█ CubeGeek

Abandoned, but for good reason...

2008-04-15T15:45:00.001-07:00

The lack of updates on this site can be attributed to this:

Explorer Nation is my new community travel website, which will launch May 1st, 2008. Check it out and join the community!

Unfortunately the maintenance of the site has left me little time for this blog. Fortunately, Explorer Nation has its own blog, which can be viewed here.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read the blog! I hope you'll join us over at Explorer Nation!

PHP'in

2008-03-21T10:13:00.001-07:00

<?php

$messageToReader = "Working on new website using PHP.";
$messageToReader2 = "Will tell you more soon. Thanks!";

echo $messagetoReader . " " . $messagetoReader2;

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2008-03-13T11:06:00.001-07:00

St. Patty's Day always holds a special place in my heart, since Ireland is my favorite place on the planet to visit. To honor this special occasion, I'm going to give a quick mini-review of Ireland and post a few pictures from my trip in April 2007.

Ireland, An Experience of a Lifetime:

Before you've actually experienced Ireland, it's hard to imagine just how green a country it really is. Ireland is so green, after a week your eyes will hurt from seeing so many shades of green. It truly is the Emerald Isle. The scenery is fantastic and you won't regret checking out almost any attraction this wonderful country has to offer.

Ireland's greatest attraction; however, is its people. You will never visit a country with more warm and welcoming people. If you want to be left alone, you're left alone; if you want to chat, you've got a pub full of chatters; if you're up for watching a game of rugby, you can watch it at the pub!

Ireland's entire social structure revolves around the pub. Unlike the U.S., the people of Ireland do not do their drinking at home. Drinking is their social activity. If you're standing anywhere in Ireland, chances are you're walking distance from a pub. There is literally a pub on every corner.

Never did I expect to be so welcomed into a foreign land like I was in Ireland. The people of America are extremely cynical in comparison. I would hardly expect a visitor to America to receive the same treatment. Visiting Ireland made me wonder if anyone feels of visiting America the way I feel about visiting Ireland.

That being said, traveling to a foreign land really made me appreciate life in America. There are little differences between the two countries that we often take for granted. I love America, it's my home, but a piece of my heart will always be in Ireland.

Pictures (Click to embiggen):

If you've read this far, it makes sense to assume that you're interested in visiting Ireland. Next year, in 2009, my wife and some friends are planning another trip to Dublin during St. Patty's Day. If you want to party with us in the friendliest country on Earth, drop me an email and we can plan some kind of geek-meet-up at one of the local pubs! I'll have more information about dates and locations as we enter 2009.

I'll close today, with a famous Irish traveling proverb:

"May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand."

With a heavy chest...

2008-03-12T15:24:00.001-07:00

I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon, and he confirmed what I had feared: Bronchitis. I'm on three forms of medication, one of which has the adverse effect of extreme drowsiness. Trying to stay awake during a programming lecture last night was a chore. 'The drug' kicked in about midway through the lecture and I found my body attempting to force it's way into unconsciousness.

I'm at work this morning at the drugs are having the same effect, so I hope this blog entry makes more sense than it sounds. All I want to do is sleep...

The next chapter of Loathing Las Vegas will probably have to wait until next week. I'm simply not up to being creative while, at the same time, struggling to breathe.

Starting out right...

2008-03-11T08:17:00.001-07:00

Although I'm still horribly sick (i.e. having trouble breathing, huge headache, endless cough), this week has started out quite nicely. I had a meeting with my supervisor yesterday, where she handed me the largest salary increase I've ever received. The economy is in the shitter, the dollar is dwindling, unemployment is on the rise, and here I am getting a huge raise. I have to admit, it makes me feel pretty good about myself and all the useless gizmos I'm going to buy with that extra money every month. Who needs a retirement account, right?

After work I headed to my Geology 101 class to fulfill the science requirement of my Computer Science degree. Upon returning home, to my surprise, was a cooler of beer waiting for me. Robbie, one of my non-geek friends, donated the leftover beer of his weekend dirt bike trip. Nothing better than free beer, right?

To celebrate this occasion of extra money and free beer, my wife and I are planning a fabulous trip to Cabo San Lucas at the end of April. A week of living the 'all inclusive' lifestyle sounds pretty good to me.

Eternal D & D

2008-03-07T07:25:00.001-08:00

Gary Gygax, the father of Dungeons and Dragons (and arguably role playing in general for that matter), passed away on Tuesday at the age of 69. I wasn't going to talk about it, since so many others have already and in words far better than I could put together.

I wanted to bring your attention, however, to the xkcd comic tribute to Gary Gygax, which is probably the best tribute I've ever seen on the net dedicated to someone passing.

Thank you Gary for creating something that I love and something that I can share with, and use to bond with, my friends and family.

Sick

2008-03-06T13:30:00.001-08:00

My son is sick, my wife is sick, and, finally, I'm sick. More updates coming next week.

By the way, I'm about 70% done with the next chapter of Loathing Las Vegas, so I should have that posted early next week.

In the meantime, vote to make St. Patty's Day an official holiday.

Mmmmm.....meat...

2008-02-29T12:27:00.001-08:00

My fortune cookie at lunch said:

"You will have many friends when you need them."

Is it strange that the first thing I thought of was traveling through the Donner Pass?

Weird dream last night...

2008-02-29T07:40:00.001-08:00

I don't usually like to talk about my dreams. In my opinion, dreams are normally only interesting to the people who had them. They are so obscure and illogical, that it's impossible for someone to visualize what you are telling them via a mere anecdote.

In this case, however, I would like to share a portion of the dream I had last night, because it was not only funny, but is a good illustration of my sense of humor:

The dream began with my son and I being chased through some unrecognizable city by a Cloverfield style monster. I wouldn't call it a nightmare...I never felt anxious or scared throughout the dream and had an easy time staying ahead of the monster's rampage. Eventually my son and I ducked into a clothing store to hide from the monster. As we hid in the back of the store, the monster bit through the front entrance and then turned to continue on his way. Just as he was about to leave, the monster noticed some asshole in a green sports car had parked across two spaces. The monster stomped his foot into the car, crushing it flat, and then left the scene for more destruction.

It was about that point that I woke up, chuckling to myself. Lesson learned though: Even Cloverfield monsters hate asshole parkers.

Play Classic Nintendo Games Over the Web

2008-02-27T07:25:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure how long it will be available, but a site called VirtualNES has created flash versions of over 700 NES games and made them playable through your browser. I ran a couple of them and they work great!

Considering Nintendo sells (or intends to sell) most of these through the Virtual Console on the Wii, I expect a 'Cease and Desist' letter or a lawsuit will shut this site down in 3... 2... 1...

America is Doomed

2008-02-26T07:35:00.001-08:00

Don't tell anyone, but my secret TV vice is watching 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader', a game show whose questions are typically far beyond any fifth grade class I've ever attended.

In this case, however, the producers decided to throw in a no-brainer:

The contestant was on the third question of the night when Jeff Foxworthy posed the following question: "If you cross the northern border of the U.S., what country will you be in?"

Despite the obvious grammatical issues with the question, it seems like anyone who has even seen a map, heard of Canada, used the internet, breathes, or is effected by gravity would know the answer.

Unfortunately the producers were unprepared for seemingly impossible ineptitude: "Uh, I think I know what it is, but I'm not sure so I'm going to use one of my cheats*."

How is it humanly possible to live in the U.S., not be in a coma, and not know for sure which country resides along our northern border? My opinion of the intelligence of the average American person wasn't exactly off the charts to begin with, and I didn't think it was possible that it could drop any lower.

Way to prove me wrong America. We live in an era where knowledge is basically pouring freely from every orifice...would it kill you to educate yourself?

*A cheat is basically a 'lifeline' where the contestant asks an eight year old (I'm not joking) for the answer. Sad.

Loathing Las Vegas - Part 8

2008-02-26T07:32:00.001-08:00

"I'm not going to be able to hold it!" I shouted.

Wil pressed his body up against the door next to me while Holly and Martin frantically searched for something to bar the door.

Unfortunately a desk, a filing cabinet and a couple of chairs were the only objects in the area. "Help me with this," Martin said to Holly as he strained to pull the huge filing cabinet away from the wall.

A mass of monsters had collected outside the security room door, and Wil and I were losing ground. Several hands and fingers began protruding into the security room and I had to move away from the edge of the door to avoid being scratched. I could feel myself slowly sliding across the linoleum floor and knew it would only be a matter of time before we were overrun.

"Get ready to move!" came a shout from across the room. Martin and Holly had managed to move the filing cabinet into the center of the room and were ready to push it against the door.

"Now," Martin said to Holly as the two of them began pushing the cabinet across the room. A moment before impact, Wil and I dove out of the way in opposite directions. Just as the door began to burst open, the cabinet rammed it, severing several unfortunate fingers and hands in the process.

The cabinet appeared heavy enough to stop the door from being opened from the other side, but Martin and I pushed the desk up against it too for good measure. For now, it appeared we were out of harms way.

...

Several bodies littered the floor as we followed Martin through the security offices. "This area should be clear," Martin assured the still weeping Sheri and her friend, "I had to shoot my way out of here yesterday."

Martin led us into the break room where a veritable oasis was there to greet us. As soon as we saw the fridge stocked with drinks and snacks, we suddenly remembered that it had been more than 24 hours since any of us ate. For the next twenty minutes, Holly and I felt human again, using the microwave to heat up some frozen burritos and finishing off half a pizza that someone must have left several days ago. I'd never been so happy to see leftovers in my life.

Each of us drank as much water from the water cooler as we could stomach, and I also made sure to fill the flask I had found in my luggage.

"Okay, when everyone's ready we'll keep moving," Martin said, finally breaking the silence. "The armory is just down the hall and the elevator down to the passageways is just beyond that. Please tell me I'm not the only one here who can shoot a gun."

"My brother is a cop," Holly volunteered, "Kevin and I have gone to the range with him a couple times."

"Mostly from his standard issue or his shotgun," I added.

"I had a 22 when I was a kid," Wil said when Martin turned his attention towards him, "but it's been years since I've touched a gun."

Sheri and her friend only shook their heads.

...

The armory of the security offices was a gun-nut's wet dream. The room was wall-to-wall with pistols, shotguns and automatic rifles. The top rack of one of the walls even contained a sniper rifle with a large scope. Martin opened the first of two cabinets, revealing body armor, helmets and riot shields, items I realized were worthless to a group who needed to stay quick and highly mobile. The second cabinet contained exactly what Martin was looking for, boxes and boxes of ammunition.

Martin tossed me a box of shotgun shells and began passing out different types of ammunition to the group. All that could be heard for the next several minutes was the clicking sound of bullets and shells being loaded into various firearms and clips. Holly and I each had a shotgun and pockets stuffed with shells. Martin reloaded his pistol and filled several extra clips with bullets. He then pulled the sniper rifle down from the shelf, loaded it with a round and used the strap to hang it over his shoulder.

Wil had been unsuccessfully trying to load one of the M16's when Martin grabbed it from him and hung it back on the rack. "Only one shot to the head will take one of them down," Martin said, "and we don't need any accidents either."

Wil seemed to accept the explanation and grabbed a couple of pistols from the wall.

"I don't think it's a good idea to put a gun in the hands of Sheri or Diana," Holly said to me quietly. Martin seemed to draw the same conclusion since he handed each of them duffle bags filled with boxes of bullets and shells. Although the bags must have weighed more than either of them, they slung them over their shoulders with no complaint. Once everyone had just about all they could carry, Martin led us out of the armory and down the hallway towards the elevator.

Half a dozen more bodies were strewn about the area near the elevator, each wearing security uniforms and each with obvious bullet wounds to their head. Martin obviously wasn't kidding when he said he blasted his way out of the security office. We carefully stepped over each prone corpse as Martin double checked them, one-by-one, for a head wound before continuing. We eventually made our way to the elevator doors which opened with a ding when Martin pressed the button.

"Alright, the passageways should be on the second basement level," Martin said, pressing the 'B2' button once everyone was inside the elevator. The elevator doors slid together and we descended into the bowels of Vegas.

To be continued...

Loathing Las Vegas - Part 7

2008-02-25T07:14:00.001-08:00

For a lounge with no entertainment or drinks, the Celebration Lounge at the Tropicana was bustling. The ruckus coming out of the stairwell behind us instantly garnered the attention of the entire lounge. Bloody cocktail waitresses and dismembered tourists alike, turned to watch our group force our way into the casino.

Knocking over tables as a barrier, Martin led the group through the lounge, aiming his pistol whenever a monster approached. A middle-aged man in a brown sport coat was the first to cut us off and Martin gave the order, "Wil, your axe!"

Swinging with all his might, Wil swung the axe over his head and buried it into the shoulder of the creature. Blood clots and red powder burst from the wound and Wil paused for a moment, as if waiting for the creature to collapse, hands still on the axe handle. Instead, the man grabbed Wil's arm by the wrist, pulled it from the axe handle and brought it towards his mouth.

A blast rang through the air and the man in the brown sport coat crumbled to the ground. "No, you have to hit them in the head!" Martin screamed, probably furious that he had to waist half of his firepower in the first few seconds.

Martin glanced over his shoulder and saw the three women behind him frozen in terror. "Ladies, where is my smoke screen!"

Sheri and her friends snapped back to reality. "Now!" Martin yelled as they began to fill the area around us with white fog.

Wil, hands trembling, retrieved his axe as Martin continued the trek towards the security door. The smoke screen didn't turn out to be nearly as effective a deterrent as the knocked over tables, so Holly and I began throwing any loose objects we could find behind us to prevent an attack from the rear.

As we entered the casino, Holly picked up a slot machine chair and hurled it into a group of creatures who were attempting to climb the prone tables. The chair had the desired effect, hitting a former cocktail waitress, who flung backwards knocking down four or five creatures behind her. When Holly turned back to catch up with the group, a remarkably familiar old woman with a Heineken sized dent in her head, blocked Holly's path. Holly tried to bring the axe up to defend herself, but the woman had taken her by surprise and grasped the axe handle before Holly could bring it to bear. The old woman snarled and leaned her head in towards Holly's neck.

A slight crack and a thud was all that was heard as I brought the axe head down into the old woman's skull.

"We're almost there!" Martin shouted as Wil brought down a woman who was missing her arms.

We turned the corner around the edge of the casino and the fog from the fire extinguishers was really staring to accumulate. Monsters who had been following us unhindered began walking into the sides of slot machines and tripping over seats. We arrived at the security room door with a little bit of breathing room.

Martin, card key in hand, ran up to the door and slid his card through the scanner. A red light lit on the scanner and the door handle didn't budge. "Shit!" Martin yelled as he slid his card again, yielding the same results.

The delay gave the approaching creatures all the time they needed. The fire extinguishers had finally run out of fuel and Sheri screamed, "Now what're we going to do!"

Sheri's slender blond friend took this as her cue to completely lose it. The woman hurled her empty red canister into the crowd of hungry-looking onlookers and sprinted off towards the casino entrance.

"Julie, come back!" Sheri yelled as her friend's hair snagged on the outstretched hand of a nearby monster. The sudden jolt of her head snapping back dropped Julie to the ground. She attempted to make it back to her feet and continue her run, but several creatures were already on top of her.

Holly looked back at me with a 'we have to do something' look on her face and all I could do was shake my head. As Julie made it to her feet, an elderly man sunk his teeth into the tender flesh of her shoulder. At the same time, a woman about Julie's age who had been crawling along the ground, found open access to Julie's exposed thigh and used her teeth to rip a chunk out of it. Julie, screaming, collapsed under a pile of assaulting creatures. The screaming only lasted a few seconds.

Sheri burst into tears while Holly and I knocked down two more monsters with our axes. "Fuck this," Martin said while he aimed his pistol at the security door handle and pulled the trigger. The handle burst into pieces and a swift kick from Martin swung the door open. "Alright, everyone inside!"

I was the last one into the security offices and slammed the door shut behind me. The handle was shattered to pieces, so even a slight breeze would push the door open. I sat on the ground with my back to the door as creatures began to bang and push from the other side.

To be continued...

The Cylons Return: Season Four

2008-02-22T15:29:00.001-08:00

After being on break for more than a year, Battlestar Galactica returns to the Sci-Fi Channel on April 4th.

I don't know about everyone else, but this show pretty much dropped off my radar at the end of season three. Watching a cliffhanger in March 2007 end with "More Episodes in 2008" was almost enough to make me hate the show completely.

Notice I said 'almost'. Yes, it was in italics and everything.

That being said, I can't wait for Season Four to begin, which will hopefully wrap up the series in a nice, neat, Earth-finding bow.

Loathing Las Vegas - Part 6

2008-02-22T08:39:00.001-08:00

I carefully untied the steel cable while Martin covered the opening with his pistol. We were pretty sure the entrance Holly and I came through wouldn't be clear, so we decided to take our chances with the second stairwell. Martin said he did his best to secure each door on his way to the roof, but fire access doorways are designed to be easily opened. If we weren't careful we could have a group of these creatures above us and below us in no time.

I threw the door open and jumped out of the way while Martin scanned the stairwell. As far as we could tell, the stairwell was clear, so the group slowly and quietly began the long decent to the ground floor.

Since Martin was the only one of us who was armed, he took the lead and maintained a fairly quick pace down the stairwell. He wasn't too thrilled about making his way across open ground to the airport, but after the announcement from the military helicopter, a gleam of hope returned to Martin's eye. He told me there were miles of underground pathways under the strip, many of which were barricaded from public access. In fact, a passageway from his own security office at the Tropicana led directly underneath the MGM and ended in the shopping area of the Planet Hollywood Casino. The Planet Hollywood was right across the strip from the Belagio.

At the request of Wil, who was so heavily winded he was starting to stumble, we stopped for a break next to the 10th floor doorway.

"How far away from the end of the stairwell is the security office?" I asked Martin as I collapsed down next to Holly on a stair.

"That's the tricky part," Martin answered while checking his gun. "The stairwell ends on the south side of the building near the Celebration Lounge. We'll need to make it through the lounge, past a small section of the casino and into the security door."

He paused for a moment and pulled a white credit-card-sized object from his shirt pocket, "I'll also need a few extra seconds to get the door open with my badge."

"The casino was crawling with those things," I said bleakly, "I think we're going to need more than two bullets."

Holly stood and walked over to the red fire box hanging on the wall of the stairwell, "How about this?"

One rap from the butt of his gun and the glass covering the fire box exploded. Martin pulled out a three foot long fire axe and handed it to me. "Axe and you shall receive," he said, smiling.

Holly also retrieved the fire extinguisher, "If we spray enough of this stuff it may distract those things long enough to reach the security room."

"And blind us in the process," Wil volunteered, joining the conversation.

Martin shook his head, "No, she's right. Those things are slow moving and awkward. If we can blind them enough, they might spend more time bumping into shit and falling over each other than following us. There should be more of these extinguishers further down the stairwell."

"I'm pretty sure bashing a few of them over the head with the tank couldn't hurt either," I added, suddenly remembering my episode of the Heineken in the elevator.

Wil's breathing had finally slowed so the group decided to keep moving. "C'mon guys," Holly said to the three women, who still looked as terrified as ever. "Sheri, do you think you can carry a fire extinguisher?"

"Yeah, I think so," Sheri nodded and hoisted the red canister under her arm.

Two floors down we found another extinguisher and another two floors below that. By this time, Sheri and her friends each had an extinguisher and Holly, Wil and myself each wielded a heavy fire axe. It was around the forth floor when we heard the commotion.

It was hard to tell how many floors above us, but we heard what sounded like a door banging open, shortly followed by the thumping sound of many heavy footsteps making their way down the stairwell. The group froze in place for a moment, everyone looking upwards, listening to the noise.

"Move!" I suddenly shouted, ushering everyone down the stairwell. They snapped to attention and we clumsily rushed down to the bottom floor.

The echo of stampeding feet was deafening by the time we reached the closed ground level door. Martin reached the door first and turned to address the group. "I'll lead the way," he shouted over the noise of the stairwell. "Wil, you're up front with me. Extinguishers behind us...you guys will need to lay down a fog on each side of us as we move. Wil and I will take care of anything from the front."

"Kevin," I nodded in recognition as Martin spoke, "you and Holly bring up the rear. Let's do it!"

Martin kicked the door open and the group hurriedly ran into the Celebration Lounge.

To be continued...

Interesting Night Last Night...

2008-02-21T07:37:00.001-08:00

Around 7:45PM last night, the sky decided to 'mostly' clear and we were treated to a stunning view of the lunar eclipse just as it reached totality. It was actually pretty hard to find at first since the moon appeared in such a dark shade of red and barely stood out in the sky. A pair of binoculars, a thick jacket and a patio chair, and I was a happy man.

About an hour earlier, I was watching a two-hour documentary on the History Channel called 'The History of the Joke' hosted by Lewis Black. Suddenly and without warning, my wife's laughing face appeared on the screen on all its High Definition splendor! I immediately grabbed the phone, called my wife and said something along the lines of: "Holy fucking shit, you're on the HISTORY CHANNEL!!!!111ONE"

My wife and I are big fans of comedy; we've seen George Carlin, Lewis Black and many others who've made it and are making it big. The shot of my wife was from the Improv here in Brea and, to my best recollection, was shot at least a year and a half ago. We remember at the time that they told us they were filming for a documentary, but they never told us what show or when it would air. Luckily for us, we happened to watch the show.

Several fingers on my left hand even had a cameo appearance on the left side of the screen. I'm pretty sure the editors meeting went something like: "Ok, this chick is hot so we'll put her in, but edit out that ugly son-of-a-bitch sitting next to her." I guess I have a good face for radio.

Both my wife and I have met Lewis Black personally and he was the most humble and endearing famous person I've ever met. It was a pleasure and an honor to be included in one of his projects.

Oh, and there was a new Mythbusters last night which is exciting for me.

Loathing Las Vegas - Part 5

2008-02-20T08:09:00.001-08:00

The sun had finally set behind the mountain, but Las Vegas wasn't a city that dulled at night. Whatever disaster that had befallen the city apparently had no effect on the power grid, as neon and LED lights brightened the strip. Even most of the lights on the Excalibur, which was still smoking from various fires, were lit.

The group sat quietly on the rooftop, unsure of what move to make next.

"So a are we going to wait here for help?" said Wil, breaking the silence. "Or are we going to try to get ourselves out of the city. The airport isn't very far..."

"Do you know how to fly?" asked Martin, the obvious question.

"No," replied Wil, "but I think I'd still prefer a plane crash to getting eaten alive."

It wasn't intended as a joke, but Martin and I couldn't help bursting out in laughter. Holly, noticing the mood was starting to lighten, waived me over to meet her at the edge of the roof that was out of earshot of the rest of the group.

"So what's going on?" she asked.

"Wil's idea is to make a break for the airport and take our chances trying to fly out of here. He hasn't said so, but I get the feeling Martin wants to wait here for help and I'm inclined to agree. Considering what I've seen so far, I don't know how we'd have a chance of making it to McCarran."

After a pause, I asked, "What's with the girls?"

"It took me awhile, but they've finally calmed down," Holly explained, "I guess the three of them are from California, too. Sheri, the one with the bridal hat, is getting married next week and the three of them drove out here for a bachelorette trip. I think it's a safe bet that they'll follow whatever the group wants to do."

"How's your arm?" Holly added.

"Sore, but I'll survive," I said with a smile.

"Please do," she replied, grimly.

...

A few minutes later the group met back up near the strip side of the rooftop. Wil was pretty adamant about his plan to make it to the airport, but quickly changed his mind when Martin showed him the two remaining rounds left in his pistol. We were all in agreement that we'd need more than two bullets to make it to McCarran.

"We have an armory down in the security offices," Martin explained, "but I was barely able to get out of there the last time. There's enough rifles, shotguns and riot gear down there for a small army, if we could get to it."

"That's it," Wil said, excitedly, "we'll go down, get the guns and fight our way to the airport."

"It sounds risky," I said to Martin, "but I'd say it's the best plan we have. There isn't any food or water up here and it's the middle of summer. We won't last more than a few more days up here."

Martin seemed to come around, "Alright, but we're going to need to come up with something to get into those offices. I'm telling you, the place was crawling with those fuckers."

The girls seemed nervous about the plan, but everyone eventually agreed that there was no other reasonable option. We decided to make the attempt first thing in the morning after everyone had a chance to rest.

...

The peaceful silence of the early morning was broken by the sound of approaching aircraft. The noise jolted me from an uneasy sleep and I wiped the gravel from my clothing as I stood. Martin was already awake and standing at the rooftop ledge, looking into the distance towards the sound.

"It's a military chopper," he said calmly as he heard me approach. "It's sweeping the city like it's looking for something."

In the distance, a black helicopter slowly made its way, back and forth, over the city. The rest of the group had awaken and joined us at the ledge. The three girls from the bachelorette party fruitlessly waived their arms in the air, trying to get the chopper's attention. No one had the heart to tell them they were much too far away to be noticed.

"He's been making his way towards the center of the city all morning," said Martin, "he should be right over us within an hour."

"Thank god," said one of the three women who all began to excitedly hug each other.

I looked over at WIl, "Looks like you won't be earning your pilot's license today."

Wil nodded and smiled back. He didn't look disappointed.

...

Just as the sun cleared the edge of the eastern mountains, the helicopter began to make its way down the northern end of the strip. As it approached us, we could hear the sound of a muffled loud speaker booming down the corridor created by the hotels. It was almost right above us before we could understand the message it was broadcasting:

"Attention survivors: please rendezvous with rescuers at the rooftop of the Belagio. The Belagio has the only rooftop helicopter pad in the city. We will not land at any other point. Make your way to the Belagio rooftop within 72 hours for airlift rescue."

The message continuously repeated as the chopper flew past us and continued down the strip.

Martin pulled his pistol from its holster, loaded a bullet into the chamber and said, "Alright everyone, lets move."

To be continued...

Total Lunar Eclipse Tonight: Free Admission!

2008-02-20T07:05:00.001-08:00

According to NASA, tonight as the sun sets, North America will have front row seats to a Total Lunar Eclipse. The eclipse is set to occur between 5PM and 9PM Wednesday night.

Blow the dust off your telescope and enjoy nature's show!

*Update: It has come to my attention (since it is now pouring outside) that it will be cloudy in my area tonight (Southern California). Color me disappointed, but I will still be hoping to catch a glimpse through the clouds.

John Adams on HBO

2008-02-19T07:55:00.001-08:00

Last week I was playing 'hooky' from the cube and saw a preview on HBO for an upcoming series called John Adams. It's a short, seven episode miniseries based on the events leading up to the Revolutionary War. The main character is John Adams (obviously), played by Paul Giamatti, who you may remember as the wine snob from Sideways.

Other than seeing the preview, I haven't heard much about the series, but I have to be honest...the preview absolutely knocked my socks off. Rome, which was also on HBO, was awesome, so I personally have a lot of faith in HBO series. I'm crossing my fingers that it will run on the HD channel.

Set your DVR's for March 16th at 8PM on HBO!

Loathing Las Vegas - Part 4

2008-02-19T07:32:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately, the rooftop door had no outer locking mechanism and could easily be opened by a firm push on the door.

"Here!" Holly shouted, handing me a section of metal cable she had pulled from the ground. I wrapped the door handle with the cable and tied it to a thick, steel pipe that ran vertically, just around the corner of the rooftop doorway. I looped it around a few extra times, just to make sure it wouldn't come loose, when a force impacted the door from the inside. The cable held as the monster inside desperately tried to beat down the door.

After a few minutes, the beating stopped and we decided it must have given up.

"How's your arm?" Holly asked, reminding me the intense grip the monster had on his arm. There were no cuts or bleeding, but a nasty bruise did seem eminent.

"Oh god, your other arm is bleeding," Holly gasped.

I examined my right arm. It was completely uninjured, but quite a bit of my attacker's blood had smeared onto me during the knife assault.

"No, it's ok...it's not my blood," I said as I wiped as much as I could off with my shirt.

"Are you sure you're ok? That guy looked like he wanted to bite your head off."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I assured her, "I'd say he got the worse end of the deal. Anyway, I'm more concerned that we might have just lost our only way off this rooftop."

"No, I'm pretty sure I saw another stairwell on the far side of the roof," Holly said, pointing in the distance to another boxy structure emerging from the ground.

"We should go tie that one off too or get the hell off of this roof before it's too late," She finished, grabbing another length of cable from the remnants left on the ground.

Not sure which we should do, we began walking towards the other stairwell. Should we dehydrate to death on this roof, under the intense heat of the sun or should we risk getting mauled to death by the occupants of the hotel. Neither seemed a promising choice.

As we approached the second stairwell door, it burst open, and five people stumbled into the sunlight.

"Holy shit, I thought I was going to suffocate in that damn thing," complained a large, portly man wearing a poker themed shirt.

"We should be able to...freeze!" the second man interrupted himself as he saw us, raising a pistol. As he did so, the other three members of his group, three women in their twenties, screamed and ran back into the stairwell.

We both froze in place with our hands up in front of us. We were more relieved to see normal, talking human beings than fearful of having a gun pointed at us.

"Hang on, man, we're not one of them," I said, dropping my hands. "We thought we were the only normal people left."

The security guard relaxed, dropped his pistol and announced, "It's ok, they're just more survivors."

The young women re-emerged from the doorway and cautiously evaluated us from behind the security guard. One of them had an interesting hat, like a mini-bridal veil, on her head and I assumed they must be in town for a wedding.

"I'm Kevin and this is my girlfriend, Holly," I said, extending my arm for a hand shake.

"The name's Martin," the security guard said, grasping my hand. When he glanced down and noticed the remaining blood on my arm he alarmingly pulled his arm back and re-aimed his weapon. "Where have you been bitten!"

"It's not a bite," I responded, nervously, "I stabbed one of those creatures over at the other stairwell and got his blood all over me."

Martin lowered the gun and roughly grabbed my arm, carefully inspecting the area for any injuries. Holly had enough, "What the fuck is your problem? Why are you so worried about a bite anyway?"

Martin, apparently satisfied that I wasn't injured, holstered his gun and answered Holly, "If one of those things bites you, you eventually turn into one of them."

"That was back when there were six of us," chimed in the man wearing the poker shirt.

The security guard finished the story for him, "An old man was bitten by his wife and found us down on ten. He lasted for about twenty minutes before he finally turned."

"What are these things?" Holly asked.

Martin shook his head, "I don't know, but we have to get out of the city. Bullets don't even put these things down unless you shoot them in the head. Wil, here, thinks it's some kind of virus."

"What else could it be?" said Wil, the man in the poker shirt. "It's like some kind of brain eating form of rabies or something."

The three woman standing behind Martin were still visibly shaking. Despite the sweltering heat of the rooftop, they were huddled next to each other as if trying to get warm. It didn't seem like any of them had taken this disaster very well.

One of them finally managed to gather enough courage to yell, "How are we going to get out of here!"

"I'm working on it," Martin replied, as if annoyed. He leaned closer to Holly and myself and whispered, "I haven't been able to get any of their names, so far. They've kind of just been following me since I shot my way out of the casino."

He nodded towards Holly, "Maybe she can talk to them..."

Holly accepted and sat the three women against the ledge wall, while Martin, Wil and I secured the stairwell door and discussed our situation. Wil had been in town for a poker tournament at the Rio, but busted out on the first day. His flight was scheduled to leave later tonight and return to San Diego, where he worked in IT consulting. Martin was a Las Vegas resident and the afternoon security manager for the Tropicana. His wife had recently kicked him out of the house, so he had been staying at the hotel. He woke that morning, ready for work, and walked into the same disaster Holly and I had.

"It took me half a clip," Martin explained, "before I finally dropped one with a head shot. After that I could bring them down in one shot every time. Had to take out half my department just trying to get back to the elevator."

Hours passed and we made little progress towards a plan on getting us out of the city. The sun has started to set behind the mountains and everyone was getting hungry.

To be continued...

Life is Weird

2008-02-18T09:17:00.001-08:00

If you're reading this, hopefully you've taken the time to read the first three chapters I've posted of my zombie novel 'Loathing Las Vegas'. Shortly after writing these chapters, my wife and I were invited by a couple friends to come stay with them in their hotel room last Saturday night in Vegas.

I come to find out: Not only were we staying at the Tropicana (as were the characters in the story), but also had a window view exactly like the view depicted in the story. Talk about real life research.

I woke up Sunday morning afraid to go downstairs.

Stay tuned for Part 4!

Loathing Las Vegas - Part 3

2008-02-18T07:45:00.001-08:00

As we cautiously exited the hotel room, Holly turned left to head toward the elevators.

"Uh-uh," I signaled her in my direction as I turned to the right, "I think I'll take the stairs this time."

Removing my knife from its pocket and opening the blade, I led Holly down the hallway. There were doors on both sides, so I fully expected a bloodthirsty mob to jump out of each one we passed. The hallway was eerily quiet and I got the feeling that we were the only people still on the floor.

The last door at the end of the hallway had an icon of a staircase painted on it, and I paused as I put my hand on the push bar.

"What's wrong?" Holly inquired upon my hesitation.

"I'm just trying to decide if opening this door is such a great idea."

"It can be any worse than hanging out here in this exposed hallway," Holly rationalized.

"Good point," I said as I pushed the door open, baring the pocket knife ahead of me.

The stairwell was well-lit and in good condition, but most important of all, it was empty. I wasn't sure how far it was to the top of the hotel, but I knew from see the hotel outside, that it was at least twenty stories tall. Luckily, our room was already on the 17th.

Holly closed the door behind her as she entered the stairwell and we both paused for a long moment to listen. Off in the distance we could hear loud thumping and banging. The noises were definitely originating at least several floors below us, but we decided against going down to investigate. We couldn't hear anything from above our position, so we started to climb.

...

The staircase leading to the 23rd floor dead-ended at a shut door with sunlight trickling around the edges. Along the push bar of the door was labeled 'Authorized Personnel Only', but at this point neither of us were worried about violating hotel policy. I opened the door a crack and peeked through, allowing my eyes to adjust to the sunlight. It was August in the desert, and I could feel the stifling heat pouring through the crack and into the well air-conditioned stairwell.

"What's out there?" Holly asked, trying to look past me.

From this vantage point, I could only see a small portion of the roof, but everything seemed quiet and undisturbed, so I pushed the door open the rest of the way. It swung wide and we both stepped out onto the gravel covered rooftop.

As soon as Holly could get past me, she ran over to the ledge closest to the strip. I cautiously followed after her while surveying the roof for any sign of movement. After deciding the roof was clear, I put my knife back in its pocket and joined Holly at the ledge.

"Look, the cop is gone," Holly said, pointing at the blood stained asphalt where he fell. "Where did he go?"

I glanced around the street, but didn't see him anywhere. There's no way he could have walked away with those injuries. The street was still filled with those insane people, so it's unlikely an ambulance would have been able to get to him without meeting the same fate.

I suddenly blurted out the only possibility I couldn't eliminate, "Maybe they ate him?"

Holly snapped her head back and gave me a look as if she couldn't believe what had just come out of my mouth. Holly's brother was a police officer back in California, so I think she took my comment personally. Her eyes welled up and she looked back down at the street, ashamed to admit she was thinking the same thing herself.

I put my arm over her shoulder and visually scanned the area surrounding the hotel. The Excalibur, the castle themed hotel across the street, was on fire and smoke was pouring out of broken windows on several floors. The streets were still full of wandering pedestrians and I could now see quite a few abandoned cars further down the strip. McCarran airport was right behind us and was void of activity; highly unusual for one of the highest volume airports on the planet. Something horrible had happened here.

I could also hear screaming in the distance, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from.

Despite the obvious disaster that had befallen the city, Las Vegas still appeared to be in pretty good shape. Electricity was still functioning properly on almost every casino and aside from the smoldering Excalibur, everything appeared normal.

It was the eerie silence that was getting to me. Vegas was always a town hopped up on alcohol, drugs, sex and excitement. Seeing it like this was like looking at it in a painting or a photo. Sure, it looks exactly the same, but you can't feel the life or energy of actually being in the middle of it. Well, I was certainly in the middle of it and the only life I felt was the one standing next to me on the ledge of the Tropicana's roof.

...

A metallic bang startled both of us and we looked back at the roof. The stairwell door slowly swung back and forth in the breeze.

"It's ok," I told Holly who was visibly rattled, "it was just the wind."

A blood stained arm reached out of the shadowed stairwell opening and grabbed the edge of the doorway. A bald, middle aged man with glasses poked his head outside and lazily looked around the roof top. His glasses were askew on his face and his white t-shirt was stained red with blood. He froze when he noticed the two of us standing next to the ledge.

I pulled my knife out and flipped open the blade. We had carelessly left the rooftop door open, giving these monsters full access to our only area of safety. I had to get that door closed before more could make their way through.

Knife in hand, I ran at the man, who growled and mashed his teeth as I approached. When I was close enough to strike, the man grabbed a hold of my free forearm and squeezed it painfully. I reactively brought the knife down into the top of his scull.

His grip on my arm relaxed and he stood there for a moment, as if confused. He then collapsed backward under his own weight, the knife still in his head, and tumbled down the stairwell. On his way down to the next floor, his limp body impacted two other blood soaked individuals who were making their way up the stairs. I slammed the rooftop door shut and desperately searched for a way to bar it.

To be continued...

Loathing Las Vegas - Part 2

2008-02-15T10:37:00.001-08:00

I stumbled down the hallway in a frantic attempt to retreat to the safety of my hotel room. My hands were shaking so much, it took several attempts to successfully aim the card key into the slot. With a click, the door unlocked and I forced my way into the darkened room, slamming the heavy door shut behind me and locking the deadbolt.

Sprinting across the room to the window, I grabbed the curtains and threw them open. Blinding sunlight filled the room and I nearly jumped through the window when an angry voice growled from under the covers of the bed, "What the fuck, Kev!?"

"Holly, get up," the sense of urgency was clear in my tone.

"Close the blinds and give me a minute," she begged, too hungover to really care what I was in such a hurry for.

"Holly, get up now," I said sternly while pulling the covers off the bed. "Something fucked-up is going on right now. Get dressed."

She curled her naked body into the fetal position and finally lifted her head to look at me, "Assho..." Her anger instantly subsided when she saw the look on my face. That look told her to get the hell out of bed and get dressed. "What's going on?"

"I was just attacked in the casino. An old lady was bleeding from her neck and I think she was trying to bite me. I smashed my Heineken over her head..."

"You did what!?!" she yelled as she pulled her shirt on over her head.

"It wasn't just her...a security guard was missing his arm...everyone in the casino had this weird look in their eyes," I said, stuttering.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" She pulled on her jeans and walked over to the window, "Christ, you hit an old woman..."

We both stopped talking as we witnessed the spectacle unfolding on the Las Vegas strip below. A police car raced down the strip, swerving in and out of pedestrians who apparently weren't restricting themselves to the sidewalk. As the car passed through the Tropicana Blvd intersection, several dozen people flung themselves from the overhead walkway and down onto the street. The officer swerved to avoid the falling bodies, jumped the curb and hit the streetlight head-on with his car. Swirls of smoke poured out from under the hood.

Holly gasped at the sight of the collision, but relaxed when the officer opened his door and stumbled out onto the street. Several of the bridge jumpers had risen to their feet and began to slowly make their way towards the officer. Bystanders surrounding the collision also noticed the commotion and also began approaching the scene.

We could see the officer yelling something, then he pulled his revolver and began randomly shooting anyone around him. "What the hell is he doing," Holly cried as a woman took a shot to the head and crumbled to the pavement.

We couldn't hear the shots through the closed hotel window, but we assumed he was out of ammunition when he hurled his gun at the crowd. He had only managed to drop the woman and his barrage did little to effect the crowd's determination to reach him. The officer fell to his knees as two men grabbed each of his arms...and ripped them from his body. He fell on his face in a heap as the crowd pounced on top of him.

Holly took several steps backward from the window, her eyes wet with tears. She looked at me for some kind of an explanation, but all I could do was turn away from her and look back out the window.

"Kev...what the fuck is going on...did they just kill that cop? Why are people jumping from bridges...why did he shoot those people..." She burst into tears and I grabbed her in my arms.

"I don't know," I said, "but I think we need to get the fuck out of here."

...

Holly calmed down after a few minutes and I sat on the edge of the bed, racking my brain. There was no way in hell I was going back down to that casino, but as far as I knew, that was the only way back to the ground floor. We wouldn't have anywhere to go anyway...the Valet had our car and keys, and somehow I doubt there was anyone working the Valet at the moment.

Holly grabbed the hotel room phone and put the receiver to her ear. She hit a few buttons on the keypad and slammed the phone back in place, "It's dead. My cell phone!"

She grabbed her purse from the nightstand and dumped its contents onto the bed. As she flipped open her phone, I used the remote to turn on the TV.

"It's no use...I have service, but it just keeps coming up busy."

"Holly," I said, calmly.

"Maybe a text message will work..."

"Holly," I said, firmly this time. She turned at looked at the TV as I flipped from channel to channel, seeing nothing but static. "We have to get the fuck out of here."

...

We both frantically searched our bags for anything we could use in a survival situation. I generally preferred to pack light, so other than several fresh changes of clothes, the only other items in my suitcase were a flask, a lighter, a cigar cutter and my four-inch pocket knife, all of which I jammed into my jean's pockets. Holly, on the other hand, packed practically two weeks of necessities, in two bags, for a mere weekend trip. Unfortunately her dedication to 'being prepared' was useless, since having an outfit for any occasion wouldn't do much against a rabid mob. The only potentially useful item we found was a can of mace from her purse, which she pocketed.

"Keep trying the cell phone," I knew where I was going, I just wasn't sure what I was going to do once I got there. "Maybe we'll get a better signal from the roof."

To be continued...

Loathing Las Vegas - Part 1

2008-02-14T16:00:00.001-08:00

I awoke with a start, covered from head to toe in a cold sweat. My heaving chest began to slow and I sat up in the darkness. Did I have a nightmare? Whatever caused me to awake in such a panic was lost in the haze of consciousness. I couldn't remember dreaming anything at all...let alone a nightmare.

My head began to clear and my eyes adjusted to the darkness, allowing me to notice a small crack of light peaking through the curtains from across the room. It came back to me in a flash and I remembered where I was. I was in Las Vegas. To be specific, I was in my hotel room at the Tropicana.

I suddenly became aware of the body next to me, my girlfriend Holly, whose long, deep breaths assured me that my sudden arousal had not woken her too. Since she was sleeping face down, I placed my hand on her back and felt the warmth of her body seep into my cold fingers. She began to slightly stir at the touch, so I pulled my hand away and slowly crept out of bed.

I quietly walked over to the curtains and pulled them open just enough to poke my head through. The sudden intense sunlight stung my eyes and minutes seemed to pass before they were able to refocus. It had been quite a marathon of irresponsible alcohol consumption the night before and my eyes obviously hadn't fully recovered.

It was daytime in Vegas, the ugly half of the city's facade, and our room's 17th floor location facilitated quite a view of the city and the desert beyond. Thousands of people could be seen meandering about the strip below, but traffic on Las Vegas Blvd was surprisingly light. In fact, I couldn't see any cars on the strip at all. Maybe they closed it down for an event?

My mind soon wandered and my eyes fell upon a flashing electronic billboard hung above the entrance of the MGM Grand. The sign scrolled, "All-you-can-eat Fried Shrimp and Steak: $8.99". My stomach rumbled...I could already taste the shrimp.

I reclosed the curtain and stumbled back into the room. Fumbling through my suitcase in the darkness, I somehow managed to properly dress myself and put on my flip-flops. Grabbing my wallet and room key from the night stand, I momentarily considered waking Holly and asking her to join me for breakfast. The mental image of the two of us at breakfast was quickly replaced with the Patron shot glass pyramid she had built the night before and I smartly changed my mind. Maybe in a few hours.

I hadn't exactly escaped hangover free either; I wasn't feeling sick, but a slightly throbbing headache reminded me that a hundred ounce fruity drink from Fat Tuesday's costs more than the $30 they advertise it for.

Deciding to stick with beer for the rest of the day, I grabbed a Heineken from my portable cooler. I didn't normally drink first thing in the morning, but cliches of 'hey I'm on vacation', 'this is Vegas baby' and 'drinking is the best cure for a hangover' ran through my mind. I was always good at rationalizing a drunken stupor.

I opened the door and headed down the hallway towards unlimited mounds of shrimp and steak.

...

A few minutes and a short elevator ride away, I was on the casino floor. It only took a few steps out of the elevator for me to realize something wasn't right. I could see plenty of people and the sounds of music and slot machines chimed through the casino. It wasn't so much that something was out of place as the pace of everything was just off. As if the life has been drained from the casino. No one was cheering, no one was talking. There wasn't any kids hurrying past security guards or middle-aged women screaming into their cell phones. There were no drink waitresses working their way around the machines. In fact, no one was sitting at a machine at all. As if time were stopped, they were all just standing there.

This all happened in a split second so my mind was reeling to make sense out of the scenario. What the hell was everyone doing? A moment later, I had the answer. What was the one thing every single individual on the casino floor had in common? They were all looking at me.

In a dazed confusion I took a half step back. A short, elderly lady was only about 20 feet away from me and my attention snapped towards her as she began to move towards me. Her red shirt glistened in the light of the well-lit casino and something was hanging from her neck. As she took another step closer, I realized to my horror that her neck had been ripped open and a wad of flesh drooped from it. Her shirt wasn't red, the sleeves were green; it was stained by the wave of blood that had erupted from her neck.

I desperately looked around for help. A security guard stumbled around some machines, tripping and falling in front of the old woman. Torn flesh and damaged veins hung from the stump where his arm used to be, but the injury didn't seem to bother him. He turned his head to look at me and stared at me for a moment with lifeless, glazed-over eyes. His nose wrinkled as if sniffing the air and he bared his teeth at me while emitting a horrible, guttural scream.

My eyes began to tear with shock and I stumbled back into the closed elevator doors. The old woman tried to take another step, but the security guard had fallen in her path and she lost her balance, dropping on top of him. They each tried to climb each other in an attempt to get back on their feet, both of them, eyes intently on me.

I again visually searched the casino for some shred of sanity, but there was no help there. Dozens of people slowly approached me, each with the same dead, glassy look in their eyes. Some were missing arms, some were simply bleeding profusely from wounds. One woman was missing both her legs and was managing to drag herself towards me by her arms.

Like a rat trapped in a corner, I frantically searched for an escape route. Before I knew what I was doing, my hand painfully slapped the elevator button and the doors slowly pulled open. I darted inside and pushed the '17' button as quickly as I possibly could. I hit the 'close doors' button and looked back out towards the casino as the doors began to slowly shut. To my horror, the old woman had apparently managed to regain her footing and was close enough to stick her arm between the closing elevator doors. As soon as the doors detected the object, they swung back open, putting me face to face with an 80 year-old woman who was mashing her teeth.

Using the only object I brought with me, the unopened Heineken bottle, I instinctively smashed the woman on the forehead, sending shards of broken glass and foamy beer across her face. Although a terrible waste of beer, the action had the desired effect, and the force sent the woman tumbling backwards. I repressed the 'close door' button and the last thing I saw as the doors slid shut was the woman again rising to her feet.

I slumped to the floor as classical music filled the elevator. The trip to the 17th floor felt like hours.

To be continued...

Talking when there's science to do...

2008-02-12T07:27:00.001-08:00

Heard on local radio station promo for some Jesus-hugging, Christian talk show:

"Evolutionists think the planet happened by chance. What? Did Mount Everest happen through erosion? C'mon."

My response:

"No moron, I know Mount Everest was created through plate tectonics. Here's a reference or two for you."

When I hear stuff like this it makes me wonder if these religious zealots can even recognize the irony of rejecting a scientific theory supported by overwhelming empirical data, and replacing it with a 'magical being' theory supported by zero empirical data.

I have a magical being theory too. So does Tom Cruise. How is your theory more valid than ours?

Ugh...Monday

2008-02-11T15:00:00.001-08:00

Monday's are my long day of the week, where I take an evening Geology 101 class that runs from 7-10PM. Although I'm a Computer Science major, the powers-that-be at Cal State Fullerton have decreed that I need to take a certain number of off-major science classes to fulfill my degree.

Normally I'm interested in Geology (or science classes in general), but this class is so insultingly basic that I feel more fulfilled after watching an hour of the Science Channel. At least the Science Channel is in HD which, as everyone knows, is a much higher resolution than real life.

I don't know who normally takes this stuff, but based on some of the questions asked in class, it is absolutely irrefutable that this class is full of complete morons. It's sad when I actually feel embarrassed to be 'learning' at the same time as these people. Who the fuck doesn't know that Jupiter is a gas planet or that the sun uses 'fusion' which is different from 'fission' or that there is a water cycle, etc, etc, etc. The class was completely shocked to silence when the professor admitted that scientists still aren't sure what causes gravity. This is seriously some Junior-High-science-class-shit.

It's amazing my forehead is not permanently marked from constantly bashing it into the desk.

*Oh, a quick side story: I went on a short Mexico cruise a few weeks ago and the first day of class I find out that this professor was on my ship! Weird...makes me wonder if we ever shared an elevator or something...

Worst Web 2.0 Award: Twitter

2008-02-11T07:54:00.001-08:00

Whew....what a hectic last month and a half at work. We finally got our busiest time of the year out of the way, so now I might actually have time to update this blog more frequently than once a month. If you're wondering about my last post, I'm not ready to reveal the details of it yet. In due time...

Back to how much Twitter sucks: This service is so horrible, it's hard to imagine actual programmers would put their name behind it. Emails don't send properly, every other link takes upwards of five minutes to load, the friend search is MIA, changing settings does nothing half the time, etc, etc, etc. I've just started with this so-called Web 2.0 'service' last Friday and I already want to kill myself. Is beta testing or debugging simply non-existent on this site?

There has to be a better solution out there than this train wreck. On Brian's ASCII Scale of Web Functionality*, here is where Twitter ranks:

AOL [-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----] Google

^ Twitter

All that being said, click here to follow me at Twitter!

*Note: I apologize in advance for my shitty ASCII art. Although it does get the point across nicely...

The 'I'm busy' Song...

2008-01-10T09:13:00.001-08:00

Code Monkey's been working project,
not for work, for self.
Code Monkey's got a good idea,
taking down from shelf.
Code Monkey's been makin' website,
no time for blog.
Code Monkey will make more updates
soon, so please don't flog.

Code Monkey like Fritos.
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew...

The Office

2008-01-07T11:27:00.001-08:00

The Office
Originally uploaded by bmwatson

Just messing around with the panorama feature of Windows Photo Gallery. A pretty cool 270 degree (about) of my office at home (not the cube).

It is my...density...

2008-01-04T14:33:00.001-08:00

Holy shit, I just found out that Beer Pong has an official World Series that is currently being held in Las Vegas! I wish I had known about this sooner or I would be there as I type this rather than being stuck in this damn cube. At least now I know what I'll be doing this time next year...

Merry Geekmas

2007-12-21T11:33:00.001-08:00

This will be my last blog entry of the year since we are hitting the road for Las Vegas on Sunday. My sister-in-law is turning 21 on Christmas-Eve, so the whole family is trudging through the snow (I can pretend can't I?) to the ~~fabulous~~ gaudy ~~Aladdin~~ Hotel Planet Hollywood.

We'll be returning on the 26th, so it's Xmas in Las Vegas this year! Luckily I've got the rest of the week off from my cube and I'll return on the 2nd with more updates. 2007 sucked balls, so I'll be drinking a toast on New Year's Eve that 2008 will be better.....at least we'll be electing a new President.

By the way, I'm working on a short (which is turning into a long) story about a Zombie invasion in Las Vegas. I'll be posting Part One to that sometime in early January. See you next year!

Well now I'm awake...

2007-12-12T10:54:00.001-08:00

Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

Our building just had our annual fire drill and I'm pretty sure I jumped at least three feet above my chair when the alarm went off. Is it really fucking necessary to have an alarm that's that god damned loud? I honestly think it would be less startling if someone came in here with guns blazing. Jesus.

I think what pissed me off the most was that I was peacefully nodding off at my desk when the alarm went off.

In a real emergency, who would this activity benefit anyway? Chances are if something bad enough happens where we need to quickly evacuate the building, most people will just simply go home. I'm not going to stand around taking roll call with my manager when I could take a quick drive down to my kid's school to see if he is ok.

In a real emergency, most managers would completely panic and forget to grab the roll call sheet. The typical office manager folds like a deck of cards under the simple pressure of a short deadline, let alone when there are lives at stake. I don't know about you, but I don't give my manager that much credit...in an emergency it's every man for himself.

Windkeep: The Arrival

2007-12-11T13:22:00.001-08:00

"This is the first in a line of short stories. Check it out and let me know what you think! I'm considering writing more of these stories and releasing them here on this blog over time. Here is part one of a fantasy series I'm calling Windkeep."

After days of narrow, rocky mountain trails, the sight of the wide dirt pathway leading into the forested valley was certainly a welcome one. Although visibility will be reduced by the thick foliage of the forest, food and shelter will be in far larger supply than it was back on the trails of the barren mountain. I looked back at the solid mass of rock in disgust. With my supplies nearly gone, it took me just shy of a week to traverse the rocky null which the locals call "Mount Baldy"...and for good reason. The prospect of spending another night choking down stale bread certainly put a spring in my step this morning.

I continued down the trail and pulled out my map which was sold to me by a street vendor only weeks before. The map was crude and poorly labeled, but the scale of the pathways seemed to be accurate. The vendor had shown me on the map that it would take about six days to scale the mountain. In six days I was on the other side. I suppose it was a good deal considering it only set me back two silver pieces. According to the map, the next town along this trail is the town, and my planned destination, of Windkeep.

Windkeep is supposed to be a sparsely populated, remote location; the perfect location of study for a recently graduated mage. With a small marketplace, Windkeep should be able to keep me supplied with all of the required wizarding components while providing me the room and freedom to perfect my spells. It's common knowledge in this region that wizards devote years of personal study and reflection to become masters of magic, so the arrival of a nomadic mage should come as no surprise to the people of Windkeep. Heck, they may even be glad to have someone handy with magic around for emergencies or town defense.

A rustle in the bushes snaps me back from my mental predictions of Windkeep and I instinctively shove my map back in its pocket to free my hands. Fighters have their broad swords, rogues have their daggers, rangers have their bows, and wizards have their hands. I mentally prepare a defensive spell as a man in leather armor steps out of the bush and into the middle of the path. As soon as he steps out of the bush I begin to size him up: a large wooded staff in one hand, a dagger sheathed on his belt and a ruffled appearance that makes me doubt he's seen a bath any time recently. I can tell he's a thief before he even opens his mouth and if that's the case, there are probably more waiting nearby.

"Hello lonely traveler!" He shouts jubilantly in perhaps some weak attempt to throw me off guard. "What brings you to travel these parts of Oakdale?"

I flex my fingers and stand my ground firmly, the words of the man removing any doubt that this is a robbery. I can feel the warm, tingling power of my defensive spell resonating in my left hand, so I mentally prepare an attack spell with my right. Hopefully there isn't an army of thieves hiding in the surrounding foliage. Once the spell is prepared, I respond to the inquiry, "I'm nothing but an adventurer down on his luck seeking opportunity in Windkeep. Who wants to know?"

I knew no story I gave would deter these robbers from carrying out their plan, so I hardly devoted any mental resources into formulating a believable story. The thief stared hard at me for a moment and almost seemed taken aback at my pathetic attempt to explain my existence. It almost seemed as if he were reconsidering going through with his plan. Unfortunately though, his greed soon overwhelmed reason and he made his demand, "My name is Jesup, I own this road and you appear to be trespassing. However, fifty gold pieces would certainly be enough to finance your passage through my lands."

Just as he finished, an arrow thwacked into the ground several feet in front of me. I made sure to make a note of which tree it shot from. "I assure you that paying the toll will be in your best interest," the thief said with a smile as he lifted his wooden staff and began to walk towards me.

"I have no intention of paying a toll," I said as I released the energy stored in my left hand. There was a bright flash and my body was surrounded with magical energy. Another arrow whistled through the air and shattered to pieces mere inches from my chest. My Mage Shield should hold for several more minutes, but I wasn't going to give the thief archer another chance. I raised my right arm, flicked a finger and a small missile of flame shot from my fingertip. The flaming missile impacted within the branches of the targeted tree which instantly burst into flames. The thief on the pathway, Jesup, turned just in time to see his screaming partner leap from the tree in a ball of fire.

This distraction was long enough for me to cast a detect spell. As expected, I could suddenly feel the life of Jesup flowing through me and, to a lesser extent, the fading life of his partner who lay motionless at the base of the flaming tree. I couldn't feel the presence of any other significant life, so I felt confident this was a two man job.

Jesup, after seeing the flaming debris that was once his partner in crime, briefly turned to look at me and then shot off into the forest. "Wait, you forgot your gold!" I yelled after him.

The flames in the tree began to die down and I approached the now deceased thief. Retrieving a vile of Blue Willow Oil from my bag, I poured it onto the body and began to cast a Revival Spell. Revival Spells are known to few wizards and aren't even taught at the Mage Institution. Luckily I was fortunate enough to befriend one of the professors who taught me extra spells in his spare time. That particular fact is especially lucky for this thief who suddenly sits up, gasping for air. He slowly manages to catch his breath and looks up at me. Recognition flashes across his face and he jumps up screaming and running into the forest, his tattered, burnt clothing trailing behind him. "Not even a thank you," I grumble to myself.

I take note that he runs in the same direction as Jesup, so I postulate that there must be a thief encampment or fort in that direction. I decide that I'll report this incident to the Windkeep magistrate so they can handle the situation.

The encounter is over as quick as it began and I once again find myself back on the road towards Windkeep...

New Bush Currency

2007-12-10T14:17:00.001-08:00

Today, the Bush administration released a new U.S. monetary note which better reflects the value of the American dollar. Sources say the new bill will soon be worth more than the current U.S. dollar.

DS vs. PSP

2007-12-07T15:14:00.001-08:00

For those of you blessed with enough time on your hands to own both the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS systems, you can just stop reading now...this entry is not for you. This article is for people like myself who have both time and financial restraints that enforce a 'single-format' lifestyle. For instance, I would love to own an XBox 360, but I barely have enough time to play my Wii, particularly when I need to negotiate for living room rights with a wife and a four-year old.

I also have a limited video game budget, so I'd rather invest all my resources into maximizing my entertainment on a single format. I have a hard time rationalizing $400+ on the XBox, accessories and games, when I could buy dozens of games on the Wii for less than half that price (thank you virtual console). So, when it comes down to my portable gaming, the question is clear: PSP or DS?

Why I bought the PSP

I originally considered the Nintendo DS as my handheld of choice. My brother purchased the black version...it was sleek, the screens were bright and colorful, the battery life was amazing and best of all, the games were addictively fun. I noticed after a while, however, that many of the games the DS offered where basically everything I could already find on the Wii. While these games are entertaining in the short term, they sometimes lack the depth of story and gameplay I occasionally crave. I certainly don't disagree that there are great DS games out there, but the PSP offered games (such as Grand Theft Auto and Star Wars games) that I couldn't find in a Nintendo format.

While I found the introduction of the twin screens/touch screen innovative, I also found it kind of annoying. I would always worry about scratching the screen (a rational worry or not) and could never find a comfortable arm position when playing stylus intensive games. I played the new DS Zelda game, but I personally didn't find playing the entire game with the stylus in my hand a very comfortable proposition.

Price also factored into my decision...I could get the PSP and a game for the same price as a DS.

The deal breaker for the DS, however, was its lack of overall functionality. The primary reason for owning a portable system is for traveling. With one device, the PSP, I could listed to music, watch movies, surf the web at open WiFi airports and satisfy my gaming desires. The PSP was the best choice for my needs.

Six Months after Purchase

Half a year later, the PSP continues to be my system of choice. While I do sometimes find the game selection to be frustrating, I am still impressed that I'm able to find multiple forms of entertainment on a single small device.

The last few weeks have pumped even more life into my PSP. The PSP online store has now opened itself to PC downloads (I don't own a PS3) and Sony is beginning to release the original PSOne games along with original PSP games. Much like Nintendo's virtual console, new games are released weekly (every Thursday) which helps to maintain the freshness of the PSP. For instance, Wild Arms, one of the best RPG's for the original Playstation, was just released yesterday.

With the total lack of storage on the DS, the feature of an online store is not likely something it will ever see. The typical DS cannot play music, cannot play movies, cannot access the internet and does not automatically save game state. How cool is it that I can turn off my PSP mid-game and turn it back on, picking up exactly where I left off? The DS seems archaic compared to the PSP and it's hard to believe the DS is still more expensive.

Lots of people complained about Sony's UMD format, but the introduction of downloadable games has made that complaint moot. In addition, the lack of running the disk reading motors greatly enhances the battery life of the PSP. Running the game from the memory stick reduces load times as well. The PSP store is such a huge benefit for PSP owners, I can hardly believe Sony didn't capitalize on it sooner. Maybe the DS wouldn't have such a huge portion of the market.

I haven't had a chance to download it yet, but the PSP store also just came out with a game called Beats, which uses your own music to create a Guitar Hero type game. Since I already use the PSP to listen to music while traveling, this is an absolutely awesome concept. Best of all, Beats is only $5. Considering the quality of the PSP store games, I'm already considering upgrading to a larger memory card.

It seems to me that the days of cartridge or disc media are over. Downloaded media is the future and the PSP is able to adopt this format right out of the box. As long as Sony can continue keeping its PSP store alive with new downloads every week, I find it hard to believe that the PSP won't greatly eat away at the DS's market share. I know one thing is for sure: this gamer is happy and the PSP will be along for the ride for years to come.

The cake is a lie.

2007-12-07T13:12:00.001-08:00

My wife often finds herself confused when it comes to geek titles, so I made this easy to follow guide for the non-geek in your life. I'm sick of being described incorrectly to her friends, so I'm going to print off a copy of this myself and straighten her out.

Geek - Not just a description, but a lifestyle. A geek is someone who breathes, eats and sleeps in all geeky activities, hobbies and entertainment. These activities are typically easy to identify by geeks and non-geeks alike. Some examples include: anything computer related, anything Sci-Fi related, anything fantasy related, video games and electronic gadgets. Geeks in general tend to have above average intelligence and a sophisticated sense of humor (primarily satire). Geeks tend to work in an IT related field and while normally passive, will stand-up for themselves when provoked. Non-geeks can identify geeks by reading their shirts...if they don't catch the reference, then the wearer is likely a geek. Most geeks will understand the title of this entry.

Nerd - A nerd can also be a geek, but tends to concentrate on the intellectual aspects of the lifestyle. Nerds prefer to be highly educated and concentrate their studies in the scientific realms, such as Math, Physics, IT, Astronomy, etc. Nerds tend to dress the part more than those who are just geeks (i.e. glasses, tucked in shirts, etc) and are usually far more passive. Nerd jokes and references are usually math related.

Dweeb - Dweebs are basically non-geeks who dress and/or look like either geeks or nerds. They are awkward looking and although appear to be geeks on the surface, tend to follow mainstream trends, watch reality TV, and listen to popular music. Dweebs are total tools.

Dork - A derogatory term describing a geek or nerd. Although the term 'geek' is typically worn as a badge of honor, most geeks do not appreciate being called a dork. While certainly not enough to provoke a geek, most geeks will verbally correct the offending party, "I'm a geek, not a dork."

Rewarding the stupid....

2007-12-06T07:35:00.001-08:00

Later today, Emperor Bush plans to announce his plan to freeze teaser interest rates for certain home mortgages that have been financed in the last two years. Basically, people who agreed to a higher interest rate two years ago will be able to bail on this part of their contractual obligation via the governments blessing. According to the 'news', Bush worked this deal out with the mortgage industry. That's right, he made a deal with an entire industry...yeah, got it. Must have been a packed conference room.

If my mortgage company was invited to this 'negotiation', my response would be thus: "I've got a better deal, Bushy...how about these people make the payments they've agreed to."

It's nice to know I could have afforded a larger house when I bought mine six months ago. Apparently those of us who make intelligent financial decisions just need to bend over and take it yet again.

Isn't rewarding people who make bad financial decisions kind of like giving free healthcare/education/drivers licenses to illegal aliens? Another victory in the long line of progress by the Bush administration.

Man this country is fucking backwards.

Productive Day

2007-11-30T14:14:00.001-08:00

It's raining today (probably only the third time this entire year), but I would still rather be anywhere else but stuck in a cube today. Rather than working, I decided to spend my day preparing for a weekend chalk-full of Dungeons & Dragons. It took me all day, but I've created my first Level One dungeon which was an absolute blast to write. It has all your typical D & D elements, along with a mystery, an interesting story and a twist at the end. My only complaint is that the story is a bit linear, but it's the perfect introduction piece for new players and first time DM's alike.

I've converted the file into PDF format and it's linked below. Print out a copy and hand it over to your GM. Don't read the scenario or you will spoil the surprise! My only stipulation to using my dungeon (absolutely free of charge) is you come back here and let me know how it went.

Level One Dungeon - A Student's Scorn

Gmail Drive

2007-11-30T08:02:00.001-08:00

For several months I've been using the 3rd party application Gmail Drive, which allows you to access your free Google storage (included with a Gmail account) from your My Computer window. Transferring files has always been seamless (nothing more than a drag and drop), and aside from the occasional software update here and there, the service has been perfect.

Considering the absolute simplicity of the software, I'm really surprised that Google hasn't already bought out the developer or implemented their own version of the software. This is the easiest online storage medium I've ever dealt with and Google really needs to capitalize on it now.

If you want to find out more about Gmail Drive or want to download the software, click here. I highly recommend it considering the Google storage capacity is constantly increasing and is now over 5GB. This is currently more free storage than AOL's XDrive and doesn't require you to sell your soul.

The only caveat to this software is that it's not official and could possibly be blocked by Google at any time. Although the software has been working for over two years, I still wouldn't use it to store your only copy of something (I would never recommend that anyway). Google needs to get its ass in gear and release an official version.

Rollin' the Dice

2007-11-26T13:37:00.001-08:00

In the words of Hannibal from the A-Team: I love it when a plan comes together. This weekend I managed to pull off a fantastic D & D adventure with three brand new players! Since they were all new to the game, I basically ran them through a first level dungeon which, to my surprise, turned out to be as fun as it was exciting. Near the end of the dungeon, one player (my brother-in-law) creatively decided to heave his flaming torch into a pile of cobwebs rather than waiting for something to pop out of them. Sure enough, a giant spider was waiting to devour them and was severely injured before the battle even began.

I think the best part about DMing is all the creative ways players handle your campaign. When we started the adventure, it never occurred to me that a player might try to light the webs on fire. On the fly, I had to determine if it was possible, how the player would roll for success and how much damage the spider would take. High rolls halved the spider's HP before he even knew what was going on.

The hardest part of DMing for newbies is the transition from board or card games into D & D. For at least the first five or ten minutes I was under the constant barrage of questions like: "Where is the board?" or "Does this game have cards?" or "Who's winning?" It took a little bit of time before they were able to understand that D & D is more about story telling than winning a game. The more they played the more they came to the understanding that they could literally do anything they wanted.

Looks like Friday night might be our new D & D night. Being a geek rules.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-21T09:06:00.001-08:00

Have a great 4 days off and make sure sleep in on Friday rather than standing in line at Best Buy with the rest of the idiots. Let me let you in on a little secret: You can get the same or better deals with a little online comparison shopping.

I know I have a lot to be thankful for this year and I hope you do too. Use Thanksgiving to let loose a little: ignore whatever trendy diet you're on, eat until you can't eat anymore, watch a little football and drink until your obnoxious uncle is slightly more tolerable (usually about 10 beers for me).

Have a great Thanksgiving!

See you bright and early Monday morning. HA!

Holidays Cubed

2007-11-21T08:58:00.001-08:00

Since I initially transferred into this department, management was always pretty cool about letting everyone go home an hour or so early the day before a holiday break. In 2007, however, it seems that this policy has gone out the window with other various 'cutbacks', such as our Christmas break, holiday decorations, facilities for smokers and urinal cakes. Yes, your read that correctly...our company decided to get rid of the anti-smell stuff you typically see in public restrooms. Apparently we're not worth the cost of clean smelling restrooms, but we certainly need a new 'inspirational' screensaver. But I digress....

So, before every holiday this year, management has decided that we no longer need to go home early. My question is: Who was the retard that decided this would save the company any money whatsoever? Letting us go home a little early means a lot to us cube monkeys. A gesture so simple is a big benefit to the employee with almost no cost to the company. Just think about it...how productive are you an hour before a big holiday vacation?

One of my favorite parts about the holidays used to be wallowing in the jealous expressions from my friends and family as I tell them I got to go home early from work. Now I'm just some tool who works until 4 with the rest of the suckers.

New Company Benefit: Screensaver

2007-11-20T14:03:00.001-08:00

Earlier today I made my way back from the bathroom and noticed a new weekly company newsletter waiting for me in my Inbox. The second story from the top was the IT Department's exciting announcement that they will soon be implementing a new, company-wide screensaver. Needless to say, when I read the news, I could barely contain my excitement.

I believe my exact response to my peers was: "OMFG!!! A NEW SCREENSAVER!! DOES THE GENEROSITY OF THIS COMPANY KNOW NO BOUNDS?!? THEY REALLY KNOW WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT AND THE PEOPLE WANT A NEW SCREENSAVER......I'M GLAD THEY ANNOUNCED THIS OR I MIGHT HAVE MISSED IT!! WOOT!!!!!1111ONE"

At some point in the past, some idiot made the decision that it would be a good idea to disable everyone's ability to adjust their screensaver or background settings. So, every morning when I boot my PC, I'm treated to the always exciting company logo gracing my desktop. God forbid anyone set their desktop as a picture of their kids, or family, or pet rat, or whatever. Leave individuality and creativity to our competitors, there's no room for that kind of stuff here.

Now, thanks to this new announcement, I can look forward to a new screensaver to propagandize my cube with company values while I'm away!

I always wonder who the guy is whose job it is to come up with this stuff. I want that guy's job.

Roll: Save vs. Decision

2007-11-20T09:59:00.001-08:00

After looking into a couple of RPG systems and hovering around the True20 books for awhile, I've come to the decision that there is no decision. If I want to have something ready by Thanksgiving, I need to get DM'ing right away and don't have time to have a new book shipped or track one down in a store.

I've decided to stick with the familiar and run a classic D & D campaign. Since I'll be playing with a group made up completely of first-timers, I'll probably swing by my local Borders on my way home from work and pickup the Basic Game Starter Set. I figure the Basic Game will be more simplistic and easier for newbies to learn.

Writers Strike Finally Hits Home

2007-11-20T09:49:00.001-08:00

On Mondays before Heroes comes on (last nights episode ruled, by the way), my wife and I typically watch the show Big Bang Theory, which is a half-hour sitcom based on two nerds who live across from a hot chick. The series is brand new and just began a few months ago...with the first repeat of the season airing last night.

I assumed (and now confirmed online) that the lack of a new episode this week was due to the current writers strike. I'll miss new episodes of this hilarious geek comedy...hopefully the strike will end soon with the writers getting what they deserve. As far as I'm concerned, the writers should have more rights over the material than the studios.

In the meantime, geeks who've missed the beginning of the series will have the opportunity to catch up on the pilot episodes which had some of the best material of the series.

True20

2007-11-19T15:20:00.001-08:00

With the big four day weekend coming up and everyone coming over to my place for turkey-day, I'm looking into an easy-to-learn D & D style RPG system. I've been browsing online for a few minutes and came across a system called True20.

From what I've learned from its website, True20 takes the basic elements of D & D and simplifies them into descriptions/statuses rather than numbers. For instance, your character would simply be "dying" rather than reduced to 1 hit point. Saving throws and checks are all there, but all rolls are decided using a single d20 die, which should simplify some of the math for the beginning RPG'er.

So far, I've downloaded their quick start guide, the character sheet and an intro game from the website (all available for free) and I'm looking into purchasing a copy of the main manual. I really want to have something ready by Thursday, so I may just be limited to the meager offerings of my local bookstore since I don't have time to wait for anything to be shipped. I notice they have a lot of the guidebooks in PDF format but not the main rule book. I wonder if my local comic store might have a copy....

I'm not totally sold on True20 quite yet and I'm running out of time. Anyone have any experience using the True20 system? What are the pro's and con's? Would it be good for a beginner?

I let you know tomorrow what I've decided to do...

Gathering the Magic

2007-11-15T14:00:00.001-08:00

If you're a veteran Magic the Gathering player or a new player looking to learn, Wizards of the Coast is releasing a special edition Elves vs. Goblins starter set for the 2007 holiday season.

The set includes two ready to play decks, so choose either the Elf or Goblin deck, grab a friend and geek out!

The set includes everything you'll need to get your game on. I'll definitely pick one of these up for Christmas and use it as my travel set (cruise in January, woo-hoo!) or a set to introduce new players to the game. In stores, November 16th!

*Oh, and a word of advice for new players...if your looking to buy cards and start a collection beyond your initial starter set, I highly recommend eBay. Buying by the pack in a store is practically extortion. You can get great cards in great condition for next to nothing in the eBay auctions. I've seen 700 card sets go for a couple bucks plus shipping. You'll spend over $150 for the same quantity in a store!

Battlestar Galactica: Razor

2007-11-14T13:06:00.001-08:00

The saturday of Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 24th), the sci-fi channel will run a special edition of Battlestar Galactica called "Razor". I don't know too much about it, but my understanding is it explains quite a bit about Lee Adama's life before the series. Since the series has been on hiatus for most of 2007, I'm really excited to get another taste of one of my favorite series. If you're new to Battlestar (you call yourself a geek?), then I suggest Netflix, stat.

Set those DVR's for Nov. 24th @ 9PM!

The Nerd Handbook

2007-11-13T13:46:00.001-08:00

There are quite a lot of things about myself that I've never quite been able to articulate into words. Luckily for me, someone already has...

I figure I don't even need to add a FAQ or answer questions about myself on this site. Click on the link and you'll find out more than you wanted to know about me.

cin >> vote;

2007-11-13T13:19:00.001-08:00

Seven years ago I didn't have much of an opinion on politics. I figured that things would generally turn out the same no matter what monkey was sitting on the throne. Thankfully (or unfortunately) George Bush Jr. came along and showed me what complacency in a voting population can accomplish. Like me, I hope history can learn from its mistakes...

I have a bad feeling it won't:

if (vote == "Hillary" || vote == "Gulliani")
cout << "You're an idiot. Go kill yourself.";
else
cout << "At least you tried. What can you expect in a two party system?";

Welcome to Cube Geek

2007-11-13T13:08:00.001-08:00

Hi and welcome to Cube Geek! This site is dedicated to chronicling my life in an office cubicle. We'll laugh, we'll cry and we'll share geeky stuff together.

To start out, a little background about myself:

"I'm a Computer Science major who reluctantly found himself working as a Financial Analyst in the bio-medical industry. While the pay is good and the industry stable, it doesn't give me the satisfaction I used to feel when working in IT. I was a System Admin for a small online company at the age of 19 and for those five years I squandered away experience I wish I could get back. Nevertheless, I'll have my Bachelor of Science within the next few years and hopefully entrance back into IT.

I'm currently living in Orange County, California. I'm a husband and a father. Other than the drive to get back on the right path with my career, I'm happy as a geek at Comic-Con."

You can expect to see cool geek stuff on this site, more about me and the occasional link I come across while surfing the internets while I pretend to work.

More about me...