Monday, December 28, 1998
Uploaded an article I didn’t publish in The Washington Times. I should’ve; me bad. The article is reproduced below. We also rescued the truck, so you needn’t worry any longer. The Unthinkable by Brent P. Newhall A few days ago, I did the unthinkable. I paid my Metro fees and I took the bumpy ride down to the Rosslyn station, where I put on a garish cap and waited to meet three friends of mine that I had never met […]
Thursday, December 24, 1998 — Christmas Eve
Well, it’s almost Christmas. My presents aren’t all wrapped (I do have them all, though). But I’m feeling in the spirit; we’re going to have a white Christmas (beautiful carol, isn’t it?), my family is safe, warm, and healthy, and so am I. Which was actually a fact I was calling into question last night on my way home from work. Story time! As I dressed for work that morning, I stood […]
Wednesday, December 23, 1998
Hmmm. I had a rant ready to go this morning, and now I can’t remember it. Well, if it comes, I’ll post it here. Saw Prince of Egypt Sunday. The artwork itself was gorgeous, the voices were excellent (though Patrick Stewart can’t help sounding like Patrick Stewart), the music was actually done right, and the Biblical story was kept faithfully, while adding a fresh vantage point on the whole […]
Thursday, December 17, 1998
Woohoo! My paychecks came in yesterday (one from IBA and one from PRC), so I ran out and bought a Sound Blaster 64, Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback joystick, Sony microphone, and a CompUSA 17″ monitor (the latter for my Mom). They all installed flawlessly, and the joystick comes with a three-month subscription to Fighter Ace! 64-bit sound does make a difference; sound quality is much clearer and cleaner; you can hear more […]
Wednesday, December 16, 1998
Well, Mom and I stayed up rather late last night playing “Ants” on Microsoft’s Gaming Zone. A lot of fun, and she managed to blow me away with some unexpected tactics. They’ve put a good amount of thought into the design of this game; physics actually work quite nicely (if you attack another ant, which falls into a water tile, it’ll drown). The maps are quite small, requiring […]
Tuesday, December 15, 1998
Not much to report today. My Mom downloaded Ants, an online multiplayer game from MSN, and we tried it out (single-player) last night. Looks like a lot of fun, if not inordinately complex (though that could be a good thing). I told her I’d download it myself and play it with/against her next time she got a chance to be online. I just realized that I need to make […]
Monday, December 14, 1998
I finally have a digital camera. I actually ordered one quite awhile back, but the manufacturer discontinued that model, so yesterday I ran out and bought one. Thus far, it’s been very nice; just snap some photos, attach to the new wire I have trailing out from behind my computer, fire up the software, and download the pics. Hopefully, one day this week I’ll set up a quickie photo […]
Thursday, December 10, 1998
Finally moved all the October diary entries to the past entries page. I’ve spent a bit more time on Furcadia lately, and in fact have been thinking about trying out the role-playing areas. Maybe after I’ve gotten a little more comfortable in the world. Spent a bit of time on the RTS game, notably putting in the DirectX functionality so it can draw everything at a reasonable speed. It looks like I’ll have to do […]
Tuesday, December 8, 1998
Well. Goodness. Lots to talk about. First off, I’m now officially installed at Litton/PRC, as an “Associate Engineer” (a.k.a. Junior Programmer). It’s going well; I’m getting familiar with the environment and my duties quickly enough. Our target is a Unix C environment. I’ve done some fiddling with the Real-Time Strategy game (I’ve got a few webpages up), and hopefully will have the map interface (scrolling, placed units, […]
Tuesday, December 1, 1998
Interesting editorial on Yahoo! News about the online music industry, or the lack thereof. The labels want to protect their profits, and there’s really no *reason* for them to go online. The fans would want it, but it would be a big hassle for the labels, with no clear profits. IMHO, a few artists need to make their own label, right off the internet, and sell themselves exclusively from that. If they […]