 |
Entries for August, 2004
| August 1st, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Oof!
Posted at 08:43 PM
First of all, I have to praise Tatsu and his most amazing skills, especially when it comes to his depiction of Mace Windu. Mace Windu is a character I love, mainly because you know that under that cool, collected, mellow voice is a guy ready to whip some serious ass.
In his recent blog posting he went through his "A, B, Cs of Me". I've seen things like this before, and have often thought of doing them, so for this one I actually gave it some thought.
15 minutes later I was at "C", and can only think "Christ, this takes too damn long." Guess I'm not cut out for these sort of things.
Today I spent the day configuring an IBM server for a friend/business associate. You got to love IBM equipment:
- It's the size of a steamer trunk.
- It's the patented IBM "Foreboding Black" color. Which leads me to wonder: why are they called "Big Blue" when everything they make is solid black?
- It weighs 50 pounds.
- It's built to be dropped from a low orbit and still function.
If it weren't for the price usually attached to these things, I'd buy nothing but IBM. I even currently use an IBM "Foreboding Black" keyboard; it's the only keyboard I've ever used that hasn't broken after a month of my use.
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 4th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Join the Dark Side
Posted at 08:02 AM
Leave it to a free game piece from the BK Spiderman game to cause me to do a competitive analysis of the quality of hash browns between Burger King and McDonalds. Had both this morning; McD's is far superior in this category, or anything breakfast related for that matter.
Anyway, my ravings over MMORPGs have caused some others to try out PristonTale. They say the graphics look cheap, but I think they look quite good; statements like that make me wonder what other games look like. I can expect games like Final Fantasy Online to look phenomenal, and I've seen some amazing shots of Worlds of Warcraft, but beyond that I can't say anything about the quality of other engines.
But, in the meantime, I'll keep bringing people over to PristonTale. No reason I should be the only one wasting my life!
Haven't had the chance to do much coding at home as of late, but things are calming down and maybe I'll actually make some progress. I noticed that this site allows for the upload of HTML content, so I might end up using this as my journal. If I can only get off my lazy ass...
|
Return To The Top »» |
Nighthawk
|
Addendum!
Posted at 09:58 AM
The RedeemedSoft Store has sold its first pair of DEATH SHORTS. We're on the road to riches now! Thanks... whoever you are!
On a side note, through CafePress I seem to be making money off REFERRALS, but for the life of me I don't know who I referred! I'd like to thank *somebody* out there!
And, if you're interested in opening your own CafePress store and make millions, do tell them that we sent you ("rsoft")! Please?
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 5th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Lousy timing
Posted at 08:28 AM
Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I was actually home early. So I figured I'd attempt PristonTale "Survive or Die".
http://eng.pristontale.com/Guide/InterMediate/SoD.aspx
In case you don't know, "Survive or Die" (henceforth called "SoD") is a sort of competition arena where many can go in and, as I'm led to understand it, you are scored based on your performance and in the end win gold depending on how you did. Granted, the monsters appear up to level 7X and I'm a lowly level 25 priestess, but I figured I'd try it anyway. An expensive buy in (300 gold per level, or in my case 7500 gold), but worth trying.
The problem is that, for some reason, it's not on all the time. It is a "...real time match, and you can play am 1:00 to am 6:00 at Koean time(GMT +9:00)", which translates to like noon to 5pm Eastern time. I was home at 4:00pm, so I figured I'd give it a go...
...and the servers are down for maintenance. ARGH!!!
A story about the kind of people you meet in this game: I was actively looking to get my Gold Ring, which requires a Bargon Crystal, a Decoy Crystal and 10K in gold. I'd gotten the Decoy Crystal, but for the life of me I couldn't find a Bargon Crystal. I tried going to other lands (Cursed Land, Forbidden Land, etc...), only to find that I'd have to spend all my magic power and a truckload of potions to kill ONE Bargon and he doesn't drop anything.
So, even though I don't have a whole lot of money, I head to Ricarten to try to buy one. I'm standing at the entrance of the Warehouse Keeper's area, where people gather to trade stuff, yelling "B> Bargon Crystal" over and over again.
One guy pops up: "I'll sell you a Bargon Crystal for 5,000 gold". I had the gold, but I needed it for the wings.
"I only have 3,500 gold", which was the truth.
*End of trade*
Fine, I thought. Business is business, I guess.
Then I get a trade request from someone else. Curious, I accept it just to see if they have one.
In the trading window, they put in 5,000 gold, and state "go get your Bargon Crystal". They just GAVE me the money.
So I open up a trade window with the guy selling it, and he accepts my 3,500 offer. Now I have more money that I don't know what to do with, and the person who gave it to me is long gone. Got my Bargon Crystal, ran to the Inventor and got my wings.
Separate incident, minutes after: I'm in Navisco, trying to get in to SoD. I'd had a hard fight getting in there and had used up all my stamina and mana, and was waiting a bit to recover it all. A large group comes in all at once (a party, I'm assuming), so out of the blue I decide to ask "anyone have mana potions?" (for the record, mana potions aren't sold anywhere; you have to find them yourself).
A trade request comes in, and somebody decides to give me FORTY-SIX mana potions without asking for a penny in return. "Take them", they said.
Of course, now I had a minor problem: 46 mana potions end up being rather heavy, but I knoew they wouldn't last. In heated battle, I drink them like water while calling forth "divine lightning" over everything. Fun!
But the experiences surprised me. Tatsu praises other players in the game, but I'd never come across it myself; most of my experience is that I wouldn't have to beg on my hands and knees to be part of a party. But these acts of charity by people I don't even know and didn't do anything for was rather uplifting. I know you're out there somewhere, and I know it's just a game, but thank you.
Anyway... Lots of others continue to state that the game doesn't cut it visually. As I've stated, I like how it looks, but then again the last game I've owned is Half-Life so I'm hardly the judge of that. So I might have to break down and try some other games, if it weren't for the cost involved.
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 6th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Ugh...
Posted at 09:02 AM
Real life is hard work.
For the past couple of weeks I've been struggling a bit. Financial burdens weigh heavily, and whereas in the past I've been able to find work to get what I need, these days the market is getting harder and harder.
I frequent quite a few freelancing sites - Guru, Rent-a-Coder, eLance, etc... - and every day it's harder, especially for programmers.
Case in point: there was a listing from some guy that wants an entire drawing application, complete with clip art management, custom fonts, nice interface, etc... loads of stuff. There's only two problems: (1) he wants it in FIVE days, and (2) sets a maximum bid price of $250.
Looking at the specifications, I can tell that if I go by that it'll be a "loss leader"; it simply isn't worth it. I average $35 an hour, which means that I would have to write that full blown application in ONE DAY to not lose money. Er... No.
What's even worse is that the listing already has 23 bids on it. I can picture it now: some guy sitting in a bungalow in New Delhi looks at it and does the math: "5 days, 10 hours a day, $5 an hour = $250. No sweat! I can do that and live like a king!!!"
How can we possibly compete with that? Ever?
This time I decided to voice my opinion to this listing. I posted a "bid" without price stating "your budget is too low for the time frame you're asking for".
The response I get: "If I double the maximum bid, can you do it in five days?"
Do keep in mind that this is still without detailed specifications. So I had to drop the bomb: "based on the time frame and the initial specifications, this can't be done for less than $2K." Still selling myself short there, and it'll still be a "loss leader" albeit not a big one, but I'll admit I'm a bit desperate.
Haven't heard from them ever again.
In this business, it's hard to be desperate. Five years ago I was able to do it: I did some software development work for IBM, and would base the amount of the invoice on what I needed at the time. "I need a new computer and it costs $3,000. Guess I'll bill IBM for it." IBM didn't care then, but nowadays they would take an invoice like that and compare it to the $400 invoice they get from India for the same type of work. And, sure enough, I'm out of work.
The big development job I landed as of late, a job that was worth $30K last year, I got simply because the customer didn't have a clue. They had no point of reference, had a theory as to how much the job cost, and knew nothing about the cost benefits of doing it overseas. So I told them "it costs $30K. Trust me on that" and they went for it.
But the word is out. Everyone knows about India's rates, and they hold it over your head like an axe. "$30K? You're joking, right? I can go overseas and do it for $5K!" I have no choice but to stare blankly in to space; nothing I can say can counter that.
And nobody goes for that "we like things done close to home" anymore. In a world where you call the PHONE COMPANY and speak to someone in India, adn the Internet simply gets bigger, faster, better, that argument doesn't carry much weight. Gone are the days of a face-to-face design meeting; nowadays an entire corporate website and major software package is put together through a series of PowerPoint presentations, some PDFs and a lot of emails.
Besides the obvious downside to this (at least as it relates to my financial future), there's the issue of the quality of the result. I've seen code written in India, code that would have not only made you fail college but would have the teacher dragging you through the student union by your ankles. It's horrid. It's slow.
And, worst of all, it's sometimes created through "converter" applications. "Want it in C++ you say? We'll just write it in VB, run it through this converter app, and get C++ code. Voila!" Just hearing that makes me cringe, and it's a good thing that customers normally don't know the difference between good and bad code. So long as it runs and it's cheap, mission accomplished.
Boy, this post ended up longer than I thought. Guess I needed a chance to vent a bit.
Back to searching for work I go...
|
Return To The Top »» |
Nighthawk
|
Ugh: Addendum
Posted at 07:51 PM
In the earlier post I mention this project I was waiting for a response from. Well, I got one...
At 3:49pm, the person placing the listing sent a "scope of work" to all bidding parties, detailing what needed to be done on the project.
At 4:11pm, he awards the bid to a programmer that is quoted in saying that "the price I stated is big enough to implement whatever you want, possible and even hardly possible."
The winning bidder's location? Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russian Federation. OK, so it's not India, but it's the same problem.
The winning bid amount? $300.
And my family criticizes me for not working as much as I use to...
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 7th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Wet. Again.
Posted at 04:48 PM
Yet another day of rain. And I'm so bored that I find myself watching X-Games on TV. Me, of all people, watching X-Games?!? It's like a Buddhist priest watching Road Rules: Extreme...
I need to get more friends around here. I only have like four friends listed in Tabulas, and one of them (guess who) posts often, which isn't a bad thing, but it makes me look like he's my only friend. I don't quite know why, and even if, that truly bothers me, but I figured I'd mention. If I hadn't mentioned it, I'd be looking for what to say around here.
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 8th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
First ever screenshot...
Posted at 04:16 PM
...of the brand spankin' new RedeemedSoft MMORPG Engine!
(See below)
That thing in the center is supposed to be a cylinder, but since it IS the light source it doesn't have proper colorization.
The cylinder moves across the flat landscape; the landscape is divided up in to rendering zones and is 16 miles wide (for now).
Well, it's a start...
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 9th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Lucky me
Posted at 05:26 PM
In my search for freelance work, I ran across someone that is looking for "...a program that assists aiming in first person shooters." What's even more amusing is that they want it for a game that I don't think has even been released yet - Tribes: Vengeance.
I gave it some thought, especially considering he's willing to pay $150 for it, but I refuse to sell out to purposely create an "aimbot" for the Unreal engine. It would take a lot more than $150 to betray my ethics like that.
Back to PristonTale: they're doing weird things again. Today they released the next version of PT, version "3.0.0", which they themselves state WILL NOT WORK until the maintenance on 8/11. Guess they're doing some of us a favor in that we now have two days to download the 580+Mb file (a full install is required), but a lot of people are downloading the thing, installing it, and find themselves unable to play. Guess they can't win them all.
With this new version comes the infamous "Tier 3" skills, which are additional special skills for people of Level 40 or above. Should be interesting, especially seeing the requirements for the Tier 3 quest; the priestess, for instance, has to kill over 200 monsters with a specific weapon. It's going to be a lot of work.
In the meantime, I'm now a lowly Level 26, but I have found one rather impressive weapon: a "Silver Bird" javelin only usable by Level 44 and up players. The problem? I could either sell it to the blacksmith for $7K (1/5th of the buy value) or find a player to buy it. But I can't seem to find any players of that level. I might have to bite the bullet and sell it to the smith; I don't want to keep dragging this thing around everywhere I go.
|
Return To The Top »» |
Nighthawk
|
Yer *another* screenshot
Posted at 11:23 PM
More progress!
The "world" of my MMORPG is a 128x128 "zone" grid, each zone being 128x128 units. Given 1 foot = 1 unit, that's over three miles distance. I figure that's enough.
The engine gathers only the proximity zones and renders them; it doesn't render the entire map. It also renders only the entities in those areas. So, looking at the screenshot, you can see the 25 zones (5x5 zone grid) being rendered with a total of 179 entities (for test purposes, there are 100,000 entities in the whole world).
Each cylinder is a monster, so to speak. All that considered, I'm getting 113 FPS on my crummier than ever machine. Not bad, I think, and that's a lot of room to work with.
There are optimizations to be done, such as frustrum culling non-visible entities and the like, but it's getting there.
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 11th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Calm before the storm
Posted at 08:26 AM
For the first time in several weeks, I actually left the house when it wasn't raining. Surprisingly dry day, compared to the past few weeks.
But I'm guessing it'll be short lived, as we now have Troipcal Storm Charley merrily on his way towards us. I really don't need a tropical storm/hurricane right now...
Anyway, been fine tuning the MMORPG engine, trying to decide what the ideal number is as far as visible range, dimensions, etc... A few things I've been thinking about:
- The engine, compared to the other engines I've been dealing with as of late, is extremely low tech. I don't really need to concern myself with things like normal maps, complex shaders, etc... It's comforting, to some extent.
- At first I considered handling the model animation using skeletal animations, but why? I understand it in an FPS because of animation blending, dynamic animations, etc... but in such a controlled environment like this it isn't really necessary. So I'm leaning towards vertex animation. Besides, the math's easier, a lot quicker and it's a lot easier to code.
- I'm writing code to render the world, but I have to wonder: how is the world going to be created? The worldspace is massive, miles across, and it's impractical to do it in programs like MilkShape. It'll have to be done in its entirety in 3DSMax or the like, in which case I'll eventually have to handle support for exporting. And, in that case, there's a bunch of issues regarding textures and texture mapping. The file format specification will probably be the most annoying part of it all.
- I keep thinking: why does this game have to be an MMORPG? I like to do it as such because of the challenge and because of the pleasure in playing with/against others, but the engine itself could be used in a local instance. Effectively, I could use the engine to create another Ultima-like game, with all processing done on the user's machine. I don't intend to paint myself in to a corner with this, doing all the server processing separate anyway, but I might give some thought in to making it a standalone game, at least from an engine standpoint.
Just so you're aware, PristonTale released a new version, introducing "Tier 3" and a bunch of other things. The "Tier 3" quest looks like a hard one: in my case, a priestess, I'll have 5 days to kill over 225 monsters. Not that I'm at level 40 yet; I'm having a hard time at level 26.
And nobody wants to buy this level 44 "Silver Bird"...
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 12th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
PT v3
Posted at 07:43 PM
Well, PristonTale version 3 is out. Not a bad "improvement", I must say.
And I use the term "improvement" loosely; it implies that they did a major development effort to bring this to us. What's funny is that all the features in the English version already exist in the Korean version, which leads me to wonder why don't they simply run the same version?!? Localization can't be that hard, especially considering the English version is loaded with bad grammer and "Engrish".
Some new things in it:
- The "Event Girl". Boy, you can't think of a better name, one that invokes so many nasty thoughts. Well, this is an NPC that, once for each time you log in, allows you to instantly change your stats (strength, spirit, etc...) and skill distribution.
There's one drawback, and I found out the hard way. Since I only had level 1 "Divine Lightning", I decided to reset my skills. Little did I know that, although they were reset, I'd have to pay AGAIN to actually activate the skill points. That cost me a good $35K. And now all my skills are at 10%, which means I have to practice them all again to get them up to the level I had them. Ugh.
- "Bellatra", or the new version of "Survive or Die". I don't quite know what this is like - never been in the old one, and I can't seem to get in to the new one. But it looks visually cool, even though I've heard people mention that it isn't really worth the cost of entry.
- Higher level items in the shops, as if people still buy stuff rather than find it on the field.
- Armor absorptions hae been beefed up. My Divine Robe is as good as ring mail. Go figure.
- A bunch of "tier 3" skills, none of which I can see yet; 13 more levels to go, and then I have to pay to see them. There's also a new quest, which doesn't sound particularly easy, but some people have managed to already complete it in a day (I've seen people exercizing their "tier 3" skills).
- There's a new land that's only accesible to people level 80 or higher. Considering that, on my server, there's a total of 8 people that can go there, it's not getting a whole lot of attention.
Either way, I'll keep playing it, for now.
I've been giving more thought to my NSMMORPG ("Not So Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playig Game"). I like the idea of making it a private server of some sort: imagine a server running in the back of your local LAN cafe, with a completely persistant world, more NPCs, more monsters, etc... With such a small environment and few players, you can bring in a lot more storyline elements and quests. I continue to envision something like Ultima VII, except that each member of the party is on his/her own computer.
I would develop the server application separately anyway, but being in a LAN environment I don't have to worry as much about syncronization and lag.
But, for now, I have to render something other than a white cylinder...
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 13th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Step right this way...
Posted at 09:43 AM
Front page CNN a few minutes ago...
Apparently, CNN didn't feel that people living in the Florida Keys got wet enough, so they would much rather you step RIGHT IN FRONT of a CATEGORY 3 hurricane...
[EDIT]
CNN has already corrected their story, stating that "About 1.9 million people reportedly have been urged to evacuate areas in the storm's path."
[/EDIT]
Had a weird dream last night. I dreamt I won the Florida Lottery after Bill Clinton told me the winning numbers.
Some dreams I wish I didn't remember.
|
Return To The Top »» |
Nighthawk
|
Dead calm
Posted at 09:23 PM
First off, I'd like to thank Tatsu for this template. I finally have my own independent look and feel! Thanks!
-=O=-
Hurricanes are an amazing spectacle.
I've gotten in to actual arguments with people over which is worse: a hurricane or an earthquake. The way I describe a hurricane is "picture an earthquake that you know about three days in advance and, when it arrives, lasts for fourteen hours." That usually shuts them up for a bit.
What's even more impressive is what it does to surrounding weather; it literally sucks all the bad weather in. Here in Miami we were all waiting for these infamous "feeder bands" to drop fourteen feet of water on our city (at least that's what WSVN 7 makes it sound like). Today we didn't get A SINGLE DROP of rain; it's been the best weather we've had for months.
So what did I have to do today? Drive 50 miles North to Pompano Beach - into the "heart of darkness". I was worried, I'll admit, that one of these "feeder bands" would inhale my car and I'd end up floating in the Atlantic, but no such luck. Not a drop of rain; only a slight crosswind which was noticeable in my poor little car. The best thing was that tolls are suspended during hurricanes, so I get to blow through toll booths going 70MPH.
Public Service Announcement: Do not attempt to take a Ford Escort above 80MPH. As soon as you pass 80MPH, you are no longer in control of the vehicle. It feels like a dragster at that point, just dying to fly apart, getting kicked around by even the slightest crosswind. And, no matter how much you slam the accelerator, don't think you can get it up to 120MPH like the dial says; you can pass 90MPH only if a hurricane is blowing wind up your tail.
-=O=-
One note about the aforementioned WSVN 7: I don't know if any of you are aware of it, or are familiar with other news broadcasts that are like it, but it's like watching a movie more than news. They might as well start and end each broadcast with "This is WSVN 7 news. We are all going to die. Now here's the weather...", and interject some special effects that would make James Cameron gawk in awe.
The best example is the legendary story of Rick Sanchez, a newscaster on the station that eventually went to MSNBC (and I don't think they wanted him, either). He got the breaking news that a plane was coming in "hot" to Miami International Airport and that it would have to make a landing which will cause it to crash. So he rushes out to the airfield just waiting for the 747 to slam in to the runway. Please note: he's doing this LIVE - it didn't care to him if the 3 million people in Dade County didn't care to see a plane with 300 passengers slam in to the tarmac. It's NEWS, damn it!
The plane appears, and he's immediate to point it out. The camera follows its every movement from the approach... gears down... steady...
Perfect landing. Rev the engines back and coast to a stop.
The camera turns to Rick. He stares blankly in to the camera, then says something to the effect of "everything OK here. Back to you in the newsplex." But you can almost see a tear in his eye: he WANTED that plane to go careening in to the runway in a massive fireball. 'cause that would have been GLORIOUS NEWS!!!
I hate the media.
|
Return To The Top »» |
Nighthawk
|
So I'm getting creative now...
Posted at 10:27 PM
Added the randomized image to the left hand side. The neat thing is that it only randomizes ON MY HOME PAGE...
HA!
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 16th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Posted at 11:52 AM
Inspired by Trent's quote engine, I decided to write my own. Of course, I'm a programmer, so I have to overengineer the thing, such as find a way to work in Multivariable Calculus and String Theory...
Anyway, mine's database driven using third party Javascript. I'll eventually slap an interface I guess, but as I stated above: I'm a programmer, true and true. I loathe interfaces. I mean, I have Enterprise Manager and Query Analyzer; what more interface do I need?
But to cater to everyone else, if the demand's there I'll whip something up.
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 17th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Quotes galore!
Posted at 12:02 PM
I've actually been having some fun hunting for movie quotes.
I'm trying to pick relatively meaningful quotes, not just quotes that are popular. Of course, there's the occasional fun one; how can I resist?
Got like 200+ quotes in there as it is. I'll eventually create an interface for it, but before that I'll consider creating some sort of "list page" where you can see them all.
If you are interested in having a quote engine, here's what I need:
- A CSV or text file file containing:
"Quote","Speaker","Movie/Book"
Each one of the three fields shouldn't have double-quotes in it, but if they do please format them as two consecutive double-quotes, as is the case in the standard CSV format.
- A "user key", which I'm using to define your specific set. This would be the parameter you pass to the script file.
And that's it. Neat, eh?
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 18th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Blarg...
Posted at 07:08 AM
I'm 33 years old today. Great.
At 12:01am, I was celebrating my birthday by throwing up in my bathroom. Feel like hell today, and I've got the biggest headache imaginable. But I had to come to work because my major project, something I've been working on for a year, is being deployed. Lucky me.
The first people to wish me a "happy birthday" were the Beyond Unreal forums; the forum sent me an automated email at around 12:15am.
I've had numerous people tell me something to the effect of "that's the same age as Christ." Don't know if that's a good thing or not, but I'm not looking forward to my crucifixion.
Anyway, going to try to be productive a bit, try to leave early, and pass out as soon as I get home.
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 19th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Blarg (cont'd)...
Posted at 07:38 AM
Well, at least today I'm better.
Yesterday, after I got home, I decided to attempt to take a break from reality and not do anything work related. So I loaded up PristonTale yet again.
I'm at the point where I'm just shy of level 30, and it's becoming a lot of work to reach the next level. I mean, between level 29 and level 30 there are literally ONE MILLION experience points, which is extremely difficult with a character that doesn't have a strong offense or defense. So I can't go to the relatively high level areas, and end up playing in the Ruinen area where the monsters are so relatively low level that it takes even longer.
Plus, there's a lot of complaints about the monster drops sucking. I spent 5 minutes trying to kill a single Headcutter (which, at least for me, is rather formidable) only to have him drop something like a small stamina potion. It's been stated in their forums that the drops were nerfed purposely because people were getting the better weapon much too easily, and that it's only temporary. We'll see.
In the meantime, I work now and then on my RPG. Got triangle-based collision detection working, so I can now navigate terrain. Getting better by the day.
So I played it for about 30 minutes and my sickness got the best of me. Went to sleep at 8pm and slept clear through to 7am. Haven't done that in a long time, but I sure needed it.
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 21st, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Reaching out
Posted at 08:48 AM
Tabulas has and still is a learning experience. I look at all the other journals and see people writing pretty much about anything that happens in a given day. Then I look at mine, where there are very few things that I talk about. It's either PristonTale, or programming, or some horrible car accident... themes that are recurring, but seem to overwhelm my life.
With that in mind, it's hard to accept that my life is, for the most part, boring. I'm bottled up, sitting behind a computer upwards of 12 hours a day. Not out of choice anymore, but out of necessity.
And I see that not many people read this thing anyway. I've been considering exploring other Tabulas boards, but it somehow feels awkward to go blindly adding people as friends when I don't know anything about them just because they're friends of a friend of a friend. Guess that's the distinction between physical friends and Internet friends.
Anyway, I'm typing this from an Internet cafe while I do laundry next door. I can't seem to keep away from computers even when I'm doing laundry. Partly because I felt it was too early to have a beer at a restaurant, but that's another matter entirely.
|
Return To The Top »» |
This is a stickied post.
Nighthawk
|
My Record Player Is Broken
Posted at 10:57 PM
The nice thing about living in Miami is it's proximity to the United States.
I was born in Puerto Rico to a Spaniard father and a Cuban mother, so needless to say I know Spanish; it's not like I had a choice in the matter. But I don't naturally look latin - I'm 6'4", untanned white, thin - so people somehow assume I don't speak Spanish. I don't quite understand how they come to that; even if I don't look it, if you live in South Miami or Kendall and don't speak Spanish, you'll never accomplish anything. We have to import our non-Spanish speakers from Davie or Homestead.
So I'm standing in a Cuban restaurant, and I'm the only customer in there. The person behind the counter tells me, in English, "one second, please," then proceeds to berate me, the customer, in Spanish to the cooks. Now, in this situation, you have three options:
1) Speak up immediately and start a major argument.
2) Leave.
3) Wait 'til the very end, then make it clear as day that you understood them.
I chose #3. I didn't confront them for what they said or anything, and proceeded to place my entire order in English, paid and all that, then proceeded to ask for lemon in perfect Spanish. The blank "oh, crap" stare I got was something I'll cherish for a long time.
I also have the ability to speak Spanish as if I didn't do it natively, throwing in the most American of accents in to it. And there are times when it's a necessity.
A long time ago I was in a grocery store, and a man ad woman walk up to me and begin talking in Spanish. Now I have to back up a second: pure Cubans don't just "talk" Spanish. They express Spanish. They girate, flail around as if on fire, and speak so fast it sounds like an auction. I myself have had my Spanish described as "...the Spaniard accent with the Cuban speed."
Anyway, this guy went on for two minutes in blistering fast Spanish, oblivious to whether I was payig attention, whether I was even understanding him, or whether I had anything better to do. Quite frankly, I was doing something else at the time and not paying attention to him, so he could be reciting the Gettysburg Address and I wouldn't know it.
So there comes a point where he ends with "esta bien?" ("Is that OK?"). Here's my opportunity.
I turn to him, and in the most Americanized accents I could muster, point at a fruit stand and proclaim...
"Mi tocadisco esta discompuesto."
Yes, for you non-Spanish speakers that translates to "my record player is broken."
For years man has been looking for a method by which to mute a Cuban. I'd found it. Stunned by my response, and my complete lack of emotional response after it (I restrained laughter, and tried to give my best "OK, your turn" face), he simply turned and walked away. That's when the cashier lost it completely (she knew me).
So, "ignorance is bliss", but giving the impression of ignorance is quite amusing at times. Record player or not.
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 22nd, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
FIRE, BAD!!!
Posted at 09:53 PM
My right hand will never be the same...
Today I was at the beach with family again. The beach kind of grows on you after a while, and today at least wasn't the blistering heat or massive downpour we've been dealing with more often than not.
This time we elected to take our own BBQ grill, a little portable stove of sorts, complete with legs and collector pot, so we can cook up stuff on it.
Well, I got designated BBQ duty, which I proudly accepted. Lit the BBQ with matches, cooked a few things, and let it sit.
Then it was time to relight the BBQ. I lit a match, threw it in. Nothing. Lit another, threw it in. Nothing. Lit a match, put it near the briquettes, and ENGULFED MY ARM IN FLAMES.
The thing lit up like napalm, my arm still firmly inside the grill. In another incident that would have been yet anothre Kodak moment, I yank my arm back and take a flying leap back way from the grill. And, as seems to be my tradition at the beach, begin flailing about like a schoolgirl.
What's amazing is that I didn't get burned, and I didn't catch fire. But now I have noticeably less hair on my right hand.
Isn't life getting exciting now?
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 23rd, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Entire list of quotes
Posted at 09:36 PM
I went ahead and created a content page that displays all my currently active movie quotes dynamically, served directly from my server through third party script.
http://www.tabulas.com/~Nighthawk/content/12506.html
I've mentioned this before: if anyone out there wants to put together a set of quotes to be served in the same fashion, I'm more than willing!
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 24th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
*tweak, tweak!*
Posted at 08:53 PM
Made a slight tweak to the header on this page as well as hosted my own images (no hard feelings, Trent!).
Added some more quotes - Futurama, mostly... - and am now realizing that's one big list. And it'll only get bigger!
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 28th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
D'OH! How'd they guess?
Posted at 08:35 PM
http://www.hl2fallout.com/
In case you weren't aware, Gabe Newell himself appeared on the HL2Fallout forums and announced, to everyone's shock and surprise, that Half-Life 2 is "going gold" on Monday.
Well, guess what...
Update: After one crazy night of theories, server mayhem and IP tracing, we've finally gotten to the bottom of this mess. In a twist of hilarity, it seems that Gabe Newell had set his account password to 'gaben'. Person x guessed this and made the "going gold on Monday" post which we've heard so much about. The user (who we believe is the same person x) then made this post just minutes ago using Gabe's account:
Maybe he shouldn't have used 'gaben' for his password. Come on Gabe, you could of thought of something better than that
After a quick double-check, it seems that this was exactly what happened. Reminds me of the good old days. For an official response concerning the hoax, see Chris Bokitch's post on Steampowered.
Somewhere there's a village missing an idiot.
I mean, you'd figure after supposedly (I still don't buy it, to be quite honest) being compromised last November, you'd figure that they would be at the highest level of security on all fronts. Hell, if I knew that someone got in to my computer and stole even ONE line of source code from me, I'd be on the phone changing every credit card number, account number, PIN number, etc... I had just to be safe.
At the office the important server and database passwords to even our most minors of servers will give you muscle cramps while typing - non-alphanumeric, upper/lower case, etc... and the "sa" signons on to the database servers are GUIDs, which are 128-bit, 32 character hex string that only exist on paper inside the company vault; nobody knows it from memory.
Yet this isn't all that surprising. I have a relative that keeps here passwords for everything in her desk's Rolodex under "P". What's the first card in her Rolodex? "A" is for "alarm codes"...
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 29th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
My very best... So far...
Posted at 08:52 PM
In light of rave reviews, and the fact that navigation in to the past on this thing is rather tedious, I've created a "Best Of" entry page for those few times I actually say something memorable.
I'd like to thank the Academy for this award, and to all the little people out there: keep looking up.
|
Return To The Top »» |
| August 30th, 2004 |
Nighthawk
|
Good riddance!
Posted at 03:54 PM
Thank God the VMAs are over; maybe Miami can go back to normal now. Well, closer to normal anyway...
I personally didn't see the VMAs; I had something more meaningful to do. Don't remember what it was, but I'm sure it was more meaningful than the VMAs, whatever it might have been. Yeah, definitely more meaningful.
I've heard rave reviews of Hoobastank and Yellow-something-or-other taking the stage. Can someone report how bad they truly were?
As for life in Miami, for the past week that's all people talked about. On the radio, in the newspaper, in the office, etc... And they created such a log jam in downtown Miami you couldn't come within ten miles of the American Airlines Arena (or the "AAA", as it's called around here).
And what's the deal with everything being "hip hop"? The only borderline rock artists at the VMAs (three of them total) sucked. It seems rock artists only attent National Conventions these days.
So, back to reality...
Oh, hey! Another hurricane is chugging towards us. I'm just waiting for CNN to recommend to everyone that, in order to avoid the hurricane, people should evacuate to an island in the Bahamas. Or just stay out on the open sea where it's safe.
|
Return To The Top »» |
Nighthawk
|
And if you believed that...
Posted at 08:16 PM
Sure it is.
I don't know who to believe anymore. This cloud of obscurity that Valve is sitting behind I figure exists for only three reasons:
- They've been really behind all this time, so they're thinking of anything they can to give the impression that the delays are out of their control.
- They have the worst Public Relations and Marketing divisions on the planet.
- Gabe Newell is the Orson Welles of the gaming industry, only larger, weirder, dumber... oh, who am I kidding. Forget it.
|
Return To The Top »» |
|
|
Daily Links
Make Your Statement
Shared Communities
|
