Category: Robert’s Blog

One of the first Flash animations I ever created was for a site that Ajenda produced called Easter Fun. Well, six years later, we still get about a thousand or so hits a month. In an attempt to squeeze some money out of this Internet relic, we are redesigning it to fit in some Google AdSense ads. In the process, I have completely revamped the look of the menu animation. Check out those gradients! And, as an added bonus, the chick doesn’t squawk at you every 3 seconds. Go to Easter Fun… and click on the ads for Christ’s sake (or, more accurately, Ajenda’s sake)!

This past weekend I made an impulse purchase in the form of a new DVD player. My previous player (a Samsung DVD-P421 from 2001) seemed okay, but recently it was hiccuping on the many-a-DVD layer switch. This always seemed to happen at a key moment in whatever movie I was watching. A minor glitch, but annoying nonetheless.

While off in the ‘burbs running errands, I decided to pop in to Best Buy to see if there was a cheapo DVD player for sale to replace my ailing Samsung. I’m not too hip to what makes a good DVD player these days. My only requirements where that it be progressive scan (even though I have a crappy 19″ NTSC television), be priced under fifty dollars or thereablouts and that it be able to play computer video media like AVIs or Quicktime. Lo and behold I fould what I was looking for in a Philips DVP3040.

Compared to the Samsung, this player is tiny, quiet (you can hear the high pitched buzz LASER on the Samsung) and it managed to stay near room temperature when watching a long DVD! It jumps from chapter to chapter very quickly. The remote is compact and easy to use. Again, this is comparing it to my Samsung which had an awful joystick-type of menu controller. It plays DivX movies effortlessly, subtitles and all, and they look great on my small TV screen. Now I can watch all my crappy video podcasts in the comfort of my living room. The photo and .mp3 playback capabilites are an added bonus.

On top of it all, it is region-free hackable! Just press setup and then navigate to preference. Press in the code 138931 and set the region you want. Awesome. It also claims to be able to play both PAL and NTSC media. I will have to find a PAL disc and test this out someday.

My only gripe so far is that, if you stop a DVD and power-down, it won’t pick up the movie where you left off. I thought that was a standard DVD functionality. I guess not. But, all-in-all a great bargin at about fifty dollars.

I’ve added a new image of my post-Nova art studio.

Okay, NewEgg has redeemed itself, UPS still sucks though. I checked my credit card statement and we finally, 7 days later, got the ten dollar credit we were offered. The CF card is still working, faster and better than ever.

Okay, my initial frustration over my NewEgg order has been diminished a little. I was offered ten dollars off of a comparable product and went ahead and ordered a larger flash card. I hope my ancient Canon Powershot can handle a 512MB card. It has already destroyed a 256MB PQI card and I was concerned that it was size limited. Anyhow, I will following the tracking info to the minute if I have to this time.

I still have not done much in the way of updating this site but I needed to get some info out another horrible on-line shopping experience I have had.

The culprit this time is NewEgg.com. This was the second time I ordered anything from this store–they are widely regarded as a top-of-the-line on-line shop. However, my experience has been pretty lousy. To be fair, I guess my complaints should be directed at UPS. They are the idiots who make a daytime delivery at a residence, and then never leave a note that they attempted delivery. On top of that, the delivery guy lies to cover his lazy ass by saying, firstly, that they delivered the package and then, two days later, that I refused delivery! They then proceeded to send the package back to NewEgg. UPS’s customer service phone system is one of the most annoying voice mail apps on earth. I finally figured out that you can scream, “Talk to person!” to circumvent answering a slew of “yes” or “no” questions.

NewEgg’s third-world sweatshop tech support has been nothing but stock answers. They want me to wait until the item is back in their hands, at which time they will refund my Credit Card and make me order it again. I’d hold my nose and do this, except that the item I ordered is not out-of-stock. NewEgg, you and your ret*rded partner UPS suck. Feel the wrath of my deadly “blog” post!

What the heck happened to my site?! Well, in an effort to kick my butt in gear, and force myself to reorganize and redesign my site.

I’ve stripped out the look-and-feel elements and will slowly be working on applying an automated system of templates. I will also be deleting and or rearranging sections to help reign in some of the urban sprawl of my site architecture. This is a bit of an experiment. It’s somewhat unsual to put the design process of a site out in the open. This should be interesting… check back soon for updates.

Some of the books I read in 2001:
Plowing the Dark by Richard Powers (4/5) • The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein (5/5) • Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand (4/5) • The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (3/5) • Albrect Dürer by Jane Hutchison (3/5)

Some music I dug in 2001:
Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley • Las Vegas Grind Vol. Six!!! • Spoozys – Astral Astronauts • Nig Heist Live • Richard H. Kirk – Loopstatic • The Famous Monsters – In the Night

The computer games of 2001:
Pagan: Ultima 8 – sub par Ultima game • Nox – Excellent RPG I am playing through again • F.I.F.A. 1999 – EA Sports title • Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee – Platform excitement • Deus Ex – 3d Role Playing Game with corny voice acting. • Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role-Playing Game • Ultima 7 Part II: Serpent Isle • Ultima 7 Part I: The Black Gate •