Impression From Maui

Who would have thought that Costco is the best travel agent for vacations to Hawaii? Last year, Victoria and I booked our honeymoon to the Grand Hyatt on Kauai and absolutely loved it. The same package was available this year, but we decided to try something different. After a bit of soul searching (Dominican Republic? Puerto Rico?), we settled on a similar deal for the Hyatt Regency on Maui. Similar deal from Costco, including a rental car and other amenities. It was fun! A few memories from the trip:

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WordPress For iPhone

Yesterday’s Fallout 3 post was completely written using the WordPress For iPhone app (as was this post). Curiously enough, I have better cellphone reception on remote Maui beaches than in my office back in Sonoma! Having this update ability through the iPhone is definitely cool. But writing that extensive article showed me that there’s still some serious shortcomings in the app. Here’s a few features that will make the beach blogging experience much better:

Copy & Paste Support
As I mentioned a while ago, I’m all over the place when writing longer, essay-style posts. Being able to copy & paste would make editing the text much easier. It’s currently impossible to move paragraphs, and the only way to change the structure of the post is to retype a whole section. Hardly ideal. Pasting hyperlinks isn’t possible, either! I had to write down each link first and manually add it to the post later.

Image Naming
Would you like to know the filename for that Fallout image? l-640-360-ef51-c6f9-685d-4cb7-8210-290be6fafa65.jpeg. Yep, I just typed that on the iPhone keyboard. Just like I manually added the “img scr” of that image to yesterday’s post (after copying the name to my notebook first). I have no idea if that’s the iPhone’s internal filename for the image, or just a weird checksum/hash produced by the WordPress app. Either way, it’s way too unwieldly – my 128bit wireless WEP key is less cryptic!
You’ll also notice that the first image in the post isn’t working, and I have no idea why! I cross-checked the links about five times, and they look identical. One works, one is broken. Obviously, copy & paste would once again be very helpful here.

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Now Playing: Fallout 3

When it comes to Bethesda’s big, open world RPGs, I have a predictable pattern: I will hopelessly fall for every other game that they release. When The Elder Scrolls: Arena was released in 1994, I was all over it. Then Daggerfall hit the streets, and I never got past the initial quests. Several years later I was hooked again, dedicating hundreds of hours to Morrowind; only to be left cold by the even grander follow-up, Oblivion. If this alternating outburst of enthusiasm sounds weird, there’s a simple reason for it: Bethesda’s games are so comprehensive that I can’t play more than one every few years. When Oblivion arrived to much fanfare, I found that I just hadn’t recovered enough from Morrowind; I was feeling like I was replaying the same game again. I knew how much I should have been loving Oblivion and actually bought it for all available platforms. But every time I stopped playing early on.

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Bands Missing From Rock Band

The Cure
Friday I’m In Love. Just Like Heaven. Love Cats… The Cure is cult, and there’s tons of classic Cure songs that I would kill to play. If you grew up in the 80s and 90s, you know what I mean!

Depeche Mode
Okay, so I’m a huge Depeche Mode fan. But really, can you imagine anybody who wouldn’t want to play Personal Jesus and Enjoy The Silence?

Genesis
Give me Congo, Mama and No Son Of Mine any day! While we’re at it, throw some of Peter Gabriel’s solo stuff in there!

Snapshot

Cyber-stalking aid, November 2008:

Enjoying… Six days in Maui.
Reading… The Phoenix Endangered (Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory). Simplistic, but decent beach reading.
Watching… Battlestar Galactica Season 3. Yes, I’m behind.
Playing… Fallout 3. Well, at least I would be if I was home. I’m addicted.
Dreading… Having to leave Maui.
Starting… Something new at work. That was the one bad thing about going on vacation this week, work is exciting right now!

The Ghost of ILM, Part 2

Anybody who remembers my Ghost of ILM post about Circuit City store #238, which is located in the less desirable neighborhood of San Rafael, will not be surprised that it’s on the list of the 155 stores that Circuit City is closing in their restructuring effort. There were people advertising the closeout sale in front of the Best Buy today. Kinda smart, there might be some great deals for anybody who lives in this area. But I don’t feel like spending big money on any consumer electronics right now. Given the economy, I’m wondering if anybody will.

2008 Election Results

We had this idea on our friends mailing list today…and Hugh did the Photoshop work to make it happen. I present to you, in illustrated form, the result of today’s election:

Update: It’s hard to be cynical after hearing both John McCain and Barrack Obama’s speeches tonight. I think McCain conceded gracefully, and is finding back to the old McCain that gained so much respect across party lines before the election campaign demons took over. And Obama was very good at being upbeat yet realistic, and rallying people for what will be a very difficult fight.

“Yes we can!”

I believe that, and if the entire country gets behind that message, we will turn the US around!

Pop Culture Wisdom

“We trade honesty for companionship.”
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

“Women think they’re so clever because they can fake an orgasm for the sake of a relationship, but men can fake a whole relationship for the sake of an orgasm.”
Playboy’s Party Jokes

(And no, neither of these quotes pertain to my relationship with Victoria I just thought they were clever observations.)

Another To Do List

Looking for alternate universe with 48-hour days. Can be second hand, but must be in good condition.

Now Playing: Dead Space

If there haven’t been many blog updates in the last week, you can lay the blame squarely on the shoulders of Dead Space. In times when I normally write my posts or work on BBelief2008, I have been playing Dead Space instead. When I should have been going to bed around midnight, I kept playing Dead Space instead. It’s one of the best games I’ve experienced this year.

(The following text won’t contain any story spoilers, and no major game spoilers. But if you prefer to not know anything about the game, you might want to stop reading right here.)

Dead Space is a case study in focus and execution. There are a few novel touches (like the 3D inventory and 3D UI screens), but when you get to the bottom of it, there’s a preexisting example for every one of Dead Space’s game elements. Dismembering enemies? Soldier of Fortune 2. In-game economics and stores? System Shock 2 (and, more recently, Bioshock). Node upgrade system: Final Fantasy X/2. Resurrection monsters: Archvile from Doom 2. Zero gravity sections: Prey. And of course Doom 3 paved the way, by the way of Event Horizon.

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