Mii Lebowski

For those that loved "The Big Lebowski", this is for you.

Thanksgiving Roadtrip

A few interns and I decided to go on a roadtrip last Thanksgiving weekend. Our legs were San Jose to Death Valley to Vegas to Grand Canyon, and back the same way. All in 3 days!!! It was awesome. Sure we got on each other's nerves a bit, and we got lost, *cough Vegas cough*. But all in all it was a great trip.

Death Valley was super cool, especially when we saw some dunes right in the middle of the valley. Plus, on the way there we had a couple places with some windy, narrow roads. The first was Sequoia National Park, which has a road going through the southern tip of it, and then the mountains between Panamint Valley and the actual Death Valley. The Death Valley National Park itself contains Panamint.

Vegas was alright, but I mostly slept and ate there. Didn't care to gamble. Saw some things while we were doing some last minute hotel room searching, by foot. Otherwise, I only slept two hours the night before and couldn't stay up. Lama went and won $35 using the double the bet strategy. Fortunately it worked, and he didn't hit the table limit on roulette.

We stopped by Hoover Dam on the way to Grand Canyon. Really it was the only way to Grand Canyon from Vegas. Wow, it was big, vertically. What's equally as impressive, is the bypass high-way (literally HIGH) they're building for all those people who don't want to get stuck at the Dam's traffic. It's ridiculous. You can probably catch a glimpse of it in some of the pictures that Lama has posted.

We took a lot more pictures, and video. Including lots of video with our arms and camcorder outside the car going 90 mph! Ridiculous!

Zelda History

WiiNintendo.net posted links to GameTrailer's 6-part Zelda Retrospective. And the last episode is some kind of guess at the Zelda Timeline(s). Pretty cool to watch.

Wii Sensorbar!

So, the Wii sensorbar has been demystified. Now, all I need to do, is make my own, using some IR LEDS, resistors, wires, a transformer, and wall plug. Hmm, I should ask a friend about this before I electrocute myself.

Zelda TP

I have a friend, former roommate of mine, who hailed from Sweden. He's working now, and I thought I would share some pictures he sent me. Appareantly they were working on some solar cell thingy. Karl, you're welcome to tell me what it is, if it's cool.. or not, either way :)

So, yeah I played a few hours of Zelda yesterday, and I felt compelled to make a video of it. My laptop was acting funny with the AVI's that my digital camera made. It didn't help that the Motion JPEG codec component was PowerPC based and I have an Intel based Mac. It was weird, because the work around was to move the AVIImporter component file, and stuff. Ok, I've lost your interest already. The point is, I could work with the movies that came from my camera.

The video I made doesn't do the game justice, but is meant to give you an idea of the controls for the game. At this point in the game, I'm not even at the first dungeon yet, and I feel like I've gotten used to the controls of the game. Once I get the video up and ready I'll edit this post and add the link below.

Hey Roger, I've added you as a Wii Friend, but you have to register me too. Otherwise, we can't send messages to each other. I wanna see what you made your Mii look like, and I'll send you mine too.

UPDATE: Here is the video! Google Video title "Zelda_TP.mov".

Wii Tennis

So people have obviously been asking me to post up a video of actually playing the Wii. Here's a video of me and R.S. playing tennis. Sorry for the bright t.v. screen. Next time I'll take a better video. I think I'll do Zelda tonight. I played two hours of it so far, and I'm amazed that it's still just a Gamecube game ported to the Wii (prior to launching on the Gamecube, but that's fine by me!).

Drawing Wii Wii

No, hehe, not really. I drew a little sketch of my roommates and me. Of course, its cartoon like. I finally can use Illustrator so I feel more comfortable. I guess I was spoiled when I learned how to use Illustrator. Before then Photoshop was fine, but now I need both.

I stood outside, all night for the Wii last night. Around 10:30 I executed a recon mission to assess the line situation. I soon found out that there were about 20 people ahead of me already. Knowing there was only 60 units in the store, I double-backed with stuff from home ASAP.

I got to meet a few people while waiting in line. They were all pretty cool. Guys, if you're reading this, post a comment with your Friend Code. I don't my Friend Code yet, but I will post it up as soon as Jo is done playing Wii Sports Golf...Ah, he just finished. It's actually a Wii number. If you go to the message board, say create a message and then select Address Book. There's the Wii number (i.e. the Friend Code)

Mine is: 0552 5552 0665 1678

I took a video too, where I was acting like Cartman waiting for the Wii. Once that's up, I'll update. Once I started doing that the security guys at Target finally realized there was a line, and that we wanted in. Especially since it was past the hour when they said we would get our tickets to keep the order going. I ended up buying Red Steel (meh, ok), Monkeyball Banana Blitz (very good), and Zelda (haven't opened it yet). I'm waiting to do Zelda when both my roommates are ready to sit down and play/watch with me.

Now, it's time for me to clean up, as I feel disgusting, and get something decent to eat.

I actually won something

And I won it out of my own merit. We had a tour of the different labs here at work, and they are pretty cool. One of them had liquid nitrogen...neat. At the end of the tour we were able to ask some of the long-time executives some questions. At the end of the Q&A session, the execs would pick three of the best questions, and the people who asked them would get to have lunch with the company's CEO. I happen to think the CEO is a cool guy. He get's his haircut at Supercuts.

So there were some good questions. A lot dealing with markets that the company may want to persue etc. One of the people who won asked questions dealing with how the company started (i.e. initial capital, etc.). Another person asked about how they have personal lives yet still help to really push the company forward. He won as well. Somewhere down the line, some kid gets everyone wondering what his question was going to be. He builds it up by flattering the execs saying it's a tough question but they should be able to answer it, etc. etc. He asks, and I can't believe he did, how much money they make. WTF!? Now everyone laughed a little because they figure it was a joke. The guy did too, but I guess he got so nervous after saying that question that he never took it back in jest. He never made a recovery line to get rid of the awkwardness. He just stood there and smiled...in a sort of awkward manner. God, what a bad move.

So I won by asking a pretty cool question. So I'm working for Nvidia, and they worked with Sony on the PS3. They also worked with Microsoft on Xbox 360. And now with ATI merged with AMD, there could be a market in the console business. Anyone who pays attention to the computer graphics and video game industries could see that. It surprised me no one asked any questions relating to this topic. So I asked a good three part question. Immediately the guy who worked with the PS3 said that I won. Before any voting, I secured my spot. I honestly just wanted an answer to the question, being a gamer and all.

On the topic of being a gamer. I spoke to some people at my nearby Target store, where I plan to camp out for my Wii. It looks like they aren't allowing lines until the morning of the launch, at about 6am on Sunday. I don't see how the can enforce such a thing once the last person leaves the store. We'll see...I'm gonna call the store and talk to a manager or someone from the electronics department in the morning. Hopefully I'll get a better idea of what's gonna happen. I may take a little spin tonight to see how the PS3 crowd is doing...

Me, Rudolph and Falling

So yeah, I've been working duh. I finally bought a chair today, and now I'm in a more comfortable position to type on my laptop, and draw cartoons. I've still got to get used to this tablet. When I used the Cintiq 21UX from Wacom, it was straight forward cause I was drawing on the screen. This tablet is indirect and my brain isn't wired that way just yet. I can still sketch though and that's how I started drawing today.

A couple days ago, Jo, my other roommate, and I decided to head over to Target to get some flashlights because our power went out. Then we tried to get to a nearby Gamestop to play some Wii, but we took a wrong turn in the mall and the store closed before we could get there. But that's ok because I was able to make my Mii online. I think it's pretty close. Jo was a little annoyed that they were already playing Christmas music at the mall, which prompted the idea for this cartoon that I just finished drawing. While Jo has a good point about the music, there is unfortunately no real thanksgiving music. I mean, none. Isn't that a little strange? Then again, there's no Easter music is there?

Yesterday, my group from work were treated to lunch outside. I had some nice "Firecracker Chicken" that had Schezuan chillies. I obviously ate everything, including the chillies. I went bouldering at Planet Granite later that day. One of the girls working the counter was a little embarrassed about the price of a 1-day pass so she let me rent shoes and harness for free. I didn't get to go on the tall climbs that need ropes though because my friends who were supposed to show up, showed up late. I was exhausted from doing the regular climbing. It's been more than 24 hours and my forearms are still sore. Feels good. I had to stop after a couple hours because my hamstrings actually started to cramp up a little, which is not a good thing when you from 10 feet above the ground.

Survey Results

So I was having a discussion last week with Pete and Lama, both Europeans, about whether or not they use the word soda, or pop. For instance, in the sentence,"I'm gonna get a can of ___." Both of them said something along the lines of Coke, or whatever it is they wanted to drink. And I further stipulated that they might not know what drinks are available. They just didn't get it as they kinda looked at me, and I had to explain the whole soda vs. pop thing.

Earlier last week I decided to send out an email to a whole bunch of my friends, with the same question. Except, I removed any stipulations and let whatever comes to mind be the response. Here's the responses:

• Coke - 1
  
• Cola - 1
  
• Soda - 2
  
• Ice Tea - 1
  
• Soup - 1
  
• Peas - 1
  
• Beans - 3
  
• Brasso (used to clean ipods) - 1
  
• Cheez Whiz - 1
  
• Chunk Light Tuna - 1
  
• Whoop Ass (Woopass was also taken) - 5
  

God bless wrestling and it's hold on the American public. Sorry I didn't post this on Saturday as I said I would.

Baby you can drive my car...

I forgot to drop off my rental car yesterday. Not a big deal since I was gonna rent again for another month. However, this morning the "check-engine" light went off. I figured that wasn't a good sign, and went straight to the rental car lot. They basically said that I should get a replacement, and I thought alright. So I had some options for cars that were the same price, but then I saw it. The Mitsubishi Galant. For only $90 I could rent it. I did some quick math, and figured that since I save so much money on lunch and dinner that I could afford this car.

Then I started driving, and I noticed that it has the tiptronic manual shifting system! Awesome. Then I noticed that the CD player plays MP3s. Super Awesome! And the car is literally brand new. It has about 200 miles on it. Incredibly awesome!

Wild and Ferrell Windows

I had a long session of playing Final Fantasy 12, and I'm maybe half way through. Hard to tell. That aside, I saw the new Will Ferrel Movie, Stranger Than Fiction. I didn't exactly remember the name of the movie as I ordered the ticket, or recognize the title as the movie was playing, or bother to even remember the title after I finished watching. Yet I felt compelled to call some of my friends at midnight, Pacific Time, and tell their voice mailboxes that it was a great movie. That I recognized the many scenes that took part at my alma mater, Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago. For god sakes, I even recognized the crummy mens shower room in the old Phys. Ed. building. One of them, Alli, actually called me back and told me that they even shot in Wicker Park. Then she proceeded to make fun of me forgetting the name of the movie.

Maybe my short term memory is just busted? Too much wasabi while eating sushi perhaps? Have you ever had too much wasabi and felt the fumes just rising up, and culminating at the top of the head. It's a strange feeling, almost painful. Yet, I never pay attention to that while I talk to my co-workers and add random amounts of wasabi to my next bite of sushi. Each bite becomes exciting. Perhaps this one will put too much pressure in my cranium and cause me to pass out? Nope, got lucky.

Today, Sunday, I gave in to the desire of putting windows on my 13-inch Macbook. I downloaded Boot Camp, and acquired, by some means, a copy of Windows. All of this so I can run GOD DAMN Photoshop and Illustrator natively and for free! Yeah you heard me! Here I am publicly saying I was gonna get pirated copies. BUT GUESS WHAT! You can't do anything to me. Boot Camp said that it couldn't move some files around and so creating a separate partition for Windows failed. In a way, I'm glad. My roommate, R.S., said that he'd let me use his computer with my tablet to draw. It's got a bigger screen, so that works for me. All I'll do is get a little bluetooth adapter since my tablet is a wireless bluetooth tablet. No biggie. I can re-use it with the desktop I left back in Chicago.

Plus, I didn't have to defile my Mac with Windows, which would be worse than getting caught with porn.

Keifer Sutherland in FF XII

I've been playing a lot of Final Fantasy 12, and I have to say this is one of the best RPG's I've ever played. Two of my other favorites being Grandia 2 and Skies of Arcadia. Both awesome games on the Dreamcast (RIP). What I liked about them is that the battle systems were different than traditional Japanese RPG battle systems. It made for an engaging experience, even if the story was meh, as in the case of Grandia 2. FF 12 is also a strongly different than traditional Japanese RPGs. More like an MMO, which I've told many people. It is what I wished Final Fantasy 11 (online) was like.

On top of that, the story is like something out of a T.V. series. Maybe Roar could have been like this. Although, I can't say as I never watched the ill-fated show. It looked like it was probably good. There's also this character, Capitan Basch who looks like Keifer Sutherland from Three Musketeers and has a raspy kind of voice, again like Keifer.

California Driiiivveen...on such a drizzly day

People in California, at least San Jose, drive like scared cats near a swimming pool when only a little bit of rain is falling. I forgot my ID at home so I tried I had to go back home and double back again. It took about an hour, when normally it takes 15 minutes.

Lord help any of these people if they ever go somewhere like Seattle or Chicago.

On a side note, there's someone in the company that looks so much like Borat.

My life as I know it

Is boring. Well maybe not. Over the weekend I got to hang out with Patty and some more of her friends. The girls were really young though. It didn't feel right thinking about asking out a girl that was as old as my sister, who is six years younger than me. Sigh...

My friend Milg, from Korea, has her own business involving pressing t-shirts that you design. I think maybe I'm gonna design one based off of some characters I drew in the past and give her some business. I ended up modeling for a t-shirt that she sent to me. It took forever to arrive, but hopefully they'll fix up whatever picture they want to use and let me know when it's up! I'll be famous like the time I was in the NY Times (login needed, but it's free so go for it).

I just contacted Lucasarts today. They got a hold of me a while back, and I asked them if we could keep talking after I got a little settled into California life. Hopefully they'll get back to me sometime in the next week.

On a side note, while searching for the NY Times link, I found my friend's blog. If you've ever read the comments she's made you would know her as Julia. Haha Julia, I gotcha!

Wow Bao ... Vroom

I went to an asian restaurant/bakery called Goldilocks. Weird name for that kind of place. They have some ok food, but the draw were the steamed buns. Yum!! Good sized too. Much bigger than the one I had at Wow Bao's over on the first floor of Watertower Place / Mall in Chicago. Unfortunately all they had were chicken curry or pork curry. Not much variety.

Last night I went go-kart racing. It was awesome. I felt a little woozy afterwards though. We had a full group of 10 people. Which made for an interesting set of races. The karts went up to 35 mph, and ran on cheap gas. My visor on my helmet kept getting foggy, so every now and then when I was able to safely, I raised my visor and wiped it. My glasses got foggy too, but that couldn't be helped. The woozyness, I suspect, came from the fumes from the engine and gas tank, which is actually right next to you. I came in 6th the whole time, so I didn't do that bad. It could have been better if some of the people who ranked below me didn't suck and get in my way. Ah well, it could have been anybody that they got in the way of, so I suppose it was all fair.

This morning I went to karate. I've decided that I'm not going to go on tuesdays. Probably just Thursdays and Saturdays. And my netflix finally came in. Wohoo!

Google Vids

So, I've been having a bit of downtime lately. Mainly cause I have to wait for people's email responses to work that I've done. With that I've been checking my email, video game news, science news, etc. I did come across a South Park episode that I didn't see before, can't say that I really saw that many though, where Cartman is going crazy for the Nintendo Wii. And the same day I get an email about a video pertaining to the future of karate.

Ah, and then there's cooking an egg on the Xbox360 heatsink. Poor Xbox306 getting ripped apart.

Wicked Borat

So yesterday was Halloweeen. My roommate and I both bought quite a lot of candy, but only 10 children came. We have a whole bunch of leftovers. I've got a bad feeling about that. I got to play Final Fantasy XII for a few more hours. SO GOOD!

Later on last night, Patty and her friend dropped by to pick me up and go to downtown San Jose. We decided to go get something to drink, but there were so many clubs with long lines. It wasn't warm outside so I definitely didn't want to do that. Plus, I'm not into the whole club scene. Patty's friend, Julia, knew about an Irish pub, which I immediately said yes to. That's more of my kind of place. On the way, we got some food. I had a regular burrito and was sad to find out it didn't come with lettuce, tomatoes or onions.

When we got to the pub, O'Flagerty's or something like that, I had a Guinness and the great thing was that the bartender was able to "etch" a three-leaf clover onto the head of the pint. It was amazing, and a lot like how pastry chefs do all those crazy designs on cakes. What a skill.

So the area we were in was next to San Jose State University, and there were a lot of girls dressed up "wickedly." I guess Halloween is the excuse, much like Carnival could be in Europe, and Mardi Gras. It wasn't a turn off that's for sure! ;-) While we were walking back to the car, we passed by a guy dressed up as Borat, and he looked a hell of a lot like him, minus the skin tone.