the runway lights are the deepest blue

Everybody at work is getting sick. There was something going around and then my boss brought something back from his trip to Oklahoma. I have managed to avoid it so far as I do a lot by email and I'm wearing a mask half the time anyway. It may have finally caught up to me though, as I have a bit of a sore throat. I don't want the Oklahoma Flu.

I recently bought Command & Conquer: The First Decade. I already own almost all of the compilation except for the expansion pack to Tiberian Sun, which I have just finished playing. I thought the compilation would just be 10 CDs, but they've actually packaged everything from the original to Zero Hour on one DVD, which is extremely convenient.

Buying that game was interesting. It cost $24.99, but the first time it came up on the debit card reader it said $24,990,000,000,000.00. I'm kicking myself that I didn't take a picture on my new cell phone. I told the cashier I wasn't feeling generous enough to pay off the national debt. The second attempt was $0.02, but I didn't get to keep that.

I've pretty much sorted out the artwork in my music collection, but I haven't really sorted the collection itself. I did just get the Ace Combat 6 soundtrack, which some blog had packaged with the Halo 3 soundtrack for some reason. As far as the new iPod goes, I got an acrylic case so the stupid edge that kind of annoys me is covered up altogether. The menus are still a bit laggy at times though.

it's just not enough when i'm awake

IPod Mk. II has given me a great new game to play. The cover flow feature has revealed an entirely new layer in which my music is not sorted, as my odd taste in music means a lot of albums don't have artwork. Now I have to chase down every album and make sure something is uploaded to the iPod. It is tedious and yet I find a fun aspect in it.

The other new game is called convert videos. That game is not so fun because it sucks up all my CPU runtime for extended periods of time. I am starting with Top Gear Series 10.

i was sitting in the highest tree

I've made a fair amount of noise ranting about the new iPod but this weekend the weather was nice and the sun was out and I went out and bought one, the 160GB Classic. I figured I should get it broken in before it's the night before I'm on a plane to Germany. Actually I figured a lot of things, I'm good at rationalizing. I creatively named it iPod Mk. II.

I finished watching all of Futurama. Including the first movie, which is so full of in-jokes you have to watch the entire series ahead of time to understand it.

so never known before

I finally reinstalled C&C3 on my computer, and it doesn't bluescreen this time. I was able to finish the third campaign, and on reflection it is not a particularly good game. I was waiting for the expansion but it actually doesn't sound that good either. Thanks, EA, for flushing another awesome franchise down the toilet.

I was in an Apple store this weekend and I played around with the iPods some more, and it seems like Apple has finally gotten their act together and fixed the terrible software bugs in the iPod Classic. They still need to take a belt sander to the edge before I will buy one though. Either that or work will stick me on a plane to Israel and I will buy something fast to not go crazy.

am i still asleep

Bad things are afoot. Leftlane is talking of rumors about GM making a hybrid Camaro. What the hell. It might mean a hair more mileage and instant torque, but it will add weight, they will strip down the rest of the car to compensate and it will still be way more expensive. As if the V-8 weren't already far enough out of reach.

two points never separate

I had a decent weekend. It was Superbowl Sunday, so I made an impromptu purchase of a USB TV tuner...then remembered I get almost no TV reception at my place...and then I got bored with the Superbowl after the kickoff and did more interesting things. Like fixing the toilet. I also started working on my taxes but this is the first time I've done them myself so I have no idea what I'm doing. I bought some DVDs as well, so I watched the first disc of Futurama.

More work tomorrow. I have to remember my iPod - I forgot it on Friday and if I don't have it I can't focus on computer work. Right now I've got five songs on loop I could listen to forever. I'm also going to bring in my Master's diploma that finally showed up so I can make a copy for my cube. I was maybe supposed to show up for work on Saturday, but that was a vague assertion by people who aren't my bosses and the MRB team made a pact to not go in. We couldn't have made a substantial dent in our work anyway.

undone so easily

I am messing with the new phone again. While I have uncovered yet more ways Verizon is screwing me over, I discovered something good as well. Apparently the phone can use a free app to identify songs from small clips. It actually got a song I had labelled vaguely because I didn't know what it was. I've been able to stump it with The Nice Device though.

portland auto show

I stayed a little late at work last night to help get a big shipment out. My reward is not having to come in this weekend. Instead, I went to the Portland Auto Show. I brought my camera but most of the photos I took are rubbish because the camera was shaky. The only real exceptions were the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder and the Audi R8, which is just as well because they were the most photogenic things there. I didn't even know the latter was supposed to be there.

Apart from taking photos I did get to sit in a bunch of cars like the 911 Carrera 4S, BMW 328i and the new Audi A4. I also tried out the Mustang just to see what that was like. A couple of the cars fit OK but they made me appreciate how much I like the Malibu's driving position.

I now feel like crap because of the Portland traffic, crowds, sensory overload and crap weather. I am going to go lie down for a while.

don't know where to begin

GM has decided to break my heart and canned their plans for a GTO cousin of the new Camaro. That means GM really is starting to kill off the fun stuff. They are blaming CAFE but they might just be saying that to cover a cost-saving move. It doesn't matter. I am seriously disappointed.

So that means I have to hope the new Camaro will work for me. Alternatively...the Hyundai Genesis Coupe also sounds interesting. I don't know much about when it is due but I will have to give it a look as well. The reports are now saying it will be powered by a V6 and not a V8 though.

Also, the first Challenger and ZR1 were sold at an auction, each for roughly 10 times their expected retail price ($400k and $1M respectively).

but i think we can starve the city from our minds

I kept all my CD keys in an Excel file. It seemed a good idea at the time to encrypt it, but I apparently needed to back the keys up when I did the reformat. Now the file is inaccessible and I've lost almost all of my serials.


I'm trying to get used to the RAZR. It's annoying because I'm not able to strip away the stupid Verizon branding yet, and the $50 Motorola software I bought is useless and won't install, and the speakerphone is crap and the menus are stupid.

One thing that does work around here is the Malibu. I took it in for a checkup today and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. I also got new tires, finally. They're called Firehawk GTs. I may do a shakedown run tomorrow.