So while waiting for the tech centre to respond, I spent the time chatting with the guys working the Telus boutique. And they noticed the custom images I had printed off to be the front and back of my phone. I proudly showed off the Batman on the back, and then proceeded to loudly complain about how Telus gave Superman the shaft not allowing me the option of emailing his upper body to myself as a wallpaper (thereby creating one continuous Super-image across the front of the handset).
They frowned and said, “that’s odd… you mean there’s no other options in the software?”
“Well, there’s the infrared ‘send’ button,” I explained, “but I don’t have an IR port on my PC at home! That’s hardly fair.”
And here’s where the tables turn…
“If you could get your hands on a laptop,” the clerks suggested uselessly, “most of them have IR ports now…”
I set aside some time for myself today to ponder the concept: I needed an IR port. Didn’t have to be laptop, just something that could transmit a file of choice through infrared… And I do have a Palm device with just enough room on a spare memory stick for a tiny little JPG picture. And tho my warez-hunting skillz are rusty, I managed to find a cracked app that would allow me to beam any file of choice from my Palm.
…guess what… all the king men and horses… Superman is whole now. ^_^;;
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Rant: 3rd-party solutions
So I was reading on-line about my new phone and others found something I learned a couple of days ago: the Nokia software package that came with it has been crippled by my service carrier.
One of the gimmicks is that you can customize its appearance. The software allows you to print your own faceplate and it generates a matching JPG wallpaper image so that the image remains "unbroken" even on the actual display screen when not in use.
But being a typical money-grubbing corporate entity, my carrier does not allow downloads to my phone unless the wallpapers and ringtones are directly from them (at $2 a pop). So the software package will not send my custom wallpaper to my phone.
...I have a picture of Superman from the waist down on the front of my partially custom phone. And the JPG that should've been his upper-body and face? It sits on my PC at home... a veritable digital orphan.
So it's GAME ON to hack my own damn phone.
So far, I won a Nokia USB cable off eBay for a crazy-ass $10USD (that includes shipping). And I found a software that'll let me browse my phone's memory like a folder in Windows... and copy my ringtones and wallpapers. Of course, at this point I'm so out of patience, this third-party will suffer the consequences of my carrier's greed. See, somebody's gonna regret their business philosophy - maybe not them but someone else.
I regularly use 3 handheld devices. All purchased within the last few years. All of them promising a big advancement in technology. They were all screwed by their own company.
First was my Palm-device. This doohickey promised to be a multimedia extravaganza with it's brilliantly clear display screen. Behold "Gmovie" - a defunct video converter/player that was not even supported by the hardware it came with!!
After crawling the back-alleys of the web, I finally found a product that did the same thing but that actually worked on my particular model. Naturally I refused to pay money for it. After all, I already paid for the ability to record and play videos on my device - it was part of the package price of purchasing my device to begin with.
It was like if I sold you a hamburger, but instead of giving you a burger patty, I give you a hotdog wiener. You've got a both a bun and a questionable-meat-product, but they just don't fit right. Now let's say you were to find a burger patty elsewhere, would you really want to pay for yet another questionable-meat-product?
Granted that's not a very good analogy because you could conceivably eat a burger bun and a wiener separately. But still, the point is that you thought you were buying a hamburger, but you didn't get one.
The other device is my PSP. Which, granted, after mucking around with it, did do what it promised (and all within legal means). But Sony certainly didn't make it very easy to show my videos. It plays only a certain video type formatted, named, and stored a certain way. Thank goodness for amateur efforts like PSPVideo9, a tiny little program that converts and saves the videos for you (even lets you choose widescreen or regular sizes, detects the USB for you!).
End rant here - I'm too tired for this.
One of the gimmicks is that you can customize its appearance. The software allows you to print your own faceplate and it generates a matching JPG wallpaper image so that the image remains "unbroken" even on the actual display screen when not in use.
But being a typical money-grubbing corporate entity, my carrier does not allow downloads to my phone unless the wallpapers and ringtones are directly from them (at $2 a pop). So the software package will not send my custom wallpaper to my phone.
...I have a picture of Superman from the waist down on the front of my partially custom phone. And the JPG that should've been his upper-body and face? It sits on my PC at home... a veritable digital orphan.
So it's GAME ON to hack my own damn phone.
So far, I won a Nokia USB cable off eBay for a crazy-ass $10USD (that includes shipping). And I found a software that'll let me browse my phone's memory like a folder in Windows... and copy my ringtones and wallpapers. Of course, at this point I'm so out of patience, this third-party will suffer the consequences of my carrier's greed. See, somebody's gonna regret their business philosophy - maybe not them but someone else.
I regularly use 3 handheld devices. All purchased within the last few years. All of them promising a big advancement in technology. They were all screwed by their own company.
First was my Palm-device. This doohickey promised to be a multimedia extravaganza with it's brilliantly clear display screen. Behold "Gmovie" - a defunct video converter/player that was not even supported by the hardware it came with!!
After crawling the back-alleys of the web, I finally found a product that did the same thing but that actually worked on my particular model. Naturally I refused to pay money for it. After all, I already paid for the ability to record and play videos on my device - it was part of the package price of purchasing my device to begin with.
It was like if I sold you a hamburger, but instead of giving you a burger patty, I give you a hotdog wiener. You've got a both a bun and a questionable-meat-product, but they just don't fit right. Now let's say you were to find a burger patty elsewhere, would you really want to pay for yet another questionable-meat-product?
Granted that's not a very good analogy because you could conceivably eat a burger bun and a wiener separately. But still, the point is that you thought you were buying a hamburger, but you didn't get one.
The other device is my PSP. Which, granted, after mucking around with it, did do what it promised (and all within legal means). But Sony certainly didn't make it very easy to show my videos. It plays only a certain video type formatted, named, and stored a certain way. Thank goodness for amateur efforts like PSPVideo9, a tiny little program that converts and saves the videos for you (even lets you choose widescreen or regular sizes, detects the USB for you!).
End rant here - I'm too tired for this.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Quealuun-Rau and Miria by Yamato
Labels:
Macross
Sharing more of my hobby stuff... this package arrived today all the way from Hong Kong. (Try to ignore that ridiculously huge Power Rangers vintage toy behind her)... it's the villainous "Quealuun-Rau" ace pilot, Miria from the classic Macross (or Robotech to the rest of the world)...
While the red monster 'bot came with a tiny pilot figure, I went ahead and ordered the option set... came with three "bodies" and two "heads." The bodies were "sitting in cockpit" position, a standing pose in her sexy pilot's uniform, and her "wedding dress" when she married our hero, Max. The two heads are with a helmet and the other with her hair down. The option kit features a way nicer sculpt on the faces and stuff... Too bad my camera sucks so badly that I can't share that part of it.
The only thing that could really ruin my week at this point is if that traffic ticket I thought I had coming actually arrives. ^o^
While the red monster 'bot came with a tiny pilot figure, I went ahead and ordered the option set... came with three "bodies" and two "heads." The bodies were "sitting in cockpit" position, a standing pose in her sexy pilot's uniform, and her "wedding dress" when she married our hero, Max. The two heads are with a helmet and the other with her hair down. The option kit features a way nicer sculpt on the faces and stuff... Too bad my camera sucks so badly that I can't share that part of it.The only thing that could really ruin my week at this point is if that traffic ticket I thought I had coming actually arrives. ^o^
Monday, September 26, 2005
Well, on the bright side...
After screwing around on my new phone for two days straight, I've come to an unescapable conclussion: I'm pretty sure now that Telusmobility expects Pay'n'Talk clients to pay extra to activate text messaging...
...which is rather lame because I can send pictures and videos I take with the camera to email addresses stored in my contacts list. But I just can't send plain text. Phooey!
Anyway - this one's for babou's wife who just commented my post about my white-trash percentage rating below. It's a quote from the late Mitch Hedberg:
...which is rather lame because I can send pictures and videos I take with the camera to email addresses stored in my contacts list. But I just can't send plain text. Phooey!
Anyway - this one's for babou's wife who just commented my post about my white-trash percentage rating below. It's a quote from the late Mitch Hedberg:
When it comes to racism, some people say, "I don't care if they are black, white, purple or green." Ah, hold on now...purple or green? You gotta draw the line somewhere. To hell with purple people! Unless they're suffocatin'... then, help 'em!
n00b texter
Aside first: I just came back from the Fedex depot and dropped off my defective lightsaber for shipping back to Master Replicas. (thanks go out to mrbabou for helping find the damn place!)... so that's case closed *whew*
Anyway, so I finally got that Nokia 3205i I wanted (mostly just for the hell of it). Turns out I picked just the right time to buy since it was on special for only $100. Sweetness. Spent the weekend tweaking the settings to my taste - you know the drill, keying all my old contacts from my old phone. :P
I do a have a question for my readers out there...
My MSN Messenger is set to forward messages to my phone if I'm off-line. My brother sent me a test message on Sunday. I got it, but there's no indication who its from except for his email address. I also don't seem to have a "reply" option to write back.
I reciprocated the test by logging into MSN at home and sent a message to his phone and he tells me the message came through with some kind of numeric identifier which he assumed was my MSN network address or something... why don't I get such a number when he sends me a message?
I'm with Telus if that helps - does anybody out there know if Telus Mobility Pay'n'Talk clients need to subscribe to an additional service or something to send a text message to an MSN user??
Anyway, so I finally got that Nokia 3205i I wanted (mostly just for the hell of it). Turns out I picked just the right time to buy since it was on special for only $100. Sweetness. Spent the weekend tweaking the settings to my taste - you know the drill, keying all my old contacts from my old phone. :P
I do a have a question for my readers out there...
My MSN Messenger is set to forward messages to my phone if I'm off-line. My brother sent me a test message on Sunday. I got it, but there's no indication who its from except for his email address. I also don't seem to have a "reply" option to write back.
I reciprocated the test by logging into MSN at home and sent a message to his phone and he tells me the message came through with some kind of numeric identifier which he assumed was my MSN network address or something... why don't I get such a number when he sends me a message?
I'm with Telus if that helps - does anybody out there know if Telus Mobility Pay'n'Talk clients need to subscribe to an additional service or something to send a text message to an MSN user??
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Well, first of all, I'm not white.... :)
I am 12% White Trash.
I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. . I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box. Actually... I have had wine from a box ...around a camp fire.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Force FX: take 2!
Well, just a day short of it having been two full months, I finally have put this whole Force FX lightsaber behind me. The replacement arrived direct from Master Replicas today and everything checked out just fine (thank goodness!). Now I just gotta ship the old one back next Monday.
Of course I had to play with my new one in the dark just a little... ^_^;;
Of course I had to play with my new one in the dark just a little... ^_^;;
Psst: yes, there's some photoshopping in this - the original photo is much fuzzier!
However, the colours are very real.
why do I keep getting tagged?
I dislike tagging others, but I'll play along when somebody else tags me.
1. Do you try to look hot when you go to the grocery store just in case someone recognizes you from your blog?
I try to be presentable all the time... I wouldn't call it trying to "look hot" tho.
2. Are the photos you post Photoshopped or otherwise altered?
Almost without fail - with the crappy pictures I take? If it weren't for digital editing you would know what the hell you were looking at!
3. Do you like it when creeps or dorks email you?
I don't know yet. Geeks email me but dorks? Hasn't happened yet.
4. Do you lie in your blog?
All the time... mostly to myself.
5. Are you passive-aggressive in your blog?
Err... isn't that an oxymoron?
6. Do you ever threaten to quit writing so people will tell you not to stop?
No - that'd be immature.
7. Are you in therapy? If not, should you be? If so, is it helping?
Yes ...I get it reading other peoples' blogs.
8. Do you delete mean comments? Do you fake nice ones?
Yes because I don't need to deal with this sh*t. I don't fake nice ones tho.
9. Have you ever rubbed one out while reading a blog? How about after?
Absolutely not. However I almost lost my lunch after seeing certain post-surgery scar photos. ^o^
10. If your readers knew you in person, would they like you more or like you less?
I dunno... maybe less. I think I'm rather shallow in person sometimes.
11. Do you have a job?
Yes.
12. If someone offered you a decent salary to blog full-time without restrictions, would you do it?
No, it wouldn't be nearly as fun if I were answering to a boss.
13. Which blogger do you want to meet in real life?
I'd prefer to keep my virtual-world seperate from my physical-world.
14. Which bloggers have you made out with?
None that I know of. ^_^;
15. Do you usually act like you have more money or less money than you really have?
I definitely underplay how much money I really have.
16. Does your family read your blog?
Not that I'm aware of... occassionally I do send a post link to my brother tho.
17. How old is your blog?
This one is about 9 months. Started blogging just over a year ago tho.
18. Do you get more than 1000 page views per day? Do you care?
Probably not and I don't give a damn.
19. Do you have another secret blog in which you write about being depressed, slutty, or a liar?
No.
20. Have you ever given another blogger money for his/her writing?
No blog is worth money. That's crazy.
21. Do you report the money you earn from your blog on your taxes?
Like I said, my blog is worthless.
22. Is blogging narcissistic?
Ok, maybe not so much worthless... but of course it is.
23. Do you feel guilty when you don't post for a long time?
Not really.
24. Do you like John Mayer?
I like mayo, is that close enough?
25. Do you have enemies?
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women. That is what is good in life." -- Conan the Barbarian
I do have enemies, but to date they have not shown themselves. I watch my back all the time tho.
26. Are you lonely?
Sometimes. Today, yes.
27. Why bother?
Just 'cuz.
1. Do you try to look hot when you go to the grocery store just in case someone recognizes you from your blog?
I try to be presentable all the time... I wouldn't call it trying to "look hot" tho.
2. Are the photos you post Photoshopped or otherwise altered?
Almost without fail - with the crappy pictures I take? If it weren't for digital editing you would know what the hell you were looking at!
3. Do you like it when creeps or dorks email you?
I don't know yet. Geeks email me but dorks? Hasn't happened yet.
4. Do you lie in your blog?
All the time... mostly to myself.
5. Are you passive-aggressive in your blog?
Err... isn't that an oxymoron?
6. Do you ever threaten to quit writing so people will tell you not to stop?
No - that'd be immature.
7. Are you in therapy? If not, should you be? If so, is it helping?
Yes ...I get it reading other peoples' blogs.
8. Do you delete mean comments? Do you fake nice ones?
Yes because I don't need to deal with this sh*t. I don't fake nice ones tho.
9. Have you ever rubbed one out while reading a blog? How about after?
Absolutely not. However I almost lost my lunch after seeing certain post-surgery scar photos. ^o^
10. If your readers knew you in person, would they like you more or like you less?
I dunno... maybe less. I think I'm rather shallow in person sometimes.
11. Do you have a job?
Yes.
12. If someone offered you a decent salary to blog full-time without restrictions, would you do it?
No, it wouldn't be nearly as fun if I were answering to a boss.
13. Which blogger do you want to meet in real life?
I'd prefer to keep my virtual-world seperate from my physical-world.
14. Which bloggers have you made out with?
None that I know of. ^_^;
15. Do you usually act like you have more money or less money than you really have?
I definitely underplay how much money I really have.
16. Does your family read your blog?
Not that I'm aware of... occassionally I do send a post link to my brother tho.
17. How old is your blog?
This one is about 9 months. Started blogging just over a year ago tho.
18. Do you get more than 1000 page views per day? Do you care?
Probably not and I don't give a damn.
19. Do you have another secret blog in which you write about being depressed, slutty, or a liar?
No.
20. Have you ever given another blogger money for his/her writing?
No blog is worth money. That's crazy.
21. Do you report the money you earn from your blog on your taxes?
Like I said, my blog is worthless.
22. Is blogging narcissistic?
Ok, maybe not so much worthless... but of course it is.
23. Do you feel guilty when you don't post for a long time?
Not really.
24. Do you like John Mayer?
I like mayo, is that close enough?
25. Do you have enemies?
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women. That is what is good in life." -- Conan the Barbarian
I do have enemies, but to date they have not shown themselves. I watch my back all the time tho.
26. Are you lonely?
Sometimes. Today, yes.
27. Why bother?
Just 'cuz.
The Longest Friday
I'm almost counting the minutes on my clock... Shortly after lunch with my tracking number in hand, I hit the FEDEX web site and saw that my package from Master Replicas arrived at my apartment. And since a signature was not required, it sounds like they dropped it off with my super.
My stomache is tight with anticipation. I'm all at once excited and relieved. Firstly, I'm floored that MR took me at my word and risked sending me a "free" item worth about $150. Secondly, I'm half-afraid of such a delicate item being damaged in transit.... we'll know once I open it up and slap some batteries into it...
52 minutes until I leave the office... *sigh*
And you know what the great thing is? This sucker just arrived in time for my birthday. ^.^;;
My stomache is tight with anticipation. I'm all at once excited and relieved. Firstly, I'm floored that MR took me at my word and risked sending me a "free" item worth about $150. Secondly, I'm half-afraid of such a delicate item being damaged in transit.... we'll know once I open it up and slap some batteries into it...
52 minutes until I leave the office... *sigh*
And you know what the great thing is? This sucker just arrived in time for my birthday. ^.^;;
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Valve caps stolen!! F*ck the world!
Somewhere out there in Gloucester Ontario is a very sad individual who thinks it's funny to piss somebody else off for the hell of it.
I haven't been anywhere after work for like several days because of running back here to check my mailbox and home email for news regarding several items (see previous post). So it had to have happened yesterday and I have a gut feeling I know who did it too...
I walked out of Best Buy to my car yesterday afternoon and this lady was smiling at me... at the time I was thinking she was amused by the Superman-themed decor of my car (decals, floor-mats, etc. are all visible from the outside). I thought nothing of it and figured oh whatever, I'm glad my humourous sensibilities brightened up somebody's day. Now that I think back, I wonder if it was not a smile, but an evil smirk!
Anyway, it was only today after coming home that I noticed something unusual about the look of my wheels... whoa, wait just a damn minute - where those glossy red air-valve covers I have?! Damn it!!
Well, looking objectively at the fact of the matter I realize one thing in particular: they were eye-catching and I knew they'd be easily stolen when I put them on. So the fact that they're gone doesn't piss me off so much as the fact that the thief stole 3 of the 4! I mean, what the f*ck is she gonna do with only 3 valve caps? And what am I gonna do with only 1? And you know what really make this pathetic? Ya, not only do they look cool like anodized aluminum, but they can be had for a lousy $8 over in Chinatown. That's right - some idiot out there commited both a sin and a crime over a matter of eight bucks (Canadian money, so that's even worse!).
*sigh* I just hope she's proud of herself (which sadly, knowing the state of the general public at large, she probably is).
I haven't been anywhere after work for like several days because of running back here to check my mailbox and home email for news regarding several items (see previous post). So it had to have happened yesterday and I have a gut feeling I know who did it too...
I walked out of Best Buy to my car yesterday afternoon and this lady was smiling at me... at the time I was thinking she was amused by the Superman-themed decor of my car (decals, floor-mats, etc. are all visible from the outside). I thought nothing of it and figured oh whatever, I'm glad my humourous sensibilities brightened up somebody's day. Now that I think back, I wonder if it was not a smile, but an evil smirk!
Anyway, it was only today after coming home that I noticed something unusual about the look of my wheels... whoa, wait just a damn minute - where those glossy red air-valve covers I have?! Damn it!!
Well, looking objectively at the fact of the matter I realize one thing in particular: they were eye-catching and I knew they'd be easily stolen when I put them on. So the fact that they're gone doesn't piss me off so much as the fact that the thief stole 3 of the 4! I mean, what the f*ck is she gonna do with only 3 valve caps? And what am I gonna do with only 1? And you know what really make this pathetic? Ya, not only do they look cool like anodized aluminum, but they can be had for a lousy $8 over in Chinatown. That's right - some idiot out there commited both a sin and a crime over a matter of eight bucks (Canadian money, so that's even worse!).
*sigh* I just hope she's proud of herself (which sadly, knowing the state of the general public at large, she probably is).
nope - still nothin'
My (snail)mailbox is conspicuously empty.
Nothing's happened worth blogging about lately but I thought I'd continue my running commentary on everything...
Finally got a decent handle on my MP3 player (but it still is sticking out from my dash as if somebody were trying to steal it). I'm really enjoying it now that I've figured out how to record my favourite CDs to the machine. Damn, I can't wait to get home where I'll have the room to redo the wires and it fixed up and looking better.
Got two shipping confirmations by email.
First up is from Master Replicas (did I mentioned that already?). This time I actually have a tracking number from FEDEX... it's dreadfully slower than I had hoped. In two days my package made it all the way from New Jersey to New York... Oh yay. [rolls eyes] It'll be at least middle of next week before I have my new lightsaber in my hands. Ugh.
As of Saturday it will be two months since this story began.
Secondly, I got an email from Ken at Toy-Wave. After a sabatical from actively collecting robot toys, I decided on a whim last weekend to place an order for an older Macross 'bot. All plastic (which is unusual for me), but I'm told the sculpt and paint is excellent and well-worth the price. I'm giddy with excitement.
Stopped at HMV last night and picked up the new release of Ghost in the Shell. So far the second season is shaping up to be a winner. I actually watched the whole DVD last night. Natch', I got the special edition that came with a DTS audio track and a music CD. Sweetness... The DTS track really gave my home theatre a workout.
Checked my bank account on-line. The car is officially paid for!! (They didn't try to deduct any additional payments from me). I'm relieved. *whew*
Nothing's happened worth blogging about lately but I thought I'd continue my running commentary on everything...
Finally got a decent handle on my MP3 player (but it still is sticking out from my dash as if somebody were trying to steal it). I'm really enjoying it now that I've figured out how to record my favourite CDs to the machine. Damn, I can't wait to get home where I'll have the room to redo the wires and it fixed up and looking better.
Got two shipping confirmations by email.
First up is from Master Replicas (did I mentioned that already?). This time I actually have a tracking number from FEDEX... it's dreadfully slower than I had hoped. In two days my package made it all the way from New Jersey to New York... Oh yay. [rolls eyes] It'll be at least middle of next week before I have my new lightsaber in my hands. Ugh.
As of Saturday it will be two months since this story began.
Secondly, I got an email from Ken at Toy-Wave. After a sabatical from actively collecting robot toys, I decided on a whim last weekend to place an order for an older Macross 'bot. All plastic (which is unusual for me), but I'm told the sculpt and paint is excellent and well-worth the price. I'm giddy with excitement.
Stopped at HMV last night and picked up the new release of Ghost in the Shell. So far the second season is shaping up to be a winner. I actually watched the whole DVD last night. Natch', I got the special edition that came with a DTS audio track and a music CD. Sweetness... The DTS track really gave my home theatre a workout.
Checked my bank account on-line. The car is officially paid for!! (They didn't try to deduct any additional payments from me). I'm relieved. *whew*
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Updates! Sunday was a good day
If I had an attic, it would probably be filled with DVDs I don't watch but for some reason or other tickled my fancy on the store shelf at the time... But as I actually live in an apartment, my old DVDs tend to get shoved into boxes in a closet.
This weekend I dug up a little burried treasure: a complete set of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles. Yeah it's a cartoon but I really did like it when it was on the air (at a dreadful 6am weekday timeslot). It catered to an older audience and I thought it was a shame when it was canned a mere 4 episodes short of completion (I've read that the final episodes of the series were actually written and the voices recorded - but they never had a chance to complete the animation for it all). Anyway, I settled in for a marathon viewing session with the producer commentary tracks over the last couple of days.
Toasted a bagel for breakfast before heading out today. It was warm - a little on the humid side but not too bad. Actually I didn't break a sweat until about 2pm when, of all places to be, I was indoors... Must've been hotter than I thought.
Sushi was actually decently fresh at the mall food court today (and also reasonably overpriced)...
Grabbed a few comics at the usual stops. Strangely, I had thought there were at least a few more titles to have come out in the last few weeks when I haven't been. I suppose my "big score" was actually a new issue of Noble Causes. The shops usually under-order seeing as it's a fairly unknown indy book.
Oh and [insert drumroll here]... I was finally able to raise Master Replicas. They sent me an email tonight telling me to expect another email with tracking information for a replacement lightsaber! *yay*
This message also included a link to a prepaid airbill to return my broken one. Hmm... it appears to be a Fedex label I'm suppose to print out. Does anybody know how this works?
I've never shipped with them before. Babou once mentioned he had to go all the way to the airport where they have a service desk. But I swear I've seen Fedex logos for "authorized service agents" around town. The web-site is equally cryptic - it mentions that certain agents cannot take packages for "Fedex Ground." What's that supposed to mean? I didn't prepare this "airbill" - why should I care what method of service was prepaid-for? Any thoughts? Helpful opinions? Anybody? Anybody?
This weekend I dug up a little burried treasure: a complete set of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles. Yeah it's a cartoon but I really did like it when it was on the air (at a dreadful 6am weekday timeslot). It catered to an older audience and I thought it was a shame when it was canned a mere 4 episodes short of completion (I've read that the final episodes of the series were actually written and the voices recorded - but they never had a chance to complete the animation for it all). Anyway, I settled in for a marathon viewing session with the producer commentary tracks over the last couple of days.
Toasted a bagel for breakfast before heading out today. It was warm - a little on the humid side but not too bad. Actually I didn't break a sweat until about 2pm when, of all places to be, I was indoors... Must've been hotter than I thought.
Sushi was actually decently fresh at the mall food court today (and also reasonably overpriced)...
Grabbed a few comics at the usual stops. Strangely, I had thought there were at least a few more titles to have come out in the last few weeks when I haven't been. I suppose my "big score" was actually a new issue of Noble Causes. The shops usually under-order seeing as it's a fairly unknown indy book.
Oh and [insert drumroll here]... I was finally able to raise Master Replicas. They sent me an email tonight telling me to expect another email with tracking information for a replacement lightsaber! *yay*
This message also included a link to a prepaid airbill to return my broken one. Hmm... it appears to be a Fedex label I'm suppose to print out. Does anybody know how this works?
I've never shipped with them before. Babou once mentioned he had to go all the way to the airport where they have a service desk. But I swear I've seen Fedex logos for "authorized service agents" around town. The web-site is equally cryptic - it mentions that certain agents cannot take packages for "Fedex Ground." What's that supposed to mean? I didn't prepare this "airbill" - why should I care what method of service was prepaid-for? Any thoughts? Helpful opinions? Anybody? Anybody?
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Rainy Day Blog Entry
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Wow even when I'm not sick this Saturday's been a complete wash. Actually I got a load of laundry done so that's alright.
Watched Ocean's Twelve with the babous last night on their new home theatre. Irony: we figured out that the setup wasn't correct only after we finished watching the movie (babou's DVD player was downmixing Dolby and DTS to PCM by default; oops).
I sat in my car for two hours this afternoon trying to figure out how to fit all that wiring behind the new deck into the car. Ugh. I just don't friggin' know anymore. I have half a mind to take a pair to scissorts to those optional RCA plugs just to eliminate the excess. Crickey!!
Rechecked out my "fun" budget after that huge hardcover volume and realized I was still way under budget. Placed another mail-order with Toy-Wave. I'd been slipping on my toy-collecting hobby as of late - my last addition being that Kasumi statue. Feels like an eternity ago... Anyway, had some backlog on my want list so I went ahead and order another robot thingy and a set of optional pilot figurines. One of bad-guy mecha from the classic Macross series. Very collector-oriented stuff, but I'm told this one's rather sturdy and I'm thinking I'll have fun playing with it. Heh heh... ^.^
Also wrote an email to Master Replicas again. Asked if there was an update to my case. You know the one: it's been two weeks since I sent them my address like they asked. Got another form letter back. Ugh.
Anywho - time for bed. Hopefully the drizzle will finally end overnight. It's been like 2 days of rain...
Watched Ocean's Twelve with the babous last night on their new home theatre. Irony: we figured out that the setup wasn't correct only after we finished watching the movie (babou's DVD player was downmixing Dolby and DTS to PCM by default; oops).
I sat in my car for two hours this afternoon trying to figure out how to fit all that wiring behind the new deck into the car. Ugh. I just don't friggin' know anymore. I have half a mind to take a pair to scissorts to those optional RCA plugs just to eliminate the excess. Crickey!!
Rechecked out my "fun" budget after that huge hardcover volume and realized I was still way under budget. Placed another mail-order with Toy-Wave. I'd been slipping on my toy-collecting hobby as of late - my last addition being that Kasumi statue. Feels like an eternity ago... Anyway, had some backlog on my want list so I went ahead and order another robot thingy and a set of optional pilot figurines. One of bad-guy mecha from the classic Macross series. Very collector-oriented stuff, but I'm told this one's rather sturdy and I'm thinking I'll have fun playing with it. Heh heh... ^.^
Also wrote an email to Master Replicas again. Asked if there was an update to my case. You know the one: it's been two weeks since I sent them my address like they asked. Got another form letter back. Ugh.
Anywho - time for bed. Hopefully the drizzle will finally end overnight. It's been like 2 days of rain...
Friday, September 16, 2005
Reaction: "Asbolute Hush"
Reaffirming my geekness (and at the same time celebrating the fact I've come in under budget for the last couple of weeks), I ran out once I heard that Diamond Distribution finally shipped the huge hard-bound deluxe volume of Batman "Hush" to local comic book shops to get my own copy.
I hesitated when I finally had it off the shelf in my own hands. After all, a few years ago when the 12 issues were initially released, I'd already collected and read the whole thing. Was it worth the trouble (and the insane pricetag) for such a volume? I'm happy to report: "yes."
Recent years have seen a trend for a resurgeance the literary credibility of comics in general (after the serious crash of the industry in the late 90's; re: Marvel Comics chapter 11 filing). I had a feeling that sooner or later DC would publish a larger collected edition of the runaway success "Hush" story arc that ran from Batman #608 thru #619. When the smaller hardcovers came out as a two-volume set I decided to pass on them. And I'm glad because I had saved myself for the "Absolute" edition.
This new version is the end-all be-all version: each page blown up to a ridiculous 8.5x13inch size in a gorgeous slip-cased hardcover volume. At risk of sounding like a slobbering fan-boy, I've been following Jim Lee's career since nearly the beginning (I was just getting into Marvel when he did the first cover of Punisher War Journal; it was the beautiful Uncanny X-Men #275 when I absolutely went nuts for his art)... or maybe it was the fact that at the time I around 14 or 15 years old, the ripe age for appreciating Jim's knack for sketching idealized female forms. *chuckle*
As for Hush, it features a transcript from a chat-room interview between Jim Lee, the author Jeph Loeb, and a DC editor who's name I forget off the top of my head. It's an interesting glimpse into Jim's head on how the art evolves in relation to the story as a whole. The book also includes all the bonus cross-promotional material that was published in the various versions of the comic and industry magazines (one "interlude" having premiered in Wizard Magazine featuring the first time Catwoman was invited to the Batcave - which the interview thoughtfully mentions that the scene originally was meant to depict Batman and Catwoman consumating their relationship... before which good taste eventually won out and was changed to something a bit more appropriate!). And finally to top it all off, there's also the "annotated" play-by-play written by Jim himself pointing out the various in-jokes and references he had drawn into the individual images. Great stuff for the ultimate fan.
I haven't been this thrilled to be a geek in a long time.
I hesitated when I finally had it off the shelf in my own hands. After all, a few years ago when the 12 issues were initially released, I'd already collected and read the whole thing. Was it worth the trouble (and the insane pricetag) for such a volume? I'm happy to report: "yes."
Recent years have seen a trend for a resurgeance the literary credibility of comics in general (after the serious crash of the industry in the late 90's; re: Marvel Comics chapter 11 filing). I had a feeling that sooner or later DC would publish a larger collected edition of the runaway success "Hush" story arc that ran from Batman #608 thru #619. When the smaller hardcovers came out as a two-volume set I decided to pass on them. And I'm glad because I had saved myself for the "Absolute" edition.
This new version is the end-all be-all version: each page blown up to a ridiculous 8.5x13inch size in a gorgeous slip-cased hardcover volume. At risk of sounding like a slobbering fan-boy, I've been following Jim Lee's career since nearly the beginning (I was just getting into Marvel when he did the first cover of Punisher War Journal; it was the beautiful Uncanny X-Men #275 when I absolutely went nuts for his art)... or maybe it was the fact that at the time I around 14 or 15 years old, the ripe age for appreciating Jim's knack for sketching idealized female forms. *chuckle*
As for Hush, it features a transcript from a chat-room interview between Jim Lee, the author Jeph Loeb, and a DC editor who's name I forget off the top of my head. It's an interesting glimpse into Jim's head on how the art evolves in relation to the story as a whole. The book also includes all the bonus cross-promotional material that was published in the various versions of the comic and industry magazines (one "interlude" having premiered in Wizard Magazine featuring the first time Catwoman was invited to the Batcave - which the interview thoughtfully mentions that the scene originally was meant to depict Batman and Catwoman consumating their relationship... before which good taste eventually won out and was changed to something a bit more appropriate!). And finally to top it all off, there's also the "annotated" play-by-play written by Jim himself pointing out the various in-jokes and references he had drawn into the individual images. Great stuff for the ultimate fan.
I haven't been this thrilled to be a geek in a long time.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
wee! the mp3 aftermath
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Well it's been a couple of days with the new deck "installed" (that's a tentative term until I figure out how to get the module flush with the rest of the dash).
Off the checklist:
-clock is set right (what a hassle - I already have a clock in my car).
-turned off the that ridiculous default screensaver that says, "Welcome to Clarion" - hey, it's LCD, it doesn't even need a Screensaver.
-turn on the fake anti-theft blinking light (not even sure if there really is an alarm).
-Put a title on my favourite hard-rock station and preset it to a button on the face (neat-o!)
Other reactions: hmm... that rip function turned out to be more like a "record" function like when you used to record a CD to a cassette for your walkman back in the day. You actually have to sit through the entire track you want to rip. I'm a little disappointed.
I miss Sony's "DSP" feature that would make the sound seem to come from higher up (without it, the sound seems to come too low - the speakers in the car are actually near my feet). But the new bass processing is pretty good anyway - this is all a matter of personal taste.
Damn it - can't wait to have this friggin thing pushed all the way in. I'm paranoid that the thing looks like an invitation for theft. *sigh*
Off the checklist:
-clock is set right (what a hassle - I already have a clock in my car).
-turned off the that ridiculous default screensaver that says, "Welcome to Clarion" - hey, it's LCD, it doesn't even need a Screensaver.
-turn on the fake anti-theft blinking light (not even sure if there really is an alarm).
-Put a title on my favourite hard-rock station and preset it to a button on the face (neat-o!)
Other reactions: hmm... that rip function turned out to be more like a "record" function like when you used to record a CD to a cassette for your walkman back in the day. You actually have to sit through the entire track you want to rip. I'm a little disappointed.
I miss Sony's "DSP" feature that would make the sound seem to come from higher up (without it, the sound seems to come too low - the speakers in the car are actually near my feet). But the new bass processing is pretty good anyway - this is all a matter of personal taste.
Damn it - can't wait to have this friggin thing pushed all the way in. I'm paranoid that the thing looks like an invitation for theft. *sigh*
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
MP3 installed! and sticking out...
Well, for lack of a nickname, I'll just call him C. Anyway, he was good enough to mentor me on the ways of automotive wiring.
C was well equipped with his wrenches and whatnot so he helped me undo my battery. Then showed me the "right" way to crimp wirings to avoid short-circuits. Also let me do half the harness after we'd mapped out what each wire meant.
Had a little scare when we plugged it all back in and reconnected the battery though. Car wouldn't start. Turned out the battery wasn't connected tightly enough. But from the inside the dash was all lit up funny - very unlike when you have a dead battery. I was worried we'd scrambled the engine computer by tampering with the battery.
Anyway I unfortunately don't have any photos to share regarding my handy work tonight. Just as well, it's not really "done." This new unit has a couple of extra plugs and external fuses so there isn't the same clearance as the previous unit. Meaning, I couldn't squeeze the whole unit into its mounting slot with all those super-long wires in the way. I'm going to have to go in on the weekend with some twisty-ties or something and get it all stuffed in good back there. As it stands, my new deck's face is sticking about an inch out from the rest of my dashboard! Eek!
Oh well, at the moment I'm just glad to be back to MP3/CD capability in my car. *sigh*.
C was well equipped with his wrenches and whatnot so he helped me undo my battery. Then showed me the "right" way to crimp wirings to avoid short-circuits. Also let me do half the harness after we'd mapped out what each wire meant.
Had a little scare when we plugged it all back in and reconnected the battery though. Car wouldn't start. Turned out the battery wasn't connected tightly enough. But from the inside the dash was all lit up funny - very unlike when you have a dead battery. I was worried we'd scrambled the engine computer by tampering with the battery.
Anyway I unfortunately don't have any photos to share regarding my handy work tonight. Just as well, it's not really "done." This new unit has a couple of extra plugs and external fuses so there isn't the same clearance as the previous unit. Meaning, I couldn't squeeze the whole unit into its mounting slot with all those super-long wires in the way. I'm going to have to go in on the weekend with some twisty-ties or something and get it all stuffed in good back there. As it stands, my new deck's face is sticking about an inch out from the rest of my dashboard! Eek!
Oh well, at the moment I'm just glad to be back to MP3/CD capability in my car. *sigh*.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Pics: CPU fan replaced
Because I'm honsetly out of "stuff" to blog about for now... here's a backlog topic to catch up. A little while back my CPU fan started making unusual noises. I got this through NCIX a while ago and it arrived last Thursday (conveniently on the day I was home sick). Here it is out of the packaging ready for installation...
And here it is in my PC - a box so big and messy that the unusually large CPU fan looks rather small once installed.
The verdict? Well, honestly, I don't know. It's quiet but I can't really tell since I have a fairly stock OEM power supply unit and the fan on the PSU is just as loud as the previous CPU fan was... so if it's any quieter than before, I don't know for sure! ^_^;
Secondly, for whatever reason, my motherboard doesn't seem to know that the fan is running at all. The BIOS hardware monitor reads 0rpm on the fan and gives me a "fan failed" message every time I boot up. Even the latest BIOS update doesn't smarten it up. And in case anybody asks, yes, I have ASUS PC Probe and it reads the fan at a reasonable 2100rpm just fine once I'm in Windows.
As a side note: no news from Master Replicas. I wrote back on Monday night with my address and office phone number but they didn't respond this time. Hmm... what a tease - especially after they sounded so forward about sending me a replacement ForceFX. My brother joked, "maybe they're one of those ninja-like companies and are just gonna ship something without telling you in advance." If only, eh? No worries, if something does surprise me in the mail, I'll be sure to blog about like crazy.
And here it is in my PC - a box so big and messy that the unusually large CPU fan looks rather small once installed.
The verdict? Well, honestly, I don't know. It's quiet but I can't really tell since I have a fairly stock OEM power supply unit and the fan on the PSU is just as loud as the previous CPU fan was... so if it's any quieter than before, I don't know for sure! ^_^;
Secondly, for whatever reason, my motherboard doesn't seem to know that the fan is running at all. The BIOS hardware monitor reads 0rpm on the fan and gives me a "fan failed" message every time I boot up. Even the latest BIOS update doesn't smarten it up. And in case anybody asks, yes, I have ASUS PC Probe and it reads the fan at a reasonable 2100rpm just fine once I'm in Windows.
As a side note: no news from Master Replicas. I wrote back on Monday night with my address and office phone number but they didn't respond this time. Hmm... what a tease - especially after they sounded so forward about sending me a replacement ForceFX. My brother joked, "maybe they're one of those ninja-like companies and are just gonna ship something without telling you in advance." If only, eh? No worries, if something does surprise me in the mail, I'll be sure to blog about like crazy.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Pics: WH40k Inquisition vs Necron
Here're those photos I promised. Sadly a lot of them didn't turn out - there was just too much blurriness. I think the setting on the digital cam we used relied too heavily on ambient lighting.
An Inqisition Terminator faces down a Necron lord...
A Landraider turns to target the coming Monolith...
And finally, the main attraction. This "shrine" prop was a practically given to my brother at this local gaming supply store. Apparently they just weren't selling at the retail price point so the manager knocked an insane discount off for a loyal customer. Naturally, for a "defending the shrine" scenario, we had to break it out and use it for ...what else? a Shrine.
A Necron Lord is able to infiltrate the Shrine...
The Necron scarabs decimate a team of Stormtroopers and advance on the Shrine...
But the Landraider tank arrives with reinforcements...
An Inqisition Terminator faces down a Necron lord...
A Landraider turns to target the coming Monolith...
And finally, the main attraction. This "shrine" prop was a practically given to my brother at this local gaming supply store. Apparently they just weren't selling at the retail price point so the manager knocked an insane discount off for a loyal customer. Naturally, for a "defending the shrine" scenario, we had to break it out and use it for ...what else? a Shrine.
A Necron Lord is able to infiltrate the Shrine...
The Necron scarabs decimate a team of Stormtroopers and advance on the Shrine...
But the Landraider tank arrives with reinforcements...
Friday, September 09, 2005
Blogging about nothing
I feel silly blogging about absolutely nothing - I've been out of commission for a few days now. I think it's a flu or something.
But anyway, my CPU fan arrived yesterday. I got it installed (pics to come in the near future). Turned on my PC and my motherboard's diagnostic immediately flagged it saying, "CPU fan failed." Mrbabou says to disable that warning - "probably thinks the fan is running too slow. The mobo doesn't know the new fan's meant to spin at that rpm." He also suggested I disable the variable fan speed option on my mobo overall and let it go at whatever default speed it was designed to run. Whatever - works fine for all I can see.
Haven't been in my office for a few days but whats-his-face hasn't responded to me about installing my MP3 player yet. Right now I'm still dealing with being about 80%. Even if he were to get in touch with me, I would probably turn him down for tonight. I think all I can handle is to pick up some bare essentials for the apartment and then head back to my bed for some rest.
I'm pretty much on auto-pilot for right now. Coffee this morning helped a little. I might still pop a Dayquil for the afternoon (haven't decided yet). If I'm up to it, I'll post pics of yesterday's fan install. Also need to get my brother to send me those pics we took of the Warhammer game we played last weekened.
But anyway, my CPU fan arrived yesterday. I got it installed (pics to come in the near future). Turned on my PC and my motherboard's diagnostic immediately flagged it saying, "CPU fan failed." Mrbabou says to disable that warning - "probably thinks the fan is running too slow. The mobo doesn't know the new fan's meant to spin at that rpm." He also suggested I disable the variable fan speed option on my mobo overall and let it go at whatever default speed it was designed to run. Whatever - works fine for all I can see.
Haven't been in my office for a few days but whats-his-face hasn't responded to me about installing my MP3 player yet. Right now I'm still dealing with being about 80%. Even if he were to get in touch with me, I would probably turn him down for tonight. I think all I can handle is to pick up some bare essentials for the apartment and then head back to my bed for some rest.
I'm pretty much on auto-pilot for right now. Coffee this morning helped a little. I might still pop a Dayquil for the afternoon (haven't decided yet). If I'm up to it, I'll post pics of yesterday's fan install. Also need to get my brother to send me those pics we took of the Warhammer game we played last weekened.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Updates: and now we wait...
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A couple of items...
I wrote an email to Master Replicas and they're responded saying they were more than willing to honour their warranty given my complaint. They asked me to give them a phone number and an address so that they could send me a replacement... Here's the one little thing bugging me: I feel a little low having gone over Rob's head with this. I'm thinking now that I should give Rob a call and let him know to forget about his rep (who doesn't seem to be doing a particularly good job since it's been like an entire month since this all started).
But it's a long weekend and I'm not back in town until at least Tuesday... *sigh*
...have another question tho. To date I haven't provided MR with any proof of purchase or anything... how do they know I'm not just some guy who wrote them an email expecting to get a freebie out of them?
Well if they send me a replacement, I'm going to assume it means they'll expect me to send this one back.
On some other weird development: finally got that MP3 player I wanted for my car. It's not installed tho. I made a fuss with the sales guy at Futureshop saying that it was a matter of swapping one aftermarket radio for another but they wouldn't budge on the installation fees. I even argued that I should've bought it during their customer appreciation night to get free-installation - I would've saved a lot more than waiting for this measely $20 rebate.
So I told him to buzz off and just bought the deck to install myself. I'm sure my friends and I can figure it out. Starfish is completely equipped for that sort of thing: plus I know another guy who's done this sort of thing before... It's not what you know, it's who you know.
The catch? Well, it's the long weekend, and I won't see Starfish or anybody for that matter until Tuesday... and I think that other guy I know isn't free until Friday (he's one of those busy-body types...). Oh well.
I wrote an email to Master Replicas and they're responded saying they were more than willing to honour their warranty given my complaint. They asked me to give them a phone number and an address so that they could send me a replacement... Here's the one little thing bugging me: I feel a little low having gone over Rob's head with this. I'm thinking now that I should give Rob a call and let him know to forget about his rep (who doesn't seem to be doing a particularly good job since it's been like an entire month since this all started).
But it's a long weekend and I'm not back in town until at least Tuesday... *sigh*
...have another question tho. To date I haven't provided MR with any proof of purchase or anything... how do they know I'm not just some guy who wrote them an email expecting to get a freebie out of them?
Well if they send me a replacement, I'm going to assume it means they'll expect me to send this one back.
On some other weird development: finally got that MP3 player I wanted for my car. It's not installed tho. I made a fuss with the sales guy at Futureshop saying that it was a matter of swapping one aftermarket radio for another but they wouldn't budge on the installation fees. I even argued that I should've bought it during their customer appreciation night to get free-installation - I would've saved a lot more than waiting for this measely $20 rebate.
So I told him to buzz off and just bought the deck to install myself. I'm sure my friends and I can figure it out. Starfish is completely equipped for that sort of thing: plus I know another guy who's done this sort of thing before... It's not what you know, it's who you know.
The catch? Well, it's the long weekend, and I won't see Starfish or anybody for that matter until Tuesday... and I think that other guy I know isn't free until Friday (he's one of those busy-body types...). Oh well.
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