Finding Me Time

As we get to what is usually a busier time of year, it’s important to remember to take time to restore sanity (or be creative in insanity, depending on who you are).

Here are some good tips for doing just that.

Thanksgiving Photos

I spent Thaknsgiving this year at St. Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo, CA.  It was a wonderfully peaceful time lacking in noise and hunger and having plentious times of quiet, walking, photography, and disc golf.

Hope you all had an equally good holiday!

Listening to Meteors

For those not waiting in line tonight for a Wii (most of the readers here, no doubt), you can go outside and watch the Leonid Meteor Shower in the night sky.

Or, if you don’t want to go outside or are too near city lights to see anything, you can boot up iTunes and listen to the meteors. The trails do fun things to radio signals and those things are being broadcast for our enjoyment. You can read more about the details of how that happens at the site linked to above as well as hear an example that sounds as cool as they look.

First Rain

This appears to be the first weekend of rain this season here in Redlands.  I love the rain.  These are days for staying in your pajamas all day long (or whatever you wear to bed), watching good movies, drinking tea or hot chocolate, reading a book, and listening to “rainy” music (Van Morrison is typically a good bet).

This is the weather that brings out the romantic in me.

Here’s hoping most every weekend from here on is like this.

Return to the Beginning

Today, I reserved the first Nintendo game I’ve reserved/purchased since I was in high school. The game is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and I did this in anticipation of the Wii release on 11/19 (the same day I’ll pick up the game). Also, there’s a chance I’ll get a quicker heads up on pre-ordering the system itself by having reserved a game. Since I was going to get it anyway, seemed like a simple choice.

This is a full circle for me in terms of video games. My first real video game system was the original Nintendo (back when we could just call a game system by the name of the company that made it). I did have an Atari 2600, but I wouldn’t call that a real system because it spoils the sentiment of this post.

The Nintendo is probably responsible for my semi-geek status in my late twenties. Through it, I learned about Space Pirates and aliens that would suck away your energy. I encountered a role-playing game that blew me away in terms of a cohesive story and continued to enthrall me over several unrelated sequels. There were princesses to save, mushrooms and turtles to stomp on, ducks to hunt, and countless other adventures just waiting for the push of a button. Good times. And lazy times.

I missed a lot of chores because of video games (something my mother will likely agree with). But I didn’t miss a lot of life. I could’ve gotten outside more, sure, but I still had friends and activity.

So now I’m in my late twenties getting ready to get my hands on another Nintendo system and have some fun in my adult years just the same as my younger. It’s kind of a trip.

Google on your TV!

The last of six videos is up at the Wii web site.  This one is about the Internet Channel, which lets you surf the web.

It uses the Opera browser and from what I’ve heard, it’ll be free in the US (no confirmation from Nintendo yet and they originally said you’d have to buy the browser first).  Oh, and you’ll need to be connected to the internet (no brainer).

This could be big or could be “eh” when we see it for real.  Depending on the system’s boot time and the fact that I don’t know anyone who doesn’t primarily use their computer to get to a web site, this could easily become a staple in a connected person’s digital life.  I’m most interested to see how text input is handled.  If you can shop on line like the video says, there must be an easy way to input text.  Maybe a Bluetooth keyboard is in the works?  The remote is nice, but I can’t see how text entry can be quick with that unless they have some kind of predictive text key-cloud (where you choose one letter and the next likely letters appear closer to where you just clicked than the rest; constantly morphing cloud of keys, but very handy).

This is also something the other consoles don’t have and may be a major selling point.  Surf the web without having to buy a full computer (even though you can get a full computer for about the same start up cost).

Still, it’s about the games.  The web is nice and I imagine I’ll make use of it (blogging on my TV…).  But what I really want to do is play Zelda.  And Metroid.  And Mario.  And Brain Age.  And whatever else strikes my fancy.

Square Enix not on PS3?

According to 1up, Square Enix may not be exclusively a PS3 developer any more.  This isn’t big news since they’ve been making games for Nintendo and their DS for a while now.  But it may be big news if their flagship games start appearing on consoles not made by Sony.

Really, the only reason I had to buy a PS3 was Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts.  But neither of those are worth the price tag of a PS3.  So I fall into the camp of hoping for more of my favorites on the systems that cost less and deliver what they should: a good gaming experience.

The Thing I Never Thought I’d Do

For the last two nights, my neighbors have been playing music late at night and rather loudly. Loudly enough that my knocking on their door or on the shared wall is unheard (or ignored).

Last night, they went until at least 3:00 a.m. with me sleeping only a few minutes until then.

Today, I stopped by the apartment manager to let them know about it. They’ll be doing whatever they do, probably anonymously.

While I’m fairly confident this will work, at least for a while, I’m saddened and see it as a defeat. I don’t know details, but I think my neighbors are having a hard time in life right now. The only reasons I didn’t call the police were because I wanted to go through the management first and I wouldn’t have wished a visit from a police office on anyone who is having a hard time in life to begin (even more so when it could be resolved without the police).

That said, it’s also a victory. I gave my neighbors their due diligence in trying to get them to quiet down last night. It didn’t work. The simplest next step is the one I took and it should have a positive effect on the situation, though perhaps not a positive effect on neighbor relations.

I’m looking forward to the vastly increased potential of a good night’s sleep tonight. We’ll see what happens next, though.

More on Shaving

In the neverending quest to get a better shave, Lifehacker has posted three videos about traditional wetshaving.  While I probably technically wetshave myself every other day or so and some earlier tips have helped improve the business of shaving in the Yocum Household of Redlands, it could be better and more comfortable.  If I can get up to shaving once a day without pain, it will be a good day.

Besides, are there any women in the world that aren’t a sucker for their man shaving in the bathroom in a Paul Newman kind of way?  I’m still working on finding a woman that will call me her man, but the shaving bit should bit a hell of a lot easier.

Why I’m Leaving Netflix

I’ve decided to give up Netflix.  Not for any reason they could change.  Rather because of getting some time back in my pocket.

For the record, the service I’ve received from Netflix has been above par.  Aside from the DVD that arrived questionably late (and only when I had received more than ten or so DVDs within a 30 day period), their service has been exemplary.

However, I’ve found that my evening life has become more and more a sedentiary life.  I come home to dinner and whatever DVDs I have.  Choosing not to watch a DVD on a particular night is difficult thanks to feeling like I need to get my money’s worth from the service and so having to watch as much as possible as quickly as possible.  Also, I’ve seen  just about all of the DVDs I’ve wanted to see.

Once I’m done with the next batch of DVDs, I plan to cancel the service and have a few more dollars in my wallet and more time to do enjoyable things.  Reading a book sounds nice.  Taking more walks in the evening air.  Not spending so much time on my couch is probably the best reason I could think of.  It’s a nice couch, but I’ve got other things to do.