Brent’s Thoughts

Thread from my old forum

So I am driving home and as usual the radio pisses me off. Dido apparently has some song out that talks about her not giving up on her love for some fool, even though he obviously has some real issues with her. So then I start thinking about all the songs out there where it is someone talking about no matter how long they live they will never stop loving someone even if the other person doesn’t care. Then I starting thinking about the concept of love and then I ask myself this question.

HOW IN THE HELL CAN YOU LOVE SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T LOVE YOU?

I mean yeah if you just broke up with someone and they didn’t like you anymore it would still be possible to love them, but say after a year of them not talking to you or not ever seeing you, or say spitting on you, don’t you think you might start to not love them anymore? I don’t know maybe my perception of love is something different, but I think to love someone there has to be at least a small level of reciprication. That isn’t something that you just do for an extended amount of time while the other person hates you, unless you have some kind of self-confidence issue. Perhaps Dido needs a dose of self respect or something.

Thread from my old forums

Do you have trouble concentrating in meetings? When you are sitting listening to someone babble about something that you have no practical interest in, does your mind wander?

Then chances are that you have the newest disease….. (wait for it…)…….

Adult ADD.

Thats right, folks it isn’t just kids who don’t care to listen and have an excuse for it, now you too can cop out on life and claim a disease when you don’t want to have to concentrate.

Jesus!!! Have you seen these new commericals? They show some lady sitting in a meeting and her thinking about other stuff for a few, when all of the sudden her boss asks her some question and she realizes that she wasn’t paying attention. When I first saw it I though OMFG I have that. Along with everyone else on the freaking planet.

I mean since when is not giving a damn about something someone is talking about and thinking about other things a disease? I guess at least you could tell your boss that you have it and see if he/she buys it. Are we so dependent on meds these days that we have to dose ourselves up for having an active imagination?

Original thread from my old forums

How many times do you walk into a room and notice that the clock is just a little out of sync with your watch, which is a little out of sync with the microwave, which is a little out of sync with the VCR, which is perfectly in sync with your computer, but they are both out of sync with reality?

I hate that. I also hate having to reset clocks when the power goes out, that is why I suggest we actually use this “we-should-make-computers-out-of-everything-that-is-sold” mentality for something good. Everything should have a little RF transmitter/receiver that signals its time and the last time is was synced from a good source.

The actual protocal isn’t really that different from say standard NTP. Timepieces sync themselves and then allow others to sync from them. The longer they go without syncing to a low weighted server the higher their weight becomes and the less likely they are to let others sync from them, but the more likely they are to get sync’ed from something else.

Think about it, you walk into a room carrying your cell phone and your watch. Your cell phone is sync’ed off of the cell network, which is sync’ed from internet time servers, so it has a fairly low weight. Your watch has a low weight as well, but it must be higher than the cell phone because chances are it was sync’ed from it. In the room is a clock and a microwave. Both of them would have higher weights than the cell phone since they aren’t directly connected to anything so therefore they would pull the correct time off of it and adjust their weight. Then suppose you set your cell phone down in another room and replace the battery on your watch. It now has the highest weight possible and the microwave or clock will set it to their time. Then once you get in range of your cell phone if their is a difference in the time it will adjust accordingly. Think about that, if your power goes out, all you have to do to set your clocks is walk through your house, or it could be a ripple effect. Your computer sets all the clocks in range of it, they then set all the time pieces within range of them and so on and so forth until everything is set and sync’ed. Since it would be a time that is based off of GMT with a modification, it shouldn’t have too much effect when you are near someone from a different time zone. The GMT time will sync, but the mods will make it so that they aren’t shifting from 9 to 10 then back to 9 over and over.

I got an email from Todd last night. It didn’t contain much other than his phone number and a couple lines about trying to call me, but (unless someone has enough time to waste faking a message to me from him) it does mean he is still alive. That pretty much a good thing since he is a assigned to a battle sub. With all this crap going on it was getting a little worrisome about his continued welfare. Looks like from the phone number (and sounds like, when I got his voice mail last night) that he is still stationed in Hawaii.

I have had a copy of this for a bit, and I have been meaning to post something about it, but I just kept forgetting. Here it is….

NASCAR Thunder 2004: Some of you might be saying well I already own a NASCAR game why should I get another one. Well EA’s theory on it is that since they have added pack intelligence you should. What does that mean? Well it means that if you hit someone, they get pissed at you and then the next time they get a chance they pay you back for it. Even if it is in another race. Doesn’t that sound cool?

Yeah it does until you play the game, then it becomes a real bitch. Here is why. To make someone your friend you have to share the draft with them. A process which requires you to line up behind them and hit the A button to start sharing it. Now all you have to do is stay in line with them and watch them start to like you. The only problems? Well that pretty much means that you can’t pass unless they do (which they rarely do) and your reputation increases with them at about the rate of 2 points per 2 seconds. That sounds like a lot until you realize that everytime you tap them your reputation drops by about 30 points. So what does that mean? Draft behind someone for a minute and then they slow down for a corner and you hit them, and then they hate you. I am sure that pretty much mirrors real life, but it makes it a real bitch. No so much on the super speedways, but on the short tracks it just sucks.

If you wish to see what it is like for me playing then go into work and punch everyone you see in the stomach. Then attempt to get them to do something for you. That is about what it is like. This is mainly due to the fact that on the short tracks I hit everything except the pace car. Well that isn’t exactly true. I don’t really hit the leaders much, since I can’t ever catch up to them.

Honestly, it is a pretty fun game. The career mode allows you to research things to get better cars and hire crew members and all kinds of other stuff. This rival/ally thing is tough though.

Well I have been somewhat falling behind in posting the things in my life…

I forgot to mention that on Stacey’s birthday we went to a casino boat on the Ohio River. Stacey had a great time and I had a pretty good time as well. I think everyone lost money, except maybe mom (because she didn’t play) and Stacey (because she won). It was a good time though, but I think I much prefer arcades when it comes to spending money in video machines. I can make them last longer.

Original thread from my old forums

Stacey and I worked out a plan for her birthday that I think is pretty cool. She bought an Xbox (used) and I am modding it for her. I also bought the DVD kit for her and an extra controller.

I have been working on it the last couple nights and I have it completely modded now. All software based mods, except the actual switching out of the hard drive. Really doing it up nice for her. I made a Pacers skin for it that looks pretty good and I am finishing up loading the games on it and stuff. I think she will be really happy with it.

I am also working on a doc to tell people how to do it. I should have that done here soon as well. I just got done helping Lamamonster with his and I think he is really happy with it.