Mmmm London Fog

I'm sipping on one right now. This is the first time I've had it and I'm not sure if I like it or not...
It tastes wrong somewhat...
For those of you who don't know what it is, it's Earl Grey Tea with milk. Basically, an earl grey tea latte.

Tournament finish!

It's a pretty pathetic tournament, but it's still a cash finish.

After almost 4.5 hours of playing in a $100 Freeroll on Full Tilt Poker. Out of a field of 2700, I survived long enough to make a cash finish in 26th. It's only $2. But what the hey, I haven't really played much tournaments so this is good practice for me. It was good fun though since I had my dad beside me watching. We had good debates of how to play, and let's just say I probably would have gone broke a lot earlier if I listened to my dad more. Hehe.

Ungh. My neck is cramped now after that long grind.

Reaching for the past

I've always had problems of letting go of things I really liked in the past. Especially with video games, I always get annoyed by the fact that I cant' find old NES or SNES games even though my old systems are still running. The old classics are the best. Who cares about fancy graphics, the gameplay was simple and addictive. I love how the old systems had a lot of co-op play where it's all about you and your best buddy trying to survive to the next level. Sadly, that genre has almost died out to the more popular First Person Shooters, Role-playing Games, and maybe still some Adventure games.

I've gotten used to the fact that I haven't been able to, and probably wont' be able to, find any old 8-bit games for the NES/SNES etc, anymore. However, I've recently been missing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory for the Xbox. It's the first co-op game I've felt that has surpassed expectations and deliver a unique experience. I went for a walk in Lansdowne and I couldn't find a copy of it at Future Shop, or Best Buy. I was ecstatic when I finally found it at Toys R Us, until the guy scanned the box and wouldn't sell it. Apparently the game has been recalled. Now, I'm stuck trying to find a game that's just barely 2 and a half years old. Ungh. I really hate this industry.

Learning Italian with Star Wars

It's not really Star Wars I guess, but it's fan-based movies on the Star Wars universe. It's called Dark Resurrection, and so far it's pretty interesting. I've only seen part 1 of 2 and I'm pretty intrigued. It's filmed in Italian with English subs. The casting/acting is mostly solid and it's a pretty decent movie considering it's not a major production, although it didn't look quite low budget at all.

The special effects were good most of the time, but the blowing out of colors effect was being used a little too much. The casting was really intriguing, a lot of the actors/actresses were in the older range of 40-60's, and I think they gave a more experienced and believable environment. I still have a problem with the casting of the main character, but I could still relent depending on how she acts in the second part.

Yum yum salmon!

I just realized how good the Wild Sockeye Salmon on Filone sandwich at Starbucks is. At 5.95, it's so cheap! There's other sandwiches on Starbucks' shelves too, but they don't taste as good. I don't get how they price their inventory. One would expect that the salmon sandwiches would cost more (besides the fact that it's local since we get salmon from BC) but I would gladly pay up to 7.50 for this sandwich, while the less tasty ones, the 5.95 price tag does not justify it's taste.

It goes maybe not so well with Caramel Machiatto, I probably should have gotten a tea, or some fruit drink. Salmon doesn't really pair well with coffee or any bitter drink.

I'd like a book please!

There's an awesome video on CNN regarding new book printing technology. Being able to order books on demand will definitely make a difference in libraries and being able to stock more content and not being constrained to retain physical copies of old books that can be reprinted. This is the type of technology that will re-define the current generation's ability to adapt technology to be more useful rather than simply entertaining. Ipods/iphones are nice, sure, but how does that affect our society? Music is primarily a form of entertainment, but books can span even more across the ages.

Video-on-demand, sweet. Book-on-demand? KICKASS

I should really sleep earlier

A friend of mine is back from SF for a couple days, but today's probably the only chance I'll get to hang out with him. We went out for dim sum at Fisherman's Terrace. I'm not sure if we were sick or something, but we ordered very little. After that we got some bubble tea at Tapioca Express. It's been a while since I've gone out for bubble tea. Once you stop drinking it, you lose your taste for it. We went though since we just wanted to hang out, and there is really nothing better to do in Richmond.

Bourne Ultimatum! That was another headache inducing, although not as bad as the previous one, because of the rapid free-chase camera style that director Paul Greengrass OH SO LOVES! I felt airsick after watching one of his other films, United 93 which also employed the same technique. But, I have to admit, this Bourne was awesome. So were the others, but this one felt like it gave some completeness to the storyline. I'm a little saddened since I love the directional style of this movie series, and I would be quite disappointed if they don't continue. Considering that the movies don't really follow the books that closely I wouldn't really be all too critical how much they changed the story. The psychological aspect is tremendous, the mind games, the spy game with a character that employs a certain avoidance of action unless necessary which is quite contrary to the norm of any spy movie where the protagonist initiating violent encounters just for the sake of having action in the movie.

I was talking to Tim about this like a week ago... The 2 gig limit on gmail is pretty big, but it would be nice to have something even bigger, and an incurred cost of the upgrade would be a fair alternative. Well, I just noticed gmail is now offering the said pricing scheme:
6 GB ($20.00 per year)
25 GB ($75.00 per year)
100 GB ($250.00 per year)
250 GB ($500.00 per year)
They seem pretty reasonable.

I don't normally read Google's blog, but they made a post about it

Murphy's Law

I guess it's an obvious cliche, but you should really back up your data. With the old adage of Murphy's Law of "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong."
I was expecting this for a while, and contemplating about getting a new external HD to back my data up. And well... I guess I just got lazy. Right now it's unclear whether or not I can get my hard drives back up, but all it's doing is clicking whenever I start my computer. I'm going to lose massive amounts of work if it's permanently gone. I really hate the idea of digital storage. It's so easy to lose, but then physical storage doesn't really give much of a better alternative with its space requirements.

If you don't listen to your insights, then you deserve to fail. I hope my insights will re-consider about me hearing it.

Two idiots, and water.

So, my mom and I just got back from Safeway. My mom bought a 9.5L tank of distilled water for drinking, and we both assume the water comes straight out considering... it's that much water. There's obviously a great amount of pressure from the weight of the water being pulled by gravity. However, both me and my mom were quite dumbfounded as to why the water would only trickle out. I think we spent about 10 minutes trying to tilt it and raise it, all to the advancement of our realization we were pretty stupid not knowing how to operate a tank of water. Haha

We figured out a technique after that little game of trying to pour it out. Have you ever had this situation?
Please laugh now, and laugh again when you run into this situation yourself.

Tv = Bored--

I'm watching a pre-air copy of Bionic Woman right now. It's pretty interesting and certainly something fresh. I'm always surprised whenever I find a new show filming in Vancouver, and there were pretty obvious scenes with UBC. Some other new shows also seem pretty promising, which is to say, that they have decent storylines, good acting, and stand a decent chance of not being shelved.

Kill Point, is a new thriller on Spike with John Leguizamo playing an Army Sergeant returning from the frontlines of war to return to the States to rob a bank with his platoon only the heist goes wrong and instead, the platoon is stuck in a siege inside the bank. He plays against a quirky, grammar-obsessed hostage negotiator played by Donnie Wahlberg.

Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles. I'm not really sure yet about this show. It's going to be either really stupid or...really really really stupid, but it'll just be good because it is so stupid. I still don't think Summer Glau can act, other than being mental, which she truly fits here as a Terminator. Lena Headey is definitely a perfect fit for Sarah Conner, and same goes for Thomas Dekker as John Conner. The casting is pretty strong, but so far, the writing is a little bit questionable.

I'm definitely a big fav for Bionic Woman now. A lot of the actors are being borrowed from Battlestar Galactica, so that's a shoe in for the case of solid casting. The direction is pretty unique and gives a very naturalistic gritty touch to the sci-fi scene, very quite similar to BSG.

Harry Potter!

My copy of the Deatly Hallows just arrived!

Brown Rice Tea

I'm trying out this Japanese Brown Rice Tea that someone got in our office. It smells heavily of Brown Rice aroma, but the taste still comes out as regular green tea. I'm not sure why I'm drinking hot tea, I'm already feeling pretty hot. I'm an idiot. Haha, but I wanted to try the tea out.

a little sunday art

I didn't realize there was an art show going on at the Vancouver Art Gallery until today. It's the first time I've been in the gallery, which is the (I'm not sure what type of architecture it is), it's the one that looks like a museum. I just did some Wikipedia-surfing and I think museum architecture has its own classification. But back to topic, the current main exhibit is Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The majority of the works are of more modern (1800-1900s) paintings, and sculptures.

I've been meaning to take a look at these types of works for a long time, but never really had an opportunity to. I had a good introduction to the majority of the painting movements. Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Modernism, Surrealism, and I'm missing some of the smaller movements. It does make a difference seeing these works of art in real life. You can't truly appreciate the skill that goes into creating these paintings without seeing the imperfections and the subtleties of the strokes and the unevenness of the oil on the canvas or whatever each artists medium of choice. Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Picasso, Rodin, and Dali. These are the major names that come to mind, and I finally see truly how different each of these major figures played in advancing modern art. It's a little elitist, but I have to admit, that not everyone will be able to understand or appreciate fine art. I'm not quite at that stage either, I'm still learning how to appreciate it.

The one piece that probably intrigued me the most was Salvador Dali's "The Dream". I was thinking of buying a print from the gift shop, but I couldn't perceive the shock I experienced from seeing the actual painting. The colors and hues are so vibrant, while they don't look the same on printed material. The subject matter interests me as well since it's about dreams, but it wasn't what primarily caught my interest. Just the stark contrast and vibrant hues with an oddness that defines surrealism. It speaks on a very philosophical level.

What I work on

My company just had a release of their flagship software last week on 7/7/7 with a serious interface overhaul. The functionality isn't that much different, but the usability has been improved considerably. Originally called Booking Server, the software was lacking in a personality, especially in modern day Internet branding/marketing.
Our software has been re-branded as Rezgo, powerfully simple reservation system. Through Internet blogging and various web marketing techniques, some people have started to take notice and most recently, our software has been noted on go2web2.0 as well as at KillerStartups.

XBox360 = bye?

It's a little disheartening to hear about Microsoft's failure in the gaming industry. The arrival of Microsoft on the gaming scene with the XBox and Xbox360 was a great boost in the competition of the gaming industry and has thus perpetuated increasing quality in game development and design.
This current fall of Microsoft is sure to dent it and may be a signal that it could be on its way to an early grave. I love the current new-gen consoles. The deeply integrated rivalry of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft has given rise to advances in experience design, hardware advances, and rich graphics, (somewhat respectively to each company).

The Wii is currently in the overall lead with its breakthrough in re-defining the video game experience. It's still sold out in most places, and has been since its release in November 2006. The XBox360 is the front runner for graphics with powerhouse games like Gears of War, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Call of Duty 2. They're also releasing Halo 3 later this year which should give it a little more stable footing pending its approval by the critics. Sony on the other hand with the Playstation 3, is well... floundering with the competition. It has no spectacle game to garner appreciation from fans, and the hardware may be the best out of the existing gen consoles, but has yet to shine.

On a side note, I'm now tempted to buy a Sony PSP. Damn Squaresoft =/. They're re-releasing Final Fantasy Tactics, with FMV upgrades as well as new playable characters, AND new character classes. Damn them *shakes fist* On the other hand, I can break into it and try 'homebrew' applications which seem to be popular in the PSP crowd with installing emulators allowing the user to install old games like SNES and PSX roms. Hrmmm...

A random quote from a Chinese proverb. "One joy shatters a hundred griefs"

Odd Videos

I just found these off the front page off torrentspy, but they're awesome nonetheless.

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/112363/Marble_Based_Calculator.html
This one is a marble based binary adder machine. it's pretty amazing how people think of these type of designs. some people don't understand the intricacies of this design and think it's stupid because you can count faster in your head. In truth, if early mathematicians did not invent binary, the modern computer could not function as it does.

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/112532/Spider_Man_Speed_Painting.html
Uhm. Crazy. I have a hard enough time drawing simple lines with my tablet. I can't even imagine how professional artists draw digital paintings like this.

Alias

I was a little apprehensive to start Alias. I have so far been discontent with J.J. Abrams and Lost.
So, after finishing season 1, I am hooked. I'm so on the edge of my seat, and quite confused as to why I haven't watched it before.
It's not really as confusing as other people have claimed. It's heavily serialized like Lost though and heavily detailed so missing one will definitely create a blank in the story.

Aiyee. I'm happy though since I have something to watch. Especially so since everything other show on television is on summer break -_-. My current lineup of airing shows is Standoff, Traveler, and 4400 just started season 2...
I actually thought Standoff was cancelled since it just disappeared for no reason. Or maybe it was just me expecting every new show being written off left and right. Since Jericho managed to fight that off with loyal fans, maybe I should go watch that too.

Information...

...is a dangerous thing.
Apparently, I struck a chord with certain individuals that did not know me very well prior.
They felt that I needed to know some things even though they did not directly affect me, and probably should/would not know any other way.
Privied information, is definitely a very dangerous thing.
I'm not as concerned as much of what I should do, but rather how to digest the information.

It affects me, indirectly, only because I know it now. Even then, it's paradoxical because had I not known it, it wouldn't affect me at all. The information serves as information that could give me potential insight, but for now it merely hinders my judgment because I will be second-guessing. Information is dangerous, especially if it exists in a state of flux.

Heed it, and I may avoid the rain, but carrying an umbrella everywhere.
Ignore it, and the sun may still shine, or I may be struck by thunder.

New Phone!

I got my Sharp Vodafone 903SH today!~ Thx Tim.
At least now I've got an alternative camera to use. The 3.2MP resolution is decent for a phone camera, and it looks snazzy.
My yuppie factor just went up a notch.

I don't know what it is lately. I've been feeling so tired lately. Sigh. I'm too tired to do anything by the time I get home. Well, the drive home has gotten worse too. Some traffic changes in North Van, and it takes me nearly half an hour to get out on to the Ironworker's Memorial bridge. It's retarded. 30+ minutes for <5 km. I need to find an alternate route.

Difference

When I set out to make a widget last year, I was merely trying to think up of something simple, easy-to-use, and practical. It's a metronome, it keeps time, although not accurate as some would like, but it is a basic tool. It ticks in time. It pulses a beat. It's nothing fancy. I was hoping people would find it a practical tool. And yes, I have received responses to that degree, from musicians who found my widget to be an invaluable tool as an alternative to an actual physical metronome.

I received a letter from someone this morning who actually found another use for it. This person has asthma and does Buteyko breathing exercises to perform timed cycles of breathing. He/she was holding a stopwatch in front of their face to help keep their breathing on track. So, somehow, they managed to stumble onto my widget and thus reducing the strain of having to look at a stopwatch. I never thought this widget would make such an impact in someone else's life. But I thank them for letting me have an insight to how my work has made a difference in the real world.