, and registry edited to kill. Wow, it stinks. I am an advanced OS user, I don't need to be questioned when I want to change my IP address. I realize this is good for so many reasons, but I hate it. Even with this shut off, running executables asks you if you really want to (for certain types). You know, if I launch a virus or malware on my PC, I can fix it, so I generally don't care about these security settings. In a work environment, sure, but at home? Hell no.
• Administration - It now takes about 2-3 more clicks to get me where I need to go for administration of users and system settings. Getting to the network connections panel is cumbersome. Even finding "add/remove programs" takes some time until you see it at the top of a dialog box.
• Value - 90% of what I am seeing isn't going to be used by the general home user. Even at the business level, most of the "cool stuff" will either be shut off or just unused. I don't want users to be able to pull RSS feeds to their desktops. I don't wants to throw Internet widgets ("gadgets" they call them) that constantly ping away at some remote service all day long. That will all be disabled.

More later as I fumble through Vista. I've also got Office 2007 running. I'm not a power Office user, but so far, I really like the new interface. The larger panels with logical grouping mirrors of a lot of the Photoshop suite (I think they are called palettes, I still call them panels). Outlook 2007 is really slick. More on Office later as well.

Moving...

2006-11-03T12:12:00.000-05:00

The DH is moving/has moved. If you see this message, then you found me! If not, well, enjoy seeing a stagnant blog, since that old (Adelphia) page won't be updated anymore!

Since TimeWarner bought Adelphia in our area, I imagine within a certain amount of time the Adelphia servers will cease to exist. Since the URL would change, why not just move now? Also, it's incredibly lame to stick with your ISP's given space for a high profile page such as this!

So, we're on Genglo now, the home domain for my wife's businesses, and for whatever dreamable thing I decide to put here.

Whee.

Moonspell/Katatonia/Daylight Dies

2006-10-27T08:48:00.000-04:00

Last night was the Moonspell/Katatonia show at Peabody's. I was pleasantly surprised that the opening bands sounded good. At the SYL show last year, there were a bunch of really terrible bands before them.

At this show, the local opener was Dark Arena. They sounded pretty good overall. The singer was decent and I think if the sound quality was a little better, people would have gotten into them more. I think they only had time for 3 or 4 songs, but it was enough to get things going a bit.

Next up was Daylight Dies. I read a little about them on the Web before the show. I was eager to hear them as they are categorized as 'doom metal'. That description is fairly accurate, maybe doomdeath, since the singer is a growler. The sound quality for DD was quite good for Peabody's and I enjoyed the classic doomish guitars, with low and heavy chords. Will definitely have to check them out. I read that they've toured with Katatonia in Europe - totally cool for a US band realitively early in their career!

Katatonia took the stage around 9:15. I honestly haven't listened to them too much, but I did recognize a good deal of the songs from 'The Great Cold Distance' since we had recently purchased the CD. Their guitar sound seemed a little thin, possibly too distorted at times. I realize this is part of their sound, but it was difficult to discern all the instruments (yeah, and I know the acoustics in there aren't the best). Anyhow, it was a good set of recent material from TGCD, Viva and a few other tracks thrown in from other albums. I will probably have to listen to TGCD a little more and maybe check out Viva to appreciate the reviews these CDs have gotten.

Moonspell got on around 9:45, maybe a little earlier. I discovered Moonspell from a guy in Sweden some years ago, and became intrigued by their dark and somewhat gothic sound. They released a few albums that were a bit different ('Sin-Pecado', 'Darkness and Hope'), but the latest one - 'Memorial' - is simply killer. They played a bunch of tunes off of it and an equal amount of older stuff. The crowd really got into 'Wolfheart' and 'Vampiria'. They played one track I hadn't heard (or noticed) before, but it sounded great. Their performance and sound was exceptional for the venue. We stood dead center and it was awesome. I never thought I'd get to see these guys and really hope their experience in Cleveland was positive. They really put on a good show and looked very professional. Their appearance, with light amounts of black makeup was fitting for the time of year (Halloween).

All in all, it was an excellent show. Every band was worth seeing and I look forward to seeing them all again soon.

Here is a list of tracks played. Katatonia was kind enough to announce their songs for me, which is great since I wouldn't have been able to pick them out :)

Katatonia:

Leaders
Soil's Song
Deliberation
Had to leave
Deadhouse
Ghost of the Sun
Criminals
July
My twin
Evidence
Murder

Moonspell:

In Memoriam
Finisterra
Memnto mori
Blood tells
Opium
Wolfshade
Alma mater
Proliferation
Upon the Blood of Men
Nocturna (i think)
Vampiria
Full Moon Madness
From Lowering Skies
Mephisto
Capricorn at Her Feet

Thanks for coming! Come back to the US soon!!

Bands, Tours, and Shows Oh My!

2006-10-25T07:53:00.000-04:00

We've scheduled a few shows recently, some for bands that aren't here often, or it's their first time. It's good to see the virtual American doors opening up for such cool European bands.

Tomorrow is Moonspell and Katatonia. I am not sure if either band has been here before, if so, not more than a few times. It's at Peabody's.

Next month, it's Blind Guardian and Leaves' Eyes. BG has been in the US before, but Leaves' is totally new. Leaves' Eyes is the "new" band featuring Liv Kristine from Theatre of Tragedy.

In December, it's In Flames, Soilwork (who we've seen before), and Lacuna Coil! It's great to get to see LC outside of Ozzfest. Last year's OF simply had too many nu-metal and metalcore (crap) bands for us to attend. Unfortunately, there are a few good bands that we miss because of this (LC, Voivod, etc..) but not now!

NP:

My Dying Bride - A Line of Deathless Kings (2006)

(yes, mp3s, but it comes out next week and I will own it for sure). This is one is a doom classic, already. A must-have.

Draconian - The Burning Halo (2006)

I was never too excited about this band before, but this recent album has raised them up to stand next to some of the best doom/gothic metal bands. Without trying to categorize, fans of MDB, Tristania, Epica, etc, will likely enjoy Draconian.

Moonspell - Memorial (2006)

I found Moonspell years ago when I discovered this awesome Euro metal scene (Netherlands, Sweden, etc) where gothic metal reigned supreme. I really enjoyed Moonspell's vampiric and somewhat pagan vibe. For a few albums, they strayed from this formula to produce material that was a little less metal and honestly, less interesting. 'Memorial' is a return to the heavy and dark feel of 'Wolfheart'. It rocks from end to end. I am so excited about seeing these guys tomorrow! Thanks to Julie for buying this for me for Sweetest Day - a sweet, dark gift!

.... and rumor has it (more than rumor actually) that Solitude Aeturnus is about to unlease their LONG awaiting new album very soon - called 'Alone'. These guys are regarded as one of the masters of classic doom metal. They sit at the top with MDB, Candlemass, and even Black Sabbath. Must... have...

So yeah.. MDB, come to the US and grab SA for your tourmates. It will be a show for the ages.

WoWzers

2006-09-09T15:23:00.000-04:00

We're playing WoW.

Kael'Thas - PvE (Alliance) as Langevin (Druid), Draynor (Warrior) & Shrpocket (Mage)
Gul'Dan - PvP (Horde) as Devy (Priest)

I am also dabbling with RPPVP on the Venture Co. server. Not sure if I am up to the ubergeek RP arena, but I honestly haven't spent any real time in there.

Playing WoW makes me miss some of my EQ characters. I miss Ayreon probably the most, simply because a plate-wearing halfling cleric does not exist in WoW....

But, I was able to recreate Draynor as a dwarven warrior (his original class from EQ - he was a shaman in EQ2), and he dies and does the same boneheaded things the original incarnation did! Warrior are actually kick ass classes in WoW. It's refreshing.

Druids are simply.. awesome. I can do all the things I used to do in EQ except port, which isn't too bad to give up. They can tank, dps, heal, nuke. And they do each of the aspects fairly well.

Well.. not a whole much else.. the kids are playing too, which is just hilarious. It's a WoWhold here...

Nails Driven Home

2006-06-28T07:50:00.000-04:00

Last night was my first official NIN concert, as well as my son's first concert ever. I'm not totally sure why I waited 15+ years to see them, and I'm much less of a fan than I used to be in the mid-90's. Their music has changed a bit, but last night I remembered why I was drawn to it all in the first place. It was an excellent show. I didn't think they sounded as well as they should have, especially being at Blossom (a place created for accoustics). However, it was a rockin' good time.

I found a setlist earlier yesterday to get a sneak peek at what they would play, and they ended up playing an alternative list, with about 70% of the songs that were on mine. Here's the list, as far as I can recall.. My Blackberry died before leaving for the show, so I didn't have my usual method of jotting down setlist order... this is from memory:

Somewhat Damaged
You Know What You Are
Terrible Lie
March of the Pigs
Something I Can Never Have
Closer
Non-Entity
(The other non-release new track)
Wish
Burn
Gave Up
Help Me I Am in Hell
Hurt
Only
La Mer
Into the Void
The Big Come Down
Down In It
Suck
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

The order in the middle is definitely wrong. This list wasn't nearly as good as the one I had hope to hear. For one, I've heard Hurt live so many times that I wasn't excited to know it was in my show, however it was moving with the ENTIRE crowd singing it. My list didn't have Suck, Hurt, the second "new" track, or Something I Can Never Have. In their places were: The Wretched, Reptile, Get Down Make Love, and Sin. I like all those four better than the replacements.

As usual, I am with most of the Internet crowd when I say I would much rather have heard Last in place of either of the other two Broken tracks (except Wish of course). Happiness in Slavery would have been godly. I don't think i've ever heard that live, and apparently Last has never been played live at all.

The light show was pretty cool. There was a series of panels set up behing the stage (much like the DVD displays) with full motion video and effects dancing across them during the show. They had an unfolding cage-like gate that came down periodically that contained rows of tiny LEDs or maybe bulbs. Often this display matched the one n the panels, just in a very geeky computer-like shadow. The display during the instrumental Help Me.. was particularly cool.

I noticed one of the tour shirts had the NIN log on the back and a list of dates in old Atari font. I believe it was, anyhow. I knew Trent was a geek from way back, and the dated look of the shirt made it a must buy. However, I noticed it too late as I had already bought my shirt. There were a few elements on the shirts that had this old computer look to them. Very cool.

Anyhow, the show was definitely a good time. There was a horrendous storm coming in as we approached Blossom, however it cleared by the time we parked. Getting out was rather humorous. We got stuck in the mud as the grassy lots had turned to swamplands with the downpour. I managed to break free and then got out to help another soul that got his car stuck behind us. When we got home, the coverage of mud on my front end was classic. I tried to hose it off this morning, but it looks hideous. I'll have to seek out a car wash at lunch.

I think Lance had a good time and it was a good intro to his concert-going career. He probably heard a little too many vulgar words, and I thought this after re-listening to much of the setlist in my car, but he is 14 now. It's not like he hasn't heard a lot of it by now. It was a good father and son event. Going to concerts all these years, it never once crossed my mind that one day I'd be going with my children. It was very, very cool. I have a new concert buddy. Hopefully I can keep him away from the rap music!

Goodbye

2006-06-17T10:48:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry to report that Cupcake, the infamous key stealing, plastic fetish, super climbing, bathroom trashing ferret has left us.

Cupcake was #1, the first, the alpha. Because of her, we all entered a new world of friends and have since saved a good handful from lives of hardships. Here, they all have friends and caring parents. Ok, so the dog isn't one of their friends... Anyhow, I've known for a while that these were likely the last of her days. She'd been spending a lot of time snuggling and sleeping. What was funny was that if plastic was nearby, she'd perk up just to take a bite of it. I'll never understand the plastic thing with her. I can't think of any reason, besides fun, that would drive an animal to want to actually eat plastic materials. The best part of this is, we have numerous items with the "Cuppy was here!" marks on them. One look at our card table, various computer mice, game controllers, and a few unfortunate remote controls will reveal the legacy of Cupcake.

We're all trying to deal with the fact that she isn't here. Well, she is, but not in the form that we're used to. She lies in the Hall of Heroes with Grover, Betty, and Bubbles. I don't know how we could ever leave this house with so many of our friends buried nearby. This has been a rough year for us and the Gentile Animal Kingdom.

There aren't any words to describe how much she will be missed, and is already. I called her my Sweetie Heart, because she was. We all have hilarious memories of our past friends, and Cupcake is no different. We love you Cuppy!

Fuzzy Wuzzies

2006-06-16T10:28:00.000-04:00

I don't know if I have mentioned before that we have a lot of ferrets. In August of 2001 we ended up purchasing a ferret from a local "exotic" pet store. My daughter named her Cupcake, after a mini stuffed bear that she was fond of. Over time, our love for Cupcake led us to get more ferrets, house rescues, and become much more involved in learning about the little critters.

In the last two years, we've had a few older friends that we've rescued or gotten from a local shelter. A pair we got from a local guy that was moving, named Charlie and Darwin, were our first official rescues. They were destined for the local shelter (Ferrets Unlimited), but we simply couldn't give them up. We renamed Darwin to Grover, and Charlie to Bubbles. To make a long story short, Bubbles wasn't with us for long (she had lymphoma and adrenal disease), and Grover left us in March of 2005. Both were exceptional friends. Another ferret, from FU, was Betty (originally named Ms. Sebastian - I think I misspelled that). She, too, passed in time. She was likely 12 years old or more.

Today, we have eight fuzzies. Three more were rescues - two from a very POORLY MAINTAINED pet store (they were adults that were given up), and another from a neighbor who's teenage owner wanted to give her up. So, Romeo and Cocoa (I think it was Cocoa) becaome Telly and Oscar. Fancypants kept her name because she was so boisterous that no other name was fitting. We usually just call her Fancy.

The other five are long term friends - Cupcake, Daisy, Burt and Ernie were the original fab four that we'd had since 2001 and 2002. Princess Buttercup was our first shelter friend from FU, who is likely 6-7 years old at this point.

Due to the short life span of ferrets, and a slew of terrible diseases they can get, owners end up in a constant state of despair, especially when they own multiple ferrets of varying ages. What happens is, every 6-12 months, another ferret begins the inevitable decline of health. Currently, our oldest friend, in terms of companionship, is sick. Cupcake, one of the sweetest friends I've ever known, is quickly deteriorating.

Cupcake has graced the pages of Julie's Flickr site and our various blogs, Web sites, screensavers, and character profile icons for many years.

I don't know how much longer Cuppy will be with us. It's hard to accept that any friend of this kind is at that point in their lives. It's difficult when you can't explain to them what's going on and why these big humans can't do anything for you. Owning ferrets is a very rewarding relationship. They are unique creatures with more personality than other pets that I have had. But, it's not without heartbreak.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Cupcake:

Hopefully she'll be OK.

WOWzers

2006-06-01T08:12:00.000-04:00

Nothing much to report. Summer begins (for some people!), school, work, and life continues.

I passed another MS exam (70-297) on Tuesday the 30th of May. It was a month later than planned, but it's done. Onward into new territory. Two tests left (for this year). Although, after these two, I'll be an MCSE finally. Something I should have had years ago, but I let it slack.

We're (Julie and I) playing WoW. We're taking it at a leisurely pace, since we honestly don't have the time to really become a slave to it. The kids and I got it for her for Mother's Day, along with some other fun stuff.

I'm in my second to last trimester of college. I graduate, if all goes well, this December. It's a little later than planned, but it really hasn't changed anything. So long as it's done. After that, who knows. I will enjoy some time off. Julie has around two more sessions after me, so by this time next year we should both be in good shape.

Lance and I joined an adult/youth bowling league. It's pretty funny. There are some really good bowlers in it. We have the second highest handicap of any team! Hopefully we'll improve. I've already begun to see my bowling improve. We're having fun and that's all that counts.

That is all. I think. Yeah, it is.

There is no butter

2006-02-05T10:41:00.000-05:00

I am just making this post so I can meet my once a month quota for a personal blog.

I really have nothing interesting to say.

Back on Track?

2006-01-05T13:53:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been 1.5 years since I took my last Microsoft exam. For a long time, I put off continuing with the program for various reasons. One of the biggest reasons was the fact that my next exam, the 70-216, was probably one of the hardest. I committed myself to a 3-week time window from the point that I scheduled the exam date. That put me into cram mode, where I forced myself to poor over the gigantic text books and test question library that I had available.

I passed the 70-216 today. Yeah, it's the Windows 2000 network infrastructure exam, nothing incredibly new, but since I was halfway through the 2000 track, it seemed logical to continue. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. A lot of the questions required a lot of thought to work through, but logic and knowledge rules the test. With knowledge and a good sense of problem solving, it is passable. I was mostly surprised by my score (870).

Strengthened with this victory, I now head into new territory. Next up is the Windows 2003 Active Directory Design test. I've never taken an MS design exam before (they consist of large case studies) but I am refueled and committed to finish this beast within the next two months.

....

2005-11-21T21:44:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure why I haven't mentioned this before. Dennis d'Amour ("Piggy") passed away just about 3 months ago. Who was he? Look around this blog. "Dimension Hatross" is the name of the album that turned me into a metal maniac. The album is by a band called Voivod. How much does this band mean to me?

Before Voivod (and other bands like Metallica, King Diamond, etc..) I listened to Top 40 music of the 1980's. I was reborn. After just a few months of hearing Z-Rock, I realize how utterly shitty the music I had been listening to was. I immediately bought all the Metallica, King Diamond and Voivod albums I could find. The rest.. is history. I now listen to many forms of metal and heavy rock-oriented music. This ranges from "Progressive" to "Death Metal". I don't like "Grindcore/Metalcore/Whateverthefuck" or that shitty noise just made for shock's sake. What am I talking about? Watch Headbanger's Ball. It's sad.

Anyhow, back to Voivod. I think, if I had to rate all the albums I own, or have heard in my lifetime, I would have to rate Voivod's "Nothingface" at #1. Many people may disagree or not understand or like Voivod, but musical taste is largely opinion. In my opinion, "Nothingface" has it all for me. I don't necessarily need screaming vocals, 50 minutes of ear-pummelling bass, or riffs fast enough to break my neck while headbanging. If one thing could be said about Voivod, I think the word would be "original". I haven't heard ANYTHING that sounds like them. What could be better than a few sci-fi geeks from Montreal and metal?

If you have not heard Voivod, check them out. One of my very first reviews on Amazon.Com was for some Voivod albums. The Eric Forrest years aren't as good as those with Snake (Denis Belanger - vocalist). Forrest .. well, I will reserve comments, because the band still sounded excellent and Eric had his own style.

" ... lapse of time ... synchro freeze ... loop rewind ... forward speed ... "

If I have a single regret, for my entire life, it's that I never saw them live. Yes, it's very sad. The main reason was that by the time they were coming to Cleveland with some regularity, I was a little afraid to go to some of the local clubs (I was a late teenager) since I was used to going to the Cleveland Coliseum and such. They came on the Ozzfest Tour last year, and since the rest of the tour was largely uninteresting to me (read: metalcore, etc), I elected not to go. What a mistake. Even if Voivod continues, they will never be the same. Piggy was 25% of what made them unique.

Just a few more comments about my love for this band. I played EverQuest on and off for about 6 years and one of my most beloved characters was a recurring druid toon by the name of Langevin d'Amour. I did sort of a Pink Floyd thing where I took the surnames of the of the band members to create this fictional person. A funny side effect (Subeffect?) of this is that I received many tells from French players asking if I was French. Sorry folks, I am very far from being a Frenchman!

No, i'm not finished yet. Dimension Hatross was also the name of the BBS I ran (and later with my new wife) from roughly 1987 through 1994. It went through many incarnations, but it stayed true to its purpose. The core was the message base activity and it largely revolved around music. I enjoyed theming the BBS after Voivod lyrics, colors and crazy artwork. I tried to re-create album covers in Atari and IBM graphic characters. One day I'll have to dig them up. I did a really killer recreation of the "Nothingface" cover.

Well, here's to one of the best bands of all time - VOIVOD RULES!
\m/ \m/

Yeah, this post is long. Deal with it.

Pathetic

2005-09-21T22:25:00.000-04:00

This blog has now entered into the dangerous realm of Patheticism. I personally hate when I visit places that haven't been updated in ages.

So where the hell did the summer go?

A few miraculous things happened. We quit EverQuest, for good. Okay, so the rest isn't miraculous. We are still in school though, and the list of classes left is getting shorter. We're taking two at a time. There's more work, of course, but so far it hasn't been _too_ overwhelming.

The fall concert season is going to be great for us. We're going to see Porcupine Tree again in a few weeks, and Opeth is coming in November. We've seen both before (at the same show actually), but this will be the first time for Opeth and a "heavy" set. PT is going to play stuff from their entire catalog, not just newer stuff. Pretty cool.

It's late, i'm tired, so that's enough for now.

Maybe i'll actually update sooner, not that anyone really cares.

Summer

2005-06-10T11:33:00.000-04:00

School. Work. Sleep.

Recent events:

Judas Priest / Queensryche: Excellent show. QR's set was short (1 hour), but it was plainly obvious that most of the people were there for JP. The show was very loud and we were in the pavilion at Blossom. It was basically opening night for the summer there and, what a way to do it. JP played a lot of the standards and roughly about one or two tunes off each album, and four off of the new one.

Porcupine Tree: They played by themselves at the House of Blues. We a pretty nice dinner beforehand as well. The show was just awesome. They seemed to play a decent amount of heavier tunes, which seemed to make some of the older people a little uneasy. We knew most of the songs and the one they played that was ancient (Fadeaway) was excellent. Time to go searching for older PT albums. We bought the DTS DVD version of Deadwing a day or two later.. Sounds pretty good.

SYL: Yeah, this was a hilarious show. They didn't go on until 11pm and we had to sit through 5 absolutely horrible bands. This "new" round of death/hardcore music is just horrible. I'm getting sick of seeing these bands that look like they just walked out of a school talent show trying to be tough and mean. At least SYL came on to kick their asses.

Audioslave: I didn't know a lot of the songs since I'm not a diehard fan, but it was a good show and they sounded decent for the Agora. They played a few Rage tunes (I'm not a Rage fan) but they sounded better w/out the annoying old Rage singer.

... more later ...

I Don't Believe In Love

2005-02-03T19:55:00.000-05:00

So.. we saw the Operation Mindcrime '05 show at the House of Blues on Sunday. Uh, that's Queensryche for the folks that listen to NuMetal. Yeah, didn't think you'd heard of them. Anyhow. It was a good show, although the HoB was a bit small. For something so high profile I was expecting more, however the atmosphere inside was cool. The accoustics weren't bad; the guitars sounded clear and the vocals were excellent. I think Geoff sounds better every time I see QR. I've been going to their concerts somewhat religiously (I think this was my fourth time?) over the last 14 years, and I have to say, I've never been dissappointed. There are only a few bands like this.. I've seen a good deal of concerts and have usually come across one show from a band that wasn't so good... Iron Maiden comes to mind. I forget the tour (No Prayer For the Dying maybe?) but they only came with a cloth backdrops for visuals and Bruce had a cold. Blah. Dream Theater is another band that is always 150% on stage. I think I like their live show better than the CD sound. They are one of those bands that are live and need to be heard that way.

This spring isn't looking all that exciting for shows.. however I did here that Therion is making their first US appearance at ProgPower. It would be so good to go to that show, it all depends what the lineup is. Atlanta is one long day of driving (10+ hours I think, maybe 12). Nightwish is coming to the HoB too, which i thought was cool, since HoB has been hosting a lot of US stuff so far. I think my only gripe is the ticket price. I think QR cost $50 each, plus some damned processing fees. Heh.. Processing fees are funny. A database system handles the processing, what the hell am I paying a fee for?

Other than that... it's work, sleep, school, EQ2, sleep, work, eating, ferrets, kids, school, work, sleep, kids, and not necessarily in that order.

EvilQuest 2

2005-01-07T11:28:00.000-05:00

Welp.. A new year, a new vice. EverQuest II.

We're on Nektulos as Dalharen (evils), and on Toxxulia as Varekai (goodies). Two different guilds, two different groups of people. We are: Draynor (18 shammy), Ladene (18 crusader) on Tox, and Langevin (22 Fury) and Sarudana (22 SK) on Nek, with a few alts here and there.

It's a fun game.. It's very quest-based, like playing Morrowind with friends. This is a good thing, overall, but it leads to some similarity among players, meaning everyone tends to have the same armor, etc since everyone does most of the quests. This isn't really bad.. Tradeskills are complex and a huge time sink (no surprise there). We play almost daily, but school is starting up again, so it may go down to a few days per week.

I'm at the new building at work now and everything is running smoothly, so it's back to normal business.

The kids and wife are doing well, but alas, the BB store is closed, now. Julie is home but no more free movies... hmmm.. Julie home ... Free movies... *thinks*, ok ok ! Better to have her home ;)

Varekai

Go West Young Man

2004-11-05T15:27:00.000-05:00

So... It's been a month.

My workplace's move is beginning next week.. Moving westward.. twice as far. Anyhow, it's been busy. Hopefully it goes smoothly.

We've been kinda buried in schoolwork, work and whatever time is left for whatever else. We've been able to check out Fable some. It's pretty fun, with a few new ideas, mainly that your fame has a lot to do with the game. It's not the deepest game, but it's certainly fun.

The big news is that Everquest II comes out next Tuesday. I didn't think I was as interested in it as I am now. Free time is a big problem right now, so there's no guarantees. One thing to keep in mind is that playing EQ2 won't be like our last few months of EQ classic. EQ was all about the raids because that's what was left to do in the game.... all the levelling up and exploring had been done over and over again since 1999. Meaning, we won't have to spend 5 hours a night in high-end encounters, hopefully it's a couple hours here and there, as we can. EQ2 is totally new.. In fact, there is so little info about the game outside the major cities (Qeynos and Freeport) that it will be exciting to relearn it all again. It takes place 500 years after the original game and apparently a lot has changed.. The gods have left, which is one reason you can choose any class for any race! That's right.. dark elf druids! There has been no mention of dragons or other continents.. So it's almost as if you have to re-discover the entire game, which can be good. I am sure some old school places still exist (I've seen shots of Befallen, etc).. so it'll be fun.

Those who are able, from our little group of friends, will hopefully be building a guild (resurrecting Dalharen d'Oloth). Check us out - www.dalharen.com

That's all for now..

Par For the Course

2004-10-01T08:14:00.000-04:00

So.. I figured since I had been a "good boy" and done most of my homework for the week, that I would sit down to play some PlayStation last night, since Julie had to work. I had some ferret maintenance to do and basically figured on a good 90 minute gaming session with some Xenosaga (no, I didn't sneeze).

So, there I was sitting on my side of the bed with the PS controller in my hand and the cord extended nearly to its capacity, when I remembered that I wanted to let the ferrets out to play. I had just beat a boss battle (took me a while to figure out where I was, I hadn't played the game in many months) and was watching one of the 50,000 cinematics (yeah, the game has too many, but at least the voice acting and dialog isn't horribly cheesy).. Anyhow, I got up, hopped over the cord to get to the ferret cage, then returned to my spot. The only difference between my trek to the cage and back was the inevitable trip over the controller cord.

So, there's this horrible "smack"ing noise, accompanied by a thud (no ferrets were injured; they were still stretching and yawning their way out of the cage). The game cinematic starts to skip and the sound goes all funky. I got up to see what had happened and saw the PS2 face down on the floor and my controller plug had gotten ripped out from its socket. After making sure no ferrets were about, I observed the situation. I rebooted the machine but the DVD wouldn't load. I tried to eject it and the tray was stuck. I tried to jimmy it out but it was frozen and I was afraid I'd break it. Well, after a few more minutes of inspection, I knew it was time for surgery.
I was very concerned that I'd find damage to the laser or DVD mechanism, but I had to find out if I could fix it. I wanted to cry.. my beloved PS2 was injured, possibly dead. Of all the material purchases over the last few years, the PS2 was probably one of the most cherished.

So, I collected the fuzzies, popped them back into their lair and promised them I'd be back. I went downstairs to located a "fix it" guide, which I found here. Thank you Mr. Rowley. His guide covered fixing problems with the laser eye reading DVDs, but it pertained to my problem as well since it involved taking apart the DVD assembly.

So.. the process took about 30 minutes, but I was able to disassemble the PS2, re-align the DVD drawer and remove my poor Xenosaga disc (which was undamaged) and test the drawer motors. I brought it back upstairs for the moment of truth. I booted the machine with the XS disc inside and at first the PS2 seemed to hesistate.. or maybe I just never noticed the length of boot time.. Regardless, the game loaded just fine!!

So.. I let the fuzzies back out, snuggled a few of them to ease their tempers, and reloaded my last save. I basically got to re-do the boss battle, watch the ill-fated cinematic from before, take care of the fuzzies (they got extra treats for being good sports) and head to bed.

It's just funny how things are so par for me.. This is one reason why I never try to plan certain things.. They never go as you think they will. I'd rather be spontaneous.

Have a good day.

Welcome to My Demsion

2004-09-28T15:11:00.000-04:00

Look out.. the "Budman" has a blog. Too bad he changed the topic for his first post, it was rather humorous ("Welcome to my Demsion"). We're still trying to figure out what a "demsion" is.

Anyhow.. Days are starting to fly by again. With Julie working, me working normal hours, and the kids in school, there is so little time for much else. Oh yeah, we're in school too. I can already feel that this Christmas will be a WELL deserved break.

My new job is really cool. I get to actually DO something now. I don't need to look for "busy work" or answer 50 damnable CPU tickets every day. Things I do here actually mean something. Everyone told me after I lost my former job that I'd come to a point where I could thumb my nose at it and feel good that I've moved onto something better. Well, that time has come. I feel needed here and that I am actually providing a needed service. So, I've been giving the Old Corp my middle finger salute when passing by on the freeway and it feels good. I am much happier being out of UberCorp's grip. I am learning some cool shit here, too. Things are actually set up smartly here.. and because it's a smaller company, they don't use these bloated applications to provide simple tasks. Hey, get this, we actually use group policy to roll out applications and Windows updates. Imagine that. And it works ;)

Anyhow.. games.. Man, I'd like to play some. Sly Cooper 2 is out, Ratchet 3 is out, Prince of Persia 2 is out, and I wouldn't mind finishing games I already have. EQ? It's dead. There's just no way we can continue. I miss it dearly though; I can't stand reading about it and not being there. It was such a fun time. At least we accomplished some milestones during our stay. Oh, Elder Scrolls 4 ("Oblivion") was just announced. Cool!! I think one of my first blog entries was for Morrowind, two years ago. Fable is also out for the XBox. With Julie working at BB, we end up using her free rentals a bunch, since you can get games as well as movies. I've rented Drakengard and Jak II (both look cool) and the kids are drooling over Pikmin 2 right now. It's fun..

Julie is getting used to her new job, but not used to working I think ;) I'm proud of her, though, and no matter what happens, it's a positive thing. Family life is back to "normal" now after a few strange summer, but I think we're all on track again. Lance has become Mr. Football and Sarah is about to become Miss Bowler (yeah, we actually got her excited about something athletic). We'll see how that works out.

The Fall of Summer

2004-09-10T16:47:00.000-04:00

Ugh. Summer's over and it's back to school, back to work, back to business. I rather enjoyed slacking around the house this summer. It's funny how things worked out.. I left my last job on June 7th, the first week of my kids' summer vacation, and started my new job on August 30th, basically the beginning of the 04/05 school year.

Yeah, so I get to drive in rush hour traffic now. I don't mind it too much; it only really bothers me when it takes me more than twice as long as it should. A half hour I can deal with, but 45 minutes to go 20 miles? C'mon! There's construction going on, so hopefully when it's all finished things will be better.

Julie's workng, I'm working, the kids are in school and we're all coming and going at different times. It's nuts, for sure.

Oh, hey.. just announced today.. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Wow!! What's funny is, they have it listed for the PS3 and XBox2.. which basically means 2006, but I'll take it! I guess I should finish Morrowind. Oh yeah, and I got an official invite for the WoW stress test. Yeah, thanks.. Why couldn't I get it when I had the time to check it out? Doesn't matter, I can't sign on to an online game, I don't want that kind of addiction again. Yeah, EQ is dead. I think we're done, for good. We'll see.. I just can't keep up with it, even if I wanted to play it. The last few months we were always playing catch up.. "gotta get 200 AAs, gotta get better gear.... more mana.. more HP". Blah.. I just want to kill stuff, and you can't kill the good stuff without all the above. Forget it.. I'll stick to Morrowind where I can truly be a god, and it's free..

Welp, I'm at work and now I'm gone.. so.. bye!

New Job

2004-08-21T09:51:00.000-04:00

I accepted a job yesterday. It's a new direction for me, mainly because I will be the "one" instead of "one of many". It'll be nice to have control over what's going on, instead of working with 25 other people to get a job done. It's a smaller company (comparing the two really isn't fair, due to completely different markets), but they are growing. I am hoping I can excel and flex some brain muscles now. I start on the 30th and I'm pretty excited about it.

Oh, and I know some areas of the site look funny without templates and such, but I'll get around to fixing things up. I had to remove the old comments system and use Blogger's, and the comments pages look silly now, and I'm not sure they even work ;) But, since maybe 2 or 3 people visit my page, I'm not really concerned about it right now.

Two Months

2004-08-09T14:40:00.000-04:00

Today is officially (ok, yesterday) two months to the day I began looking for new work. So far, 53 resumes sent, about 10 rejections ("position already filled", "thank you, but no thanks", etc..), a few staffing agency rounds, five serious interviews, one second interview and zero actual job offers. Those aren't great statistics. Sure, none of the serious interviews are 'closed' positions yet (and most are recent), but still... two months.

Things are looking a little better.. The kids return to school in two weeks and since Julie and I are off school for three weeks, it's time to enjoy the rest of the summer. Even with a job offer, I wouldn't begin work until the end of the month anyhow, so we finally have some family time. It's funny, even though I'd rather be working (i.e. making money), I'm going to miss being home so much.

There's a lot of cool stuff happening with games, music and so forth, but I am too lazy to talk about them now. Maybe later..

Like sands through the hourglass...

2004-07-20T20:46:00.000-04:00

I won't bother to post a long, dreary entry right now. Suffice it to say, things have changed a lot around here in the last six weeks. My life has gone from riding the crest of the wave, to being sucked into its undertow, and is just now beginning to level off again.

Three days after my last entry, I lost the job I had for almost eight years. Without going into dreadful details, the event has changed my life. I am a different, but better person now and I think I may have a clearer focus on life and what's really important. It's not money, it's not a big house or a huge television (things that were all on my mind two months ago). What is important, is family and faith. If you have those, you'll be all right. If you're missing one of those, seek out the other if you can, and hold onto the one you have because it'll save you.

Have I gone crazy? No. I've gone through a transformation and come out a better man. I'll explain over time, because it's important. Stay tuned.

Diligence

2004-06-01T09:59:00.000-04:00

Another milestone of sorts last night.. Ladene and I were accepted into Diligence as full members. I think we've found our final home in EQ. It's been a rocky road of what some might consider guild hopping, but I like to think of it as finding our rightful place. We tried 4 guilds within a year's time and none had the same focus we did (or rather, the power to do it). Within 2 weeks, we finished our Time flagging, got up to speed with the new expansion and got accepted. Everything before this took the entire last year spent in other guilds. All of them were respectable guilds with respectable people, but it hasn't been until recently that we've been so excited about playing again (in a guild.. mind you that playing with our friends is always the main draw). Thank you, Diligence! I hope we earn our place in this legendary guild in the times to come. Speaking of.. provided Sony patched the servers properly, we'll be doing our first run through Plane of Time on Wednesday and Thursday!