the P.Pole

Welcome the latest addition to our tech-family my brand new PS3 Slim. I did not get the increased (to 250 GB) model and opted instead of an extended, 2-year “don’t ask, don’t tell” warranty from Future Shop. This is mostly because I will later on expand the hard drive myself with something huge and inexpensive when it is time. Or, I will be streaming stuff off a home server anyway so there’s no need to store much content on the PS3 itself.

Anyway, other players in my game of chess include a HDMI (male) to DVI-D (female) connector bit, so I can connect my existing ass-kicking 22″, HDCP compliant computer monitor (Hans, as I named him), and—in the audio department—a pair of sister parts: a stereo audio RCA (female) to 3.5 mm (male) connector, and a 3.5 mm female-to-female bridge piece. With these two together, I will be able to game on my PS3 while plugging into audio with my headphones, or any set of speakers I may acquire later on.

Also, “Batman: Arkham Asylum” is on the way, so that’s going to be my main game for the next long while. In the meantime, MGS4 (that I bought last year) and Mirror’s Edge (today, new for $20 at Game Stop) will keep me preoccupied. I will also go ahead and set up a PSN account too. But, alas, it is time to bed. But yes, woohoo to the max.

Note: I have yet to come up with a good name (female) for my PS3 and am open to suggestions (though I reserve the right to ridicule horrible suggestions). Leave one (or more) in the comments if you please.

My mom has gone to Hong Kong. I am currently at home, in Toronto.

• just finished watching the Vera-Couture fight on Spike, horribly disappointed in the match judging once again
• went to wings tonight with family and friend(s) at All Stars, and God of Thunder was Deity of Death
• grabbing season five of The Office (US) while at home, abusing the nids here
• feeling happy about finding a second of Amy’s secret present yesterday, so that now we each have one to enjoy/pair up with
• going to bed now, after a tiring day of breakfast with dad, hair cut, dental appointment, 30+ levels of Hell’s Gate in Tactics Ogre, and NO STUDYING FOR ANY OF MY TWO TESTS (Organizational Behaviour, and Financial Accounting) AND ONE MIDTERM (Linear Algebra) THIS WEEK, MLIA

This is long overdue!

5 things I had to buy recently:

• a hacky sack from Green Earth for $4 at Fairview Mall (Kitchener)
• Owl City’s “Ocean Eyes” album from HMV for $8 (on sale)
• a super secret present from a mystery merchant for $? (awesome)
• a squash racquet from Sportchek at Conestoga Mall for $60
• Rock Band 2 disc from Future Shop for $20 (thanks to Adwin for the tip)

Total: $92 + ?

The good news is that I will not need to spend any more money on any more things until after Christmas.

In other, more free, news, I started a new game in Tactics Ogre for the PSX on my PSP and am soon to acquire three Terror Knights, after having built up my two Holy Dragons. All that would be left is to recruit Vice back and then upgrade my main character (I called him Captain Owl, leader of the Snowls) to the Lord class (two swords + healing magic + major offense).

Also, if you are a Mac user, MacHeist is holding another nano-bundle thing and there’s lots of free licenses for paid software for members of MacHeist. Check it out if you like the proposition of free software! I am digging my free copy of Twitterific.

Update: Herman’s comment about the Sp. Attack EVs and nature was spot on. I completely forgot that I used to use the same Crobat as a Confuse Ray + Hypnosis + Air Slash (flinch) lead. Silly me.

Motivation: I don’t fancy myself a pro (so you pros out there, don’t come a-flamin’ please) but I did get pretty annoyed at a Pokémon column I saw in the Math Faculty newsletter at UW the other day. This guy’s idea of an informative Pokémon article was writing about starting a new game in Gold and remarking “I caught the Pidgey because I like Pidgeys–they are so average!”. I don’t know that article’s usual audience, but it probably isn’t a particularly hardcore or large audience. Anyway, I felt like writing some Pokémon so here we go.

Sometimes, people you respect say things and it affects the way you do things for a long, maybe permanent, time.

Case in point, my cousin Herman once remarked that my Crobat and Metagross complement each others’ weaknesses very well. Since then, I’ve tended to keep both in my party for Battle Tower rounds, singles or doubles. Not only is it absolutely true, it’s also something I probably wouldn’t have noticed without the tip off before (here is where I would take credit and pretend like I’d planned the pairing all along).

Anyway, here’s my party as of right now, for singles in the Battle Tower in Pokémon Pearl: Continue reading

I’ve very little to report on today. Well let’s see:

5 things that happened today:

• John and Linda came over to help me review for my first LLQP exam tomorrow
• many Team Fortress 2 Achievements for Sniper, Spy, Heavy, and Pyro (some through farming, some through sheer awesoming)
• Team Fortress 2 Weapons, including two Huntsman Bows, a second Force-A-Nature Shotgun, and a second Natascha (from Heavy Milestone 2)
• Schneider’s Beef Pies, I had two for lunch, delicious little things
• LeBron James just saved the Cavaliers with two foul shots to tie at 100-100 with 0.5 seconds left, good golly

5 things we did at Adwin’s place:

• Left 4 Dead LAN party, versus rapage, survival exploit-fails
• Rock Band 2, starting The Navel Poonapples and getting owned by “The Perfect Drug” (NIN)
• Breakfast at… some breakfast place, it was damn good
• Guava juice + Fresca, enough said
• 3 on 3 Bobble Head Hockey + Ragdoll Kung Fu

Twas a fun time. Adwin and his parents are always wonderful hosts. I thank him for the invites and wish Raf could have been there to join us. I also lament my sucky RB drum skills. O. M. G. The Perfect Drug.

From Kotaku, there’s a site that lets you make your own Left 4 Dead achievement things.