First, I’m sorry about your grandfather Chris. Hope the trip goes okay.
I am going to The Education Arcade which is holding a conference May 9-11 down in LA, happening right before E3. I *might* be able to fenagle a pass to E3 out of it… dunno.
Anyway, I have a ton of work to do and most of it has to be done on a computer (designing modules for Neverwinter Nights), so I just ordered a laptop yesterday. It’s the Acer Travelmate 8003LMi. My first laptop… and, unfortunately, my requirements are such that I needed a relatively high end one, being a gamer and all and needing the laptop to demo games and test game playing and making games and all… So it was quite pricey.
I told the company I ordered it from (buy.com) to send it overnight, thinking I’d get it today, and then I went to school for the day. Later I got an email from them saying that they wanted me to fax them a copy of my driver’s license and credit card. It sounded fishy so I did some snooping on the fax number they provided and I emailed customer support asking if this was standard procedure… Meanwhile, I could see on the order tracking page that its status was listed as “processing.” Their (un)helpful guide showed “processing” to mean they are verifying my credentials.
I figured since it was still in “processing” after hours since my order, they were likely waiting for the fax. Also, the number seemed legit (same area code as their corporate headquarters) and I didn’t want to wait for their email, so I went ahead and faxed them the stuff from Kinko’s last night around 10pm. This morning, its status is now “sent to warehouse” meaning it finished the “processing” and is waiting to be completed by the warehouse workers.
Whew. It still seems strange to me that they would need a photocopy of that stuff, but I dunno… I’ve never spent that much in one go on the web before… about $2400.
Get this, though… I am slightly thinking that after the conference I’ll just return it… :)
But maybe I’ll like it so much to keep it…
That sounds like the perfect job for you Mark! Good luck with that. If there aren’t enough x-boxs to pass around, realize who has the least responsiblities, the most time on his hands and therefor the greatest capacity to appreciate the gift.
A 3700pd package?…I’ve seen bigger. Check out Ben’s mom sometime. :) That 1.2mg sounds gnarly Hus. Don’t play with it without gloves and at least a nice pair of googles.
Condolences about your gramps Chris. I hope the Hus clan celebrates him well.
So this is RF weekend. Supposed to be 75 degrees and sunny all three days…its a miracle. Hopefully I can convince Colin and Diana to cut loose a bit and have some fun. I’m planning on having a costume for the first time. It was leaked to me that the Physics majors have converted a bread truck into a TMNT Van. I’m going to go as Shredder.
So I’m seriously considering an offer from a friend of mine named Romi. His friend has a Newport 40 sailing ship that they plan on sailing down the west coast with. They are planning on taking off about exactly when my ski cabin contract runs out. Here are the things Romi used to try and convince me to go. I would be learning how to kayak, scuba dive, sail, navigate, rock climb, and fish. We will eat mostly what we catch in the ocean. I can take off at any port along the way if sailing isn’t the thing for me. I will not be earning a penny when I’m doing this but the cost will be virtually nil. I’m really leaning towards turning pirate. And check this, if I feel up to it, they are going to sail from San Diego to Hus’ favorite vacation spot…Hawaii. This could be my entire summer.
So I just interviewed yesterday to coach the Reed College Men’s Basketball Team. I don’t know if I’m hired but Ann Casey came to me about the position and she seemed really happy after the Interview. The team has chewed through four coaches in the last four years. Two in the last year alone.
Well, thats all from the Mt. and Thanks Mark for keeping the Blog running.
Guess what? One of the people in my games research group (see my gaming page for more info) gave my name to someone at The Write Stuff, a company which does technical and other sorts of writing for other companies. Anyway, this person contacted me and wants to offer MS my services, writing short reviews and articles for www.xbox.com!
I had to write a sample 750-word article on Mafia last night, which I’ll post later on after I find out if she’ll use it to represent me. Here’s hoping I get the job!
Hey Ben,
Ever heard of this stuff:
http://www.gametab.com/jump.php?89462
I had no idea people were making mods for Starcraft, though, it makes perfect sense. Know if these are any good? I like epic story-driven games of any kind.
Mark, way to get the site back up. I’m loving it.
Spring has sprung in Boston-hitting 85 on Monday. Sadly, since then it dropped 20 degrees on Tuesday and another 10 today. Oh well, anything is better than 40 degrees. Potted some flowers on the patio over the weekend. Good, clean summer fun: marigold, nicotina, and something else that is supposed to have the color “blue Hawaiian”…
Schrag, did you catch that Red Sox game last night? After trying to get into the Bruins (only had a few days for that) and watching the Celtics give it up last night, that leaves the Red Sox as the team to watch until the Patriots get rocking this fall. I’m down with the Cory Dillon trade. He is definitely a question mark, but I think he’ll bounce back from last year’s injuries to rack up some yards for the home team…
Schrag, where’s the review of that dessert buffet? I need to know if it’s any good…
For all of you Radiohead fans, the UMASS Drumline has recorded it’s own arrangement of OK Computer‘s “Paranoid Android.” It’s worth a listen (or two)…
Thanks for bringing the blog back up Mark. Don’t sweat bringing back all the old content; I am sure you are plenty busy with other things.
Congrats on the glorious victory, Melhus! How long did that take, having to play 20 games?
MIT’s Intercollegiate Volleyball Club won the New England Collegiate Volleyball League “B Flight” championship at Fairfield University this past weekend. We entered the tournament ranked 9th (of 20) and finished in the same position by beating UConn in two games (denying them an opportunity to win another championship this weekend!). On Saturday, we beat Maine and Sienna in two games. We also played the number one seed UMass Amherst and eighth-seed Army very closely, losing in three. Sunday morning, we were dismantled by Northeastern (in two) in a cross-over match that sent us into “B Flights.” We then rallied to beat Southern New Hampshire and Providence College in three, before taking UConn apart in the finals. IVC brought only six players, so we played a significant amount of volleyball (8 matches, 20 games). We also overcame a bad habit of losing our first game in every important match (except UConn) by ten points.
Personally, it was the best weekend of volleyball I’ve ever played, but today, I feel like mush.
