The Nature of Updates

Happy Chinese/Vietnamese etc New Year!

Anyway, so I was just on Wen’s blog and he ended his entry with something about other bloggers, and I too pondered about some blogging things about a week ago, and that is the nature of updates.

So this is how it is – we’re always asking Duy, or Alan, or Ambrose or etc to update more. Why? Is it because I want to know what they’ve been up to, or what they’re thinking? A bit of that, but truthfully, at least for me, it’s just so I can read something new.

I like new stuff. New stuff means new stimuli and new thoughts and everything; doesn’t mean better. For example, the first 100 Strong Bad E-mails are great, and any newer ones can’t usually compare to the originals; yet, we still thrive for newer ones, so we can keep seeing something new. Same with CSI – it’s always the same thing, but different cases means slightly different things.

Of course, on the Internet, there’s no shortage of new things to read. If I wanted to, I can check out thousands of blogs every day and read something new, but it’s totally not as interesting because it’s harder to relate to, and also, I don’t usually leave comments on people’s blogs that I don’t know.

The other part of updating is minimal – I talk to Alan frequently, and I always see what Duy’s doing at home. I know what they’re doing, but maybe not what they’re thinking, but sometimes that doesn’t matter. Technically, I just want to see something new to read, some new stimuli from friends.

I think that’s why we encourage people to update their blogs. Of course, there are some things better said in blogs than over e-mails or msns or real life, so that’s another good reason why people should blog, if they have something like that to communicate to everyone…

Anyway, I’m out of things to say, and now I’m just rambling. Happy New Year everyone!

Shadow of the Colossus

I finally got to play it; Isaque brought it over the other day. Before this, Isaque and the others kept telling me how I may not like the game – long walking distances, and the ever so bad ‘mario sunshine’ aspect. That is, the possibility of climbing up a tower, and then falling back down and trying again.

This was evident on the 3rd Colossus, the one where you have to swim and then go up and possibly fall down while jumping. Hawk fell down like 8 times, that wasn’t fun to watch. Falling off a Colossus is kinda different, because it’s more enjoyable to get back up. Hawk let me find and beat the 4th Colossus by myself, without tooo much help from the others. It was fun. Like everyone says, it’s an interesting experience when fighting such a huge creature, and climbing on it and hanging on to its fur and stuff.

So that was a fun experience.

Better than Nothing

Do you know what's better than no updates? Some updates! Anyway, on the other blog I said I had planned a videogame post, but while I'm not really posting a lot, I can post little updates on this blog. So, we got a bunch of games for Christmas and Boxing Day, and there are more games we can talk about from the past and the future and whatever. So every day or every couple days, I might as well post a little something something here... so we'll start... with...

Karaoke Revolution Party.

We totally enjoyed Karaoke Revolution, and so it was natural that we bought Karaoke Revolution Party. And now we got a second microphone so we can play duet mode. Next, we’ll need a DDR pad so we can play DDR while singing. For now, we’ll just stick with the controller.

Anyway, Karaoke Revolution Party sure is fun. First, there’s the character creator, where you can totally customize how your guy or girl looks like. It’s totally awesome, the amount of detail they put into such a small part of the game. The song list is… okay. Once again, there are a lot of songs we don’t know, but that’s okay. There are a bunch of cool songs we like though. I hear there’s A LOT of songs we can download/buy, so I’ll have to check out that selection. I sure hope we can unlock “California Dreamin’”, rather than having to buy it. That would make a good duet.

Best songs so far, for me, are “A-Ha - Take On Me”, and Call Me – the song they play near the beginning of Zoolander. Boy, I want to watch that movie again now…

Reba

Every now and then, sometimes my sister switches the channel to CMT and we watch an episode of Reba. It’s actually a pretty funny show. It’s a good thing my sister showed me a good episode to start… well, a lot of them are good, right? Anyway, so now sometimes when there’s nothing to watch after Jeopardy, we switch over to CMT and watch Reba.

I forget what else I wanted to say for this topic. I thought I had a whole entry ready for Reba, but apparently it’s just a paragraph. Anyway… umm…

Bad Week of Poker

Oh boy. This is really a continuation of the last update here, but yeah... this week has been a bad week for poker. So last week, Saturday Sunday, I was up $9.50 and up $19.50. This week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'm down $5.50 each day. I'm almost back to what I was last Friday. It's like the whole week didn't happen, hehe.

Anyway, today should be fun. Today I'm going to my first WinMagic poker night. A few of us are going somewhere to play some poker tonight, should be fun. So if this week online poker was training for today... well, that's not very good training. It's Friday the 13th, maybe poker will be awesomer than usual. Or, maybe today is the reason why this week was so bad.

What goes up...

This is what my poker notepad looks like for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week so far:

jan 09: dn -05.50; peak $00.00; min -05.50
jan 10: dn -05.50; peak $00.00; min -05.50
jan 11: dn -05.50; peak $00.00; min -05.50

man, 3 days in a row, lost a tournament. I've even designed a scheme where if I would win money, I'd do it faster... hehe. Anyway... yeah, that sucks. Monday was pretty bad, I got 9th place. Today I got 5th place. Just unlucky I suppose. Twice, I lost a hand to 2-pair while I had top-pair..

The big One Hundred

I’ve reached $100 in winnings in poker. Yesterday I won about $10, today I won about $20. My new average of playing poker is one $5+.50 tournament each day. That’s odd; I started with $1+.10 tournament games, then switched to money games, and now I’ve switched back to tournament games. I do enjoy the tournament vibe more, so I’m sticking with that.

So I’ve played for about 91 days, made $100, so salary wise it’s about $1 per day, but if I do as I did during the past few days, I’m hoping that goes up gradually. Also, when I started, I had that teal-line in the graph, remember? The one that I set aside for bonus money. I still set aside bonus money of exactly 20 cents per day, so technically I’m up another $18.

It’s a good start to the year.

Technological Breakthrough

Introducing the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device, trade named: BOOK

BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use, even a child can operate it.

Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere -- even sitting in an armchair by the fire -- yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc. Here's how it works:

BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder, which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence.

Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now, BOOKs with more information simply use more pages.

Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet. BOOK may be taken up at any time and used merely by opening it.

Unlike other display devices, BOOK never crashes or requires rebooting, and it can even be dropped on the floor or stepped on without damage. However, it can become unusable if immersed in water for a significant period of time. The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an "index" feature, which pinpoints the exact location of selected information for instant retrieval.

An optional "BOOKmark" accessory allows you to open BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session -- even if the BOOK has been closed. BOOKmarks fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous BOOKmarkers can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited only by the number of pages in the BOOK.

You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with an optional programming tool, the Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus (PENCILS).

Portable, durable, and affordable, BOOK is being hailed as a precursor of a new entertainment wave. Also, BOOK's appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking. Look for a flood of new titles soon.