I suck

Yeah yeah, I know I have been a bitch about updating the site. I'll try to resolve that problem...

Now that that's out of the way, it's time for bed. I have to wake up in 2 hours and 37 minutes to go be a consumer whore on the National Holiday for Consumer Whores, aka "Black Friday."

-Mark

Reason #10273 not to live in California...

...is that they consider implementing stupid taxes to make up for the huge amount of money they waste. (Of course, the device that tracks the mileage costs $100 per unit, which won't come out of the pockets of the consumer. That means that—you guessed it—the government pays for it. These guys are geniouses!)

I feel much better knowing that Illinois doesn't do that—oh, wait... :-/

-Mark

Another lazy Monday

Well it's been a few days since I last posted, so let me fill you in on all of the exciting stuff that didn't happen to me in the meantime. Friday was pretty much a lost cause—I neither got work done nor did anything exciting. I did watch the pilot for Lost, the new hit show by the J.J. Abrams (a.k.a. the wonderful man responsible for Alias). It was pretty good stuff—riveting, yet also mysterious. (What is that creature? It's like they crash-landed on Jurassic Park.) Chad and I are ready to watch some more of this show—that is, when we aren't watching season 2 of the aforementioned Alias.

Okay, enough about my TV-watching habits. Let's move on to Saturday. After I got back from my morning class I drove home and went to the Bulls game with my friends Mike, Chris, and Scott. (Thanks for driving, Skippy!) I had a great time in spite of the home team's poor showing (they blew a 24-point lead and lost... ugh...). The tickets were top-notch and came courtesy of my sister Laura. (Thanks, even though you don't read this!)

Sunday was all about football: I went over to la casa de Layfield and watched the Bears squeak out an overtime victory over Tennessee, thanks to a... safety? Yeah, the defense and special teams outscored the offense 16-3, and, yes, it was as ugly as that sounds. Thankfully, the defense is really playing well right now and is making plays (sacks, turnovers, etc...) that, frankly, I haven't seen being made this consistently since I started watching the Bears in 1994. Very exciting stuff. Now we just need a new QB!

One person I didn't get a chance to see this weekend was Nick, who didn't go to the Bulls game and couldn't stop by our little football gathering yesterday. I did talk to him, however, and he had some rendezvous with a girl he knew from college. I hope that works out for him, he deserves it. Speaking of girls, I just want to come out and say I need ideas for where to meet them. That's my deal, meeting them. I think once I get this out of the way I will be a far happier man.

Well, today marks the beginning of the end for this semester: 4 more weeks, of which one contains Thanksgiving break and another is final exam week. Then I get to enjoy winter break for four wonderful weeks... can't wait!

Unfortunately, I still have some work to do this semester so I'd better get on that. More later. Ciao for now.

-Mark

Another company that needs a good ass-kicking...

...would be E.A., according to the spouse of one if its employees. To sum that article up, E.A. has been working some employees 12 hours a day, 7 days a week—without any kind of compensation (i.e., overtime pay or comp time). This is ridiculous! I know how working hours like that and never having time off to recuperate can adversely affect the work one does, believe me. And, the thing is, it's not like E.A. is strapped for cash. Would it kill them to just hire some more people? Sure, maybe it might eat into their profit margins, but at least they wouldn't be the video game industry equivalent of slave drivers.

-Mark

Earth to Microsoft!

Get a clue

-Mark

1 down, 1 to go

Wow, 3 posts in under 15 minutes? I guess I really was being serious when I said I wanted to post here less sporadically!

Anyway, according to the Chicago Tribune, Bob Brenly has been hired to be the next Cubs analyst. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. Now, I'd still rather have Steve Stone in that spot over anybody else, and I remain upset that he is gone (as well as upset over the events leading up to his decision not to return). That being said, I really liked what I heard of Brenly during Fox's coverage of the playoffs last month and I think I will enjoy listening to him every game next season.

Now all that has to be done is to find the play-by-play announcer that will join Brenly in the booth. I really have no idea who it will be, nor do I have any preference. I just hope that it is somebody who can form a good chemistry with Brenly, someone who is baseball-savvy and doesn't make stupid comments. It's going to be interesting to see what happens with this situation.

-Mark

Light at the end of the tunnel?

What's up, my peeps?

(Mmm, typing that out gave me a sudden craving for actual Peeps marshmallow candies... how many days are there until Easter?)

I just got back from my second exam in CSCI 468, which is my least favorite class of all time. The test wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be (or could have been), but we'll have to wait to see if that translates into a decent grade for me.

Now that I am done with all of my papers and exams until finals week I hope to be a little less sporadic in updating this here blog of mine. It is one of many things I have cut back on over the last 3 or 4 weeks due to my unfortunately large workload. Hopefully the next few weeks until the end of the semester will also see me resuming a regular workout schedule at the rec center and also a regular video game-playing schedule as well, haha. (More on that later.)

One thing I have managed to avoid cutting out recently is Alias. Chad and I are down to the last 3 episodes of season one, and he seems to like the show a lot (in much the same way as I was when I first bought the DVD last Thanksgiving break—and proceeded to watch all 22 episodes of it in 4 days). I'll be picking up season 2 from home this weekend and then we can proceed to continue the fun for another 44 more episodes. After having just re-watched the first 2 seasons of 24, I honestly don't know which of the shows I like better. Maybe I like them both equally. All I know is that both of them are quality entertainment, and I can't wait for their new seasons starting this January.

In other news, I am in a lot of trouble with my video games. I still have my big box 'o games to play, plus the newly-acquried GTA: San Andreas (which is supposed to have a minimum of 60 hours of gameplay, minimum). As if that wasn't daunting enough, there are a bunch of games coming up that I intend on buying at some point (KOTOR 2, Resident Evil 4, Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Metroid Prime 2, etc...) plus a bunch of games that are already out that I'll eventually buy (Ratchet and Clank 3, Ninja Gaiden, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Phantom Brave, Star Ocean 3, etc...). I honestly don't see any way for me to playand finish all the games I own plus the many games that I want to buy before 2010. And at that point I will have all of next generation's games to play just as the PS4 and Xbox 3 are coming out. Gah, I need help! (Anybody know where I can find the local chapter of Video Gamers Anonymous?)

Speaking of games, Dan will be picking up his pre-ordered copy of Halo 2 sometime today. I am apparently one of, like, 6 people on Earth who are not extremely excited about this game. That being said, I am looking forward to playing it with Dan sometime soon, maybe later this week. It is a new game, afterall, and it gives Dan a reason to come over here. Additionally, this will give me a chance to play a game on Xbox Live that isn't football related, which is nice considering I just spent $50 for a one-year subscription.

Man, I'm really hungry right now. I want to go get some Chinese food in the worst way. I think I'll wait around a little bit to see if Dan gets back from class first, but I don't know how long I can hold out. It will give me a chance to grab a quick nap, though, which I can use very much.

Until next time, I leave you with an interesting quote that I just saw online: "Why is 90% of science fiction crap? Because 90% of everything is crap." (I am too tempted by my nap to look up the author of this quote right now, but don't let me stop you from doing so, haha.)

-Mark

The next Grand Theft Auto

With San Andreas doing well, much like its predecessors, it's no surprise that the boys at Rockstar are hard at work on the next iteration in the franchise. Although they were originally planning to release the next GTA on the next generation of consoles, they have decided to squeeze just a little more life from the current engine and are hoping to release the title next fall for the PS2.

There is already a name and logo for the new game. Check that out here.

I can only hope...

As I sit here at 6:13 A.M., watching the sun rise, I can only hope that the paper I just finished writing was the last one I will ever write for college.

-Mark

Common courtesy

If a spammer's going to send out an e-mail about how to enlarge your member, the least they could do is use a female's name for the sender. I can't tell you how warm and fuzzy I feel when I open up my inbox and see messages from "Jeff," "Warren," and "Richard" advising me on how to make my penis bigger.

Ready to get my write on

As I sit here it's 1:05 A.M. on Thursday. These next two days will be filled with a lot of writing for me. Not writing in this blog, unfortunately, but writing a sizeable portion of my 15-page research paper that is due on Saturday morning. (I guess this is one case where I'm glad I have a Saturday class, because if it was on Friday I'd be in quite a bit of trouble.) While I do not look forward to researching and writing this paper over the course of a couple of days, I know I can do it and do a good job.

Of course, I have to stay awake to finish this paper. Not surprisingly, I'm once again running on fumes, this time from the combination of work (both school and otherwise) and my decision to watch 9 straight hours of election coverage on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning. (I finally dragged my carcass into bed around 3:30 A.M.)

My opinion on the election is this: it went much smoother than in 2000 and we can now move on with our lives. I thought that the TV coverage was pretty decent, though CNN started getting annoying as the night went on with their self-righteous "we won't call the state until all votes are counted" attitude. I can understand being cautious; hell, I endorse it. However, CNN seemed to be doing it merely for attention. Whatever, it's a pretty minor complaint so I'm not going to bother expounding upon it.

On a completely unrelated note, I saw an interesting bumper sticker today. It read, "My karma ran over my dogma." I have to admit I chuckled on the inside at that clever play on words. (I'll take any laughs I can get at this point, believe me.)

-Mark

Election Day, 2004 (a.k.a. The Recount Pre-Party)

Today is Election Day here in the U.S., and it's really exciting stuff for anybody who is not completely apathetic toward politics. Personally, I enjoy elections and politics (though I do wish there was more emphasis on the issues instead of talking points) and I have fond memories of the 2000 election. It was the first semester of freshman year and I was living in Grant (a.k.a. NIU's dorm complex which is the equivalent of a ghetto). My then-roommate John and I watched it for the entire night, up until the wee hours of the morning. Of course, nothing was settled for many weeks after that, but it was an exciting night to say the least, with the election possibly turning one way or the other every minute it seemed like.

The next semester I ended up taking Political Science 100 and loved it, so I took more and more poli-sci classes until I ended up minoring in the subject. I really enjoyed all of the classes I took, particularly those focusing on international relations. I like to think that I am now better prepared to follow (and, maybe one day, enter?) politics and that I have a solid understanding of such things.

Anyway, now that I'm done giving you my biography, I guess I'll just say that you need to go out and vote if you are elgible haven't do so already.

* * *

Read the following article if you have a chance: http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/041102/w110236.html

I haven't given out many (if any) political opinions on this site, but I must say that the fact that people living outside the U.S. (who have no citizenship here) being upset that they are not allowed to vote in the U.S. election is pretty silly. Yes, what happens in this election will have an impact on the rest of the world, but the bottom line is I don't want somebody from another country having any direct impact on the men and women who are going to be the leaders of my country. Just the same, I don't think I should be able to help choose the leaders of Germany, Great Britain, or France.

This is what gets me about international politics: the U.S. thinks everybody should just follow it blindly, while the rest of the international community (with an emphasis on most of Europe) thinks that everything should be like the UN, with votes and equal say and whatnot. Now I may be exaggerating here, but I am just worried that the notion of national sovereignty will go the way of the dodo if the E.U. were to have its way. I'm do think that the U.S. needs to make changes to its foreign policy, but I don't think we should have to give up our rights as a nation just because it would please others.

* * *

Okay, rant over. Have a pleasant night. Don't stay up too late!

-Mark