So I started this job. I'm a tech guy at a conference center. Not much happens, so mostly I just sit around and "be available." Well, this is incredibly boring without a laptop. I have access to the computers at the place, but it's really not the same, seeing as I don't want to put any extra software on them and whatnot. So basically I need a laptop before I die of boredom. I make about 370 USD per week, and a good chunk of that will be spent before the next week. It'll take me about a month to save up enough for a decent laptop, therefore, I have created this:


Donate to me, Halibutski, before I die of boredom!
Wouldn't it be great to make a living off of paypal donations?

Ideally, once I get a laptop, I intend to spend my boring nothing-to-do work hours on being productive. I'll start coding again, and maybe learn some web dev and do some freelance work. I feel the environment at work would be most suitable for that. Plus I'll be making money while I make money. Doing two jobs at once would be pretty sweet. And then once in a while I'll just play Minecraft. Depends on the day. Either way, the boredom is killing me.

If I get a couple donations, I'll change my username back to Halibutski. Everybody loves that name, doesn't that make it worth it?

Some of you may not understand the urgency, but a lot of you might... I ran out of tea! Well, not entirely true. I ran out of this green tea that I really liked. I'll get some more eventually, but in the meantime all I have is this black breakfast tea...

Which brings me to how you may help: I can't seem to get it right. I know I like the stuff, I used to drink it all the time, but for some reason I simply cannot get my tea right. I am American, so there is nobody within 50 miles that knows how to properly make a cup of tea. Luckily though, this is the internet, and I am not constrained by such distances. How do I make a really good cup of tea? How long do I let it steep for? Do I add milk? Sugar? If so, how much? Is there a special technique to making a good cup of tea? Some of you may think that because I'm in the US of A, I can't actually find good tea. You're probably right, but this is the best that I can find without going too fancy, so it ought to be sufficient.

Anyway, in the interest of not making too short a blog, I'll write some more stuff.

The other day I really had an urge to make a game. It just so happened that Rob was starting his Psychedelic Manlove competition at the same time. So I said what the hell, and threw my name in with the rest. The title I ended up picking (after rejecting my first set of choices) was Soviet Transvestite Epidemic. A good name, I reckon. However, I fear nothing may come of it. Originally I planned to do the game in C#/XNA. It seems easy enough and I had done a little bit. But of course I suddenly found myself too unmotivated (lazy) to further my knowledge of C#. Then I got an idea, why not try IronPython/XNA? I mean, everything I've read makes it seem like it should work. I figured my knowledge of Python would save me a lot of time and in the end yield a better game. I still had to become more familiar with XNA, but how hard could it be? People like Python, people like XNA, I'm sure SOMEBODY would have used the two together and threw together and example/tutorial.

Apparently I was wrong. In fact, near as I can tell, nobody has used the two together since like 2006 or some shit. I wasn't going anywhere with it without more complete knowledge of XNA. And to learn XNA I'd have to learn C# as well, making the whole idea totally pointless. Maybe this is why nobody does it.

I decided to use Unity instead, but I'm just too damn lazy. I open it, can't think of what to do first, so I close it. Rob said I should use GM, but I feel above it at this point. Even though I am not nearly as familiar with other things as I am with it. It feels like a toy, and using it would feel almost childish. I'd probably do the same thing with it anyway.


Bah, I don't write enough of these blogs. I worry that my formatting is awful and unreadable, and I apologize if it is. I could definitely do with some more practice. I don't really know what else to talk about. Mostly I just spend my time idling in the IRC (come join!) or building pagodas with Seleney in Minecraft (come join!). I do occasionally lurk on the main site, but not all that much. I definitely could stand to be more active.

Anyway bye.

Just thought I'd let you know.

Edit: Now yesterday was my birthday. For everybody that didn't say happy birthday: TOO LATE. NOW YOU HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR.

Seriously. First you were coders. Then you were nothing. Then you were artists, and now you are all musicians? How does a community drift towards such trends when each requires some amount of considerably varied skill? I think the answer is that few of you actually have skill in more than a single one of these areas. I won't name names, but it sure seems to me like many of you are pretty bad at art and/or music. You should probably stop spreading yourselves so thin and focus on fewer creative outlets. At this point it's just getting silly.

That's all I really had to say.

So my computer fucked up. It suddenly decided that it wasn't going to allow USB ports to function while Windows was running. They'd work in bios and whatnot, but would just cease functioning as soon as Windows started to load. I decided it was time for a fresh installation, but first I had to save my data.

I went to download Fedora and I had the choice between KDE and GNOME. In the past I much preferred GNOME, so I went with it. What the hell happened to GNOME? Its interface is terrible. It's so simplified, almost as though it was designed for my grandmother. Reminded me more of a smartphone than a PC. It was awful, I used to like GNOME, but this was near unusable.

So here I am using KDE. So much better. I don't get why GNOME is as it is. When did this happen? And why? :(

Like no one ever was.


Off the front page for joo!

The only word that comes to mind with this one is "what."

I'm 19. Yay me. I don't come onto this site much anymore. Mostly I just play Minecraft and idle in the IRC. I'm not digging the V3 look, but others have more than expressed my issues with it, so I will not go into details.

Anyway, yeah. Today is my birthday so wish me a happy one.

Also what is this "Related Posts" things?

I figured I'd throw my five caps in about the game as well. Basically, it's a fair bit better than FO3. A few things are worse, but it's better as a whole.

The first thing that struck me about the game was quite a negative: the voice acting. With a few exceptions here and there, most of the voice acting just feels dull. Or out of place. Or both. I recall this guy coming up to me, and saying in this calm, bored voice, "Please, my wife is trapped. Can you help her?" To which I responded "sure" and walked off. If he won't muster any enthusiasm, I sure as hell won't help her. Attitude is everything, dammit. But I digress. Many of the game's voices suffer from this. Beats overacting though I guess.

The second negative that immediately struck me was the weak beginning. Getting shot in the head but surviving thanks to some doctor performing brain surgery in his living room? I don't buy it. Although it could help to explain why these damn raiders can survive two shots to the head from a .44 Magnum... Naw, fuck that. Then on your way out the doctor is like "Here, have oodles of good stuff." "Why?" "Just because." Then he proceeds to disappear from the rest of the game. Lame.

However, the game more than makes up for these flaws. I think the biggest thing that New Vegas has over FO3 is just the number of things to do. Every decent-sized settlement has at least 5 side-quests. The Strip has oodles more. Compare this to FO3, where side-quests are few and far between. Not to mention the involved and nonlinear (and often confusing) main quest.

Companions are another nice addition. And before you start going "Ohhh, but Travis, Fallout 3 had companions! Nyeeeeeeeh" Shh no it didn't. Companions in FO3 were pretty much worthless. They'd run in shooting and get their asses handed to them. And when they weren't running in dying, they were making you wish they were dead. (See: Dogmeat's breathing.) Companions in New Vegas, on the other hand, actually function. They don't die, they rarely annoy, and they are often quite competent in combat. Oh, and they actually have personalities. They'll comment on situations, and they have a back story. And some are just hilarious, like Lily. No spoilers.

Gambling was boring and I'm bad at it. Next topic.

The weapons were great. So much variety compared to FO3. Many even looked cool and fairly realistic. Such as the 9mm pistol. What the hell is up with the FO3 10mm pistol? It doesn't even look like a pistol. More like a brick with a handle. Hate that thing. It appears in New Vegas as well, but it's fairly uncommon. Revolvers in the game were a little disappointing. After I saw how the 357 Magnum looked like a puny .22, I was hoping the .44 Magnum would be better. It wasn't, it looked about as big as a .32. I was hoping for some badass large-frame revolver like the Raging Bull, but nope. No 500 revolvers either, from what I've found thus far. =[

To sum it up, did a few things wrongly or badly, but overall a better game than FO3. This game actually holds up without mods, which is more than I can say about Bethesda-developed games. I can't wait to play it with mods.

Since this case is not native to my computer, I had to really makeshift the button to get it to work. I had it just dangling off the wires, but then it broke off of its solder because it was shitty. So I got a new button at Radioshack and soldered the wires to it and mounted it on my case. I now have a giant red button sticking awkwardly out of my case. Not to mention my missing front panel. Aesthetics are for losers.

Edit:


Specs untrue. My computer is way worse than that =[.