Fryday!

What a week. I am so glad it's friday, I'm going to inject about 2 or 3 energy drinks into my veins, fire up Bioshock and game until me and the 360 become one (not really, but hey, it describes my dedication to fun )


For funsies, here's the first paragraph of The Jericho Files #5 (remember, #4 is being held back because...you're just not ready yet )

The Jericho Files #5 -  Suspension

“CLEAR!”

The shock of electric paddles coursed through my body. I was quite aware of what I was going through, although I don't think the doctors were. There were 3 doctors and what seemed like 1500 nurses all working over me, trying to resuscitate what seemed to be a dead body. I was far from dead though. I guess you could have described me in a physical limbo. On the outside, I was dead. Cold to the touch. But on the inside.

I was very much alive.

Have a good weekend all!

Posted by jquack @ 5:07 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

Smellection results (AKA: I gave up a night of sweet Bioshock love for THIS?)

So I got a call last week, the local elections board wanted somebody "tech-savvy" (I am slowly hating this term) to be on hand to post election results in the auditorium of the Board of Education central office. Seemed like a simple enough job, add the fact that I'm getting paid $125 to do it and I'll gladly put down Bioshock for a night to go do it.

So I get there today and meet the lady, she tells me that once the polls close, I'll get election results emailed to me in HTML format, all I have to do is make sure the results are displayed on the screen.......yep...that's all.

So I get in the auditorium, turn on the project, boot the machine connected to it. (since I helped design the system for the auditorium, I knew how everything worked)

I had brought two laptops with me, the personal one so I could work on Jericho Files #5 (you're welcome ) and then a company owned Asus eeePC to get acquainted with. ,
I connected to my email on the eeePC and then opened up a connection to the auditorium machine through the C string. So that whenever I got a new HTML file in the email, I could immediately save it to the desktop on the auditorium machine, and then just refresh the html file on the screen.

Simple, fast, and no fuss.

so I get there around 5:30 and start working on my story and the time passes. It gets to 7:00pm , the polls close. So I expect the ballots to come in soon...a family comes in asking about the results, I tell them they are not in yet....simple enough

Time passes

More Time Passes


*Press Enter to pass more time*


I didn't receive my first election result until 8:30. I posted it within 10 seconds.

9:30 rolls around...one more result...9:45...one more result.


Oh wait...I'm leaving something out.

Nobody ever came into the auditorium to check the results. At 9:50, a guy walks in and says "Yea...you might want to shut down. Apparently no one got the word out about the election results being displayed here....they're all down at the courthouse." (a 30 second drive) So I broke it all down at 10pm, packed up, and went home.

So I got (or I better get) paid to display election results to thin air......hmmmmmmm

Posted by jquack @ 11:25 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

Good grief that is pretty.....

So...I looked in my PO box today, and in there was a gamefly envelope. I smiled...one of those rare smiles that made me wish I had a portable 360 so I could play the contents of that gamefly envelope right then and there. An excited smile. I picked up my envelope and went home.

Bioshock came in today.

Gamefly couldn't send me the first 4 games on my Q. Not GH2, not Medal of Honor for the Wii [I'm dying to try the 32 player online battles for the Wii, anybody out there done it yet?], and not even No More Heroes. No....

They decided I needed Bioshock.

So thank you Gamefly. COD4, Halo 3, and Guitar Hero 3 officially went on the shelf. So did the occasional playtime devoted to Dead Rising, Crackdown, and Ghost Recon. It was all put aside so Bioshock could get my full attention and joy. Except for one big problem.

This was a problem I ran into while playing Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube. It's a game whose story, features, and atmosphere BEGS to be played at certain time. 4pm in the afternoon is not that time. Not while that blasted curse called the sun is showing it's ugly face. No, it demands to be played at night. When the sun is at rest and there is no light except the ones you make. The atmosphere is perfect. You might as well be watching SAW 1 in the theatres. (Frightening)

Trust me, there were no lights in my apartment as I fired this up. Cranked up the sound system. (I used to wear headphones, and I mean REAL headphones while I played Eternal Darkness, beat that) And watched the beauty of the amazing graphics play out on my 27" HDTV. I drooled, I freaked out, I had a great time playing it.

My friend watched me played while he did some work on his laptop. There was once scene in a morgue/refrigerated area where fog would occasionally roll in. I remember looking at something on the wall, when I quietly turned around. No ambient music in the background..no nothing. As I turned around, standing there was the ugliest doctor I ever saw. He was totally quiet for a half a second, he only screamed at me for a microsecond before my shotgun met his head.

My friend and I didn't stop screaming for 2 whole minutes.

Bioshock: Greatest game to freak me out since Eternal Darkness.


For a good contrast, i'm playing Mario Kart on the DS for the first time. Good grief I'm behind the times here.


Posted by jquack @ 11:55 pm EDT | Permalink | 4 Comments

Whoooo!

Go Giants! I hated the fact that you beat the cowboys, and the packers. but MAN did you show up to play against the patriots, whom I am glad to see knocked off their rocker! Way to go guys!



I'll have a new Jericho files soon guys. I have the original issue #4 (which is a 3 parter) laying here, but I'd rather save that for a while so I can give more stories to establish Jericho's character. That means I gotta do some writing, as the first 4 issues of The Jericho Files were written 1 1/2 years ago, then set aside as I dealt with writers block (once again). I'm glad that so many of you are enjoying them. I love writing about Jericho.

Maybe, if you guys are good, i'll feed you the first few "chapters" of the story of "Fingerprinter", my character from City of Heroes.

good day to all and God Bless!

Posted by jquack @ 12:14 am EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

The Jerico Files #3

"GET OVER HERE GENTILE"

That was my commanding officer. Eitan Eshkol was his name. Loud and abrasive, but my superior nonetheless. His words were not to be taken lightly, or his discipline would be harsher than his words. I stopped what I was doing immediately and dashed over to him, snapping to attention when I arrived next to him.

He liked to call me "Gentile", it was his way of truly and firmly distinguishing me from the other soldiers. I was an Irish man, in an Israeli Army. There could be no more distinguishing me to the next guy. But, he liked to called me Gentile, so as to further set me aside. I did not mind at all.

It was the way He did business.

He stared me in the eyes with an intesity that could have lit my brain on fire, had I been guilty of something. I joined the IDF for a reason, not to steal weapons like I had from so many of my other employers, but to do just one simple thing.

Pay to the Lord's nation, what the Lord had paid to me.

"Would you mind telling me where this TANK came from?" Commander Eshtol said to me in an accusing tone. I dared not lie to this man, this was without the one man who could put me so far in the ground I'd never be heard from again.

"I acquired it, sir!" I said in the most unwavering tone I could muster. This man's stature and power in the IDF was terrifying to fathom, and tended to cause weakness in my voice whenever I knew that there was a chance he might not like my answers.

"You acquired it? One does not just acquire a tank, Carey! I want an explanation, now!" He demanded. He had not gotten used yet to the way I ran things. Since my failures as a sniper were extremely well known amongst the regiment, Commander Eshtol decided to make me a supply officer. My duties were to handle all the delivery, documentation and upkeep of our supplies. Food, clothing, and weaponry. I made sure that if somebody needed something yesterday, they had it the day before.

I ran a tight ship, I made sure that all guns and ammo was documented, I took counts after every skirmish. We had ourselves logged down to the last bullet. Nothing got out of my supply chains, but everything that was loose and unclaimed, was sure to get in. When I joined the IDF, I not only brought my willingness to fight for God's chosen people....

I had brought my business with me.

"You see sir, our opposition has this discrepancy with their tanks. Their fuselage's do not like to be filled with certain articles, as it causes a decrease in performance, and eventual shutdown. This is a well known flaw with all gasoline powered assault vehicles. What our opposition does NOT know, is that with a simple maintenance realted procedure, the tanks can be flushed and working like new again" I explained in detail as best I could, I wanted Commander Eshtol to be more curious, so he could continue to ask questions. This would either further delay my punishment, or completely revolutionize how I was able to supply this batallion.

Commander Esthol's eyebrows were raised in interest, "These....articles....what exactly are they?"

I looked at my commander like it was common sense, "Just plain ordinary sugar, sir!"

Sugar was a hot commodity in this part of the region. The batallions were only supplied with so many foodstuffs and various sweetners and spices to add to their meals, sugar was not such a luxury. It was in scarce supply. Commander Eshtol did not enjoy my insinuation.

"Do you mean to tell me that you are using SUGAR to poison the gas tanks of our opposition? Sugar is the one thing we are lowest on supply right now--"

"But commander", I interrupted. I was willing to take the punishment for interruping the commander, because I was sure he would love my explanantion. "The sugar is not from our company, that's the beauty of my plan, sir. I know one of the individuals who supplies our opposition with gasoline for their tanks. Me and him used to be in business together. To pay me back on some "debts" he owes me, I am instructing him to put 1/2 lbs of sugar per every gallon of gas he sells to our opposition."

Commander Eshtol's countenance relaxed as he pondered over the math of 1/2 lb of sugar per gallon of gas. It wasn't enough to completely render the gas useless. Over time, the sugar would eventually clog up the fuel injection systems and render the tank useless.

As Command Eshtol thought over the math, I continued. "You see, sir, over time, the sugar will continue to decrease the performance of their tanks, until they eventually die on them. Our opposition would rather leave the tanks in the desert to rot, since they are useless to them, than have them repaired. With some of the engineers, I have developed a field repair kit that can flush the tank's systems and have it operational in an hour. That gives us plenty of time, to sneak in, repair the tank, and drive it over to our enemy lines. And that sir, is where this tank came from."

I relaxed my stance just slightly and let him ponder over what I had just said. I could tell he liked the idea that I had proposed. All was fair in war to Commander Eshtol, he just wants to know what is happening in his batallion.

Commander Eshtol seemed to breaking from his pondering and looked me square in the eye. "Good job, Gentile. I like the way you work. You in line for promotion if this plan continues to work. You are dismissed" He saluted me, which I returned and then walked away.

As I walked away, I couldn't help but smile. Sticky situations come and go around here, but there hasn't been much I couldn't handle. I've been able to supply my battalion with weapons, ammo, and supplies that are 10 times better than our opposition and twice as good as our neighboring batallions. It was my job to keep this fight going....and why not?

It was my business, after all.

Posted by jquack @ 10:39 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments