Cruftbox: My Box of Cruft

Tonight at 6:30PM I’m seeing Matrix: Revolutions. The always thinking Mr. P has come up with this plan for seating at the theater.

Please study the attached attack plan. It is the key to us getting good seating for the movie this evening.
When the doors open at 1800 hours, Mike Pusateri will create a diversion by shouting “hey, is that KEANU REEVES?!” During the ensuing chaos, Pat Bryant will move into position to block access to the theater entrance. Travis and I will proceed inside. I will take the near side while Travis will run around the far side. We will proceed up to the Stadium section and enter rows from opposite sides, converging at seats 9 through 13.
Gentlemen, I won’t lie to you. It’s a risky mission, and some of us may not return. But it is our only hope. Good luck to us all!

This is how true geeks plan a trip to the movies.

Many people seem a little confused about what exactly the connection between ‘pinging’ and weblogs is all about.
I wrote up a page on How Pinging Works to help people understand.
It’s a little MovableType focused, but it still trys to explain the concept to everyone.

On Sunday, the girls and I decided to go to the local Japanese supermarket, Mitsuwa. I love non-American markets since they expose me to so much cool stuff I never see at Vons or Ralph’s.
The stated task was to buy a new rice cooker. Our old Hitachi rice cooker had served well for 10 years, but the feet were coming off and the bottom was beginning to rust. Michele’s two stated feature request in a new unit was non-stick coating and ‘keep warm’ mode.
If you don’t have a rice cooker and you eat rice, you NEED to buy a rice cooker. Perfect rice, every time. And it’s the simplest gadget around. Dump in rice, dump in water, push button, done.
Of course, we bought a ton of snacks and other treats while at the store.

The good stuff from Mitsuwa
I was happy to find the new Roots line of iced coffee. I had never tried them before. Jake up at 8bitjoystick had tried them, and I was jealous.
Currently I am drinking Roots Aroma Black, which Jake descibes as “the black tar heroin of the canned Japanese coffee”. He’s right. Only a true iced coffee addict could stomach this.
The can has the following quote: ” The Waist-Wave Can provides optimum heat control combined with the HTST PROCESS in the pursuit of the authentic coffee flavor”. I think HTST mean High Temperature Short Time. I don’t know how it relates to iced coffee, but it sure makes it strong.
You can see the Sanyo rice cooker to the right. I gave it a test run and it was perfect. Maybe tonight I will make some curry and test it on a bigger batch.
I also picked a pack of Black Black gum. It’s not the same as licorice Blackjack gum, in fact I’m not sure what it tastes like.

After playing the demos, I bought Call of Duty last Thursday night. Saturday night, I finished the single player game. Absolutely kick ass.
After the first night of playing, I was impressed, but not amazed. After moving deep into the game, I am amazed. The game is fantastic and a must have for any FPS player. This is the first single player game I’ve finished in years.
The game takes you into World War II as one of the Allies. You play scenarios from the American, British, and Russian vantages. The Russian scenario is the longest and the best, taking you from Stalingrad to Berlin. There are several different types of missions including simple assualts, commando raids, even tank battles. The V2 level was the hardest & funniest one for me to finish. I consider myself a good FPS player, but the V2 level was HARD. The spy mission on the Battleship Dornitz is also superb.
The goal of reaching the Reichstag (German Parliment) is palpable after going through all three missions and I could feel my heart racing as I burst into the main hall of the building.

Inside the Reichstag, the final battle.

Victorious over the Third Reich, waving the flag in the heart of Berlin.
I haven’t played the Multiplayer yet, but there looks to be several game modes that don’t involve pure deatmathc style carnage, more like RtCW with team objectives. I’ll give it a try and report back.
Technically, the game is perfection. Based on the Quake 3 engine, the game is fluid and smooth with clean animation. The weapons are fairly balanced, but the sniper rifle is a bit too precise of a shot. I could hit targets with the scope at a distance and never miss. A little more weave would make it more challenging. The sounds are fantastic and add to the immersiveness of the game. I wouldn’t suggest playing with the speakers up or the neighbors will be calling the police. The first Stalingrad level is utter madness and the sound brings the chaos over the top.
I anxiously look forward to any expansion packs for Call of Duty. Too bad it will be months before I see them.

I’m one of the rare people my age that still reads the newspaper every morning. Michele and I get two papers and read them front to back most days. There’s never usually a suprise due to the internet, but the depth and images are something that the net news doesn’t have down yet.
I was flipping through the USA Weekend ‘magazine’ and spotted an article on weblogs.
It’s a light piece on what they are and kinda makes them out to be diaries of a sort. They mention a way that bloggers could get paid on Blogging Network, so expect a flood of craptastic blogs there.
The real issue is that the knowledge and mindshare of weblogging is making it’s way into the mainstream of America.

For those that don’t know, Michele is out of town. This presents certain opportunities, such as making this breakfast for my children on Halloween.

Mira wanted cake, Zoe wanted cookies
After the photo I put green food dye in the milk to make the “ectoplasm” that Zoe requested.
Michele’s gunna freak.

Life’s been barreling along here at full speed. After my third day of meetings today in Anaheim, I stopped by a local market to pick up some groceries. I don’t normally shop there, but due to the supermarket strike, I went in. I was pleased to find this.

A large can of Hello Boss
This is obviously a sign that things are going to get better.
Gaming
My gaming has been lacking lately with all this pesky travel and work. I downloaded the latest Call of Duty demo. I was surprised at how good they can make these levels. It’s a single player game I might actually have to buy. I found my self craving more after the short demo level.
The latest PC Gamer magazine arrived today and I saw review of UT2004. Looks like it will make Halo look like a two year old piece of crap. Wait, Halo is a two year old piece of crap.
5 Things about today
1) I’m tired of catered food.
2) The drive from South Pasadena to Disneyland is a bitch.
3) The girls never get tired of reading Dogzilla.
4) Making hamburgers on a cast iron pan is good, but not as good as making them on a grill.
5) I miss my wife.
MLP
Nice story about Atkins and the geek set
Bush’s Banner
I want an AMD 64 FX, too bad it costs $800

The sky on Sunday at 3PM

I’m home.
Yesterday, my training finished up around 11 AM and we were under strict orders not to return to work. Michele plucked the girls out of school and they meet me down at the Grand Californian around lunch time.
We scooted into Disneyland and went straight to the Hanuted Mansion. The Haunted Mansion has been redecorated by Jack Skellington in his Nightmare Before Christmas motiff. The place is a sight to behold. If you can get anywhere near Disneyland before the end of the year, stop by. It’s well worth it.
Michele was excited to find an entire store devoted to selling Nightmare stuff and picked up a great commemorative plate. She also filled up on squished pennies and quarters.
The girls pushed us to hit a lot of the rides. Let’s see, we rode: Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tarzan’s Treehouse, Indian Jones, Jungle Cruise, Storybook Boat, Dumbo, Tea Cups and Saucers, Toontown Coaster, and the Matterhorn.
The girls were getting a little tired and wanted to be carried everywhere. This was the sign to wind down the day. We walked back to the hotel and had dinner at the Storyteller’s Cafe. A little more souvenir shopping and we headed home.
Tons of mail and email waiting for me in neat little stacks. My copy of Quicksilver had arrived and I hefted the considerable weight, savoring the upcoming enjoyment.
I just started my first load of laundry in the new washer. The washer has more options that a Chinese restauraunt. I need to read the manual.
Soccer starts in an hour, gotta run.