Listmania – Favorite Atari 2600 games

Been listening to old episodes of retronauts lately.  Been reminiscing about the old Atari 2600 games that I played when I was growing up, and which ones were my favorites.  So without further ado….

Armor Ambush – Call it Combat 2 (even though that exists), or even Combat Advanced – it’s an awesome tank game.

Asteroids – I’m geekily proud to say I’ve rolled the score over 7 times in a row on 2600 Asteroids.

Combat – There’s nothing quite like shooting your friends with tank, biplanes or jets.

Enduro – One of the first racing games I REALLY enjoyed playing.  I distinctly remember getting this for my birthday the year I had chicken pox

Kaboom! – one of the few paddle games that I was actually good at.  One of the first twitch games.

Missile Command – This is one of the original great games.

Pitfall! – One of the best games.  Ever.  I spent days playing Pitfall, eventually getting enough points to send away for one of the sewn-on patches that Activision was giving out.  Was really the precursor to today achievement points on the Xbox.

Raiders of the Lost Ark – After enjoying the movie, I have great (but frustrating) memories of trying to solve this game.  Still haven’t done it.

Solar Fox – If I’m not mistaken, the object of this game was to maneuver a ship over squares to change their colors within a time limit (or avoiding lasers – one of the two).

Yars’ Revenge – This was the first game that I ever played where I found an Easter Egg.  At some point during the game, if you destroy Qotile in Swirl form in flight, and then maneuver Yar on the line, the initials HSWWSH appear on the screen, ending the game. HSW are the initial of Howard Scott Warshaw.

in which i appreciate history

The last time I went to the Maine State Museum in Augusta was at least 20 years ago.

I believe it was a 5th or 6th grade trip, where we all went up to visit the museum.

And I was bored to death.  The one thing I do remember about it was that there was a long hallway that went into the exhibits, and a booming voice came over a speaker welcoming you to the museum. My friends and I figured out what tripped the voice and kept setting it off – probably to the dismay of the people there.

But Saturday, I went again.  And I really appreciate it.

I mean, obviously I’m older.  I realize what history has passed and why we as a society need to preserve it. 

And the amount of.. stuff… that the Maine State Museum is amazing.  I have stuff over on my Flickr Page that don’t even begin to show some of the incredible stuff from Maine’s history.

The only downside is the admission.

Not that it’s expensive.  Admission to the museum is $2 for adults, and $1 for kids.  But the sad thing is that the museum doesn’t see a dime from the admission.  All the admissions go directly in to Maine’s General Fund.  And the museum gets a paltry sum from the general fund each year.  I think it’s deplorable that the museum doesn’t get the funds it needs from the state, when it’s one of the few places that is actively preserving the state’s incredible heritage.

I’m planning on writing the governor/senators and see about changing how the museum gets funds allocated to them.

They deserve more that they are getting.  And we need to make sure they get the funds they need.

Podcasts for Geeks 101

I love podcasts.  I have posted about podcasts before, but never followed up on it.  Here’s a list of podcasts I love, and the reasoning behind them.

* This American Life – I found this podcast on ITunes.  It is continually in the top ten podcasts, so I decided to check it out.  Incredible documentary-style radio stories produced weekly, and it is a great listen.

* Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me – NPR’s weekly news quiz.  He-larious. It’s the only current event podcast I listen to, and it’s a laugh riot.  Peter Sagal (and the writers) are geniuses, and I love “Not my Job”

* This Week in Tech – a.k.a. the Twitter Show. Seriously though, the flagship podcast of Leo Laporte’s TWIT network is a great listen.  John Dvorak, Jason Callacanas, Kevin Rose, and a host of other regulars bring the news to your ears.

* The Instance – It’s the World of Warcraft podcast so you don’t have to.  Whatever that means.  Scott Johnson and Randy Jordan (and occasionally Curt Schilling) put together a very informative and entertaining show all about WoW and it’s ins and outs.

* Extra Life Radio – Scott Johnson’s flagship podcast (along with Obsidian and Brian) about all things pop culture.  Comic books, games, movies, TV, internet, etc.  Awesomely funny.

* Retronauts – 1up.com’s retro gaming podcast.  Saved from 1up’s buyout, it’s a fantastic retro-gaming podcast.  Everything from Akalabeth to Zelda is covered.

* NPR’s Playback – It’s only once a month, but it’s a interesting look back 25 years into NPR’s archive for interesting, funny, and informative clips from our past.

* MacBreak Weekly – TWIT' Networks Mac Podcast.  Just because I’m a PC user doesn’t mean that I don’t like to hear about the dark side of computing.  Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, Andy Ihnatko (dang that’s hard to spell), Alex Lindsay, and Scott Bourne are the regular pundits on this awesome podcast.

* The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe – If you are into logic, atheism, science and facts, this is the best one out there.  Scott Novella of the New England Skeptical association heads this outstanding science podcast.

* Windows Weekly – TWIT Network’s look at the evil empire.  Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte look into all things Microsoft.  Zune, XBox 360, Vista, Windows 7, etc. 

I’m always on the lookout for new things to listen to. Any suggestions?

the reason

It’s not easy.

Even though I have numerous ways to post to this blog, I’m starting to find it difficult to find things to blog about.

I mean, I’m not a reporter, musician, celebrity, or politician. So I’m really limited to the things I know about – like video games, movies, books, comics, tv, RPG’s and World of Warcraft.  Granted this is a personal blog (I have no illusions of grandeur), but I was hoping to be a little more deep than just pop culture.

But then again, pop culture is what I know – and when you ask a writer “How do you figure out what to write about?” – I’d say 9 times out of 10, they’ll answer “Write what you know”.

So I’ve kinda come to terms with what I decide to put out there on the web for all to see – even if no one ever sees it.  This blog is autoposted to Facebook, so all my friends (all 42 of ‘em!) can see what’s on my mind – beyond the blurb that’s on the main page.  In fact my last post was probably one of my more introspective posts – I usually never talk about my personal/work life – but I think putting this stuff out there is very therapeutic.  Kinda like a psychiatrist without the weird questions and the lighter wallet.

Just the ability to vent, either about work or home life, is great.  I don’t vent to people face-to-face, only because I usually speak my mind, and end up putting my foot in my mouth.  And without any seasoning, it’s not a really pleasant taste.

So here, I can take my time, and take a deep breath before I put anything down on paper (so to speak).

So will this be an thoughtful, philosophical place where great minds meet and discuss world issues?  HELL NO. But I’ll occasionally be funny, thoughtful, mad-as-hell, and downright weird.  THAT I can guarantee.

in which i recover…

I’ve been really sick lately, but am recovering.  Started off with a sore throat last week, and ended up with congestion and a runny nose.

Now how is it possible that the human body can produce more mucus and gross stuff that’s physical possible?  It boggles my mind.

On the geek side, though, I finally got around to copying a bunch of audiobooks to my laptop so I can convert them to m4b files to play on my iPod.  I should have done this a few months ago when I got the laptop.  I have it setup beside my work computer so when I’m not processing work, I’m converting mp3 files.  Finally.

ups and downs

12:00 noon - Feeling a bit better today.

Part of it being that I actually got in touch with my sister, Sherry last night through Facebook.  Sherry is one of the few people in my family that I’ve talk to in the past, and I’m really looking forward to getting back in touch with her and getting to know her again.  She’s surprised that I’m 35.  “You’re Old!” – that’s a direct quote. :)

I’m hoping that this’ll help me get out of this awful funk I’ve been in over the past week.  I hate feeling depressed.  I hate acting depressed and getting other people down.  I hate the thoughts that run through my head when I’m down (they aren’t fun).  Like I said, this happens every now and then, which is odd.  For the most part, I’m a pretty positive guy.  I’m not a optimist by any stretch of the imagination (I consider myself a realist), but I try to either be positive or at least put on a good fake face if I’m not.

But lately I’ve felt that the fake face isn’t cutting it.  Not talking at work.  Not singing along with music.  Not laughing at George Carlin (hard to believe that last one). 

I’m positive that it isn’t a chronic condition – I usually pull out of these funks after a few days… but this one kinda feels different… which worries me.

So what do I do?  Medicate?  God I hope not.  I have enough meds to worry about, and taking “happy” pills doesn’t exactly appeal to me.  It would be just another expense that I don’t need to pay.  Do I ignore it?  I could, but that might not be the best course of action – although in the past that’s worked.

9:07 – feeling a lot better. Talked with Peaches, and getting ready for my goddaughter birthday pj party!  And just feeling good.  Which is better than I have been feeling…

ugh

I had a really sucky day.

It seems that this happens in every job I’ve ever held.  No matter what I do, I always end up doing something that…

I don’t know how to explain it.  I love my job.  But there are days that I just don’t give a flying fuck about it.  Today was one of those days.  I do my best to make sure the department runs smoothly, and it seems that I ALWAYS end up fucking things up and inserting my foot in my mouth.

I was depressed all day… I didn’t eat lunch (which is a bad thing for me)… I was mad at myself for being so down, and I know I didn’t come off as being in a good mood.  I wasn’t pissed or anything, but I didn’t talk all day (until I got reeled into a pizza conversation… which I’m kinda getting tired of – I don’t even work for Domino’s anymore)… 

I don’t know why this happens.  I’ll go months without being depressed.  But then all of a sudden, it’ll hit me, and I can’t do a damn thing about it.  I don’t think it’s clinical depression, only because it’s not all the time.  I’m pretty sure it’s normal to be in a funk, but for it to be such a deep funk so quickly… I don’t know what to think….