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March 26, '09 - Thursday - Epic Fail week 38, finally - Link
Epic Fail week 38 is finally up in web form. You'll read about that near the end of the week, but my USB has been dead again most of the week. Thank the gods it was finally working long enough to post for ya. I will be getting my netbook soon, hopefully in a few weeks, and after that this won't be an issue.

I'll be in blackout for 2-3 weeks and unable to update any of my sites, so you won't see Epic Fail or site updates for a while. I'll be back on as soon as I get my notebook. If I don't get it before school starts up again I'll try and see if I can get on to a system to update, but due to the crowd during the start of the semester it will more than likely be that I have to wait to get my netbook to update things.

March 20, '09 - Friday - Generation 6 - Link
The April system builds are up a bit early. Woot. I got a solid state drive into the rank 5, but at the last minute a price spike in the 120 gig prevented it from going into rank 4. Of course you can choose to do whatever changes you like, but for the current prices I don't recommend solid state for those who need to be careful with money. The price is still too high and unstable for most people.

March 19, '09 - Thursday - Current .pdfs
The .pdf for Epic Fail and Petraclies' tips are now both current.

March 18, '09 - Wednesday - Status marker
My status marker has been removed from the PC and Systems page and bumped to the top of this page. For those curious if I'm back in a home yet this marker will have my most recent status. I expect it will go from "homeless, updates rarely" to "homeless with netbook" to "(orange) saving to move in to a place" to "(green) searching for a home". The last two meaning I've found a job that pays enough to get back into a place, the very last meaning I've got enough (first, last, deposit, etc.) and I'm looking for a room or place.

March 17, '09 - Tuesday - Epic Fail week 37 - Link
Epic Fail week 37 is up in web form.

March 17, '09 - Tuesday - Eeep a scare
Bit of a scare with my USB. It was dead yesterday, but seems fine now. Hopefully updates can proceed as normal, but if I suddenly don't keep up with Epic Fail or PC page updates it is because the USB drive is dead. If that happens I won't be updating again until I get my netbook which will be sometime in early April.

March 12, '09 - Thursday - Picture series 7 - Link
Picture series 7 of Epic Fail is up.

March 12, '09 - Thursday - Oblivion screen shots
Back in the day when I was playing Oblivion I did a lot of screen shots. They've been housed in a temp directory at my old domain ever since then. I've decided to permanently move them over to this domain. (Though I'll leave them in the old spot for a while too.) Eventually I'll make a button to get to them, like my World of Warcraft link, but until then you can use the link above. Enjoy.

March 10, '09 - Tuesday - Epic Fail week 36 - Link
Week 36 of Epic Fail is up in web form.

March 10, '09 - Tuesday - GTS 250 launch
Nvidia's GTS 250 is out. Updates are in place on the site.

March 6, '09 - Friday - New Nvidia card, GTS 250
Nvidia has a new graphics card on the way, the GTS 250. This will launch next week, with a date set for the 10th. This will come in two versions, a 512 meg version and a 1 gig version. This is set to replace the 9800 GT and 9800 GTX/GTX+. It is effectively the same thing as the 9800 cards, but its architecture uses the new 200 chipset and it runs on a smaller/faster chip, thus requiring less power and generating less heat (and less fan noise.) The GTS 250 is only 9" long compared to the 9800 GTX/GTX+ which was the larger 10.5", and it only requires a single power plug, while the 9800 GTX/GTX+ required two. It's a decent improvement (architecturally) and a great mainstream card for the 2xx series. However, if you already have a 9800 type there isn't any reason for you to change over as you'd simply be making a sideways step in power.

March 3, '09 - Tuesday - Epic Fail week 35 - Link
Week 35 is up in web form. The .pdf will be updated in the morning.

February 27, '09 - Friday - PTR 3.1
For those few of you who are following my Death Knight tips, I have updated the talent builds to PTR 3.1. I'll be working on the tips file and adjusting the text to the new talents in the next few days.

February 26, '09 - Thursday - Picture series 6 - Link
Surprise! Epic Fail picture series 6 is up.

February 25, '09 - Wednesday - .pdf updates
The .pdf of Epic Fail and Petraclies' Tips are now current.

February 24, '09 - Tuesday - Epic Fail week 34 - Link
Week 34 is up in web form. The .pdf and Petraclies' Tips .pdf will be updated in the morning.

February 18, '09 - Wednesday - Epic Fail week 33 - Link
Week 33 is up in web form.

February 12, '09 - Thursday - Game watch
Battle Forge - PC - Hybrid of real-time strategy and collectable card game. GameTrailer videos.
Evasive Space - WiiWare - A game in the old school style of scrolling shooters, but the point is to evade all damage!
Splatterhouse - PS3, Xbox 360 - A revival of an old school cult horror classic game that released in arcade and on consoles.

February 11, '09 - Wednesday - .pdf updates
The .pdf of Epic Fail and Petraclies' Tips are now current.

February 10, '09 - Tuesday - Epic Fail week 32 / Doctor Horrible - Link
Week 32 is up in web form.

For those of you who previously missed Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog it is currently up on Hulu. Go watch it, go now, do not wait, go, do eet. Watch the awesomeness.

February 5, '09 - Thursday - Full Disclosure: Virtus - Link
One year ago I was let go from my job at Ping0. Even though Ping0 and their parent company Flagship Studios have long since closed their doors I wanted to honor my one year separation NDA agreement. I have written a document about the surrounding events as well as revealing some facts about the donations I have received during this past year.

This is not for my benefit. I know what happened and I'm pretty sure I know the truth as to why. This is to let the record stand in a complete form.

February 3, '09 - Tuesday - Epic Fail week 31 - Link
Week 31 is up in web form.

January 30, '09 - Friday - .pdf-in
The .pfd for Epic Fail is now current. In fact, it has half a day of week 31 so it is a touch ahead, heh. For the WoW fans out there, I've also updated my Death Knight .pds tips file.

I also updated a lot of the code calls on all the pages. Some were using older styles. Please let me know if anything explodes in your browser.

January 28, '09 - Wednesday - WoW videos
I know not everyone is into World of Warcraft (*gasp* can it be so?), but here are some really awesome movies people have made. Thought I'd share.

The Craft of War: Blind
The Device Has Been Modified
The Lament of Captain Placeholder
and of course, ROFLMAO!

January 27, '09 - Tuesday - Epic Fail week 30 - Link
Week 30 is up in web form. Remember, the .pdf isn't current, it's behind a bit. I'll update it as quick as I can. There is a bit of a surprise at the end of this week, both good and bad.

January 20, '09 - Tuesday - Epic Fail week 29 - Link
Week 29 is up in web form.

January 20, '09 - Tuesday - Gaming with World of Warcraft in 3D - Link
Patch 3.0.8 for Warcraft went live today, and among the additions is support for Nvidia's GeForce 3D Vision. "Playing games in 3D?! Woooaaahhh how can I do that?" you ask. Well, as much as we'd all love to jump right on that action, as there are tons which support Nvidia's GeForce 3D Vision, it won't be as simple as you may think. First, you'll need to pick up the special glasses, which right now run $200. Next, you'll need a special type of 120 Hz PC screen or DLP type HDTV. While there are many HDTVs which run at this speed, not all use DLP. The site only references 2 PC monitors which are currently compatible. I'm hoping that reported number will go up in the coming days, but it seems in all likelihood nearly everyone is not compatible with their current monitors. Those of you on tube style CRTs may be in luck though, as many of those should exceed the 100 Hz necessary for CRT use. Third, you'll need a pretty powerful Nvidia graphics card, as the technology effectively cuts frame rate in half. (Half of the images go to each eye.) Lastly, you'll need to be on Windows Vista (or newer.) I'll keep my site updated on info on this, as this is pretty exciting stuff, though it will likely remain bleeding edge for quite some time.

January 15, '09 - Thursday - .pdf updates
I was able to updates the .pdfs woot. The PetracliesTips file is now effectively current (only a very minor change), the retired builds .pdf will be current until my next system recommendation changes, and the Epic Fail .pdf is now one day more current than the web form. Of course the Epic Fail .pdf will be outdated again tomorrow or Wednesday when I post week 29, heh.

January 15, '09 - Thursday - AMD / ATi fans rejoice
While I recently added ATi graphic card alts to a few builds, I have now added in some AMD based recommendations in the complete system builds. From now on there will be at least 3 builds from whichever competitor is considered 'behind' in CPU power. Currently that's AMD. Back in the day when I started my site the 5 builds were split between the two, but now there are 7 system builds split between 5 ranks. (Currently 1 for each rank for Intel, and 3 ranks for AMD.) Don't know how many of you this helps, but it has been requested in the past, so there ya go. Icons have also been added to all builds, so people can quickly recognize which CPU and GPU are in the build.

January 13, '09 - Tuesday - Epic Fail in the new year - Link
Week 28 of Epic Fail is up. Sorry, still no access to update the .pdf.

January 12, '09 - Monday - Sony Online Entertainment: Free Realms - Link
Free Realms hasn't gotten a lot of press so far, but it is a free online game which is targeting younger players (as well as older players). Not just free by not having a monthly subscription, but also free in that it costs nothing to buy. Totally for teh free. This promises to have a lot of content updates and lots of stuff to do. Most importantly it's for teh free, and it is focused on the younglings, so they can have something to play in a safer environment than standard MMOGs. You can find a current two part video over on gametrailers - part 1, part 2.

January 12, '09 - Monday - XFX ATi cards
XFX has started releasing ATi graphic cards. These will take over all my ATi card recommendations, as this will make XFX the only ATi card manufacturer with both lifetime coverage and their "double lifetime coverage", going well beyond the other manufacturers who typically only have 1 to 3 years of coverage. If you are looking to purchase an ATi graphics card in the near future be sure to check if there is an XFX version to get great coverage as most manufacturers have poo.

January 9, '09 - Friday - Game watch
I'm going to start a new blog feature. There won't be any set time for it, or any set number of times, it will just happen now and then. I'll call it "game watch" and drop some icons up in the title to be sure you don't miss it. What it will be is sort of a highlight for games coming in the near future, or which recently released, which may not be getting a lot of media attention and may not be the first, second, or third, title that rolls off the tongue when someone is asked what they are looking forward to. So here is the first installment.

Art Style: ROTOHEX WiiWare for the Wii - a puzzle game.
Cuboid on the Playstation Network for PS3 - a puzzle game.
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix on DS, PC, and Xbox 360 - a puzzle game building on the Puzzle Quest I.P.
Savage Moon on the Playstation Network for PS3 - a build up and defend your base game, but in 3d with awesome effects.
World of Goo on WiiWare for the Wii, PC, and Mac - a puzzle game.

January 8, '09 - Thursday - New Nvidia cards
While we knew the GTX 295 was on the way (it is due out today) I have seen the first confirmation of the rumored GTX 285. (Evga splash page.) I'm not sure what the changes are though besides the transition to 55nm, but the page references a January 15th launch date. There are also rumors of a GTX 265, which would be really nice to eliminate the existing confusion between the GTX 260, GTX 260 Core 216 and now GTX 260 Core 216 55nm as we can then say, "forget all GTX 260s and get a GTX 265". It would be so much easier. Hopefully more info about the GTX 285 and GTX 265 will filter out of CES soon.

January 5, '09 - Monday - Back to the pattern
The last bit of day 189 of week 27 is up. For the forseeable future we'll be back to our Wednesday morning posting of the week. Again, sadly, I don't have access to making .pdfs, so only the web version will be posted.

January 5, '09 - Monday - Big updates
Week 26, week 27, and Picture series 5 are now up in web form. Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to make .pdfs here on this campus, so sadly I've lost the ability to keep the .pdf version current.

January 5, '09 - Monday - 1280 wide
The New Year brings a new resolution. It's time to update the site to fit to 1280 wide. Sorry to those of you on lower resolutions.

January 5, '09 - Monday - Bunny is back
Back online now and I can update again. Yeeeaaa. So far, my pc page and system recommendations have been updated. I also updated my World of Warcraft page. I haven't gotten a chance to update Epic Fail yet, that will be a few days, so you'll just have to hooolllddd yer horses there. Once it does go up though there will be a couple of weeks and a new picture series.

December 26, '08 - Friday - GTX 2xx 55nm dye shrink
It looks like Nvidia is stealth launching a 55nm dye shrink on their 2xx series. It was mentioned recently that a GTX 295 is in the works which will be a dual GPU card, but there was no mention of the 55n shrink reaching the existing GTX 280 and GTX 260. While a dye shrink normally gives a boost in speed, what I call a "half-generational graphics card step" (sometimes refered to in the industry as the "tick" in a "Tick-Tock" cycle), it appears that the cards launched so far are clocked at the same speeds as the existing larger dye cards. So far Evga is the only manufacturer to launch 55nm parts with their GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked edition and the GTX 260 Core 216 base speed edition. With the same speeds performance should be nearly identical between these and older cards. However, the smaller dye processing means the GPU will run at cooler temperatures, thus leading to a lower fan volume (and possibly higher overclocking), so there still should be some gain to the end user. The 55nm cards may also manually overclock to higher points than their larger dye counterpart, so those who enjoy OCing parts after purchase may also see a gain there. Additionally smaller dye cards reduce in price fairly quickly, as the smaller dye has a higher profit margin for the company. Since this was a stealth launch and there is no news about it yet, it is unclear if only the GTX 260 Core 216 models will be refreshed or if this will also extend to the GTX 280s. Logically it should. Keep an eye out for 55nm parts from other companies, as well as a 55nm GTX 280 in the near future.

What seems puzzling is that the two cards launched so far have the same speeds as the original dye size. Normally a half-generational step will be clocked faster and perform better. As example, the series 7 half-generation steps were the 7900 GTX and 7900 GT, boasting slightly faster speeds and better performance than their predecesors the 7800 GTX and 7800 GT. The lack of a name change (this time) could be part of Nvidia's 'name simplification policy' they started with this generation. Hopefully we'll see some new cards showing up with faster clock speeds in the future and sporting new names to easily distinguish them from the original dye size.

December 23, '08 - Tuesday - Year end updates - Link
Week 25 is now done and posted. I also decided to remove my personal part listings on the PC page. I think it just served to confuse some and there is plenty of discussion on what parts you should choose and why. I don't think it's necessary to reference what parts are in my personal system as it may risk confusing some.

Again, Happy Holidays peeps. Hope everyone is having a fun time and feels safe and loved.

December 16, '08 - Tuesday - Woot for updates - Link
Week 24 is now done and posted. I also updated my WoW page.

December 12, '08 - Friday - Intarweb blackout / Epic cheat - Link
Today is the last day I have access to my site until the new year from where I have been updating. It is very likely that from this afternoon until a few days into next year I won't be able to update the site. I will still be able to answer email and be on the boards every day, so there is that. If you have any questions or anything, send an email or board PM.

I've decided to cheat a bit and post the few days of Week 24 that are entered so far.

December 10, '08 - Wednesday - Week 23 / Dear Santa - Link
Week 23 is up in web and .pdf form. I will be unable to update it via my normal method, so this may be the last posting until early in the new year. I will still have access to web / boards / email though every day.

My Amazon.com Wish ListDear Santa, I can has presents? Here is list.

December 8, '08 - Monday - Xmas New Years
In case I get locked out from web updates over the winter break I'll say it now... Merry Xmas and Happy New Years peeps!

December 8, '08 - Monday - Dollhouse - Link
zomg a new series by Joss Whedon. The site even has a trailer video up.

December 3, '08 - Wednesday - Warcraft clickie
A new button is up on the menu for my World of Warcraft page. Clickie or don't.

December 3, '08 - Wednesday - Week 22 up - Link
Week 22 is up in web and .pdf form.

December 1, '08 - Monday - WoW pics - Link
There are some new screen shots up at my WoW page.

December 1, '08 - Monday - Various happy things
There are various happy things to report. In shopping news... Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog now has a listing for the DVD. No Blu-ray listing though. The Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray player is on sale for quite a bit off it's normal price. And I found the coolest dice box evar for gamers.

In gaming news... it seems I won a free month pass at the euphNET gaming center, woot. (More on that in week 22 of Epic Fail.) So, I can play games through all of December. You'll see me there pretty often, mostly on weekends, also occasionally for brief periods during the weeknight afternoons or evenings. I'll put up a rabb1t card on the station I'm on so you know who I am if you come looking for me.

November 26, '08 - Wednesday - Week 21 up - Link
Week 21 is up. Remember, the .pdf is already up, but a bit behind. The .pdf won't 'catch up' on the days it is missing until week 22 is posted next week.

November 25, '08 - Tuesday - euphNET internet gaming center? - Link
I'm going to try and get over to a local Internet gaming center to play this weekend. (Those of you reading Epic Fail already know about that.) Hopefully I can stay all weekend, but it depends on if I get money or not. So far it's looking like I won't have much money to play, maybe none at all. Anyways... if I go over I'll be at euphNET at 612 South Mary Ave. in Sunnyvale, CA, 408 733 3712.

For those who may want to help out teh bunny I'll send euphNET an email and let them know. Maybe those of you who want to help can make a donation and they would let you do a sort of gift card for time for me.

Local peeps can stop by and say hi if ya want. I'll put down a 'rabb1t card' on the system I'm playing at so peeps can find me easier.

November 24, '08 - Monday - Turkey day
In case I don't get a chance to say it later, I'll say it now - Happy Turkey day peeps. I hope everyone is having a fun time off playing games, watching stuffs, spending time with loved ones (and not so loved ones, heh), and that in general everyone is well and feeling loved and appreciated by those around them. Happy holidays peeps.

November 24, '08 - Monday - .pdf early
The .pdf for Epic Fail week 21 is going up a bit early. I have the chance to do it now, but not Wednesday (when I normally do), so it's up a bit early now and it will be missing a few days because of that. (Though those of you super eager to see what's going on could read that version before the web version I suppose. )

As usual the web version of week 21 should be up either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

November 20, '08 - Thursday - Epic Fail subtitles - Link
Reading Epic Fail? Does a subtitle for a day seem familiar? Check if you are right about where I got it from at the bottom of the index page.

November 20, '08 - Thursday - Nvidia dedicated PhysX with mixed GPUs - Article link, Driver link
Nvidia's newest drivers add support for mixed graphic cards in order to run one as a dedicated PhysX card. While the previous drivers allowed you to run dedicated PhysX on a single card if you had matching cards, the new drivers allow for mixed cards. "How/Why is this a big deal?" You ask. Well, what this means is you can have one card, say you have an 8800 GT, and then you upgrade to a new card, say a 9800 GT. Now, instead of selling the old 8800 GT you can now use both (provided you have an SLI capable motherboard and power supply powerful enough to run both) and set the 8800 GT to be a dedicated PhysX card. You would then get the full power of the 9800 GT running just graphics and the full power of the 8800 GT running PhysX. Previously you'd be running both on the 9800 GT, theoretically losing at least some power on one application as its power is being split.

Right now there are only about 6 games on the planet that benefit from PhysX hardware acceleration, so I'm certainly not going to tell you to run right out and do something like buy an 8500 GT or 9500 GT just to run dedicated PhysX, but that is an option now. Is it necessary? Does PhysX reduce your overall framerates enough when running both graphics and PhysX on a single card to be of concern? That I can't say yet. I'm sure over the next few days and weeks we'll see reviewers asking exactly that question. I'm sure we'll also see comparisons like a single GTX 260 running both compared to something like a much lower cost option like a 9800 GT running graphics and a 9500 GT running PhysX.

There are, however, limitations. PhysX will only run on series 8 cards and higher (8xxx, 9xxx and 2xx), you will need an SLI capable motherboard, and you will need a power supply strong enough to run both cards. But this could be very exciting news as time goes on as it provides a very low cost means of users having a very powerful physics accelerator making the prospect of PhysX much more attractive to game developers as they know more people would have access to it.

At the time of this writing I'll predict that cards in the $40-75 range (new) will have more than enough power to run current PhysX acceleration. These would be; 8500 GT, 8600 GT, 9500 GT, 9600 GT. I'm betting more powerful cards would be better sold on the secondary market to recover money when you upgrade and keeping dedicated PhysX on one of these lesser cards. (It would be great if you could find one with a passive cooling system as well so it doesn't add any noise to the system. Something like this XFX 8500 GT may be an ideal choice for this.) Again, is buying an extra card a better choice than spending the money on a slightly better single card than you'd otherwise get to run both? Only time and reviews will answer that question.

November 19, '08 - Wednesday - Week 20 bits
Week 20 .pdf is up, as well as a second Steampunk con dealer's room shot I seem to have missed from before.

November 18, '08 - Tuesday - Week 20 early - Link
Week 20 is up early. I don't expect anything will happen in the next few hours before I sleep. As always the .pdf version will be current and uploaded Wednesday evening.

November 18, '08 - Tuesday - Star Trek movie - Link
Zomg the new Star Trek movie trailer! Meeearrr pew pew pew. Boom!

November 17, '08 - Monday - Midnight Lich King pics and Pic series 4
Picture series 4 is up. It includes pictures from the midnight launch, which sadly aren't as clear as I'd hoped. The launch pictures are also duplicated over at my WoW page.

November 17, '08 - Monday - Core i7 launch
Intel's Core i7 has launched today and many items can be purchased at NewEgg. I've scattered a few recommendations in on the tech page, but I expect that I won't be recommending them in system builds until my next build change probably sometime around bunny day in March. While the motherboard and ram prices are much lower than I expected at launch, not being too much more than an Nvidia 790i build, the CPU prices will simply kill you at the moment. So for now I only recommend someone with an unlimited budget consider such a build.

Update: I should clarify what I mean by the above. While a Core i7 build isn't that much more expensive than a Core 2 Quad build, a gaming system can run just fine on a much less expensive core, such as an E8400 or E8500 which cost about half of what the slowest Core i7 costs currently. So, for those considering a high end quad core build the Core i7 would be the way to go (if you don't mind bleeding edge), but for someone who just wants a great gaming system you can get more than enough power with something which costs far less. Someone looking at say my 2nd or 3rd system recommendation would get plenty of power to game with, but someone looking at the 4th or 5th may want to consider a Core i7 build instead. I will still likely not change these recommendations until around bunny day to let the drivers mature and let prices settle a bit, however, I have added alternate Core i7 verisons to the 4th and 5th builds for early adopters.

November 14, '08 - Friday - Sexiest mouse ever? - Link, Dev video
SteelSeries has launched quite possibly the sexiest mouse evar, the special World of Warcraft edition. While it does have the official WoW branding it would be great for any game. It's got 3200 DPI, 10 profile settings, a D-pad on the side, and 15 total buttons. It also has a cool armored look and colored lights that you can set to whatever color you like. While not entirely necessary, a good mouse can really improve your accuracy. Also, those with higher resolution (I'd say 1680x1050 and up) benefit more with a high resolution mouse.

It is important to note that this is a limited edition run. I'm guessing when they are out there will be a 'generic' version which doesn't have the hand brushed metal or the WoW branding and that version will likely be lower cost. (I'd guess it would launch around $75.)

Edit (Feb, '09) - It seems that this may not be as good as it seems. There have been reports by gamers that the mouse seems 'flimsy' and that the special features are against the TOS. Some people have actually been banned for 'macroing' by using the mouse. I have removed it from my recommendations and suggest you carefully consider if the mouse is worth the risk.

November 12, '08 - Wednesday - Midnight Lich King and Week 19
Week 19 is up in web form. The .pdf and picture series 3 are also up. I should get picture series 4 up on Monday. It closes out tonight, so I will get those developed pretty quickly.

Don't forget Lich King launches tonight at midnight. If you are local you can come say hi to me if you want.

November 11, '08 - Tuesday - Vet's day
A big thanks, salute, Hooyah, Oorah, Semper Fi, and all that to our vets. Remember, they do the fighting so you don't have to.

November 9, '08 - Sunday - Sexy monitor - Link, Amazon link
I have no idea how long the Dell UltraSharp 2709W has been around, but it's looking awfully sexy. The stats, at quick glance, aren't all that much over everyone else, but what does really catch the eye is the 110% RGB Color Gamut. This means that it has more colors than an old school CRT monitor. This is the first time I've seen an LCD boast more colors than a CRT making this an excellent choice for graphic designers, and an awesome choice for gamers. Bit pricy, but if you have the money to invest in a good monitor, and a good graphic card to back it up, it totally looks worth it. I've actually changed the highest system recommendation to include this monitor over the 30", as the loss in 3" and resolution is compensated for by the awesome image quality. For me, a better color representation would be a more enjoyable gain than a few inches and res over 1920x1200.

November 6, '08 - Thursday - Midnight Lich King
I will be picking up my collector's edition of Lich King at a Midnight launch. (Wednesday night / Thursday morning.) You can come say hi to teh rabb1t if you want. I will more than likely be in my blue/black cammo pants, military like boots, and black trench, so I should be pretty easy to spot. Plus, I may be among the first in line, heh.

The store is located at 20735 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, CA, 95014, (408) 996-0549. Maybe see ya there. You can say hi if ya want. Pics will no doubt appear in Epic Fail once the series 4 pics have been posted. I may also link them to my WoW page, hehe.

November 5, '08 - Wednesday - Boyoyoing. Week 18 - Link
Week 18 is up in web and .pdf form. Unfortunately I didn't get extra money I was expecting to yet, so picture series 3 has to wait until next Wednesday to go up. I won't have a chance to get it up before that.

October 31, '08 - Friday - Halloween
Happy Halloween spooky time peeps! Be nice (to others) and safe in whatever you do this weekend.

October 30, '08 - Thursday - My bad
My bad. I had a really bad night last night and I updated the index to mention I got the .pdf up, but I guess I forgot to upload it. I also seem to have not updated the .pdf version number.

October 29, '08 - Wednesday - Week 17 - Link
Week 17 is up in web form and .pdf. Sorry it was late. I've been sick lately and slept in a bit, then the computers were blocked for a bit.

October 27, '08 - Thurssday - You can has pictures
The first two picture series for Epic Fail are up. Peep series 1 here, and series 2 here. The .pdf file will have the pictures as of the Wednesday night update after week 17 is up.

October 23, '08 - Thurssday - Pushing buttons
zomg I r teh dumz. I checked at my class campus, not sure why I didn't before now, and they have the full on Adobe suite. All menus should now be updated to the new size which includes the new Home Entertainment button, woot! Also, I have access to the programs I need for editing the pictures for Epic Fail once I can get them developed.

October 22, '08 - Wednesday - Week 16 - Link
Week 16 is up in web form and .pdf. The .pdf also has some early cover art, woot!

October 21, '08 - Tuesday - Star Wars: The Old Republic - Link 1, Link 2
After years of theory and speculation the BioWare MMOG has finally officially been revealed as the new Star Wars online game, replacing Star Wars Galaxies. I'm not quite sure how to feel about this, as I was never really happy with what Star Wars Galaxies had to offer. Being a MMOG it never felt quite epic in the same way the Star Wars movies felt. I guess time will tell, as we likely have years before Star Wars: The Old Republic actually launches.

October 19, '08 - Sunday - Updates
The systems page got a price check, AMD CPUs got updated, the Home Entertainment page got some pictures, and my World of Warcraft page is up. Not much to see at the WoW page yet, but you can peep it if you like.

October 15, '08 - Wednesday - Week 15 - Link
Week 15 is up in web form as well as .pdf

October 12, '08 - Sunday - Diablo III, Wizard - Link
Apparently the Barbarian is the only previous Diablo class that Diablo III will have at launch. The rest will be all new. (Though it has been mentioned, if demand is high enough, that the old classes may re-appear in expansions.) The third class was announced at BlizzCon. Meet the Wizard.

October 9, '08 - Thursday - Epic Fail pdf - Link
The .pdf version of Epic Fail is now available. There are links at the top of each Epic Fail page. Feel free to view it online, or download it and print it out. (Though I recommend waiting to print it until the story is complete as it will change each week until that time.) This will go up each week late Wednesday evening, or early Thursday morning. Note that it will only be as current as the web version.

October 8, '08 - Wednesday - Shopping in the great white north? - Link
NewEgg now has a site up for Canadian shoppers.

October 8, '08 - Wednesday - Week posting and index - Link
Week 14 of Epic Fail is up, as well as an index page.

October 1, '08 - Wednesday - Hi-def Wii - Link
As I predicted, it looks like a high-def Wii may already be in the works. Unfortunately it may not release until 2011 and may be a Wii 2 rather than a simple high-def update to the current Wii. I guess it makes sense, as I was doubtful the original Wii could handle higher def without a graphics chip update. It looks like it will have full backwards compatibility though, so that will be roxor.

October 1, '08 - Wednesday - Phew
Phew. Got a couple of donations so far. I should be ok for food and gas until my next paycheck. Thank you rabb1t fans for saving me yet again! Feel free to send more love if you like. I can always use everything I can get these days.

Since we are now current each week should get posted sometime Wednesday morning, since the weeks end on Tuesdays.

September 30, '08 - Tuesday - Emergency update / Current - Link
Week 13 of Epic fail is up a bit early due to an emergency. Please help if you can.

September 29, '08 - Monday - Let Mortal Entertainment begin! - Link
The Home Entertainment page I've referenced in Epic Fail is now up. It will likely take a while to fine-tune it, but all the links I want are there and the text should be just fine for now. Enjoy!

Unfortunately I won't be able to give it a menu button or pictures for a while due to not having the programs I need with me to do that, so bear with me there. Use the old school link for now.

September 29, '08 - Monday - Just one left
Week 11 and Week 12 of Epic Fail are up.

September 28, '08 - Sunday - Failing on the weekend - Link
Week 10 of Epic fail is up.

Hope everyone is sleeping in and having fun playing games.

September 26, '08 - Friday - Locking SATA cables
Locking SATA cables have come out and they would be a good choice for those who move their systems around, say to lan parties, or those who want to be extra sure their connections are secure. Some motherboard manufacturers are including them already, but, in the mean time, I've included them in a few of the system recommendations for this generation. When I create 'generation 6' buying them separately will likely be unnecessary. Listings on the PC page will likely remain for about a year.

I may or may not get week 10 up later today.

September 25, '08 - Thursday - Even Moar Epic Fail - Link
Week 9 of Epic fail is up.

September 23, '08 - Tuesday - Moar Epic Fail - Link
Week 8 of Epic fail is up.

September 22, '08 - Monday - The cycle begins anew - Link
Week 7 of Epic fail is up. I may or may not have time to post another week today. Also, a few minor changes to the PC page went up and a new article on Digital Download is up on the article page. I have also been asked a few times why I chose the name 'rabb1t', and I updated my bio page with the answer.

September 21, '08 - Sunday - Sneaking in early
I got to sneak in on some PC time early. I will officially have regular access (to updating my site) again starting tomorrow morning, so today's updates are a bit of a surprise. (More about that in Epic Fail day 81 and 81.) My system recommendations and PC page have been made current at long last. Woot!

Lich King finally has a date - November 13th. Didn't I always say it would be between Halloween and Turkey weekend?

August 13, '08 - Wednesday - Updates - Link
Week 6 of Epic Fail is up. This will be the last week I can post until September after I get access to these systems again on the 22nd. I won't be able to update my site at all during the college campus shut-down, as the city libraries won't let me access my web program.

I've added a new "Lifespan" stat to all parts on my pc page just above the recommendations. This will let you know the average maximum time the part will serve you. I also will list when I recommend changing that part within it's lifespan. Note that this lifespan is based on technological obsolesnece, which is when the part will be too far behind to serve you in gaming, as opposed to functional obsolesence, which is when the part stops functioning.

August 6, '08 - Wednesday - Epic Fail current
Epic Fail is now as up to date as I can get it. I'm not sure if I will be able to input another week before I lose access to systems I can update my site from. Next week the schools shut down until September 22nd and I can't update from the city libraries.

August 5, '08 - Tuesday - Death Knight Talent change
Death Knight talents got changed. It looks like a few of the regenerating abilities I had planned were removed, and some were moved around. Hopefully I will still be happy with the plan I made. It's always tough to tell since I don't know what the base abilities are and which abilities I'd like that are boosted by talents. If you are curious about my build, just ask. They keep changing so I've removed the talent link until I create my character.

Updated Epic Fail; Week 4 is posted. Hopefully I can get 5 in before I lose access for a month.

August 4, '08 - Monday - The saga continues - Link
Week 3 of Epic Fail has been posted. I'll get to week 4 and 5 (and soon starting 6) as quick as I can.

August 1, '08 - Friday - We can haz party / rabb1t Fan gathering - on 8/20
I've decided to have some pizza on my birthday. All you rabb1t fans are welcome to come. (Although I will only be buying pizza for basically myself, since I'll likely still be super poor, I will try to get some vanilla and chocolate cupcakes to share if I can.) It will be on August 20th at the Hollenbeck Round Table at 1663 Hollenbeck, Sunnyvale, CA, 94087, 408-245-5905. I've reserved the back room from 7 PM to 9 PM, though I will be (happily) surprised if anyone shows up. (If you know for sure you will show up, let me know by email so I can keep tally to let Round Table know.)

You can share teh rabb1t birthday with him and meet other local rabb1t fans.

July 30, '08 - Wednesday - Epic Fail - Link
I've started typing in, "Epic Fail: The Journal of a Homeless Gamer". I don't know when it will be complete, as I can't finish it until I'm no longer homeless, but I will try and update it weekly so you can at least read some of the story now, as it's happening, if you like. I've typed in the first two weeks so far. Note that I've got links beyond that, but the pages aren't there yet.

July 24, '08 - Thursday - Reveal
Back in the day when I was working for a game company I said people would be impressed who I was working for. Well, times have changed. The company in question has suffered an epic fail, and has let all employees go at this point save for a small handful at the upper level. (I think all but the 3 or 4 founding members are now gone.) I'm fairly certain it's safe to now reveal that from October of '07 to February of '08 I was working as an online community manager / tech support person on the Hellgate:London and Mythos forums under the name "Virtus". Doubt many will care at this point, but there it is if you were around on those boards and had a favorite mod and it happened to be me.

July 23, '08 - Wednesday - Waiting and Hoping
I'm still waiting for jobs to give me call backs on interviews, as well as ones to call back on applications I've sent out. Still trying and waiting. It's taking much longer than I expected. But, I suppose I'm in reasonably good health and getting fair sleep, so that's good I guess.

In hopeful news it looks like the Asus Eee PC prices are dropping. The high-end 1000H I'm looking at has already dropped a bit in price in the half week it's been out. It's down to $550 at NewEgg, down by $100 from their launch price, and down to $600 at Amazon (it's also on my Wish List), down by $50 since yesterday. Hopefully soon I can get at least a part time something going on and pick one up in a few weeks. Though, I do want a "Pearl White" one. Where is my white one? That would get me constant access to teh Intarwebs again, and all that allows for (constant access to proper job searching and tracking, board posting, news reading, site updating, maybe even some Diablo 2 or web game playing.)

Blizzard put up an official talent calculator for Death Knight. (Build link removed, as an updated version invalidated this build.) Hopefully I can get back into a place before launch so I can play.

Anyways... still a daily struggle, but I trudge on.

July 17, '08 - Thursday - Still Struggling and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog - Link
I'm trying an update from a public system. Hopefully nothing will explode. (Ack! I exploded my other domain. Had to run to my ex-home to get my backup disk to save it. )

For those Joss Whedon fans out there, like me, you must go see "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog". (Link above) You also need to do it quickly, as it will soon disapear from the web. It will go to a small fee per download and DVD soon after that.

For those who bought an Nvidia GTX 280 or GTX 260 at launch, check your manufacturer's site. They may be offering a rebate due to recent price drops. I know Evga and BFG are.

For those ATi fans out there, keep your eye out for the upcoming 4870 X2. It should be out soon and will be something to watch for in the high-end.

Updates will be very rare, as I don't want to risk the connection from a public system very often. I'll update about every other week if I can. Hopefully I can pick up an MSI Wind or Asus Eee PC 901 or 1000 (though the Asus seem overpriced compared to the Wind currently) and have something I can connect to the web from and update from where I don't have to worry about security, but with no money for gas or food right now, spending monies on a low-end portable is very unlikely at the moment. (These are also on my Amazon wish list, which you can get to by clicking on my biography page. You know, just in case anyone out there is feeling super generous. )

I'm still homeless and still struggling to find a job. Things are still going slowly and I'm down to my last few dollars in my account. If you can spare any help at all, please please send help.

June 28, '08 - Saturday - Diablo III: And the Heavens shall tremble. - Link
zomg zomg zomg zomg It's official. Diablo 3! woot woot woot! teh rabb1t loves Diablo!

June 23, '08 - Monday - Offline soon *cry*cry*cry*
In the next few days teh Intarwebs will be shut off and I'll be unable to get online. As I mentioned, I'm going to be homeless for a while until I get a decent job and can get settled again. I'll try and get back online as quick as possible. I should be able to make it to somewhere that I can connect to check emails every few days, but I don't know if I'll have enough time to check forums, and obviously I can't update my site from a public station. If you need help send an email, and I'll get to it as soon as I can. I hope I can get back online and be in a home by my b-day in August. It would be really tragically sad if I couldn't. *cry*cry*cry*

June 23, '08 - Monday - Domain moving
I am in the process of moving my domain stuffs to GoDaddy. When it completes you will be able to see the full URLs at the site, and can bookmark any pages you like. I'd recommend you bookmark any pages you frequent (such as the tech page, or the systems page if you are looking at doing a build, or this page if you want to see my blog.) If anything explodes in the transition, feel free to email me. (Hopefully that won't explode, heh.)

June 19, '08 - Thursday - rabb1t life in a box *cry*cry*cry*
Back around the end of last year my roomies told me I could only continue staying here till the end of June. My time is nearly up. As of this weekend I have to start packing everything into a box for storage. Thanks to my wonderful donators for helping to keep me here as long as I could stay. Unfortunately I haven't recovered from losing my job back in February, and I only have a few dollars in my account. There is no way I can get into a new home until I've both gotten a job that will give me enough income to pay rent and I've saved up some money (this is often at least first month, last month and a bit of deposit.) I don't have any RL friends at all, nor any family that can help.

Very soon I'll be going off-line and unable to update my site. I can still help people via email, but I may only be able to get to a place to check my email every few days. I'll try and check as often as I can though. I will try to get to the forums I'm on, but that may also be very difficult.

My whole life will be in a box and I'll be as safe as I can, at least it's the summer and I have a car, so I shouldn't be at risk in terms of health issues, but my life will be super sad for a while. *cry*cry*cry* I'll try and get back online as soon as I can.

June 17, '08 - Tuesday - Critical need. Please help?
My search for work is progressing a bit. I've got a part time thing that's a few hours a week. But, I'm totally out of money for going to jobs, interviews, and food. My checking and savings together have less than $2. Please, please, please, any help you can send until I get back onto my hoppy bunny feets would be greatly appriciated. You may not feel like a few dollars can help, but it really really will and I really appriciate (and need) the help.

June 16, '08 - Monday - Nvidia GTX 280 - Link
Reviews of the new Nvidia GTX 280 are starting to show up. The stats are looking good, as it is the 50% FPS gain that should be seen with a generational change (above the 8800 GTX / 9800 GTX / 8800 GTS G92.) There is a complete redesign of the shader architecture, so stats aren't a direct comparison to previous generation cards. So don't just look at the stats because that won't work. The new GTX continues Nvidia's dominance in the graphics market place, but this isn't a card I'd recommend for mainstream users. At a price of $600 (likely to be closer to $650 or more at launch tomorrow due to supply and demand) it is certainly something only the high-end enthusiast people will want to look at. While the GTX 260, set to launch on the 26th, will be closer to mainstream price range at $400, that still will be well over the true mainstream range of around $250. Hopefully we will see the price for the GTX 260 dip down closer to the $350 range, reaching the upper-end of mainstream by the time the price has been reduced for the Holidays.

While the GTX doesn't officially support all DX10.1 features it is important to note that they do support the features within the total DX10.1 package developers are likely to use. Thus, if the developer's game is told to 'check for feature x' it is very likely that the GTX will support feature x. This is really a good thing for the consumer, as DX10 adoption will take a while, and DX10.1 a bit longer than that. I agree with Nvidia's decision that DX10.1 support isn't really necessary right now, as it could still be a few years before more than a few games support it. Plenty of time to come out with the next-gen GPU.

It is entirely possible that the mainstream people may want to stick with something like an 8800 GT or GTS G92 and take a pass on the GTX 260/280. Right now the GT / GTS G92 is plenty of power at 1680x1050 res and it will likely remain that way for a while. Due to the amount of overkill on the GTX 260/280 for all but a few games, their high costs, and higher heat / noise generation than the current high-end cards, mainstream users may want to wait for the next version of the chip (which will likely come out in about 9 months). Those who are early adopters who want the best performance will want to jump right on them as soon as possible.

June 13, '08 - Friday - Happy grad and dad weekend!
Happy grad and dad weekend to all the peeps out there. Visit with friends and have some yummy BBQ for teh rabb1t.

June 12, '08 - Thursday - AMD causing Havok - Link
In an odd bit of news today it seems that AMD has announced a partnership with Havok for Physics. This is odd for a few reasons. First, Havok was bought out by Intel, the direct competitor to AMD, not too long ago. Prior to that Havok was working on-graphic card physics acceleration, dubbed Havok FX, in a way that both Nvidia and ATi could use. When Intel bought out Havok news of Havok FX faded away. Not too long ago Nvidia bought out Ageia, who released the PhysX physics hardware accelerator. This recent announcement of the joint effort between AMD/ATi and Havok/Intel would imply that the Nvidia PhysX would be kept proprietary, as well as the now AMD/ATi Havok physics being kept proprietary. It would be very very bad news for gamers if there were competing physics acceleration methods, as that means we could, theoretically, need a graphics card of one manufacturer and a physics hardware acceleration from the other manufacturer in order to cover both acceleration methods. (The graphic card works as both a graphics card and physics hardware accelerator.) Hopefully this will not be the case, and one manufacturer will provide the technology free of charge, and things will settle into a single acceleration tool. Splitting an already hesitant market is a very bad move in terms of future growth.

June 11, '08 - Wednesday - New article - Game generation
I posted a new article discussing what I call "Game generations". Basically there are games that come out which will push your hardware in terms of power and features needed. It is really these game generations which will define when you need to change your hardware. Be mindful to pay attention to the kinds of games you are playing and the strain they put on your system.

No happy news on a job yet. I've got a few very strong leads on some possible lower-paying part time things, and I'm still hopeful to find something closer to full time at a wage I should be earning. I've got an appointment for a test in a week to be a mailman, wouldn't that be weird. As always, in the meantime, donations are very much appreciated.

June 5, '08 - Thursday - World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King - Link
The more I see about the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft, the more I actually want to go back and play WoW. I played log ago, back in the day at launch. I actually have the collector's edition. (Though I somehow seem to have not gotten the soundtrack disk. I never did take that back to the store to trade it in for a new one, as they wanted the entire box set.) I played from launch to about 6 months post launch and left almost exactly 3 years ago. I left because I mostly just burnt out. Back in those days I was dropping about 50 hours a week into the game. I got one character to 60 and a few others to the low teens. I really got burnt out on it though because, at that time, all there was to to post about level 45 was grind the same 6 instances over and over. For me, that's just not fun. I love combat, I really do, but I'm more about exploration and meeting new and different challenges. I don't want to just fight and do nothing else. Doing the same instances over and over just got boring fairly quickly. While the expansion isn't adding in randomized dungeons (which would really hold my interest in a game if it were done right), it is adding a few new things that look like they could help rekindle my interest. I like the fact that there will be dungeons that adjust to your raid size, so you could go in as a small group or a large and the fights will change accordingly. I like that they are adding on a new class, but retaining balance with the other classes. I do like to roleplay a bit too (mostly by having a personality and manner about me, not so much roleplaying in a 'have a big conversation' kind of way) and, well, the thought of a Gnome Death Knight who does jewel crafting just seems to have lots of fun potential.

Unfortunately, we don't know the exact release date for Lich King. I guess though that's fortunate for me, as that means it is more than likely at least 4 months off, which should give me time to recover from my troubles. Will I find what I've been missing in the MMOGs that have come out lately? I don't know. I play so few MMOGs longer than 4 months because they just seem to be missing something. WoW was one of only three I've played longer, so hopefully the expansion will be fun. (To date I've played 27 MMOGs, 13 of which were post release, the rest just during beta.) This time I will certainly not play as much. I'll play enough that I'm having fun, but I will certainly try and play in small enough doses that I can keep having fun instead of playing so much I burn out.

June 4, '08 - Wednesday - Possible helping
My roomies asked for my car keys today. They are having their mechanic friend look at it. That's a possible something. Maybe he will get it fixed. Hopefully that won't backfire on me though, as I suppose there is a small chance they could immediately kick me out once it's fixed. I'm getting some recent movement on lower paying / part time positions. They wouldn't be enough to pay rent, but they would at least cover food, my cell phone bill, and my credit card bills. I wouldn't have enough to get set back up in a new room, but at least it would be a start towards it.

I'm almost completely out of money again, leaving me only enough for a few trips to interview and not enough for food. I hate to keep being sad, and I hate to keep asking but... If you were considering donating, or know anyone who may be in a position to, please please send help. I have lots of applications out for jobs that are in the 35k a year range, but it is taking much much longer to find something than I'd expected or hoped. The donation button appears on a few pages. (Which goes to my older domain email, where my paypal account was set up years ago. I don't have a rabb1t.com email working yet.) As always, any donations are greatly appreciated.

June 2, '08 - Monday - Nerf War Extreme - Link
Back in the day, when I was in my early 20s and had friends, we used to gather every now and then for what I called a "Nerf War". I ran a site using that domain name where I reviewed Nerf weapons for a few years. (If I were to guess it would have been around 1992-1995.) We'd run around for a few hours at a local middle school, typicaly on a Saturday afternoon, sometimes during the night. (The night events were called "Nightstalker" instead of "Nerf War" as it was more about stealth and evasion than a full on rrrraaaaarrr kind of war.) I saw the news about the new N-Strike Vulcan EBF-25 and was like wooot! Fully automatic magazine style for teh winz! And I can haz cool laser scope?! I may have to pick one up once they launch and give it a different paint job for teh lolz. I'd go with "sky blue" or "midnight tiger" cammo pattern; blues and blacks. Of course, I'd have to have an event or reason to dress up in costume.

May 31, '08 - Saturday - No home for rabb1t
*cry*cry*cry* Back a while ago the people I'm living with gave me a deadline of the end of June. This morning they told me they wouldn't extend that date. This leaves me 4 weeks to not only find a good job, but to also find someone willing to rent me a room. (Finding an apartment that would take me is unlikely.) I don't know what I'm going to do. Lately a few people have told me I'm "overqualified" for their entry level positions, so they don't want to hire me. I have lots of resumes out for higher paying jobs in the 30-45k range that I'm totally qualified for, but so far none of those have replied and given me an interview. Four weeks is quite a while to search, but the odds seem heavily stacked against me. Also, my car is still broken, making life even more difficult. It has a broken timing belt ($50 part) and if you are or know someone who could donate the time to fix that, that would be really helpful.

If anyone has any leads on jobs or a place to stay in the Cupertino or Sunnyvale area (southern bit of the San Francisco Bay Area, CA), let me know. I would also consider something in the Santa Monica area, though I don't know how I'd get there. It seems 'rabb1t aid 2008' may be back on stronger than ever very soon. Donations will be needed now more than ever. Please send help if you can. Next week I guess I should start putting my life in a box for storage. *cry*cry*cry*

My Amazon.com Wish ListMay 29, '08 - Thursday - Wishlists
Teh rabb1t life continues to be on hold. I won't talk about applications, 'cause that makes me sad right now, and I want to try and stay happy... My wish lists continue to grow. Lots of fun things have happened lately that I can't partake in yet. Although, I did take a break to try and pretend to be normal. I got myself a pizza and bought My Life as a King on the Wii via WiiWare. Lots of good fun for teh cheap. I'm nearly out of monies again, back to being broke and sad, so... anyways... talking about fun things, not being sad... Here is a list of fun things that have come out lately that teh rabb1t would be doin' if he had monies. Maybe you might see something you like and decide to get it, have some fun, and think happy thoughts for me.

On PC we've got Mass Effect, which came out for the 360 not too long ago. I was participating pretty heavily on the Age of Conan forums there for a while. Reviews have been favorable so far. (Although a nice peep offered to buy me AoC I really want to stay away from potential MMO distractions until my life is restabalized.) What with all the news about World of Warcraft's Frozen Throne expansion I've considered going back to WoW. (I've been gone roughly 3 years now.) For the Wii there is LostWinds on WiiWare, which looks very cute and my roomie says is a really fun puzzle game. For those of us who don't get out to the gym there is Wii Fit. Launched on multiple platforms is Lego Indiana Jones. I been wanting to pick up Eye of Judgment for the PS3 for a while now, but never got around to it. On Blu-Ray, though not exactly new there is Batman Begins, Unbreakable, Resident Evil: Extinction, I am Legend (never saw RE3 or Legend in the theaters). On the horizon there is Transformers, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles (season 1), Heroes season 1 and season 2, and Firefly, one of the best goram shows in the 'verse that ever was. Supernatural is also on the way. I still wonder what happened to the Dodgeball Blu-Ray.

So um... that's it really for today. If you pick any of those up, have some fun and I'll catch up when I can.

May 25, '08 - Sunday - Um...
I dropped a new article on the article page; "Ridding the Wave (of Technology) vs. Leaping". It discusses the different philosophies in how someone plans to upgrade and maintain their system. It is related to planned obsolescence vs. future proofing, but this article speaks more about the actual purchasing and building habit, than the other article, which speaks to a deeper psychology behind those choices.

May 23, '08 - Friday - Um...
I dropped a new article on the article page; "Planned Obsolescence vs. Future Proofing". It's about the different philosophies of planning for your system to be obsolete and buying mainstream parts vs. adopting bleeding edge stuffs. Um... if you are here in the states, have a happy Memorial Day weekend. ... That's it. k thx bye.

May 19, '08 - Monday - Phew.
I have secured help for May's rent. (Loan from a family member I didn't think could help.) Phew! The crisis has been averted for yet another month thanks to help and my donators. Yeeeeaaa. Thanks everyone for believing in me and sending some help. I'm not out of the frying pan yet though, as I still need to secure a job. I have a couple of very strong leads, one of which I'm supposed to hear back on today or tomorrow, and one is an interview tomorrow. Hopefully one of those will pan out and I can have some income going again before the week is up. The notices of critical need have been removed, and a few donation buttons were removed. I will keep a few up until I get my first paycheck for any other kind souls out there to help if they so choose.

May 17, '08 - Friday - Brain melting and Social Hubs
My brain was totally melting today. It got pretty warm where I'm at. We seem to be having a sort of heat wave that's come up all of a sudden. Early in the week it was fine, like mid to high 70s, the past few days have been hitting the 90s and I think it's supposed to get over 100 soon. Pretty crazy stuff. My dad was from Arizona, so I've got some Arizona blood. I'd always prefer it closer to 80 rather than closer to 60. I don't get 'uncomfortable' until around 83 or so, but fooooo, been pretty warm here lately.

I dropped the first of the permanent articles on the new 'articles & guides' page. It's called "Social Hubs" and talks about, well, social hubs in online gaming. Social hubs are something I've mentioned a few times on various boards, even a few beta boards. Basically the idea is that a social hub is where players gather, meet, cross paths, etc. Sometimes these are put into the game on purpose, sometimes they happen naturally due to player actions. I think these are pretty important to me in terms of if I like a MMOG or not. Upon reflection over the years, it seems the games I've stuck with the most have social hubs, whereas more recent MMOGs seem to be lacking. Anyways, give it a read if you like.

May 11, '08 - Sunday - Word to yo moma... and the gam3r moms...
Happy moms' day! Buy her some flowers and challenge her to a Wii game or something.

May 9, '08 - Friday - Uphill... In the snow... Both ways...
My life lately is kind of like that old saying; "uphill, in the snow, both ways". My car has been broken for a while now, and without a job I don't have the money to fix it. Which means I need to do all my interviewing and stuff either on foot or by bus. It is even more frustrating that it is about a $60 part if I had the tools and knowledge to fix myself, but since I don't, due to labor costs it will be like $300 or more. On foot is really no good, as I've got flat feet, and I really shouldn't walk more than a few blocks every great once in a while. I hope I'll be ok, hopefully walking and bussing for these few months won't cause any permanent damage. A doc warned me years ago that if I were to walk around a lot during my life I would likely wind up as one of those people with walkers when I was old. The bus, while not walking, is extremely time consuming. (And actually kind of expensive compared to gas, even with gas as expensive as it is these days.) I'm spending 45 min to over an hour going each direction when these trips would only take 15 to 25 minutes by car. Like today, 45 minutes one way on bus, about 5 minutes walking, literally 1 minute at the location, then 5 minutes walk and 45 minutes bus back, for somewhere that would have taken about 15 minutes by car.

I is a sad bunny lately. I'm trying to stay positive, as I think I'm nearing the final phases of the interview line at one place, but all this wasted time, all these bills I have to pay, no money to pay it with... let alone all the fun games I'm missing, the new Wii-ware titles coming soon... it makes me a very sad bunny and it's tough to not be depressed all the time. Hopefully things will turn around soon and I'll be back on my feet by the time my birthday comes back around.

wiiFor those of you with a Wii, go online and grab the Nintendo Channel. That's how you'll grab your new Wii-ware titles come May 12th. teh rabb1t recommends you watch for the following: Animales de la Muerte, Gyrostarr, Protothea, and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People

May 3, '08 - Sunday - Cinco de Mayo
Happy Cinco de Mayo to my fan peeps who celebrate it. Don't drink too much! I've got no RL friends, so no parties for me, just doing my regular things. I think today I'll create a new page I've been thinking of making. This new page will be a more 'permanent' place for important articles or blog posts. As per the rest of my site that page may shift with the times, but things that are more important or have longer periods of flux can be posted there. I will call it an 'article/guide' page. Eventually I'll make guides, but those will probably come much later than articles.

'Rabb1t aid 2008' continues as I struggle to find monies for food and rent. No tax stimulus thingy check yet, so I'm still at very high risk for being unable to pay rent. Hopefully that will come soon though and I can at least get that taken care of. Still have some bills putting my phone and Intarweb access at risk, so I need to clear those up as soon as possible.

I was kind of hoping some 'big entity' would take notice and help me out, you know, one of the companies I constantly recommend at my site, or maybe one of the game companies who's boards I talk on, and they would, you know, secretly/annonamously send me some big help. Hasn't happened yet. Just small monies from individiual people.

Again, I really hate to ask, but if you can help, or know anyone who can, any help would be great. Thanks for all the help so far!

May 1, '08 - Thursday - Mayday!
Well, here we are, the month has officially flipped. Well, sort of. It's late Wednesday night, so it's flipped in calendar terms, but not life terms. It's only a matter of time before my roomie asks me when I'll pay rent. Donations have been really helpful. I paid a critical bill, still have several more though, not to mention my car still being broken. But, I've managed to hold on to about 20% of the total amount I need for rent. Unfortunately... it's only 20% of what I need for rent. I don't know what to do. Hopefully life will happily go on without her asking me for a while. Hopefully time enough will pass to do some more interviews and be offered a new job. Maybe I'll get that whatever tax "stimulus" thingy and if that's enough I can pay rent with that. Maybe my dad (though retired and very old) will surprise me with some help. With a job I'm sure I could negotiate 'half-sies' with her, pay some then pay the rest later, but without I don't know how willing she'd be to let me stay. Hopefully I can clear rent and my critical bills and keep things turned on long enough to get regular income going again.

It seems 'rabb1t aid 2008' must continue a while longer. Again, I really hate to ask, but if you can help, or know anyone who can, any help would be great. Thanks for all the help so far!

April 26, '08 - Saturday - Critical need
Please help if you can. Rent is due in only a few days and I don't have the money to pay for rent, bills or even food. If I lose my home I will lose the ability to help others.

Please, if you can spare anything $5, 10, 20, or more, please, please send help via the donation button. If I lose my home I won't be able to help anyone, let alone help myself.

April 24, '08 - Thursday - Good luck... Still scared... - Link
Woot! Good luck for me today (in entertainment). I just now got into the Age of Conan "Open Beta" at Fileplanet (see link). That should be fun. I did the PvP weekend last weekend but there wasn't much you could do with that. This open beta should give me a bit more time with the classes, even though they cap you at level 13.

I'm still having little to no luck finding a job. I had a good interview a few days ago, but, as usual, the interviewers didn't really read my "cover letter" and I wasn't really a match to what they were looking for. I have another interview on Tuesday, so hopefully that will work out. Again, if you can help me out with a little something in my time of need that would be super great. I hate to keep asking, but right now I really don't have anyone who can help me put my life back together, so I'm depending on the kindness of strangers to help get me through these tough times.

April 20, '08 - Sunday - Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
Not too much to talk about today. Still no job yet. Pretty sad about that most of the time. I don't know how I'll pay rent in a week and a half, but I try not to think about it. Hopefully I'll get a job very soon and get some income coming in, or maybe I'll get that rumored tax refund and that might cover it.

I decided to put my next system build plans off till around August. I should be recovered by then I hope. I originally had slated April, around bunny day, so I'm a fair bit behind schedule now. I've been playing in the recent Age of Conan PvP weekend event the past few days. It's pretty fun. It would be nice to be able to play when it releases. Combat is very action oriented, yet strategic, and the environments are beautiful even in DirectX9. For those who are curious, I would guess that my "Pika" system would play at "medium" settings, maybe high, and the rest of the systems should be able to handle "high" without any trouble. My current system seems to do ok at "high", but it does struggle a fair bit at some points due to its age.

That's it for now. k thx bye. Hopefully my situation will improve soon and my life will be back on track.

April 17, '08 - Thursday - Halp?
First, I'd like to thank the very small handful of people who have sent donations so far. But I'd like to request that if you haven't sent something already, I really really really do need the help. Another weekend is coming up, and we are 2 weeks away from my next rent. I had to borrow to eek by the last one, and I have no idea how I will be able to make it this time without a lot of your help. If all of my visitors from now until the end of the month just sent $1 each, just a single dollar, I'd have enough to pay rent. Please please please help if you can. You may not realize it, but just a few dollars can really help save me for yet another month.

Thanks for the help so far and for your continued support until I am able to stand on my own two feet again.

April 17, '08 - Thursday - Fan page?
I've been thinking of starting a 'fans' page, where I would post pictures people sent in. I have helped people from all over the world, and it might be interesting to see some of these cool places. If you'd like to see such a feature, see where some other fans are from, feel free to email me a picture or three of yourself with some small caption you'd like with it - maybe saying hello to the rabb1t, hey to other fans, where you were, what you were doing, etc.

April 15, '08 - Tuesday - Random Stuff
Not much going on today. I guess it's tax day. I didn't have money to pay mine, so that will have to wait. I only owe like $600, which apparently I guess I get due to some new change or something anyways. So, it's not like I owe a lot. I guess they just add on a late fee if you don't pay by a certain time, so it's not too bad. The Playstation 3 got a software update that adds on DTS-HD for Blu-Ray, so that should be pretty r0x0r for teh free. They also updated their store. It looks really cool now; moves a fair bit quicker. (Though I think some things are lagged due to everyone getting the update and checking it out.) I'm sad no new movie previews were added, that's what I like the most. There is an update to Super Stardust HD. That's probably the game I play most these days. I've got an interview tomorrow for one of the 'child wrangler' positions I talked about in my last blog, so that's hopeful. I saw a posting at a hardware news site that the 9800 GT may have been delayed till July, so I guess it's good that I decided to stop waiting for it in my system builds. I haven't seen confirmation of that yet though, but it would make sense. Been sneezing a lot the past few days; wonder if I have a cold. Nothing else going on really... no new beta invites, nothing else new in my life. Still struggling to keep these bills at bay. Um... that's it. k thx bye. Please donate if you can.

April 4, '08 - Friday - Tweaks
Minor tweak on the system recommendation page. I decided to stop holding the spot for the 9800 GT. When it comes out I'll change things up then. It's not really fair to people (and confusing) to not have a full recommendation.

Another week has come and gone. Still unemployed, yet hopeful. I had two people reply to some 'child wrangling' positions I applied for. (Childcare centers. I think It's funny to say I could be a 'child wrangler' 'cause it sounds funny hehe.) The person at the game studio I applied to for a Online Community Manager position is still asking I wait for her to call. I wonder if she realizes just how bad of a position I'm in. I answered that I was currently unemployed with no money in part of their questionnaire (I'm super honest like that) so you'd think she would be understanding.

Anyways... not gonna let things get me down. Gonna try and stay positive and stuff. It's a nice sunny bunny day outside, finally starting to actually look like spring. So that's happy.

April 4, '08 - Friday - Sad day
Today is a sad day for me so far. I've been pretty happy the past few days, been waiting on a few call backs for jobs. Nothing yet though, and with it being Friday, normally a happy time for people, for those of us who are unemployed it is often a time of sadness. Fridays there are hardly any job postings, and really nothing moves at all over the weekends. So, as a job seeker, you are fairly assured that you won't get any call backs till the week starts.

I'm off to walk to the store now. Shouldn't be too long, maybe 10 min. I've got flat feet though, so that won't be enjoyable, as any walk longer than a few minutes tends to be kind of painful. I can only afford one or two things though, as I'm down to my last $10, likely closer to $0 at the end of today. I really don't know how my life has come to the point where I can't just go buy the foods I want when I want them, or go to a movie, or buy a game or movie. I often wonder what's wrong with me, why don't people pick me for jobs, why don't I have friends anymore, why don't I have a sweetie.

I hate to keep posting sad thoughts, and dwelling on the sad parts of my life, but please, please, if you can help, or know some people who might be able to help me out, please send those donations. You may not think a few dollars will help, but it will. I'm in the worst (financial) place I've been in my life ever and I need all the help I can get to help me recover. I'm on my last few weeks of having a warm and happy place to sleep, not counting that once I lose my room I'd have no way to get anywhere because my car is broken. I really love helping people out and being a sort of specialized computer consultant, but if I have no food, if I can't pay my bills, obviously that will be out of my control, things will be shut down and I won't be able to help others, let alone help myself.

Please send any donations you can, and encourage others to if you know anyone who may be the helpful type. Sad day for me so far, hope yours is going better.

April 1, '08 - Tuesday - Nvidia 9800 GTX; Not much to see here, move along
The 9800 GTX has launched, and after reading about 4 reviews, I am surprised and not surprised at the results. As we expected, there isn't a big improvement over the 8800 GTS G92, after all the 9800 GTX is effectively a very minor tweak of the 8800 GTS G92. In fact, due to the limitations created by it being a 10.5" card and the fact it takes 2 PCIe x16 6-pin power connectors, I'd say most will just want to pass on the card entirely in favor of an 8800 GTS G92. The gains in FPS speed are minor at best, though the price increase is also surprisingly minor, being around $330 compared to it's estimated $400 launch price. (This is particularly good news for the pending 9800 GT launch.) As expected, I say give the 9800 GTX a pass and wait for the 9800 GT to take the price to performance crown. Even if you have the money to spend on a 9800 GTX I'd be far more likely to recommend you get dual 8800 GT instead. (Ideally wait and go dual 9800 GT.) With the recent news of the 9900 GTX right around the corner in July, we should probably look to that launch for the next big step in the high-end. The 9800 GTX launch is really just Nvidia continuing to pummel ATi while it's down. In my opinion this card really was unnecessary in terms of research and development.

The card does introduce HybridPower, which means when you aren't gaming the card will shut down, saving you power and sparing you the noise of the fan. However, you'll need a HybridPower compatible motherboard in order for this to happen. These motherboards have yet to launch in mass, so it could be a while before this feature really matters.

Watch out for April fools jokes, but have fun. (Again, this blog is not a joke.)


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