All the inane detritus fit to blog about.
I drank a stein of motivation last month, running every day. 32 runs in 30 days, totaling 115.85 miles, 3.86 miles/day. Not a particularly impressive mileage total, but I’m rather proud of my 33-and-counting-day run streak. It definitely helps me avoid skipping a day ‘just because;’ that’s for sure.
July’s goal: keep the streak alive, and increase the mileage.
I finally knocked off Impulse on Expert in GHIII.
I didn’t quite beat that guy, but I did OK…
…Then this piece would be spot-on. Hopefully Camp Hillary joins reality tonight and concedes…
Someone linked me to this picture, which is both hilarious and somewhat frightening:
I came across this editorial over at Kombo. In the debates over Nintendo needing to ‘grow up’ the tone of their games to stay competitive with Sony & Microsoft, the idea that Nintendo serves as the gateway to gaming is one that rarely comes up. Josh makes good points all around.
Much of the criticism thrown at Nintendo throughout the years centers on the idea that they need to "grow up". The audience that bought Super Mario Bros. 3 in droves now craves deep, complex titles in HD with serious online play. A simple feeling of fun is still important, but a broad feature set has become a large part of gaming as well and Nintendo has failed to evolve with their competitors in this regard. The basics of playing a Nintendo title have changed little from 1988 to 2008. Solid gameplay, a simple narrative, familiar settings, and an inviting difficulty curve define the Nintendo experience. Familiarity breeds contempt, so it’s easy to see why those that have bought and beaten Nintendo titles for decades have in some cases begun to seek out different approaches. But in their zeal for a bigger and better experience gamers have lost sight of Nintendo’s role in our industry because their perspective is centered entirely on themselves. The part Nintendo plays in gaming is just as important today as it was 20 years ago: Nintendo produces gamers.
If you have a Wii, buy it. If you don’t have a Wii, buy a Wii, then buy it.
That is all.
I traveled to Columbus, OH for work yesterday. This was just a day trip, something that royally sucks when you’re going 200 miles each way, and trying to fit a full day of work in-between. Couple that with the fact that we returned from Chicago late Sunday night, and Monday just wasn’t my day.
So imagine my joy when I exit I-65 at 38th street, and stop at the stoplight just past the end of the ramp. About 15 seconds pass, and I’m rear-ended by an older RAV4. The light turns green, I move up to the next turn off the road, and pull over. The RAV4 zooms away.
In a feat unlikely to happen again, my Prius turns into a speedracer, utilizing its ridiculous turning radius, then blasting out all 130-odd horses to tail the RAV4. I write down the license plate, a better description, and ‘WTF is this asshole doing??’, then realize the guy is planning to just keep on going as though nothing had happened. Thankfully, traffic is relatively light and there’s a red light ahead. I scoot to the next lane and stop next to him at the light.
At this point I have a better view of the occupants. It’s a teenage-looking boy (driving) and his mother. She rolls down her window, and says ‘I’m sorry if he cut you off; he’s just learning to drive’.
My eyes scoot back in my head and I drool a little as the sheer ridiculousness of the statement washes over me and attempts to render me stupid. Finally I respond, ‘He didn’t cut me off; he hit me from behind!’
‘He did? I’m sorry!’
Again the drool escapes. I just look from the woman to the son, dumbfounded. A few seconds go by in silence, and then she says ‘There’s no damage.’
My mouth dries, as it’s now devoid of drool. A small space in the back of my head mumbles something about someone who was previously unaware that they were in a collision and is now directly next to the car that they rear-ended not possibly being able to know whether there’s damage or not, but my now-cro-magnon response is a simple grunt.
‘Can we just pull over and discuss it?’ I ask.
More silence, then the light turns green, a car behind us honks, and the RAV4 peels out.
I pull off the road into a parking lot, call 911, and report the incident and the fact that the other driver just up and left. The operator says she’ll send out a patrol officer, and lets me go.
I get out and inspect the damage, of which there is thankfully very little. A scratch along the rear bumper that will in all likelihood buff out, and some dust missing. 20 minutes go by with no sign of the officer, and I think things over a bit. Nearly no damage, the other driver will certainly deny the whole incident based on our ‘conversation’, and no witnesses. Further, I can just about guarantee that the driver isn’t insured by the blatant disregard for the rules of the road (namely, stopping. Also, reporting an accident). In other words, there’s little chance that the damage will warrant the cost of a body shop, and even less of a chance that I’d actually collect anything from the miscreant. I call 911 back, cancel the report, and head home.
People suck.
How the heck did I forget to refer you all to the fact that the entire series of Firefly is available on Hulu? Go! Go now! Don’t return till you’ve watched all fourteen.
Hulu launched a couple weeks back, and it’s pretty awesome. Essentially, it’s a response by NBC Universal and News Corp to the fact that people like watching what they want, when they want, on their computer. More specifically, they realized that people are going to do so, so NBC/News might as well make some cash off of it.
Hulu has a pretty good selection of shows already, including such bastions of awesomeness as Battlestar Galactica and Airwolf (Airwolf!!). There’s no signup or download required so long as you have a relatively current version of Flash, and the interface is pretty slick. Commercials are few–zero or one per traditional commercial break–and you can pause and zip around shows. My biggest complaint is the video quality, which isn’t bad–certainly better than YouTube–but isn’t all that spectacular, either.
Now back to re-watching the Season 3 finale of BSG in prep for tonight’s debut of Season 4.
Imagine my surprise when on the way home from work today, I hear on the radio an ad for St Vincent Hospital. That in itself isn’t surprising, but the fact that it includes my wife’s college roommate and her husband is.
Way to go, Kristin & Drew!
