Yesterday was the first time since June this year that I have been back to the building I used to work in. I went to drop off a PC I repaired for someone.
Within seconds I felt immediately back at home and people that I have not seen for nearly half a year were greeting me with an "alright mate…" type greeting as if I had never left! I was expecting to be asked to help someone at any point!
I worked in that building for about 13 years and know it inside out. Being responsible for network cabling and PC stuff there I almost know each part of the building intimately. It's an odd feeling.
After chatting to a few ex-colleagues I left (who also greeted me with a "hello… oh! Hello!" as if they were not suprised to see me) before sprinting down the stairs as I have done several thousand times before and "dinging" the two fire extinguishers with my fingernails as I walked past them - which I have also done every time I walked past several thousand times before.
I don't miss the work. I do miss the people and I do miss the opportunity to doss the afternoon off on the internet, phone or Photoshop.
I have been playing multiplayer Gears Of War over the weekend and it’s amazing! Certainly better than Halo2 multiplayer (IMO). Check out the video above!
The only problem is that I am really crap at it and get killed all the time.
Last night I was playing on a team against a 4 guys who all worked in a video store by the sounds of it. They were all pretty good at the game too!
In the game, when you shoot someone, you can “down” them where they are crouched on their knees, bleeding, until a team mate comes and gives them help and they can play again.
I was hiding behind a tombstone on a map when one of the enemy sneaked up behind me and show me enough to put me down but not kill me. Then, as I was stuck, bleeding and pleasing for assistance from my (silent) team mates, all 4 of the enemy team surrounded me in a circle, revving their chainsaws maniacly before all slicing me into a bloody gush which splattered my screen .
One of these pictures is of Wendy from Peter Pan, as featured in the our local shopping centre's christmas display. The other is of a lady friend of the inflatable variety with "real hair" and rotating, vibrating vag-tunnel.
This thing is bright! Like a fallen star embedded in my forehead, slowly cooking my retinas and microwaving my brain!
It’s a Samsung LE23R71WX LCD TV . 23 inches of 3000:1 contrast ratio lovliness, with an enhanced “game mode” with an 8ms response rate. Blah blah blah….
I decided to go all hi-def with my XBox 360 and purchased this TV from Costco at a very reasonable price. I have my 360 hooked up to the composite connection, running at 1080i resolution and my PC plugged into the VGA connector running at 1024×768.
The 360 has been given a new lease of life and the PC looks amazing, bright, clear and detailed. When if I get my Mac Mini, there is a HDMI port on the back too, so I can hook that up.
I stopped at buying a wireless adapter for the 360 (£60!!!) and hooked it up via Internet Connection Sharing on my XP Media Centre PC which is right next door.
Make me a console that costs £1000 and I will scoff at it.
Make me a 3rd generation console that costs £1000 and features online play, gold plated connectors, built in teas-made and blow job machine and I will still scoff and scorn.
Make me a console that does all the above and then bring out a new Tony Hawk skateboarding game for it…
SOLD!
I have been playing the demo of Tony Hawks Project 8 since it came out on my XBOX360 and its freakin good! Every spare 20 minutes I have has been given to this game.
Well, it's not a giant lizard slaying robot and its not a new religion.
It's just a place for me to hang out, store my thoughts and technical musings and stay in contact with my friends. It's purpose may change in the future - who knows!
Well, it's not a giant lizard slaying robot and its not a new religion.