Technologic

How can two guys in robot helmets bring me so much joy? Daft Punk's Human After All album has really captured my love of electronic music. I hum the songs to myself for hours after actually listening to them. My goal is to sing along to the words in the song Technologic and to make it my personal anthem.

I bought Daft Punk's Discovery CD when it came out while I was in high school. Bought on a whim after someones suggestion. "It would really develop your taste for techno", the suggestion boasted.
At that point I disliked most of techno, seeing it only as flaky and cheesy repeated sound. I guess I really didn't understand the musics ability to mesmerize. When I first listened to Discovery, I found the silly sounds and vocals contained within to grate on some mental block I had. "Oh man, listen to how silly this sounds, this isn't cool at all." Hours later I was still humming the song to One More Time. Discovery has been in my collection ever sense. It was the first CD to be ripped into my MP3 player. Also the first to be rated in iTunes. Important music that is.

Its freezing in my apartment as the first winter storm hit Iowa last night. My truck doors were frozen shut this morning, forcing me to use my ice scraper as an ice pick. I have mixed feelings about the winter. The chill that hits to the bone is very unpleasant, but the white and enclosing blanket the snow leaves behind is very calming. Breath in the cool crisp air and ask yourself how could air ever be labeled crisp. Then realize that it is the perfect descriptive word for that air.

I like to hang on thoughts like that before I dive back into the more stress filled word in which I live. Today was really bad too.

Crap, I think I'm getting sick.

-LogicLB

55 minutes

It's 4:05 and only minutes to go until the weekend. I thought I would spend the rest of my time filling the blog in on weekend plans.

Tonight is a rave...inside WoW. Defiantly a new idea. Its on the Dark Iron server and being thrown by the Disciples of Divx, one of the guilds in the Penny-Arcade Army. There is going to be a live music cast and lots of give aways and games. My coworker and I will be going to check it out, then who knows what else.

On Saturday night is a actual rave right here in Des Moines. I haven't been to a good rave in years. Raves are kind of hit and miss with me. I enjoy the music, and for the most part, enjoy the people that attend. I hope a good Halloween party will do me well.

Sunday is crappy scary movie night with the girl friend and friends. Much popcorn and candy will be consumed.

I come back to work next week and prepare to give a workshop on PowerPoint 97, of all things.

I beat Shadow of the Colossus the other day, and my half way preview holds true. Aside from a few technical glitches this games presentation is excellent. It has defiantly earned a place on my shelf. Next up is Soul Caliber 3.

-LogicLB

Shodow of the Colossis

For the past few months I've been keeping up with this game called Shadow of the Colossus. There were several features about the game discussed in the previews that I really hoped were as good as they sounded. A game with nothing but boss battles and the story telling genius of the developer of ICO was enough to sell me. I tried my best not to get over hyped about it.

After several months of waiting the game was finally released. My roommate and I obtained a copy and hastily brought it home. We watched the calming opening sequence and tried to wrap our heads around the game’s idea. The abstract story is difficult to truly comprehend unless you accept how basic it is. A nameless hero traveling to a land were the dead can be brought back to life. The deaths of the colossi are required to bring back the soul of a girl. A girl the hero is willing to pay any price to save.

There is magic to this game that I can't really describe. Maybe it’s the soothing music of the violin playing while I ride my horse across the plain, or possibly the majesty of the colossi towering over me as I attempt to climb up its leg. There is just this odd euphoria about the game, as if I have been searching through my dreams to find it.

If you're into video games at all you really need to take a moment and find this one.

-LogicLB

Creative Coding

I work help desk for a corporate office. For the majority of my day, I sit by the phone answering the same 20 questions over and over again. On the upside, its a small corporate company, making it a small IT department. This means a lot more responsibility per employee. So I have my hand in everything here; Active Directory management, Exchange maintenance, nightly tape backups, web server and web based applications.

Recently my boss wanted me to help him with a problem. We wanted to get the census for every facility to each facilities administrator. "Make it extremely easy for them", he said. So taking my amateur skills in dynamic web pages, I did my best to call the stored procedure for the daily census to a web page. After searching hundreds of "How To ASP" pages and banging my head on the desk I finally came up with the page. And it was awesome!

It was simple, it was informative, and it was web-based making it really light and easy to distribute. I must say, that finishing this simple project has given me a great sense of accomplishment. I know what I did wasn't a huge feat of programming skill, but just that I was able to put the pieces together and create the dynamic response is a new talent for me. I never knew if I had it in me to be a programmer, I think I'll start seriously considering it.

-LogicLB

I've been angry...

...and for no good reason. I mean, there are things about my life that cause me stress but I have agreed to these and actively support them. I've build these systems, and for me to become upset with it because it irritates me isn't acceptable. This is the way things are, there are what I agreed to. I have to stop myself before I do something I'll regret, so I fight this odd mental war. Both sides have a grievance, and they both speak their opinions loudly. I listen silently to both sides, trying to weigh the concerns and consequences to each thought process. The humorous part though is when they debate like separate entity's, I come to the realization that it is only me speaking to myself. Its just me making these decisions no matter how many voices I use to speak.

Its at that point I have to stop and ponder how I'm able to accomplish such a feat.

I live in an apartment with two other people I consider my friends. I like these friends of mine and I enjoy their company. I like the feeling of being on my own with the support of two others similar to myself. Its hard to consider these two people to be the cause of my stress, but I feel that the longer I spend with them, the less I'm going to be able to accomplish.

Carrying the Casket

Tomorrow I'm suppost to carry my Great Grandmother's casket to her grave site. First time I'll be a casket bearer. I dont remember much of this person I'm bearing to the grave. I remember the house she owned, the sugar cookies she always had on hand, and the strange mechanical bird in the living room. I dont feel much sense of loss, I dont feel much of anything.

I'm told she is the last of the generation, outliving all of her siblings by several years. Grandma Lou was ninity nine years old, only weeks away from her hundredth birthday. On the greeting table for her visitation was a birthday card from Laura Bush, so I guess it was official.

After the visitation, Brian, one of my father's cousins invited everyone back to his house. My social anxzity is in full gear, I see all these people I'm suppost to know and I cant remember most any of them. I try my best to stay atentive, but after about twenty minutes I escape to playing a break out clone on my PocketPC. After making a delicious turkey sandwich I listened in on a conversation my father, uncle and 3 of their cousins were having. They were telling stories about living in the same small town and the mischif they would cause. It was odd to hear all the things my father used to do, and then compare that person to the man I knew when growing up. Soon afterward my brother and I take off for the hotel were staying at. He and I discusse how that would be us in thirty years, except we would be talking about the times we would sneak into the basement to play the Super Nintendo.

I'll be back in town tomorrow night. I'm suppost to hang out with Sean, a friend I haven't spoken to for over a year. I have mixed feelings about the whole situation, but its something I need to do. I'll save the backstory for another time, I'll let you know how it goes.

-LogicLB

I Really Like Video Games

I mean really like video games. Just the idea of creating a world within another system is extraordinary concept to me. The level of skill and technology that grows in leaps and bounds from year to year always impresses me.

I was born around the same time programming games started catching on. By the time I was four there was a nintendo sitting in my living room. The device introduced me to so many of my favorite video game characters. Link, Samus, Mega Man and Mario became the first game characters I connected with and it only grew from there. Even twenty year after the fact, Nintendo can still find new ways to connect with me. I've played Resident Evil 4 probably six time through, unlocked all the advanced weapons and beat all the time trials. Even after spending all that time with this one game I am still craving more. I've enjoyed several hundreds of games, but its games like RE4 that really make me happy to be a gamer.

I'd like to say that video games are a part of my daily life. I enjoy reading up on newly released games. I read the thoughts and ideas of game developers and where they think games are going next. Traveling to places just to hang out with others like me. I hope that one day I will find the entrance to the world where these wonderful projects are created.

This weekend I'm heading to a LAN party in Pella, Iowa. The group there is called the OpenBoxProject. I've been gaming with the OBP group for over a year, and I always enjoy the company of guys there. Half the time we just BS, but its good just to hang out and play with other like minded people. I wish I could do it more often.

-LogicLB

23 and counting

When I was a child, I remember thinking that I would understand things better when I was older. All those things my child mind couldn't comprehend I hoped would someday make sense to me. I think its funny that now that I am older I realize that adults do not really comprehend better than a child, but just accept things as what they are.

My name is Tristan. And I'm very glad your here.