Too Early to work

This moining I was stuck in a very unusual situation. I was the first person to get to my work today. You're probably thinking 'what's he complaining about? No one else in the office, no distractions!' This would of course be true if I could get in the office. Again not to much of an issue as there are heaps of cafes, but there is really a limit to the number of coffees you can consume sitting at a cafe in your riding gear! Especially when you're all wet from the spray off the road!

It's hard to imagine that something this thin (with barely any tread) would be able to spray up enough water to get you soaked in under a quarter of an hour! I am happy to say though that there is obviously enough tread on there because despite the road being really wet I didn't loose the bike from underneath me! (Even on that really slippery surface on the Goodwill bridge)

You know you're spending too much time on a project when....

You have nightmares about your laptop being stolen, only having an offsite backup from the previous day loosing all the crucial fixes and testing that has been implemented over the last 24hrs....

Musical Toys

You'll be pleased to know (I'm looking at you Amy!) that this is my 3rd post in a row that hasn't been about gaming. (Vanessa however has posted one for me!)

 

I got a new toy/useful tool that I've been waiting for about 4 months! It's a Musical Keyboard to go with the iMac and Garageband. I've been painfully plugging away at Garageband adding in accompaniments to songs and excercises for my singing lessons using the mouse and the staff input. I've been after a keyboard because playing a chord is so much faster than adding the 5-8 notes in by hand! Finally it is here! Unfortunately I'm so busy with work at the moment I doubt I'll get any time to use it before the weekend :(

 

For those who are interested it's a M-Audio 61es Semi Weighted keyboard.

why do backups have to be so big?

It's not often I talk about work, but today is a particularly unusual day. I have a pretty big development project that is due to go live next week. Everything was going pretty smoothly until some problems in testing indicated some bugs with the development platform. Just in the nick of time there was a patch released late on thursday to fix these issues, just prior to customer testing on friday. With news of the patch we pushed the customer testing back to today to give us a chance to retest under the new patched environment.
As with a lot of patches from software companies this one broke more than it fixed. But it turns out reversing the patch corrupts databases. This included my testing system, which involved applying 25 customisation sets (which take roughly 30mins to apply) to restore. So by 3am this morning I had a system at almost the point prior to patching, Yay!

DVD blowout!

I've broken the DVD trickle with a complete DVD blowout! I hold JB completely responsible with their 2 for 1 $15 titles. I gave into temptation and picked up:- The Dark Crystal, The Italian Job (the original, not the mediocre remake) and Mulholland Drive. To top it off today I picked up 'The Nightmare before Christmas' in anticipation of 'The Corpse Bride'.
Yay for new DVDs!

And people say I have too many games

Ok this is just ridiculous!
Someone on ebay is selling a collection of 2080 game catridges!
The collection includes 1313 NES games (82 boxed and 54 complete), 530 SNES games (38 boxed and 27 complete), and 237 N64 games (10 complete and 8 boxed). The complete list is attached to the item. When I posted this it was up to $8100 US, with 45 people bidding for one of the biggest collections of games I've ever seen!

Back to Gaming

I ended up with some unexpected time at home last night so I thought I'd put in a bit of time to The Bard's Tale. I knew I was getting close to a stage boss for the Mountain Tower, so I thought I'd give it a few goes and see if I could get through it. To my disappointment (and as happens with so many RPG games) the guy was quite easy to defeat. Now I'm starting to get quite high up in levels and I've got quite a few side kicks I can summon it's becoming quite easy to defeat the bosses. The fight through the tower was much harder and took quite a deal more time. At least with the last tower guardian I had to run away and use a few healing potions before I could topple him. Unfortunately for this guardian it was over in a matter of 20 secs or so.
I'm still enjoying the game, the humour entwined with the story line is just as enjoyable as it was at the start.
Fortunately Metroid: Fusion is still proving to be more and more challenging every step of the way.

Too Geeky for my own good

Last night we watched a new series called Numb3rs and despite being annoyed by the ad breaks (what possessed me to watch it in realtime and not off the PVR is beyond me) it was a pretty good show. For those who haven't seen it yet here's a short synopsis :-

High up FBI guy (Brother 1) gets stuck on cases enlists help of Maths
Genius (Brother 2) to derive equations to model behaviour. Bleedingly
obvious strokes of genius provided by Father of Brother 1 and 2
to ultimately catch bad guys.

Although it sounds pretty ordinary it's actually quite well done and has been a pretty good replacement for our normal Monday night viewing of Desperate Houswives.

In the episode screened last night the Maths guy lost the plot and started working on a problem 'P vs NP'. It was at this point I felt my geek (inner maths geek that is) rising to the surface with a sudden urge to go and discover the basis of the problem, as it wasn't really explained during the episode. I did manage almost 24 hours before I ended up googling it... But for those who are interested :-

The P versus NP problem is the determination of whether all NP-problems are actually P-problems. If P and NP are not equivalent, then the solution of NP-problems requires (in the worst case) an exhaustive search, while if they are, then asymptotically faster algorithms may exist.
Taken from mathworld.wolfram.com

Specifically in the show the Maths guy was dealing with the problem in terms of the game Minesweeper.

The object of Minesweeper is to avoid all the hidden mines on a square grid. When you click on a grid, you either find a mine (and lose) or get a number showing how many mines are in the squares around the one you just clicked. Kaye realized that this was exactly the kind of problem described by Stephen Cook back in 1971 and now referred to as P vs. NP.

from Geek.com

So consider yourself enlightened!

No "Bus Blogging" Today

After trying to convince myself to ride into work for weeks I finally made the effort and got to work completely under my own steam!
The ride was remarkably short, I managed to leave home, get to work, get changed, shower, and shave all in 30 mins. This is handy because it use to take me over 40 mins just to get to work on the bus.
The only down side to the ride was the Magpie trying to kill me. The problem is this (as described on NatureBase)

During the nesting season between August and October, after the chicks have hatched, both male and female magpies often vigorously defend the nest by
swooping and diving at potential intruders. Care should be taken not to approach
nest sites during this short period.

Apparenly there is a nest on part of the bike track that I follow on the way to work, I had a brief encounter with this magpie on Sunday where it got me square in the side of the head (if being hung over wasn't enough!)
Today it only manage to glance off the top of my helmet but still not much fun.
Oh... back to the title... I was riding in today so no time to blog (or DS) on the bus, when I can master writing on my PDA and riding I'll get back to you.

So much weekend, So little blog!

It's been a huge weekend this weekend!
With 2 Black Tie Dinners, Reunions, morphballing my way through Metroid Fusion, Hacking and Slashing my way through the The Bard's Tale and trying to kill myself on a bike ride.
After sitting through two dinners I decided that I will be getting myself a GB Micro to fill in time in the speaches, the DS is just too big to get in your pocket! :)...
Valavien brought over a great variation on driving sims on the weekend. S.C.A.R. - Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo It's basically a driving sim with a bit of RPG built into it, the graphics looked impressive and incorporating intimidation added an extra edge to the game. Driving games aren't normally my sort of then (except Burnout, but it's less of a driving sim and more of an arcade fighter with cars) but the extra elements in this one looked very impressive.
I also managed to fit in time to listen to a few CDs, mostly classical discs with Tenor Arias. It's the first weekend in a long time where I've actually had time to listen to some music (other than just background filler)
Well I'm trying for an early night so I can try and ride to work tomorrow.

Hangovers and riding don't mix

After a string of nightsl out involuing too much alcoho this weekend, I've still got up to go riding this morning. I've discovered that, after feeling relatively ok when I got up, riding only amplifies the effects. Now that I'm feeling really seedy i'm looking forward to those remaining 40 odd kilometers before I'm back in my bed, where I should have stayed!

The big news is Micro

The news this week has been around release dates and pricing for all sorts of bits and pieces, among them is the date and price for the new GBA Micro.
Nintendo Australia put this news article out:-

The Game Boy micro will be available across Australia on November 3rd 2005, for
a suggested retail price of $149.95. The Game Boy micro will be available in
five colours at launch. The Platinum silver version will be available
everywhere, with four other special colours being individually released through
specific retailers. Other than the standard face plate, every unit sold will
come with an alternative face plate that can be used to switch the style of your
unit.

Although I've just picked up my DS, I can see the advantages of having one of these little beauties. The DS isn't exactly pocket friendly, I took it out at lunch yesterday and it didn't exactly fit 'comfortably' in my pocket. Also the Micro has the advantage over the SP with the positioning of the buttons. One of the biggest things I've noticed since going to the DS is that the having the buttons on the side of the screen was much more intuitive design than the close proximity on the SP. With a similar design concept on the Micro it would be great to pop in your pocket when your DS just isn't going to make the trip with you.

It will definately be on my wanted list when it comes out!

I'm sure the DS is feeling neglected!

With my new obsession/addiction taking hold I managed to have an entire day free from the DS without any side effects... So far!
Today was a public holiday in Brisbane so last night I went over to a friends place for a night of takeaway and some gaming. We were planning on spending the night on Xbox live, but with the scheduled maintenance that became an impossible task. Unfortunately the DS also made the trip with me and ultimately encouraged some more anti-social behavior. It seems the combination of a new toy and Metroid: Fusion is proving hard for me to put down.
I did manage a few rounds of Road Rage on Burnout 3: Takedown before the DS took hold. In my defense though everyone else was doing there own thing too... I'm sure they didn't mind!
As yet I'm still just enjoying GBA games on the DS (with the occasionally dab of the Metroid Hunters Demo) I haven't got a DS game yet for fear that I'd need to be surgically removed from it!
In terms of a good GBA game I highly recommend Metroid: Fusion, the combination of side scrolling shooter tied with a few puzzles here and there is perfectly balanced. Also being a handheld game there are enough save points hanging around that you don't have to worry about leaving the console turned just so you don't loose you progress.

Nintendo still with the 'Kiddy' stigma

According to this article in The Australian, where they draw up comparison between the new Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo has been labled with the 'kiddy' tag yet again.

The much cheaper Nintendo is probably the choice for younger folk upgrading from a Game Boy and its dual-screen, touchscreen capability offers game play features beyond the PSP.
The PSP is better for teens and older who want to get at games, movies, music and even a bit of the net.

So yet again the Nintendo console has been relegated to the kids toy, yet with it's sales in Japan outstripping the PSP 2 to 1 and it's cheaper by half price tag it may still retain the Handheld king title a little longer.

Promoting Anti-Social Behaviour!

Something that is probably not too much of a surprise is my addiction to my new Gadget the DS. What is a bit of a surprise is it has really inspired me to get back into some GBA games. The extra detail on the screen makes them a joy to look at even though they aren't exactly taxing the graphics processing power of the DS.
Currently my addiction is alternating between Metroid Fusion and Sword of Mana.

There is a bit of the Metroid Hunters DS Demo thrown in here and there when I know I won't make to a save point before I'll have to put the console down. This is one of the best things about the transition to the DS, the ability to hold both a GBA and DS game at the same time allows you to have a longer (or epic) style game in one of the slots and a mini game style game in the other so if you choose the style of gaming you have time for without having to fish around in your bag for another game.
The only probably now is getting enough time to play it as much as I want. I must admit I was pretty antisocial last night, fixated on Samus and the quest to find the source of the next X-Parasites!
It's a pity that the DS isn't a bit bigger... then I might be able to pass it off as my laptop and get some gaming in during the day!

Can't blog.... DS-ing

The DS makes it on the bus

The DS had it's first trip into work today and it's first trial on the bus. It's now into it's 4th day and the system has be great. My only complaint which I discovered on the bus this morning was that the Power button is probably a little close to the Left hand D-Pad which, if you get bumped around while you're playing (ie. on a bus) you can slip up to the power button and turn the system off.
The transfer of the FPS style Metroid games works really well on the DS. Although only a demo at the moment the graphics are excellent with the controls smooth and responsive. It will definately be a definitive title on the console when the full game is released

Bring out your Geeks

I saw the strangest think as I was wandering through the city after my ride yesterday. I passed a group of people sitting at the pub having a bite to eat, sipping a few pints and listening to their iPod?
They had brought along their iPod with a portable speaker and sat it at the end of the table turned it up and enjoyed their favourite tunes.
Don't get me wrong it was a beautiful day out in the sun in Brissy and a great day to be sitting out on the street. It just seems the iPod is slowly turning more and more of into geeks!

Quest for games

Excited by my new DS purchase I went out in search of a new game for my cherished bit of hardware. I had a bit of a check of the reviews and narrowed down a list of potentials:-
Super Mario DS
Wario Ware Touched
Yoshi Touch & GO!
Considering the limited number of DS titles out at the moment I kept my eye out for a couple of gba titles like Astroboy: Omega factor or Metal Slug Advanced as well.
The gameboy advanced titles work really well an the DS. The colours are bright and vibrant with a greater sense of detail than the gba SP.
The only trouble is finding a game for less than $70!

NDS Gear

So you've just got your new NDS in your hot little hands... what's some cool stuff you can get for it? (there's nothing like a new gadget to spawn the need for more associated gadgets!)

Well obviously you need somewhere to keep your games... The advantage of the NDS games is they're not much bigger than a smart media card so one of these won't take up too much space in your back and you get to keep 3 titles in it.

Now of course you don't want your new toy getting all scratched up so you'll need a case!

or a carry bag?

And if those PSP owner's try and make you jealous with their movie playing ability, after you finishing laughing about UMD, you can get yourself one of these movie players...

Shiny new toys!

After talking myself out of buying a Nintendo DS yesterday, I managed to talk myself back into it today and pick up my own piece of touching goodness.

I tried a couple of weeks ago to trade some of my old GBA and XBOX games for a unit at EB, but with the average $2 a game for each GBA cartridge I was getting for trade I decided it wasn't worth it and gave up. Yesterday, I took the chance and took the same games to Cash Converters (I feel dirty just saying it) and they traded me $15 a cartridge.
Having a voucher from David Jones but not happy with their price I tried the price match challenge, got it for the lowest price I'd seen, got to use my voucher and voila! A Nintendo DS!
Now all I have to do is decide what game I want to get! I'm hanging out for Advance Wars: Dual Strike which is not due out until the end of the year so I'm likely to want something else once I finish the Metroid Prime: Hunters - First Hunt (Demo).

It's my birthday present to me! I'm so happy!

Blog abstinence day

So after the waves of criticism that I'd recieved over the last couple of days about posting too much on my blog, I declared yesterday Blog abstinence day!

I hope you were all bored and had nothing to read as a result!

The MacDonalds of Coffee

As I sit here wondering what I'm going to do to fill half hour, with a great urge to game but fresh out of consoles. In my haste to leave this morning and needing the space for my music books (the irony of which is that's what I'm waiting half an hour for) I took my gba out of my bag and I haven't reinstalled Warlords an my xda since it was reset. I dare not venture into an arcade for fear of reigniting an addiction resulting in missing my lesson and spending buckets of money. (damn it my foot's gone to sleep) I've taken up a seat at the Mac Donalds of Coffee shops and consumed what looked like a cappuccino while I can hear everyone discussing their day. At the table across from me there are a couple of co-workers discussing a requirements or design document for a contact management system.They laugh about the fact they are so much smarter than their client and everthing they write will be over the client's head. I just enjoy the thought that their frame of mind will come back to haunt them.
Put a bit more thought into the design of my console driven arcade machine (at the same time realise I may be pushing the boundaries on geekiness and normal existence with this one but continue on any way). Thought that a gamecube would be the logical choice due to the gba player availability and size of the unit. A nice option would be a modded x-box allowing games to be stored, obviously there are ethical not to mention cost issues with that option.
Well enough about gaming it's off to music!

Invisible Shelving

We have a bit of a book storage problem.

1. Too many books
2. Not enough shelves

As a result many of our books are relegated to the garage in boxes. But there is a very nifty solution to this problem designed by Neil Barron. The solution is sticklebook. It's an invisible shelving system which gives the impression that the books are sitting on an invisible shelf. It uses a comb system to attach the books to the wall.

Sticklebook's comb will leave a small mark on the ends of the book leaves but
has been carefully designed to ensure as minimal marking as possible.

It looks very cool, and would create and awesome look if you had entire bookcase hanging in mid air off the wall. The only problem I can see is that how often do you find that books aren't a standard size... would make for some odd looking shapes.

Project appreciation

It's been a few months since my Red Project Turntable arrived and I've really struggled to do it justice. Since the initial setup I realized my current setup didn't really present an environment conclusive to playing LPs. The only available space I had was between squeezed the Loewe and one af the Wharfedales. With the combination of Electro-Magnetic interference and vibrations the sound was less then optimal. Obviously the ideal situation is to have a dedicated system for the Project with a dedicated stand. Currently I don't have the space to support two dedicated systems.
As I'm moving at the end of the year to a place (new unit yay!) there will be sufficient space to support two systems in the living room (but probably not the budget). However, I am going to be building a dedicated cabinet for all of the gear which should give me the space to isolate the turntable. So I think the appreciation of my vinyl will have to wait until then...

What's in a name?

As I came to work this morning I was thinking about the name of my blog. It occurred to me that it was less and less about DVD's and hifi gear bit more a place I dump useless bits of info about my day. For example, this post which has come about because I'm bored on the bus and I forgot to change the battery in my MiniDisc player.
I'm not sure what I could change it to, the most appropriate name is probably just 'Stuff I posted when I was bored', it's not very imaginative. But then again neither is this entry!

Flickr

So despite suggestions that I have too much time and spend all of it on my blog, I do have other past times, like Flickr (which I started today so don't expect miracles!)
Stuck for a place to store photos on my blog (yes there's that word again) and having seen Ness use it a fair bit I created my own flickr site and started with the photos of my dad's car (that's them a posts further down the page)
I enjoy the odd bit of photography (when I'm not posting on my blog), especially macro shots, so I'm going to try and keep a few shots up here just for interests sake.

And as for spending too much time posting on my blog, you'll be surprised how many posts you can do when you work out you can post from your phone :)

Bought another DVD Title.... Finally

It seems like a lifetime since I've bought a DVD (turns out it's about 3 weeks). On Saturday night we settled in for some DVD time after we stopped of and bought Labyrinth - Standard Edition.

The number of DVDs I've been buying has been steadily dropping off over the last few months, I used to average about 5 or 6 a month but of late I haven't been excited into a frenzy after a trip to the DVD retailer. I think the main reason is quality of titles is just not as steady as it once was and that most of the titles that I desperately wanted I've now purchased. Although there has still been a steady stream of movies the release to DVD has either been an long wait (by which time I've forgotten about the title) or that the movie hasn't been inspiring (as I've found with most of the recent outings to the cinema... Sin City excluded of course). Maybe we're just in a DVD lull and it will pick up shortly :)

Time for a Merc Upgrade (Part 1)

My Dad (who've I suggested should start a blog on his car work but hasn't) owns a 1972 Mercedes SL350. He's taken it on as a bit of a hobby as a 'do up'/weekend drive car.

As you can see from the photo though there isn't a whole lot of work that needs to be done on the car, so it's not that much of a 'do up', but hey it looks pretty good.
Dad, who is used to inheriting my old stereo cast offs, recently got my old Clarion Stereo (that used to be in my car before I went to MD). The old Becker radio was really past it's prime and as someone had already updated the stereo Dad saw no crime in bringing it a little further into the future. So much of my Saturday was spent wiring in the new speakers and head unit.

The wiring was a bit of a nightmare, lots of electrical tape and the person who did the last install must have had a loom of green wire lying around because just about every wire was in green. (The most amusing part was when the Positive and Ground wire were green)
The last few cars I've had to work on have been fairly recent models and I'd forgotten how much of a joy it is to wire something in an old car. Pleanty of space to run cables through and mounting points galore!
Dad decided to go with some German (which are made in China) Blaupunkt speakers to replace the slightly wet and very old pioneer ones in the back. Only a slight change to the mounting for the speakers at the back with the addition of a spacer and we were in business.

So after a few hours work we managed to get the new Front four inch speakers and the six and a half inch speakers in the rear, rewire the dash and mount the head unit, with virtually no impact on the car at all.

Next of the list is mounting the Stacker and the Graphic equaliser (which I've already sussed out removing the glove box for those two)

Survired the 'Wheel of Death' (No it's not new ride at the ekka)

There is one place that l've always been to ride to... The Brisbane Airport. (after that intro I feel like there should be a Orchestral 'Da Da Dum' but you'll just have to add that in your head)
The reason has nothing to do with how hard or long the ride would be but the 'round abouts' that you have to cross to get there. It's a 2 lane round about coming off one freeway and intersecting another aterial. Not only that it combines with another feeder lane at 80km/h just on the otherside! So it's not given the wheel of death title lightly. Today or my ride I crossed it and lived to tell the tale!

Back on ya bike!

it's been about 6 mouths since I've managed a decent ride. The thought of the winter breeze rushing past me basically discouraged me every
time I considered it.
Today hopefully will be the start baok on regular rides. I caught up with a good friend (thank's to Sgt. Jorge's post) I had lost touch with for years and he invited we out on ride.
So here I am, in a gross miscalculation I allowed myself 40 mins more riding time than I needed to get to the city, hence the time to post!
I'd forgotten how peaceful and relaxing an early morning ride could be, especially on a Sunday! As I cruised in through the gardens, there was hardly a soul in site with just the sounds of the city awakening to break the rhythmic chatter of my bike. It was still very cold when ever you weren't in direct sunlight dispite my weather widget reporting or current temp of 21 degrees when l left (In otter news I got Tiger for the iMac, you dont think I could go a whole post without mentioning technology!)
Well that's managed to soak up abort 25 minutes hopefully my riding buddy will be here soon!

Widgets, Widgets as far as I can see!

Over the weekend Ness installed Tiger on our iMac. Since then I've been addicted to the Dashboard. I've downloaded Widgets to :-

• Play Asteroids
• Play Tetris
• Search Google
• Check G-mail
• Interface to Google Maps
• Tell me Simpson's Quotes
• Play Sudoko Puzzles
• Check Flight Times
• Check the Australian TV Guide
• Update me on the Latest Gaming and Apple News

There are so many more that I'm still looking at as well! This is the best feature of an OS that I've seen, everything at your finger tips running in real time on your desktop. Could you ask for anything more?

So very Jealous!

I was wondering through Myer today and I happened to spy the new replacement for my (much loved) Topfield. The topfield has pretty much changed my TV viewing life. Since I've had it I almost never watch live TV anymore, just about everything is viewed sometime later in the week (or the next month) when I get around to it. I get to skip ads and never have to worry about having something that would mean I'm missing a show.

The new (aptly named) TF5000PVRt Masterpiece is now available:-

The new model comes with all of the features you have come to love on the TF5000PVRt but in addition has a stylish full component sized professional chassis with a Full VFD front display, a 160Gb Hard Drive,

That would mean I could go a whole extra week without having to worry about running out of space on my poor 120Gb HDD

an internal real time clock, a new format remote control on a different frequency that can be programmed to operate the entire Topfield range of STB's and an enhanced User Interface. The Masterpiece is also compatible with all current TAP's including Ice TV's 7Day EPG

With it's sleak black case it looks so much sexier than my silver TF5000PVRt.
The worst thing is that's not the only thing to get jealous about! There is also a full High Definition Recorder, the TF7000PVRt on the way... looks like I know what I'll be asking Santa for!

Out with the old... in with the mighty!

Just fact that Apple have announce the mind blowing news that they were bring out a 2 button mouse (and I now am so close to an apple store it's not funny) was enough for me to need one.

When the shipment arrived today I had a play with it and just had to own one...

So as of about 60 seconds ago I am now the proud owner of a Mighty Mouse.

And in the ultimate insult... I might just plug it into my Dell to play with it while I'm at work before I get it home to the iMac.

2 Aussies, 2 Englishmen and a Frenchman

No I'm not about to spring into some long winded bar joke. With my new found appreciation of the Hi-MD format I've been enjoying most of the funkier albums in my collection.

As I came in this morning I was treated to a more than favorable random selection. As my smile beamed it got me thinking, "what would be my favorite tracks to get a smile on your face and your feet tapping?" (and not Little Vicky tappa tappa tappa style!)

So I started a top 5 list, I figured I should have a limit and 5 was as good as any. Here goes (in no particular order)

• DJ FDEL - Ladies & Gentlemen
• Basement Jaxx – Do your Thing
• Rhibosome - Get Ready
• Chris Joss - Discotheque Dancing
• Jamiroquai - Canned Heat

(so now the title makes sense)

I picked this list because these songs always make me want to get up dance. There were heaps of others in the running like, Daft Punk's Digital Love, St Germain's Alabama Blues, The remix of Do you wanna and a whole host of tracks from Jamiroquai and Cat Empire. However these have been my 'look forward to' tracks on the morning commute so they made the list.

I'd be interested to hear anyone elses list...

Stupid XDA

I have an XDAII which is basically my phone and PDA etc. I've been using one for a while now (pretty much since the first XDA was around). My recent run of posting (which was not due to skipping sleep that Ben tried to indicate) has been the result of the discover that I can email my blog AND my XDA has email. (I know mind like a steel trap!) As a result most of the time I spend in the bus (which is generally accompanied by deep thought) can be used to commit musing to paper (or email). Today however my trusty XDA decided to :-

• Lock up and flash all the external lights (which made me look like I was a member of the Jamster Mobile club)
• Upon reset decided not to turn on (not a good sign)
• Require several battery replacements and a new SIM card

Finally once it came back to life it had (obviously I hear you say) hard reset losing everything I had on it. Luckily I have fairly regular backups and sync all the important stuff to my PC except on Sunday I changed phone providers got completely new settings which I hadn't backed up yet. So for most of the day I was without phone and mobile email which meant no blogging.... oh well hopefully it's back to blogging tomorrow!

Best night of indoor cricket in a long time

It's not often that I blog about anything sport-wise here but tonight was such a big occasion that I couldn't let it go.

We were up against a team known as 'Say no to Yum Cha' (previously known as 'Biscuit Boys') and in the 4 years that I've been playing at the centre we've never beaten them. In fact for the last 3 (or more) seasons they haven't lost a single match. The team is made up from the representative players from the centre who play in the superleague against other centres.

However, tonight was a different story. The whole team put in a solid effort to post a score of 95. Not the strongest score you want to have coming up against this team. This team is however very tight in the field and is notoriously hard to post a big score against.

We put on a great bowling attack to keep the first pair to 4 runs which gave us great start. The next two pair played solid innings and got the them in front with 96 before the final part we sent in.

In indoor, it's not over until the last ball (as ever wicket is a loss of 5 runs) and that's the ball that counted. With a very tight bowling effort and fast work in the field we managed to keep our nose infront and with a runout on the last ball sealed our victory 95 to 89.

There's nothing like a close game especially when you're on the winning side. And it's been a long time since I've tasted a victory as sweet as this!

Taking the Xbox to the Arcades

Or is it taking the Arcades to the Xbox???

It's only taken about 8 months to get around to doing something about this but I've finally started looking into creating my own arcade machine.
For Christmas (much to Nessa's dismay) AJ and Tom gave me possibly the most evil present I'd ever received, The Project Arcade book. The book is basically a step by step guide on creating your own Arcade machine.

I spent the next few weeks eagerly perusing the pages looking for ideas, starting points, suppliers etc. But then (as with many projects) it slowly moved to the back burner.

This week however (prompted by several ideas, such as having a cocktail arcade machine style coffee table in our new apartment) I have swung back into action on the idea.

With the number of console titles around that are ports from original arcade titles and the discovery of some easily accessible arcade controllers for both the Xbox and PS2 I decided to look into using a console as the basis for a machine.

Capcom have released their iconic Street fighter title in a limited edition for it's 15th anniversary. Along with this a limited edition arcade controller has surfaced. This addition makes the perfect basis for an arcade style machine. So it's off to the drawing board (and to enlist the help of my Dad who would make a great carpenter if he wasn't already a dentist) to get the project started.

I'll endeavor to get photos and details up as I go along, that is if I ever get any further than this post on my blog.

The tale of the Bard begins

After having quite a break from any serious gaming time I trotted out the consoles for a bit of work over the weekend. After a few rounds on the course with Mario followed with some serious smashing with his Bros. I decided to turn my hand to 'Bards Tale'. I'd bought the game months ago but with all the other games I had on the go never got around to starting it. Last night I hastily created my character eager to get into some dungeon hacks (as the only RPG action I'd managed since 'Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance' was 'Shining Soul' on the GBA).

Somewhat predictably, for a bard, your adventure starts off in a tavern where the well endowed bar maid (see above)seems to have a rat problem. It was at this point my high expectations for the game looked in jeopardy as the age old cliche of the rat hunt reminiscentt of BG:DA) reared it's head. Fortunately this is where the gave begins to shine for no sooner as I was thinking 'Rat hunt that's a bit cliched', my character voiced the exact same opinion.

The big difference with this game over all the other RPGs that I've played is that whilst it still holds all the tried and true elements of you standard dungeon hack it doesn't take itself seriously at all. For example randomly breaking barrels in one town (which you normally associate with treasure gathering) will result in one of the townsfolk confronting you and then offering you silver to break other villager's barrels as he's the local barrel binder. All the banter with the characters is done with well executed elements of comedy keeping the whole experience light harded. Let's face it there's nothing more enjoyable than a game that isn't afraid to poke fun at itself.

One of the most amusing elements though is the chance to befriend a puppy that will tag along with you as hack your way around. As you're treking through the forrest he growels at passing birds, occasionally running off to chase them etc.

As I've only just begun the game it will be interesting to see if the game manages to keep up the same level of comedy and amusement the entire way through or whether it manages to fade back into the games it pokes fun at.