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OCAOPR Anonymous! iPhone 6

Last Retyped: October 31th, 2014 - 8:24 am. - Phone finally here! Hello! My name is Josh. I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Apple Order Page Refreshing, It's a condition I've had for a few days now. No matter what I'm doing, I want to check the Apple order page, and hit refresh, sometimes I even hit refresh several times within the time span of 30 seconds. Even when I'm laying in bed, I load the page on my iPhone 5, and hit refresh every other minute. All I can think about is refreshing this page. I keep hitting the refresh button trying to get my fix, but its never enough! I am never satisfied. I am chasing the ultimate dragon that seemingly can never be caught! I just keep wanting to do it more and more! Kidding, but serious! For the past few days I've been constantly checking the Apple Order page, trying to see if there is any update on my iPhone 6 Plus order, and so far nothing! Makes me wonder what the delay is? They could produce over 500,000 iPhone 5s's a day, and that was over a year ago, so you'd think they would be even more efficient now, and producing more iPhones. A theory that I have is that maybe there was some type of stucturer issue with the original Plus, which was causing some slight bending on some models of the Plus, and they were simply secretly fixing and reinforcing the case before they sent more out. Just an idea, which is honestly fine with me if they are. Seems that more people are receiving their Plus's now as well. [caption id="attachment_105" align="aligncenter" width="973"] Order Page - Processing[/caption] I'm not a major Apple fan, I've had Macbooks (white), and a Sexy looking Macbook pro, but couldn't really stand the hardware (case was nice though), or OS X much, but Apple does something so right with iOS, and the iPhone. I really Just like the iphone. after having many Android devices that seemed to randomly become buggy, and just too annoying to use, such as Random shut offs when tracking my cycle routes vs GPS, or the onscreen keyboard not working or responding, crappy battery life, and other random issues, my iPhones always just WORKED. Without giving me much hassle or major problems, while looking incredibly sexy at the same time. I ordered the iPhone 6 Plus 128gb Space Grey.  Unlocked T-Mobile. I used the Apple Financing, which is just another damn Credit Card, but you can use the credit now to get the phone, and have up to a year to pay it off, which in the end will still be way cheaper than signing a 2 year contract. I originally ordered the 64GB version, but ove rall it was less than $100 cheaper, and if I'm going to invest a $Grand into a phone, I might as well get the model i'll least regret. My current iPhone 5 is 32gb, and I hardly even use the space on it, but this could change on the iPhone 6 Plus for watching videos on its more useful screen. So, I cancelled the 64gb order and ordered the 128gb instead. The great thing about the Unlocked T-Mobile version is, it's simply unlocked. Meaning, it really has no ties whatsoever to T-Mobile. You can use it on both CDMA or GSM. I use StraightTalk on Verizon's CDMA network. I was worried I was going to have to wait for the unlocked Verizon Model, or StraightTalk to come out with their own version, then i decided to go ahead and try StraightTalks GSM, which uses T-Mobile and AT&T's towers. I live out in the country so my signal is spotty on Verizon, but never used At&t out here. The Coverage Maps say i should have good signal, but who knows. But it turns out that this phone should work just fine on StraightTalks CDMA. Guess we'll find out. The things that i'm really looking forward to in the iPhone 6 Plus are: Screen Size: My only major complaint ever about the iPhone is the horrible tiny screen. I'm not a tall guy, around 5'8-5'9, but I can barely type on the iPhone due to the screen and buttons being so small. Battery life: I've read that the iPhone 6 plus  holds a much larger battery thanks to its size, so on a normal charge it can last all day, if not a day and a half. My current iPhone 5 can barely last a few hours of actual usage. Accessories: There doesn't seem to be far too many accessories out there for the iPhone 6 yet. Such as durable cases, bicycle mounts, etc. [caption id="attachment_102" align="alignleft" width="263"] I-Blason Armor Box[/caption] I have found a beautiful case from Quad Lock, which you can get a nice bicycle mount for, among others. Sadly though this case isn't available, and after contacting the company they stated it wont be available for a couple more months. I will for sure buy this once its available. I also prefer the sleek, thin cases. I ended up ordering one of these, well two since they sent me to, i'll have to return the other: Armorbox Dual Layer Hybrid Protective Case. So far this case seems to be the best looking and more durable that I have found that's available. Due to all my cycling and such, I wanted to have a case on day one (whenever I do finally get my phone :P ). It was $19.99, but it seems they have upped their price to $24.99. Link: I-Blason. [caption id="attachment_157" align="alignright" width="300"] Too Big? The ArmorBox Case for the iPhone 6 plus with my iPhone 5 inside of it.[/caption] Update: 10-5-14 I got the ArmorBox case a few days ago, but it has me very wary about the size of the Plus. I can barely even hold or grip the case with one hand. Not sure if the weight of the phone being in it would help or not. Maybe it will be too big, but that's okay. The normal 6 isn't really that exciting to me. I mean the size might be perfect, but its GO BIG OR NOTHING! :P My order is still "processing". Sad thing is, I could cancel the order, and reorder the normal iPhone 6 and have it in my hands within a week, but meh, I'd rather wait for the Plus. Hopefully it comes before Halloween... Or Thanksgiving... The case itself is pretty nice, and the back is solid. The front isn't as gellie as it appears in their picture. it's actually a hard plastic. I'll write a proper review on it when I actually get the phone and can form an opinion on how it works and fits with the phone. Update: October 23, 2014 - Phone finally shipped! It's been a long, long stressful wait, but my iPhone 6 Plus order has finally shipped, not without my heart stopping for a few minutes yesterday. [caption id="attachment_372" align="alignleft" width="300"] Could not be completed[/caption] Yesterday after waking up from an prework afternoon nap (I'm an old man), this email popped up stating that my order could not be completed. WTF? the first words in bold made me think that all hope was lost. After waiting nearly a month, and then to get this? No way was I going to wait another month! Force Apple to take my $1,000? So, I quickly checked my credit card. Why would it deny my charge? It's the financing deal I got with Apple, and it added the new credit card to the order and everything automatically. I assumed that maybe the card wasn't activated. I created an an online account for the card assumed that would activate it, and besides, since it was part of the offer from Apple and added automatically as the payment source, wouldn't it just work? I hadn't used the card for any other purchases, so didn't know that it wouldn't work. [caption id="attachment_374" align="alignright" width="300"] iPhone 6 Plus Shipped![/caption] I found the activation number for the card and fully activated it, then I edited the credit card info on Apple.com, and it said it changed and submitted successfully. But the order still didn't change from processing. I didn't want to have to order get completely cancelled, or delayed even more, so I called Apple to make sure everything was okay. The lady on the phone said that it shows the order went through just fine and is Preparing To Ship stage. Thankfully. After an hour or so the order switched to "Preparing to Ship", and the card was charged. Which ends the 25 days of "Processing Order". Just a few minutes ago the order switched to "Shipped", and I have a UPS tracking code, with an expected delivery of October 29th, which is less than a week from now, and 2 days into the original expected delivery dates of Oct 28 - Nov 4th. Feels so great to finally have some movement with this iPhone order. Less than a week to go! [caption id="attachment_416" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sitting in Korea[/caption] Update: October 29, 2014 - Delays I'm very annoyed right now. My phone has been sitting in Korea since last Friday, which 5 days now, and hasn't budged. If it ships today, then maybe i'll get it tomorrow, if not I may, if i'm lucky, get it on the date given by Apple which is October 31st. I suppose its my fault for getting my hopes up thinking that the UPS date was correct, and looking at other people's orders on the Mac Forum who've gotten their phones earlier and on the Estimated UPS date. All I know right now is that this Apple order has been so stressful, and I'm not very happy about it... Not sure if i'll order any Apple product again anywhere near its released date. Update: October 29, 2014 - 10:41am [caption id="attachment_418" align="alignright" width="300"] Departed Korea[/caption] My phone has finally left Korea after sitting there for no good reason for 5 days. I don't want to get my hopes up, but people who were in the exact same situation and nearly identical tracking updates yesterday, have their phones out for delivery for them today. So Maybe i'll get lucky tomorrow? Who knows. Not getting my hopes up anymore, but it'll be nice. Update: October 30, 2014 - 8:24am [caption id="attachment_423" align="alignleft" width="220"] iPhone out for delivery... Finally![/caption] My Phone is finally out for delivery. After nearly a week of month of waiting, and alot of time sitting in Korea in a warehouse. I must say though it's pretty incredible that at this time yesterday my Phone was still sitting on a pallet in Korea, and is now here miles from me. I just hope that I can hear the UPS guy when he shows up, so he doesn't leave with the phones still with him. Apple requires a signature on all iphones. We'll see we'll see. Update: October 31, 2014 - 8:24am https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slmolAsIIAU Phone is here! The Phone arrived yesterday around 10AM via UPS. So the wait is over! [caption id="attachment_426" align="alignright" width="252"] Hello iPhone[/caption] It took over a month (31days for the phone to get here. And i must say... THE DAMN THING IS BEAUTIFUL! I'm happy over all. So, Now I must end this post for good. I'll link to a new post about the iPhone 6 and other issues soon.
Josh

OptiContacts.com Review *updated 2015*

*Update April 5 2015, scroll to bottom of post *Update March 26 2015, scroll to bottom of post I've been going through several pairs of contacts the last month to decide which I want to use on my contact prescription. After testing several different brands, I told my eye doctor that the Air Optix by Ciba Vision were the most comfortable. I have sensitive and dry eyes, and these seem to be okay for many hours. The next step was to find a place to buy the contacts. Walmart sells the contacts for $60 a box, which total would be $120.00 - before tax. Walmart.com does state that I'd receive free standard shipping though, which doesn't save much. I researched many online sites, and the cheapest site I found that had legit reviews/ratings was OptiContacts.com. I could get the same exact contacts there for only $36.49 a box, which makes it $72.98 for the set. They get a bit tricky and tag on a "handling" fee. From reviews, it seems that this few was around $10 in the past, but for my order it was only $4.74, plus $6.95 for shipping with the order totaling $84.67 - Much cheaper than Walmart. They don't seem to charge any tax, probably since they have an out of state warehouse. I ordered the contacts in the early hours of September 23rd. I instantly got an email stating that I needed to provide them with a copy of my prescription, so I emailed them that. Seemed to have a DAY of "processing", then the contacts were shipped out on the 24th, out of Florida via USPS. With a estimated delivery date of Saturday, September 27th. I received the package on the 26, less than 3 days since my order was placed. Super fast shipping! The package came in a very solid box. Inside the box were my two 6 month supplies of contacts, and an invoice. One thing that had me weary about this site is if the contacts were fresh, for example usually contacts have 3-5, or sometimes more years until they expire. This site sells them for pretty cheap, so i was worried that they could be end of life type of deal, where they will expire in a few months to a year, but that wasn't the case here. One box expires in 2019, and the other in 2017, so they are fresh! Overall I am very satisfied with my experience with Opticontacts.com, and have not a single bad thing to say about them. If you need new contacts, don't hesitate t to check them out! [gallery type="rectangular" ids="3468,78,79"]   Update - March 26 2015 I may have to revise this review, or create another one. So, My previous prescription was used up. Been 6 months so the 6 months worth of contacts are depleted; time for reorder. I went to the site, clicked on REORDER LAST ORDER. All the info is the same, checked "use already uploaded prescription" (or something among those words), and wallah, paid and sent email. Six days later, the order is still processing. Emailed them, got a reply later in the day stating that my contacts are on order from the supplier, and will ship out on the 27th, a whole 5 days/work week later. Way passed the 3 day processing the sites FAQ says the process may take. I'm very disappointed because the ordering process and receiving the contacts the first time was so quick and painless. They didn't offer some sort of compensation, or faster delivery to make up for the timing. As a matter of fact, the email says exactly this: "These lenses are scheduled to ship out of our facilities on 03/27/2015 via the shipping method you requested". So, no real "sorry" for the delay. I'm going to try out another company for my next order. I'll update this review to have fewer stars. The entire review process would make sense to cover multiple orders of the same 2 refill prescription anyways. More to come. Update March 28th : The 27th came and gone, my order is still on processing. I most likely will never order from these people again.  Too bad, the first order was fast. I emailed their customer last night. No response. Totally unhappy. Removing the rating for now because they do not deserve the high marks. Will create an updated review soon. *Update April 5 2015 I got the order on April 1st. Weird thing is, the tracking said it was still set for delivery on April 2nd. On April 2nd I received another order. So they mistakenly sent me two orders. I try to be a good honest guy sometimes, so I contacting their support alerting them of the issue. Hoping that they'd just say keep them, Not because I need another 6 months set of contacts (I'll get another new prescription in 6 months, since my eyes have changed), but because I don't want to go through all the trouble of having to send their box back because of their mistake. But then again, i don't need it, nor do it want it. So it's best to send back rather than let it go to waste. The support basically said here's return label, print it out and send us the box back. Problem is, I don't really have a working printer. I do have one some where, just not hooked up, installed, or anything like that. So I'll figure that out. I'm not in any rush, as they weren't. I'm planning on writing a whole new review soon, but they lose some more points for over all trouble. If they had said just keep the box, our mistake, enjoy a back of pair of contacts, then they'd get a positive rating on that point for being friendly and easy to work with. This entire second order has been nothing but trouble, from the start to the end. Next time I think paying the $30 more or whatever it is from walmartcontacts, or some other place will be worth it.
Josh

Welcome to Retyper

So, Welcome to Retyper. Disclaimer: I have currently just had a few shots of whiskey, and am feeling it. I haven't had any alcohol to drink in months, so its really buzzing me, but i love it! So should you! Why? Because its awesome., I plan on Retyper to be about whatever. Whatever I, and others feel like talking about. Yes, and others! Whoever has something to say can contact me, and i'll create an account for them to write. Why the name "Retyper"? Well, I can't write for anything, and I always end up retyping what i'm trying to say about 5 times, til it makes some sense. Sometimes it even gets worse each time I type it. To be honest though, I saw this domain on the godaddy expiring domain auctions, and i liked it, so i bought it. I think it'll end up being a good site. Whoa, that last shot of whiskey i took about 5 minutes ago is hitting me now. I don't want to be one of those people who get high or drunk, and talk about it online, so i'll make this short. I plan to have this site be about anything and everything. From current events, to current news, and celeb, personal stuff, whatever. WHATEVS! Hope you all stick around !
Josh

Zenni Optical Review

Update: May 15 2015 - click to read. Update: September 10, 2014, Click here to read.   I recently had a new eye exam done, and was giving a new prescription. I didn't want to have to spend $200+ on new glasses, so I started to shop around. The price is steep even at places such as Walmart, who advertise that they have lower priced - high quality glasses. Turns out that the only savings me be in the single digits. A few months ago, my sister had stated to me that she had previous used an online store to order some glasses from, and she seemed pleased with them. She had said she ordered several pairs, and had only paid about $30 or fewer each. This instantly made me skeptical, and just naturally assume that they'd be cheap, low quality glasses. My eye doctor gave me some contacts on the spot, so I could see, and wasn't too much in a hurry to get a pair of glasses, especially not a pricey set. So, I decided to browse the site that she had recommended. The site is ZenniOptical.com, which seems like a legit site. They have a decent selection, not a HUGE selection, but decent. I decided on a pair of frameless glasses. I want glasses to not get in the way or affect my face too much. I don't wear glasses to be stylish, I wear them to see. [caption id="attachment_2753" align="alignleft" width="300"] ZenniOptical[/caption] The frames I picked are #314816, for the low price of $29.95! What a deal! I liked the default lens, so I left everything as default, and clicked to check out. I entered my prescription that the eye doctor had printed off for me, but became stuck on the pupillary distance part. My eye doctor didn't write this on the prescription. I suppose you get this measurement by the place you buy glasses from, and they may be hesitant to release this info for obvious weird reasons. So, I was under the hunt for a millimeter ruler. Found a old measuring tape and used it. It's very hard to get the measurement yourself since your eyes move each time you look for the measurement, so I went with taking pictures of myself with the ruler on my head. I got the average measurement of 60mm, so i went with that. They gave me extra lens options in check out such as lens quality, glare resistant, tinted, etc and since I didn't know if these glasses would even work, or be decent quality, I didn't want to bulk the price up. If they turned out to be great, I could just easily and cheaply order another pair. I did though decided to just get the better 1.59 Polycarbonate lens for only $9. Even for $28, adding $9 is still pretty cheap over all. I then preceded to check out, selected standard shipping, paid, and that's it. I received an Order email, that did not give an estimated delivery date, but the website FAQ does suggest that shipping time with standard shipping via USPS could take 2-3 weeks. Being as finicky as I am, I checked the order regularly, several times a day (fun part of ordering things online), For a day the order was on "PROCESSING", then it changed to the "MANUFACTURED" status where it stayed for days and days. Reading their site and facebook posts, this means the glasses have been made, but are being sent to the US from China, which can take a week. [caption id="attachment_2758" align="alignleft" width="259"] USPS Tracking[/caption] I ordered my glasses on August 27th, at around maybe 3am. On September 3 (a week later), I checked the order status, which was now "COMPLETED", and there was a link to Track Order, which sent me to the USPS tracking website. It said the package was received, and expected delivery was September 6th. Now this has me very impressed with USPS. Every single time I have used them receiving or sending anything besides a letter, they have been horrible. Their tracking system was useless and didn't work, or was never updated, and it has always been overall a negative experience. However, this time they have really impressed me. The tracker was updated regularly, and not only that, they were able to get the package from California, to Kansas, over night, and surprisingly it was out for delivery the NEXT DAY! Wowzers! I checked the mail at 2pm, and the package was there. Was a tightly packed, white bubblewrap, plastic package. I think this packaging is standard anymore. [caption id="attachment_2762" align="alignleft" width="300"] ZenniOptical Package[/caption] The glasses were wrapped in plastic, inside a solid plastic eyeglass case. The glasses are lightweight, look good. Perhaps the arms are a bit flimsy, but not as if they are going to break. This could be why they are called "flexible" in the frame name. Even though the arms are flexible, the noise piece and other parts are solid, and actually hard to bend. Takes a tiny bit of force to adjust the noise pieces. Which is good. Also included with the glasses and hard case, were a metal eye glass screw driver, extra screws, extra nose pieces, and a cleaning cloth with some weird fruit on it. They had also sent me what appears to be a pupillary distance measurement tool. This will come in handy. [caption id="attachment_2764" align="alignright" width="300"] ZenniOptical tools[/caption] I do seem to have some problems with the glasses though, which I am going to say is my fault. or perhaps I just need to give it time to adjust to them, since they are after all, the first pair of glasses I've worn in 15 or so years. They seem to have some distorting to them, which is hard for me to get used to. Could be normal who knows, I am going to blame myself. Perhaps I got the pupillary distance wrong. or again, its normal adjusting. Overall the glasses are quality, not what you'd expect for such a low price. Not much difference to me than ordering a $300 pair from a local store. Also, even these problems with prescriptions, and other issues being off would exist in a local store, and even with them, there would be weekly if not longer waiting times. Overall I'm very impressed with ZenniOptical, and also surprisingly impressed with USPS. Both did a very good job and I'm a happy customer with both. I plan on ordering another set of glasses soon from ZenniOptical, but first I want to make sure I get the details right this time. [caption id="attachment_2763" align="alignleft" width="300"] ZenniOptical Glasses[/caption] I highly recommend ZenniOptical. Don't go broke for being blind!, Get yourself some spectacles! I'm sure you'll be a satisfied customer only. Oh yeah, please take note, While they are cheap, ZenniOptical will not refund your entire price no matter what. They only seem to do half. Which I can understand since their prices are so low, there isn't much room for them to deal with these issues without going out of business. I'd say this is the only negative, but it's understandable. http://www.ZenniOptical.com Update: September 10, 2014 I used some other methods to properly measure my pupiliary distance (hopefully!), and yesterday I ordered another pair of glasses from Zenni Optical. The previous pair of glasses I order that were originally discussed in this post I had the PD at 60. The new methods I used gave me the measurement of 64mm, which could be why there were so much distortion. The new method that I used is discussed here. Basically the "proper" method is as follows: Wear your glasses. (Or any glasses if you don't have your own. Even just try on demo glasses at the mall if you are that bold.) Have a felt-tip maker handy. Focus on a single object in the far distance (anything farther than 20 feet works, but farther is better). Raise the marker to your right lens and precisely put a dot on it directly over the distant object. Repeat for your left eye. If done correctly, with both eyes open the two dots should overlap into a single dot over the distant object. If not repeat making the markings until they do form a single dot. Measure the distance between the two dots on your lenses with a millimeter ruler. That's your distance PD. If you need a near PD for reading or computer glasses, just do the same procedure but focus instead on the object you will be looking at, either reading material or computer monitor. We'll see if Zenni can provide the same experience, if not better this time. By the way, I didn't bother to send back or refund the first set of glasses, even though Zenni would most likely give me half the money back, or exchange them. The error is my fault so i'll take the hit. Update: September 15, 2014 I just got an email saying the new glasses have been shipped to me. I didn't get an email on the previous order. The order details on the website is still in the "Manufactured" state which doesn't provide a tracking ID. Got the email which has tracking number. If it does get shipped out tonight, it'll be sent a couple more days sooner than the last set, and I should get them in two days, or less. We'll see. Update: May 15, 2015 Sorry, I've been weird and haven't edited this review. My got my last order on Sept 18th. My pupiliary distance was still wrong, so they weren't 100%. I just had someone give me several readings with a measurement, and reordered another pair of glass. I'm so sick of my contacts. We'll see if this distance is right, if not i'm just going to the eye glass place and ordering some $400 or so glasses, ha. Minor update- May 20th -  I got an email with tracker code yesterday morning. Which is blazing fast! I believe this is the fastest an order from Zenni was processed, manufactured, and shipped. However the tracker status is still on "Label Created", we'll see where this goes.
Josh

Can’t stop playin Battlefield 3! Addicted!

My live stats: I haven’t been posting much on here during the past few weeks. I can’t seem to stop playing Battlefield 3. This game is simply amazing, and i am completely addicted to it, so I don’t have much time or care to do anything else but play it. I copied this from South Park (changed the last part though ), but I’ve been saying “I Don’t eat or sleep or mow the lawn, I just play BF3 all day long!”.. ha. I can’t remember a time when I actually loved a video game, or anything in that matter as much as I do Battlefield 3. I LOVED Battlefield Bad Company 2, and played the crap out of it, as you can see on my BC2 stats page. But BF3 is something way more amazing. Battlefield 3 takes everything I loved about BC2, such as the realistically paced game speed,  the amazing battlefield environment, team work, and purposeful feeling, and made it so much better, bigger, and even more epic. The major thing I hate about games such as Modern Warfare and other Call Of Duty games is that there really isn't any skill involved, you basically just run around shooting whatever, and getting kills, and being killed yourself. No tactical or strategic thinking is involved, and It’s not much fun. Bf3 is probably the opposite of MW3. The graphics in Bf3 are simply amazing as well. It makes me feel like I used to feel back when I was a kid and would play with my toy action figures, it’s hard to explain really. Almost as if its like watching a interactive CG animated movie. It’s a really great experience. Here are some screenshots I’ve taken of the game, mind you these are the best graphics, I allow Bf3 to adjust my graphic settings automatically, which it places everything on high, and 16xaa. So the graphics can look much better if you have a much more powerful GPU. I run it on a EVGA Geforce GTX 560 ti SC., which is just fine for me. I usually play the Support Class, because I’m such a bad that I miss so many targets, and with the a support class you usually get guns that can hold 200+ rounds in each magazine, so you have a lot of ammo to work with. But I’ve already unlocked everything in the Support Class, so I’ve started playing the Assault which is meh, okay. I really like how the weapons are way more accurate, and I can actually use my sights and target something across the distance and hit it, which you can’t really do easily with support. Another cool thing about BF3 are the jets! But I’ve given up trying to master them. I play with them every now and then for the hell of it, but my Kill/Death ratio gets screwed up and negative when I attempt to pilot, so blah! As you can see in the following video, I am not a very good jet pilot at all, ha. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKPr0oxnvNQ   If you would like to play a game with me, my battelog and soldier name is basketcase. my BF3 stats are here: http://bf3stats.com/stats_pc/basketcase#pc
Josh

Lovely House, and other buildings in minecraft.

This is the simple house I’ve been working on in Minecraft. It is simple, and not as complex as the structures I build in Single player, it’s being built legit, and all the resources are being mined, which you can see the huge void in the middle of my mountain in the video. Also you can see my farm, and such. I started out on the top of a mountain, and then begin planting tons of trees and vines. I have so many hidden rooms to hide my valuables from grievers, and such.   I have no idea why the video quality is so horrible…. I used the same rendering method that I had on all the other videos… But you still get an idea of what my house looks like… I also suck at Interior design in the game. http://www.grunch.com/media/lovelyhome.flv You can access the server im playin on by going to http://**********.com I thought it’d be nice to show off some of my structures on my personal server (just me building, no on else). {click thumbnails for larger image) The blue building was actually the hardest to make. The wooden tree thing is something new I’ve been working on. Totally random.
Josh

Jolly-o-Time in minecraft

My friend Matt (who provides me with this great hosting, check out his site http://www.HostMist.com) has been talking about this game called MineCraft for the past year. He always suggested that I get it. I looked at the screenshots, and videos of it, and noticed how ugly the graphics were. Too blocky, so I put it off. However recently, I discovered that its like playing with legos, which I used to love (now I’m way too lazy to get them out because I’d have to pick them all back up when I'm done), which made me wanna try the game. I am now inlove with it. I found myself one night staying up til around 4am just mining resources, and building my house, tower, bridges, etc. Was having so much fun. I first started working on my tower. I made it so high that it goes to the very top of the map (the highest you can build in the game), so since I couldn’t go any higher I decided to see how long of a bridge I could make. I ended up making a sky bridge that connected to another mountain, which was very long actually. I died about 50 times while making it, but it was fun. After that I decided my tower was too big to call my house, and decided to make a house in the middle of my bridge. Only problem with that is I can’t build it upwards due to height restrictions of the game. So I had to build house from the top down, which is way complicated, and dangerous in he game. But, I was able to pull it off. Now my sky house is about 4 stories. I even put a huge waterfall on top of my glass deck, which also works as a quickly way to get down to the ground (you can jump in the water fall and it’ll take you to the ground). I then got bored with all that, and decided to see how big of a mine I could make. Turned out to be pretty huge, but I’m going to try to make it even deeper. Anyways here are the screenshots. (click thumbnails for larger pics) My Tower, Bridge, and house: My Hole: My Bedroom, and waterfall! Anyways, this game is super amounts of fun! You can check it out and buy it here: http://www.minecraft.net/
Josh

Found vomiting dino on mars!

So there is a story going around about a guy who claims to have found some sort of space station on Mars while exploring Mars via Google Earth. You can clearly tell that it’s a glitch in the system. The pixels don’t match the surrounding and are a complete different color, As you can clearly see in the picture I took: So after being disappointed with his finding, I went on my own search to find my own artifact. I ended up finding what is clearly a fossil of a vomiting dino: (click image for full sized version) so woot! found my first artifact on Mars! See what you can find
Josh

Loving my iPhone!

I’ve been wanting an iPhone for years, but being with Verizon meant that I couldn’t get one, unless I left them and went to at&t. I never wanted to switch carriers so I stuck with it. I wanted an iPhone because of my previous ownership of an iPod Touch, which was the most amazing device I’ve ever owned! So having the iPhone would be even cooler, and a much better deal since I can have my music player, phone, camera, etc all in one. In 2009 I got the Droid, which I thought was going to be a good alternative. First thing I realized when I got the Droid is that the Android OS is no where close to being like iOS, which is beautiful and polished. Android didn’t have a decent media player, no equalizer (which is a must have), and the over all feel of the OS was just cheap and half assed made. It really reminded me of the Linux Distros on PC. How cheap and just lame they seem to be (hard to get to work, have to hack it, hard to find quality programs), and just pointless when you can just use Windows. I must admit though that I have found it fun in the past to install a linux distro and have fun getting it to work, but using it full time never crossed my mind, because I'm always wanting to go back to windows when I do that. Also Android lacked many quality apps. The android market is spammed with tons of apps, but most of them are useless, and very pointless, and blatant copies/rip offs of other people’s work and apps. The Droid hardware itself was awesome though. It was the first droid, and it was Very solid. Which always impressed me. I’ve dropped that phone many times, and it never had a problem, or received dents, NOTHING. Loved that aspect of it. The droid wasn’t a horrible device over all, android wasn’t THAT bad. It’ was better than the alternative on verizon at the time, such as blackberry, and the other cheap phones, So I did love it. But my experience with iOS was much better, and I still longed for the iPhone, mostly because it was beautiful, and simply worked. I didn’t have to go find alternative apps in iOS to for the device to be usable, as I did with Android. iOS had a lot of what I needed built in. Anyways skip a year or so later. Verizon finally got the iPhone in February 2011, I was super happy, but at the time I was debating whether or not to keep my contract going, or to just let it end, and move on to cheaper offers (such as $50 unlimited pre paid phones). People also keep rumoring that the iPhone 5 is about to come out, so I shouldn’t go with the iPhone 4, but these are simply silly rumors. Some sites say that it won’t come out til 2012, and so on, so who knows. iPhone 4 is very usable. I could upgrade for only a few hundred, so why not? If the iPhone 5 does come out, I can easily sell the iPhone and use the money to help pay for the 5 if it was really much of an upgrade. In the past month my Droid started acting up. It would keep clicking stuff on its own, moving things around, and opening stuff. Like it was alive. It kept doing this over the weeks and seemed to get worse, and worse, and worse. Until I had enough and threw it on my bed and smashed it with my shoe, ha. I really didn’t feel that bad afterwards even though I had done it in a fit of rage. I was so done with that phone, so done with Android. So done with the short battery life (phone would only last a couple hours of use ahh!) and was so happy that it was all finally over. So fast forward another week or two I decided to go ahead renew my contract and get the iPhone. Verizon provided free Over Night shipping via fedex, so I got it the next day (which was yesterday), and so far I am so inlove with it. I got the beautiful music player back, everything works on its own, not sluggishness or lag, I just love it. Most of the apps that I used on Android were also available for iOS, and it’s weird because they do look much better on the iOS. I hear that apple has guidelines about apps needing to be attractive, but im not too sure about that. I am having trouble getting the contacts and everything to work right. Android only seemed to import contacts with phone numbers to my contract list on it. iOS on the other hand wants to put everything on my contact list, so I have like 1000+ contacts that it imported from my various email accounts (mostly my windows live), and doesn’t separate them from ones with numbers, which is odd. Also it lets me text contacts that don’t even have sms numbers. So I dunno, Maybe there is a way, I’ll figure it out. I think maybe that I’ll just delete the entire contact list, and disable the sync, and manually add contacts and numbers myself. Seems like the best solution, but then again I wouldn’t be able easily contact via email the contacts who only use email, so I don’t know, ha. I was happy to get my Simcity back! But annoyed at the same time! Back when I had my iPod touch (did I mention that I sold it to help cover the cost of the Android? big waste). I had bought the SimCity game app from the store. it was $10, and it was pretty cool. So when I got my iPhone I went to searching for it on the market  to download it, and it no longer exists! EA Games seems to have gotten rid of it, and made a new version called SimCity Deluxe, which is total bullshit. They only want 99cent for the new version, but still. I was able to find the old file for Simcity on my hard drive, so luckily I still had it and was able to put it on my iPhone, It’s just annoying how  a $10 app that was created by a large company, can be deleted from the store, and replaced with another version that costs more money. The new version is only 99cents, so its not too bad, just annoying. I’d be pretty pissed if I wasn’t able to find the SimCity file on my pc. Even if it is old, we should still be able to download it from the market for years. $10 isn't cheap for an app I’ve been playing with the camera  on the iPhone. It’s only 5 megapixel, which is the same as my droid, but it has some nice features such as the HDR. It can take some very beautiful pictures! I love it as well. Also the camera is very smooth, and quick. My droid would take ages to turn the camera on, and then ages to take a picture. Here is an example of the HDR feature on the iPhone: The first picture is the normal one, the second is the same picture, but with HDR enabled, I LOVE IT! Worst thing about the iPhone: YOU HAVE TO USE ITUNES! I think itunes is the worst program ever created. It’s ugly, works weird, is always freezing up, and AHH! I just hate using it. But it’s a must if you want an ipod or iPhone. Sadly. I need to end this post, but I wanted to mention something else that is a let down with iOS. On Android I could easily install a last.fm scrobble plugin that worked with any player on the device including the stock media player (which was shit). This would allow me to scrobble all of the songs that I listened to to my last.fm profile. I'm finding it a bit more complicated on the iPhone. Last.fm does have an app that lets you listen to their stations, and listen to your library on there, but it’s not the same. I want to be able to listen to songs in my library, and have them scrobbled. I found an app called iScrob which replaces the default iOs player with its own, and seems to work great, but I really want to use the stock player in iOS. It’s just too damn beautiful to not, and it works flawlessly. So I don’t know. It might not be a major problem for a while because I have been debating whether or not to just delete my last.fm account. I’ve been getting way too silly with it. I never want to listen to music unless it’ll be scrobbled to my account, which is just lame, and weird, ha. so I might have to just delete it. But then again, last.Fm is a great way to discovery great music. Anyways, I am leaving a lot out, but also rambling a lot, ha, so I’ll end this post here. overall I love the iphone. SOO MUCH. It’s way better than  any Android device I’ve ever messed with, and it SIMPLY WORKS. I left my phone on all night last night and it didn’t die, and was still about 95% or higher charged this morning. I could never do that with my droid. So I’m very happy By the way, I should mention that I am in NO WAY an Apple fan boy. I really don’t like Apple as a company, I can’t stand OS X, I've actually owned a macbook pro, and couldn’t stand iOS (loved the hardware though), and resold it a month after I bought it. I love my windows I can’t stand many apple products (itunes, safari, os x, so on, and so on. For me, the iPhone seems to be the best phone that you can get! and if you don’t need a phone, I’d suggest the iPod touch, which is just as cool. I’d recommend the iPhone to anyone who is looking for a new phone and debating between the iPhone and android. - Happy iPhone customer.
Josh

Stress release: Running over people in GTA IV!

Back when I was a teenager, driving a real life car was so relaxing, and such a stress reliever. I remember I could cruise around in a car and be at total peace. Now driving pretty much is a chore and I hate it so much. For the past years I have found a new way to relieve stress: Running over people and objects in Grand Theft Auto IV. Now this isn't some sick twisted thing like I actually want to kill people in real life, because I don’t, but there is just something super fun about doing it virtually. I mean, even without running over people, cruising in GTA IV is just plain relaxing, like it was back in the day before gas prices went through the roof. My normal cruising car in GTA IV is the Comet. You can easily get this car by dialing 2275550175 into the cell phone, which spawns it right in front of you – Don’t worry, it wont ruin your saved game with a cheat as many other cheats will. This is the fastest car I have found in GTA IV so far. Also the engine is in the rear of the car, so the car doesn’t die to blow up very easily unless you damage the back of it. So you can run into many things and the car won’t explode, such as in my screenshot below: As for running over people and crashing into things: (click images for full size versions) If you want to run things over and crash into things – STEAL A BUS! the engine of the bus is also in the rear, so you  run into many objects, cars, people, and the bus will rarely ever explode or die. However though if many cops are shooting at you, the bus still receives damage from that and can eventually catch on fire. Usually I can go forever in the bus and the front of it is completely smashed in but still running smoothly. The other night though something rare happened, the cops some how cornered me and I was stuck, and couldn’t escape, this was the only time the cops have ever won on me (besides me running into something which made me fly out the windshield). in the screenshot below you can see how the cops cornered me! (click images for full size versions) Random pictures of my bus rampages! (click images for full size versions) So basically, if you need to relieve some stress… Load up GTA IV, steal a bus, and have some fun!
Josh

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is awesome!

Some one may remember my post from last year about RCT2 http://www.grunch.com/rollercoaster-tycoon-2-love-it/878/ and how I mentioned RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, but hated the newer version 3. Disclaimer: this isn't a review really, its just me blabing and rambling about stuff. I am finally inlove with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3! this game was released in like 2004 or 05, and I’m just now starting to love it. I put off playing it for so many years because I hated the way the camera controls worked. the views seemed clunky and just ugly! I preferred the classic way of RollerCoaster Tycoon, which lets you be above everything while you build, and manage it. Which is the best view for many games such as this. Some people love the entire 3d Thing, but it doesn’t really fit in with a game like this, unless you only use it to explore your park/world, and not in the building phase, which I’ll talk about later on in this entry. I finally found out that you could actually enable this view in RCT3, something I haven’t noticed before years ago when I tried the game after it was released. Now with this view enabled I can play it just as I would play the original game, which is AWESOME! You can see the big long “SHIZNIT” coaster, ha. looks and works the same as it did in the old titles of RCT. The coaster you see in the background is my “Shiznit”. I’ve been waiting a while now and hoping for a new version of the game with the classic gameplay and controls. Better/updated graphics, and AI, but the same gameplay, and this entire time I never realized that it already existed in the 3rd game in the series, but all I had to do was enable it. Last week I started playing RCT3 last week, and I’m so glad that I did. I really can’t see myself going back and playing RCT2 again, unless I discover some huge weird bugs, and limits in RCT3 that I haven't noticed yet, which might happen. I’ve been playing in SandBox mode, which is what I always play the game in, same as in the first 2 versions of RCT (in RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 you had to hack the maps to have a open/sandbox park to build whatever and play in), So far I’ve only encountered little bugs with making the paths, and land scaping, but nothing major. I don’t know if you can do as much with landscaping in RCT3, as you can in the previous titles, I haven't really seen any complex parks that people have made online for download, all seem flat, but I know RCT3 comes with a hill/mountain making tool, which way outdoes the sample land raiser/lower tool in RCT1 and 2. The Guests in RCT3 are way more intelligent than those in RCT2, The park staff are as well. In RCT1, and 2, Guests would ALWAYS get stuck and lost on the path some where. They would get stuck in the weirdest places, which makes no sense, and any realistic guest would be fine finding their way to a particular ride, or finding the exit of the park. So far I haven’t had any problems with this in RCT3, which makes converting from rct2 to 3 really worth it. Also you can import most of the Coasters/rides that you custom built in the previous titles. I’ve imported my “Silver Bullet” and “The Shiznit” coasters, and they work just fine. I’ve imported my “Magic” coaster, but it crashed in RCT3 and would’ve killed guests, so I’ve given up on it, ha. What’s even cooler now, is you can still take advantage of the 3d world of RCT3, and walk around inside of your park as a guest would, and also RIDE THE RIDES IN YOUR PARK! Nothing is cooler than being able to realistic ride a custom rollercoaster that you build! You could use third party tools to ride coasters you designed in previous titles, but the feature in RCT3 is so much better! View of park while on the “Silver Bullet” coaster I designed. So, if you love RCT1 and 2, and hate 3 become of the views, just simple change the view to “isometric”, and it’ll be just as it was in the original games, but with better graphics, simply goto the options menu and click the camera icon, and from the drop down menu under “control mode” select “Isometric”. Walla!! Now you have the classic view! It’s actually really sad that I only just now discovered that I love this game. Atari recently announced that that they are working on a version 4! Which is even cooler. Oh well, this game will give me something new and fresh to do until version 4 is releases.
Josh

AH! Never buying Canon again! warning!

I sold cameras for a few years, and always suggested Canon cameras to the customers. I used to think that they were solid, and returned much better results for the customers. I now think that i was so wrong. A few months ago I bought a SD780 IS 12-mega pixel Canon camera. I bought it because it was super slim, and took great pictures. Soon after I bought the camera i noticed spots on the pictures. I knew instantly what this was because I had the same problem with a Sanyo camera that i actually replaced with the Canon. Some how dust gets inside the camera lens, and onto the sensor, which cannot be cleaned yourself, because there is no way to actually take apart the lens to clean the sensor, and if you attempt to you risk ruing the entire camera. Having spots, and crap all over my digital pictures really ruined the want for me to even take pictures with the camera. I was actually shocked that something like this could happen to a Canon camera. I wasn’t around dusty or dirty areas with the camera, and i hadn't been throwing it around or anything. I’ve been protective of my Cameras since I LOVE taking pictures. The Sanyo camera had it worse. I mean there were about 10 spots on each picture. I just assumed it was because Sanyo is a cheap discount like brand. Never even thought I'd have any related issues with the Canon. So, I immediately returned the camera to the store and exchanged it for another one. I should’ve got a whole different brand, but I just figured that i was unlucky and got a bad camera. Instantly when i started taking pictures with the  brand new replacement, I noticed a spot on the left side of the screen. Luckily this one didn’t show up in the pictures. Maybe it was just a screen defect. A little bit ago i went out to take pictures, and guess what?!? A big huge piece of dirt on top of the image sensor. AH! I was able to finally get it off the middle of the picture by flicking the side of the expose lens barrel. I contacted Canon via email, and they said I can mail them the camera, and they’ll attempt to repair it. Which i think I may do. Usually I don’t bother with that sort of stuff, but i spent a couple hundred dollars on this camera, and Canon owes me a perfectly fine working camera that produces beautiful clear pictures. AHH! Im just so annoyed and let down. You can kinda see the spot in this picture. imagine trying to take a picture of a bright blue sky, or anything with a solid color. It shows up clearer in those pictures, which is horrible. I should’ve took more example pictures, but im too annoyed and pissed at Canon to even touch the camera right now. Here is a picture taken with the first camera i had gotten, which you can clearly see the spots: Just watch out for these slim compact Canon Cameras. I can’t imagine that i just got unlucky twice.
Josh

John Travolta = One bad ass dude!

I just got done watching “From Paris with Love”, and i have to say that John Travolta turned into one badass dude! He was awesome in Pulp Fiction, but the last two movies I've seen him in were great, he turned into one bad ass motha fucka! – Which were “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3”, and the one i just mentioned. He really takes it to another level. Who would’ve thought that the guy dancing on Saturday Night Fever, and Urban Cowboy would turn into what he was in these last two movies. love it! I suggest anyone go see both of these movies if you haven't already. Must see!
Josh

Piwik – Open Source Alternative to Google Analytics

I am trying to rid my life of Google services and products. I mean they are everywhere now – harvesting my personal info and whatever other data that they can get from me, and its just getting too creepy. Today I was looking for an alternative to Google Analytics, and found Piwik! For those of you who do not know what Analytics is: It a service ran by google that tracks everything about your websites. Such as user visits, what the users do on your sites, how long they visit, and what they read. All that info is set and stored in Google’s database. It is helpful to webmasters and site owners. But what its really doing is helping google mine more data from users, and meh! I posted the following on several forums, and decided to go ahead and post it on my site.:   Has anyone here ever heard of Piwik? Turns out that its an open source alternative to Google Analytics, and works just as good. I just took google analytics off all of my sites, and installed Piwik, which is basically php and mysql based. It was actually pretty simple to install and get running. You install it like you would any other php script (forums, etc), then add your sites to it, and insert the tag into the footer of your sites. I haven't had much time to play with it since i just installed it, but so far its picking up hits instantly, and working quite well. The load is actually much faster than Google Analytics. If anyone has ever used Analytics then you know about the random pauses and freezes during page loads while your site connects to google. That is now gone with Piwik! :) The admin UI is similar to Google Analytics. So you'll easily find your way around. Even if you don't use Analytics, and are interested in visitor stats on your site, i'd suggest over the awstats and others that usually come with cpanel and such. I'm excited to rely on one less google service. quick download and install here http://piwik.org/ :D provide feedback. i'm interested to see if others enjoy this as well.
Josh

RollerCoaster Tycoon 2! love It!

This is going to be a random entry where i just blab about RCT. I just wanna start up discussion on this game. Many people haven't played it yet, and i think they’d love it if they do. Plus im just bored and tired. :) This has got to be one of the greatest games ever! At least for me it is. I don’t think I’ve played any other game as much as i have this one. I used to play RCT (RollerCoaster Tycoon) for hours and hours, and really never got bored of it like i do with most games. It’s very awesome how you can build a realistic theme park, and the little peeps can ride your rides, and seem to have fun. I’ve always been into the games where you can build and create stuff. Um, for some reason i’ve never been in to the sims. dunno why. I just hate it and get so bored playing it. But games like SimCity, and RCT i love! So, i played the original RCT, and bought the expansions and everything for it, and it seemed really cool. Then i remember when RCT2 came out. I think it was around 2002 or 03. I think i got it on release day, or at least the same week, and it was even better than the originals because i baiscally play in a sandbox mode, where you start out with a blank map, and do whatever you want. In the original RCT you had to use third party tools that would hack RCT and the current map, and let you control everything. But there were problems with that such as tons of bugs and errors. Well the first RCT would crash all the time anyways. Thankfully RCT2 came with a sandbox mode, which basically lets you design your own map, and create a scenario out of it, which i do. The stupid thing about RCT2 is the ride limit. You can only have so many rides and scenery in the park. Which is so lame. Now, i know RCT2 is a pretty old game now. Almost 10 years old, and the graphics aren't the best. But the game play is amazing! and that alone makes it awesome and worth it. I love it. And so far there hasnt been any other game like it. I wish the guy who made the game (Chris Saywer)would make another one, WITH THE ORIGINAL GAMEPLAY, just with smarter peeps, staff, and rides. He did help make RCT3, which is bascially a whole different game, and was 3d, but i couldnt get into it. I tried it again a few months ago and it was so buggy, and just wasn't as fun as the original. So he just needs come out with a new improved RCT game with the classic game play. I actually haven't really played RCT2 in years. I just couldn't get it to work right with 64bit vista or windows 7, so i didn't even bother. But, i’ve been bored lately so i decided to give it ago, and finally got it to work with 64bit windows 7! WOOT. I basically had to run it as administrator, and it works okay. Crashes alot, but works ha. For the past few days i’ve been playing RCT2 again. Just like the old days, and loving it. I still have my park from a few years ago that I've been building on, and was going to continue, but the map on there is full, and it wouldn’t have been too much fun, so i decided to start fresh. I named my new park ‘Joy World’, ha it came to my mind first, so i just went with it, lol. I thought of Joy Land, but that's been so over used. I basically start with a blank map, and start making a path way, and build some rides, and open the park up. Then I just build as i go, and add areas and rides whenever. This is what my park started like: (click thumbnail for full picture! these are zoomed out over head shots, so the quality isnt the best) Then as i went i added mountains, water, and some more rides: And as of now, this is what my park looks like: So you can see how much has changed, and how much you can do with the game. ITS REALLY FUN! I created several custom rollercoasters for this park. Here they are: The ‘Spitting Cobra’ – haha came to my mind first, so i used it. dunno where it came from though. it all wont fit in the screen shot without zooming too far out and making it look crappy, but you kinda get the idea. And they love it :D And the miner: As you can see in the pictures, i do have alot of money. I use a few different cheats: Money – The Money part of the game has never interested me. Im into the building gameplay. So i use a money cheat. Handyman – Cleans paths, fixes benches, and mows grass. Mechanic – Renews rides, and makes them reliable (or else they break down all the time, which ruins some fun ha). Those 3 cheats are in this trainer, along with alot of other cool cheats, which i never use. This is the best trainer/cheat program i ever found for RCT, and it works great. The creators site no longer exists, and i doubt he’s updating it anymore. But it works as it is, so its cool. I uploaded it here so you all could get it, and have some fun! :D Download: 8 Cars Per Trainer: http://www.grunch.com/stuffs/8cars.zip Screenshot: So, even though this is an old game, you should still get it! Especially if you’re into the sim type games, and love building stuff. The graphics might not be the best anymore, but you’ll get used to it, and love it anyways. Grab a copy of it, ha lets start building some parks! only $9 at amazon! http://www.amazon.com/RollerCoaster-Tycoon-2-Pc/dp/B0000695GX
Josh

Photoshop Tip: CS5 lens correction

I was looking through my digital picture collection earlier, and I was reminded by something I have noticed before, which is some of the first digital pictures I've taken (way back in like 2000) have some major distortion caused by the camera lens. Back then I was new to digital photography, and i had a cheap digital camera that was bought from our ISP at the time which was EarthLink. Here is a photo of me from may 2001, in which you can see the distortion: Ha, i dunno what i was doing in the picture. striking a pose i guess? ha You can see how the mirrors in the background are kinda round at the top, and also the side of the door is kinda bent. Has a bubble effect kinda. So i easily fixed the distortion by going to: Filter > Lens Correction And you should get a window that looks like this: (click thumbnail to see larger image) If you have  earlier version of photoshop you can access the lens correction by: Filter > Distort > Lens Correction. So, there are pre defined settings, and it works pretty good on certain model of cameras and lens, which will allow you to use predefined fixes. The camera i used though is a old cheap one, so they wouldn’t have that setting saved. I just messed with the first setting, and moved it up. I think for most users this will be the only setting that you need to mess with, but for more advanced cases  you may need to adjust the horizontal, or vertical tilt. It’s actually super easy because it shows the correction in real time. It also helps to enable the grid, which helps you be aware of how straight the lines are in the image. That option is the third button on the top left of the window. So here is the corrected picture: Ha, oh yeah, the door was actually broken and just sitting there, so its not a part of the distortion :P Anyways, its a cool feature that will come in very handy if you noticed any type of distortion in your photos.
Josh

Eminem – Not Afraid

I’m not really into rap music anymore. Every now and then a good song comes along. But i’ve always been a huge fan of Eminem’s. He’s just really unique and very original, and alot of it i can relate to. It’s been boring in the last few years without him comin out with new raps. His ‘Relapse’ album was really nice. Especially the song ‘Beautiful’. But on most of the album he was using the weird accent, and the album was mostly about murdering people. It missed something. My cousin asked me earlier this morning if i had heard the new Eminem song and i was like nope, ha. Then he sent me to the youtube link, and instantly like within the first 10 seconds of the song i knew i loved it. It’ll be a hit! Very powerful song. Here is the song on Youtube: edit (8:18pm): okay they keep taking the video off youtube, so no point in keep posting it But you can listen to it on eminem’s site. Just hit the play button :D http://www.eminem.com/notafraid/
Josh

Awesome song - “There Was A Girl”

I met this girl a year or so ago in the MySpaceIM chatroom. We spoke for a little while on there and added each other to facebook, but lost contact, or just quit talkin to eachother…

She sent me a link to some of her videos on youtube, and i saw her singing this song, and instantly loved it, which sounds really REALLY good. I created a mp3 out of it and put it on my ipod, ha! :D

So i wanted to share it so many others could hear it. She deserves it. :) Enjoy :)
Josh

Bad Company 2

I am so in love with this game right now! Has to probably be the coolest shooter game that i have played since Perfect Dark 64 on the Nintendo 64. I have alot of shooter games, such as Modern Warfare 1 and 2, TF2, unreal tournament 3, and so on. But none of those pulled me in the way BC2 does. I think the reason that i loved Perfect Dark 64, besides the graphics were all the weapons, simulants, and all the people that could play (only 4 actual people, but the simulants had decent AI, and it was fun). So it was more than just a basic boring game. I also loved weapons such as the Slayer. In BC2, they have a UAV Drone which reminds me of the slayer. Both let you go remote and find a target without actually being there. Bad Company 2 has all the features Modern Warfare 2 has, but more! The maps are so huge in BC2. sometimes when i get killed i get kinda annoyed because i have to run a long distance just to get back to the battle. Luckily they have tanks, and helicopters that you can get on and get back super quickly. I’ve tried going back to Modern Warfare 2, but i cant enjoy it anymore. When an enemy runs into a building, my instinct now (after having played BC2), so to try to blow the building up, or at least the wall so i can see him, and nothing happens. You can’t do that in MW2. MW just seems so limited now, and the game play that's in mw2 is just a little bit of the game play that's in BC2. There is just so much more added. So I'm probably going to go ahead and uninstall MW2. Which was a let down from the beginning anyways. I doubt it’ll even play it now. I got many hours out of it, so its cool. I still don’t think that it was worth the $59 though!! :P Bad Company 2 is the first “Battlefield” game i played, and i must admit at first i was weary about buying it. I felt let down by Modern warfare 2, and as i said, i didn't think that it was worth the money. So i was very weary about purchasing another game. Also i read that there was no lean or prone positions in BC2. The no lean wasn't really anything major because MW2 didn't even have that, and i didn't miss it. But No PRONE? Prone position is a part of war! I went ahead and just bought the game, and instantly fell inlove with it! The sounds were so awesome. So much going on in that game compared to MW2. Tanks all over the place, soldiers running, was just crazy! And i haven't even missed the prone. I’d love to have it, but its not missed. I'm not much of a video game player though. I mean, i guess i am, i dunno. I'm not one of those addicted people. I just like to play and have fun, and video games seem to be that open door for me. I do get very bored quickly from games though. Always have. so the simulation games are my favorite because you can build and create (Sim city, Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 & 2, etc) and these first person shooters, especially Bad Company 2, are so realistic, it’s like you’re really there in the battle, and i love that! So, i just like to have fun, I'm not one of those people who can play a game 24/7. Although i did check and it says that I've played BC2 for over70 hours since i got it. which was a few weeks ago, which shocks me. So my level in BC2 is 24, which is a “Warrant Officer III”, I have almost all the unlocks, but the Engineer class. I have all the Recon (sniper) rifles, and tools unlocked, along with the assault shoulder, and medic. Which actually kinda sucks because i have nothing else really to unlock. I don't care about engineer, i think its lame. I hope they add more unlocks to the game. Was so easy to unlock stuff. here is my BC2 signature that shows my rank, kills, deaths (i always die more in these games, ha), and other random stuff. I think it gets updated every 6 hours? dunno My name in the game is “damnidunno”, so you might be able to find me. If you’re into war games, or even First Person Shooters, YOU MUST CHECK THIS GAME OUT! If you love Modern Warfare 2, you’ll forget about it once you play BC2. It’s that awesome!
Josh

This IS IT!

i went out last night around 2am and bought Michael Jackson’s “THIS IS IT”. I’ve been waiting for it, and it was released at midnight. I actually debated rather to go or not, because i wasnt sure if the walmarts would even have it out or not. And i could always go later on the next day or so. But I became very bored sitting in the house and decided to go. And here it is: I got the Limited Special edition that has a bonus DVD of 90 hours of extra footage, which i think comes normal on the bluray version? I watched most of the first dvd before i fell asleep, and its simply awesome. I’ve been a fan of  Michael’s all my life, and its cool to see how he was behind the scenes working, and making everything happen, its just awesome. Even if you are not a fan, i suggest going and buying this, because it’ll kinda show you what type of person Michael was.
Josh

Support of Conan O’Brien

I have loved Conan O'Brien since i first saw his show many many years ago, and have been a huge fan ever since. I love his humor, and i love how he is more willing to make fun of himself rather than others, which is rare for the late night hosts. I feel that NBC is totally screwing him, and i am proud that he is standing up to to them! Thanks to http://www.sirmikeofmitchell.com/imwithcoco/ for creating the graphic :D
Josh

God

I'm been wondering about God and Jesus alot lately. And I'm really confused. As many I have been brought up to believe everything the bible says and everything about God and Jesus, and there has been no other. This has always been the ONLY WAY, etc. to be honest, almost nothing they have taught me in church or anything has made any sense. Especially the entire thing about god being so loving, caring, understanding, and forgiving. Maybe this is true, but the god the Christians portray isn't very loving, nor understanding. All sins are equal? So I can goto hell for eternity because I said a bad word, and burn as a guy who seems to have no soul and murders people? That doesn't sound very loving. God wouldn't understand a situation if I had some  chemical imbalance in my brain  that I cannot control and it led me to do something crazy? Or depressed  where I hated everything? So I'd get punished for that? It seriously makes zero sense to me. That's not love. What is it with all the punishment? Usually parents love their kids and punish them so they'll learn a lesson and become better people. What's the point of hell if its for eternity? We couldn't possibly learn better if its forever. so how does that even work out and make sense and what would be the point? I honestly can't seem to think of any realm that'd be any different and worse than this place. this world is a bit tricky and I find possibly even worse then hell could ever be. Maybe this is hell and we have all done horrible things in some past life? We have so many highs and lows. We can be happy one day, and it seems to be a trick because the next something horrible can happen and change everything. That is what hell should be. In my heart most of the bible, and most of these teachings do not make sense, are not based on love, and more based on ego and keeping people under control. it's just silly. not to mention all the churches I've been to have been filled with liars and hypocrites, but when you bring it up a Christian says "everyone makes mistakes", ha okay. I'm at a point in life where I do believe in god, or the god Christians portray, but I just don't like him. if that's how he is then I don't like him. it's not love and its just not a happy scene. But I do believe that God can't be like that. I don't believe God would create a place like hell and punish anyone, because he'd simply understand what would be going on in our heads and sometimes we really ardent ourselves and can't control what we do, or do things we wouldn't normally do. OF course you would have to be out of your mind and crazy to ever harm anyone, and especially kill someone. Normal people just don't do that. I tend to still believe in Jesus. He was so different for the times that he lived in. I can't really imagine that someone back then could have been like that normally, and I can't imagine someone back then just imagining such a figure up. Those were brutal times, and bad things were happening all the time. So a figure like Jesus was unheard of and couldn't have been just thought up, and he wanted nothing but love, there is no point in to someone making him up because they get simply nothing out of it. Unlike most of the bible he did teach pure love, and again that is something that is really even unheard of today. So I think that he must've existed due to what he was about, and especially for the times that he lived in. What's funny is that if the Christian churches or whatever are correct, I'll probably burn in hell just for thinking the way I am right now. And I'm not being evil or doing anything wrong. I'm just trying to make sense of the hypocritical things I've been told to believe all my life. And if they're right and I'll burn in hell for this, then I think I'd much rather burn than be amongst evil people like that in heaven for eternity. If that makes any sense.   there is this guy name Pat Condell, and I found one of his videos a while back on Liveleak. He's really funny and witty, and makes so much sense. Mind you that he didn't have any part in me starting to question and think the way I do, he just really makes sense and actually thinks with common sense, and that's something new and fresh. I think we need more people like him in the world, then we wouldn't have all these problems. His myspace is here, and you can check out his videos. I can almost guarantee that if you're a person who likes to think... you'll enjoy them. http://www.myspace.com/patcondell
Josh

Perfect Dark!

The Perfect Dark mod is out!  Perfect Dark is one of my most favorite games of all time. And I don't even like games that much. I used to play this games for hours on the Nintendo 64 with friendsa nd everyone. It really was an awesome. For the past year or so i've been waiting for this mod for half life 2, that totally redoes half life 2 and makes it into Perfect Dark. Everytime that I went to their site the mod was sitll private and in testing. I went there the other day and it said the BETA 1 was avialable! So i downloaded it and I must say that its fucking awesome! IT doesnt have all the features, weapons and everything as the original for 64, but again this is only beta and they are sitll adding all that stuff. They have rebuilt some maps, and did a very good job on it. I always wondered what it'd be like to play Perfect Dark on the pc. When you play with family and stuff it splits up the screen into little boxes and its just not as fun as if it would be ifyou had your own screen and the others couldn't see what you are seeing. It's very cool, so if you have half life 2- DM or whatever, I suggest checking this mod out http://www.pdark-mod.com
Josh

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