Category Archives: xbox360

grantpark, weather, xbox360

Arcing

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Arcing, originally uploaded by jetrotz.

Yes, that’s a powerline sparking and arcing as two lines crossed during the high winds yesterday. After a fabulous weekend celebrating Amy’s birthday (Saturday) and her being the best mom ever (other than my mom and hers ;-)), which we spent eating (Cuerno on Saturday night and Shaun’s for Sunday brunch) topped off with 7-th row seats to Jon Stewart’s show at the Cobb Center, I was relaxing and editing some photos on my computer on Sunday afternoon.

Shortly thereafter, I began to hear popping sounds outside the window, and saw the fireworks display of two live wires crossing as a tree branch pushed them together from the high winds we were experiencing. Shortly thereafter I began to hear those same sounds INSIDE our home, and began to frantically shut down and simply yank plugs on the computer gear in front of me. Turns out those sounds (and the smell of burnt electronics) were just a few appliances being fried, and no fire ensued, although we did have the fire department come to check things out with their spiffy thermal imaging camera – I need one of those! $500 dollars and five hours later, we had some new switches in our breaker box, a few new GFI plugs in place and the power restored. The HVAC is back to normal after a $100 transformer replacement, but it looks like we are shopping for a built-in microwave/range hood and a dishwasher. And my darn wireless bridge for my Xbox 360 also seems to be dead.

I should add that my surge protectors and UPS systems did their job. The $200+ monster cable surge protector on the HDTV, cable box, Xbox, Wii, etc. burned out during the incident, but all my gear seems fine. And the UPS on the computer systems kicked in very quickly – that alarm was really my first warning something was up, as it was buzzing like it does when we *lose* power while the lights were still on in the house, and all that gear seems ok. Whew!

We’re looking into whole-house surge protection now for an added level of protection.

xbox360

COD4 No Punctuation Review

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So this is not for everyone – but for those friends who have played Call of Duty 4, this video review is priceless. This guy is notorious for his brutal take on games – a guy who goes by the moniker ‘No Punctuation.’ If you play COD4 or any online shooter games (one of my weaknesses), do not wait – go watch this video. Note – adult language, drugs and other language not appropriate for the kiddies featured in this video. You’ve been warned.

aquarium, atlanta, friends, Photography, sam, xbox360, Zoo

It’s been a long time…

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So today will feature a fast update as I’ve been too darn busy with work to post any updates for some time now. Please check out these galleries, and I promise to be back soon with more and more frequent content posts.

In my most recent photo set, we headed out for a walk to the neighborhood playground with Sam in tow this past Sunday. More pictures here.

We hosted a small get-together for the Super Bowl, and Sam was gung-ho for all the action. He, like dad, is sad that we have at least another six months before we can watch football on the tube again. Click here for more photos.

On a recent sunny but chilly day, we headed to Zoo Atlanta with the Silvermans. Check out all the photos, especially this one of a lion’s breath visible as he roars from atop his habitat.

We also finally renewed our membership to the Georgia Aquarium. The pass now allows us to get in without a reservation, and is a big improvement over last year’s system. Sam and Amy have already gone several times during the day – perfect for the cold months here. Anyway, we had a great time on this visit – photos here.

Here’s a cute picture of Kate and Jay Sandhaus’ little guy, Alex. We got together for dinner a few weeks back at the local kid-friendly hangout Dakota Blue. Alex slept most of the time, but his parents were much more alert, even at the end of a long week on a Friday night. More pics here.

Finally, there is this picture from early January and a few others when Sam decided he wanted to play along with Daddy on the Xbox360. Smart little guy – I look forward to years of getting my butt kicked by his much better reflexes than my own!

new, oldschool, technology, xbox360

Addicted

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Not since playing the original Wizardry, the seminal adventure game for the Apple II back in the early 80s have I found an adventure-type game to be so engrossing – The Elder Scrolls Oblivion on the Xbox 360. Seriously, this game has everything – amazing graphics, an intriguing script, and superb gameplay. It’s so open-ended, I’ve been playing for a total of some 60+ hours and haven’t gone beyond 20% game completion. Oh – and Sam loves to watch me riding the horse through the forests! I keep trying to convince Amy that watching the gameplay is at least as good as most of what’s on tv these days, but she’s not buying it, sadly.
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I’m playing a sneaky-magic-thieving character, and it’s tons of fun to lurk about, trying to save the land – while making a nice income as well. Also fascinating about this game is the approach of offering downloadable ‘extras’ for the game. After a mistart with a lame piece of horse armor (yawn), I’ve been jazzed about their add-ons for mages (the Wizard’s Tower) and now, just released, the Thieves Den. Obviously for your sneaky types, this add-on offers a Captain Jack-style cave/ghost pirate ship hideaway, and allows you to hire a band of thieves, fences and other experts to support your Dark Brotherhood/Thieves Guild lifestyle.

It’s an interesting model where an already massive game with hundreds of individual missions can sell small add-ons like this for $2 a pop to extend the life and playability of a game just a few weeks after release. It’s likely the shape of things to come where big ‘point’ releases may come around, but the games themselves become more of a structure for future add-ons. It’s certainly all the rage in Korea where some cartoon-esque racing games have huge sales around car customizations, as well as for the burgeoning e-economy of Second Life. Micro-payments are in some areas already changing the nature of gaming. Let’s just hope companies don’t publish cripple-ware, hoping that users will be suckered into buying content that should have shipped with the title in the first place.

The game has gone so far as to spawn a fascinating podcast about the game, the Rough Guide to Cyrodill. Recorded by two amusing Brits, the ‘cast takes users through the nooks and crannies of the game. It was a helpful ‘fix’ last week when I was on a road trip and couldn’t get my daily dose. Sigh. The intervention for myself and poolagah can’t be far off….