Current Ramblings
Thursday, April 29, 2004
I caught one of these in Animal Crossing.
I have become, quite literally, addicted to Vince DiCola. It started when I was in Alabama last fall, when I put in "Artistic Transformations" to help me sleep. I have trouble sleeping in a strange place when it's also dead quiet, so I put in the only instrumental CD I had with me and found that it helped rather a lot. Since then I've put it in occasionally at home when I couldn't get to sleep. But the last two weeks have left me having to get to bed early on a regular basis, and I seem to have become dependant on it. The other night I laid in bed for half an hour unable to sleep, and then I put that CD in and I was out within two songs. Maybe when we have a fan running I'll be able to wean myself off it.
I have also become a Health Food Person in the last couple weeks. After all my digestion-related health problems, I'm trying to eat better, but I'm still a junk food person at heart. I've started getting the bulk of my groceries at Trader Joe's, where I can get frozen fries that aren't simmering in a puddle of grease when I take them out of the oven. Graham was noticing the last time I went that they seem to be catering to two very different groups. They have things like meatless hot dogs next to, say, tofu, as though they're marketing both to people who just want to eat the same stuff they always ate, but healthy, and people who actually know how to cook healthy meals. But I realized that these were the same people, and remembered my boss' observation, while playing Final Fantasy Tactics, that you really could think of people's skills expressed as levels. Right now I think I'm probably at most a Level 5 Health Food Person, subsisting mostly on natural, preservative-free, and/or organic versions of the foods I used to eat. My co-worker Aaron, who is vegetarian and was explaining to Melanie and me the other night how to cook tofu, is, like, level 75. Every time I buy something outside my normal range, like when I got some salmon paties, I got up a level. I think I deserve two levels just for eating yogurt.
Now I'm gonna go eat my Trader Joe's chicken BBQ with my Trader Joe's fries. On a while wheat bun. With fruit punch. Stupid fucking intestine.
posted@12:26 PM by:Trixter: 0 comments
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
I finally got a chance to upload all my best pics from the March for Women's Lives this past Sunday to my photo blog. I have a handful of non-march pics from the trip I'll be putting up later, but for now...enjoy the sea of pink shirts and waving signs!
posted@8:36 PM by:Trixter: 0 comments
Monday, April 19, 2004
Nokia seems to be learning, but is it too late? The specs on the new N-Gage QD show that Nokia's figured out just why the original N-Gage was the laughing stock of the gaming community (especially among portable gamers like myself). They've designed it with the ability to hot-swap your game cards (rather than not only have to turn off your phone, but open it up and take out the battery like the original model), they got rid of the unnecessary MP3 player so they could drop the price, and they designed it so you can talk on the phone without looking like the victim of a horrible frisbee accident. But it's still not a better gaming platform than the GBA SP. While it may have better 3D processing and display than the GBA, it's still hurt by the vertical screen and overwhelming number-pad interface, features too integrated into games from the first version of the platform to be changed in the QD. It's still hurt by being a phone. And at this point the very name of the N-Gage inspires chucking in anybody at all involved in gaming culture, and that's going to hurt the QD more than any lingering design flaws. I think from the start Nokia should have marketed this as a phone with an impressive ability to play swappable games rather than a mediocre portable game platform that also happens to be a phone. Nokia should have pushed these at wireless stores, not at Target and EB.
"Yes, we like your insightful portable gaming reviews, but how are you doing?" Well, just this morning I went to consult with my exciting new gastroenterologist, and I'll be going back for a colonoscopy on May 7th. The words "Crohn's Disease" were mentioned, but nothing solid until they get the ol' butt-camera. I'm getting really hyped for the March for Women's Lives this coming weekend, and I've already read through Gloria Feldt's The War on Choice to get ready. I'm in the process of interviewing for a promotion at work to SIM (store inventory manager), and I get the feeling I have a pretty good chance. I'm excited about that, but I'm kinda nervous, too. I know I can do it, it's just going to be a lot of new stuff to learn and new responsibilities to keep up with. And that's my life. Woo.
posted@11:33 AM by:Trixter: 0 comments
Monday, April 12, 2004
Another interesting article on CNN.com about robotics.
posted@12:54 PM by:Trixter: 0 comments
Sunday, April 11, 2004
This reminds me so much of my current quality of life.
This one, however, is just plain awesome.
(In addition to being a webcomic, this one runs in Columbus' The Other Paper.)
posted@1:07 AM by:Trixter: 0 comments
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Today at work I found the best misplaced book ever: On the Sex shelf someone had left a copy of the negotiation classic "Getting to Yes". I can't decide if it's funnier if it means "yes" as in consent or "YES! YES! YES!"
Heads up to the DC people: I'll be back in Centreville from April 23 'till the 26th for the March for Women's Lives shindig. The march is only on the 25th, so I'll be around for a few extra days before making up for all that time I spent in DC NOT being politically activisty.
posted@11:09 PM by:Trixter: 0 comments
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Posted a few fun pics of Kicker to the Photo Blog. Enjoy!
posted@1:21 AM by:Trixter: 0 comments
Friday, April 02, 2004
I've been listening to too much emo lately.
I've also not been writing, which I apologize for. I don't know why. I don't know if I'm just still recovering mentally from being sick (not that I'm done being sick, which doesn't help) or if I've been too busy at work to come up with anything to blog about or if I'm just lazy. Pokemon Colosseum is also a likely factor. I got 5 votes in the Trannies for Best Fanfic Writer Ever without having finished a single story all year, so I suppose I'd be justified in retiring. I just haven't felt up to writing. Maybe I'm just too bogged down with stimulation: Here I am on IRC with a channel and two /msgs, talking to another friend on AIM, with three IE windows open (including this one) and listening to Exciting New Liberal Talk Radio. I think the weather is getting to me. I haven't seen the sun in days. I need to stop complaining and leave my poor blog out of this.
posted@7:11 PM by:Trixter: 0 comments