Winning Wednesday: SSF2THDR

Ahhh... this game brings me back. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is exactly what it says, a remake of the old Street Fighter II with updated graphics and "more balanced" characters (exempt Cammy who now apparently has super powers). It features the original eight characters, the four boss characters, and the four added characters from Super Street Fighter II. The added online play is a nice addition and seems to work flawlessly. It is sometimes hard to find a "quick match", but if you host a match it usually takes only a few seconds to find an opponent. On the downside its not possible to just invite a friend and play them directly. You can get around this by hosting a player match and then inviting them. You'll end up playing with strangers also, but you actually get to watch the fight of the people who are playing. The biggest draw back is not the games fault, but the crappy US Xbox controller's D-Pad. Once you get used to it the game is definitely worth the points. Available for 1200 MSP ($15) on Xbox LIVE arcade.

Low Tech Tuesday: Amish Paradise

I got a call today from my wife alerting me that she "broke our house". What she meant by this was that the power had shut off again (not really her fault) but this time it wouldn't come back on. We'd been having some trouble with one of the circuits in our home for the last few weeks, flickering lights, breaker constantly popping, etc. Normally the quick fix for this is to go to the breaker and switch all of the 15 amp breaker switches off and then. We end up having to do all of the plug breaker switches because the wiring in our house is RI-DIC-ULOUS, as it seems the builder/contractor decided to play a game called "confuse the electrician". I know it confuses electricians because my grandpa came over (a Master electrician) and he we looked for the problem for about four hours and the prognosis came up "inconclusive". So at this point we have no Kitchen lights (the stove, refrigerator, and other appliances including the coffee maker, still work) and several plugs are out (one in our playroom, two in our dining area, and four in our bedroom).

The real gem was getting to explore my attic space again. Notice I say attic space and not attic, there is a big difference. An attic is a place that usually has a floor and you are able to stand up and store stuff in. Our attic space is basically what I imagine hell to be like. In the very center of the space there is about four feet of clearance (I am 6'1" tall), and the clearance decreases with the slope of the roof. Boy! That sounds like it sucks... yeah well it gets better, the ceiling/backside of the roof has staples sticking about and inch and a half out everywhere just waiting for you to impale yourself when you forget there is a low ceiling. The "floor" is really just the drywall for the actual ceiling below you (which cannot support the weight of an adult male). There are piles and piles of fiberglass (what itching powder is made of) insulation with 20+ years of dust caked on. The wiring up there is pulled so tight that I was scared I'd pull something out while wiggling around, and to take up even more space there are heating ducts everywhere. Oh and spiderwebs... lots of spiderwebs.

So to recap, I was squirming around with spiders and itchy fiberglass up to my neck, gasping for breath between huge clouds of possibly toxic dust, all the while simultaneously trying not to stab my head or fall through the floor below as I shimmy and shake over ducts, pipes, and wires. Good times. I felt like Indiana Jones and was basically waiting for this guy to pop up underneath a pad of insulation:

And the best part. Round 2 tomorrow.

Wow! This blog is so popular that...

...Target has begun to market for Tepid Coffee. Okay so not really, but a week ago or so when I was in Target I saw this "Commuter Mug" in the "oh crap I don't know what to get section". You know the section that has all of the random gifts and gadgets in the solid red boxes. Well for ten bucks you can pick up this mug that plugs into your car's accessory outlet (formerly known as a cigarette lighter) and it will keep your beverage at one of three tempertures: Hot, Warm, or Tepid. Honestly though, who wants their coffee tepid? I just get busy working and forget its there so it ends up becoming lukewarm. No word yet on the accompanying "Stale Muffin paper bag" though.

Winning Wednesday: The Target Demographic

Last Friday night we had one of my wife's former co-workers, Bekah, and her husband Wayne over for some dinner and gaming. As we got to talking I found out that Wayne and I had a lot in common (almost to an eerie degree). During our conversation I found out he does a weekly podcast with some friends called The Target Demographic. The subject matter runs the gamut from movies to music to gaming all from the perspective of those in their respective medium's target demographic (males ages 25-34). I subscribed and had a listen. I have to say its quite entertaining and I really appreciate the lack of BS fluff (as$ kissing, "advertisement interviews", etc) that fills some of the studio's and developer's podcasts. You should check it out if you have an opportunity, heck even if you don't have an opportunity you should check it out.

The Target Demographic Website

The Target Demographic Show #39 (latest show as of this post)

Tech Tuesday: Windows Mobile Apps

These days often I hear of the many cool things the iPhone can do and I have to admit its a pretty cool phone. However, other than a far superior UI (user interface), I haven't really heard of anything it can do functionally that my Windows Mobile phone can't. I am currently using the HTC Kaiser (aka AT&T Tilt) running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. The Tilt is what is refered to as a Pocket PC meaning that it has a touch screen, I will let you know if the Smartphone (non-touchscreen) equivalent is also available.

I wanted to share with you a few of the additional applications I use on a daily basis (the total of which cost me $0.00), not including basic things like calculator or text messaging. One major thing to note is that I subscribe to an unlimited data plan and some of these applications are data intensive (meaning if you don't have an unlimited plan it could cost you a bit in data fees).

One of my all time favorite apps just got better. Google Mobile Maps (available for several platforms including Blackberry and Symbian 60 (Nokia Smartphones)) now offers "Street view" along with its typical map view, satellite view and turn-by-turn directions. GMM also works with my phones built in GPS (also works with an external GPS reciever), or (if you don't have GPS) it can use network towers to approximate your position.

Next up, I use a program called iContact (yes I know it has the stupid "i"). Its an application that runs on top of the normal contacts application but is much more finger friendly. Also you can quickly go directly to contacts starting with a certain letter with the alphabet pad and it supports "favorites" so you can quickly access people you call often.
*There is no smartphone version of this app

Since I'm not always at my computer I also like to keep up with the blogs and podcasts I follow with an application called BeyondPod. Its a nice little RSS reader that will automatically download the latest feeds from the sites you choose. One of the big advantages of this app is it will also download the lastest podcasts OTA (over the air) right to the phone, without the 10MB limit like some "other phones" have to deal with. (Smartphone Version)

Another app I really like is called PockeTwit. It is basically a Twitter client that lets me update my status on twitter/facebook, and receive friends' updates. One nice feature is that it uses a unique notification (like when you get a text message) that works outside of the program itself. (Smartphone version/Additional download site for Pocket PC)

Live Search is an application from Microsoft itself that has maps, traffic, and directions also (I use GMM for that), but I do use it as a quick way to pull up the cheapest gas prices in town and movie showtimes. Another cool feature is the voice search. You press a button and say what and where you want to find something and it will pull up a list that matches, for example "Starbucks in Fresno California". (Works for both Pocket PC and Smartphone)

One of the major areas of improvement for Windows Mobile is its crappy browser (Internet Explorer Mobile, not good on the PC not good on a phone). This is where Opera comes in! A great browser that surfs the entire internet, not just the mobile net. Has a great zoom feature and supports flash and java content. Which is funny since Microsoft's Xbox.com and social.zune.net both require java to login and are therefore inaccessible through IE. If you download one app for your phone I would say do this one! (I am currently using Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta 2, but only the last stable version (8.65) is available for smartphones.)

So that's a sample of what I use on a daily basis. If there's something in particular you are looking for let me know. A great site to find all sorts of applications (all free) is freewarepocketpc.net for Pocket PCs or smartphone-freeware.com for WM smartphones. Hope this helps!

Maybe you can reward us with some floppy disks too!

A few weeks ago, my wife applied for a Buy.com Visa to get a pretty sizable discount on my Christmas gift (with the intention of just paying it off immediately). The other day it came in the mail along with the standard disclosures and pamphlets. I took a look at the "Directory of Benefits and Services" and a few things caught my eye. Now I love buy.com because they have some really amazing deals on some cool products, but I think they need to update their marketing "collateral". This is picture of the inside flap of the brochure showing what kind of cool products you can "find" on buy.com:

There were two lines that stuck out like sore thumbs. First: "Hollywood Blockbusters on VHS and DVD"

VHS?!?!? Seriously in 2008?

The second (mind you we got this in the mail in December of 2008): "The Hottest PC and Console Games including Playstation, Dreamcast, and Nintendo64".

Um... The Sega Dreamcast was discontinued in March of 2001 and Sega no longer even makes consoles! And the Playstation and Nintendo64? Sony and Nintendo have released TWO generations of console since those were on the market (Playstaton 2 and Playstation 3/Nintendo Gamecube and Nintendo Wii).

I'm surprised the new Milli Vannilli "record" wasn't available.

Long's Cash Cow

My son has been a little under the weather with a cold these past couple of days. The other night we ran out of cold medicine and so I made a trip to the Long's Drug Store across the street to pick some up. I perused the cold and allergy aisle, and to my dismay they were out of children's decongestant. I grabbed my phone to let my wife know (she had already made an attempt at Target, where they were out too), and was apparently very focused. As I was putting the phone to my ear a man shouted at me four inches away from my head scaring the bejesus out of me. My heart was literally pounding. I turn to look at who this a-hole yelling at me is, and I am greeted by the evincii PharmAssist machine (I believe evincii is Italian for evil).

Now here is where I think the conspiracy is. This particular Long's is frequented by an "older" clientele, and this machine is conveniently located within close proximity to both the Adult diapers and heart medicine. So this little machine on the back of the end cap quietly sits until some unsuspecting victim turns the corner and then it blasts information at you causing you to either poop yourself or have a heart attack. Coincidence? I think not.