remember remember the 5th of november

gunpowder treason and plot.

Guy Fawkes day is just one more example of why you shouldn't trust anyone sitting on a giant pile of gun powder.

My how time flys

Well it's been weeks since i've said anything on this blog, so i figure it's time for another update.  I'm quite proud of my girlfriend, because she is getting really good grades at Niagara College.  This is her last year there and she is so psyched about being an Education Assistant.  Me, I'm still not going to college, even though that seems to be the only way to get into the video game industry lately.  I've heard of all these independant games getting all this support from Steam, and Microsoft Games, and Sony, and Nintendo.  Just look at how big World of Goo got!  But I'm just not sure how to implement my ideas right now.  I would love to build a game with all my ideas in it, but I'm worried about it.  It's such a broad scale idea, an RPG in a world where steel is hard to find, with money based weight constraints (gold is heavy, but no game seems to care), area based market availability, fighting game mechanics for battles, and skill sets you can learn from different masters (like in kung fu movies).  I've got a text file laying around with lots more ideas, but they haven't all been fleshed out.  And this idea has really been kicking around since the late 90s when RPGs were 2d and so were fighting games.

Oh and by the way this is my idea!  No stealing!

Passed Mustard

Have you seen a movie, video game, or visited an new restaurant lately?  Would you like to become a reviewer on my up and coming website?  Just click the contact me button off to the right there.

To: Miki Wireless

I'm still pretty sore about this incident I had a few weeks ago.  I'm not sure why he started yelling at me, and I don't really care, but I don't think that's a way to treat a customer. I state a fact that the digitizer glass had been loose since I bought the iPod, and that one day it popped up again, and after I pushed it back it stopped working. Next thing I know I get a lecture about how it's not possible for the cable to be broken like it is.  I'm not stupid I know it can't happen without force, and since I brought the iPod in with the glass attached, it was brought to the back of the store and he brought it out with the glass peeled off the frame and the cable broken I can't be sure who broke it me or him.  No I didn't have a receipt, and instead of helping me this repair guy decided to yell at me that what I say happened (loose glass popped up then stopped working) can't possibly happen.  To me this just hurts, and I've wasted my time there. What sort of store is this?  Why not use the motto "The Customer must leave happy" instead of the motto "How much can I take from this customer"?

What ended up happening was I got so mad I had to leave.  No way was I going to let him take advantage of me, and bully me into shelling out money that was probably his fault to begin with.  He never should have used that iffy frame, and really should have put new adhesive on it so it would actually stick, instead of that dust covered stuff he had used.  In fact I have a suspicion that it was actually the same frame I had on the iPod I brought in to get fixed before he sold my Dad that one.  Which means he stole my old frame.  If that's common practice, and so is yelling at a customer for your own fault, it's a wonder that Miki Wireless stays open.

Guess what?

It's just about time for a life update.  Not yet though, wait for it

Ever have one of those days

You're woken up early, told you have to get a new cell phone today, get dragged all around the city and come home without the cell phone?  And all while you are out people look down at you and treat you like you are stupid and snap at you.

Why is it when you want some customer service, you are told everything is your fault, and we don't do that here?  Shouldn't it be WE CAN'T HELP YOU, BUT I KNOW WHO CAN instead of WE DON'T DO THAT, AND I DON'T CARE WHO CAN?

Money money money

Everybody has some, most want more.  What sort of world do we live in were the pre-requisite of living is to have money.  I was in grade 2 when the taught me the barter system, which is the basis of all money exchange.  One PS3 is worth 2 weeks of part time work, or 1 week of full time work, or half my rent.  Which is the same as 2 months of groceries for one person, or 857 packs of the old Juicy Fruit.  That's a lot of gum.  I've paid more than twice the price of a PS3 in NSF fees these past 12 months, and a whopping $217 in the past 2 months.  I paid the full price of a PS3 to my mobile phone company because of one week in Cambridge.  I've also paid enough at 7-eleven this past year to pay for half a PS3.

You know looking at my trends on Mint.com has really made me aware of where all my money is going.  And I've noticed I'm paying way too much to my bank in NSF fees all because I'm too impulsive and pay my bills too early.  If I just waited till the companies that take out the money on there own are finished, I can pay off a bunch of others without incurring more NSF fees.  The only problem now is the negative balance on my bank accounts.

oblivion mods

I'm working on a mod right now that will put a Jester's Outfit into Oblivion.  yes that's right for the past 3 years I could have made a mod for oblivion, but I wait until skyrim is 2 months away before even starting.

Last day for Game Drift Linux

Well It's been fun seeing yet another Ubuntu on my gaming computer, but I just can't use it for gaming.  Wine isn't working well on my current video card, and GameDrift sucks for support.  I sent an e-mail 3 days ago asking if there was any reason why sound shouldn't work on crossover and wine.  No response, so I'm shirking this linux in favour of my old winXP install.  Luckily I had the foresight to make a back up of my hard drive before switching to GameDrift.  Unluckily I didn't have a working BartPE with DriveImage XML on it until today.  It took me a few tries , but it'll work now.  I used UBCD4Win, which I had to build using a VBOX hdd image I keep on my external for just such occasions.  long story short I had to add the following lines into dixml.inf

Normaliz.dll=2,,4
iertutil.dll=2,,4

This made driveimage XML work perfectly on my test VBOX session, and so now I am burning it to DVD and rebooting into windows to copy my back up onto my current internal hard drive.

Soon I will have a new video card, and after I install it I'm making the machine dual boot Windows XP and the proper Ubuntu 10.10 (because I hate 11.04 on a desktop).

mini update on gamedrif

So here it is some 24 hours after installing gamedrift and I've noticed a few things.  First, gamedrift prefers crossover to wine which I can completely understand since crossover is wine made easy.  But this means I had to install wine, and then steam, and finally oblivion.  No problem, I've got the latest oblivion steamapp sitting around so I can just copy it over to the new wine prefix.  Well when I tried it a thunderstorm interrupted the copy/install.  Now I've got it running again but due to circumstances I'm not near my gaming computer right now so I'll have to do another update to say how well this has worked.

My Experience with Gamedrift

Now I've been a windows gamer for a while now, since directx came out and 3d games started getting even more popular.  Nowadays I find myself gravitating towards linux, for many various reasons, such as the philosophy behind a good GNU/Linux and just the raw speed of the entire system.  In fact by now I'm using Ubuntu about half the time and Windows XP the other half.  Now this brings in mind why do I use windows at all if I like Linux so much?  Well the answer is gaming.  Steam only works on windows (as far as I knew) but after looking through a bunch of sites and forums, with little help, i found www.steamgamesonlinux.com and it has helped me realize that I don't have to have Windows to play my favourite games (well maybe oblivion because framerate is low on wine right now.

But this whole thing brought me to another question: Are there any linux distrubutions that are designed for gaming in mind. Something of a bare bones Desktop with only crossover, wine, skype, chrome, and a CDN.  Well yes there is www.gamedrift.org will show you more about it.

This post though is dedicated to what I did to get gamedrift going on my computer, and being able to back track to windows should it turn out that Oblivion and Borderlands don't run on gamedrift as well as it did on windows.

Step 1: Driveimage XML (http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm) helped me back up my windows hard drive so I don't loose anything
Step 2: BartPE (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/) so I can use DriveImage on this computer to get my windows hard drive back.  Downloading the DriveImage BartPE plugin (http://www.runtime.org/peb.htm) is a sub-step here.  And there's loads of places that will teach you how to make a BartPE and what  plugins to use, this is not the place.
Step 3: Download GameDrift Linux (http://gamedrift.org/)  It's a CD ISO file and I was out of CDs.  This explains steps 4 through 6
Step 4: Installed VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/) Made a dummy machine so I can check out the BartPE I made, and verify that GameDrift downloaded from MegaUpload properly (first one didn't work)
Step 5: Used Startup Disk Creator (yes the Ubuntu tool) from within VBOX while booting the GameDrift ISO into live mode to make myself a real life USB installer.
Step 6: Ran BartPE ISO within VBOX.  I'm not going to chance all 40gigs of data to an untested CD image.
Step 7: Burn BartPE using gBurner (http://www.gburner.com/) in windows.  It small but powerful, and I love how fast it starts up.  It's almost worth the $30 for buying it, I just wish it did transcoding to DVD Video.
Step 8: Reboot
Step 9: install GameDrift
Step 10: enjoy!

My room mate is back

Yup, he's home from a quarter of the way around the world, which in Canada is only 2 provinces over.  It took him three days to get here, and he brought a girl home to meet his "other" family, which just happens to be my family.  I'm not going to tell you why because it's embarrassing for him.  So he's going to be here for 2 weeks, then he leaves and takes all his stuff with him, and I will have an empty room to remember him.

Any wa enogh of this sad talk, here's some good news:  My g/f has been working at and loving 7/11 these past few weeks.  I have tried to re-start my personal computer consultancy.  Oh and now my freezer works for ice cream, so I don't have an excuse to go out for gelato.

Keep Frosty!

Not another life update

Happy Simcoe Day.  Here's a little info on who Governer Simcoe is and why he's so important:

John Graves Simcoe (February 25, 1752 – October 26, 1806) was a British army officer and the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada from 1791-1796. Then frontier, this was modern-day southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. He foundedYork (now Toronto) and was instrumental in introducing institutions such as the courts, trial by jury, English common law, freehold land tenure, and in abolishing slavery. He ended slavery in Upper Canada long before it was abolished in the British Empire as a whole - by 1810 there were no slaves in Upper Canada, but the Crown did not abolish slavery throughout the Empire until 1834.

Blurb taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Graves_Simcoe

Essentially he's one heck of a guy.

What a sour mood that was

My goodness, yesterday I was in such a bad mood!  I had just found out that my family once again doesn't have any time for me.  I invited my Mom out to ribfest here in St. Catharines, and got a response that just hurt.  "No I'm too busy."  They couldn't make it to my party on Monday that I'd been planning for 2 months, and had invited them to 6 times, they can't make it to RibFest with me, what else can't they do with me?  Why don't they want to spend time with me?

Ugh it hurts again.

Christmas in July

I am currently celebrating Christmas in July by having a small fire and weenie roast.  My buddy came over and introduced his new girlfriend to me and my g/f.  So it was just the 4 of us sitting around the backyard fire pit hanging out and talking.  Just a good ol' time.

Perfect weather for it too clear and 25C.  just lovely.

Oh, and if you are worried about backyard fire pits, I should mention that I soaked down the lawn, and keep the hose nearby, also I keep the fire inside a steel cage.

broken cell phone

Well I broke another phone about 2 weeks ago, and I've been looking for a new one ever since.  Now I know I won't be buying one for at least another month, but I'm still looking.  I've narrowed down my options to things I want in a phone, and things I don't want.  I like my full keyboard, but I don't like slides, hinges or whatever that thing is called on the HTC Desire Z (is it a drawer or just a double hinge?)  I'd like to get an Android phone because it will help replace my iPod touch for calendar, to do lists and apps.  If I were to go with an Android phone I'd prefer a smaller screen and a full qwerty keyboard in the candy bar shape.  Now this isn't the ideal shape for everybody, so I might have to suck it up and go with a no-keyboard all touch screen phone.  I'm still not convinced that an iPhone is worth the money.

Jobs, and why I hate them.

I woke up this afternoon to my girlfriend crying.  She had just got home from work and told me she won't be going back.  Now this makes me sad, and after some consoling she tells me what her boss said, and what she overheard afterward.  She heard that the two girls from our age group at church had talked to the boss and gotten her fired.  Other employees should not have this power over employers.  This is now the second time when she has worked with someone she knows and then got canned because of something they've said.  This just goes to show what some people will do to their "friends" when jobs are involved.

Right here is another reason why I hate the current job system.  It doesn't seem to matter how good of a worker you are, or how many other people you get along with.  If there's just one person who doesn't like you or wants your job, it's all in jeopardy.  That's like placing your life in the hands of everyone around you, and expecting them to care.  No one cares about you when it comes to money.  All they care about is themselves, and how to get themselves richer.  This turns every job into an egg that you have to protect.  Most people have learned to protect these little job-eggs with lies and greed.  My girlfriend has decided to take the path of honesty and cheerfulness.  Guess who gets fired?

I'm not sure these people all know exactly what they've done to my girlfriend.  I don't think they get that she gets cut very deep when she looses a job.  She was so very happy to finally get hired, after months and months of searching.  Now she looks so sad, and worried.  I don't like seeing her this way.  Now we have to try to explain what happened to her family, my family, and our friends.  I don't know how to do it.  How do you tell someone that you think two other Christians has caused you to fail in your professional life?

Distributel RAWKS!!!!

I've got to say that even after the long period of waiting (see previous post http://metricjester.blogspot.com/2011/05/life-update.html) and a little technical glitch (Bell tech had the wrong 2 wires connected at the tap, Distributel Tech fixed it in no time.) I now have interent.  I've had it working since Monday, and I must say that it is awesome.  Sure it's 5Mbps, but who cares it's always 5Mbps.  Plus with unlimited upload/download bandwidth and 683kbps upload I am definitely NOT complaining.  The Distributel CSRs are all polite and knowledgeable.  The small snafu I had at the beginning was really no one's fault, just a simple mis-communication, and after it was sorted out, I wasn't in the least bit upset about it.  That's just weird for me, usually I get all huffy about it, but I can't seem to get mad at the good people at Distributel, because they are so nice!

Anyway I would just like to wish all Fathers a late Happy Father's Day, and I hope you all keep frosty.

Life Update

I have been without internet for more than a month now, and I really miss it.  I've been checking my e-mails and updating my blogs only at my friend's house, and my parents' house.  There's one thing I've learned in all of this.  DON'T DOWNLOAD MORE THAN YOU CAN PAY FOR!!  That's why this month after my cheque Elections Canada clears I will be paying my first month on an unlimited connection from Distributel.  http://www.distributel.ca/en-ON Now I signed up for this exactly one month ago on April 25th 2011, so I will be getting a big credit when it's finally installed.  The whole reason I haven't had it up and running yet is because I was told that they would send me the modem, then I'd pay and then they'd send out a technician, then I'd call again to get a discount for the time off.  It wasn't until last week that they told me (after 4 calls) that I had to pay, then they'd send the modem, then I'd call for a technician, and after the technician I'd call for my discount.  Well to tell you the truth I wasn't quite ready to pay the whole $70 when I phoned them, and I certainly wasn't able to after rent and food came out of my bank account.

To top things off I'm in the process of switching banks, and I keep forgetting where I put my direct deposit information to give to ODSP.  It looks like I'll have to wait till next month again.

Power Outage

St. Catharines had a major power outage all day April 28th 2011.  My own power went out some time in the morning, I don't know when because I was asleep until 2:30pm.  I just called my power company and they said that the estimated time for the power to come back on for my area (which is huge and half of it has power already) is 8 am.  I've decided to stay at a friend's house for the time being and check my e-mail, facebook and update my blogs.

Rational Christianity.

I am a rational Christian.  I first learned the bible, then started to live it out.  I know I am not alone in wondering about all these separate accounts of Jesus' life and how they can be so similar, and so disparate at the same time.  I found a website that has helped called Rational Christianity.  Check it out for some of the harder questions like "Why does it say this here, and that there?"

http://www.rationalchristianity.net/index.html

Best Buy Card

I have a gift card for Best Buy that's $30.  I'm not sure what I want to buy and I'm looking for suggestions. Now I can't really afford anything over that, so bear that in mind.

Money

Well I've been on this Credit Counselling plan for about 2 weeks now, and I'll admit I am actually out of over draft.  However I am also out of money and can't pay for my internet, my food, or to fix any of my electronics.  I am tapped out.  I have maybe $5 at my disposal for the rest of the month.  I am going to go to Community Care (the local food bank) and pick up some essentials tomorrow.  I hope I feel better then I've been all stuffed up this week.

A funeral for family

I have just come back from Grimsby, and a funeral for my Mom's cousin Annette.  Now many people say that a funeral is for that person, but I say we should change this idiom.  This funeral was not FOR Annette, but rather for us, her friends and family.  Those of us that knew her, and those of us (much like me) who only knew of her.  Uncle Dirk said it best when he said "I always compared her life from before the tragedy to that of after the tragedy.  I shouldn't have done that....  I should have looked at what she was offering from both before and after.  She was offering me the same thing she always has.....HERSELF."  And now that I look at her life I too can see the truth in this statement.  It's not as if her personality changed, even though she had "diminished capacity" after that fateful day in November.  She was still Tante Annette.  She still laughed when she was happy, and cried when she was sad.  She still knew who people were and when they were leaving.  She was there, even if it didn't always look like she was.

At first I thought of the times I've had in the past two dozen years when I could have gone to see her, I could have tried to explain that the man in front of her is that same little blond boy she once knew.  During those times I said "She would never remember me." and "I think it would be too hard on her".  When really I was saying "I don't remember her any other way" and "I know it will be too hard on me." I wish that I could have voiced these things in person, and at the funeral today.  My voice failed, my will drained and I sat silent, pondering.  Thinking of myself, while listening to others speak of Tante Annette.

I may not have had a good relationship with her.  I may not have been as close, but in my way I still loved her.  Even now I feel that she was taken away some 23 years ago, and that this funeral is only a semicolon of life.  I know now that she believed, and believed strongly in Jesus as her saviour, just as I believe.  I know now that not only was she loved and taken care of, but I too am loved and will be cared for, by my family and by God.  From this day I hope to have a better relationship with those around me, and to care for them as well.  And so I sign off today as I have many times in the past, warning to keep a cool head:

Keep frosty,
Chris

Yeah, No..... Pick one!

We as the human race have lived with the concept of right and wrong for thousands and thousands of years (scientists think we've been around longer but us creationists know better).  Why is it that all of a sudden 2011 years after the death and resurrection of Christ we suddenly can't decide between yes and no?  Every third comment on my facebook news feed had the words "Yeah no" as the first two words!  This is ree-donkey-lous! Pick one and live with your choice, so we can all go on with our lives peacefully  and without undue confusion.

There's schoolwork on my bed, and it's my girlfriend's

I wonder why she hasn't done it yet?

Good bye Annette, my Aunt, my Mom's cousin, and one of God's miracles.

It seems that my family has lost someone on Wednesday night.  My mother's cousin Anette passed away shortly before 7pm.  After all the things that she's survived through, I'm most thankful that she got to see her daughter get married this past New Year.

I would love to be able to give you her life story, but that is best left to others as I don't know all the things that has happened in her life. I can say a few things.  When her daughter was very little (3 or 4 Denise was still on a tricycle), Anette had a serious stroke.  After a series of heart attacks, strokes, and other problems that can arise, it was decided to take her off of life support.  She lived.  Not only did she live, but she lived quite a long time.  I was still a little guy when this all happened, not much more than 10 or 12 years old, and now in my 30th year she has passed away.

I didn't get to know her very well, because the strokes left her brain in a state that's not conducive to recognition, or speaking.  I only know stories of when she was younger, and even then I didn't hear too many.  Oddly enough I don't regret not getting to know her.  I know that it was in God's plan for these things to happen.  That the trials Anette has gone through are for a higher purpose.  I trust that this sadness I feel will subside with time, and then only a happy acknowledgement of her life will be left.

Goodbye, Annette.

Dear HBC Mastercard

Please stop calling me in French, I don't like it.  I haven't spoken conversational French since high school, and I'm pretty sure I'm rusty.  Also if you call me don't start complaining right away that there's noise on the line.  Do you think I can fix it right away? Think I've got a second phone just tucked away in my armpit or something?  I'm on a voip phone that runs on my computer.  I don't have a magic box, and I don't have a hand set.  I'm using a pair of headphones for goodness sake!  And every time I try to explain it they talk right over me and complain again.  Well I don't need that so I just hung up on you're complaints.

Angrily yours,
Chris

Sorted

Ok, so my whole issue with the neighbours is cleared up.  It was all a series of mis-communication, that ended with me being very angry.  I'm not going to go into detail any further but just let me say this:  Whanever you say something regarding money, be sure to express yourself and your point of view in a way that is clearly understandable.  After you've done that, ask a follow up question like: "What do you think of that?"

I have been pushed too far!

This is it, I've had enough of sharing the frigging internet.  Today I tell the neighbour how much the internet was this month and how much it will be next month.  This is what I get back: "Well the laptop is broken and we don't even use the internet. I'm just going to pay the $30 cause that's what I said I'd pay."  What bugs me about this is that I've looked at the laptop and the only thing wrong with it is a busted screen.  The wireless works fine on it!  If it's just such a chore why should I even bother sharing the internet in the first place!?

It was $84 this month, and I paid $43.  I asked the neighbour to cover the rest and I get an "OK" only to find out they only sent $30 the day before the new bill comes out.  This is ridiculous!  Now I've got a $94 bill I can't pay cause I'm on this new credit counselling plan and can't use any overdraft or credit cards.  To top it off, I now owe $100 for my cell phone cause I missed a month 2 months ago and didn't know it.

So here's my solution to my internet dilemma: Cut off my internet!

Hanging with friends

Ever notice how after a couple of days of feeling mean and ornery just having a few hours to spend with friends can cheer you right up?

House sitting

It's been a week since I started house sitting for my folk, and I can't wait to get home.  I miss my own home and I'm constantly out.  I do appreciate that my parents have paid for all my meals while I'm there, and I'm doing ok with looking after the dogs, but it's not a peaceful experience for me.  I get all stressed and worried because I'm not there all the time and when I am there I feel all bored and restless.  The house is too quiet too.  I'm used to hearing other people in the rest of the house and I have music on at my place a lot.  Oh well, just one more week left.

Steelseries

Anybody who knows me knows I type on a Steelseries Zboard.  Well now steelseries is having a contest to win your favourite stuff and I'd like to get you to join up.  Here's  my link:

HTTP://STEELSERIES.COM/10?CODE=WXHQEWCP

Enough of this gross talk of hernias!

It's the new year, or at least everyones been telling me it's the new year.  Just like every other year it seems my first chance to write down the year is on the label we put on the church's DVDs.  Oh and I'm up to my eyeballs in debt still, so that's something fun isn't it?  NO!  I hate this stress, I seriously hope it doesn't kill me.

On a lighter topic I'm looking forward to helping out with the Soterion games, either in testing or coding, but before I can code I'll have to learn how.  You can find out about Soterion here www.soterion.com or more about Lamplight Media LLC here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19228874584

I hope to gather up enough cash to apply for college or university.  I'm only looking at Niagara College and Brock University, because I live so close to those.  I've narrowed it down to two possible courses at Niagara and about 7 I'd like at Brock.

Here's Niagara College's list:

• Computer Programmer
• Computer Programmer Analyst

Here's Brock University's list

Computer Science
BSc, Honours, Co-op, Major, Pass, Combined

Computing and Business 
BCB, Honours, Co-op

Computing and Network Communications ( with Sheridan College ) 
BSc, Honours, Co-op only

Computing and Solid State Device Technology 
BSc, Honours, Co-op

Mathematics 
BSc, Pass, Combined, Minor

Mathematics and Computer Science 
Co-op Honours only

Mathematics Integrated with Computers and Applications - MICA 
Honours only