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I finally got up the gumption this afternoon to break out Lightsaber #2, and re-wire the hilt so that the wires actually fit. I ended up replacing the switch with a much nicer momentary AV switch with a shorter socket. This involved dremmeling out the switch hole sin, o that the new one fit. This, in turn, involved gouging the hilt in several places causing it to look battle scarred. This seems somehow appropriate since I replaced the LED with red. After working on it for about 5 hours I got the job done, and it works great. It's rock solid, and cannot be beat up at this point. I still need to re-pack the wires, as it's still a bit tight, but there is much more room in the saber to push some wiring around to make room for the battery holder to be removed easily. The only bad part about the whole experience is that this is now the most I've ever spent on something that I didn't end up liking. Don't get me wrong...It's a lightsaber that works, and is built like a tank...I just don't like the style. I think I'll end up getting rid of it in the end...but the next one will be really cool. Plans are already in the works. I'd have loaded up the pics of this one, but my Flickr account got hijacked, and subsequently locked out. I'll probably pick up another, more permanent, photo-sharing account soon, and the pictures will be posted then. Still debating on whether or not to build another saber before Star Wars Celebration.
-GalenCurrent Mood:  accomplished Current Music: "What the Hell" |
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I never realized how deep my connection to my Kindle as a basic form of entertainment, and enjoyment, had become until it was bricked. A very light, sleek, brick, but a brick none-the-less. I have now ordered a replacement, and payed a premium to have it delivered by Monday. Why there should be such a sense of urgency surrounding a device that substitutes for books when I have game consoles and a computer to keep me company until it's replacement is slightly surprising.
I guess there really is no substitute for the written word when it comes to certain creative experiences. There is something about it that allows the reader to use their own imagination to make it their own, unique, experience. This becomes clearer when discussing certain written works of fiction with others who have read them. They'll sometimes choose different ways to pronounce the characters names, feel differently about the environments described within the book, and even come to different conclusions about the motivations of the characters all from reading the same words. I love, and crave, something about this solitary interactive experience with another persons thoughts put to page. It is irreplaceable.
-Galen
On a side note...this introspection could have something to do with the fact that I'm sitting in an otherwise empty room...alone...I need to get out...
Also, having a library fit in a slim, six ounce device is pretty darn cool.Current Mood:  thoughtful |
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I have finally realized a goal that I've been working toward since I started this game. I got Samurai to level 75. I'm pretty happy.
That is all...
-GalenCurrent Mood:  excited |
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News at eleven...Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: "Livin' on a Prayer" |
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Tonight, in a nail-biting fight with Maat, I defeated him, and won the right to progress as a Samurai to level 75. It's required a tremendous effort to get to this point, but I'm glad I did.
-GalenCurrent Mood:  jubilant |
| » A Much Belated Update... |
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A bit late perhaps, but no matter...The news...
Work:
Still employed. A ton of organizational change, in which I have been shifted around to numerous groups only to land back where I started, has taken place in the past 8 months. Some good things have come of it, and some opportunities to steer the organization in the direction it needs to go have emerged.
Life:
Still breathing...Silverluz seeks a new job...Waiting to see where we'll end up, and whether my job can follow where we go. I've been doing my best to wrap up my list of stuff to do while we're still in the area. In the mean time my nephew has turned five. I regret that I've only had the chance to see him about once a year.
The Internets:
My Yahoo account got hacked, and I subsequently lost access to my Flickr account. I'm lamenting the loss, but maintaining a Yahoo account for the sole purpose of using Flickr seems foolish. I'm currently looking for a new home for my pictures, and are considering getting identity management software to help me keep track of everything. Facebook continues to annoy me with it's changes, but not many people I know are making the switch to Google+, or one of the others, and I like keeping track of my friends in far places.
Gaming:
I ended up breaking my self-imposed fast on gaming in the Fall with the purchase of Battlefield 3. I received my 7 month pre-order of SWTOR in December to make only two games purchased all of last year. Not too shabby even if I didn't make it all the way. I was really stoked for Battlefield 3 after playing the heck out of the demo, but a month after launch it was still so buggy that I set it down and haven't returned to it. SWTOR turned out to be the elixer I was hoping it would be. I currently have 6 characters, and are enjoying the different storylines of each class I play. It is a truly well crafted game. My hat's off to BioWare for resisting the lure of their EA taskmaster's calls and taking the time to get it right.
L.A. Noire:
I picked this game up toward the end of the summer, and really have enjoyed it. I recon I'm about half-way through, and it's really a lot more impressive than I suspected it would be given it's heritage. That's two Rockstar games in a row I've enjoyed the single-player for. Perhaps I'll have to re-think some of the studio's other works.
SWTOR = Awesome!
FFXI:
We are slowly making our way to 75, which was my eventual goal. After a punishing slog of grinding, and farming I eventually managed to get the body piece for my Samurai Artifact Armour. There are days I still enjoy parts of this game, but they are fewer having seen the beauty that is SWTOR. Clearly one of these companies loves it's fans, and the other hates them with an undying passion reserved for one's vilest enemies. How can they wrap so much hatred in a pretty package?
Samurai = 70
Monk = 50
Dancer = 38
White Mage = 31
Ninja = 23
Black Mage = 20
Warrior = 17
Feb. 11th, 2012 @ 06:26 pm
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| » Phillie... |
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So I got back last night from my trip to Philadelphia. I managed to dodge all but one of the rain storms over the three day period, and had a great time. I'm in the middle of organizing the pictures, and should have some posted in a few days. In the mean time I have listed a few of the things I saw below...
- The US Mint
- The Constitution Center
- The Liberty Bell
- Independence Hall (Outside)
- New Hall (The Revolutionary Equivalent of the Pentagon)
- Carpenter's Hall (Site of the First Continental Congress)
- Free Quaker Meeting House
- Christ Church
- City Tavern
- Tun Tavern Historical Marker (Birthplace of the US Marine Corps)
- U.S.S. New Jersey (Battleship docked on the New Jersey side of the river)
- U.S.S. Olympia (Admiral Dewey's flagship, and the only steel warship left from the Spanish American War)
- U.S.S. Becuna (WWII Submarine)
- The US Mint (Second Tour)
- The Kyber Pass Pub
...It was my first trip travelling by train in the US. These days when you fly you are treated like a criminal...when you travel by train you are treated like a responsible, upstanding citizen. I prefer being treated with respect, and I got it. It was a great trip, and I would do it again.
-Galen
Aug. 21st, 2011 @ 06:08 pm
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| » Woefully Neglected... |
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This can really describe so many things at the moment. My job sped up again around the middle of June, and hasn't wound down yet. Here are a few updates...
FFXI:
Silverluz and I finally got married in game. You can see the pic montage on her site.
Fallout:
Finished my first playthrough of Fallout 3 only missing 2 possible achievements. I've started my second playthrough, but dropped it off again for a bit. Silverluz got me Fallout New Vegas for my birthday. I may spin that up soon.
Lightsabers:
Haven't touched them since the 4th of July weekend. I plan to fix my first one up today, and re-work some of the internals. I'll post the modifications up on my flickr site when I'm finished. Building these things has become an incredible learning experience, and I've had to re-think several things more than once as I continue to learn new details. I really should spend more time on it soon, and get out all the other posts I've got backlogged on this subject.
Mass Effect:
I have this problem...I'm on my fourth playthrough with the same character. I'll carry that character over to Mass Effect II when I start that game over. I can't seem to stop playing with this character so that I can get some of the class specific achievements. I need to. I'm almost done with this playthrough, and it will be my last with this character. Then I can re-start ME 2 and clean up the remaining achievements with the original game. I'm restarting ME 2 because it's been so long since I started my playthrough that I can't remember anything about where I am or what I'm doing.
Work:
My boss left at the end of July, and our team of 5 years is being broken up. I'm being placed in a new position, and are being given the task of handling the transition. It's a challenge, but one I look forward to. In the end it will mean that I am no longer on-call, and I can work relatively normal hours. I'm looking forward to it.
Phillie:
I'll be off for a few days next week, and plan to take a trip to Phillie to see all the sites that those who live in this third of the country probably saw when they were in school. Being a big history buff, I look forward to the experience. I will take some of my time off to catch up on my on-line activities that have been neglected.
Crackdown:
Chris dropped by unexpectedly the other day with a copy of Crackdown 2 that he wanted me, and a few others, to play with him. I popped it in, and have been stuck playing it since. It's pretty adictive using an entire city as a jungle gym. I've collected over half of the agility orbs already, and this seems to be my primary motivation for playing the game. Each orb increases your ability to run and jump which means more jungle gym time. I've got to put the crack down...This may be why they named the game the way they did.
Games in General:
I've been on a self-imposed game buying fast. My plan is to purchase no games this year. I set this goal at the end of last year, and so far have experienced no trouble sticking to it. The one exception I made to this policy, and it was stated publicly at the beginning, was that if The Old Republic emerged from production this year I would buy it. I placed my pre-order with Amazon 2 days after it became available. It is theoretically due out just after Christmas, but I suspect it may roll into next year. We'll see. Since I stopped buying games so that I could catch up on the ones I have many people have picked up where I left off. I got Fable III for Christmas, and still haven't even loaded it in the XBOX yet. I received LA Noire, Fallout New Vegas, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, and Crackdown 2 for my birthday. If I allowed myself to do so, I could be occupied for the next couple of years playing the games I have now. I can't do that. There are other things I need to get done. If Battlefield 3 turns out to be good though I'll be putting it on my list for Christmas.
Aug. 14th, 2011 @ 12:57 pm
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| » Life, and Other Topics... |
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Trip to Pittsburgh:
The weekend was cool. We got to swim, BBQ, and visit with the cousins. We went for an enjoyable hike at North Park on Sunday, and attended a free concert at Hartwood later that night. All-in-all it was a good weekend.
Bicycle:
I got a Schwinn hybrid about a week ago. I got all the gear I need to begin commuting to work on my bicycle. I took the day off today and tomorrow, so I tested the route today, and determined the best one to take to work. It takes me just under 15 min. to get there at a reasonable pace. I had some serious trouble with nausea once I arrived at work, and will not be commuting until I have figured out what caused this. I will be testing the route several more times to work out the kinks that my body appears to have had today. Hopefully it was just the humidity. As for the bike, it performs very well. I doubt I'll end up using even half the gears, but it's nice to have them in case I expand my cycling activities beyond just commuting to work.
Lightsabers:
I have now been back to repair my first saber no fewer than a dozen times. I finished putting together the second saber, but are having some difficulty cramming everything in. The new sound board requires many more wires than the previous board, and a fair amount of splicing to cut down on connections to the board. I will probably be in troubleshooting mode for another week figuring out how to make the second build successful. I'm delaying the shoto build until next month to give myself time to re-design. I did find a cool program in my research that will allow me to build, and put up for display, wiring diagrams for each of my saber builds. These will probably be posted later this month.
FF XI:
Silverluz and I have continued grinding our way to 75. We both reached 65 last night with our respective main jobs. She'll have to go back to leveling her sub soon, and I will probably take advantage of the opportunity to get my monk a bit higher. I'd like to get him to 50. Once we reach 75 I think we'll start some of the new expansion stuff.
Fallout 3:
I reached level 30, finished the Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta expansions, and are wrapping up the last few side missions that have achievements prior to finishing the end game. Mothership Zeta is a blast, and is the best of the expansions I have played so far. I haven't decided which one to do next.
Jul. 5th, 2011 @ 06:44 pm
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| » Having trouble catching up... |
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My parents decided they wanted to see Silverluz and I so they drove out to meet us "half-way" about an hour north of Pittsburgh. This is more than half way for them, and a little less for us. So that's where we spent the weekend. We just got back a short while ago after 8 hours in the car. Traffic was considerably worse than expected due to construction, and just random congestion.
The remaining parts for my next lightsaber arrive on Tuesday, and it looks like my lessons learned on the first one are still going. I broke it again this weekend, and will have to learn a new skill to get it fixed. It will be out of commission for the 4th of July. I hope to have my second saber finished by then so that I can have at least two to take with me. I'll post when I can. I've had some things blow up at work lately, and that's taken time away from my ability to follow my previously published posting schedule.
Tired now...
Going to bed...
Jun. 26th, 2011 @ 09:06 pm
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