VenomRudman's Blog - 2old2play

Coolest thing ever!

JollyRodger posted this link on site chat yesterday and I've been showing it to everyone I know.

Someone synchonized their outside christmas lights to the Trans Siberian Orchestra song Chistmas Eve in Sarajevo.

Embedded YouTube Video --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0IwpRzWL_4

While watching it I kept thinking "Wow! How are they able to do this?". It really is worth a watch and remember to make sure your speakers are on.

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For those who can't get the COD5 beta

For those who can't get the COD5 beta, I've created a video that shows the Create a Class function. Take a look at the available weapons and perks!

Embedded YouTube Video --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_resDdUWZ2g

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Roomba

I love my Roomba!

For those that don't know, a Roomba is a robotic vacuum. It's about 15" in diameter and 2" in height. It is programmed to vacuum up your rooms according to a random pattern. It bounces off, as well as follows walls and furniture, it is low enough to go under your couch (when was the last time you vacuumed there?) and when the battery runs low (about 2 hours), it finds its charging station and docks itself.

Whenever I run it I find myself watching (yes, I lead a boring life!). Tonight, while I was playing John Woo's Stranglehold (a way cool game that never got the buzz it should have gotten), I fired it up. The Roomba was to clean the front room and, connected by a 3 ' hallway, the den (where I was). I noticed a small piece of popcorn on the rug about 3 feet from me and as the Roomba was doing it's thing, I realized that the popcorn was still there. An hour passed and the Roomba had spent a while going back and forth but it still hadn't gotten the popcorn. At least 4 times it came within 2" of it but missed it everytime.

Being a computer programmer, I felt smug as I thought their algorithm needed a bit of work . I even called in Colin, my son, who loves the idea that we have an actual robot, to point out that it had missed the popcorn a few times. We had a good laugh and I pointed out that while the Roomba was great, it cannot replace a human quite yet. With that, Colin went to bed.

Less than 15 minutes later the Roomba proved me a liar and finally wandered over to get that popcorn. Being the geek Dad that I am, I went and woke Colin up to tell him....

Now I just need a dust robot, dish robot and sex robot. backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace .FUCK, it doesn't delete!

Oh shit, what's up with this damn editor....just ignore that last bit....okay?

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TV Bug

No, not a software problem with my TV but an actual bug!

I've got a DLP TV and somehow a bug has gotten inside and is now projected onto my screen!

Yesterday I noticed an irregular black spot on the screen about an inch long. Of course the first thing I thought that someone banged into the screen and damaged it. I was giving my son the stink eye and then the spot moved! And then it flew around and landed in another section of the screen. It's been doing that all day. Lightly tapping on the screen does nothing so that makes me suspect that it is not in the screen section itself but the projection engine or lamp. I really don't want to take the TV apart, I'm sure to do more damage than good.

Anyone have this happen to them? Any suggestions? I guess I will wait it out and hope this bug dies and doesn't damage anything.....

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Healing quickly

It's been 5 weeks exactly since Colin was hit by a car and broke his femur and he has been healing at a remarkable rate. Over the past couple of weeks he has become very mobile with his crutches and moves his leg around without any pain. Last week the doc told him he can start some partial weight bearing and today he told him today that he can start walking short distances without his crutches! 5 weeks after breaking a femur! I tell you, I'd still be bedridden and whining like a little b****.

At this rate, he might be able to salvage the last two weeks of the summer. I sure hope so because I can tell he's getting cabin fever.

We also found out that all we have to do is go to the hospital and they will give us a DVD with the xrays on it. As soon as we get that I'll post a couple of the pics here.

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This sucks

So I get a call today at work from my wife, Carol, telling me that Colin, my 15 year old son has been hit by a car while riding his bicycle. She tells me his knee is a bit messed up but he is being taken by ambulance to the hospital. My wife had been called by a helpful bystander but she was shopping about 30 minutes away. She later told me she got to the hospital in half that time! I got to the hospital and when I saw him I saw his thigh was he size of a friggin' watermelon. That is no knee problem. The doctor then came in and told us his femur was broken. HIS FUCKING FEMUR! HOLY SHIT. Can you BREAK a worse bone? Amazingly, in between bouts of sleeping (due to the pain medication) he has the moxy to joke a little. Actually he swings between rage at the guy who hit him (he wants me to track him down and kill him) and giving me the finger when he overhears me jokingly say to my sister "I can't wait until he's feeling better so I can tease him and say 'some people will do ANYTHING to get out of doing marching band at the graduation'". He never really complained about the pain, all he complained about was thirst. And they wouldn't give him anything to drink because he had to have surgery. Sure, I'm not a health care professional but can a mouthful of water every hour really affect surgery?

Colin got to the hospital at about 1:30PM and was taken into surgery at about 7:30pm. The doctor told us it went sucessfully and he inserted a couple of screws and he won't need a cast, just a splint. But he also said he's got a long road of recovery ahead. Carol is spending the night with him, he's in the pediatric ward where they have fold-flat recliners so hopefully she can get some sleep. They are going to keep him there a day or two to make sure the only injury he has is the leg. Sometimes smaller injuries appear a day or so after the major one because the pain is so great you don't notice it at first.

If there is any bright lining to this is that there is no head injury. That's always been my biggest fear since he rides his bike without a helmet.

What a fucking shitty summer for this poor guy.....

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New game

My cable company carries the GamePlay HD channel. One of the neat "shows" on it is called Raw Play which is simply 2 hours of recorded gameplay.

They showcased John Woo's Stranglehold and it looked interesting enough for me to pick it up the other day. Since this is a game that's about a year old, it only cost $30. This game kicks some ass!

If you've ever watched a John Woo movie, you can figure out what kind of game it is, a lot of shooting at endless bad guys. BUT what makes it interesting is that you can go into slow motion (what they call Tequila Time after the hero's name) while firing (ala Max Payne). Diving, sliding over tables or even sliding down railings automatically puts you into Tequila Time or you can manually trigger it. You can also interact with the environment such as shooting at signs or air conditioners that will drop down and kill an enemy. The more unusual ways you kill someone the more style points you get and at the end of a level you get a rating (A+ thru F-). I've only played it for an hour or so but it's been a blast.

The single player is short and I'm sure no one is playing the multi-player any more, but the game is so much fun that I think there will be replay value in playing levels again and again to kill guys in more and more stylish ways.

For all of you out there, this is a definite rental. I bought it because I knew my 15 year old son would love it. His reaction? "Dad, this game is SICK!".

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Ethernet connections

I've been using a number of different ethernet connections for my xboxes and computers and last night I decided to test the speed of each one.

I connect to the cable modem either hardwired to a switch which is wired into my cable modem, wirelessly to my router or using a powerline ethernet adapter which carries the ethernet signals thru your electrical outlets. Last night I hooked up my laptop to each type of connection in turn and downloaded a large file via FTP.

I have a 30mbs down/5 up cable modem connection. Hardwired thru the switch to the modem gave me a download of 3700 Kb/second. Wirelessly through my router I got 950 Kb/sec and the powerline gave me 550 Kb/sec.

I've always been a huge fan of Powerline ethernet simply for the ease of use. Plug one end in the outlet near your router, the other end near the device you want to get online and boom, you're surfing in no time. However, as you can see above, it comes at a severe cost in speed. The adapter I have is 14Mbps, they now have 85Mbps adapters, I would be interested to test it to see how much an increase in speed I'd get.

So it looks like in order to take full advantage of my connection, I will have to bite the bullet and run an ethernet cable from my switch, thru the crawlspace to the other side of my den.

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A lesson learned

My wife likes to tease me about a certain very comfortable cotton boxers I wear, she calls them my sexy undies. So today, I texted her a message that said simply I'm wearing my sexy undies today.

A little while later I get a text message back. You've scarred your daughter for life! We were in the car when the text came in and she opened the phone and read it! She's totally grossed out!. Well, this is one of those rare moments where I simply laughed out loud. She told Shannon she shouldn't read other people's messages and Shannon replied Now I know why. I have a feeling Shannon will not be looking me in the eye for a few days.....

And before you ask, no, I will not be providing pics!

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I'm so proud...

Of my daughter, Shannon who is a senior in high school. Her school has a tradition that has been going on for 51 years of a dance competition they call Blue and Gold. Over 100 students per team are involved and the effort these kids put in is amazing. There are 3 primary groups per team. Decorations, Props and Costumes and Dance. Among the dance group are 3 more sub-groups, Modern, Jazz and Calestenics. The kids can participate in more than one group or even sub-group. Each dance sub-group is made up of about 25 dancers. Every year a different theme is chosen for each team. One year my daughter's team's theme was Pirates. Other themes have been Greece, Indians and Africa. This year her team's theme was China. They are supposed to tell a story (one that they make up) via the decorations, props and dance.

The amazing thing about this is that it is all done by the kids. The entire gym is decorated in giant painted panels, props and costumes are built by hand, the music is scored and the dances choregraphed by the kids alone.

Shannon has participated in Blue and Gold every year since she started high school. As a freshman she chose the Blue team and has stuck with that team every year. And every year, disappointingly, Blue would lose by a point. It got to the point I swore the damn thing was rigged! These kids put their heart and soul into this event, from March until May, they practice everyday after school for a couple of hours and weekends too.

Last year, after the competition, she was asked by the departing seniors to be a co-Captain of the Modern team. This is quite a responsibility, not only does she have to score the dance, she has to choreograph it, organize practices, tweak the dance when needed and then also participate in another dance as well as the entrance and closing dances! All this and keep up with her school work! And she has a job! Whew!

The competition starts on a Thursday, which is non-scoring and then they get scored on Friday and Saturday's performances. The event is made up of Entrance,Cal,Modern,Jazz and Marching. All the girls (yes it is 99% girls with the occasional brave boy in there) participate in the first and last event. The entrance is the most grueling, it is a non-stop 30 minute interpretive dance that tells a story based on the given theme. 10-15 kids will enact a scene in one section of the gym while another group is setup in the darkness on the other side, and it flips back and forth. Cal is a dance with calestenics moves scattered throughout the 15 minute segment, Modern is a slow graceful dance, Jazz more upbeat and quicker and Marching is similar to a marching band.

I went to the competition on Thursday and Saturday but not Friday. There are a limited number of tickets, so on Friday members of my family went to watch her. After watching Thursday's performance I told her that if Blue doesn't win by 10 points, it's a scam! Other than Entrance, Blue's dances and execution were SO superior to Gold's that there was no comparision.

Friday night, right after the scores were announced, I got a call from Shannon, she was SO exicted. "Daddy, my dance got a perfect score, a 20!". I was SO happy for her, so proud! All that hard work from her paid off. After the first night, Blue was leading by 1 point.

Saturday night was more of the same, Blue's execution was flawless and the dances and the music were perfected suited to the theme. It was wonderful to see the kids jump up and down in delerium when the scores for each section were announced. To see Shannon burst into tears of joy when her Modern dance got another perfect 20 almost made me cry, I thought my face might split in half I was smiling so hard!

When it was all done and finished, Blue got perfect scores each night for Cal,Modern,Jazz and Marching. The only thing Gold won were Props and Entrance. BLUE FINALLY WINS! Apparently they broke a 7 year Gold winning streak.

I am so proud of Shannon for sticking it out on the Blue team for 3 staight years of losing and then working so hard as a Captain, getting two perfect scores and winning the title!

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Xbox holding up

Well, the repaired Xbox is holding up just fine. I really gave it a workout this past weekend. I was disappointed to see that after a failed repair that they didn't send me a new one. Also, when I went to check my repair status at xbox.com, it shows it was warrentied from 8/2007-8/2008? What's up with that? 8/2007 is the date I sent it in the first time for the CD tray issue. If this thing goes south again in the fall, I'll be pissed if I have to shell out $99 to get it fixed.

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MS boneheads

Just got this email from Xbox Customer Care:

This e-mail is to let you know that we have received your request for service. However as of today, we have not received your Xbox console and would like to verify that you wish to continue with the service.

If you have not received the shipping materials or are having a problem with the shipment, please contact Xbox Customer Support. If your Xbox console no longer requires service, you can cancel your order by accessing http://service.xbox.com/servicesignin.aspx.

Who knows why this was sent, I checked xbox.com and it shows Repair Status: Device Shipped to Customer.

Buncha boneheads over there....

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The Eagle has landed - Part Deux

The 360 has returned. Now the spare goes back to the kids and I will not have to share it anymore. Or at least until this one breaks again. Anyone want to take some bets on the over/under for this box?

Actually I predict the spare will break next, within the month.....

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Bad day

The COD4 new maps have arrived. Tonight is clan night. I should be happy and looking forward to this evening but instead I'm very sad and dreading it.

I have to put my cat down tonight. He's 19 years old and over the past month or so we have been watching him having trouble with his rear legs. Looked like a little bit of arthritis had taken hold. But the past couple of days his walking problems have increased dramatically, he's practically dragging his rear. You can tell he is in pain, it is so sad to watch.

At this point the only thing to do is take him to the vet which is going to kill me to do. We got Muffin when he was 11, his previous owner worked with my wife,was moving and couldn't take him. We were an animal-less house up to that point and Carol convinced me to take him in. He's been a great, very mellow cat for all this time. I was the one who ended up taking care of him and I was the one he would go to to get his head rubbed. If I lay down on the couch he would crawl right up and lie across my chest. That's what I will miss the most......

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Coffin arrives

The coffin showed up today as well as an email from Xbox customer support. For the record, it took 1 week to get an email and the coffin. I was beyond pissed after reading gwarrior2k's blog, His xbox broke 36 hours after mine and he GOT HIS BACK ALREADY!!! I just got the goddamn coffin TODAY!

WTF!!!

I guess that's what happens when you're a geek. I felt more comfortable in filling out the web form than calling and speaking with someone. If I had explained to the rep that the Xbox broke a week after I got it repaired, they might have expedited it. And now I'm paying for it.

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