The ScooterBlog

Ok, I do dig it big time! I’ll hit on the initial thoughts quick:

* Spotlight is something that I don’t think I use enough, but when I do, I’m never disappointed. I was looking the other day for an e-mail where I got confirmation of selling RPG Maker 2 on Half.com and I had not shipped it quickly, so it was dated. Pop RPG Maker 2 (no quotes even) into Spotlight and it found the e-mails I needed quickly and popped them right now.

* I’ve always thought OSX Mail was very good at spam filtering, and for that reason, really never had a desire to switch to something like Thunderbird even though I would’ve liked more HTML coding support. But with that spotlight searching and a more “chic” look to it, I’m re-invigorated with Mail again and plan to use it a lot more.

* One more word on Spotlight … initally, I thought this would be replacing my beloved Quicksilver program, but really it doesn’t, but Quicksilver still acts as a truly better app launcher and quick script file utility. It’s the swiss army knife on startup whereas Spotlight is the library.

* Dashboard is growing on me! Initially, I was disappointed that it wasn’t a complete re-make of Konfabulator cause you had to bring the widgets to the desktop with F12, but it is growing on me, and I do like how I can just drag out a widget for a moment, lik ea radar screen or comic, and then put it right back away and take it out of memory, Konfabulat’s widgets weren’t really made for quick access.

* A bit of an iBook complaint though … the default keyset was totally not made for laptop users! F12 is the eject key! I finally perfected it, making F8 the “Quick Spotlight”, F7 for Dashboard, Apple-Space for Quicksilver, and Alt-Apple-Space for the detailed Spotlight. I’ll use the heck out of these 4 shortcuts.

* It does seem to be a bit more of a memory hog, I think my reasons just grew to want to bump up to 640 MB, the iBook maximum, cause you can tell that Tiger’s got enough stuff for the power user that it’s going to really eat up memory, not in a Windows “bloated” sense, you actually feel like you’re getting bang from the memory use here.

* The other features, I haven’t messed with yet, there is prolly quite a bit under the hood that I have not touched, but the big features are useful right out of the box.

There’s the quick thoughts, more soon.

What does it say that Friday Night Live is sometimes the most relaxing part of your day?

It’s kind of true right now. I’m sitting at the front of Game Junkie, dutifully keeping an eye on the front area (which is admittedly pretty cake stuff, I AM writing a blot entry after all!), talking to some of the guys about whatever, downloading widgets for Tiger, and generally getting my relaxation on. Of course though, to continue on the old these, the fact that this, and loud music, is relaxation, might be worrisome.

The plan when I go home tonight is to set up 2 XBox systems that are modded with the Halo 2 update pack (not the easiest thing to do), as well as a regular system, which thankfully, will be cake. Then, do laundry, then go to bed! If I’m lucky, I’ll be in bed by 3 AM and up by 8 AM again. Earlier today, it was all about the panic, that realization that there is so much on my plate that I have no chance of getting it all done.

Now, it’s more like, I have a chance and it may not suck too badly! We’ll see what materiaizes. More posts tonight, I want to go on a bit about Tiger!

Ok, now that everyone has hopefully watched Madden Next-Gen, I thought I’d post quick about some new stuff we’ve gotten in this past week:

* UMD Movies for PSP - We now have some of the first run of movies made on the UMD media for your PSP! We currently have in Hellboy and XXX for $19.99 and House Of Flying Daggers for $24.99, and we’ll have more of the new releases within the next week.

* Logitech Playgear Pocket - This is probably the closest thing to PSP Armor that exists right now. It’s a protective polycarbonate casing for the PSP that allows you to play games with some added cushion, as well as turn on its side and use it as a stand to watch the new movies. It’s durable enough to allow you to put your PSP into a laptop bag or place where there will be more contact, and have faith that the PSP will be just fine. We have these in stock for $19.99.

* Import DS Games - We just got in Naruto 3 DS and ElectroPlankton for your DS gaming pleasure, more proof that the PSP isn’t getting all the handheld love lately! Both are in stock but are moving quickly, so make sure to pick it up soon.

That’s three of the biggies, feel free to send me a mail or comment on any other items you’re interested in.

… our Louisville office just e-mailed me saying that one of their computers has an “annoying setting window that won’t go away” and are about begging me to drive down there to fix it, and I just spent an hour on the phone with Dell about our server and didn’t get anywhere cause I couldn’t understand the guy on the phone.

That’s the other bad thing about getting pulled. I get pulled about three different ways at my main job: computer guru, Louisville computer bitch, and inside sales. This job needs about 2 and a half people, and I’m only one.

This is gonna be a long day.

There is one bad thing about having lots of responsibility: you get pulled in every direction, and most assuredly, someone will end up pissed off. That was my Wednesday.

Not working, hanging out with Danielle, and getting crap from Adam for not being at the store for handheld night, and hateful crap at that, questioning my dedication. That galls me, bad. If I would not have seen Danielle, she would have been disappointed, and let’s not forget needing to leave my main job right at 5 which I know irks my co-worker, even though that is closing time.

I work 2 jobs and have a girlfriend that all want time, and I want to give them this time. the 2 jobs are full of people for whom the day’s work is not enough. At the main job, I just have no passion for that and no desire, and a co-worker whom by 5 I need to get distance from for my own sanity.

At the game store, I’ve realized a few things. First, that a lot of my work is in little things no one sees. Wednesday, I did do store work, a trade in run of overstock. No one noticed. And, when I am at the store, I work. I don’t play, I don’t really take many breaks, I just do work. This isn’t anyone’s fault, it’s just how I am wired I guess. So, if I need down time, while I love the game store, and I am passionate about its success, I am not going to get that downtime at the store, at least not during regular hours.

So I don’t know the answer except to think that I’m going to start to have to deal with a life where some aspect of my friends is always pissed off cause I can’t give everyone every bit of time I have and never recharge. Danielle is going through a similar thing, people adjusting to her not having the time she used to, and sometimes in hateful ways.

There is no magic wand to fix it, just a hope of understanding, and the hope in a work sense that all you do selflessly does count for something in the end.

Well, EA Sports, as they do every year, is beginning their Madden NFL Blitz on the NFL Draft Day, but this year, it’s not just about the newly drafted rookies: it’s about the next generation of systems too.

They will be debuting a 60-second commercial with footage from the next-generation version of the game, it will be the first time anywhere that images will be available of graphics from this next line of systems.

What are they doing to make it even more of a big deal? Well, pay attention, it will only air once between 12 PM and 1 PM on ESPN, the first hour of their NFL Draft coverage when the top picks are made (and NO, the Bengals don’t pick there this year!), and when viewership is highest. I would imagine the commercial will be in High Definition where ESPN HD is on, and shoudl you have the service.

Hopefully someone will capture the commercial for the highest quality. It’ll be on the net too after air, so that link will be here and a mocap link should it arrive.

Jump over to the forum, I’ll post some thoughts on this there!

So Adam is coming through again!! Not only is he now also a member of the blogging world (click here, you’ll go to his blog!), but we now have an even cooler web page then ever before! It’s got information on our E3 Swag Giveaway (and you know I’ll be talking more about that here too), the Halo Tournament coming up, and even both my blog and Adam’s blog too.

Kinda cool to get all this going together and make our web presence cooler then it’s ever been too, and we’ll be able to get the word out about our events even more effectively then ever before.

Can you tell I’m more then just a bit psyched?

… and you thought the whole “Ford F-150″ being driven by everyone in the show “24″ was bad!

It’s not that this is a new thing, but apparently, it’s going to go mainstream, as a bunch of companies have signed on to have their name plastered “tastefully” inside games. I’m sure it will be the same as, say, movie or TV product placement, but I wonder if, like the advertisement shown in the Joystiq blog entry, if it will ever go down like that. Everything else is commercialized, I guess this was the final video game straw.

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000080040217/

For those of you whom read my deviant chat about the store I work at and enjoy greatly, Game Junkie, I have a new address for that site:

http://www.gamejunkie.com/blogs/scooter/

If you have not seen it but come to the game store, stop there, comment, and enjoy it!

Yes, this is different then it was 10 minutes ago. Adam has a blog too and he’s making a portal page, and this makes it more organized

And more specifically two jobs, make sure you take zero exceptions on the tax forms, and maybe even specify for them to take some extra out of each paycheck for taxes.

Reason being, if each job takes taxes out like it is yout only source of income, then neither job will take out enough when you get bumped into higher tax brackets, meaning you have to pay.

Sadly, I have to this year, and a bunch too! So much for extra spending cash on good games right now, bleh.