All I Want for Christmas...

OK, so I didn't get get anything that I put on that list I wrote last week. Which isn't to say that I should have. I have other lists, and I got things off of that, as well. I got FarCry and Half-Life 2, as far as games go, so my free time will be devoted to those for a while. Also, I had a Nostromo Speedpad n52 on my list from a while ago... I almost forgot about it, but Em gave me that, also. I hope that I use it more than I used the now-defunct Microsoft Strategic Commander that I bought a few years ago, back when I was playing the Age of Kings: The Conquerors Expansion regularly. 3 games and $60 later, back on the keyboard... something about specialized controllers just doesn't sit well with me. So far, the Speedpad has been harmless (except for a cramp... in my left arm for once), mostly because it's really just a small subsection of a keyboard, anyway. One thing I hate is how the tiny "space bar" doesn't seem to have a tactile click at the bottom of the key press. Another thing that bugs me is that the tiny orange thumb button does have a tactile click, which doesn't seem right for the type of mushy-feeling button that it looks and feels like. It's also inconvenient to have to put that much resistance against a button that high up with so little leverage. I'm trying to be positive about it, because I did ask for it.

I also received Elf, both Seinfeld DVD sets, and Curb Your Enthusiasm Season one DVD. I figured I would like Curb Your Enthusiasm because I was such a Seinfeld fan, but after two episodes, I see that they are two very different shows. It might take a while to suspend belief enough so that I can get into the story, but so far there's only been two moments when I laughed out loud. I hope it gets better, but I did ask for it.

What type of jerk complains about what he asked for? This kind.

Last Minute Gift Ideas? No Problem

I can't count how many strangers are walking right up to me and asking, "Wayne, it's almost Christmas Eve and I have no idea what to get for you or someone like you... Help!" I'd be glad to. If you're shopping for a fresh-out-of-college twenty something who just got married but tries to live like a geek/gamer when he has the chance, you may or may not have come to the right place. Read on anyways, because you don't have anything else to do.

SnapMat computer desk chair mat
I just found this yesterday, and I think it's awesome. I should probably get a rolling desk chair, first, but who cares? Who wouldn't love to have hard wood that you can roll around on instead of one of those horrible plastic/rubber things? Plus, it's expandable so you can make it snake in any direction that you want (around corners and such). Worth a look.
$269.00 for full-sized SnapMat .:. http://www.snapmat.com
Logitech® Harmony® Remote 688
Nothing excites me more than unification of functions. But with most universal remote controls, some of the more complex functions have to be ommitted in order to make it more compatible. Not with the Harmony. As I understand it, all of the buttons can be programmed to your needs from the Internet for any model of any device.
$199.88 at Amazon.com .:. http://www.harmonyremote.com
LaCie Mobile Hard Drive, Design by F.A. Porsche 100GB
This little beauty holds plenty of MP3s and movies for easy transport, and I happen to think it looks great as well. Plus, it's bus powered, so there's no stupid AC adapters or power adapter bricks to lug around. Oh, and it works with either USB or FireWire.
$349.00 .:. http://www.lacie.com
Logitech® MX™1000 Laser Cordless Mouse
The mouse to end all mouses? Increased precision from arguably the best peripheral maker in the world. No more optical sensors like the days of old. The accuracy is very tight. It also works on glossy surfaces, which the optical mice never did get right. Oh, and it's wireless! My brief spin with Bluetooth never sold me on wireless mice, but the response time for the MX-1000 is supposedly excellent. I wouldn't know because I haven't tried it out, yet. If word of mouth is any indication, I think that you can't go wrong with this mouse.
$79.95 .:. http://www.logitech.com
PX-716A DVD±R/RW CD-R/RW internal E-IDE (ATAPI) drive from Plextor®
I've always wanted a DVD writer, and after the years of DVDs being released (since 1997) just now we're able to write dual-layer discs. If you're going to jump into the DVD writer market, you might as well do it with the most reliable and typically the fastest optical drive company on the market. You really don't have any reason to not get this drive.
$149.00 .:. http://www.plextor.com

That's all for now. I'll let you know if I get any thing from that list. :)

Don't They Teach You How to Draw Blood in Med School?

I've been working on drawing convincing blood in Paint Shop Pro. I basically want a fresh blood trickle running down a white background. I didn't really know where to start, but I knew that there'd be a lot of red. So, here's a sample of the methods I tried:

The left most one used a plain paintbrush stroke, which of course sucked. For the next one I laid the darkest colored stroke first, then drew recursive feathered selections within that, and tried to perform gradual fills within each selection, which worked better, but fills don't work well after the second one, because of the gradients you're filling. For the third one (the lone drop), I used the same feathered selection method, but instead set the background color to the desired shade and use the delete function to fill the entire feathered selection. That worked much better, but the blood looks too velevety, I think. I guess the difference between what I made and wet-looking blood is in the highlights, but I never took an art class. Suggestions for improvement are welcome.

Living the Journal

Have you ever checked out all of the options LiveJournal gives you? I wasn't even aware you could do as much with this as you can. For startes, look at their About Livejournal page. It details many of their features, including their ability to include outside site RSS syndication into your Friends page! I guess if you have an RSS reader that you use already, that's fine, but I enjoy going to my (I think) slick-looking Friends Page every day and reading everybody's posts. So, adding my favorite RSS feeds will just make things that much easier.