The Build Up to Deflation

I was in Best Buy today to pick up some more external storage.  As is always the case, I have to traverse all the way to the back of the store to get the only item I was in there to acquire.  This tends to annoy me, but has the side benefit of giving me lots of opportunities to make other observations.  One that stuck out on this trip occurred as I was passing by the Rock Band display.  For the 1% of the population that might not be aware of what this is, think of it as a console game (Xbox 360, PS2/3 etc.) that allows the players to simulate being a musician or singer through a plastic controller that at least looks like an instrument – the guitar plays nothing like a real guitar, but tries to emulate fretting one string while strumming with the other hand – the drums are a little more realistic in the sense you have a kick pedal and four contact pads.  Walking slowly past the display, I noticed a guy excitedly talking to his wife (assumed) about the game and how fun it looked.  His eyes were as wide as Christmas day as he tried to explain all the things you could do with it.  His enthusiasm reminded me of the Red Rider BB gun plea from Ralphie.  Just before I went beyond earshot, I heard her say “Well, ask him” in a much less enthusiastic voice.   I pondered that a few more paces while finally reaching the storage isle. 

My assumption was he wanted to ask the clerk something but it turns out I was wrong about that.  I actually took about 20 minutes trying to decide how many gigs of storage to buy – do I go with the Terabyte for convenience and accept the risk of losing a greater amount of data, or do I go with twin 500Gs and cut the loss risk in half…. My IT career has trained me to assume the worst on anything computer related so I went with the 500s… but I have strayed from topic.. Retracing my steps back to the front, I once again passed the display and sure enough they were still there, but this time their child (probably 10-11 or so) was with them.  The Dad tried to keep his excitement in check as he asked if he “would like to get Rock Band”.   While he reached down to pick up the box in anticipation of the answer, the kid replied with a firm “No”.  In that split second, I saw the man go from real excitement to complete devastation – his face lost color, the eyes drooped and the shoulders shrugged under the now heavy weight of the box.   To be honest, I haven’t seen a high to low moment like that in awhile.  Clearly the excitement was based on the fun he was going to have, but he needed the child’s assistance to make that happen.   It actually made me wonder back on the times my Dad may have needed an assist and I failed to deliver.

The worst part of it all…. I know exactly how much enjoyment he is missing out on since (sad to say) I am completely addicted to the Rock Band drums.

Thundersnow

Sorry for the delays between posts, work has made for some rather long days as of late.  In fact, I have some reports due tonight so I only have time for quick entry.  Last Sunday, I witnessed something I have never seen before.  No, it wasn’t the overconfident Patriots being overwhelmed by the 12 point underdogs.  At around 3:15pm central, thunder and lightening rolled in.  This seemed a bit odd, but panic soon set in because we were having people over to watch the “Big Game” – rain has the potential to disrupt our satellite signal and that is the very last thing I wanted to happen.  The good news is it did not rain… nope.  it starting snowing.. that’s right, I’ll let it sink in.  So the cloudy sky was lighting up, the thunderclaps were shaking the house and the snow was coming down so hard you literally could not see more than 50 ft.  – not to mention it was accumulating fast.  We ended up losing half our guests (some even had to turn back after half way here – we live in the country and the roads were blowing shut), but we luckily did not lose our HD signal the entire game (ended up using an antenna to pull in the local over air signal (Dish doesn’t carry local HD stations yet).

I am not sure how much we ended up getting that night (at least 3-4 inches), but we did learn by example from my nephew,  when added to the 5.5 inches already on the ground there is no way a rear-wheel mustang is making it through – ended up having to push him 300 feet out our neighbor’s driveway (long story, don’t ask 8^)

Anyway, it is the first time I’ve ever experienced Thundersnow – and do not bother commenting on Global Warming since it is currently freezing outside.

 Oh, and my vote for best “Big Game” commercial…. the stock trading baby who bought a clown…. the “understimating the weirdness” line killed me since I absolutey dislike clowns!

A Kindergarten Refresher

Today’s topic is all about spatial relationships.  Since the source of the observation probably never took an ACT or similar competency assessment, I will try to generalize the key point with an image of a familiar toy everyone hopefully had as a small child.  Yes, I am talking about the Shape O Toy which apparently Tupperware decided didn’t need the most gimmicky name to market – at least they didn’t use Stickie One Thingy into Another Thingy.  I fired up Paint Shop Pro and created some quick images to help everyone out.  Ironically, this is about spatial relationship and some of my bevels are a little off, but I was rushing it.  Anyway, let’s say this is our toy:
Shape O Toy

The object of course is to get all of the shapes into the center of the toy.  To do that, you locate the object, match up to an opening on the ball, align the shape to the direction of the cutout, slip it through and clap your hands while proclaiming your mastery of all things geometrical.  I think you get the picture, but unfortunately, there are people out there that apparently don’t understand it.  I am not sure if this is just arrogance on the part of individuals or we have a kindergarten epidemic that must be addressed immediately. 

Why have I come to this conclusion, well, let me tell you about the same observation I have had over and over and over. 

Continue reading A Kindergarten Refresher

Wal-Mart Pain

Ironically after recently titling a post in a positive light for Wal-Mart, I fall victim to one of the stupidest processes I have experienced in awhile.  For my birthday, some friends of mine went in together and bought me BioShock for the Xbox360.  Thanks again for that kind gesture!  Anyway, we were playing Rock Band all night and didn’t get a chance to play it.  This resulted in a bonus as it turned out they bought the game at Wal-Mart and an advertisement came out the next day from Best Buy for $20 less.  I figured I would take it back to Wal-Mart and have the ticket adjusted and therefore save my friends some money (it was on a credit card, so the money would simply be added back on to that account).  

A day or two later I headed over to Wal-Mart at lunch to complete the adjustment.  There was even a printed sign on the door how they honor competitor sale ads.  This should have been a walk in the park, but things quickly derailed when I went up to the service desk.

Continue reading Wal-Mart Pain

Upgrade Completed

Good news everyone!  I have finally completed the upgrade to the latest release of WordPress.  All in all, it was not that difficult, but due to a weak FTP client (WS_FTPro) it took a significant amount of time.  I was unable to find an option on the client that allowed deletion of non-empty directories requiring me to manually go through and delete items from each of the sub-directories.  Unless someone knows how to set this in the FTP client I used, I’ll be switching to something more friendly/useable for the future.  Everything has checked out okay and hopefully no one was impacted by the upgrade.

Yeah for Wal-Mart

Something incredible was happening to Peoria on December 4th 2007.  Were we welcoming home our military cargo/transport heroes home from Iraq.. nope.  Were we completing our multi-year revamp of one of the oldest sections of I-74 to enhance the driving experience for our visitors.. nope.  Hold on to your seats now…. Michigan State’s glorious basketball team was coming to play our Bradley Braves.  I know, I know you’re giddy just thinking about it.  So, Michigan State, representing their 46,045 students ,was coming to take on the Bradley Braves with a 2006 enrollment of 6,127.  Truly a David and Goliath moment.  It was so big that ESPN was going to carry it.  We’ve hit the big time now.  The big night came, the lucky ones got tickets to Carver Arena to witness the historic event in person, while others popped their popcorn, poured their drinks and settled into their favorite chairs.  It was a close game, but the Braves fell short of toppling the mighty Spartans 66-61. …. and then things started taking an ugly turn.

Continue reading Yeah for Wal-Mart

Etching Behaviors

I am closing out the last remaining hour of my birthday and figured I would go ahead and comment on something I witnessed yesterday.  As I was exiting my workplace I caught a lady out of the corner of my eye (loving the LASIK by the way) on the opposite side of the street.  She was holding onto a young child (probably around 5) and bending down to talk to him.   For an unknown reason, I quickly formulated what was going to happen and this discussion that was taking place was to make sure everyone knew the game plan.  They were actually standing between two parallel parked cars just off the curb in the street.  She pointed to my side of the street a couple of times and motioned her arms in an exaggerated running manner obviously trying to convey speed.  This she reiterated a couple of times until she felt the kid understood the mechanics of what was about to happen.  Keep in mind, that this is a three lane one way street in the middle of downtown and used pretty heavily (flowing from her right to left).  She looked to the right, looked to the left (probably a good thing since more than once I’ve seen someone coming the other way), looked back to the right, clinched the kids hand and they started to sprint across the street. 

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Survey Says…. Bad Timing

Work today ended up being a tad more stressful than usual due to the all to common lack of requirements coupled with well defined timelines.  I only mention that to help frame my mood when my truck hiccupped on my way home.  Probably in the same manner that individuals who live next to train tracks eventually become accustomed to the daily wheels on rails, I pretty much have the rhythm of my truck’s engine tucked deep in the subconscious.  I would be interested in getting some feedback from someone in the train situation, but the microsecond my truck produced a sound that didn’t fit the standard cadence… it jumped up and took front and center in my thoughts.  I somehow managed to instantly block out the non-related sound – no more radio, no more buzz of surrounding cars nothing… just the sound from my engine.  It was matched up now, the pistons were firing in sync, the drive shaft was spinning under my seat… this lasted for a few minutes and then it happened again. 

Continue reading Survey Says…. Bad Timing

Refocused

Well, good news – my LASIK surgery was very successful and I am extremely pleased – yes, I wish I had done this some time ago, but at least I finally went through with it as a birthday present to myself.  Unfortunately, with working on a computer all day, my eyes need more rest at night until they completely heal – which means I need a little more time before getting back in the blogging mode.  Should be fine by the weekend and excited about writing about all the new things I can see!