Oh the weather outside is....Nice??

So some of you know I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We're not really famous for much except for the Stampede, 1989 Stanley Cup winners, and the 1988 Winter Olympics, and the wicked chinooks that blows down from the Rocky's. Well this month, it had hit -45 degrees Celsius all the way back up to 7 degrees Celsius. Needless to say, my head is killing me. But it sure is nice to be wearing shorts in the middle of February. While I was starting to writing this draft (work is brutal this month, I'm writing these over a few weeks), I have purchased, and returned, a number of things. I recently got a new desk for the home office. Excellent set up and looks professional. But this proved to be a bit of a problem since I can no longer have my Logitech Z5500 set up in the optimal positions. With that note, I also recently upgraded my HT setup to a Denon AVR-788, so my old crappy Yamaha HTIB was sitting in the basement collecting dust. So I sold my Z5500 for $100 more than what I paid (YES!) and set up my Yamaha as my main PC sound system. Great choice since it's basically the Z5500 with more inputs. Takes up a bit more space and doesn't look as great but I didn't have to pay anything :) With the money from the Z5500, I got myself a Viewsonic Optiquest Q241wb 24" Widescreen monitor! Man does this thing blow all my previous monitors out of the water! Color is bright and accurate without calibration, awesome screen real estate, and decent 5ms for games. Simply can't complain, and I got it for only $50 more than what I originally paid for my 2240W gaming panel. Next time, I'll touch on the status of my WoW revival.

Of Mice and Achievements

Achievement Whore: n.

1. The act of accomplishing or finishing an Xbox 360 game solely for the purpose of gaining achievement points.
2. A person who plays Xbox 360 games, regardless of the quality of game, for the bragging rights to a higher gamer score.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up what I've been doing lately. Achievement whoring. Why you might ask? I can't really explain to you. It seems to keep me playing games thought, however, I seem to really be hitting the old crappy games first. But at least this give me the satisfaction of actually playing through some of my old games so I can trade them in and save some valuable shelf space. I'm officially finished all the 06 Sports games I have in my collection! I've been toying with the idea of playing PC games while sitting on my couch. HTPC's are quite popular, especially for the den/basement entertainment centers. My set up is in the bonus room of the house (which is usually code for the extra room they build over you garage). This isn't the best place for late night gaming, which is when I have time to game these days. My wife sleeps about 2-3 hours earlier than I do, she needs her beauty sleep, while I'm more of a night owl. I personally have always resisted getting multiple computers. I just find it wasteful to have more than one device that does the same thing when you hardly ever use it at the same time. That's part of the reason why I love Vista and won't be going back to XP unless I have to. Vista's user setup is so much more refined than that of XP. With both my wife and I using the same computer, it's PARAMOUNT that she and I have our own setup for fonts, screen resolutions, desktops, etc. My wife's a CGA so she's used to using a computer and is quite adept at it (as compared to most women that I personally know - that's not meant to be sexist but it's simply the truth). But she does still have her own preferences and complaints. One of them being "why does it take so long?". She gives me a somewhat hard time about the constant upgrades I do to my PC. But the thing she doesn't realize is that 30% of the upgrade decision is based on her complaints about the PC being slow at multi-tasking. Granted, the other 70% is games and bragging rights but that's another story! So, I'm toying with the idea of joining the dark side of Mac. I'm fairly certain that I will be getting the new Macbook Pro once it's been announced but for now, I'll just keep thinking about it. Boot Camp certainly is a HUGE reason for the jump since I can't live without Windows. It's like trying to walk with one leg in a two-legged world. Sure, the Segway is faster, more efficient, and flashier than your regular legs, but just wait until you have to go up stairs and you are screwed! But with boot camp, it's like getting a nice pair of crutches that you can stow away in your fancy segway for the times when you need to get up the stairs and need a little help. Ok, that analogy needs work but you get the point. PC will always be my gaming platform of choice, even over consoles, but these days, it looks like I will have to start to change with the times.

Salame Salami

So the new job is going fairly well. I think I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter where you work, if your priorities are not life, you won't be satisfied. With my industry, it's increasingly difficult to find an employer that will truly take care of its employees. Certainly there are ups and downs, monetary compensation is a large part of that, however; it's not the only determining factor. I'm on this train of thought since I referred a friend to my firm and this is his first week. It's a bit daunting when you own reputation is put on the line in front of that of your employer. Can anyone honestly say that their company has their back? If you can, stick with them and be thankful you don't have to look for another job because you've already found that perfect one. On a side note, some old co-workers have invited me to a weekend in Banff. These guys (and a few gals) are all from my old company. It's nice that they have stayed in touch but it's becoming harder to find common ground. I'm not in the everyday loop and without that constant interaction, conversation with co-workers quickly turns dull. These guys also love to ski/snowboard. I'm not a big winter sports person (hockey is an exception) so it's going to be a bit of a tough choice for going or not. I also feel bad for leaving my wife for the whole weekend. Plenty of time to think about it since it's not until March. This has been a bit of a weird week. I'm staying at my parent's house, taking care of their dog and my grandmother. Needless to say, I have more time on my hands. It's not so bad. I'm catching up on some old games (Madden 06 - yes, I'm just dicking around for some achievement points!) And I'm going to give WoW one more go before seeing if I will call it quits in March. Anyway, next post will be on topic and not random drivel. Ta.