Ken's Take: Tarboy

Sorry, sorry, sorry! I'm running super behind today! Hopefully this doesn't leak into other things.... brb. Okay, I'm back. So...it's Wednesday (does anyone else sound it out as wed-nes-day when they spell it?) and that means it's time for me to make my mark, in a sense. Today we'll be talking about something that's taken over the entirety of the musical aspect of my phone.

So... I've got a confession to make, I kind of, really like flash animations. There's an amazing site called Newgrounds.com that I discovered when I was a wee lad. And so now every now and then I'll go over there and take a peek. Now here's the thing about flash movies. A LOT of them suck. And I don't mean the, "well it's kind of bearable if you can see the author's perspective" I mean in the "omfg-I-want-those-five-minutes-of-my-life-back-kill-kill-KILL!!!" sort of way. Thankfully the site has a rating system and I've been able to find a few little gems there, such as Tarboy.

Magnificent Monday: Lost and Found?

And... it's that time of the week again. The time where we all pummel our alarms in the hope that their death will mean that the new week hasn't quite started yet and that you'll get to sleep in.

So... right now the cat is locked in the bathroom because the carpet guys are here giving the floor a deep scrubbin'. Between all of the furniture being moved, her hiding spot under the bed disappearing, and random people coming in and bring strange, loud devices with them, she is none too happy. I can just hear her crying out, "What is this?!? There's something wrong with the house! I don't like change!"

If you didn't click the link, you should. Like right now. Do it. Just do it. I won't evaluate this next week until you do. I mean it! Don't you dare click that "read more" link until you're seen my very funny clip!

New Post Topics on Fridays or Saturdays?

Hey everyone, so I've been thinking of doing a bit more writing in a given week, namely a post on Friday or Saturday. I am actually of maybe doing a short story of sorts, with say a chapter a week or every other week. Or perhaps some poetry? Reviews of movies? A sort of traveler's log for World of Warcraft where you. A lore post about the lore of various mythological figures. All sorts of things. Whatever the case may be, I'd like a little bit of input on your part since you'll all be the ones reading it, so we'll do this the democratic way.


I'd only be spending about an hour on each post (researching, writing, etc.) unless the post called for something extra like playing WoW or watching a movie, but keep that in mind while you vote I suppose. Also, only 1 vote a person please.

-Ken

[UPDATE]: So... The blogpolls server seems to be down right about now, if it isn't up by the end of the day I'll set up another poll elsewhere. Last I had checked, which was last night, the results were 25% across the board for all four of the first options. Meaning... we're back at square 1 still. Let's see what happens. (7/27/10 10:07am MST)

[UPDATE:] The server is back up! Whoo! (7/27/10 2:52pm MST)

Ken's Take: New Beginnings

So... I really did like the idea of Gamer's Take on Wednesdays, however over the past couple posts I found it to be lacking in something. Turns out that quality was my own personal touch. A post called Gamer's Take is simply too... limiting. I felt rather constrained having to talk about gaming only as opposed to what I wanted, thus something was missing. Therefore, I propose a radically simple idea. Remove the Limitation.

I am free.

I'll write about what I want to here, philosophy, history, gaming, anime, friends, life, God. Whatever I choose.

Yes.

I think that I'm going to start enjoying Wednesdays just a little bit more.

-Ken

[EDIT]: Added tags.

Magnificent Monday: Catch-up

And it's Monday, once again, and once again I am super late in getting this thing out onto my blog... maybe I ought to set a deadline for myself? O-Kay! New rule! Ken will have his posts up and posted on his blog by noon on his blog days. What? Not good enough? WTF?!? I'm not a robot! Fie, fie, I'll have things posted by 10a at the latest. Good enough? Sheesh...

So last week I skipped out on all of my blog posts, and I did so intentionally. I wanted to keep that post up as a sort of reminder for the week for the loss that Invisible Children suffered. Today though, we start our new schedule! First things first though, here's the deal:

I have taken care of both my FAFSA AND my taxes.
My dear wife actually took the time to clean out the car! I s'ppose the next step is to vacuum it out?
I did in fact finish my RE digest.
I never finished Matthew. >< And that's my update. Check out more after the break.

One in 64 74

I suppose that I'll start this off running. For those of you that are not aware, on July 11th, two days ago, there was a twin bombing attack in the major city of Kampala, Uganda (News link). There were at least 74 civilian casualties, many of them westerners, including one American. Now then, the primary concern for this one American, aside from the usual, is that this is someone that some of us knew personally. His name was Nate, an he was killed in the bombings.

Why was he in Uganda? Well, for those of you that remember, he was part of the Invisible Children group that went on tour here in Tucson. After having toured so much, it would appear that he decided to make a trip out to Uganda to see the families of all of the friends he had made as well as have a chance to see the good that all of his work was accomplishing. It was his dream to visit Africa as is explained in the Invisible Children Blog.

My sister-in-law knew this man very well and has drastically been impacted by his death. My wife also felt the loss of his presence in this world when she found out. Thankfully, many others that were in Uganda are still alive and for the most part okay. This is a tragic time for a great number of people, and while I do look forward to seeing how this event will cause a ripple effect throughout the future, I will take this moment NOW, and remember. Remember why it was that Nate was in Uganda. Remember why Uganda was targeted. Remember Tony, and all of the other child soldiers that are still in the bush.

I can't hop a plane over there. I can, however, pray. I can pray for those affected by this disaster, and I can remember. I can do all that I can to ensure that Nate, Invisible Children, and all of the pain that resides in Uganda is never forgotten and that I do my part to make the dream of peace come true. I never had a chance to really talk a whole lot with Nate, however I know that he, along with the rest of those working with the Invisible Children of Uganda were striving towards a goal. Are striving towards a goal. This goal can become a reality, with my help, and with yours. Let's do all that we can, and never let his memory, and the rest of those that perished, fade.

-Ken

PS: For more information on Invisible Children simply visit their site at www.invisiblechildren.com/.

Kony will fall. The Children will be free. And then everyone must learn to see them again.

Magnificent Monday: 1 in 64, and Counting...

Monday, which means it's time to start the week of right, although it would appear that this week has already begun...

So, it's that time again. Where we take a moment to reflect upon how this past week went and continue on planning the coming week. However, today is a bit different. Today, there are 64 people at least that no longer have a tomorrow. That no longer have a chance to make plans for the coming week. Today is a particularly sad day.

I apologize to anyone who maybe looks forward to my posts for being so late. I will be making a special post tomorrow detailing the events of the past day or so. For now though I would very much like some rest. I apologize if this is bothersome, however I promise to make a more in depth and informative post early in the morning before some, if not most, of you are up, so the wait shouldn't be too bad. Until then, goodnight, and may God bless your night.

-Ken
[EDIT]: Added tags.

Gamer's Take: Real ID Dilemma

It's Wednesday, which means that it's time to allow my wild side out. That's right ladies and gents, I'm talking about my gamer side. I know, I know... Unleashing one's inner gamer can be a dangerous thing, but never fear! I am what some might refer to as an expert in this particular practice. Today I'm going to delve a little bit into the world of social gaming and where it seems to be headed.

Blizzard Entertainment, the makers of World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft, have recently developed a sort of online social network called RealID. RealID is essentially Blizzard's way of taking their games, all three of which either have or will have a large online user base, and connecting the three communities together in such a way that I am able to communicate with just about any RL friend, or online friend that's willing to surrender their e-mail to me, regardless of what game they are playing. It's a really neat concept actually, I can attest that the system does do wonders for keeping communication. I am able to chat with my RL friend online, while playing WoW even though he is on a different server and makes continuous jumps between all of his different alts. (Alt = Alternate character) It's really much better than logging onto his server and making a brand new character and leveling it all in the hopes that my friend will be on at some point during my adventures. So... it's been something that I've been looking forward to for a while now. However, unfortunately Blizzard has decided to up the ante a bit.

Magnificent Monday Tuesday: Second!

It's Monday Tuesday which marks the beginning of this week. Considering that yesterday was a holiday, I figure that the week really starts off today, so here we are! Let's get the week started off right.

Alrighty then, I hope that everyone had a wonderful Independence Day. I know that I had a chance to enjoy some tasty brats and see some fireworks with the wife and my friends. I wonder where abouts I'll be next year... No matter, let's get down to business.

First, an evaluation of how last week's goals went. I'm proud to say that I had a solid 60% success rate! That actually sounded better in my head... Anyhow, I did a fair job of exercising this past week, however it could've been a wee bit better. No matter! It's a new week! I'll be sure to pick up the pace in that area. Moving on, I have officially finished #18 on my Summer To Do List ! I am excited! I'll post some pictures when I get to a computer and snag them from my friends. The Wildcat beach party also went very well, I was rather lucky having walked in and received my free burger within about five minutes because someone else walked out. Oh well, their loss.

Now then, there's always a flip side to things. Last week I found out that Heidi's computer isn't under the extended warranty, so it'll cost about $300 to get it fixed even though it's a hardware malfunction on their part. >< Regardless, Heidi no longer has a computer, however we'll need to salvage her hard drive later, so that'll be fun. We also will be needing to save up for a new computer, although we're leaning towards a netbook for her. I also never got around to finishing my taxes, and thus my FASTA. Yeah, I know, I know. I've already set aside time to take care of it with Heidi though so it'll be done this week. And that about sums up this past week! This coming week I'm looking forward to a few things. 1. Finish my bloody taxes. 2. Finish a sequencing plate. 3. Do my RE digest. 4. Finish Matthew. 5. (This is a big one.) Clean out my car. So there you have it, my five goals of the week. It's game time. -Ken [EDIT]: Sorry about the late post, I tried posting from my phone and it didn't really go through or something.
[EDIT 2]: Also, posting from my phone seriously messes stuff up, I think I'll try to find another method of mobile posting other than through e-mail unless it's just an update or something.
[EDIT 3]: So... I guess this is my 100th post? Yay?
[EDIT]: Added tags.