down in a hole

The game finished eleven hours ago, and I'm still mad about it. At least with the Bengals, or the Bearcats you can say to yourself "there's always next year." With this, what do you say? There's always... 2010? That's not good enough. Four years of buildup, of anticipation, for this? A tournament filled with poor performances from stars and terrible calls that determine the outcome of games. I think this may even top last year's Super Bowl for officiating blunders. What a horrible call to give Ghana a penalty shot. It happened right before half time, three minutes after the U.S. tied the score on a great play. The momentum they should have had going into the second half swung 180 degrees after that terrible call by the official gift-wrapped a goal for Ghana.

And Ghana, talk about a team I was disappointed by. Everyone wants to see an underdog make a good run in the tournament, and I loved their upset over the Czech Republic. But I don't think I've ever seen a team take more dives and feign more injuries to waste time than I did today. Calling their style cheap doesn't do it justice.

I take a small amount of comfort in Ronaldo getting back into form with a two-goal performance against Japan today. I look forward to watching Brazil destroy Ghana in the next round.

Oh well, here's to 2010. South Africa here we come. Hopefully...

a little bit of resolve

Before the soccer game on Saturday, Jess and I went down to Paul Brown Stadium for the Bengals' open mini-camp practice. We had a good time. It was fun to see the players out practicing and to get a look at new members of the team like Chatman and McNeal. Tab Perry looked impressive and I think he'll be making a much bigger impact out there this year. It was also nice to see Rudi looking good after his injuries last year. Chad had pulled his groin the day before, but he looked just fine. He made some very nice catches and naturally was standing out by wearing a pair of bright orange shorts in contrast to the black worn by literally everyone else. Kelly Washington did the squirrel after catching a pass in the endzone. Palmer was a no-show, but after the way he practiced during the week, I don't think anyone will complain about him taking a day to rest. We got to watch Anthony Wright, Doug Johnson, and Dave Ragone takes turns at quarterback, but there's no way to really determine how they'll measure up for a real game. Jess got some nice pictures, which I might post if she ever puts them online.


We found out that Chad Johnson has a book coming out: Chad: I Can't Be Stopped. It's written by Paul Daugherty of the Enquirer. I think it's hilarious. You can check out a sample chapter on the site.

something got to turn out right

What a game. Exciting and disappointing at the same time. I can't believe the US managed to pull off the 1-1 draw against Italy after three ejections put the US down to nine men against ten Italians. After getting destroyed by the Czech Republic, the US played today like a completely different team and held on the whole time to force the draw. Keller did a fantastic job in goal, making some spectacular saves near the end to preserve the tie.

Had it not been for the two ridiculous cards, there is no doubt in my mind that we would have won. Italy's player got ejected first for throwing an elbow in Brian McBride's face. Yeah, that's what they make red cards for. But Mastroeni's foul should have only been a yellow card. Sure, he only tackled the player, but it was only from the side not behind and he was going for the ball when he did it. You don't just pull out a red card for that. There's also no way Pope should have been given his second yellow card. He made contact with the ball, then tackled the player. It shouldn't have even been a foul. We played so well the whole game, even after the terrible calls and playing almost the entire second half with only nine men. We even scored a goal to go ahead in the second half, but it was called off for offsides. Considering the referees have already been criticized for the number of cards given out in games, I hope this official has done his last game in the Cup.

So we take one point from the draw. That's not the three points for a win we really hoped for (or should have had), but after Ghana's stunning upset over the Czechs, we still have a chance to advance with a victory of Ghana and an Italian win over the Czech Republic on Thursday (or a number of scenarios with a Czech - Italy draw).

there is a game i play

The US team already has their backs up against the wall after an utterly pathetic 0-3 loss to the Czech Republic on Monday. Now every match is a must-win if they want to have a chance of advancing to the second round. Hopefully they'll go into the game Saturday against Italy playing like it's the do-or-die situation that it is. Brazil looked a little less than impressive in their 1-0 victory, but I think they'll pick up the pace. Ronaldinho and Kaka played well, but Ronaldo has been heavily criticized for his slow performance. I'm hoping I get to see them play on Sunday. I'll be following the England vs. Trinidad & Tobago game at work today (ESPN has a good online live matchcast that I've been using at work), and after Trinidad's great play against Sweden for the draw, I have to root for them to upset the Brits. Germany continues to dominate, and I'm probably not the only one who found the Germany beating Poland match ironic/amusing (insert history reference here).

Work is slow. We're going to get supervisor calls from the Convergys employees that took our jobs. I haven't taken any yet, but I know others have. Other than that, we just take random calls, mostly in Baby Care or Beauty Care (the two areas I know least about). I'm meeting with someone on June 29 to get the actual details on my severance package, so it will be good to find that out so I can decide what I want to do for later in the summer.

Spring quarter was one of my busiest between my job and heavy work load from one or two classes. I ended up doing a lot better than I expected, with a 3.8 GPA for the quarter. That's probably my highest yet.

Since we aren't planning on getting a land line for our new house in September, I'm in the market for a new cell phone and plan. My old phone has served me well (it's lasted over 3 1/2 years) but I should have retired the prepaid service long ago. With no land line, I'll want a cell phone with a good plan, voicemail, and good service. The problem is I don't really know what phone or service to go with. If anyone has any good phone, plan, or service provider recommendations, let me know.

fall in love with the sound

FIFA's World Cup kicks off this weekend, and I'm one of the minority of Americans who actually cares. I'm pretty excited that the U.S. is entering with what is probably their best team ever, which says a lot considering the dark-horse run of the 2002 team to the quarterfinals. However, the U.S. is also in one of the two toughest groups this year, with Italy, the Czech Republic, and Ghana. Taking one of the top two spots from the Italians and Czechs will not be easy. We didn't get a lucky draw for the groups like the cake-walks awaiting England, Germany, and France. Plus, even if we get second in our group to advance to the next round, we'd most likely face Brazil. So winning our group is super-important, and will be extremely difficult. I'm also disappointed that I'll only get to see one of the U.S.'s first-round games, since the other two games are on cable, and are being played while I'm at work. But at least the games aren't on at six or eight in the morning like they were when the 2002 World Cup was in Korea & Japan.

i saw the ocean meet the man

I finished Half-Life 2: Episode 1 over the weekend and, to no one's surprise, I thought it was great. I really can't get over how brilliant the idea of episodic content is for gaming, at least when it comes to single player first-person shooters. The game lasted for about five hours, where your normal full length single player game generally lasts six to eight hours. Certainly no more than ten. So you have at least half the length of a normal fps game for only $20 (or $18 if you pre-order it via Steam like I did) instead of a whopping $50 for a few hours more. Granted many full games also come with multiplayer, but Valve has that covered as well, because Episode 1 comes with both Half-Life 2 Deathmatch and the Source-engine version of the original Half-Life Deathmatch. Plus has several other great multiplayer games available on Steam like Counter-Strike: Source and my favorite, Day of Defeat: Source.

Of course all this is only leading me into a discussion of how brilliant an idea Steam is. Never have a seen as much support by a developer for their games than I have seen by Valve over Steam. Constant updates and new features. Plus they sponsor the release of great third-party games over Steam like Darwinia and the SiN Episodes. These are games that are too small to garner the attention of a big publisher, but over Steam these games get the attention of millions of gamers.

But back to the actual game Episode 1. Yes, here are some spoilers, but it doesn't matter because most of those reading this have not, and probably will not, play the game. It doesn't answer of ton of questions from Half-Life 2 other than how you and Alyx Vance escape from the big explosion at the end of the game. The rest of the game follows the two of you trying to escape City 17 before the Citadel core explodes. Alyx is with you for the entire game, and she's probably the best Non-Player (Playable?) Character ever put in a game. Once again Valve pursues an actual emotional investment between the player and the characters in the game, and they succeed here more than ever before.

The game requires a great amount of team work to get through; for example, there are pitch-black areas where Alyx needs you to light the way with your flashlight, which includes illuminating any zombies or headcrabs so that she can take them out. The game also features a good mixture of puzzles and action, and once again makes great use of the physics engine with the greatest weapon ever created, the gravity gun (and yes, the super-powered version of the gravity gun does make an appearance again). The game ends with you and Alyx finally getting out of City 17 and also with another enormous explosion in which your survival is questionable (but obviously you do survive).

There's a preview trailer for Episode 2 at the end, which will have some nice new environments now that City 17 is no more, including what looks like some very open areas in a wilderness. There's also been at least one new Combine enemy hinted at in Episode 1. There's also some added replayability in the game because of the option to turn on the developer's commentary. This feature first made an appearance in the Half-Life 2: Lost Coast episode that was basically just a tech-demo for Valve's new high-definition lighting. The commentary is dispersed throughout the levels, and features all kinds of insights into level design, story and character development, and how the developers try to keep the gameplay different. I think it's a great feature. Here's looking forward to Episode 2 in six months.

leavin' on a southern train

This weekend was a lot of fun. Jess and I went out Saturday for our four year anniversary. First we went to dinner at Prima Vista. I got spaghetti and meatballs (not what it was called, but that's what it was) and she got the salmon. The spaghetti was good, but there was too much of it, and that's all there was. Jess' was the better choice because the salmon was excellent, and it came with green beans and a pasta. Before that we had a really good appetizer of muscles in some find of tomato-oil sauce. Then we had tiramisu for dessert, which was delicious. The view of the city from the restaurant was really nice too, especially since we got to see the sun go down and the city light up. It was a really nice place, but definitely on the expensive side.

After dinner we went to Shadowbox Cabaret. We had planned on going to Go Bananas comedy club, but had to change our plans when we realized the show was 21+ only. I'd never been to Shadowbox before, but it was pretty good. The comedy sketches weren't bad. Jess had been there before, and she said the comedy was better than it had been in the past. As I'd been told ahead of time, the music was really good. I wasn't impressed by their opening theme song, but they played a lot of good covers throughout the night. Some great renditions of "No Excuses", "Tom Sawyer", and "Baba O'Riley" were among the highlights (the girl that sang "Tom Sawyer" sounded so much like Geddy Lee is was hilarious. Overall I thought it was a fun place. I wouldn't go there all the time, but not bad for a change.

you probably think this song is about you

i finished my last long paper for my big history class and took an exam in another class yesterday, so i can finally exhale and relax. i only have two exams left next week, neither of which will be too difficult.

half-life 2: episode 1 comes out today, which means that once i get home i'll be shutting myself up in my room. i'll have to find some way to drag myself out again for class tonight. i also need to install my new 250gb hard drive. it will be so nice not having to worry about disc space or having to uninstall a game in order to install and play another one.

i'm really excited about our new house for next year. i really don't feel like spending three more months in our apartment. it's a nice place, but our house is better. and i hate the area. getting out of corryville is something i'm looking forward to the most. plus our apartment is just way too hot.

well i'm home from work now, and episode 1 is almost finished unlocking all the files...

i'm worth a million in prizes

there are few things more fun than laying awake not being able to sleep and then suddenly feeling sick. i think that chipotle burrito stabbed me in the back. i'll tell you all one thing, rice is not fun coming back up. how's that for a pleasant mental image? but here i am at work, tired and hungry.

gonna try for the kingdom if i can

there have been a few things that i've been meaning to update on for awhile, but i keep putting it off. i got my 90 day notice for being laid off from work last week. come august 15, i will be gone. i will be getting some kind of severance pay, but i won't find out exactly how much till day 45 (around july 1). i'm taking a spanish class in the second term of the summer quarter, which starts around mid-july which is going to be in the middle of my current work schedule. so once i find out exactly how much severance i'll be getting, i'll decide whether to change my work schedule for the final month or just quit. oh, and i get a raise next month.

the first of half-life 2's episodic installments comes out june 1st. that is great timing for me, as a have two huge papers due on may 31st, so that will be a great way to relax and unwind. personally, i think the idea of episodic releases online is fantastic. instead of paying $50 for a game that has around 8 hours of single player content (for a standard first-person shooter), you get episodes of around 6 hours of gameplay for only $20. despite my original anger at valve's software's steam program when i first got half-life 2, it has been wonderful ever since. considering you can preorder games (usually at a discount price) and load all the content onto your computer ahead of time, all you have to do after that is activate the game when it's released and you're all set. i've been playing ritual software's sin:episode I which was released via steam, and it's quality. the fact that it made from hl2's source engine is one of the main reasons i like it (i will forever rave about the physics in this game. they add so much to the gaming experience, for me anyway).

this quarter is almost over. thank goodness for that. just one huge paper and a small one due in a week, then a couple exams and it's done.

as probably everyone has already heard, we found a house for next year. it's gonna be sweet, i wish we could move in there.

a big band is far better than you

first off, happy birthday to big austin lubbers today. we're going to claddaghs tonight to celebrate. should be fun.

i saw mission impossible 3 last night. it was very entertaining. nothing brilliant, but the best mindless action movie i've seen in awhile. i really didn't like the second one, but the third was much better. plus, it had simon pegg in it, who was hilarious. they really should have played some queen though, or at least tossed in a zombie. also, if you haven't seen the proposition, its a really good australian-western. guy pearce is great.

i was going to write more, but we're about to go stop by master joe vogel's birthday extravaganza, so it will have to wait.

dreams in digital

i decided that there's a problem with me typing up posts at work, because it means i'm usually disgruntled and cranky when i write. more so than normal, anyway.

i mentioned more cd reviews coming, but i don't feel like going into a lot of detail about them, so i'll make them short and sweet. pearl jam released a self-titled album last week, and red hot chili peppers just came out with their latest, the double-album stadium arcadium. neither of these is really a bad cd; they're just boring. pearl jam was fine. none of the songs were bad, some of them were even a little catchy. but it didn't sound like anything new. nothing stood out. it was the same old pearl jam style that i've heard a million times before. i guess if you want more of the same pearl jam, go for it. i don't seem myself ever listening to it repeatedly. the chili peppers' album is even worse, because its two cds. if you've heard their last couple albums, you've heard this one. i'll admit, i didn't even listen to the whole thing, because its just boring.

now on the positive side, neil young's living with war is a good album. sure, i don't agree with all the politics, but that doesn't change the fact that it is still a quality cd. this is the political/protest album green day wishes they could make. definitely worth a listen, especially if you're a neil young fan.

brutus is an honorable man

i'm looking forward to the new saul williams album that's being produced by trent reznor. i'm not much of a hip-hop fan, but i liked saul's self-titled album, and amethyst rock star is pretty good too. he actually opened for nin inch nails earlier this year; sadly he was not at the cincinnati show, because he would have been way better than the yawn-fest that was moving units. the fact that he sings about something other than money, guns, cars, hoes, and bling makes him light years beyond that crap being played much too loudly by the cars outside my window every day.

drive me home and back again

this september we can all watch han solo shoot first once again. lucasfilm announced today that they will be releasing the original star wars trilogy, in the original theatrical version, on dvd this fall. in the past george lucas had said this version would never be released again, but i'm glad they changed their minds. although it wouldn't surprise me if they'd planned this all along so that people would buy the special editions on dvd (i would have anyway), but i'm sure not going to complain.

showed you how to swim for shore

i'm even more optimistic now after watching the reggie mcneal show . this guy is really, really fast. i'm not sure exactly how the bengals will use him since he won't be playing as a quarterback, but he's definitely got some speed.

i apologize in advance for the crappy rap music accompanying the video.

got a head full of ideas

the nfl draft was this past weekend, and i'm surprised at how satisfied i'm feeling with it after one day. going into the draft i really felt like they absolutely needed to get a good receiving tight end. but now i don't think that was as important; good blocking from our tight ends is probably what we need the most. another receiving threat on our already stacked offense would be great, but it isn't necessary. plus, they signed ohio state tight end ryan hamby so that gives them some more depth to work with at that position.

there were some really good players drafted like the offensive tackle andrew whitworth who didn't give up a sack all last season. they're hoping reggie mcneal could give our team the kind of trick-play threat the steelers enjoyed with randle el, and getting him in the sixth round sounded like a good bargain. i've heard good things about jonathan joseph, but he only had about a year of experience in college, so that makes him a little risky. but marvin seems to like taking gambles on risky players, which is sometimes good (odell thurman) and sometimes not so good (chris henry). i can't really complain about all the defensive players picked, and hopefully the wide received we got will be helpful on special teams. we need someone to fill the void left by kevin walter leaving, as he was second on special teams in tackles last season. i've read that frostee rucker should be a nice addition for the pass rush, which is also something we need.

i'm not happy about the steelers trading up to get santonio holmes. now i have to root against him.

between the moon and the tide

i added an update to the blog on the side panel. you can now view a feed from digg.com of the most recent news stories i've "dugg." this is for anyone who wants to see what stories i'm interested in, and for my own use, since a lot of what i highlight are things i see at work and want to go back and read thoroughly later.

how ironic is it that the spell check on my blog doesn't know the word "blog"?

i have a couple of music reviews i thought i would share, with several more when i have time. Tool's 10,000 Days was the first quality album i'd heard from 2006. sure, it's not completely unique from the other albums they have put out. you can certainly tell that it's a Tool album, but that's not a bad thing. the cd is unique enough that it doesn't sound like a regurgitation of what they've done before (and i would hope not, seeing as their last release was five years ago). there's a lot of really good songs on it, and it's definitely better than most albums being put out right now. it can't quite stand up to Aenima or Lateralus, but its a solid effort nonetheless.

one album i was happily surprised to hear was David Gilmour's album On An Island. i never really got into most of his solo stuff, and considering this was his first studio effort in twelve years, i didn't care too much about hearing it. but it's really a good album. the whole mood is very mellow and peaceful, which i guess is keeping with the setting of being on a beach or island at sunset. that's the feel i get from the album. Gilmour's guitar playing is still great. it's a nice mix of rock, jazz, and lounge-type music. the guitar on one song even reminds of Pink Floyd's Piper At the Gates of Dawn. its not something i could listen to when i'm cruising around on a sunny spring afternoon, but it's perfect for a calm atmosphere.

i plan on having some more reviews from Neil Young, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and some others in the next day or two.

ten thousand days in the fire

so according to another article i saw on Digg, the proposed 10 year maximum penalty for piracy proposed in that new piece of legislation would make the penalty for copying a movie or downloading a cd worse than pedophilia or assault:

Although sentencing varies in the US, the new law does send a very strange message as to what the government considers 'bad' in the 21st century.

For example assaulting a police officer will get you five years, downloading child porn will get you seven years, assaulting without a weapon will get you ten years and aggravated assault six years.

So in other words if you copy a Disney CD and sell it you will be in the same league as a paedophile who is distributing pictures of sexual attacks on children.

If you copy Craig David's CD you get ten years, but if you punch him in the face and pummel him into a seven day coma you will only get six. You are more likely to get the respect of the prison population with your six year sentence as well.

yeah i would say that our priorities for punishing crime are slightly off-base.

prying open my third eye

my new e-machine monitor is up and running, thanks to elly's family. it was good to see elly and tim last week; they were in for elly's sister's wedding. i went out to eat with tim and a couple guys from faith fellowship church on wednesday, which was a nice distraction from my bad day. we hung out with the family on thursday, and i emerged victorious after another bitter match of apples to apples. that game is always one huge argument waiting to happen. i can only imagine what would happen if rob and i played that together. blood would be shed, that's for certain.

middle to late may is now the new deadline work has announced for letting everyone know about future staffing (i.e. letting us know when we'll be laid off). we were supposed to know by next week, but once again they fail to just be straight-up with us. jen told me that whether or not someone gets severance pay depends on whether they've been actively looking for other jobs within the company. the severely drops my hopes of getting severance since #1 - i'm pretty sure the majority of jobs open within the company are either full time or outside the realm of possibilities for me, and #2 - i really don't think i have any desire to work another job in the company anyway. so i've decided i need to just start looking for another job and hopefully quit as soon as possible.

i saw an alarming article on digg.com today, about a new digital copyright bill being proposed in congress. in my opinion, it's a scary thought. the whole thing reeks of lobbyists from the likes of the RIAA sending their lackeys to washington and then scaring the politicians with buzzwords like "piracy" and "terrorism". there's nothing quite as wonderful as having politicans make decisions over issues they are entirely ignorant about. i would hope that if congressmen really understood what a "rootkit" was, they wouldn't be pushing legislation that would make removing it illegal. here's a few highlights from the article on the proposed legislation:

It also represents a political setback for critics of expanding copyright law, who have been backing federal legislation that veers in the opposite direction and permits bypassing copy protection for "fair use" purposes. That bill--introduced in 2002 by Rep. Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat--has been bottled up in a subcommittee ever since.
---
Jessica Litman, who teaches copyright law at Wayne State University, views the DMCA expansion as more than just a minor change. "If Sony had decided to stand on its rights and either McAfee or Norton Antivirus had tried to remove the rootkit from my hard drive, we'd all be violating this expanded definition," Litman said.
----
The proposed law scheduled to be introduced by Rep. Smith also does the following:

• Permits wiretaps in investigations of copyright crimes, trade secret theft and economic espionage. It would establish a new copyright unit inside the FBI and budgets $20 million on topics including creating "advanced tools of forensic science to investigate" copyright crimes.

• Amends existing law to permit criminal enforcement of copyright violations even if the work was not registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

• Boosts criminal penalties for copyright infringement originally created by the No Electronic Theft Act of 1997 from five years to 10 years (and 10 years to 20 years for subsequent offenses). The NET Act targets noncommercial piracy including posting copyrighted photos, videos or news articles on a Web site if the value exceeds $1,000.

• Creates civil asset forfeiture penalties for anything used in copyright piracy. Computers or other equipment seized must be "destroyed" or otherwise disposed of, for instance at a government auction. Criminal asset forfeiture will be done following the rules established by federal drug laws.

• Says copyright holders can impound "records documenting the manufacture, sale or receipt of items involved in" infringements.

Jason Schultz, a staff attorney at the digital-rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says the recording industry would be delighted to have the right to impound records. In a piracy lawsuit, "they want server logs," Schultz said. "They want to know every single person who's ever downloaded (certain files)--their IP addresses, everything."

wire-tapping over the suspicion of something like downloading an mp3 illegally? making it illegal to remove unwanted third-party software from your own personal, private property? not being allowed to copy cds on you purchased with your hard earned money onto the computer you also purchased with your hard earned money? this bill sounds as american as communism. come on republicans and bush administration, you're striking out on this one. get out of bed with the music and movie industries already, and pass something to defend our rights.

ride the spiral to the end

and now my monitor died. i'd been expecting this to happen eventually. it had been making these weird crackling noises at times, and the screen would flicker every so often. then today it suddenly made this horrible high-pitched screeching noise and then the screen flickered out and wouldn't come back on. so i'm in the market for a new monitor now.

jess is right, maybe i shouldn't go outside today. at this rate i'll get struck by a meteor or random bolt of lightning on a sunny afternoon.