Icrontic Forums - Blogs

Louis CK and My Thoughts

Winfrey — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:21:22 GMT

If you don't know who Louis CK is, go ahead and read up about him. Don't worry, I'll wait.

Done? Good.

Now check out his guest appearance on Conan. I know, it's old :P. Still funny though. He has some really good points about the "privileged" society that we have today. It's true. People today have some of the most kick-ass things in the history of the world. We can fly. We can connect to the internet that allows us to access information in seconds that would be much more difficult to get to just fifty years ago. Medicine is getting more awesome everyday. Computers are doing more and more useful things. Long story short: things are awesome.

Louis CK and I are like peas and carrots when it comes to how great we have it today. Snarkasm writes about this subject as well in the life section of Icrontic. Everyone, these guys are right. We take a so many things for granted it's ridiculous.

My thoughts on this subject is that we need to complain and gripe and groan. We need to not be just content with what we have. Let's think about what would happen if we all stopped and were just thankful with everything we have. Would we feel a need to change anything? Is it necessary to improve?

Short answer: no
Long answer: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

If people were happy with the Pony Express delivering their mail across America, we wouldn't have tried to improve. It's the gripes the minor quibbles we have with things that drive improvement. I mean should we stop and be thankful for a web browser as complete as IE 6? Hell no! Update to something better! My internet stops working on a flight across the Pacific Ocean? Get pissed! We demand better! We deserve better! I'll be damned if things don't get better because of it.

What do the rest of you think?

A haiku for Berger Cookies

Cliff_Forster — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:10:50 GMT

A quest for game fuel,
Delicious Berger Cookie,
Get in my belly.

The Tide is Rising

_k_ — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:43:38 GMT

I am sure some of you know that I shoot rifles competitively. If you have no idea check out my user picture and this video (blue jacket and black hat is me), currently the video for what I am about to talk about is not up but should be soon.

Last weekend, the 24th and 25th of October, was the Texas State Service Rifle Championship help at Camp Swift which is between Elgin and Bastrop. All you BBQ lovers in Texas should know where these cities are and if you do not for shame. There are matches held on the 23rd but I had work and school so I had to miss out.

The 24th, Saturday, was the individual matches where everyone gets assigned a target and relay to fire on. You shoot all day and compete against people who are in your classification(Marksman, Sharpshooter, Expert, Master, High Master), currently I am and expert but just a few percentage shy of being reclassified as a master. The classification system is done by the percentage of points you get for hitting in certain scoring rings out of the possible for the match, think of a dart board or archery target. At the end of the day everything gets tallied up, results are posted, and awards/money is handed out; you only get a few dollars for each award.

I have been going into every match focused on shooting 94% which is a master score because I really want to be master...I mean ALOT. I am young for the sport but I have been doing it for so long and know enough I should be shooting in that class. When I walked up to the line I had real goals I told myself I had to meet and I focused myself on them with the knowledge that I can do this, I know how to do this, its your time so PERFORM. I held up well throughout the day but I feel apart in the wind while shooting my 600 yard segment, the wind on that range is unpredictable and not every wind change is visible(trust me its not just me saying this). I finished the day with a 744 out of 800, master would have been a 752. I was disappointed but it was not a horrible score and I had been extremely consistent the rest of the day and hoped that it would put me towards the top of my class. I finished 5th out of 29 people, the two people above me had the same score but more Xs. Overall for all shooters I finished in the top 25, roughly 23 or 24, which is close to another big item...The Governor's 20. The 20 are the top 20 scores from the service rifle championship and they are recognized as the top 20 shooters in the state of Texas for that year. My dad and I both finished just below the cut so I told him we should start the Governor's 25.

On Sunday there is held what is called a LEG match but is it would be correct to call it an EIC match, excellence in competition. This is a match where you try and place in the top 10% of all the competing shooters for points("legs"), 6, 8, or 10, until you get 30 points along with a big leg which is an 8 or a 10 point. I have been shooting these matches since I started shooting roughly 9 years ago because even if you have no chance you help increase the numbers and increase the number of legs. I have been taking some ribbing from the guys that have been around me my whole service rifle career because I have zero points. That all changed. Strangely I finished 5th again and picked up a 6 point leg! The real effect of this still hasn't sunken in very much, there are just under 2,000 Distinguished Marksman since it first started in 1887. Some people shoot for most of their life and never get points while there are others that get started but can never finish. I want to be one of the few with this badge because it means you are the cream of the crop and you have put your time in to the point where others look to you for guidance and advice.

As a little side note, in the LEG match I shot a 193 out of 200 at 600 yards which was better than the top score for that distance the day before; a 192. The joke was I just drove faster than everyone else because people were making comments about the wind and I simply said its blowing hard enough from behind that the bullet will go faster and won't get pushed around enough before it reaches the target; in other words the sights would need to correction for the deflection that the wind will cause on the bullet as it travels. I actually kind of did this. I made my wind call and just shot, the only time I changed my wind correction was when it blew me out of the 10 ring and I didn't bother to try and make corrections before it moved me.

My other secret goal at most matches is to always shoot better than this junior girl named katty, I met my goal in both matches.

Attention! Conflicker.B Infection Alert spam campaign

aktive — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:32:30 GMT

My friend recently received a spammed email with the subject "Conflicker.B Infection Alert", supposedly from Microsoft Windows Computer Safety Division. So, I've searched for it and found out that this is a new spam campaign. Just wanted to share this information with Icrontic community members. Be safe!
More information about Conflicker.B Infection Alert spam:
http://community.ca.com/blogs/securi...t-is-both.aspx
http://www.2-spyware.com/remove-conf...ion-alert.html

Have a nice day :)

hamachi sale cry

GeeThanks — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:27:02 GMT

I can haz bells for only $200 since hamachi sold out.

yay?

no

booooo

Capitalism == good

gouging == teh bad

flogging michael moore == better yet

I prefer pre-sellout hamachi pricing for PRO version

Myrmidon is John Galt

Myrmidon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:42:11 GMT

Who missed me, baby? I didn't think so.

Here's the latest excuse for me not hanging out with Icrontic: I've been filming a movie.

Well... not FILMING... actually acting in. I landed a lead role in 'The Party Record,' a short (not feature length) coming-of-age film about irresponsible high schoolers trying to get drunk. It's being produced by Paper Monkey productions - I think they're a division of Rrell entertainment... neither company seems to have a website, although the owner of Rrell has been doing special effects work for big-name films for a long time (the only one I can remember at the moment is Pirates of the Caribbean).

...Alright. That description makes it sound like a glorified YouTube production. In reality, it's going off to a film festival in Los Angeles this... uh, March, is it?

I'd like to give you guys a little insight. I mean, as a Materials Engineer(ing student), this was brand new and positively incredible to me.

I was pretty apprehensive about the script at first, to be honest. I'm not really a big partygoer, and 'filming in a small town in iowa' sounded a little sketchy; but I gotta admit, they had their ducks in a row. The crew - hardest damn workers I've ever seen - put in up-to-fourteen-hour days of SOLID WORK, and clearly knew their stuff. Tons of professional-grade equipment, a highly skilled camera crew and assistant director/2nd AD pair, and the son of Rrell's owner acting as director really ironed out what I thought was going to be a bumpy ride.

It's interesting seeing how actors work. The first day was cake - arrive at one PM, listen to the director for about five minutes, shoot a scene seven or eight times for ten or fifteen minutes, then sit back and relax; the crew takes anywhere from ten minutes to an hour and a half to set up the next scene (THEY work nonstop). And unlike that damn desk job I had at Rockwell Collins, I can read, eat, play video games, and do anything except drink between when I'm doing actual work.

The next few days were a little more difficult - there was one point with only eight hours between the wrap (dismantling the set) and the next call (coming to work the next morning). Between commute, teardown, and the morning routine, this sort of thing could have had the potential to hurt the sleep schedule. Speaking of sleep schedule, switching from a regular 11:00 to 7:00 to a 3:00-4:00 AM to 11:00 AM really takes a toll on a guy. And, of course, shooting a film about high school means you get to deal with - surprise - high schoolers. To be fair, most of them were pretty cool, but there were a couple obnoxious ones.

The last day found me tired, cold, sick, and positively delighted. I could do this job for reals, if they'd have me.

By the way, I'm sure you're wondering about the compensation package - because this movie was entirely out-of-pocket for a very small company, the compensation package included no pay. It did, however, include room and board, food, and transportation costs - so basically, I had a really fun, free vacation weekend.

tl;dr went from this to this.

Now then, my next excuse for not hanging out with Icrontic - I'm pretty sure I managed to catch the freaking PLAGUE in Fort Madison. Tell my wife I love her, because I don't think I'll make it out alive. *cough*

Cleaning up my computer

mcbeats — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:32:07 GMT

I am cleaning up my computer of un necessary programs. I need it to run faster, however, I am unsure what is needed and what is not. I am a student and need my computer to run efficiently and effectively. I tried researching the internet myself, and is how I came across Icrontic. If you can please help! It's alot of questions, so be prepared! :)

Do I need Pando Media Booster?

Realtek High definition Audio driver?

Realteck wireless LAN Driver?

Smartsound Quicktracks plugin?

Synaptics pointing device driver?

Texas instruments PCIxx21/x515/xx12 DRIVERS?

TOSHIBA ASSIST?

It looks like I have 3 Disc creator's: Toshiba (original w/computer), Windows Media and Roxio that I loaded. Can I delete the two and keep Roxio?

TOSHIBA SPEECH SYSTEM?

TOSHIBA VALUE ADDED PACKAGE?

man in the mirror

fatcat — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:24:36 GMT

Hello blog, been awhile.

As many of you know, I have been on a mission to lose weight down to my Army weight of 185lbs. Today I weighed in. I was 7lbs away two weeks ago, and I seriously thought I would have no problems hitting goal today, so I could move on to the next part of training. I was 3lbs short.

And while I'm not completely upset with this, it got me thinking about 'coming up short' with life.

I have a really bad habit of analyzing everything, especially things that have happened in the past. Of course, what we learn from our mistakes, helps us with future decisions. But, how many times have we thought we gave 100% at the time, only to realize down the road, we really didn't.

Ever come so close to a goal, you could smell it, only to end up a few steps short?

So, I have another week on my diet to lose the last 3lbs. Not a big deal, but not where I wanted to be this time in October.

Speaking of October, Icrontic's Oktoberfest is soon approaching! Just three years ago I started this event with the help of Brian and Matt. We have gone from 12-15 attendees to now 30 plus. WOW! This just got real folks!

I love Oktoberfest. All-Hallows ale from K-brew. The halloween party with Eric's DJ equipment. The laid back atmosphere of not having any plans, just good times.

This year is a little different for me though. Last year at this time Brian and I were sitting in K-brew, discussing life, and he said, "2009 is going to be our year, Greg." We raised our glasses to a cheers, and both agreed 2009 was going to be awesome.

And you know what, it has, for the most part. Let me give you a recap of my 2009

January: Las Vegas for CES, Detroit for Icrontic Winterblast'09
March: Detroit for Icrontic's St. Patty's party
May: Started losing weight program
June: Detroit for 2 weeks, Largest Icrontic Expo|LAN ever
July: Hosted a lake party and went to Kansas City
August: Visited Baltimore, D.C., New York City, Vermont
-Went back to DC for a funeral, my dog died
-Went camping in Iowa
September: Back to Vermont for funeral, Icrontic Rennfest in D.C., Jeff's BBQ in Maryland
October: Lost 50lbs, Detroit for Icrontic Oktoberfest

So, as you can see, my 2009 has been a roller coaster. But I'm still standing. And that's why a group of us men at Oktoberfest are going to drink to the times. To the bad, the good, to the friendship we have. Some of you may call emo or QQ, but I see it as a celebration that we made it through 2009, and to bring on 2010. We may have some bad luck, but we never give in.

Speaking of giving in. Last week I got back on an anti-depressant. I was diagnosed with depression in 2006. No, I am not depressed now, and have been off medication for three years.

This is more of a preventive maintence. Why? Because I do get depressed around Christmas time. I'm sure most of you know, but I am divorced, and my children live in Pennsylvania. I live in Missouri. I have to work the day before and day after Christmas, so I do not get to see them. I sit home alone Christmas day. Also, going through two funerals this year has been quite brutal on my soul. Especially when one of them was my friend Chris, who was only 29.

So, I'm letting my body adjust to the drugs, taking it one day at a time, and already planning 2010. Although, I think I'll be happy taking the back seat on this road trip next year. Being 100% GO! in 2009 has worn on this man's body.

I just got one last thing to take care of....

<3 Greg

Batgirl kicks... and other accessories

race — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:08:48 GMT

I figure you guys are geeky enough to give me some good opinions on this matter...

Okay, I am devoting a several hour chunk of this weekend to scouting and probably purchasing upgrades to my Batgirl costume. I'm going for quality purchases, here. Things that will last and are relatively accurate. I'm fine with buying some of the accessory upgrades this year, and then getting some more next year and the year after... until the costume is "done." Tell me what you think:

My costume:

Boots:

Gloves:

Utility belt:

Wig:

Cowl:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=270401174933

Leggings:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=110439162129

The gloves need a little work (too long, missing the scallops up the sides), but would still probably be a good purchase WITH the boots. I also found these much more practical boots (http://www.streetmoda.com/pleaser-go...ic-p-3373.html). I LOVE the cowl, but I'm afraid it might be a bit large, as I have a tiny head. Maybe with the wig.

In case it's still unclear, this is the classic Batgirl look when Barbara Gordon first appeared as Batgirl. I decided to go "old school" as Sam put it. Less scary, for one, as I'll be out with my kids. I'm going to put a leotard and black tights on under the all-too-short dress for now so I don't ostracize the neighbors. ;-)

2009 SCCA National Championships - sigh

pseudonym — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:20:05 GMT

Well ladies and gents, its over. Actually, it was over on Sunday but I've been procrastinating writing this post. What follows is pain, horror and suffering! Well, not really, but close enough.

I was qualified 3rd for the race, which we were very happy about. The car had not been right all year and this was the first time we have been really competitive, so we were excited. Raceday Sunday comes around and luckily, we have nice weather. Its sunny and a bit cool, but at least it isn't raining. We go out for the pace lap at 8:30am and get to work.

The green flag flies and I get a GREAT start and pass for the lead before turn 1. I then proceed to lead the next two laps. I pull out maybe a .5-1sec advantage but the tide begins to turn. On the 3rd lap 2nd place has caught me and is ALL over me. I can see that he is handling better than me but due to a combination of things, I have him in a straight line. Then disaster strike going into turn 6. I have a problem upshifting into 3rd gear and get a false neutral. This is when the gearbox ends up in between gears and you are basically in neutral and have no power. This causes 2nd place to run into the back of me (Not his fault, actually, a very nice job by him to not take me out!) and me to take the corner too slow. He then passes me in 8 and starts to pull away. He is just too quick in the corners for me but I know if I can stay in his draft I'll be able to stay with him and maybe make a pass on him. On the 4th lap I'm still trying to keep up with him and make a desperate attempt in 12 to gain some time. Well it doesn't work. With the car not handling well I get 4 wheels into the grass on the exit and it looks like I'll be ok till I hit a bump in the grass and jump the car, which proceeds to cause it to spin. This puts me off on the other side of the track where the car gets stuck and I can't get going again.

Race Over. Fail.

I get going again after the corner workers push me out and finish the race, but I am 2 laps down by then and there is no hope of salvaging a finish. In the end I most likely had 2nd or 3rd locked down since we had broken from the rest of the field, but at the RunOffs, winning is what matters and I went for it. In reality, the next lap I most likely would have given up on 1st since he was so much quicker in the corners but I had to try.

Anyways, thanks to everyone here for their support of me throughout the season! I'll actually be out in November testing a new car, so we'll see how that goes.

MS and my career

Radio91P — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:03:11 GMT

Years ago I was a successful commercial lender and bank manager. After a few years I decided that I did not enjoy making decisions based on what was best for the bank vs. the consumer. The decisions always had to side with bank. I went back to school with the hopes of becoming a Physician's Assistant. During this time I started having problems with my hands cramping as well as many other problems. I went to the Dr. and after testing was told I have Multiple Sclerosis. I at that point knew the problems would not go away and had to change fields. That we would not be good for patient care when my arm spasms while performing procedures. Fortunately I had found a passion for computers with the help from Short-Media. I don't post all that often, but there have been few days that I don't view the website. Sorry boring you with my woes, but I have a hard time talking to my family about my having MS. Not sure why. Thanks to all contribute to this site. In many ways it helped me decide my future career.

Radio91P

Assassin's Creed 2

jokerz4fun — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:30:15 GMT

I can honestly say I'm excited about the next installment of Assassins Creed. AC1 was the first game I played on Xbox 360 console, so it holds a special spot in my heart. I mean it did take my V card away from me at the tender age of 30. Once I watched the opening sequence I was hooked like a crack head. The game play and story line was killer. I loved the freedom, I could go anywhere or do just about anything I wanted to do. The graphic quality was like nothing I've ever seen before. I was speechless. The ending was a bummer(hate you Ubisoft) but it left me wanting more.

Assassin's Creed 2 offers a bigger verity to gamers with a new main character, taller buildings, new cities, different outfits, options to bribe the locals, you can buy new weapons, visit stores, hijack boats and best of all the ability to swim. YES YOU CAN SWIM! In the first game water seemed to be the only thing that would bring you to your demise. You were a trained assassin with the ability to leap from buildings, scale walls, kill with the slightest of touch, find hidden secretes, but dare not touch the water. Oh noooo stay away from the bad bad water charlie.

If you haven't seen the trailer you should give it a quick look. I saw it at E3 so it's old to me, much like all the games coming out. Assassin's creed is set to hit stores November 17 2009. The bad news is The P.C release date was just pushed back to "early 2010" Ubisoft claims that the console dates are firm and will not change. Let's hope they stick to their word.

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2009 SCCA National Championships- Almost Race Time

pseudonym — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:31:15 GMT

Well qualifying finished up yesterday and I ended up third on the grid. Things went really well and I knocked off a good lap that put me there. Unfortunately, my session was cut short when I went off the road and put it in the gravel. No damage, but I did find out how fast I can go through turn 1, and the answer is, not that fast.

Right now I'm just sitting around at the track getting ready for the race. We aren't doing anything to the car so we are just making sure everything works right, all the bolts are tight, that sort of thing.

The race is Sunday morning at 8:30am Central Time (9:30am Eastern) and will be broadcast live on www.SpeedcastTV.com if anyone wants to watch it. The race conditions are going to be unknown till the day of since there is rain moving through tonight and on Saturday. Hopefully the rain gets done early on Sat so things can dry out and get a dry race on Sunday. Otherwise its going to be cold and slimy, and that will make the race VERY interesting.

HOT

jokerz4fun — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:55:18 GMT

Ya know whats hot?

When your girlfriend climbs on top of you and whispers in your ear. "Can I tease every inch of you?"

Ya know whats not hot?

When your girlfriend climbs on top of you and whispers in your ear. "Can I tease every inch of you?" Then she gets your wiener stuck in your zipper.......there was a lot of blood

That is not hot.

2009 SCCA National Championships- Rain to Dry

pseudonym — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:09:58 GMT

Well, after two qualifying sessions I sit 5th on the grid with one more session to go tomorrow. The first qualifying session on Tuesday was WET and FOGGY. You literally could not see down the front straight because it was so foggy. We found out that our rain setup for the car did not work and the car handled horribly. I now pray it does not rain on Sunday!

Todays qualifying session was much better though. It was dry and a little sunny so I had high hopes of putting together a good lap or two. Welll, the race gods had something to say about that one. The car did not handle well off the bat and took a little bit of coaxing to get up to speed. Once the car warmed up and I finally got going there was a slight incident. As I was passing another car on the inside he hooked a wheel in the grass and spun across the track. His nose clipped my rear wheel and luckily, did no damage. He then proceeded to hit the wall and SPLIT HIS CAR IN HALF. No joke, the car was literally in half. I'll try and get some pictures of it, but it was wild. After this I thought I had a flat tire where he hit me so I cruised to the pits to have it checked out. Turns out that the tire was fine but that I actually had part of his bodywork stuck in between the tire and the rim of my right rear. I was about 6" away from having the back end of my car torn off. Well while I was in the pits there were a few more incidents so they flagged the session early. It was a bummer since I didn't get to improve on my times, but I'm happy since the car made it back in one piece. 5th place will work just fine for now.

I'm out at 11:30 for my final qualifying session tomorrow and then its on to the race on Sunday! Time to pass out now.

Game Lust

jokerz4fun — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:37:25 GMT

For as long as I can remember Ive played role playing games. Titles like D&D, Fantasy Star, Final Fantasy, Alien, Shenmue, Might and Magic, and Lost Odyssey just to name a few. Ive always been drawn to RPG's dont get me wrong I love all games but nothing compares to leveling up your character, finding a new world/map, or gaining a new ability. Or how about beating a boss that has been destroying your party time after time.
I remember playing Lost Odyssey and calling Primesuspect to tell him how f'en awesome this game was. For the next 15min I was a little school girl. I'm pretty sure I sounded like I was on meth, the speed at which details were flying out of my mouth were at a substantial rate. And the conversation ended with me saying "I guess you have to play the game to understand" lol.

My biggest vice is Final Fantasy.
I can not get enough of that series. Every game Squire Enix turns out is another six months of my life not seeing daylight. I will no joke come home after work and play every day and night until I beat the game. Ok for instance I logged in 85 hours on FF7 and 68 on FF10. I get sucked into those games. My life gets consumed and all I can think about is my next move, or the characters, or what if I do this. Right now I have Lost Odyssey music playing in my head. My notification tone on my phone is "victory" from FF7 oh my god I need help.

Most people look forward to buying a house, getting married, kids, better job, blah blah blah. I'm looking forward to the new Final Fantasy game to come out in 2010. Will it make my girlfriend hate me,,,,probably. Will I rush my daily work so I can get home to play,,,,,,yeah and call in sick a few days. Will I gain 40 pounds from sitting there eating chips and drinking pepsi,,,,heck yeah. Will I cry at the end,,,,ugh maybe? Check out the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPzCV...714&feature=iv Seeing it at E3 was a tease, all it did was add gas to the fire. I remember walking down the street and seeing the characters on the side of a building. My jaw hit the street and then many upon many swear words came out of my mouth. Im pretty sure mothers were covering there kids ears,,,,,and some adults. At one point I declared I wanted to have sex with them. The sign of a mad man or or someone who really loves rpg's? I'll leave that for you to decide

2009 SCCA National Championships- I hate you #39

pseudonym — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:10:49 GMT

Well it continues. We tested this weekend, Sat and Sun. Saturday went very well and our changes worked out perfectly. After a seasons worth of work we are now on par with the leaders in the class. We finished Saturday being either the fastest or the second fastest (there are no official times during testing) so we were very happy. Cue Sunday and we have some transmission problems, which we are able to sort through, buuuuutttt....

I go out in the second session, and on the out lap a guy spins RIGHT in front of me. I have to evade and end up riding into the gravel trap at the carousel at Road America (approx 100mph) and end up in the tire wall. I thrashed a wing and a nose but luckily the gravel slowed me down enough that there was no mechanical damage, and I have all the spares I need, so could be worse.

Open Letter

Dear #39,

I know driving is hard and all, but can you try to not try to spin right in front of me next time? At least spin somewhere that gives me a chance to evade on some pavement so I don't have to go into the gravel trap, mmkay? Thanks,

This Guy

/end Open Letter

So #39, I hate you. I know you didn't do it on purpose, but I don't like you very much right now.

Anyways, here is how the car LOOKED. I'll call this old and busted, the new hotness will be posted tomorrow once the repairs are done. My camera doesn't do the color justice. It is sweet... well, it was sweet at least.

Next up on the schedule Qualifying on Tuesday, I have Monday off!

/edit. This blog is a followup to one that was supposed to be posted on the 17th, but wasn't till tonight because I'm a meathead.

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I guess I am a Chrome user now.

RWB — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:46:04 GMT

Been a big FireFox fan for as long as I can remember, there was a point when Opera took over for a short bit but I went right back to FF for some reason, and perhaps that's what may be happening now as well.

I'm no FF expert though, I knew how to use it and enjoyed it and the many add-ons I could have but those Add-Ons seemed to occasionally just get in the way. I have a weird form of OCD about cleanliness that has developed since high school about things needing to just be redone instead of cleaned up. An example would be if someone; God help me; uses my computer for a while and I am not around for that while. They use the desktop to store EVERYTHING(you know, a thousand icon's of random poo). They install things wherever they please, and just make a muck of my system; God help them when I find them. I could go in and clean it all up and make it right back to normal, but my OCD kicks in and I just have to wipe the system and start from scratch or else I'll just feel dirty.

This of course extends to most everything in my life, including the browser. Sometimes I'm the one who makes the mess, so in the case of my browser I go Add-On crazy but some add-ons work well with others and some don't. I want it simple but also do all the cool stuff it claims without all the button's and ugliness. It just doesn't seem to work that way. So I usually have to clear all add-on's and start from scratch(not reformat in this case.. probably... usually).

So here came Chrome, something new for me to play with because I've been hiding under a rock for sometime. I have used it briefly before but went back to FF though. I just wanted to play with it for a bit and go back again, but I found that after a couple days I didn't care so much about going back. Then I asked myself why I don't care about my add-on's. I think the answer is simple... it's just a browser that works.

It's a simple browser at face, and I think that's what I like about it. Screw Add-On's! I don't need them. Anything I can do in this browser I know I could do in FF, but for some reason I now like it better. I might go back to FF, but right now I just ain't sure it will happen.

I guess mentioning some of the things I've come to use the most would be nice. The built in Task Manager is great and probably my favorite part. The Web Application Shortcut is also a big plus. Though I do wish I had access key's, I would like to start using those with Icrontic as I recently found out we had them while reading random posts. Chrome apparently doesn't offer support for them.

A Haiku for Gordon Freeman

Cliff_Forster — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:17:02 GMT

Gripping crowbar tight
Earth's enemy through glasses
Combine oppressors

2009 SCCA National Championships - The Return of The Luck

pseudonym — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:48:00 GMT

Since I've never been any good at informing people how my racing is going, I figured that I would blog this years National Championship races! Since this is the first post in the series, a little background is most likely needed for some so bear with me.

I've been racing since I was 17 years old in the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America). The SCCA is a sanctioning body much like IRL sanctions Indy Cars, only SCCA is geared towards the amateur racer. My dream has always been to be a professional race car driver, and SCCA racing has been one of my stepping stones towards that goal.

I've always wanted to drive open-wheel cars such as Indy Cars or Formula 1, and to that end I have been driving lower level open wheel cars in SCCA. I started in Formula 500, then went to Formula 2000, and am currently driving Formula E this year.

My career has had its ups and downs like most, but so far the highlight has been winning the Formula 500 National Championship in 2007 (Some of you may have seen this http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66383). I ran 7 races that season and was on the pole 6 times, set 7 fastest laps (4 of them were track records), won every race, and led every lap of every race. I also won the Chicago Region Triple Crown and Detroit Region's Driver of the Year award. Lets just say that was a good season.

In 2008 I gave pro racing a try and due to some budget issues things didn't go so hot, so I'm back running SCCA amateur racing, and going for another National Championship in the Formula E class.

The current car is a winged car powered by a 2.3L Mazda motor with about 180hp.

cue Monty Python GET ON WITH IT.

Ok, so enough with the background. As many of you don't know, my luck at the RunOffs has been absolutely horrid. Before my win in 2007 I had several seasons where I dominated the regular season and lost at the RunOffs due to some freak failure. In Summary-

2001- Broke a rod end, took a nap in the gravel.
2002- While running 3rd, lost a tiny part in the carburetor, finished 4th.
2003- Had an issue with the motor while leading, still managed 2nd.
2004- Blew a bearing in the motor that NEVER fails while leading. The motor was brand new.
2005- Broke a wheel while leading. Honestly, who brakes a wheel?!?!
2006- Got punted while leading by 2nd place and got taken out by another car. sigh.
2007- WIN!

So as you can see, not fun. I was hoping for some love from the race gods this season and so far things have gone well. I won 1 race, finished 3rd in 4 others, and qualified for the RunOffs. Pretty decent since this is a new car to us, but could have been a bit better. We made some good strides at our pre-RunOffs test to, so I've been pretty happy as of late.

But then it happened. My hideous RunOffs luck reared its ugly head yet again. Our trailer was broken into and a several items were stolen. One was a box of all our spare parts for the car (Brake rotors, gearbox parts, suspension parts etc, anyone own a scrap yard around here?), and the other was all of our setup stuff including our scales and caster/camber/toe gauges (Watch ebay and craigslist for some Intercomp scales!). Beyond that we also had our nitrogen bottle stolen and the trailer hitch, but that's no big deal compared to the other stuff. Luckily the tools and car were not in the trailer, and they actually left the trailer this time too, lucky me.

So here we go again, I get my one win and its back to the crapper. We leave Friday morning for the track, test on Sat and Sun, take Monday off, and then qualify Tues, Weds, and Thurs. Racing starts on Friday (There are 24 classes), and my race is 8:30 am Central time. It will be broadcast live on www.SpeedcastTV.com.

Anyways, I'll be shooting updates as the week progresses.

Computer Plans into next year

RWB — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:03:31 GMT

The system I have is pretty good for what I need and unfortunatly I only browse for short spurts during weekdays and WoW now when I'm not fishing, sleeping, or fishing on the weekends. Which is great because as much as I hate my job the more I work the less I spend if I manage to pack a lunch and keep it cool long enough. Once the debt is gone(I love looking at my CC statements now! Except the max limits keep lowering....) I can quit this job and with the other RL changes I can afford a lesser paying but NORMAL ^%*&kin JOB! And yes even though I don't make much I will gladly, promptly, and potentially rudely to my current..... err better stop there. Anyways, things can be worse I am great with money now and tend to make wiser choices in purchases now all around and getting better.

But we all have our vices. Mine is the desire to GAME.. not like I used to I have more RL things that matter more to me like fishing ;p but definitly more up to date. IE: I haven't ever even seen someone play Crysis in person let alone play it myself and I've wanted to but didn't feel I could experience it on any machine I have had thus far. This brings me to my plan so far.

It started with the recent question on what card I should get and then even shorter still the news that a school district is planning a major tech upgrade so I'm going to be busy, real busy... for a while..... so I changed plans and decided to wait on the card but I the system needs to it just doesn't feel like it's been fully built yet... missing some front panels on the case, PSU is 20 pin and not 24 pin(iirc or something else), I only have a $5 pair of headphones from CVS for audio! Those kind of things.

So I did some minor searching and came to the conclusion that I liked the Logitech Z-540 set for $97 to my door by the end of this week. I want to keep with the trend of buying parts that don't outdate for long periods of time and will buy a UPS with AVR for battery and better power regulation, and then a high effeciency OCZ PSU that nice 700 I've seen recomended several times likely. These 3 things will keep me busy till my debt is cleared enough to start the next phase but other smaller things will be done as well budget pending.

The next phase will be that eyefinity with 5 glorious screens! But I've typed enough with this G1 and think I can finally pass out from this crazy day... I'll spare you the details on that on though haha.

A Haiku for Chun-Li

Cliff_Forster — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:34:16 GMT

Your muscular thighs,
Astounding in their fury,
Be gentle with me.

Cancer Sucks

Cliff_Forster — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:43:25 GMT

A day after the passing of a Hollywood star to the dreaded disease I find it fitting that a co worker of mine is toiling to help find a cure. His wife has been diagnosed and it would mean a great deal if folks might take a little time, read his page and if you can please make a small donation.

Cancer Sucks, chances are we have known someone stricken with it, lets do something about it.

Thank you.

Myrmi-jected

Myrmidon — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:04:14 GMT

Here's the video that beat the myrmiject.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa2...ti-cupid_music

And the video runner ups -

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa6...-contest_music

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa2...-langres_music

Well, there goes my dream date with Emily Haines! :P

A Poem for Eliza Masters

Cliff_Forster — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:44:14 GMT

To Eliza Masters wife of the mighty Ken,
Never do you fret when he practices a HADOUKEN!,
Many months pregnant with his first child,
Never would you stop Ken from getting a little wild,
For your warrior Ken has a fighters heart,
You've surely known that from the very start,
When the time comes for an unsanctioned illegal brawl,
You just say, Honey, its okay go ahead, beat them all!,
So to you Eliza, all men owe this debt of gratitude,
For standing by your man, and not acting like a prude.