Sunday, October 30, 2005

One...More...Turn...

I twiddled with my graphics card drivers a bit using some advice I got off the Civ Fanatics forum. Bascially, I'm running drivers from nVidia now that were never designed for my graphics card using a modified INF file I got from this site. I'm not sure why it works, but it does.

Now Civilization actually works pretty well, and it is just as addicting as it always was. Dangerously so. I'll have to be careful. But oh, is it fun.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Decemberists

I forgot to mention that I went to see the Decemberists in concert at First Avenue last Friday. I do believe they have now moved into the position of my favorite (modern) band. I highly suggest you check them out.

Civilization: Denied

Today was the long awaited release day for the new Civilization IV game. I've been a long-time fan of the series, so this was quite exciting. I had planned to rush right out after work today to get it and then spend the rest of the night playing it.

Well, after getting through with my various other obligations, I finally got around to installing it around 9:00. It would appear that my graphics card is too primitive for this game though. It keeps locking up whenever I get past the initial menus and into the game. After attempting to upgrade my video drivers - which involved me uninstalling my current drivers only to find the ones I downloaded didn't work, and then scrambling to download drivers that did work, which turned out to be the ones I had it the first place - I'm giving up for the night.

Very disappointing.

(On a side note, I would like to note that apparently someone screwed up the "Install" and "Play" disks, as I use the "Install" disk to start the game and the "Play" disk only gives me a prompt telling me to insert the right disk. Very strange.)

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Cry Me A River

It seems the NBA has just handed down an edict specifying that players must now appear in "business casual" dress whenever appearing in public on league or team business. This is apparently not going over well with many of the players. Here's one of my favorite quotes from the linked article from one Allen Iverson: "I feel like if they want us to dress a certain way, they should pay for our clothes. It's just tough, man, knowing that all of a sudden you have to have a dress code out of nowhere."

Man, I know how tough it is. Where I work, they have a business casual dress code too and make us adhere to it almost everyday (we get weekends off) for 40 hours a week. I can only imagine what torture it must be have to dress up a little for the few press conferences or public appearances you get. And making you pay for the clothes yourself! That is just unfair, especially on your salary. You make, what, $500,000 a year? Probably more actually. So I can't imagine how they can expect you to buy your own clothing (oh, except everyone where I work buys their own clothes on not even a 1/10 of your salary. I wonder how they manage?).

Here's the deal, guys. You are the representatives of your employer. You are the ones that determine the image of the organization as a whole. When you are on their time, they make the rules. The NBA has decided they want to present an image of professionalism and respectablity instead of that of a bunch of adolescent thugs. Now perhaps this image doesn't reflect reality, but nonetheless that is what they want to present, and that is their right. And this is what they pay your excessive salaries to do.

It isn't racism, like Jason Richardson seems to believe, it's just business. Otherwise every corporation in America would be guilty of civil rights violations. The NBA isn't a charity organization reaching out to let anyone who can dribble a basketball express themselves. They are a business. And you are their employees. Maybe your high school basketball coach didn't give a damn what you looked like off the court before you got recruited. Guess what? You aren't in high school any more. Welcome to the real world.

It isn't like they are asking a lot. They want you to look presentable when you are representing them. If this is too much responsibility for you, perhaps it is time to change professions to something a little more your speed. Maybe flipping burgers at the local Burger King? Oh, wait, they make you wear a uniform there too...

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Quarter Century

It was about this moment 25 years ago I came into the world. How about that?

Saturday, October 15, 2005

A Special Night

I don't usually make a big deal about my birthday. I guess I don't really see the point. I mean, everyone has birthdays and they have a tendency to happen every year, so what makes any particular birthday special?

This year, though, I turn 25. A quarter century. This in of itself is really only significant because we use a base-10 number system, which is completely arbitrary, and hold quarters of things to be somehow meaningful. Nonetheless, since I do use the base-10 number system and tend to hold quarters to be somehow special, I guess this is something of a milestone. A quarter-century...

So last night I thought it would be fun to go out to the Gasthof zur Gemütlichkeit, a German restaurant here in Minneapolis and one of my favorite places ever. They actually have imported German beer on tap and the food is spectacular. Plus the atmosphere is just fun. I invited some of my friends from work to come out as well.

What I got was 16 people who came out to wish me a happy birthday, and a number of others who wanted to be there. It really was more than I ever expected (they even paid for my meal and someone gave me a carved pumpkin). I couldn't believe it. It really was a special night.

Thank you.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

I'm Still Here

I haven't written in a while. It's been pretty busy around here lately, and I guess there just hasn't been a whole lot ot write about. I'm still here though. I can tell you about some things that are coming up.

Tomorrow night I be having dinner with a couple of my old professors and a bunch of other alumni from my school. I'm looking forward to it, as I haven't heard from a lot of the people who are going. It'll be nice to see what they are all up to.

I also have tickets booked to go visit my friends Nic and Krista down in Texas in November. We're going to take in a Nextel Cup NASCAR race as well; the Dickies 500. I've been wanting to go to a NASCAR race for a long time, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Also, my plans to visit Australia are starting to come together. I just talked to my friends down there and it sounds they are pretty excited about the news too. It'll have been about 2 years since I left when I go back, almost to the day. I have been wanting to go back ever since so I'm really looking forward to it. I'm planning on going in December, so it will also be a nice escape from the cold winter here. While everyone is left shivering over here, I'll be out on the beautiful beaches of Wollongong, NSW. I can't wait.