Monday, June 29, 2009

Del Mar Fair

Went to the Del Mar San Diego County Fair this weekend. Every year I'm excited about going, and every year I'm disappointed.
I'm a cheapskate, so we always park at the Horse Park and take the shuttle bus to the fairground. It's free, and I honestly think it's more convenient than paying $10 to park in the fair lot and walk half a mile from your car.
This year's "Crazy food items" (Quotes added for sarcastic emphasis) were the zucchini weenie, (A hollowed out zucchini with a hot dog stuffed inside, battered and deep fried) and the oatmeal chocolate chip cookie chicken sandwich with strawberry jam. Free barf bag included with that one.
I would love to have whoever's job it is to come up with that crap.
I chose instead the monster western sausage and tasty chips. Later my wife and I split a funnel cake. Still too much food for too much money.
When I was a kid I was amazed by all the gadgets that were on sale in the exhibit halls. I don't know if the stuff has gotten worse, or if I just realize that most of it is crap now that I am an adult. I think it's a little of both.
The Boy™ enjoyed looking at the animals. No rides this year though. We thought about taking him on something tame, but he was getting sleepy. Plus I still don't trust rides which are designed to be taken apart by half-drunk carnies and put on the back of a truck in 20 minutes.
Don't get me wrong. I still had a good time. I just always build it up in my mind that it always is going to be more fun than it actually ends up.
Still, can't wait until year. I'm sure it will be great!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Wild Cards

I've been reading a lot of books lately. I tend to be in the middle of several books at the same time. I just finished reading book 2 of the Wild Cards series.
If you're not familiar with it, check it out here on Wikipedia.
I read a lot of comic books in jr. high and high school, and it's an interesting take on the superhero genre.
Of the two volumes I have read so far they both follow the same structure. The book is composed of short stories, written by different authors, but combined together, they tell a complete story.
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Link of the Whenever

Haven't thought of anything creative to write about, so I thought I'd share another link with you all.
Today's link of the whenever is X-Entertainment
Don't worry, the X does not stand for X-Rated. More like Gen X. Matt, the author and site owner was a child of the 80's and writes about such nostalgic topics as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, GI Joe, and Hi-C Ecto Cooler.
The Blog page is updated semi-regularly, and make sure to check out the Advent Calendar; an annual tradition since 2002.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Wii Wii Wii, all the way home

Got a Wii this weekend. I've been wanting a PS3 because of the Blu-Ray player, but the wife has wanted a Wii, and really, I just wanted a next-gen system, so I was happy with getting a Wii.
We also picked up Wii Fit at the same time. It's pretty cool. There's definitely a disconnect between the fit test and the actual exercises though. First you weigh in, do some balance tests, and are told that you are way older than you think you are. Then it basically says "Here's a bunch of exercises. Do some of them." Ok, which ones should I do? How many times? How often?
Anyway, the hula-hooping is fun, and I am kind of sore, so it must be doing something. Wii Sports is also fun.
Also, I had no idea that the Wii also played Gamecube games, so that was a total bonus. I also had no idea that it only came with standard video cables, which is a bummer, but I'm not surprised. However, new component cables (yes, we are lame, our TV does not have HDMI) are on the way.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Sam Horta, you dog!

I was whistling some music at my desk today and a co-worker asked if I was whistling the Mork and Mindy theme. It turned out I was.
We started talking about old TV music, and I mentioned that the music for He-Man sounded a lot like the music from Remington Steele.
You be the judge:


He suggested something I never thought of - maybe it was written by the same person.
It turns out that Sam Horta was both the music editor for He-Man and the sound editor for Remington Steele.
Busted!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Padres

A recruiter gave my boss tickets for a suite at Petco Park to watch the Padres last night. He invited the whole development team (There's only 5 of us, including the boss).
This was only my second time at Petco Park, and the other time was also in a suite.
At this point, I think I'm starting to get spoiled. I don't see how I'll be able to pay money to sit in plastic seats and buy overpriced food and drinks when I'm used to sitting in cushy chairs, and eating food and drinking beer that someone else has paid for.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Link of the whenever

Today's link of the whenever (day, week, month? Don't try to tie me down, man!) is http://www.lileks.com by James Lileks.
I first learned of him from his book The Gallery of Regrettable Food, which is hilarious. He has a blog page (http://www.lileks.com/bleat) as well as a ton of other pages on the site, many of which are updated regularly.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Fable (Again)

Played Fable for a couple of hours last night. I'm trying to decide if I like it.
Right when you start any new game it's fun, unless the game really sucks and you can't even get into it. Mostly because games are pretty easy at the start and they hold your hand at the beginning, so you at least know what you're doing.
I've just gotten to the point in Fable where the game has stopped holding my hand and it's starting to get a little more challenging. This is the point where it can either get more fun, or it can just be frustrating.
I still don't understand a lot of the interface. Buying and selling seems overly complicated.
I tried boasting once with a giant wasp head. That seemed like a bizarre endeavor. You only get renown points if you beat your previous high score. Wouldn't that encourage you to do crappy at the beginning, and then slowly improve, so that you get points each time? Maybe it doesn't work that way.
I do like bashing bandits with my sword and frying them with lightning though. And the graphics are pretty, especially for a game that's a few years old. It runs great on my laptop at 1440x900.
If it stays fun and I start to understand the nuances (like renown, boasts and alignment), I will definitely keep playing it.
Otherwise, I'm going straight to Knights of the Old Republic 2

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Fable

I bought Fable: The Lost Chapters for PC last week on Amazon. Hadn't ever played it, and was looking for a good RPG for the PC. It arrived yesterday. When I tried to install it, it told me that the product key was invalid.
Great.
After 1/2 hour on the phone with Microsoft Support, I got a new key and it worked like a charm! Don't know what was wrong with the key printed in the case.

First Post

Bing! You've found www.NedRyerson.com! Can I interest you in any life insurance?

Just trying to figure out how to get Blogger connected to my domain...