So, after years and years of using a single keyboard, the thing finally craps out. I look online for a new one, and I'm intrigued at all the options. I go with a new, but cheap option and try out the flexible/water proof keyboard.



As all keyboards take getting used to, this one is no different. It took about an hour to figure out if I typed a key or not. but it seems ok. If I actually traveled, and traveled with a computer, this keyboard would be VERY convenient. The spacing of the keys is perfect, and I feel I'll adapt quickly. My only problem is with the one i bought I miss ONLY one geek key that I use often, and this keyboard doesn't have it.

the print screen key

It, along with the right side number pad is not on this board.
This is discouraging, and even thou I have figured out a 'tolerable' way to remedy my dilemma, I am ok with this silly thing, seeing it only cost me 10 bucks.

It is easy on the fingers, and hard on the ears somehow. It's funny how you miss the clickity clackity sound your fingers make on usual boards;
Silence can be deadly.

chrsblck give this tech toy a 6 out of 10.

next tech topic: BALL vs OPTIC mouse : Which is more reliable? :)





post created on flexible keyboard

WorldNetDaily: Evangelist drowns trying to walk on water

M y
V ery
E ager
M other
J ust
S earved
U s
N ine



sniff sniff

what happened to Pies?

Zann, good work on the baileys blog, looks really nice. I'm turning 21 in November and I'm definitely going to try a few of those concoctions. (I haven't had too many alcoholic drinks, mostly a few beers here and there when I was in Japan and on my random trips south of the border.)

Densha Otoko: This is the first movie/tv show I ever cried for that wasn't based on real events. (Well, supposedly this story was based on real events.) I love the characters, I love the story. Even if there weren't subtitles you know whats going on because this TV mini-series is so well done. I have a huge crush on the girl that plays Saori San and strive to emulate Densha. If you haven't seen or heard about this yet I strongly reccomend you see it.

If anybody wants to watch this show I'll email you my DVDs so long as you promise to mail them back.

Wii / Nintendo News: Mario Strikers will be developed for the Wii, hopefully a launch title. The Wii is almost certain to launch before christmas, and Nintendo stock is skyrocketing, almost doubling over the past year!

I can easily see Nintendo taking back its rightful place at the top of the gaming market within the next 24 months. Nintendo will definitely be taking a large portion of my pay check for at least 2 pay periods after launch!

"Alright, boys! It's SHOWTIME!"



October 20

i've had some interesting conversations about this beast over the last couple days. some odd-looking dog creature was hit by a car, and nobody's positive what it is.

Bangor Daily News - "Mysterious Beast.."
Fox News: Maine Mystery Beast - article w/photo.

there are lots of strange noises in the woods up here, so there are always fun stories of monsters. i've heard some weird shit and you can't tell me it's always a coyote or crying rabbit or dying deer. sometimes it's big fluffy rat-dog. and sometimes it is a chupacabra or It.

this thing probably came from a stray dog of a fluffy short-nosed variety, possibly procreating with a wolf or conducting some weird genetic science experiment with a coyote or fox. pretty neat, either way. i'm sad it's dead, but that's what it gets for chasing kitties.

***the reports now state that DNA tests reveal wolf-dog hybrid. wolf rapes a chow? we'll never know.

I saw the movie Zoom

Taken from a comic book Zoom's Academy, I had high hopes. Of course, having a Smashmouth soundtrack almost killed those hopes from the beginning, but I struggled on.

Verdict: Not bad. But not good.

Tim Allen is pretty good, Courtney Cox is mediocre and Rip Torn is terrible. But the standout actor is a little girl played by Ryan Newman the III. Yes, she's a girl. The movie is about a superhero brought out of retirement to train a new generation of superheroes. Of course, they help him re-discover his lost mojo and he becomes a hero again. The ending is only a small step away from completely terrible, but still, I liked it.

While not the most original of ideas, the movie was fun and had one of the greatest lines ever: "Take this guy to where losers learn to fail. He knows the way."

I'd say this is 2 out of 5 stars, definitely a Sunday rental.

The Wizard: DVD

As I was browsing for a new keyboard, I wanted to share my fun finds. So I devote this post to my overflowing favorites folder. (say that 3 times fast)


Cool Tech Stuff

virtual keyboard

flexible, waterproof keyboard

telephone prank fool your friends by having a computer call them (you even choose the caller id display)

a million Gig hard drive ?!


Things we should have learned by age ten (but did we?)

Learn morse code i was suprised how fun this is

The new Generation Mr. Wizard

Solve a Rubix Cube

Origami basics

So this oil field shuts down in Alaska, see? Seems that the pipeline has seen better days and its gonna take months to refurbish the thing. Now, nevermind the fact that the field provides 8% of America's oil, apprently--that's a drop in the bucket--or the barrel, if you will--according to Mr. Energy Secretary, Washington, D.C.

But while there are "adequate supplies to make up for the loss to West Coast refineries", that doesn't mean pump prices aren't going to jump. Oil prices have already reached a new all-time high, jumping 35 cents to $78.65 a barrel. Unsure how gas prices are beyond the Florida state line, I'm pretty sure I can speak for everyone when I say "ouch!"

Seems the lowest gas price in the area is $2.92 (yay for RaceTrac!) at the moment, with the highest being around $3.08 (nice going, Amoco). But rumors abound that prices may hit the $4.00 mark by the end of this month, if not the end of the week.

How very depressing, moreso due to the fact that most of the probably could have been avoided if Americans weren't so lazy and self-centered to let a group like Bush and his cronies run the government. What happened to the protests? Did they just disappear?

I own a '02 Dodge Neon SXT. If I go anywhere, I need it, because anywhere I need to get to is too far away to walk (or even bike) and there's no public transportation available in the middle of this go-nowhere community--and I use the term community loosely.

Anyways, my Neon gets 29 miles per gallon in the city (stop-and-go traffic) and 36 on the highway (freeway, interstate travel). This is certainly better than, say an H2, which gets about 10 mpg on average. But I figured the best way to beat the gas prices was to trade the Neon in for a hybrid...

... easier said than done.

Let's say I get the most I could get for my lil' Neon for trade-in: $3,800. The best hybrid vehicles on the market right now get almost 60 mpg city/highway--and that's the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight. I'll take either one, really, I'm not at all picky about how they look.

But locally, I'm looking at a price tag of $28,732 for the Prius and about $21,530 for the Insight.

I say again, "ouch".

So... it's clearly an investment--and if I had the money, I would certainly do it in a heartbeat, but why make it so difficult for the average consumer to purchase a vehicle that clearly is going to help not just the individual, but the nation as a whole? Can't there be, like, some SUV fairy that takes away all our gas-guzzling cars in the middle of the night and replaces them with fuel efficient automobiles? I'd love to see the looks on the faces of every middle-aged business man and PTA soccer mom when their beloved monster of a automobile is no more.

Okay, now my stomach's upset, I'll stop ranting. Before I go, I'll leave you with GasBuddy.com. I'm sure you already know of it, but in case there's anyone who doesn't, it lets you find the lowest gas prices in your area. We gotta look out for each other, y'know?

I was ready to write a post about this two weeks ago, mourning the dearth of quality geek tv, when I remembered that Who Wants to be a Superhero would be coming on. That, combined with Eureka have staved off my fears that geeks have been forgotten on tv.

Oh, don't get me wrong, there are a variety of geek shows out there, but very few that appeal to me directly. Up until now, I've had Monk and Psyche. Sadly, the 4400 jumped the shark for me, and I was never a fan of the Dead Zone. Until Superhero, the only other geek shows I watched were Mythbusters and of course, Good Eats. I do watch Lost too, slightly. I catch the reruns, rather than torturing myself with the weekly episodes. That way, I can watch them at my leisure, instead of worrying about them. I still haven't watched the season finale yet.

So my question is, what is everyone else watching? What do you recommend? I tried Medium, and when I woke up, I didn't remember anything from the episode. Ghost Whisperer is only good on mute, that way I can make up the dialogue. I still haven't watched Battlestar Galactica, though people keep telling me it's great.

Gone are the days when Scully and Mulder ran into horrors on the screen, not to mention Xena, Hercules and even Brisco County. I miss Brisco County Jr.

So what's left? Have I missed anything worthwhile? Is there a show that Paul should be watching? This season, the only show that I'm anxiously awaiting is Heroes. If it's even 1/3 as good as say Wild Cards, DP7 or Rising Stars, I will be in geek heaven.

http://blog-o-baileys.blogspot.com/

Darth Vader Being a Smartass



i love clever editing.

Final Fantasy X and X-2 have been out for a couple years, but i'm just now getting caught up with X-2. i find it amusing enough to warrant a review. i went into the game not expecting much because:

• it's obviously a rushed sequel to ride the waves of FFX's success.
• it is, in fact, the only direct Final Fantasy sequel. i'm tired of explaining that it isn't XII (or 12), it's X part 2. titles should not confuse people.
• it is easy to find brand new for $5 online.
• there are three girls on the cover. no men (androgynous or otherwise), no ridiculously long swords, no monsters, no fire.
• you play ONLY the 3 girls, no one else, for the entire game. if a girl such as myself feels emasculated playing this way, imagine what the guys think.*
• i'd seen several clips of the game, and they each came in the form of pop music videos involving the three heroines. sigh.

BUT, i adored FFX and had to continue the story. i'm happy to report that X-2 has plenty of good points!

X-2 has the same cheesy battle sayings from FFX (good thing). overall, the characters do draw you in, and i became reasonably fond of them, despite their lack of testosterone. they're just so cute. the developers threw in a "gothy" one to help balance it out, of course, but i don't know why they couldn't use the awesome Lulu instead of coming up with a stranger.

there are a LOT of little sidequests and secrets to uncover. my problem with the sidequests i've tried is that they're basically like mini games. button mashers, shooting stuff, tedious timing... Mario Party kind of stuff. i suck at them and get angry.

to further the girliness, your characters form a group called the Gullwings who go on missions, often to steal or cause trouble. they have their own little corny catchphrases and poses. Charlie's Angels.

oh, here's something neat for an RPG. you can jump!

the battles are more of a challenge than you would expect. if you don't level up and use good strategery in the correct way for each area, you'll get nailed killed. i've been defeated three times. that's three more than in the amazingly easy FFX. the glorious sphere grid leveling from FFX has been watered down to something very simplistic. the girls have dress spheres that allow them to change their roles and outfits during battle (yes, really).

there are a number of classes including black mage, gunner, warrior, and one foolish one called songstress which allows the girl to dance at the enemies. double sigh. i didn't know that worked outside of Mario DDR. however, this system is actually fun (at least for this girl). the game as a whole has kept me entertained. and that is what's important.

makes for unusual cosplay.

*as the game progressed, i better understood why guys WOULD keep playing it. the girls... they... wore very little. there's even a splashy bathing suit scene (couldn't find it in English, but it ammounts to the blonde admiring the others). triple sigh.