My Imagination Is Power

Our Next President [0]

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:58:00 -0800

On the bus ride home today I saw a Bald Eagle perched out in a marsh area off of Lake Washington, near UW. It got me thinking about our nation and the coming elections, and I decided to let everyone know that I'm planning on voting for Hillary Clinton. We need someone in the White House that can stand up to everything from sniper fire to cheating husbands. Someone who will be sure that 100 adults will lose the choice to play mature video games before even a single child is exposed to such depravity. We need someone like Hillary who will learn from their opponents on the Republican of the aisle, picking up such tactics as voter suppression, spreading dirty rumors through third party supporters, spurning party rules, astro-turfing and any other dirty tricks that it takes to get them elected. A president should obviously be someone who will carry on with their present course, regardless of the hard facts in front of them. Hillary has this down pat with her campaign. We need someone who will play to win, even when it's impossible for them to do so without dirty tricks. Bring on the dirty tricks! Bring on the divisive politics! Bring on business as usual! BRING ON HILLARY!

The Perils of Ads [0]

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:41:54 -0800

Having the Google ads run on my site has earned me all of $15 over the last couple years. Definitely not worth having John McCain ads run on my site. Funny how just a few years ago, I was actually pulling for John McCain to run as an independent. But now John McCain is just as bad as the rest of them. To make up for the John McCain ads run on my site, I dedicate this post about John McCain to you, John McCain. May your John McCain campaign go as smoothly as the war you now cheer-lead, John McCain. So yeah, the ads are deleted.

Old School [0]

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:49:41 -0800

I like the idea of subsisting on simple meals of bread, cheese and mead, like in the days of yor. Unfortunately I don't like the idea of scurvy.

Zen and the art [3]

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:20:14 -0800

I got it working. Just needed to disconnect my turn signal buzzer. Replaced some ground wire on the way, cost me maybe $10 and a couple weekends working outside. Saved hundreds not taking it to a shop. And learned the entire electrical system of my bike.

Took 5 very long minutes to get it to turn over for the first time, after sitting for 3 months.

Spent an hour riding it around today after it started.

So good.

In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, p.12

I hope I know what I'm doing... [1]

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:27:22 -0800

Most of the electronic parts of my bike are in my apartment now. It was like surgery (very messy surgery) and now the spinal chord, lungs, heart, etc. are in a grocery bag in my room, waiting for inspection.

If I can't find the problem in one of these bits, I think I'm going to have to give up. Pulling the main wire harness was the last thing I wanted to do. Hopefully it will be the last thing I have to do.

[1]

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:52:30 -0800

I know we haven't had tons of time together, only seeing you 2-3 times a year, but I enjoy the time I have been able to spend with you. You're the only Grandpa I've known, but you've fit the bill perfectly. I can't imagine anyone doing a better job of it. I remember all the interesting things I would get to do when I visited as a kid. Driving hours and hours to be with you on Christmas, all of us cousins ripping into a stack of presents in the living room. We'd go down in the cellar to check out all the new wood gadgets you were making. I think I even still have a medal toy soldier you had made. Hiking back behind your old house, trying to avoid cowpies, hunting for fossils and I believe I even shot my first .22 with you back there. I remember sitting on the porch with the whole family, probably 4th of July weekend, in the heat, playing cards or board games and probably losing to Aunt Janet. We always wait in anticipation of one of your stories. Ok, maybe not "wait in anticipation", but whenever you get started everyone knows to shut up and listen in. Whether it's a joke you had just heard from a buddy or a story about some guy you once knew, we all want to hear. I guess I take after you in that way, staying quiet most of the time; it only makes people want to listen in more when you do speak up. Makes everything seem a bit more important when it is said. So, with memories of cowpies, greasy fingernails, quiet stories...I'll miss you.

Take the Cannoli [0]

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:15:47 -0800

Almost half of this book has shown up on This American Life in some form or another, so it wasn't as fresh to me as her other books I've read. I don't really care all that much about Frank Sinatra, so having to read through her story about him a second time wasn't so thrilling. The stories also lose something when you don't hear her reading them. But then again, maybe having heard her read them made them better, knowing her inflections and timing. It was like listening to the show IN MY BRAIN! One of my favorite bits (since I do it so often myself) was this:

"The phone rang. It was Dave, a writer friend. We talked for over an hour, mainly about punctuation. He has big plans for the ellipsis. He's mad for ellipsis. I tell him, yeah, I have a similar affection for the parenthesis (but I always take most of my parentheses out, so as not to call undue attention to the glaring fact that I cannot think in complete sentences, that I think only in short fragments or long, run-on though relays that the literati call stream of consciousness but I like to think of as disdain for the finality of the period)."

Crashing the Gate by Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas [0]

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:21:34 -0800

I've been reading Daily Kos since close to the beginning of the Iraq War, FIVE YEARS AGO. It's my shot of outrage before I head to work in the morning. The site covers politics in general, but the founder, Markos Moulitsas got into it because of his interest in elections. I've never been that interested in the inner workings of elections too much, other than being upset at why Democrats couldn't do better. Starting the book, I figured, having read the site for the last 5 years, I'd have heard about pretty much everything that was in there, and for the part I was right, but there were a few bits that surprised me. For one, the Democratic Party was in serious trouble of disappearing completely after the McCain/Feingold act. Democrats, up to that point, had raised most of their money from big donors. They'd concentrate on a group of people who would contribute millions of dollars to their cause. Republicans, on the other hand, had millions of people, on mailing lists, in churches, etc. that would contribute. McCain/Feingold cut off the Democrats big donors completely. They were in serious trouble. Fortunately, with the internet and sites such as Moveon.org, dailykos.com and many others, small donors, regular people, all contributing amounts $2000 or less, the Democrats began raising more money than they ever did with the big donors. But that meant listening to the people. And with a leadership stuck in the 70s, when Democrats had a large majority, they weren't too happy to start to listen to the little guy. Markos and Jerome outline this, and many other reasons why the Democrats were losing, and what they can do to turn this around. Mostly, it's about being right on the issues, and standing up for what they believe in. There's millions in this country that would support them if they just stood for SOMETHING, instead of being just "not Republican". I think we began to see that in 2006, and hopefully, with the overwhelming turnout at the primaries (Democratic turnout is blowing Republican turnout out of the water, even in states where the Democractic primary doesn't count for anything) we'll see it again later this year. Fingers crossed.

Airplane on a Conveyor Belt Myth [0]

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:39:54 -0800

Told you so. One origin of the debate.

This Pretty Much Sealed the Deal For Me [0]

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:19:45 -0800

"I had just been asked a question -- I don't remember which one -- and Obama was sitting right next to me. Then the moderator went across the room, I think to Chris Dodd, so I thought I was home free for a while. I wasn't going to listen to the next question. I was about to say something to Obama when the moderator turned to me and said, 'So, Gov. Richardson, what do you think of that?' But I wasn't paying any attention! I was about to say, 'Could you repeat the question? I wasn't listening.' But I wasn't about to say I wasn't listening. I looked at Obama. I was just horrified. And Obama whispered, 'Katrina. Katrina.' The question was on Katrina! So I said, 'On Katrina, my policy . . .' Obama could have just thrown me under the bus. So I said, 'Obama, that was good of you to do that,'" - Bill Richardson, currently weighing whether to back the Illinois senator.

Contact Harvest by Joseph Staten [0]

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:33:00 -0800

No, I take that back, THIS is how it started! This one was definitely better than the last Halo novel I read. This one focused on Halo's Sgt. Johnson, who, up to this point, was to Master Chief as Sgt. Apone was to Ripley. Kinda. This filled in a little bit of his back story. Told us how he knows what the ladies like. Showed us that even meeting real life aliens for the first time, he's a trained soldier, and will kill said aliens in every way possible. It also went into some of the back story behind the Covenant Prophets and how they got to be the evil heads of state that they are. Much political backstabbing abounded. I really enjoyed how Joe went back and forth between 3-4 different storylines, often jumping right in the middle of an action piece, only later to tell how the characters got to that point. He used it a few times, and it was always effective. "Holy cow! Why are they fighting! That's awesome! Oh yeah, here's why...." At least it wasn't completely linear standard sci-fi fare. And again, one of the coolest parts was heading to work and asking the guys who helped him flesh out the Halo details why things were the way things were. Seeing as Joe is one of the lead writers at Bungie, this is probably the first book that every bit of it is official Halo canon. There's a couple scenes that got me wanting to do some illustration. Just have to break out the sketch pad now...

"Was that scarier than 9/11?" [0]

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:19:47 -0800

After sitting through Cloverfield, an 11 year old boy in front of me asked his parents, "Was that scarier than 9/11?" Unfortunately, no. But I'm glad the kid didn't know. I also keep seeing people comment that it's "too soon". It's been over 7 years since 9/11. When can we start play-acting it out through entertainment? Kids do this all the time. They see a scary movie, or have some trauma happen, then they act it out over and over until they're not scared of it anymore. Can we please start getting through this now? It took Japan 9 years to create Godzilla to help them deal with their national trauma, surely it's OK that we've been faster than that. This is a first step. If we stop being scared of 9/11, stop cowering in fear over the prospect of it happening again, we can take a step back and be a little rational about it. Anyway, it was a great movie. Who cares if the characters were ripped from One Tree Hill or the OC, the movie wasn't about them anyway. It was about their experience. I'm surprised it's taken this long since the Blair Witch Project for the technique to make it to a big monster/disaster movie like this. It's pretty much just how I wanted it to be. Maybe even less monster though.

Xbox 360, DRM, and Why I Can't Play What I Paid For [33]

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:32:44 -0800

Microsoft STILL has yet to fix their DRM licensing issues for Xbox Live Marketplace downloads, locking many people out of the content they've paid for. So when your 360 gets the RRoD, they will fix it, but in the process break everything you've downloaded from XBLM, leaving it to you to spend months on the phone with XBL Support. Here's what I've had to go through so far: A few months ago (Nov. 7th) my Xbox got the RRoD, and I sent it in to be repaired. After a few weeks, I got it back, fixed, but now everything that I'd bought and downloaded from Marketplace won't run if I'm not signed in with my primary gamertag. This included at least 15 Arcade games, and multiple game-addons. At least $200 worth of purchases. OXM recently had an article on how it was their primary complaint with the console. So not only did my Xbox break, but after the "fix" I've now lost functionality on about $200 worth of purchases. It's very frustrating that in a home with multiple gamertags that used to have access to all the arcade games I've paid for, they now don't because of poor DRM management. The handling of this error has been less than satisfactory. When I called Xbox support Dec. 6th about this, I was told my downloads would be fixed in 20 days, max, and to call back if it hadn't been fixed by then. After almost 30 nothing had changed. On Jan. 2nd I called and was told that now it might be fixed on the 12th. Maybe. So now my Xbox hasn't been fully functional for over 2 months, and to top it off, all I'm getting for my troubles is an "I'm sorry" from a call center worker, not even an explanation why they blew their first deadline. After asking how they would compensate me for these months that my Xbox or downloads don't work as intended, they said they couldn't do anything for me, and actually hung up on me. I brought my Xbox to my family's over Christmas, but I couldn't show them any of the cool arcade games, themes, downloaded game content or videos because all of this content is completely broken without the internet. I had to explain to everyone that my Xbox broke, and then Microsoft broke the games in the repair process. That doesn't seem like a good way to get people excited about the product, and definitely doesn't make me very happy. At this point, I'm going to think twice before spending money on Marketplace, and I've warned coworkers and friends about how this repair has been handled.

You can read about other people's woe's here, here, here, here, here... etc.... Whenever Major Nelson, Xbox spokesperson, posts about a new arcade game, the comments are filled with complaints about customers being locked out of their bought content due to poor DRM management.

UPDATE (01-13-08): I called 1800-4MY-XBOX again, to see if there were any status updates. After spending a while trying to get Tier 1 support to transfer me to a supervisor, I spoke with a "Carlos" who tried telling me about licensing and why my games don't work (duh). He also told me he had no authority to issue any sort of compensation (even though a previous Tier 1 support person told me Tier 2 could do this.) He finally looked up the status of my licensing transfer, and actually told me it was 97% done! He told me that, by tomorrow morning, I would be getting a call-back, telling me I could finally re-download my games/ add-ons, etc. He PROMISED, over and over that I would receive this call, and that the person calling would be able to issue me compensation. We shall see! Who knows if this is them just blowing their deadline by a few days, or if it is because this story made front page of Digg. This whole process still needs to be fixed. I shouldn't have to do a single thing to have my games working. It should have been automatically done when they repaired my console.

UPDATE (01-14-08): No call from Xbox Live as Carlos had promised. I had to give "Andrew" all of my information, even last 4 digits of my CC# before he would transfer me to his supervisor. Once he did, she had no more information, and no idea why "Carlos" promised me what he did, and had no clue where he got the 97% done figure. Guess it was made up. She wouldn't give me any other information or dates, but told me she marked down that "Carlos" had lied to me.

History: Nov. 7th Xbox get RRoD, and I send off the Xbox and get it repaired. Dec. 6th 1 hour call Ref# XXXXXXXXX Primary Gamertag: agdtinman Told games would work in 15-20 days (Dec 21st-26th) Told I would get a call back when it was updated. Wasn't ever called, games still don't work correctly. Jan. 2nd 45 minute calls total (after being hung up on after a 30 min call) Found out a service request put in by Steven Davis (works at Microsoft) Dec 12th. Was told it would be ANOTHER 30 days past that date before they started working. Jan. 12th Arcade games still don't work if not connected to the internet, on ANY gamertag, even the one I bought them with. Which makes the current Xbox Live downtime even more frustrating. This is all in addition to multiple emails back and forth that didn't amount to anything other than "we can't help you, call Xbox Support". Jan. 13th 45 minute call Called and immediately asked for Tier 2 support. After hassling with Tier 1 for a few minutes, I was transfered fairly quickly to "Carlos" who PROMISED over and over that my licensing transfer would definitely be fixed by the morning of Jan. 14th and that I would receive a call-back then and they'd be able to issue some sort of compensation. Jan. 14th 40 minute call No callback. Called and was forced to give "Andrew" on Tier 1 support ALL my information again, even CC# before he would think of transfering me to Tier 2. Spoke with an "Ella" who didn't have any other dates, or information for me. Decided to email the fine folks at Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog with the run-down and history of the issue. Jan. 15th Resent email to Gamerscore Blog, Major Nelson, and possibly to 3 of the top executives at Microsoft and Xbox (if I got their emails correct). Jan. 17th John from Xbox support called (866-506-3826), and said they'd received my email and that he'd be personally looking into the issue. He gave me his number and extension and said that he would be sending out some emails and finding out what's happening, and said he would call be in the first half of next week (Jan 21st-23rd). Jan. 25th John still hadn't called back, so I called and left a message, and he didn't call back all day. Jan. 28th John finally called back, a week after he said he would, and told me he didn't have any updates, but he was still looking into things, and to keep trying deleting my content and redownloading it to see if it was fixed. Jan 29th John called again and said my content was fixed. He said they would not offer my any compensation for the hassle, the time that my content hasn't worked correctly or the time that I've spent on the phone trying to get this issue resolved. I came home and tried to delete/redownload the content, and it still does not work correctly. Now even John's lied to me.

The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund [1]

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:19:21 -0800

Ohhh, so THAT'S how it started! I hadn't had any real interest in reading the Halo novels until Halo 3, when it became obvious they were drawing on them a bit more than the last two games. It's actually not all that bad. I went in thinking it was mostly poor pulp sci-fi, and by the end I got over the fact that it wasn't Asimov, Bradbury, or Herbert. It helps that I can go into work and ask about why things were done the way they were, or why certain parts didn't make any sense. (Bungie mostly ignores those parts.) Another neat element was seeing coworkers names used for one-off characters, or space ships, or ports in the book. Not bad. I've been warned against First Strike, but I've started on Contact Harvest, the first novel by Bungie writer Joseph Staten. It covers the origin story of Sgt. Johnson. Hopefully it'll flesh him out to be more than just a copy of the Sergeant from Aliens.

RRoD [2]

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:29:00 -0800

So I finally buy Guitar Hero II, and it was a total blast. That is, up until the point where my Xbox couldn't handle how hard I rocked and gave up the ghost. It froze, and when I restarted my xbox, it gave me the horrible red ring of death.

What makes this turn of events sting even more is that the Gamestop I was picking it up at HAD Wiis IN STOCK! As I was buying GHII I told the clerk, "It's reeeeeaaaaally tempting, but I think I'm going to pass on the Wii."

Dammit.

Maybe there will be extra retail boxes at Bungie I can borrow for the 4 WEEKS it is said to take to get my 360 "repaired".