February 5th, 2008 linkabi9
Kotaku.com recently ran an article on one reason why boys may like games more than girls.
http://kotaku.com/352729/boys-brains-make-them-want-to-win
That article references this article.
http://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2008/february/videobrain.htm
I have to say, it’s refreshing to see any kind of study that doesn’t seem to blame the ills of the world on videogames, but it’s a little redundant. I guess some people didn’t know that men enjoy conquering. We enjoy winning. Of course, women and men are both competitive, but men… they can get really passionate about some things. One of those things is videogames. I, personally, don’t like to be competitive, but I’ve seen lots of men get a little hot in the head over Halo, Super Smash Bros., or even Scrabulous. Guys get real happy playing these games. I’m looking forward to Mass Effect, once I get around to it. I don’t see that as much from girls. I don’t think they play for the same reasons. I play something from start to finish. I don’t like to start a game and never see the end of it. Anytime, I see any of my girl gamer friends playing, they are just passing the time. They don’t usually play the games with the cut scenes or the complicated control schemes. I see things like Animal Crossing or Brain Age. These are short sweet bursts of gaming to relax or wile away the time. Not like the 40 hour long endeavors of RPG Gamers or the night long stints in Halo Multiplayer. We want to win and we are willing to spend a long time to get there.
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February 4th, 2008 linkabi9
I hate having to piece together the code of my workmates, when they won’t do the same with my code. I error check and bug test everything that will be used at the company. Code must be tested thoroughly before it can be published to any live sites. Everyone knows this. When I find a bug, I will fix it. If an individual works from home, it is up to me to make sure that what is delivered to the office is usable.
It always strikes me as a little idiotic when someone forgoes the use of backups in there daily work cycle. Save your data somewhere else besides the box at your side. If you have need of information and it happens to be covered in a coffee spill or maybe it’s the victim of Zeus’ antics during a particularly violent storm then you’ll be glad of the foresight and labor it took to set up a backup system for your work.
I am an idiot. I didn’t listen to my own advice. I received some updated code from one of the monkeys that work from home. I didn’t think ahead, so I went through the process of merging the changes I had made to the base code with the changes he made. I overwrote most of my changes to the code without pausing to verify that he merged any of the fixes I made throughout the last couple of days. Now, I’m sitting here with a brick. It’s useless. Since I don’t have a backup, I have to go back and piece together my memories on what was wrong with the original code and how I solved each problem… it’s going to be a long week.
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February 2nd, 2008 linkabi9
That’s right folks! I was headed down Westheimer at 11:00 AM. I was just running errands before heading to work. Unfortunately, there was an older woman who needed my lane. She was a real nice lady, but it was just bad luck. She changed lanes without looking. While someone quicker may have come away unscathed, it was much to sudden for me to avoid. I was hit at the front passenger side of the car. This is what sent me careening to my left across a median and into oncoming traffic. Luckily for me, it was a red light! After calling the cops and starting the insurance processing, I had to tow the car to a collision repair center. Then, I had to wait until 3:00 PM for a cab to get back home. What an ordeal, but at least I wasn’t hurt.
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January 31st, 2008 linkabi9
Yeah, we’ve been moving. This is the third day. There is way more shit now than there was the last time I moved. At least, that’s what it feels like. I’m sure I’m wrong, now that I think about it. Anyways, I like my new place. The GF does not like all the bats, but they aren’t going anywhere. Squeek! Squeek! The apartment is smaller than our last place, but I don’t mind. Honestly, it makes no difference. I understand the necessity for multiple rooms, but beyond a multi-room residence that doesn’t have an ass load of maintenance problems, I’m not to picky. Everything else is icing on the proverbial cake. I say proverbial, because I am picky about cake.
Most cake wouldn’t cut it, even with icing.
For your viewing pleasure, check out the my old (first) and new (second) apartments below.
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January 30th, 2008 linkabi9
People really forget what it’s like to hit 20+. You are so young, yet you feel old. Really, all kinds of things are new, but most people start to see the same things in their life. A repetitious rat race. They start to feel jaded. I know I did. I remember having crushes in high school. I remember how they meant something different in college. I didn’t get my hopes up as much. It’s like I knew the disappointment was coming. It was probably a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Now, of course, I’m happy. I’m in a relationship, but that was luck. I don’t really get it. It is very obvious to anyone who observes us that she puts up with a lot. I’m constantly reminded that I can be a better person, and I’m glad or it. Ultimately, that’s the best thing you can do for the world. Be a better person, and enjoy the life you have.
When you get older you start to realize things could have been easier this way or that way. When you think about it though. You are a product of your surroundings. If things were easier for you, you would be less capable of surviving the adversities that are always coming at you. I wish more people would enjoy what they have instead of bemoaning what is missing.
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January 29th, 2008 linkabi9
I’m moving to a new apartment, right now. This is the second day I’ve been relocating my belongings. While I can’t say we did a lot (at least, not with a straight face), it does seem to be getting easier. I think I’ll feel more accomplished once the crunch is on. Once there is less than a day to finish up, it will really come together.
Here, at work, where I’m slowly… ever… so… slowly counting down the hours until I get off. We just went live with another feature. We now have the ability to reroute the most unwanted and non-lucrative leads away from the website before they have a chance to bog down our server resources. The really nice thing is the amount of granularity available to the managers. They can specify who does and does not get through based on the broadest criteria or the, seemingly, most unimportant minutia. It sets up a whole other channel for profit. It’s actually something I could see coming from very early on. Long before I was even familiar with the system, the boss man was already spouting off ideas for how to monetize the data from the people we can’t sell services to. I’m sure this was in there somewhere. As it is, the feature is pretty robust in my opinion. I would like a chance to go back and implement a better management system, however. Something to make it easier for the middle men to do there job, but “c’este la vie”. For now it will do.
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January 29th, 2008 linkabi9
Honestly, what did you expect. I’m a code monkey for god’s sake. “Hello World!” is an integral part of my education. From C++ to PHP it’s the only constant I can remember fondly. I have to say, though, I’m feeling pretty good about this site. It was a lot easier to implement than a lot of the stuff I deal with at work and play. Let’s see where it goes, shall we?
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