Updates and stuff...

Here's another article from Arstechnica on Microsoft's efforts to curb piracy. I've already commented on this in my last post so I'll say no more about it.

In other news, Mozilla has come out with a patch for Firefox to take care of a few security flaws that were recently discovered. These flaws weren't anything big, but it's still a good idea to update anyway.

I've come to the conclusion that my housemate is correct. The people posting to the WOW forums are whiney little bitches. I was reading the Warrior forum and it seems like all people can do is whine and complain about how the warrior class is not getting more than a minor fix in the next patch. The warrior is getting a fix that allows them to generate rage when blocked or parried, which makes sense to me. However people are in a tizzy because this doesn't constitute much more than a bug fix (not sure I agree with that asessment) as opposed to a total nerf of the class. I'm not sure I fully get the issues at hand here so you can read the forums here.

In my (most humble) opinion allowing a warrior to generate rage when blocked, parried, or dodged makes sense. Quite franky it pisses me off when I spend 10 rage to use rend on an enemy only to miss and not have enough rage to try again. Then I have to wait until I generate enough rage to be able to do anythging useful. That said, I don't agree that this is a bug with the warrior. I think the warrior is working as originally intended, but Blizzard apparantly agrees with me and sees this as an improvement to the class.

Anyway, you can read more about the upcoming fixes at the World of Warcraft website.

The Crazy Hijinks if Microsoft

I was reading on Hard OCP that Microsoft is closing a loop hole that allowed unscrupulous people to steal unused OEM Windows activation codes and sell them illegally. Their solution is to require that a person call MS when they install windows to do the activation over the phone rather than over the Internet. I don't know all of the details, but I am seeing a lot of whining and complaining going on. I'm not sure how much this would really affect people in general. If I understand the article correctly, the problem comes from people stealing activation codes off the boxes produced by large companies. For example when you buy a Dell computer it has an activation code on a sticker on the tower. Apparantly this code is unused and ripe for the plucking by people looking to make an easy buck on unsuspecting users. The ploy works because the average user knows jack shit about computers and just assumes everything is on the up and up.

This has a lot of small time computer builders in an uproar because what it means is that they would have to call Microsoft everytime they want to activate Windows on a custom built computer. I suspect they are getting their panties in a wad over nothing.

From what I understand this only affects large quanitiy OEM licenses such as the afforementioned Dell example. I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to have those keys be generated in such a way that when a user tries to authenticate over the Internet the authorization system checks the key to see if it is an OEM key. If it is, then the system flags the user to call MS, otherwise the activation proceeds normally as it currently does. Thus the only people who would be affected are people who potentially have an illegal key in the first place. Of course, another obvious solution would be to NOT PUT THE KEYS WHERE THEY ARE PUBLICLY ACCESSABLE IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Of course, that makes too much sense now doesn't it?

All this may be moot anyway. If there is a way around the system, some hacker is going to figure it out. I don't see it stopping the spread of illegal copies of Windows... just slowing it down a little until a new loophole can be found.

Nerds Need Lovin' Too

After my rant from the other day, I decided to post something a little more positive today.

I went shopping yesterday for a birthday present for a friend. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I had. Being a typical male, I'm not particularly fond of shopping, however in this case I had a grand time. I usually just go get what I need and be done, but this time I had no clue what to get her and actually had to take some time to look around. I found the coolest gift and then got caught up in the moment and had to get the right wrapping paper, ribbon, and bow. Normally I'm not into that, but I ran out of duct tape.

All in all I have to say it was a good experience. I haven't done anything like that for a long time and I forgot how good it feels to do something for someone you care about just because.

On another topic. After my last breakup I decided to avoid romantic relationships for one year. This is proving harder than I thought. I'm finding myself feeling lonely, which means (to be blunt) that what I'm really feeling is not so much lonliness, but just being plain horny. The problem is that I can't bring myself to just go boff some random chick, but I'm not wanting to get too serious about anyone right now either.

Kinda frustrating, ain't it?

Oh well, in the mean time at least I have the interweb to keep me company with its plethora of free nudie sites.

Gettin' back to normal...

So I did a good thing last night. I bought a new chair for my desk. I know that in and of itself isn't a huge deal, but the chair I was using before squeeked loudly and was waking my house mate up when I would check my email in the morning.

The house is getting back to normal. The contractor should be in today to install the cove base in the kitchen and the splash panels along the sink and countertops in the kitchen. The new formica on the counters should go in today as well. We got all of our appliances and toilets installed, so all that's really left is the refrigerator (which arrives today) and installing the sink in the upstairs bathroom. I'm really excited about it.

Is it just me or are people getting stupider on the freeways these days? The other night as I was driving home from work this van in front of me starts flashing his high beams at the care in front of him. I thought there might be a problem, but after nearly rear ending him because the car in front bailed to the shoulder it turns out that the "problem" was that the van just wanted the guy to speed up or get over so that he could pass. It was completely unnecessary because it was a two lane freeway with no traffic. We were the only three cars on the road at that time, so there was no reason for the van to not pass on the left like he was supposed to. It was the most phenomenal display of stupidity I've seen in a long time. All I can say is "wow".

Back on a more tech related note, I got my second computer up and running last night. I'm pretty happy about it. My housemate got the networking running for me so I can relieve some of the tension off my gaming box by doing my instant messenging and email off the second machine.

Anyway... time for more coffee.

Entertainment monkey....

Yesterday was an interesting day.

I was at work, happily cursing my workstation like I usually do when the power goes out. Apparantly someone threw the wrong switch or something because the University lost power to at least three buildings. But this didn't happen just once, oh no, this happened three times in the space of fifteen minutes. It was very entertaining, especially knowing that somewhere, someone lost a lot of work because they didn't save at regular intervals, and Word's auto recovery sucks ass. It's like a condom. It's awesome when it works, but when it doesn't you're in a world of hurt.

Anyway, I haven't posted much about games and whatnot recently so I thought I'd make a few comments.

I discovered the hard way that nVidia's drivers for the GeForce FX 5700 LE don't get along well with Half-Life 2. I'm not sure if that's generally true, or if it's more a conflict with HL2, the drivers, and Windows XP SP 2. In any event I rolled the drivers back to the previous version and it seems to have fixed the problem. Sucks to be at an older version though.

World of Warcraft is sucking away at my life. I keep saying I'm not going to play as much, yet find myself logging on anyway. It really isn't a problem though, it isn't like I'm skipping out on work to play or anything like that... my life is not suffering at the hands of the WOW demon. I just find that I play a lot, that's all.

Speaking of which, I just made level 22 last night. I heard they nerfed the paladin so they aren't as kick ass at healing as they used to be. Apparantly there was a paladin healing ability that was dishing out more healing than it was intended to. The end result? Priests are now your best option for healing... and mine will do it for a mere 10 silver... 30 gold gets you resurected. Payable in advance... oh... right...

Been thinkin'...

So last night as I was working my second job in a place I lovingly call "hell" I had a few thoughts. I have a lot of thoughts as I'm working there because all I do is spend time folding clothes.

I hate folding clothes.

Anyway, I was sitting there thinking about how unhappy I am with my life when I realized that I'm unhappy for several reasons:

1) I'm fat.
2) I've been eating Taco Bell, McDonald's, and other kinds of fast food almost exclusively.
3) I'm fat.
4) I don't do anything, just go to work and come home... basically no life.
5) Did I mention I'm fat?

So then I thought about what I can do about these things and I realized I have a couple of choices. On the one hand, I can sit here and whine in my blog about how fat and unhappy I am. On the other hand, I can actually do something about it.

I think the choice is clear.

Seriously though, there are a lot of choices out there and I've been going for convenience over quality. So I've decided that at 30, its time to make some changes. I got to thinking about something a fortune cookie told me..."It's never too late to be what you might have been." I think that's surprisingly deep for a fortune cookie... well, until I add the required "in bed" on the end... then it takes on a whole new meaning.

But I digress.

I've decided that right now there isn't a lot I can do about eating out all the time since my kitchen is still a construction zone. That said, what I can do is make better choices on what I eat when I'm there. Sure that double cheese burger on the dollar menu might be tempting, but the side salad with a basalmic vinegrette would be a healthier choice, stuff like that.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I've also decided to take up Tae Kwon Do for the exercise. Should be fun. I haven't signed up for it yet though... I should go do that.

Cheers!

kinda bored this evening...

I'm a little bored this evening. I just can't seem to get into anything and stay focused. I got my new video card today and installed it and now all my games are pretty cool, but I'm just feeling lifeless and dead.

I stayed home from work today to make sure I was around for my vid card's arrival. I'm not entirely sure that was a good idea. I didn't get much done that was productive. I did get some papers sorted out that have desparately needed it, but other than that I've done nothing all day. On one hand it felt kind of good, but on the other I kinda feel like the day was wasted.

Oh well. Tomorrow is another day and maybe I can get more done even though I'm working during the day.

Too excited...

So last night my housemate and I went to get a new keg for the kegerator. He had ordered a keg of Black Bute Porter from the Double Dribble in Portland. I went with him to get it only to discover that the Double Dribble is a topless bar.

I haven't been to a topless bar in years because I just haven't been able to justify the money to go see some chick dancing naked without being able to touch her. It just seems like a form of self torture to me... yet there I was standing in the bar waiting for my housemate looking into the eyes of this stripper and being totally entranced.

No wonder Helen started a war.

Anyway, on a less lasvicious note... I get my new video card tomorrow. I'm taking the day off to be home to recieve it. I'm very excited. Now maybe I can play WOW without having the damn video crash on me.