Holiday Bingo

Holiday Bingo was this past Sunday. It was the third time we've held the event and, as always, it was a success. There was lots of laughter and fun. I didn't take many photos because I was busying watching the Packer game, managing three bingo boards, holding my daughter, eating food, and laughing. Although, here are the pictures I did take:

Prior to Bingo!

Awww!

From left to right, my card, daughter's card, and wife's card

She was pretty tired when we left

Learning

Many years ago, I played around with HTML. I even built some webpages that I was pretty proud of. Sadly, those pages are long gone now. Once I got a job, I also stopped exploring HTML and have now forgotten most of what I learned.

Today, my job is changing. New responsibilities are actually requiring this past knowledge. Thanks to some co-workers and friends, I have found some good resources for re-learning some HTML. Although, I'm struck by how much has changed in 15 years.

I feel caught off-guard about how quickly my job went from not requiring this skillset to needing it. I feel a bit guilty that I didn't keep current on HTML. I'm unsettled because I went from feeling confident about my work day-after-day to feeling like I'm inefficient at what I do. I've heard it said that people get promoted to the level of their own incompetence. Have I reached mine?

I don't write that last paragraph for pity and I'm sorry for any readers that might take it that way. Honestly, it is more of an observation of age. I can remember training an older co-worker to upload photos to an FTP site or explaining Facebook to someone who is still leary of using a computer. In each of those cases, there was a bit of frustration from these people. Was it frustration of trying to learn something new or were the concepts so foreign they were frustrated by how much time has passed? Either case, I understand the frustration better than ever.

I acknowledge these feelings, but I can't stay focused on them. This is the world we live in and I need to update my skillsets. While it would be nice to have formal training, one of the greatest things about the Internet is the free knowledge it provides. So, I move on, I learn, I train, and one day I will feel confident again about walking into work.

FYI, I've written this post in an HTML editor instead of using Blogger's easy WYSIWYG editor. Sometimes you just have to jump right in.

VVVVVV

I finished this game last night. I wanted to high-five my wife and daughter, but they were asleep.

If you like a challenge, but haven't played VVVVVV, I highly recommend this game.  It may not look like much, but it has more game-play then some games you find on store shelves. Cute, fun, hard, and a level editor.

Trying to catch a breath

With a title like the one above, a reader might assume this post is about how busy I am with a new child, potential new home, and trying to make ends meet. Sorry, but I'm going for something more literal.

My current cubicle state

This is what you would see if you walked to my desk. Every fall-to-winter transition I get a cough that leads into other illnesses. I start wheezing and my breathing becomes very shallow. I have a case of (very mild) asthma. Most of the time I'm rarely bothered by it except around this time of year.

It is moments like these when you start to ponder your life decisions. I have cold-air triggered asthma and I choose to live in Wisconsin.

Speaking of my netbook...

While my battery life hasn't been great, Computron (nickname of my netbook) has been having a great time trying on different operating systems.

Windows XP is loaded, but I've been seeking out the best flavor of Ubuntu Linux for my netbook. So far, Computron has hosted: Jolicloud, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Xubuntu, and Lubuntu.  While I've had good experiences with all, I'm still trying to find a lightweight-yet-still-attractive version of linux. Lightweight because I'm using a netbook and attractive because I like something pretty to look at.

I almost lost hope that I'd find that perfect linux combo, but thankfully I came across Bodhi Linux. The minimum system requirements to run are 300 mhz i386 processor, 128 mb of Ram, and 1.5 of hard drive space. As for looks, well just check out their Desktop of the Week.

Maybe I'm just in that new OS newlywed stage and overlooking some faults, but it takes about 32 seconds from when I push the power button on Computron to logging in. Windows takes about 3 minutes.  The OS runs fast and because it is still based on Ubuntu, it is easy to use; a combination not always easy to find.

Not nearly as useful

I get it.  Most people don't like netbooks.  I might be one of a few that actually really like these tiny machines.  I, truly, love my Gateway LT21. Although, if someone shows interest into my netbook and wants to know more, I usually say, "Just an FYI, this isn't a real computer."

When I bought my little machine, it advertised 10 hours of battery life.  That is a long time to surf without needing access to a power teet. While the machine only got about 7 hours, it was nothing I was going to complain about. I had never had a machine that lasted that long on a single charge.

Sadly, now I only get a half-hour.  A netbook that only last 30 minutes loses all the benefits of being a netbook.  At that point, it becomes an underpowered laptop that has to be connected to the wall at all times.  Completely ruining anything that makes it awesome.

So, anyone want to get me this?

http://goo.gl/bLCtz

Jam session

This morning, Pearl Jam's "Daughter" played over the radio which was fitting since I was playing with Amelia (more so because she is literally my daughter, and hopefully not because of the song lyrics). Amelia was holding my hands for balance as she attempted to stand. I started singing along as I do with any Pearl Jam song and Amelia smiled and bounced to the music. I moved her arms in a way to make it look like she was dancing. Granted, she looked like me when I dance (without holding someone's hands), but Amelia was enjoying the motion. Once the guitar solo came on, I stopped the dancing and moved her arms so that she looked like she was playing guitar.

My baby's first air guitar.

Proud father.

formspring.me

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/chillzilla

What's the last good book you read?

Hopefully comic books count, because the last good book I've read is The Walking Dead. Say what you will about the show, but the comic run (which is still going) is fantastic.

Ask me anything

Getting my hands nerdy.

Sometimes I become a bit overzealous when I get into obsessive geek mode. Sometimes this leads me to erasing my entire Windows (or Mac) operating system in favor of something quite experimental. I create many e-hassles, but typically the new-found knowledge is worth the effort.

I've been interested in cloud computing ever since it became clear that almost every operation I use a computer for is online. More specificily, almost every operation is preformed in a browser window. Writing in Google Docs, catching up with friends in Facebook, reader the latest news in Google Reader, storing important files with Box.net, and listening to music in Pandora. The browser is my most valuable app.

The above explains my interest in Google's Chrome OS. The new operating system that is browser. Chrome OS is nothing fancy, but a bare bones OS that concerns itself with only one simple task: Getting the user online.

This weekend, I attempted to install Chrome OS on my Gateway LT2113U netbook. It was difficult because the OS hasn't seen an official public release yet. There are a number of ways I could have accomplished the install, but each proved difficult with my limited code knowledge. Sadly, I also spent a good chuck of time trying to install a version that I later discovered was fake. It was a frustrating experiment that left me with an OS-free netbook. I was able to get Chrome Flow and Chrome Vanilla installed (binaries created by Hexxeh), but the update servers weren’t working so my versions were out-dated. While I completely respect what Hexxeh has done, I still wanted something more official-like. In the end, I just had to wave the white flag and wait for a public release in the future.

It won’t be a problem to re-install Windows XP on my netbook, but my desire for a cloud-based OS still wasn’t sated. It was time to take another look at Jolicloud.

Jolicoud is a linux-based OS that focuses on cloud-based apps. While Chrome OS is a browser with OS functions, Jolicloud is the perfect marriage of the two. In Jolicloud, users can install web apps (like Gmail, Google Docs, or Facebook). These web apps are browser windows with the address bar stripped away (I’m oversimplifying it). What you get is a website that looks more like an application you would run from the local hard drive. Also, on a netbook this saves some valuable screen real estate. The benefits of Jolicloud over Chrome is that users still can access and run apps from their hard drive. Something Chrome currently won’t do and probably won’t in the future. What is nice about Jolicloud is that it has been tweaked to work with many netbooks and can actually breath some new life into older models while Chrome OS is currently being tested to run on specific hardware.

I used Jolicloud almost a year ago before dropping it for Ubuntu Netbook Edition. I did this because of my experimental obsessive nature. Jolicloud was the first linux distro that I’ve played around with. This also meant that I started to install things on Jolicloud that the OS wasn’t meant to do. Jolicloud works best when you use the apps and tools the developers give you (which is a lot.) At the time I just wanted to mess around with linux and after breaking Jolicloud, I installed Ubuntu. Now, I want to have an OS that is quick and cloud-based which describes Jolicloud perfectly. The newest update also replaces Firefox as Jolicloud’s web app base with Chrome. In a way I’m getting my cake and eating too.

One negative is that Flash and linux are still problematic together. There is some YouTube relief in the form of HTML5, but don’t expect Flash video to be smooth. Also, Jolicloud really sucks down my battery life when compared to Windows XP. Lastly, while it hasn’t happened enough to be annoying, I have had a restart where my screen is just black and nothing is happening. A hard reboot brought back the computer fine, but a couple more of those could be a deal breaker.

So, by the end of the week I’ll have a netbook dual-booting Jolicloud for every day use and Windows XP for some old games like Baldur’s Gate. As curious as I am for Chrome OS, the OS duo seems to offer the best options for now.

Although, I could still try and install Android instead?

In defense of what I don't own.

I wrote a response to my friend and future brother-in-law's blog. He wrote about gaming and Apple products.

Since it took me a long time to formulate a response, I decided it would be good to also turn my response into a blog post. Enjoy!

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I'm not sure we're being entirely fair to Apple brand of handhelds. I agree the iPod Touch isn't a conventional gaming system, and I don't believe that Apple saw the gaming potential when they released the iPhone and iPod Touch. Although, in 2010 we are seeing data of just how successful it is.

The touch-friendly Apple products offer a main function that is different then the DS and PSP, but when Konami, Capcom, EA, Rockstar, and many indie developers jump on board to create quick $.99 cent games that make a profit it is unfair to try and say the iPhone/iPod isn't a video game system.

* Besides PC, iPhones (and I suspect Android) are the cheapest system for an indie developer to jump into gaming development and to feel their success in the form of cash.

* While parents may not buy their children an iPod Touch for games, they do buy them for their kids for music. My point is that these handhelds are already in everyone's hands include kids. So I agree people probably don't buy an iPod just for gaming, but since everyone has one a market for games is already in place.

* While we could debate the value of Dragon Quest IX vs Metal Gear Solid Touch, we can't ignore the pricing difference between DS/PSP games and iPod games. $20-$40 range for DS/PSP while $5.99 is the highest iPod game price I've seen. This makes me think that a good number of iPod games are impulse buys. This is conjecture, but I believe it is the main reason that the Apple brand became a "gaming system" in the first place. Users were buying lots of games.

* I read an article (http://bit.ly/ce85Ab) which wrote that between 2008 and 2009 the iPhone/iPod Touch games rose from 1% of all US game sales to 5%. While still a small percentage, it is an impressive growth for one year. While Steve Jobs' statements might have exaggerated Apple’s place in handheld gaming, I'm not surprised Apple is using this information as a selling point in 2010.

I love playing games, but I don't play sports games. I know there are gamers who only buy the yearly editions of Madden, NBA, NHL, and whatever other sports games there may be. It wouldn't be fair for me to ignore those as video games. Farmville is another point of contention for most gamers, but it has 70 million players. While it doesn't fit the mold of Gears of War, Call of Duty, or World of Warcraft that doesn't make it any less impactful as game.

As gamers, we should play what we want to play on whatever system we like. One of the best perks in this era of video gaming is choice of hardware. We didn't always have so many options. Huzzah! Although, with variety comes bits and pieces we personally may not like entering our arena. While we don't need to play them, it wouldn't be right to try and strip these games or systems of a title they honestly deserve.

On the bright side, just because Wii gaming is a successful business practice, that didn't make hardcore FPS or RPGs go away. Farmville hasn't killed RTS games. So, I feel confident in saying that while most iPhone games will be casual experience, it won't kill the games I love on other systems. Heck, Chaos Ring by Square Enix is getting wonderful reviews. As IGN said, "... an all -new adventure created specifically for the iPhone (I hesitate to say exclusively because I could see this eventually getting ported over to DS or PSP), offers the thoughtful, engaging play you expect from Square's other big-name RPG franchises." (http://bit.ly/cMjU1z)

That makes me excited to see where portable gaming goes from here.