T3muJin

Name: T3muJin
Joined On: Apr 01, 2005
Maintag: T3muJin
Age: 40
Occupation: Pushing Your Buttons
Location: Austin, Texas
Currently: Offline
Last seen: 9/4/08

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11/27/07

Thanksgiving Day 2007 - this isn't happening...

Thanksgiving Day 2007 - this isn't happening... This past Thanksgiving Day, halfway past noon, my Dad passed away. He was only 59. He had Pneumonia back in June that put him in the hospital for a couple of weeks. After he got out of the hospital he started having chest pains and shortness of breath. They found 2 arteries blocked enough that they put in stints, but the bigger problem was a fluid build up around his heart that caused the pumping action of the heart to be a lot less effective than normal. Think of one of those stress relieving balls that you squeeze. A normal heart would be equal to a strong 21 year old squeezing it while my Dad's heart would be equal to a 85 year old with arthritis trying to squeeze the ball. They started him on all kinds of medications, some of which made him more sick, so they had to tweak it or try different medications. He was also on oxygen at night to help him sleep better. They were also talking to specialists to have a defibrillator installed on his heart.

On Sunday November 18, I got a call from my Mom around 1pm. She was crying to the point I couldn't understand a word she was saying, but I heard the undeniable sound of EMS/Fire in the background. I dropped the phone and hauled ass to their house. 3 cops, 2 fire units, and 1 ambulance were there. My Mom told me Dad was sitting in his chair watching football when he started gasping for air. She ran around to him and tried to help him. Then she called 911. The first police officer arrived within 2 minutes, he helped get him out of the chair and started CPR. Fire was next, they used a defibrillator to bring him back. As they worked to stabilize him for transport, things were looking good. He had a strong pulse and blood pressure, but he needed some assistance breathing.

We got to the emergency room and they started running their tests. The initial blood work that determines possible heart damage came back good. After running other tests, they determined he had severe pneumonia. His left lung was completely filled while his right lung was about half full. They said it was so severe he couldn't breathe and the lack of oxygen to the heart caused the congestive heart failure. They began the process of cooling his body to 32 degrees Celsius. Since he was running a fever, they couldn't use saline injections, they had to use the old fashion way. That process requires them to put him in a comma and he does receive medication that paralyzes him. This is all done to help save the brain.

Tuesday morning his heart rate dropped below 30 and the defibrillator they had on him shocked him 4 times. They installed an external pacemaker to insure his heart rate stayed above 50. His blood pressure rate was also fluctuating to a very low unsafe number, so they had him on medications that would keep that rate up. Later that evening they began to warm him back up. At some point they took him off the paralyzing and sedation medication and a neurologist came in and talked to us about what he was going to do the next day to assess if there was any brain damage. We were also told this day that his chances of survival were not good. If he were to go into cardiac arrest again, the only thing they could do was to use the defibrillator again. He was on the strongest medication they had to keep his blood pressure up. The bad thing about this medication is it works against his other organs, especially the kidneys, because the medication tries to keep blood flowing to the brain. Then you had the fact that he had such severe pneumonia. There were just too many really bad things going on at the same time and they were all working against each other. His heart should be pumping out 50-60% of the blood, but it was only doing 5%.

On Wednesday his kidney's began to fail, so they began a type of dialysis that would just keep toxins out of his blood without removing any fluid. He was swelling up pretty good too. Everything else was stable.

On Thursday morning he began to respond to commands. He was told to hold up 5 fingers with his left hand, he did. 2 fingers with his right hand, he did. Move your right foot, your left foot, he did. If you talked to him, he'd look in your direction, but we weren't sure if he could actually see. He wasn't on any pain medication either, because the neurologist said they couldn't assess brain damage if he was on pain medication. With all those tubes coming out of him, we knew he was in a lot of pain. He responded to his grandkids which was really great. Unfortunately for me, I had developed a cold and they limited the time I could be in the ICU area and I had to wear a mask. He didn't respond to my Darth Vader impression of "Luke I'm your Father". We were feeling good about things.

Then my wife came out and told me to find my mother and brother and to hurry. Luckily she just came back up from a smoke and we all went in. He had no blood pressure. They tried giving him more medication, but nothing. His heart rate was 50, which was basically the pacemaker, and his breathing was due to the machine. He did not want to be resuscitated if machines were the only thing keeping him alive. He was gone.

My Dad's first cousin was the pharmacist at the hospital, and she constantly checked on him. A very good friend of the family ran the nursing departments at the hospital, so they always made sure the best doctors and the right medication was being used. I'm so glad they were there to help explain things and insure things were being done right.

It has been very hard these past few days. My poor mother is a complete wreck. I've been on an emotional roller coaster. Having family and just hugging someone makes things feel better for a while. My brother and I have been taking turns spending the night at my mom's house. She had a house full Friday morning. I had my cousins from St. Paul and Chicago staying with me these last couple of days. That helped my son a bit since we were able to play some 2v2 Halo 3 late at night. I'm still trying to figure out how he is handling this. My grandfather died when I was only 9 too, he was just 52. That was my Dad's Dad, he had cancer. The funeral was yesterday with the viewing on Sunday. My Dad knew so many people and I saw so many familiar faces from when I was a kid. He was really a great man, very kind, honest, and loving. He wore his heart on the outside and was a straight shooter. He was a great grandfather and loved those kids so much. I'll get through this just like I have for my grandfather, grandmother, and aunt. Remember the good times, and there are so many good times to remember.

Love you Dad.

Posted by T3muJin @ 2:56 pm EDT | Permalink | 25 Comments

09/24/07

My Perfect Day Turns Into a Nightmare

Some people would say if the groom or bride left the alter the day of the wedding, that their perfect day turned into a nightmare. For some it might be that it was your Senior year and you were the star starting quarterback playing in the State Championship football game, but the day before you slipped on your little brothers hotwheel car and tore your knee apart and couldn’t play.

Well, I’m a gamer and my perfect day is September 25, 2007. That is the day Halo 3 would be released to the masses. What makes it so perfect for me was that I had the Halo 3 Legendary Edition pre-ordered from Gamestop and have been by my local store several times the week before to make sure they’d have my game at midnight. I also have 3 vacation days approved so I could enjoy the gaming experience without worrying about going to work the next day, but more importantly, I have approval from my wife to allow me unlimited time to play with no interruptions from her or the kids aside from their usual activities that I need to take them too. This was her and the kids gift to me, because September 25, 2007 is also my 40th birthday. I was syked when Bungie announced the launch date. My favorite game series from my favorite game developer released on my 40th birthday, that is just awesome.

This morning, September 24, 2007, before I headed off to work, I decided to plug my 360 wireless controller into the plug and play kit so it could charge and be ready for me tonight. I pushed the power button on my 360 console and my heart dropped to the floor. The 3 red rings of death appeared where I expected to see the great green ring of light. Are you kidding me?! This is not happening. My day, now ruined, I headed off to work. I came back home during lunch to call Xbox support, which apparently is in India because the guy couldn’t say my name right to save his life. As furious as I was, I did not go off on the guy because he probably would’ve asked me “what’s a halo?” This is where I found they ship you a box to send your console back, which takes 3-5 days, then they’ll send you your console back in 3-4 weeks. “Did you just say 3-4 weeks?” I said, “Yes sir”, he replied. Again, I had to hold myself back from a stream of profanity laced tirade of which he would have no understanding of.

I am furious, utterly furious. I really can’t think of a time I’ve been more furious. Microsoft knows there is a problem with this console, but all they did was extend the warranty. Do they not have root cause for this issue? I don’t think they really do, if they did, they should’ve come up with a tool to help identify the issue on all the consoles they’ve sold. You know, make the tool available to its customers so they can find the defect BEFORE it happens. At least, if I were an employee of Microsoft, I would’ve suggested we do that. This sit back, let’s wait and see just doesn’t cut it. And now I find out I will be without my console for a month!? This is the first time this has happened to me, and I really don’t know how the people who are on their 4th or more console put up with it.

So, my perfect day has turned into a nightmare. I wonder how many times I can read the game manual while I wait for my console to get back. I assume I can play the DVDs that come with the Legendary Edition on my DVD player; I wonder how many times I can watch that before my console gets back? I could keep the Master Chief helmet polished until the paint comes off I suppose…

I don’t think so. I cannot wait another month to play. A new xbox 360 will be purchased to use for playing Halo 3 while the old one is in the shop. This 360 will then be taken back to the store for a full refund upon the arrival of the old 360. I’m still pissed I have to jump through these hoops, but I’m not missing out on the gaming event of the year.

Posted by T3muJin @ 3:45 pm EDT | Permalink | 15 Comments

04/11/07

Home Entertainment Upgrade Complete

Warning, not a typical T3 post and will probably bore the shit out of you.

For the past year I’ve wanted to dive into the HDTV world and I was finally able to do it this past month. Of course I had been thinking about it for at least 3 years, but not seriously. I’ve had a non HDTV Sony 36inch Flat Screen Tube TV (biggest Tube TV you could get) for the past 6 years or so and it has worked great, but sitting 17 feet away from it really made the TV look small. What finally sent me into serious mode was watching the 2006 Super Bowl XL at a friend’s house who had just bought a 65inch rear projection LCD TV. That 1080i on a big screen looked a whole hellavu lot better than my 480i “small” screen. From then on I started researching Plasma, LCD, and rear projection LCD TVs.

Of course I wanted a 1080p set, and because I would use it for gaming, rear projection LCD TVs were winning the race over Plasma and standard LCD. I was getting close to settling on a 65inch Toshiba or Mitsubishi 1080p set. Then I found “the thread” . OOOOHHHHHH, front projector home theatre? This looks interesting, maybe I should research that. I started measuring walls, getting placement ideas, and how I’d rig my A/V and gaming systems. It didn’t take me long to throw Plasma, LCD, and rear projection TVs right out the window when I determined I could get a 120inch screen on one of my walls. I just almost freaking doubled my screen size, w00t!

Now it was off to the races to determine which projector to get. I started looking at 1080p projectors first. This being the first year where affordable 1080p projectors are coming out and the fact that I didn’t really have anything that could show 1080p images, I started looking at 720p projectors. I’ll probably upgrade to a 1080p projector in 2 years when they should be a lot better and probably much cheaper. I referred back to “the thread” several times as a starting point on where I could research products. After reading many many reviews and looking at the pros and cons of several projectors, the Panasonic PT-AX100U won. Often referred to as “the light cannon”, this thing would work great for daytime football viewing and TV, and really kick ass for movies and games.

Since my fellow 2old2play members said http://www.visualapex.com/ was a great place to buy from, I decided to use them to buy the projector and a screen. This projector was priced at $1899, which turned out to be the lowest price I could find at the time, not to mention Panasonic was offering a $400 mail in rebate on this model. Score! I also wanted a motorized screen. Luckily I did my research there too and found that motorized screens often get a “wave” effect on the screen after about a year. Didn’t want to spend the $$$ on that only to have a bunch of waves down my screen. So, I found the CineTension series by EliteScreens which solved that problem all together. I found the model I wanted, but again, visualapex.com was the lowest price. The only thing that worried me was the “all screen sales are final” policy they had. The screen I wanted was $899. Oh well, fuck it. I’ll let MasterCard fuck with them if I run into any problems.

I get the projector and screen a week after I ordered it. I start working on mounting the screen to the wall first. I was really impressed with the screens mounting brackets, although I went to Home Depot and bought my own wood screws because I didn’t really trust theirs. Basically, I have 3 L brackets to place wherever I find the wooden studs, then the screen hangs from 3 screws that can be aligned anywhere on the housing to match the placement of the L brackets. This made hanging the thing a fucking breeze, except for the fact that my wife and daughter are too damn short and having them help me hang it was an experience I’d like to soon forget. We finally get the thing up there and the screen comes down fine, going back up didn’t turn out so well. It got halfway there and decided to come back down, not via the motor, but via gravity. Great, the screen is fucked and it’s a damn weekend. I email tech support on Monday morning and get an RMA to return the screen. All they need is the control box, remotes, and end caps for the return. My wife decides to use the broken screen as a cover for her plants in the winter, whatever. In the mean time I use the wall for watching my new projector. About a week later, I get my new screen, a new better model no less, so that made me happy. Hang it up and it works great.

I finally got everything the way I wanted it this past weekend, which means 2 new leather recliners, of which mine is dead center to the screen, had arrived and now the new entertainment room is complete. I got myself a Logitech Harmony 880 remote to control everything and everything is working after a few tweaks. I found a wireless Wii Sensor bar (made by Nyko) for my Nintendo Wii and so far that is working great too.

Gaming on a 120 inch screen at 720p is kick ass. Watching movies and HDTV is just “how the fuck did I live without this for so many years”. I can’t wait until football season.

Posted by T3muJin @ 3:32 pm EDT | Permalink | 8 Comments

04/01/07

2 years

Wow, 2 years ago today I signed up for this site. Already a member of the 2old2play clan when I met them in the Halo 2 world. I remember being heavily recruited by these assclowns to join them, probably the most sought after person in 2old2play history. Mike James probably had an orgasm when I finally said yes. But wow, 2 years. I can only imagine doodi saying Wow, 9 years since I last went out with a woman, as being a bigger wow. What a fucking geek he is. I sent him a funny PM a couple of days before April 1, 2005 stating how it would be a funny April fools joke to announce 2old2play is leaving the ggweletanyoneonoursiteeventhoughweadvertiseweare30+.com. He surprises me with a link to 2old2play.com. Holy Fucking Shit was all I could think of saying.

Here we are, 2 years later. 2 years of DSmooth making the site work, and 2 years of doodi fucking it up and making DS fix it again. 2 years and 9000+ members. How much free time does doodi have where he can register 9000 aliases to make his site look bigger than it is? We all know that there are really only 12 people here making all those posts. How ironic, doodi always trying to make something of his look bigger than it is, and 12 being the number he wishes...

I was reminded why I love my 2old2play clanmates last Friday night when we had an old fashion Halo 2 clan night. LotusEater set it up for us, for those that don't know him, Lotus is a flaming gay, not that there is anything wrong with that. Good times were had when I went on a TK rampage and the ever so famous words of "T3 is fucking spawncamping, as if that surprises anyone" were heard via voice proximity. Of course those bitches always used some gay BR/Shotgun gametype because they fear my dual-wielding power that much. When I finally got control of the game I showed them why I pwn so much in a King of the Hill Rocket Launcher only Midship match. pwnage bitches, pwnage.

So, 2 years 2old2play, rock on bitches... literally, rock on, Guitar Hero II comes out Tuesday, rock on!

Posted by T3muJin @ 1:58 pm EDT | Permalink | 5 Comments

02/25/07

Blogging From My Wii

Finally got a Nintendo Wii!!! I'm writing this blog post from the opera browser you can load and it's pretty damn cool. It has an autofill feature that trys to predict what word you are typing, so it makes things a little faster. It beats the xbox360 messaging system hands down. The Nintendo Wii Rocks. I'll have to check the 2o2p news archive for Wii reviews. If there aren't any I may have to write one. This thing has really impressed me.

Posted by T3muJin @ 11:11 pm EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments

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