This week, C&C 3 hit the stores... and I'm going to miss out on it for a while. Why? No money.

After all I've done to defend the game on the GameSpot/GameFAQs boards, I can't even buy it. That bites.

Of course, the upside is that I won't be slacking off on my homework for some time. I've thrown myself into the older DoW campaigns (the original single-player campaign is just incredible; war and betrayal, on several sides at the same time... *shudder*), but I just don't have the time right now to re-learn the Tau after Relic reworked them in the latest DC patch (sure, screw up the Tau players, but keep the Necrons the same... way to balance the game, guys).

Oh, well... maybe when I start getting some cash in (I have a new job, by the way: I'm a student math/Java/C++/VB tutor at my school... another irony, as my worst subject in high school was always math) I'll be able to snare Tiberium Wars. Until then, I'll just lurk in a corner and mope :( .

Last note: the Dark Crusade story I talked about is forming nicely... I may be able to start working on it as early as next week. I just need to figure out where to post it.

So... it's 2:45AM, and I've almost finished my programming labs for the week. I still have a few small assignments to do, but I have the whole weekend to do them.

Good ol' BI-All is back. Somehow, I was hoping his brush with "forumicide" would chase him off, but... he's back, and just as fanatic as ever. Hopefully, that Troll Hunting Union is able to rein him in (I'll even tie the knots :) ).

Against my better judgement, I installed RA2 on my lap top ("Bad programmer!!!" SMACK) and it runs awesome. I didn't even need Vista's compatability mode to do it. (It's very strange to see FMVs so small... a 6-7" square in the middle of a 15" screen.)

I've had rumblings of a short story based on Dark Crusade in the back of my mind for a bit... I'll see if I can drag it into the light of day some week (OR... I might serialize it in this blog... 2-3 posts should be sufficient). Just keep in mind: My all time favorite TV show is the Twilight Zone; I literally stay up for entire all-day marathons of the'Zone when they're on. It leaks into my writing no matter what I do...

Several articles about the ESRB have floated on GS in the past couple of days. (ESRB rates games for content, and posts a label saying what age group it's "appropriate" for; I have no idea what the various European versions are called.) Personally, I find them to be just as useless as movie ratings. I can't wait until the uptight [this thought was deleted at the request of common sense] and move on, like the comic book scandals of the '40s (yes, I keep up with history).

'Til next time... Cheers! Skol!(sp?) Banzai! ... {insert favorite toast here}. 

I've needed a laptop for school for some time now. For many of the labs in programming, we need a level of access on a computer that we can't get on the school machines. Doing many of the projects at home has led to problems, because I can't just dial up my instructor at 3AM with a compiler error and try to fix it (after all, all the best programming is done in the middle of the night :lol: ).

So my accounta-- er, I mean -- my wife and I went out this weekend and shopped around. For what I needed to do, all I needed was a "bargain" machine: no frills, no bells and whistles, just a CPU, some memory and storage, and an OS to run it.

We found a decent one in our price range at CompUSA (I like the service and parts selection better there than at BestBuy): a Compaq Presario C502US. It will never be a gaming machine (512MB RAM, and Intel integrated graphics? Puhleez....), and I have to learn everything I know about PCs all over again (no one sells XP machines anymore; the one I have has Vista installed), but it runs well, it compiles Java and C++ code pretty quickly, and it was inexpensive.

[Side notes: when I got to school tonight, everyone was staring at my laptop, trying to figure out what I had on it; the school has a deal with (ugh!) Dell, and most of my cla$$mates have them, with XP installed, so I kind of stand out.
Vista isn't as ugly as I thought: it looks nice, and the programs I need run well on it. Some of the new security features are annoying, but since I'm not on a network or the 'Net with it, I shut them the %$#@ off. Also, 512 isn't nearly enough RAM; I sense an upgrade in my future...]

I'll admit it: I am addicted to WH40K. Between my bouts with the TW demo (excellent stuff), I'm driving through the campaign with the Tau again. Sure, people say they're badly imbalanced, but they are growing on me. They remind me of the war mechs drawn by Kevin Long in the Rifts PnP RPG: detailed, sleek, and deadly-looking. And I can't get enough of watching Kroot eating the dead... (disturbing, but it's there)

Which means I'm going to be lagging on my homework a bit. I'm pretty good at getting things in on time, but it's harder when I really want to advance the Greater Good on Kronus...

(Side note: this is the third time I've tried to update in the past two days; I keep getting JScript errors. Someone must've broken the site, or one of my kids must've clicked a bad link somewhere. If I figure it out, I'll give everyone a heads-up.)

Apparently, there are several things you can't include in a post on this site. Every time you use them, they cut off, and you see this silly "frbddn" thing. (Ironically, even that f-word is "frbddn.")

When one of my posts choked this afternoon, I found out why:

The "post a comment" function is run in JavaScript. Apparently, "cla$$" and "$tyle" are reserved keywords, and any mention of them in a post could be used in running harmful code.

Which brings up the question: when did the Internet get so hostile, that we need so much %$&@ing security. "Free exchange of ideas," "No one should own the Internet," etc... has turned into, "Don't forget your protection. You never know what you might catch." Frustrating.

Do you know that feeling you get within a week or two of Christmas, when you know you'll be getting something new to play within a few weeks, but you can't mess with it now?

That's what I'm feeling right now.

Sometime this week, I'll finally have an upgrade to XP in my hands. ("Upgrade" is a relative term, but it'll fit for now.) Up to now, I've had Widows 2000 on my PC: stable, easily diagnosed, and, best of all, free. It's a lot better than the WinME the PC originally came with ("SSHHHH.... don't breath too heavy... I'm trying to do my homework on the computer... don't want it to crash..."), and everything worked with it.

Unfortunately, times have changed too drastically for me to run it any more. Every new piece of software I try comes up "must have Windows XP or later..." and refuses to install. XP and 2000 are practically the same OS, so it shouldn't make a difference, but it does.

I'm also looking into a laptop for school. It was fine while I only had one programming forbidden>

I knew it was coming for about two months now, but it's official: I no longer have a job. I can't afford to renew my certification, and I just don't have the time to keep up with the technology.

Since the release of Vista (and against any advice many of us gave) a lot of our regulars gave in to temptation and upgraded. I haven't had the time to work with Vista, and the ugly truth is, I'm far too busy with school to make the time.

I'm dealt out of the short term, true; however, this was in the cards when I first decided to go back to school for a degree. Long term, I'll make a far more stable living as a programmer. I'm actually better at the programming, to be honest.

Still, I'll kind of miss the people who do absolutely stupid things to their machines (my all time favorite: the guy who didn't have enough room on his HD to download the Paris Hilton porn vid, so he uninstalled his anti-virus to make room; he was in the next day with 15 viruses, 3 trojans, and an e-mail worm).

Since I've never done any kind of blog before, I figured, "Eh, what the &%$#? What could it hurt?"

Some of you may be wondering, "Where did that strange screen name come from?" I welded together the names of the two swords found in the troll lair in The Hobbit: Orcrist ("Goblin-Cleaver") and Glamdring ("Foe-Hammer"). Since it was originally an AOL screen name, and AOL wanted to glue on a bunch of odd numbers, I just pulled out three #'s I could easily remember/write down for friends. (Side note: originally, it was "Orchammer," but I got tired of answering e-mails starting with "orch."

Right now, I'm just waiting for my upgrade to XP so I can play more demos: C&C3 is top of my hit list, with Supreme Commander a distant 2nd (I'm an RTS fan, so I must play it someday...)

Also, I'm having a little fun dropping trolls in the C&C3 forum. Sure, I won't stop them from posting, but showing them that an intellegent argument is paid more attention than internet gibberish is an interesting diversion.