New Content @ Databyss.com

I've put up a few new pages on this site that are non posts.

I try to expand upon my interests so I can share them with other folks.

I put up a page about gaming, to discuss my interests in games, and I put up a page about programming to do likewise.

I have decided, as part of my focusing effort, that I am going put more effort into this site. I am going to use this platform as a public bulletin board for my progress, projects and projects progress.

One thing I have failed to mention so far is my work on a Google Chart Designer project. It's a small tool I am developing that provides a simple web (html/javascript) interface to building the URL's that are specified via the Google Chart API. I'm glad to say that as of right now, there have been 51 downloads of my project and less than 5 of those have been me.

That project also serves as my introduction to the world of open source programming, and using a cvs system for my personal projects. Generally I would manage source control for my own projects by using multiple directories.

New Year?

Another new year? meh.

I feel like I've just woken up for the first time, but not in the good I-can-get-my-life-going kinda way. More along the wtf kinda way.

I've got no goals, no plans, no motivation and no money. I live to pay bills right now.

If I'm doing such a meager job at that, how can I expect myself to obtain anything better?

Is it relevant to my future?

Is my current situation indicative of my potential?

How do I get motivated?

Why should I be motivated?

I don't know what to do. I don't know what I can do.

I don't think I can do anything.

I'm not even sure I like who I am anymore.

I know what some of my problems are. How do I solve them?

I'm socially awkward, either too obnoxious or too quiet.

I can't carry a conversation if my life depended on it, everything I say always feels too forced.

I'm horrible at time management.

I don't talk to, or see my friends enough.

I don't put time into the hobbies I enjoy, or tell myself that I enjoy.

I'm not dedicated to any one thing.

A listing of my problems is too boring for even me to read.

I think what I need here is focus. I need to pick several areas to concentrate on. That to me is the difference between average folk and famous/notable folk.

Bill Gates is the Microsoft guy. I'm sure he likes other things as well, but his focus is Microsoft and that probably envelops 90% of his time. He will be leaving his full time roll soon and I think it will be interesting to see how he handles losing his focus.

Everybody who is known as 'that _____ guy/chick', is generally successful at that. Is it because they were successful first or because they were focused? Does it matter? They're there and they're focused on their topic. (grammar fun, notice the 3 proper uses of they're, there and their!)

I was really inspired today by a post from Jeff Atwood about Magpie Developers and the obsession with the new and shiny.

I need to stop trying to understand everything and focus on a few things.

Another new year sounds like the same old year to me...

Life stays the same regardless of our relative position in orbit around the sun.


Damn, after reading all this, I feel like tacos.

Wii Updates!

It's been nearly a year, but a reader has provided some new information about this old post.

Nintendo has setup a page that provides some basic information about Wii updates.

I figured that while we were on the topic, this would be a good time to talk about my Wii experiences so far.

My Wii gets weekly use at a minimum. I've got a full time job, a lovely (yet demanding) woman, and a host of hobbies and interests that take up my time so game play hasn't been a large priority. I still get time in to play Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, mySims and run through many of the Virtual Console games I've got downloaded on the system. It's also fun to spin the globe around in the weather channel and see what the temperature is at the poles.

My Wii qualms come in the form of lacking online play. I've got Mario: Strikers but so many of my games lag out that I've given up trying. My buddy has been rocking in Madden, but the scoring system online is tipped in the favor of quitting instead of losing, so it's near pointless to play.

We've got Smash Bros. Brawl on pre-order and hopefully the on-line play in that will be on or above par with other console ventures.

Online play aside, a big aside, the quality and fun of my existing Wii library is incredible. I think that's the main reason it still gets so much play.

In the past month couple months I've picked up an XBox 360, so it does cut into the Wii time. This is to augment the not-so-greatness of Nintendo's online capabilities. This also has taken time away from some Wii action. Although I find that the games on the 360 are much shorter to beat. I just finished up Ace Combat 6 on hard and I'm working my way through expert. The online play is what I was looking forward to, but there just doesn't seem to be many people on.

I got Halo 3, but the pace for an FPS is abysmal. I don't mean pace of the story, I mean the actual live gameplay, so I don't really play that anymore. If I want quality FPS action, I'll stick to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption or Counter-Strike:Source.

So that's my spiel about the Wii Updates and my updates about the Wii.

Enjoy the holiday season and hit me up if you're looking for some friend codes to play Brawl when it comes out. I also keep my DS with me pretty much wherever I go, so if you're looking for some unique pokèmon or want to get some mario kart action, lemme know.

DigitalLife Summary

There really isn't much new to report on the DigitalLife expo.

MC Frontalot was awesome as usual, his 2 sets were spectacular and drew a sizable crowd considering how sparse the floor was populated in general.

Here's a clip of the front performing the pr0n song recorded by a fellow fan:



And here's a clip I got of the front busting crazy dance moves on my cellaphone during the breakdown in Hassle The Dorkening:



I got some views of Guitar Hero 3 rocking, but there was far too large a crowd and far too little patience in me to wait. It looks and plays pretty much like Guitar Hero 2.

The counter strike tournament going on was interesting but mildly so. I could've sat and watched for hours, but I could do the same watching my bro play super mario bros.

There was some Halo 3 action kicking. I watched a little bit of that, but the game play is still very slow. I think coming from the fast paced world of PC FPS's, it will unfortunately always be so. I did pick up Halo 3, not at the convention... I didn't see anybody selling it there. It's fun, but not crazy good.

There was a decent sized free play area with some PS3's and 360's setup. I played some racing game on the PS3, not sure what it was called. It was surprisingly mediocre. The graphics weren't that fantastic, and the game play was standard.

The US Army was there showing off a new game, similar to America's Army, but for the 360, they also had a large simulator game, but while I was there, the line was far too long.

I think that covers all the interesting parts of DigialLife, I'll update this post it anything new shows up.

All my DigitalLife videos can be found here: On YouTube. While you're there, check out the young kid busting out some crazy DDR moves.

DigitalLife pre-summary

So much to write about from yesterday, but today is beer fest day and I'm too tired right now to cleanup all the videos and images I got.

Expect more later!

DigitalLife part 2

Word from on high has it that MC Frontalot will be performing at the DigitalLife expo on the very same day I am attending.

I urge anybody who has/hasn't seen/heard about the good MC to attend and witness glory. He's doing two short sets, one at 2PM and one at 5:30PM.

I've spread the word to some friends in the area about the expo, but it doesn't look like anybody else I know will be attending.

I will do my best to take some good pictures of what's going on.

I'll try to put up some YouTube footage from my celephone as well.

DigitalLife

I was lucky enough to manage getting a free 4 day pass to the DigitalLife Event at the Javits Center in NYC through 1up.com. Now I need to decide which day(s) to go on.

I think I'll probably take a half day on Friday and head over after lunch.

There are a lot of events going on there, but I have to say I'm most interested in the gaming side of things.

There is the Pro-Am Gaming tournament with a $100,000 prize.

There should be tons of yet-unreleased games to demo. I hear that Guitar Hero 3 will be on display. I'm hoping to take a shot at the multi-player action going on there.

All in all it should be a good time.