Bryan's Fight for Attention

Our New House is Coming Along

2009-09-17T09:05:00.002-06:00

As many of you know, we are buying a house in Eagle Mountain. We are just in the construction phase, but it is very exciting! We go out and visit the site at least once a week, and we were ecstatic when they finally dug the hole for the house. Then we were even more excited when we discovered that they had poured the foundation the next week. When we visited on Tuesday of this week we were thrilled to see that they had put up the walls! I will continue to publish photos so everyone can see them.

The Base has been Completed!!!!

2009-06-29T07:44:00.004-06:00

I know, I've taken forever... But the base of the LEGO General Grievous is now complete. At first I was disturbed that I didn't get to build the actual General Grievous, but then I realized that he did need a place to perch since his footing was never really solid. The base is pretty solid, and would most likely support the weight of the Star Destroyer model (which I want to do next). The main part of the base consists of 195 LEGO pieces, 32 of which are dedicated to the solid footings underneath. At the top, there is a swivel platform with the General's feet built right on it. The platform itself is constructed with 65 pieces, then another 96 pieces for his feet.
On a side note, I've gotten a lot of slack about capitalizing all the letters in LEGO. I would just like to note that while "Lego" would be correct, typing "LEGO" is more correct, as that was how the original trademark was captured. Yeah, I know it's just a technicality, but if you really knew me, you wouldn't be surprised that I'm such a stickler on little things like this. :)

Rules Rules Rules

2009-06-03T14:54:00.003-06:00

So, I decided to begin the build today. I grabbed my box of LEGO pieces, the instruction booklets (yes, there are more than one), and my giddy 8-year-old demeanor, and skipped outside during my break. I sat down on a nice patch of Kentucky Bluegrass (or at least it smells like it's Kentucky Bluegrass), and cracked open the booklets. To my dismay and horror I was given my first ultimatum!!! The very first instruction implied that I was going to have to construct my toy on a table! What?! They have the picture of your LEGO pieces on the grass, with a big red X through it!!! Whatever happened good ol' LEGO building on the grass? Did someone poke their eye out once with a blade of grass and sued LEGO? Are they just trying to protect me? Or was it those crazy environmental dudes from D.C.? "Don't build LEGOs on grass. You'll kill the defensless organisms!" Either way, I was very disappointed. Being the obedient servant that I am, I sauntered back inside with my wares. There will be no LEGO grassing for me.

The LEGO Returns

2009-06-02T15:11:00.007-06:00

Hello all, I'm writing again from another long hiatus. This time I will be chiming in regularly to update you on my newest cool project. My friend Steve recently completed the assembly of the LEGO General Grievous and proudly displayed it on his bookshelf. Of coarse, being the large LEGO fan that I am, I was greatly envious of his new acquisition. Upon one visit to Steve's abode I was handed a box of LEGO pieces and the instruction booklet for General Grievous LEGO model. It had fallen from his bookshelf and therefore, had shattered into quite a few pieces. Knowing how much of a fan I was to all things LEGO, he offered to give me the chance to rebuild it for him! I was ecstatic! I haven't built a large LEGO model for such a long time, I wasn't sure that I would be able to do it anymore. But I accepted and now I have two options placed before me: do I take the current chunks as they are and snap them back together, or do I take it apart piece by piece and rebuild it from bottom-up? After much deliberation, I decided to build it from the bottom up.

I brought it to work, so I do not chance losing any small pieces to the appetite of my two small children. Over the course of the last two weeks I have taken it apart piece by piece and I am finally able to start its recreation. So, over the next few weeks (since I am limited to break time, and when it is slow at work), I will be posting updates and pictures on my newfound glory.

Here is the box of all the LEGO pieces before the recreation.

Something to Think About...

2009-03-09T22:32:00.001-06:00

This semester in school I am taking a philosophy class, and it has made me start thinking more. I mean, I already thought a lot about everything, but now it's deeper. I would like to pose a few questions or parcels of thought. Feel free to comment if you'd like.

- What makes time what it is? If time has no meaning to God, then is time only a construct of man? What would life be like without time?
- If there are other sentient beings in the universe, how much like us would they be? Language, dress, transportation, politics, religion, etc.
- There is no man-made global warming. Earth is just following it's own cycle that it has for millions of years.
- Quantum Mechanics, along with Quantum Entanglement, may explain the unexplainable: ESP, clairvoyance, twin/relational telepathy, and even distance healing.
- Does everyone see colors the same? Or do all of our brains interpret all this visual input differently? If everyone's brain is different like a fingerprint, then I don't see why not.

Let me know your thoughts...

Scattergories

2008-12-15T10:46:00.003-07:00

My sister sent this to me via email, and so here is my blog on it. If you'd like to do it as well, copy it and paste it into your own blog changing your answers.

Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following.. They
have to be real places, names, things - nothing made up!

Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same
1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question. And
you can not use the same word twice

WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Bryan
BOY NAME: Brett
4 LETTER WORD: Brat
GIRL NAME: Beatrice
OCCUPATION: Battlechess Champion
A COLOR: Burnt sienna
SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Bathrobe
BEVERAGE: Beer (Root)
FOOD: Bundt Cake
SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Bobby Pins
A PLACE: Billings, Montana
REASON FOR BEING LATE: Being abducted by aliens
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Be right there!

Some that I am adding...

Song: Bye Bye Birdie
Movie: Benchwarmers
Actor: Brad Pitt
Game: Baulderdash
Things found at a beach: Beach Ball

If you can think of more to add, go ahead. If you do add this to your blog, leave me a link in the comment of this post :)

My Firsts

2008-12-02T21:51:00.003-07:00

My Sister Lindsey sent this to me via email, but instead of replying and forwarding it to a few people, I thought I would blog it so more people could see it :)

My Firsts

1. Who was your FIRST prom date? Natalie Thayne
2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love? No
3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink? NA
4. What was your FIRST job? Hardees
5. What was your FIRST car? A Blue Truck. I don't remember the Make/Model
6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today? Noone Texted me, but Heidi was the first to IM me via Google Talk.
7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning? Heidi
8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher? Mrs. Phillips. I remember that because whenever I saw the Phillips Gas station in Denver I thought it was her home.
9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane ride? To Houston, Texas
10. Who was your FIRST best friend and are you still friends with him/her? Jacob Jewitt, and we try to keep in contact.
11. What will be your FIRST thought when you wake up tomorrow morning? "Do I like Kirk? Or do I like Picard?"
12. Where was your FIRST sleep over? I don't remember. Aunt Bev's maybe?
13. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? Heidi
14. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time? My sister Andrea's I think
15. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning? Showered.
16. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to? Jim Brickman
17. FIRST tattoo or piercing? Stick-n-Lick Tattoo of Batman
18. Who was your FIRST kiss from? Jessica Sturm (see #1)
19. Who was your FIRST boss? Don't remember.
20. When was your FIRST detention? When you've gone as much as I have, you tend to forget the first. It blends in with all the others.
21. What was the FIRST state you lived in? Utah
22. Who was the FIRST person to really break your heart? Sandy (don't remember last name right now)
23. Who was your FIRST roommate? Mark, Mark, & Richard. The Bachelor Pad

Cell Phone Survey

2008-11-18T18:19:00.001-07:00

Blackberry... or Crackberry?

2008-08-19T10:22:00.003-06:00

K, so as many of you know, I was issued a Blackberry for work. And as many of you know, I don't really use it for work.. haha. I spend most of my Blackberry time playing games, even at times in the middle of the night to the chagrin of my wife. So, now I open the question up to y'all. Is this an addiction? Or is it just a fad that will simply fade along with my Palm Pilot phase, Sony VAIO UX phase, etc. If it is just a phase, I won't think too much about it, but if it's an addiction, I need to start laying down some rules for myself.

NERD Magazine

2008-07-29T10:26:00.001-06:00

I was so excited that I made it on the Cover of the MORON magazine, that I submitted yet another pic of myself to the NERD magazine... And I made it on the Cover of this one too!

Memories.... Nothing more than Memories...

2008-07-11T16:59:00.000-06:00

Here is a fun little game... leave a comment on my blog of a memory you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time or a long time; anything that you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memeory about you. It is pretty funny to read the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you are playing and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark... get set... blog those memories!
(Got this post from Melissa's blog)

I made it on the cover!

2008-07-03T07:42:00.001-06:00

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

Another LEGO Rubik's Cube Solution

2008-06-04T08:45:00.004-06:00

So, a while ago I posted about a LEGO creation that could solve a Rubik's cube. I was really excited about it, and wanted to create one of my own. I never got around to that. BUT, I did find a newer model using the latest LEGO NXT technology. The previous model completed a turn about every 30 seconds. The newer model completed the rubik's cube in about 30 seconds.... So... yeah... Now I want to build this one :D

Tag!

2008-06-03T14:23:00.002-06:00

I've been tagged by Melissa. Huh, I've never played Blog-Tag, but I guess I can't say that anymore. Here is my list.

What were you doing five years ago?

My wife and I were child-less and we both worked at Media Play

What are five things on your to-do list for today (in no particular order)?

take a nap

finish this blog post

drive home

give my wife a kiss

take a walk with the family

What are five snacks you enjoy?

semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies

M&Ms

strawberries

snickers

chicken nuggets

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

move into a house

start collecting cars (Jay Leno style)

start a humanitarian project

create a reality TV show (not sharing details right now, but it's a good one!)

start a computer game development company

What are five of your bad habits?

picking my nose

drinking pop

correcting grammar and spelling excessively

driving fast

getting mad at myself

What are five places where you have lived?

Springville, UT

Littleton, CO

Montevideo, Uruguay

Sugarhouse, UT

Midvale, UT

What are five jobs you've had?

Waiter at Marie Callender's

Sales Rep at Media Play

Foodservice Bookkeeper at Salt Lake Community College

IT Analyst at Unisys

IT Analyst at Cybersource

I'm tagging: Steve & Laura Hawley, Brandon & Erin Wilhelmson, Amy & Brian Monson

David Archuleta is AWESOME

2008-02-27T08:42:00.001-07:00

American Idol 7 starts!

2008-02-20T17:28:00.004-07:00

American Idol season 7 started yesterday (the part where we can get involved anyway) and Heidi and I are really into it. To keep up with what we think about each singer, here is a list of our ratings of each contestant: AI7 Ratings

Quiet on the set!

2008-02-07T09:23:00.001-07:00

I decided to try something different today. Since it's been such a long time that I have posted, you faithful readers of Bryan's Fight for Attention deserve a treat. I actually got this thought in the shower this morning. I am going to cast a movie. I'm not sure what the movie is yet, and I guess we'll put that together after I cast it. I am going to list some friends and cast them to certain roles of this movie. I will try to cast each friend in a way that matches the way I see that person in real life. So... here it goes...

Setting: New York

Start with the Main Characters:

Me (Bryan Schmidt) - Slightly-Confused-Just-Strolling-Through-Life-Protagonist working at a software company

Heidi Schmidt - Protagonist's wife - part-time Cotton Candy vendor in Central Park

Makayla Schmidt - famous dancing baby (all the pop-stars want her in their music videos)

Zuke Arakaki - Business Consultant. Ninja-Manhunter in his spare time, and he grows weed in his basement.

Steve Hawley - CrimeLord MasterMind GodFatha. He's currently on number 187 of his winning streak on Jeopardy (we're not sure if he's really that smart, or if he's paying someone off).

Mel Arakaki - DNA analyst for the NYPD Crime Lab. Collects bottle caps and hood ornaments.

Laura Hawley - District Attorney. Breeds Chihuahuas in her spare time. Has a restraining order for stalking Matthew McConaughey, and Kate Hudson has her on her red list.

Brandon Wilhelmson - Master Sensei and blade master. Eats turtles and grasshoppers.

Erin Wilhelmson - 5 Year champion of the X-Games Dirt Bike Racing Competition. Works at a Law Firm as a Special Victims Protection Liaison.

Nate Stoddard - Head Detective at NYPD. Owns 14 cats, and he built a cat-sized house for them.

Kristen Stoddard - Editor of a fashion magazine. Walks 56 blocks to work every day so she can stop by her favorite Bagel Stand.

Ashly Sokia - Supreme Court Justice Judge. Winner of American Idol Season 8 (it was the Schmidty Jumping Jacks that really sold it).

Stephanie Silva - Dog Trainer and Sign Language Interpreter. Can recite the New Testament in 3 languages.

Chris Ballenger - Architectural Contractor for Vandalay Industries. Thinks life is too short and often takes vacations to "see the world".

Jeri Geis - Leader of New York's largest biker gang. Also New York's only LifeTime Weight Watcher's Member.

Erin Best - Central Park Gardener. Has genetically re engineered all the plants to eat stray cats and dogs.

Dane Falkner - Sharp Shooter for NY SWAT. He still lives in his mother's basement.

Joey Nelson - Painter. She likes to eat dessert before the main course and always orders Ginger Ale.

Dom Campbell - Secret Danish Spy working at Barnes & Noble as her cover. She likes to peel the label from her water bottles.

Ben Wood - Master Thief. His ninja training allows him to never be seen, which is unfortunate, because noone knows he exists.

Kirk Ricks - Jedi. Need I say more?

Beth Harmon - Detective at NYPD. Has the longest case cracking record than anyone in the world, including Sherlock Holmes and Adrian Monk.

Jeff Allison - High-ranking member in Jeri's Biker Gang. He likes Bananas and he wears a neon green bandana to set him apart from the rest of the bikers.

Liz Garcia-Nakamura - Profile Artist at the NYPD. Also owns her own gallery.

Dan Frei - Unicyclist Juggler. Collects pigeon feet and likes to eat the entire orange.

Maxine Sanchez - Senator. Running for President. Member of Jeri's biker gang.

-Still not finished... If you don't see your name on here, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you. If you think I have, let me know, and I will be sure to cast you in my movie :D

Virus Game

2007-11-14T13:12:00.001-07:00

My Toe

2007-11-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

I recently had an ingrown toenail and it got real bad real quick within the last few weeks, so I went to see a podiatrist. He numbed the toe and cut out about a third of the toenail... just like that. It was over in 20 minutes. Since then it's been healing over quite nicely, and I've been wearing a special medical shoe that my mom had in storage. I think I need to get shoes with a wider berth because it feels like my toes are squeezed together when I wear my shoes. It became more evident with this issue because I can feel every bit of pressure on my toe now until it completely heals. Wearing shoes that are not wide enough may be the reason for the ingrown toenails too, but I'm not sure.

So.... if you have any input, please leave a comment. :D

Tilt Maze

2007-11-06T13:28:00.001-07:00

Here is a fun addicting game that my friend Laura showed me.

Tilt Maze: Move the red ball with the arrow keys and get it to the blue square. Press control to reset the level

Sudoku is Hard

2007-10-26T10:29:00.000-06:00

My friend Zuke sent me this comic and I loved it! So, here it is:

Money at the bottom of the sea

2007-10-09T14:37:00.000-06:00

I have recently counted all the currency in the ocean. Unfortunately, I was unable to collect any of it, since the Ocean is owned by the UN under the Planetary Water Systems Act, and therefore, all the money in the ocean belongs to the U.N.

Anywho.. The total amount of currency found in the Oceans of the earth comes to $205,091,652,424.03 (Including foreign currency exchange rates; not including inflation)

Here is the quantity breakdown:

5,484,662,217 Pennies = $54,846,622.17
1,225,223,115 Nickles = $61,261,155.75
4,212,532,253 Dimes = $421,253,225.30
988,212,332 Quarters = $247,053,083.00
1,500,556 Half Dollar = $750,278.00
312,262 Saquejewean Dollars = $312,262.00
845,332 Silver Dollars = $845,332.00
36,515,565 Dollar Bills = $36,515,565.00
112,223 Two Dollar Bills = $224,446.00
52,321,558 Five Dollar Bills = $261,607,790.00
9,155,654 Ten Dollar Bills = $91,556,540.00
875,331 Fifty Dollar Bills = $43,766,550.00
1,568,223,427 One hundred dollar bills = $156,822,342,700.00 (This number is considerable higher due to the number of briefcases found with $100's stashed in them)
856 Five Hundred Dollar Bills = $428,000.00 (These were really rare, and not many were printed. Most of them went down with the Titanic.)
$500,112,332.15 in Pre-1950 Currencies
$46,548,776,542.66 in Foreign Currencies (after current exchange rates)

There you have it... The complete breakdown. (Disclaimer: no this is not real... and don't try this at home. Deep sea diving is dangerous.)

You only get one fortune

2007-10-05T17:52:00.001-06:00

You only get one fortune per full game of TaiPei. Pressing backspace to get another fortune is ILLEGAL!

Death predictions

2007-09-17T14:42:00.000-06:00

I recently took a Death Prediction test here: http://evil.berzerker.net/death_predictions.php. These usually are not very accurate and give you something to laugh at. But here is my death prediction:

Bryan Schmidt: At age 40 the artificial intelligence software you programmed becomes self aware and devours you. You will be saved to disk though, so no worries.

This is weird because it's right up my alley. How did this death predictor know that I was a programmer, let alone interested in A.I. development? So this officially has freaked me out! Let's hope your death prediction is not as freaky as mine is.

Leave a comment and post your Death Prediction here too. I am curious.

Email Etiquette? New Technologies Change Everything.

2007-08-08T15:34:00.000-06:00

40 years ago.... phone etiquette
20 years ago.... fax etiquette
10 years ago.... email etiquette

what now?

We are into the days of blogs and social networking sites. It is a time where, instead of waiting for news and information to come to you, you go out and find it. We are at a point where information is so easy to come by, that pieces of it can be overlooked or bypassed. This is where blogging and social networking come in handy. If something you find is of interest, you can blog it or link to it. Other people that are linked to you or that have access to your site are now made aware of this piece of information. This being said, there are a new set of e-mail etiquette rules I would like to propose...

New Email Etiquette Rules: (Some have always existed, and some are new)

Stories (touching, funny, gory) are fun to read sometimes, but not when you receive 20 of them a day. Instead, blog these into a miscellaneous category on your site and tell your friends to check it regularly. Most blogs and social networking sites allow people to subscribe to your site so they can receive notifications when you add something.
Chain e-mails that tell you that you will have good luck/bad luck depending on how many people you send it to are an absolute NO-NO! (pardon the all-caps.) No matter the content, this incentive keeps the vicious cycle going. In one year, I received the same chain e-mail more than 10 times (each from different people)! I didn't forward them to anyone, and guess what? No bad luck! Huh! Go figure. haha.
Attachments, whether they are pictures or videos, take up extra space and take a while to download. Most Blog sites and Social Networking sites allow you to post pictures and videos at will. Post them there and tell people to just check your site.
Work email address = work-related email. Personal email address = personal email. Most companies that issue you an email address have a policy that limits your email usage. It is wise to adhere to that policy. Do not give friends your work email address. A friend that sends a 2MB video to your work email address takes up 2MB of your company's server bandwidth. Then if you forward that to 10 or more other people in or out of your company, that is even more bandwidth that you are using up. This can slow the network down and slow productivity.
If you do decide to forward an email to a few family or friends, remove all the header and forward information from the previous emails. Most email programs or services will allow you to edit the original email after choosing to reply or forward an email. Use this advantage to remove all the non-contextual gibberish. This way, your friends don't have to sift through 5 pages of forwarding information before they get to the main content.

So there they are. In conclusion, with the invasion of free blog sites and social networking sites, there is no more need of those pesky forwards and attachments. So... what are these sites that I speak of? Well, you most likely already know about sites like this. The most popular are as follows:

Blog Sites: blogger.com (the one I use), xanga.com, livejournal.com, etc.
Social Networking: MySpace.com, facebook.com, friendster.com, etc.

There are many many many more, but those are the most popular that came to my mind. For a list of more, click here.

ABC News: Largest Known Planet Discovered

2007-08-07T13:20:00.002-06:00

This is pretty cool news! I enjoy finding new things out about our Universe. It is exciting that we are being able to see more and more of our universe as technology increases. It always makes me feel so small and insignificant, but then it also makes me feel lucky to think that of all the space we have discovered, the Earth is the only place so far that we are able to thrive.

ABC News: Largest Known Planet Discovered

UPDATE: August 29th, 2008. I found the above link to be bad, so I found another link with the same story: Space.com: Largest Known Exoplanet Discovered

Google Wireless Service?

2007-07-20T15:27:00.000-06:00

May google offer a wireless phone service in the future? If US Regulators add a certain condition to an auction for a wireless spectrum of airwaves, Google may make the minimum bid of $4.6 Billion! Article at Javno. I, personally, am all for this. With the way things are going for Google right now, and all the new services they keep improving and implementing, I can't wait to see what they will do with wireless airwaves. The possibilities are endless, but we're just gonna have to sit and wait it out.

ViaTalk Free Connect

2007-07-17T14:40:00.001-06:00

In all my research of a new phone service I found ViaTalk Free Connect. It is a service provided by ViaTalk (one of the VOIP companies I am researching for our home) where anyone with a regular phone service can use to make a free 10-minute long-distant call. Simply go to the webpage by clicking on the link below, put in your phone number, and the phone number of the person you would like to call, and viola!: Your phone rings, you pick it up, and your other party is dialed by ViaTalk.

ViaTalk Free Connect

The Search for a New Phone Service is on

2007-07-17T11:34:00.000-06:00

So, as I stated in the most recent post at my family blog, our VOIP service, SunRocket, pulled the plug to all their customers on Monday without warning. So I am in the hunt for a new service. Vonage is still more expensive than I am willing to pay, so we probably still won't switch to the giant of VOIP. But I did find a service called ViaTalk. Their price is the same as SunRocket's was ($199/year) and with comparable and more features! They are also offering free shipping of their Internet-to-phone adapter to ex-SunRocket members! It is looking promising so far. But in the pressure to save more money I am also looking at Skype: for only about $25/year you can have similar service. You lose the 911 feature (which we have with our cell phones), but then you have added SMS functionality which may be a plus... e.g. Heidi at home with Skype phone in one hand, holding Makayla in the other hand, can still be chatting with me while I am at work, and she doesn't have to sit down at the computer to do it :D. So, we will weigh the Pros and Cons and see what works best for us. I will bring my findings to the table as my research progresses.

Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2007-07-16T13:28:00.000-06:00

So far, I believe, this Harry Potter film is the best of the series. They just keep getting better. I think David Yates did a great job with this film and the special effects. I hope he directs the next two as well. The action in this film was outrageous! Especially the battle between Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort: sand, glass, water and millions of other things flying around. It came pretty close to what I had imagined a long time ago what a wizard battle should look like. I would even go as far as to say that it was better than the action scene between Saruman and Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings. Throughout the entire movie there was never a dull moment. There was comedy, tragedy, drama, and tons of action. There were times when I was on the edge of my seat, then moments later I would be sitting back in contemplation or awe. Overall, whether or not you are a Harry Potter fan, or whether or not you have seen the first four preceding films or read the books, you should give this film a try.

Movie Review: Transformers

2007-07-04T16:49:00.000-06:00

My wife and I went to see Transformers last night with Steve and Laura. I was going into the movie half excited and half hoping it would be good. I was excited because I have always loved the Transformers cartoons when I was younger, and I have been looking forward to this movie ever since I heard about it a year or so ago. From critic reviews I was a bit hesitant about the film. But, after sitting through each action packed scene, I could decide for myself. This movie was, pardon my internet ettiquette, SOOOOOOO AWESOME! Seeing the father of all robots, Optimus Prime, transform into the 40-foot giant that he is, was exhilerating; and then to see him duke it out with Megatron was even more exciting. Michael Bay did a great job at giving each of the Autobots and Decepticons a personality that the audience could relate to. This is a movie I wil want to see many times again. Good job Mr. Bay!

WOTD: Halo: Combat Evolved

2007-07-02T09:35:00.000-06:00

Halo. My favorite game. The story mode in itself has a lot to offer, but the Multiplayer Mode is where all the fun is at. There's nothing like getting together with all my friends and virtually duking it out in MJOLNIR armor wielding Energy Swords and Rocket Launchers.

Ever since November 15th, 2001 my life hasn't been the same. Yeah there have been great video games, but not like Halo. Graphically it's not the greatest, and it's definitely not a historically correct shooter, but it is (in my opinion) the funnest. Reason: Not a lot of complicated controls like some of the war shooters, not too detailed so it allows for easy analysis of your surroundings, and the Warthog is so fun to drive!

Pac-Man skeleton!

2007-06-30T11:08:00.001-06:00

A Paleontologist created a skeleton of one of our most beloved Video Game Heroes, Pac-Man! I wouldn't have thought he would have teeth so large... or teeth at all. I kinda figured his mouth was more like a bird's beak. But then again I failed my video-game-zoology course in college.

Link: Geekologie - Pac-Man skeleton

Don't put the bag on your head

2007-06-29T17:03:00.001-06:00

WOTD: Space Shuttle Atlantis

2007-06-29T16:27:00.001-06:00

NASA's Orbiter 'Atlantis' recently finished another successful mission on June 22nd, so I wanted to dedicate a blog to this fine Space Shuttle. It has flown 28 missions over 22 years (7 of those including docking with the Russian MIR Space Station, and 8 with the ISS). She is scheduled to fly two more flights before retiring in 2010. Atlantis' next mission is scheduled for December 6th of this year.

It's cockpit has been upgraded to a "Glass Cockpit" which features more advanced LCD screens and instruments that helps the pilots navigate easier and faster and allows them to focus on the most pertinent information at the time needed.

I have been interested in Space and Aeronautics since I can remember being interested in anything. It has always been one of my biggest dreams to be able to travel in space. *sigh*

Link: Space Shuttle Atlantis

LEGO Rubik's Cube Solver

2007-06-28T22:04:00.000-06:00

Two of my great interests have been melded together in this great LEGO creation! A LEGO machine using the MINDSTORM RIS (Robotics Invention System) helps you solve the beloved (and hated) Rubik's Cube. I have the LEGO Mindstorm RIS 2.0 set, but these plans ask for two programmable computer bricks but the set only comes with one. I will need to see if I can get one via eBay. This model also uses the Vision Command for LEGO RIS, which I don't have either. However, the engineer for this model has included in the computer software a manual configuration mode so you can tell the machine how the cube is configured; then it can solve it without the Camera.

Link: http://jpbrown.i8.com/cubesolver.html

WOTD - Blogger

2007-06-28T15:51:00.000-06:00

Wikipedia Link: Blogger (Service)

As my first Wikipedia of the Day entry on my Blogger account, it is fitting that this wonderful service be showcased. This free service only requires that you have a Google account, which is also free. With this Google account there are many other services you have available to you, including, but not limited to: GMail (email), Picasa (web photo album), Docs (web-based Office-style products), Sketchup (3D graphic editor), Maps, Calendar, and the list goes on.

I am still waiting for all of these Google services to integrate seemlessly, but for now, I can make do with what they have available.

Kickoff

2007-06-28T13:28:00.000-06:00

This post kicks off the beginning of my Blogger account. It's been a while since I've kept a regular blog and hopefully this will be regularly updated.