I have been positively blah today, feeling unmotivated to do anything, not even this post. It is 7PM now, and maybe my second wind is kicking in, so I thought I would give penning a short entry a try. I am working from the Samsung Q1 tonight, with Windows Media player blaring Bon Jovi's Blood on Blood as my background working noise. I'll actually be going on vacation this week, albeit a working one. Below is the loadout kit for this trip:

Laptops:                       Gateway P-6860FX 17" Gaming Laptop

                                    Acer Aspire ONE Netbook

PVP:                             iPhone

Thumb Drives:               Lexar 128MB

                                    SanDisk CRUZ Drive 2GB (website files)

Headphones:                 Memorex Noise Canceling Headphones

Movies:                         Encoded Video's (Erik's MP4 File Archive on 

                                    the Gateway; I'll

also transfer some files to the Aspire ONE 

from my NAS)

DAP:                            iPod Nano

Primary Cell Phone:       AT&T Tilt

Equipment Bag:            booq Boa Case

Games:                       PainKiller! and No One Lives Forever 2

I have some other pieces of gear that I have to take since I will be working remotely, but I won't be using those for projects and play.

One of the guys from IT came over on Saturday for the first LAN event at my place since maybe 2006. We used the Main and Backup Towers and both performed well. Games in play were Unreal Tournament (Original) and Ghost Recon. I really have not played much Ghost Recon multiplayer, and hardly any on my LAN. From the experience we had, that title, despite its age, should be a blast if we can get four people over here running through Enemy Elimination Co-op.

I downloaded the New Xbox Experience update for the 360's Dashboard. It looks pretty sharp. While it is not a feature rich radical departure from the original Dashboard's functionality, a lot of the interfaces have been slipstreamed so that they are more efficient in the presentation of data. I particularly like the fact that now when you press the X-button, instead of getting the Dashboard flyover from the left as a slice, you get a simple box in the middle of your screen. Avatars are a curiosity, not much more, but I still made one (since I figured everyone else would).  All in all, regardless of whether or not the new GUI is a bit of goofiness designed to make casual gamers feel less overwhelmed by the interface, the fact is that the new GUI gives the 360 a new feel, as if you have just bought a new console and are using it for the first few times.

I also put some time in on the PS3 this weekend. I engaged in Far Cry 2's single-player campaign for the first time. It is a very Grand Theft Auto-ish experience, or perhaps it is more akin to Just Cause. It plays fine, although I still dislike the PS3 Controller's feel for FPS controls in comparison to the 360's. In Fight Night Round 3, however, the PS3 Dual Shock feels spot on, so I spent most of my time in that title after trying out FC2. I also finally got all of the CDs ripped to the PS3 that I wanted.

I finished watching Impromptu and Sleeping with the Enemy from NetFlix. Impromptu was a good 3-star flick...not overly interesting, but well acted. I surprised myself by liking Sleeping with the Enemy as much as I did. One of the last lines in the film is now on my list of all time favorites: "Please send someone quick; I've just shot an intruder." Classic. Transformers and The Caine Mutiny are potentially already down in the mailbox. Since I am already feeling blah, I may go down and grab Transformers, as I have wanted to see it for some time. I watched a couple of episodes of Dog Eat Man from the encoded archives on my NAS. I like the quirkiness of this show, but sometimes it is so far out there that an episode is not funny except for the opening and closing of the 30 minute show.

OK, that's about it for now. Tasks in the queue: I plan on spending some time exploring the Windows Media Player Guide; the web-based front end portal to Microsoft's entertainment menu. I also plan on trying out InkBall, a casual gaming title that comes with TabletPC configured PCs. On my list of project tasks is downloading an e-Book reader and my first few eBooks to get some more use out of my Q1. Finally, I have to spend some time organizing my Photos on the Q1 into Albums within Picasa, and writing some scripts for some very short skits. While I still need to do final processing of the film we shot last year before I engage on any further main projects, the skit-format shorts I want to work on will be of such small scale that they will not be an interference to the primary film project.

Until next time, take care.

            - Vr/Zeux.>>