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Paul's Journal

paul
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01/16/2009 14:18 #47424

Wegman's empty parking lot

Last night I headed to wegman's to get some more of that tummy organic
sirloin but they were all out. Not just that, they were out of a
significant amount of organic things - even organic bananas. I wonder
if I just hit the down day or if more people buy organic now. I mean
I get why the organic wegmans brand peanut butter is out with that
salmonella scare, but why beef and bananas.

So the title of the journal has to do with this picture. I think it
is the first time I saw wegman's so empty. It was only like 9:30pm
but I guess it was like -5F
image
leetee - 01/17/09 01:05
Hmm.. i should start complaining when i don't find what i am looking for, then. I think Weggies has been out of a Boca product since just before the holidays...
vincent - 01/16/09 22:34
I went shopping after work on Tuesday to the Alberta Dr location. There are a few items that wanted to buy that were out of stock.
fing - 01/16/09 19:14
If you write to Wegman's they will do a better job keeping things in stock. We sent them a letter one time and they responded with a very nice letter. It was not the stupid corporate crap but rather a very heartfelt response. She even called to follow up later. Even if they don't carry something you would like they will do their best to get it. I think that most people due to the cold probably stocked up and are watching TV for the weekend.
theecarey - 01/16/09 18:00
that's funny, I was at my Wegmans yesterday, and it was so packed that I was annoyed being there. Seemed like someone was on my butt at every turn.
hodown - 01/16/09 15:07
I'm cold just looking at that picture.
janelle - 01/16/09 14:34
I buy ground pork every once in a while and I've noticed that there are only certain days that I can find it.

01/15/2009 01:08 #47412

Gayloch the blood elf
Category: warcraft
I just had a five minute conversation about work with gayloch, formerlly know as (e:terry), after which he told me he didn't hear me so much because he was too busy. Ya, too busy playing warcraft to interact with the people around him. The whole time he pretended to hear me by nodding and stuff until I asked a comprehension question which through him off.

Its not like other video games he used to play where he could pause. It is a totally consuming experience that transforms (e:Terry) into gayloch for like up to 12 hours at a time. What's worse is that if we do force him to stop he friends in the game get mad or worse yet, his family in las vegas who all play with him.

Should I have seen this coming. Well maybe with all the fantasy books and stuff, I just never thought it would be so totally consuming being a blood elf in world of war craft. Its like his total everything. I would rather that he be a drag queen. At least there would be more downtime.

He even has the dorktastic headgear now so that he can totally immerse himself in the experience. He thinks he is the only one that can hear the other dorks talking.

I have a feeling this is what he is going to look like just before (e:matthew) murders him someday.

image
tinypliny - 01/23/09 17:39
I don't get this fascination with the unreal world. Someone I once knew (but since has gone back to being a stranger) dropped out of high school and went broke due to this evil game. I guess murder is sometimes warranted.
metalpeter - 01/17/09 17:49
That was a great episode. Not sure if I remember how it ends. But what I think (e:Paul) might want to do is go find a place to play and get level ups (or what ever it is called to get stronger) All for the effect so you and a few friends can attack (e:Terry)'s character and slay him. Maybe even do funny lines through the head piece like "I just wanted to talk" "talking time is over" "Its time to die" Or if one of you gets hit real hard "Its mearly a flesh wound". HA.
imk2 - 01/16/09 20:47
oh...this is just like that south park episode. did you guys see it?
fing - 01/15/09 12:55
Sounds like you need some time based access lists ;)
lilho - 01/15/09 12:33
don't kill each other! im sure it will be better when it warms up, which is pretty much never... i swear some wives have threatened divorce because of wow.
theli - 01/15/09 10:54
I've played so many MMOs, for so long, that they've all started to run together in my mind.

I've played Ultima Online for a short period. Beta'd and played Anarchy Online and Shadowbane on and off. Played Dofus. (A french turn based strategic 2d MMO.) Messed around with Maple Story. And beta'd and/or played at least a dozen or more others. Including 9Dragon, for which I actually helped act as editor/proofreader for a portion of the help file translations. (Originally korean.)

Haven't been playing all that much in the past few years though. Although 2008 had some time spent in Azeroth, but I eventually dropped that. It's a fun game, but still just an MMO. And MMOs only really have value as long as you have fun and/or you have people you know that you really want to play and have a good time with.

Nowadays, I'm into this free (ie. cash shop) megaten MMO brought over from Japan by Aeria Games. Although I haven't had much time to play as I've spent almost all of my free time since NYD working on a firefox plugin to do basic word replacement to make interpreting japanese wikis on the game easier. (Almost done, just gotta fix this one last annoying problem... UGH)

Anyway, good luck on your attempts to grab their attention. If you're not used to this kind of game, it can really wreck you for a while.
enknot - 01/15/09 10:23
yeah I've been thinking about jumping back in too. Sill I've been trying a low budget lifestyle, and if all you play is WOW it kinda works to eat up tons of hours and provide even more tons of fun, but there are better things to do...though maybe not cheaper.

Otherwise, my friend Casey is video game addict and what would be a short jaunt into Asteroth for me would leave him stranded in that place for a very much longer time. I'd rather spend time with him in other ways. We're thinking about starting a podcast of nerdy proportions soon. If he were WOWin' out we'd never get anything done...
jason - 01/15/09 09:54
What Blizzard did was to reduce the maximum size of the raiding parties. This means that high end game content is available to more people, which is good because more people feel they are getting their money's worth.

Doing this also had the negative effect of making each one of those people in the raiding party *very* important, as well as hard to replace in a pinch because experience usually matters when raiding. One little mistake fucks people over.

On top of this Blizzard has made the game unbelievably fun and engaging. Millions and millions of people play world wide. The really, REALLY cool stuff in the game takes time and effort. This is a formula for addiction.

I realized I couldn't commit so much time because I had to focus more on professional development and getting my head straight. But now I admit I'd love to go and create a new character to try out some of the new areas of the game. Playing lower level toons is still really fun and doesn't take all day.
enknot - 01/15/09 07:56
I feel your pain (e:terry) and yours to (e:paul) and (e:matthew). That game is too good and soooo bad for everything else in life. I've seen peoples who pay to get into an event where u can play with other people in the room with your computer log onto Warcraft. Even after they moved their computer, monitor and all to some room and they could have done all that without leaving the house, or paying an entry fee.

Anytime u dudes wanna come over and Wario Ware or Rockband with us u let us know.

01/14/2009 00:20 #47401

Illusions Night Club
Category: buffalo
On a non-related note, the club that was the icon, and then club-e and then something else is now becoming illusions nightclub. I wish them the best because I would love a new place to dance.

Sadly, if the quality of the club can at all be measured by the quality of the website , it is going to close before it opens. They really need to invest in a web developer or strip the site down to something more basic. It looks like some failed web design 101 project.

I had to disable flash to even get in because it kept insisting I don't have flash player although I do. You can skip the craptastic flash animation by skipping to this stupidly named page

image

God, after careful inspection the code is even worse then the design. scripts tags with no type, javascript in the head, not xhtml or even close table design, blank description and title meta tags.... black text on dark blue

If its so under construction I would keep it password protected because otherwise it just gives such a bad image.
paul - 11/20/09 09:58
I already bought tickets for :::link:::
james - 11/20/09 09:45
Apparently this will be open November 25th.
tinypliny - 01/23/09 17:42
(e:James), I almost broke my spine laughing at your comments to this one. LOL
metalpeter - 01/14/09 20:21
If that is the place I think it is, it reopened as The Icon and was an interesting place to see a show. For those of you who are into the heavy music you might like to know that Damage Plan played there the one night and the show they did the next night was when that crazy guy came in and started shooting and killed "Dime Bag" I didn't go to that show, but I did see Hoobastank and Papa Roach there (seperately).
james - 01/14/09 13:07
And have you seen their weekly schedule?

Stereotype Tuesday's sounds chuckle-worthy.
Wii wednesday. You can get drunk and play video games in someplace other than your living room. huh?
Fish Bowl Friday sounds good. Like big ass drink night, but on a Friday.
Saturday has drag queens, which is to be expected.
Sunday. Like Wii wednesday, but you get drunk and watch a movie.


james - 01/14/09 13:03
I think illusions is a great name for a club though. Nothing is more illusory than the persona of the evening for the clubber. Just stamp Caveat Emptor on the building and you have no excuses for waking up with Jabba the Hut and chlamydia.

But, I hope their web investment is like their club investment. Just throw a bunch of money at something and hope it comes out well. Sound system, here is some cash! Top shelf liquor, here is some cash! Decadence is what a club is all about and throwing money at decadence is a grand idea.
enknot - 01/14/09 07:59
Boy...you just let em have it. It was all great criticism but I hope they take it positively. People get so touchy aboout things sometimes.

01/14/2009 00:18 #47400

At the gym with Phil
Category: gym
I never thought i would be at the gym working out next to Phil. In high school we were in gym together and were both not very sporty. Apparently, adulthood has changed us. Weird. I think he was the only other person at the gym tonight.
tinypliny - 01/23/09 17:48
Somehow this reminds me of how Calvin's dad`* always tells him that chores 'build character".

  • The Calvin and Hobbes comic strip.
iriesara - 01/15/09 23:40
ps - "not very sporty" is the understatement to end all understatements!
iriesara - 01/14/09 11:25
GET OUT!!! That is TOO funny! Is he still, um, I mean, does he look, I mean, you know, like he's been working out? crazy... the last time I saw him was the last time I worked at the pearl street, crazy...

01/13/2009 01:05 #47388

Bebo and stealing music
Category: web
First off, I am so damn tired from working out. Between yesterday with James, then buying the weights last night, then working out this morning and then going to the gym tonight - I am seriously tuckered out.

This evening, I was busy stealing Dj Fresh music from bebo after I saw Bad Company was playing at Circa this friday in Toronto

His music is pretty awesome if you like that style, which I do Unfortunately, he is not with them anymore.

I am fascinated with the amount of information people media sites make available to the flash debug log.

It makes downloading the music a snap. Then a little ffmpeg flv to mp3 conversion and I have a new playlist. Way faster then trying to limewire it.

Anyhow, I also found this ultra dramatic buffalo, ny video. Thought someone might enjoy it.



While I was tailing the flash debug log, I noticed that I left debugging of the flash storage for the restore backup button in the journal on, which slows typing down a bit in a big journal. I will fix that for the new site, which I promise is coming out soon.

Here is a screen capture of it, although you can't tell much about new functionality from the screen capture.

image

image
tinypliny - 01/23/09 17:49
I can't wait for the new version!!
paul - 01/13/09 22:38
It actually sounds great. Jenks, it has to be something on your computer. What version of flash player are you using. If you ctrl-click/right-click on the upload button it should say.
jenks - 01/13/09 14:54
hey paul I don't know if you saw it in my journal, but picture uploading doesn't seem to be working... at least for me.... could it be related? It acts like they've uploaded, but it says 0% complete, and there are no images. The ones I was trying are just like 20K jpgs. Just FYI.
jason - 01/13/09 10:47
What is the sound quality of the music after conversion?
joshua - 01/13/09 10:46
EVA has videos of the 'hood on YouTube as well... they are essentially promotional videos, Chamber of Commerce style.
johnallen - 01/13/09 02:39
I have like 15 of those videos, they're awesome. They inspire me.....to do what? That I don't know, but they make me love this place that we call home. I truly hope that someone in this great city can find our niche in the world....we have so many "starts" (medical corridor, arts, waterfront,downtown housing boom) I wish someone could put the parts together.

Thanks for the post Paul, hope all is well.