Status Report

Hey everyone! I've been meaning to update my blog for a while now. In fact, I'm hoping to do it at least semi-regularly.

Computer Woes

To start things off, if you've been following my Twitter account, you may have seen that I was having trouble with my new video card.

My previous one carped out on me (the Video RAM burnt itself out) a while back. I managed to get it working slightly for a few weeks over the summer, but then it stopped working altogether. I had to wait until I had enough money to buy a new Video Card. Once I had the money, I bought this one. It was the best Graphics Card I could find that would fit in a single slot.

Anyway, I get the card, put it in, and it's working fine. I download the latest drivers (because who trusts the the drivers that come with the hardware) and installed them and the CCC. When I rebooted into Windows, after a few minutes, I started seeing red dots on the screen. Moments later, other graphical corruptions manifested themselves. After a while of that, I got the dreaded BSOD. A few restarts, same thing kept happening. I even managed to remove the old driver but to no avail. Nothing bad happened in safe mode and it worked fine if used the "Standard VGA Adapter" driver, but that would hardly be enough for gaming.

At that point, it was time to do some diagnostics to find out if this was truly a software problem (like it seemed) or if I'd gotten a faulty card. I installed an old hard drive of mine and set up a partition (which it now seems was unnecessary) to install Windows onto. With a fresh install and up-to-date drivers, I found none of the graphical errors that occurred my normal portion. That was the good news.

The bad news was, that meant I had to re-install Windows for real. I backed up all my important files, as well as my Steam Installations, onto an external hard drive (turned out to be unnecessary, but still a good thing to do). Then it was time to do a fresh install. Thankfully, I was able to do a clean install without having to worry that I only had an upgrade copy of Windows 7.

So mostly this past week has been spent re-installing all the software I've been missing. So far, I've installed Firefox, Winamp (for music), VLC player (for video), Photoshop (along with the rest of CS4), Steam (along with all the Steam games I had on my previous installation), and Mass Effect 2, which looks even more awesome than I remember, by the way. I still have to re-install MS Office (will be doing that later tonight), Dragon Age 2 and the Sims 3. Oh, and I also got a free copy of Deus Ex with my Graphics Card. I'll be trying that out soon.

The Job Front

In other news, I started a new job. I'm going to be working for event security for IU home games. It's not much, but it's better than nothing. Hopefully this will lead to more gainful employment.

Unfortunately, this comes on the heels of some other news. I will not be attending college this semester. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get IU all the information they needed in time so now I have to re-apply for the Spring Semester. I also can't attend classes at Ivy Tech due to a "Maximum Timeframe" issue. Apparently, if you don't graduate after attempting a certain number of hours, you lose your financial aid. Had I known that ahead of time, I wouldn't have taken so many electives.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Till later!

Gripes

As I sit here, waiting for a graphics card for my desktop that may or may not come tomorrow, I've been surfing and have found a few things that really annoy me. If you follow my twitter feed, you may already know them, but I feel like posting them anyway.

Firefox 6 is out already?!?

Seriously? I haven't even updated to 5 yet because Google Toolbar refuses to support anything beyond version 4. Granted, I could probably live without Google Toolbar on my desktop, that is once it starts working again, but it's a real pain to work without it on my laptop.

Protected Tweets

I suppose that's a little misleading. I understand there are people out there who have legitimate reasons for protecting their tweets, among those the potential backlash that could be caused by a current or prospective employer.

No, the problem I have is when people have conversations over twitter and one or more (but not all) of the participants protect their tweets. It's like being in a room with someone who's talking loudly on the phone. Even if what they're saying sounds interesting, it's still annoying because you're only hearing half the conversation. Hell, that's the whole reason I refuse to send any @replies to anyone who protects their tweets.

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Ok, I suppose that's all I've got. Still, even if no one winds up reading this, it was nice to vent a little.

The Rupture

All this talk about the so called "Rapture" that will allegedly happen this week has got me thinking. I've come to a startling realization. I don't think I want to be raptured.

I mean, think about it. Let's say the rapture is real. Lets just say it's going to happen and then you'll be brought up into heaven and be able to do whatever you want when you get there and live in a paradise forever.

Sure, it seems nice, but how long will it be before you don't want it anymore? In a perfect paradise, there will be nothing you can't do, and you don't even have to put any effort into it. There will be no fear. No fear of dying, no fear of injury, no fear of failure.

There will be no challenges to overcome. No challenges means nothing to spark the imagination. Paradise will get boring, only you won't even realize you're bored.

Meanwhile, those of us that get "left behind" will have to suffer through the apocalypse. Sure, it'll be Hell on Earth (literally), but at least we'll be living.

Life is filled with pain and fear. Living is finding a way to cope with the pain and rise above the fear. If you can't do that, then you were never really living in the first place

The Daily Blur

I can't believe that May is almost over. Here it is, 3 weeks into the Summer and I haven't even started on anything I was going to do. Well this week I'm changing all that. I'm making a conscious decision right now that I am going to get started on every one of my projects this week.

Project #1: Getting a License
This Summer I will be spending as much time as I can relearning how to drive. To start off, I need to get my permit which means passing the written driving test that I haven't taken in forever. Shouldn't be too bad though. I'm more worried about when I take the actual driving portion of the test. Fortunately, I should have plenty of opportunities to practice driving this Summer.

Project #2: Learning to Draw
So for a while now, I've had this idea for a webcomic. I even made two strips of the comic using pictures made in The Sims 2. Unfortunately, I learned that while getting a computer program to look the way you want is easy, getting it to do what you want is hard. I stopped trying to make comics, but the idea stayed with me.

Recently, I took a class in game design. After a few classes, we suddenly found ourselves without an artist. Unfortunately, none of the remaining class had what could be considered traditional artistic skills. Thankfully, we did have some free sprites we could manipulate into backgrounds and we used simple designs for the creeps and towers.

My Mother is an artist and I have started wonder if I am missing out on something that I in fact can do. These events have made me determined to learn how to draw. Of course, it's not like I could take a class to learn this. What I want to do isn't something that can really be taught. Instead, I intend to teach myself. I will discover my inner artist by starting my webcomic again. This time, it will be hand drawn. I just need to get my hands on some tracing paper and I will start drawing. (I will be penciling and Inking by hand but I'll be using photoshop for colors).

Project #3: Get Back on Track with Weight Watchers
So yeah. I haven't been to a Weight Watchers meeting since May 1st. I gained weight that week and I haven't been able to stick to the plan for more than a day at a time since then, I'm almost sure that I'm back over 200lbs. and I'm afraid that I won't be able to lose it again. I need to start exercising and I need to relearn how to control my cravings. Far too often I've had the desire to eat large amounts of unhealthily prepared meat and followed my urges. I keep sleeping in on scheduled meeting days thinking "I'll go to the next one". Well I need to go now. And I definitely need to start working out again.

Project #4: Games
After all the projects listed above, "playing games" doesn't seem like such a big deal. Well it is to me. I have a number of games that I likely won't have much chance to play once the school year starts back up.


Well, that's all I got for now. Later!
-Ben

25 Random Things About Me

Ok, I got 2 people sending this thing to me on Facebook, so I figure I can't just ignore it. Here goes.

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I feel most comfortable in front of a computer screen
2. My Life's Goal is to design Video Games for a living
3. Although I love to play Video Games myself, I'm actually not that good at most of them, with the exception of Puzzle Games and RPGs
4. I'm 3/4 Irish and 1/4 German, and I don't drink
5. I've been on a diet for a bit over a year, but After losing 50 pounds, I've found it nearly impossible to stay on it
6. I've lost two family members due to smoking-related cancer, my Aunt and my Granddad
7. I recently built a brand new computer for myself, and it costed much less than if I'd bought it pre-assembled
8. People may sometimes see me as arrogant, but in truth, I'm just not much of a talker; I've gotten better though
9. I have a bad habit of correcting people's pronunciation of words
10. While I like my job, I actually enjoyed my job more before I became a Supervisor
11. I still have my appendix, tonsils, and all 4 wisdom teeth
12. I met my wife in 2nd grade, and from the 7th grade on, I never had any doubt who I was going to marry
13. I dropped out of two schools before going to Ivy Tech, now I'm determined to get a degree from there before I move on
14. I really wish I had the time and money to get back into collecting comics
15. I cringe when I read something that's over-saturated with netspeak
16. has always been my lucky number
17. I'm not a very religious man, but I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, I believe that no one religion could be completely right, and I believe that no one religion is completely wrong; except for [withheld], that scares me.
18. I've always wanted to go into space
19. I prefer a mouse and keyboard to a gamepad
20. I don't believe in the end of the world
21. I have a tendency to feel other people's pain, which is why I could never be a doctor
22. I like things as small as they can get, without sacrificing performance
23. I tend to get along more with women than with men
24. Earbuds don't stay in my ears
25. My greatest fear is that I will one day loose my mind
    

50!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today, at 12:20pm, I weighed in at 190.6lbs, making my official weight loss 51 pounds! I am incredibly excited about this. In High School I used to weigh around 190lbs and I'm less than a pound away from this. I only have 20.6lbs to go before hitting my weight loss goal. Thanks to all the weight loss, I had to donate most of my jeans, so I bought 3 new pairs. I'm back to a 34 inch waist, but I don't think I'll go down even if I loose more weight. Your waist size can only shrink as much as your pelvis, right?

On the gaming front, I'm actually starting work on designing a Video Game. It's still in the conceptual phase right now, but it's called Spellmasters and it's an RPG. The hook is the combat mechanics. Rather than using typical turn-based combat or the real-time combat newer RPGs are using, Spellmasters uses a card-based combat system similar to Magic: the Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh. My plan is to make the first one, which I'm calling Spellmasters 0: Prolouge Dungeon, using Flash and make it (possibly) free on the web. Following that, I hope to use this as a portfolio builder until I can actually make the first complete game in the series (not that S0PD won't be a complete game, it just won't have everything I want in it). I actually don't want the game to stay on PC. I think it would be much better on handhelds like the DS, or PSP (or hell, even the iPhone). This isn't the only concept I'm working on, this is just the only one that feels like one I could acomplish before I actually graduate. I'll be taking a course in Flash next semester so expect my project to finish sometime in the summer.

Oh, and before I forget:
©2008 Benjamin J. Stanton
©2008 Infinity Arcade

Still Alive

It's been a while since a full update (although I have still been updating the sidebars), but I'm still here. I've just been busy with work and school that I haven't been able to type anything up.

Weight Loss
As of last Friday, I've lost 19 lbs. No small accomplishment for me, especially since I've been having trouble finding the time to work out. Oddly though, I've recently discovered that my appetite has a tendency to decrease when I don't do much. I'm winding up with extra points those days. Still, with the weather getting better lately, I hope to do more long walks outside.

Gaming
I haven't been gaming quite as much as usual, and when I do, it's mostly been PC rather than console. I recently started playing a borrowed copy of RollerCoaster Tycoon. It's pretty fun. I'm considering purchasing RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 as it's 3D and has an actual sandbox mode.

I haven't been playing World of Warcraft as much as I used to lately. That's mostly because my friend (who's currently living in Japan) and I haven't been able to sync up our schedules as much as we'd like to. My Wife and I are going to be making a two-person team however. We're planning on putting these two characters on a Roleplaying Server, so if anyone has a suggestion on which server we two should join, I'd appreciate it. I'm going to be a Paladin and she has yet to decide between a Warrior and a Mage.

That's all I have right now. Catch you later.

Paternal Issues

So, out of the clear blue, I got an email from my father the other day. He says he wants to meet with me. Now first of all, I haven't been on fairly good terms with my father for a while now. I will admit, a lot of it is my fault. I had a falling out with my Step-Mother and unfortunately, the rest of my Dad's side of the family got caught in the balance. The last time I saw my father was at my Wedding. The last time I heard from him was an email back in I think December where he said he'd gotten my previous emails but didn't have too much time on the computer. He said he would reply soon. It's now nearing April.

Well of course the first thing I did was send him an email back letting him know when I'd be available and telling him to call me if he could. Now I play the waiting game.

In other news, I now have a Guild on WoW. Click Here to see our Guild Page. Our Armory page isn't working yet. We're on the Trollbane server so if you're on, contact Carvis, my character, or either Nohkomi(My wife), or Miridia(a friend of ours). If none of us are on, try to join using the site.

For the Horde!

So Many Games, So Little Time

You know, I really hate the fact that I have to work and go to school. If I could cut out work, then I'd be able to take the time I'd normally be working and do my homework. Then I could take the time I'd normally be doing homework, and focus on myself. I guess I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed right now. I've got to pass both my classes, keep showing up to work, stick to this diet I'm on, get a job for the Summer (because I won't be getting as much Unemployment as I did last year), and still find time to have a relationship with my family. I don't think I can keep doing the comic right now. I'm going to finish up the arc I'm on and then take a hiatus until the Summer.

Top 'O the Mornin' to Ye

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Nice day for me, because I'm Irish. Of course I don't drink, so that makes my celebration a little different. Still, I enjoy the day. My wife and I are going to be having some sort of Irish dinner. We have a leg of lamb in the fridge, but we're not sure if there are any points friendly meals we can make with it. We may instead do something with some deli Corned Beef.

Sorry for the lack of updates, but that was mainly due to Spring Break. Starting today I'm back on track. I should have a comic uploaded by Friday.

In game related news, we've decided to keep Mario Party 8. Thankfully, when I selected Keep It, there was a DS game available, which means I'll be able to play my DS some more. I'm expecting Puzzle Quest any day now.

I reached my 10 lb. goal on Friday which means I got to play Bully this weekend. It's a fun game. My only problem with it, and this is a problem I've noticed with Wii Games in general, is that it's a full body game. I mean sure, I could just sit down and play like that, but then I'd just feel like a tool. Suffice it to say, it's not that kind of game you want to relax with after a workout.

I've been playing Bleach: Shattered Blade too. I have to say, it is a fun game. I read some bad reviews about it, but it actually is fun. It's got its own original storyline set after the Save Rukia Arc, but before everyone goes back to the Human World. Episode Mode is really fun, if a little short (at least in comparison to Bleach for the DS). I only have two more episodes to beat. The hardest episode by far has been Hanataro's. Unfortunately, they got his abilities dead-on. His sword actually heals when it cuts. In order to do any damage, you've got to use special attacks, which mainly consist of Hanataro being clumsy and bumping into the enemy. Thankfully, when you fill up his "Bankai Meter" (which, unlike everyone else's, looks like the gauge he normally has on his sword), you can "Bankai" (which is actually his Shikai). During this time, his sword can actually do damage, but it has virtually no reach either. He does, however, have one of the most powerful special moves in the game at this time. Still, it was a challenge.

In other game related news, I just got my first World of Warcraft Character to level 30. His name is Carvis and he's an Undead Warlock on the Trollbane server. Say hi if you get a chance.

Well, I've got to get back to work. Still have a job to do. Later!

Wii Rock

I picked up Bully: Scholarship Edition for Wii today. I'm not going to play it yet though. It's not like I enjoy buying games that I can't play, but there is a story behind it. I reserved the game when I first bought my Wii, and I decided when I started making weight loss goals that this game would be my reward for loosing 10 lbs. Needless to say I'm still a bit short of this goal, but it was either buy it today, or loose the $5 deposit I put on it. I figured the best compromise would be to buy it now, but not to play it until I reach that goal. So now it's just going to sit there, mocking me.

Speaking of games, I had a few ideas I wanted to get out of my head and this seems like the perfect venue to do it. I want to see Rock Band for the Wii. Not the one that the other consoles have though. I've always felt that the only bad thing about Rock Band was the song list. It's not that I think the songs are bad, it's just that I don't usually listen to those songs. It seems to me like most of the songs (on the disk anyway) are mostly Metal and that's just not appealing to me. Not to mention there are some other ideas I'd like to see. So allow me to present my idea.

Rock Band: Greatest Hits.
[for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and Wii]
Immerse yourself in the greatest hits done by the greatest bands. Now, not only can you rock like the bands, but you can look like them too. Make your own fantasy band by playing as members of real bands! Make Steven Tyler your lead singer, Carlos Santana your Guitarist, and Ringo Starr your drummer! You can even download other band members and individuals into your game! The game contains songs actually done by the artists you're playing as.

Suggested Band List:
Aerosmith
Kiss
Beatles
Gorillaz
And Many More

Wii Exclusive Features:
Rock Band: Greatest Hits will have several features exclusive to the Wii (as compensation for not starting out with a Wii version). The Rock Band Guitar will be similar in setup to the Guitar Hero version, but with the added Rock Band functionality. It should be compatible with the Guitar Hero controller for the Wii as well. The Drum set will be nearly identical to the Drum Set for other Rock Band games, with the exception of a slot for the Wii Remote to slide in, making it a wireless drum set. Hits will support a USB microphone but there will also be two other methods as well. They can either use a Microphone or Headset that plugs into the back of the Wii Remote, or they can use the Nintendo DS (the DS headset is recommended). Users of the DS will notice that the words also appear on their DS as well as the TV. Wii gamers will also get exclusive characters, the Mario crew. Wii gamers will be able to choose from Mario, Luigi, Princess Daisy, Princess Peach, Wario, Waluigi, Toad, Toadette and of course, Bowser. These characters will be available for all band positions and have their own signature instruments.

Anyway, let me know if my idea strikes a cord with you. (Get it? Strikes a cord? Oh, nevermind)

Later!

To Be...

I've lost 3.8 lbs! Well, as of Friday anyway. Honestly, I'm a little stunned. I mean I haven't been working out as much as I should. I guess the diet really works. This makes for a total weight loss of 6.2 lbs, which means I've hit my first goal of 5 lbs. I rewarded myself for reaching my first goal with a new (for me anyway) game: Fable. I have to say it's pretty fun. So far I've already created 2 characters. One's a nice, compassionate warrior; the other is a greedy, morally ambiguous "Battlemage".

In other news, I'm now an Uncle. My sister-in-law recently had a baby girl. She was born premature, but the doctors say she'll be fine. I'm going up to visit her this Sunday.

I'm also starting a Webcomic. This should be interesting as I'm not a good artist. It's called Ingaged. Look for the first panel sometime this week.

Wait Loss

Well, it's been a bit since I checked in. As of last Friday I've lost 2.8 pounds and I'm sure I've lost more this week so I'm feeling pretty good. Mentally, anyway. Physically, not so much. I sill have a bad cough that I have yet to get over. Saw my doctor today and she gave me some medicine that I can't get until tomorrow for some reason. Also, I'm starving! It has nothing to do with the diet, it's just that I have nothing I can eat at work. There's a convenience store in the building, but everything in there is really high in points. I've just got 1 1/2 hours before I can get out and get some real food at home.

I sent back Marvel: Ultimate Alliance even though I hadn't played it much yet. There are a few reasons. First off, my TV already has poor brightness and that, combined with the game's dark features, made for a difficult play experience. Also, I discovered that the game's unique play style (using the Wiimote, Nunchuk combo) to be a little difficult. I really think this is a game better suited to a controller.

Speaking of Control Schemes, it looks like Mario Kart Wii is going to be compatible with all forms of Wii controllers, including the GameCube Controller. With Smash Bros. and now Mario Kart using the multi-type controller scheme, it leads me to believe that this is the direction that Wii games are headed, which is fine by me. Of course, they won't get the Classic/GameCube Controller to mimic the pointing abilities of the Wiimote (unless they come up with some sort of Wavebird/Wiimote hybrid), but a lot of other games could make great use of multiple control schemes.

That's all I have time to say for now. I've got to get back to work.

Recovery

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been sick the last couple days. It started Tuesday, but it really hit me hard on Thursday. It seemed to be tonsillitis, but the last few days my lungs hurt like bronchitis. I skipped both classes last week and even had to miss a work meeting (which sucks because I actually like the meetings at my job). Anyway, I'm now back to work and classes (or I would be back to class if my class hadn't been canceled yesterday) and gaming (I couldn't stay on my computer for more than 30 minutes at a time before I nearly passed out).

I am now an official member of Weight Watchers. I joined Friday and so far I've only gone over my daily points limit once, and that was my first day. I've got to say, it's easier than I thought. The big thing I've been doing is not eating out very much, and when I need some kind of quick food, I usually just heat up a Smart Ones meal. Of course since those meals all have a lot of vegetables in them, I've mostly been eating the Italian meals. I've also discovered that, while I'm not normally a fan of artificial sweeteners, the Crystal Light drink mixes are actually pretty good.

In other news, I received Phantom Hourglass from GameFly this weekend. I gave it a shot, but I'm afraid that, being sick, I wasn't able to give it the full attention it deserved. I'm going to try to play more this week and see if I can do better than I did while I was sick. I think I'm going to send Marvel: UA back though. While the game was fun, I think it would benefit more from a traditional controller scheme. I plan on putting my upcoming Tax Rebate Check to the purchase of a 360.

Valentine's Day is coming, and my wife and I will be going to White Castle for our celebration. Yes we're both on Weight Watchers, but since we both have special weekly points, we can save those up for one night of unhealthy food, as long as it's not too often.

Aftermath

Another week begins, but this week, something different. A large check, the first half of my financial aid, that had been sitting in the bank has now cleared. The next phase begins this week: spending it. Granted much of that money has been spent before I even received it. It's going to pay off bills and such, but after that, a nugget of spending cash remains.

The first expense isn't even on myself. My wife has been needing a new computer ever since the LCD screen on her last laptop broke (and that wasn't covered by the warranty). After much discussion she has decided that, due to the nature of her chosen career she needs a Mac (this also makes me less likely to use it). Also, due to her on-the-go lifestyle, it needs to be a laptop. We'll be getting a MacBook rather than a MacBook Pro for one reason only: Cost. The good thing about this is that the MacBook can run World of Warcraft at a tolerable level. While it may not be quite as good looking as running on my computer (which has it's own dedicated graphics card), her MacBook should get about the same frame rate I do. And if I can live with 15fps, I'm sure she, who is not a hardcore gamer, can too.

In other news, I will be joining Weight Watchers this Friday. I've been steadily getting more and more overweight since high school and it's time I did something about it. I have been working out for the past couple weeks and I've lost weight at about a pound per week, but I feel that I need more than just exercise. Weight Watchers has a support group that can help me keep at it even when I feel like quitting. Also, if I start to eat better, maybe I can start to feel better. I'm less concerned with "being thin" than I am with being and feeling healthy. Besides, I want to throw off the last "Nerd" stereotype that's been following me around forever.

Last but not least, I'd like to bring up an online game that I've been playing recently called NationStates. It's a fun game that lets you play out the running of your own country. The good thing for an Altaholic like me is that there is no limit to the number of "NationStates" that you can have (though you can only have one UN member nation per person). As of now, I have 4 nations that I have created: The Constitutional Monarchy of Stantonation, The Holy Empire of Majikstand, The Allied States of Farfigfalafel, and The United States of Amerisoft.

Well, that's it for now. See you later.