Bumbot: The Bloggering

Steve's Hallowe'en Game Strikes Again

2008-09-30T22:18:16Z

(cross posted to facebook)

No, this won't be a continuation of the one I did all those years ago. An entirely new game, one night only (Monday, October 27), so there's no big commitment.

All the PC's will be Californian high school students who go on a camping trip in the fall of 1959. You can make your own character, or I can make one to your preferences (greaser, quarterback, nerd, poodle-skirted pep rallyist, etc.)

Jenn's automatically in, I'm just looking for two to four more players. Comment here or facebook if you want in.

More GURPLES...

2008-06-04T20:33:32Z

I've been doing those online surveys that advertise on Facebook, and I got some money from them in my Paypal account. Not much, but enough for a small download from e23. So I downloaded GURPS Character assistant. Not a bad little program. You still need a copy of the book to look up what all the advantages and skills do, but it keeps track of all your totals and does all the secondary math for you. I decided to try out the program by making an Autobot.

Name: Splashdown
Race: Autobot

Attributes [195]
ST 25 [135]
DX 12 [40]
IQ 10
HT 12 [20]

HP 25
Will 10
Per 10
FP 12

Basic Lift 125
Damage 2d+2/5d-1

Basic Speed 6
Basic Move 6

Ground Move 6
Water Move 1.2

Social Background
TL: 10 [0]
Cultural Familiarities:
Languages: English (Native) [0].

Advantages [189]
Alternate Form (Motorcycle, PWC) (2) (Active Change; Once On, Stays On; Reduced Time (+4)) [75]
Damage Resistance (8) [40]
Doesn't Breathe [20]
High TL (2) [10]
Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30*]
Injury Tolerance (No Blood; Unliving) [25*]
Sealed [15]
Signature Gear (Laser Rifle) (4) [4]
* = item is owned by another, point value is included in the other item.

Perks [1]
Accessory (Headlight) [1]

Disadvantages [-100]
Code of Honor (Autobot) [-15]
Disturbing Voice [-10]
Impulsiveness (12 or less) [-10]
Overconfidence (12 or less) [-5]
Restricted Diet (Energon) (Occasional) [-30]
Truthfulness (12 or less) [-5]
Unhealing (Total) [-30*]
Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25]
* = item is owned by another, point value is included in the other item.

Quirks [-5]
Compulsive Speeding [-1]
Distinctive Feature (Autobot) [-1]
Distractible [-1]
Responsive [-1]
Wisecracks when fighting [-1]

Packages [0]
Machine [25]

Skills [20]
Acrobatics DX/H - DX-1 11 [2]
Beam Weapons/TL10 (Rifle) DX/E - DX+1 13 [2]
Boating/TL10 (PWC) DX/A - DX+1 13 [4]
Brawling DX/E - DX+0 12 [1]
Driving/TL10 (Motorcycle) DX/A - DX+2 14 [8]
Electronics Operation/TL10 (Communications) IQ/A - IQ-1 9 [1]
Electronics Operation/TL10 (Sensors) IQ/A - IQ-1 9 [1]
Piloting/TL10 (Low-Performance Spacecraft) DX/A - DX-1 11 [1]

Stats [195] Ads [189] Disads [-100] Quirks [-5] Skills [20] = Total [300]

Hand Weapons

Ranged Weapons
1 Laser Rifle LC:2 Dam:5d (2) burn Acc:12+2 Range:700 / 2100
RoF:10 Shots:150(3) ST:7† Bulk:-4 Rcl:1 $10000 Wgt:10 Notes:[3]

Notes
Transformation takes one second, can move while transforming.

In motorcycle form, has No Manipulators, No Legs (Wheeled), Payload 16 (Exposed), and Enhanced Move 4 (Speed 96, 196mph, Roadbound, Handling +5)

In PWC form, has No Manipulators, No Legs (Aquatic, can't dive), Payload 16 (Exposed), and Enhanced Move 2 (Speed 24, 49mph, Handling +2)

I don't expect these stats to mean much unless you're already familiar with GURPS, but this does make Character Generation easier for GURPS Overproof. If you want to play, and want to get familiar with the system, you can download a pdf of GURPS Lite for free here.

Spreading the GURPLES...

2008-05-08T23:26:27Z

Jenn and I have been upgrading our GURPS collection to 4th edition, which rendered several of my 3rd edition books obsolete. I wasn't sure how much I'd get for them at a used book store, so I asked my older sister in law if her eldest son might be interested, seeing as he turns 13 this friday. They're still fully usable, Jenn and I just want to be all set with 4th ed. for when GURPS Vorkosigan (eventually) comes out. Turns out Kev was quite interested, so I shipped them up on Saturday. The package was 5 kg, but the slowest shipping method was very reasonable, and only three business days to get to Prince George. They arrived yesterday, right on time, and apparently Kev has been pouring through them, and has already tried to get his mom to make up a character. Seems like it didn't take him long at all to catch the GURPLES. Atta boy!

Jenn and I also just bought a bunch of six sided dice, seeing as our tax returns just came in. Most of our tax returns are going on to our Visas actually, but I was surprised by the amount on our returns. They were both about $150 higher than I anticipated. I've found out why: neither of us wrote in the Employment Amount from line 363. Basically, if you earned $1000 or more at a legitimate job in all of 2007, you get an extra $150 in your return, and because I used Telefile, they automatically calculated that amount for us. Kind of a right wing attitude to reward people who are already stable, but combine that with the transit amount, and it looks like the Canadian government is actively supporting my lifestyle, so I shouldn't complain too loudly.

Now I'm going to attempt to infect my friends with the GURPLES. The Star Wars game is going to be taking a hiatus while Neal's away, and Jenn wants to start up Sunday Tea once she's got weekends off again, so I'm thinking Sunday Tea can be followed by a little game called GURPS Overproof! (Overproof meaning 70% action, a reference to my response to a questionnaire Derek made up for a 7th Sea game.) Basically, you make up any character you want (that can happen during tea), or use an existing one, and a random group of ever changing PCs take on a hoard of uglies (zombies, orcs, battle droids, velociraptors...) or a really big ugly (a T-Rex, Cthulhu's niece, a Sentinel Robot...) We'll pull out the battle map, whip up some pawns (probably paper, like what I'm using for Star Wars) and just do some combat. The object of the game is for Jenn and I to become familiar with the system for the purposes of starting an actual campaign of some kind, and also to give us time to read the books which should be arriving any day now, not to mention the ones we already have.

GOOD THING I DIDN'T CALL 911!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-05-03T20:11:02Z

So Jenn left for work at 8:30 this morning. Around 12:30 I get a phone call from A&W asking where she is because she's on the schedule for 1:00. This is disconcerting. I call her cel phone, and there's no response. I phone the store back using the call display redial, asking if anyone's seen her at all, is she just doing an onion ring run, etc. No, she hasn't been there all day. I'm calling her cel phone over and over, no response at all. I'm thinking, should I call the police? I've heard there's a 24 hour wait for missing persons, but when someone doesn't show up for work when she left the house hours ago and isn't answering the cel, could this be special circumstances? I'm thinking about what could have happened: if there was a bus strike, or if the road was closed, she would have taken a cab or come home. If she'd been hit by a car, or had some kind of spontaneous medical problem, she'd be in the hospital, and I would have been notified. The only logical solution is that she's been mugged, viciously assaulted and left in an alley or behind some bushes or something!!! Maybe if the police can't help me I should phone my dad, and we can cruise around the bus route and see if we can spot her. Well, I'm phoning Jenn's cel so frequently that I'm missing all incoming calls, but I'm checking the messages that get left. The last message is the person who I spoke to at A&W explaining that they were phoning the wrong Jenn. In fact, they aren't even the A&W location that Jenn works at, they just have her number on file from when she worked there for two weeks in December. So I look up the phone number for Jenn's actual location and give them a shout, and who answers but Jenn herself. I'm so wound up I can't even spit out what I'm trying to say properly, but yes, she made it in to work just fine, she's been there all day, and she told me she was going to laugh at the Queensborough Landing people the next time she sees them.

The thing is, my biggest fear is that the world won't let me keep Jenn, so I'm glad she was ok, but it was still unsettling.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need a drink.

Coming down with the GURPLES...

2008-04-14T22:53:47Z

So, after selling my broken Xbox 360 on eBay, I had a nice little sum of money on Paypal. Unfortunately, you can't just transfer Paypal money to your credit card, and transferring it into your bank means putting up your account info, and they charge money for it. So, I went to Warehouse 23 and ordered some GURPS books instead. I also just got my bonus cheque from work, as well as a paycheque from A&W which I wasn't expecting, so I put it all on my Visa so as to order a couple more. Also, I've been downloading free pdf's from E23. Which brings me to my next topic:

Those of you who DM, GM, or ST, take note! There's a free pdf which offers complete rules for the use of Lava in all systems! It's brief, concise, and has all the information you need, as well as easy to use diagrams and charts which you can print off and hand to players for easy dispute resolution! Even if you're just a player, this is an absolute necessity, and it's TOTALLY FREE! Go here to download it!

Last but not least, Jenn and I have been batting around ideas for a fantasy setting. We were talking about dragon kin, and I remembered a bit of an afterword in a Ben Bova book of mine, which led me to an internet search, resulting in this video, and a corresponding article from BBC News.

Star Wars Game drop in opening...

2008-03-21T02:56:24Z

cross posted from Facebook:

I'm going to have a spot for a drop in character for my next Star Wars game on wednsday, the 26th of March. Just the one session, first person to claim it on my wall on Facebook gets it.

NFB Cartoons

2008-03-07T21:58:45Z

The other day I looked up one of my favourite NFB cartoons on Youtube, and showed it to Jenn. It's called The Apprentice:

I also looked for another one of my favourites, called Juke Bar. It's not on Youtube, but then I found out that the NFB site has about 70 animations up for public viewing. So, follow this link for Juke Bar: http://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/films/film.php?id=18042

I wound up getting sucked into Youtube, here's a couple more things I wanted to share:

Sorry to be gloomy, but...

2008-02-18T05:28:32Z

When I got to work friday morning, a coworker told me that someone I used to work with at the PetroCan on River Road was dead.

"Body identified as that of missing local woman"

Kataryna was from the Ukraine. She was one of my favourite co-workers to be shifted on with, especially for an evening shift. In the evenings things would get really slow, and once everything was cleaned and stocked, you wound up having to talk to whoever you were on with. Her english wasn't very good, so she was always asking me questions about grammar. What does this word mean, how do you pronounce it, how do you use it in a sentence? She was also very curious about all the stuff we sold, what are the different fluids used for, where do they go, what do the numbers on the oil cans mean? She would also tell me about growing up in the Ukraine. She liked the bread much better over there, and thought the bread you bought in supermarkets was terrible. Her mom used to call her a monkey because she used to climb everything, and had a liking for bananas. She seemed to find a lot of humour around her, because she was almost always smiling. If we hadn't been co workers, I would have been tempted to ask her out, although I'm glad I didn't because I might not have wound up with Jenn if I had.

If she had died of an accident, like a car crash or house fire, or if she had died of a natural cause, like cancer, the news would be easier to take. I hadn't really talked to her for about seven years, although when I started at Seaside Paper she worked at the Chevron nearby and I'd see her around sometimes. When you're on that level of acquaintance with someone and you find out they've died, you're saddened, and you stop to think about them every now and then, but for the most part you keep moving on because fate hasn't drawn your number yet. The thing that's wearing on my mind right now is the fact that Kataryna should be in the same boat as the rest of us. She should be hearing about other people who have died of natural causes or accidents, and getting on with her life. Fate never called her number, someone chose to intercede on Fate's behalf. She's dead because someone chose to kill her. I just can't picture it. Even if her killer didn't mean for her to die, I can't picture anyone wanting to do her harm. I'm having a hard time believing it's real.

Also, I'm not sure how strongly I'm supposed to react. I find myself second guessing the way I feel. It's been years since I've seen her, and we weren't any closer than co workers who had casual conversations, am I dwelling on it too much? But I was attracted, I cared at least a little, should I be more distraught? I'm not falling to pieces, I don't need to take time off work or anything, but I keep thinking about her and feeling sad. I guess that's about right.

Another thing that makes me feel sad is that I don't think she had many friends. I could be wrong, I hope there's more than a handful of people who are going to miss and remember her, especially people that knew her better than I did.

I guess that's it then...

2008-02-13T20:07:54Z

Jenn and I looked at our finances, and decided that with my upcoming bonus cheque, we can afford an Xbox 360 arcade version. It was $100 cheaper than buying a unit that replaces the one I have, but that's because it's missing duplicate accessories, like a 20gB hard drive, headset communicator, and ethernet cable. Seeing as those parts are all fine, I don't mind saving the $100. Also, I got a 256mB memory card, so I can take my profile when I'm gaming elsewhere, and a third wireless controller, which I can sell to recover some of the money, although I don't want to part with it untill I've gotten two weeks functionality out of the console. I bought their in store two year coverage though, so I'm not too worried.

Also, I've taken pictures of the old console, inside and out, to put up on eBay, "as is". It looks like they usually go for about $40, but I'm hoping that the inclusion of parts for doing the X-clamp replacement mod will maybe boost it a little. We'll see.

Either way, I'll have to try the whole "have people over for video games" thing again sometime.

It's not so bad, I guess...

2008-02-10T09:41:29Z

Tonight was my birthday party, and in cleaning up the place I found the receipt for Guitar Hero 2, so I took it to the store and got it exchanged for a new, sealed copy without hassle. The Xbox was misbehaving too badly to play Guitar Hero anyway, so the point was kind of moot, but I'm glad it got dealt with. On the other hand, we had some four way action with Marathon 2 for about 45 minutes, that was great fun. I always wanted to try multiplayer when I first had it in high school, but none of my friends had a Mac. I had a whale of a time, and the only reason why it stopped after 45 minutes is because we wanted to switch to Guitar Hero. It just won't stay fixed, I've decided that there's nothing for it but to buy a new console, but I'm still really really happy that we all played Marathon 2 for a bit.

It wasn't exactly the wildest party I've ever had, but it was pretty nice. In lieu of playing on the Xbox we stuck on the third season of Samurai Jack and just let it play, I enjoyed that. We didn't get around to playing any board games, but there's always next time. Also, it was great just to see everyone, so I'd just like to say thanks to those who were able to make it.

My Xbox did a new trick!

2008-02-09T17:48:36Z

The other day, when the Xbox was working, I was playing some Guitar Hero 2, when I heard *tick tick tick tick*, and then an error message popped up saying that the disk was unreadable. For some reason, I got the notorious circular scratch on the game disk I was using. The console wasn't standing on end, I didn't move it, it just scratched the disk.

The good news is that I bought the game new at EBgames, and I also purchased their in store protection plan, which does cover these scratches.

The bad news is that I can't find the receipt. Sure, I can find grocery receipts going back to november, Christmas receipts from two years ago, the receipt for the spare controller I bought for the old Xbox last year, just not the one that I need.

What the hell does it take?

2008-01-31T18:12:39Z

Blargh. So the Xbox only worked for about a week. Saturday night it worked, and I played on it every day untill wednesday, without incident. Thursday I was too tired to play when I got home from work. Friday night Jenn and I tried to play more Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but it crashed before we could start a mission. This isn't the first time it's done that, either. For some reason, whenever there's a week or two stretch of working, it crashes if I leave it alone for a day or two. It's like it gets bitchy at me for ignoring it.

Yesterday I took out the copper shim and trimmed off the gpu heat sink fins where they blocked the screws that hold it together, which ought to eliminate the need for a heat sink. I also adjusted the washers between the mother board and the gpu, so that if I were to put in just one more the heat sink wouldn't contact the gpu anymore. I played the demo for Guitar Hero 3 without issue. I put in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and it chugged in a couple spots, but it never froze. Then I put in Guitar Hero 2. It froze before the first song started, and that was it, I couldn't get any more activity out of it. This morning I pulled it apart again, and re-did the thermal paste between the heat sink and gpu, thinking that it was a little sparse before. I got it to turn on, but when I started the Conan demo it froze during the opening cut scene. I know there's enough thermal paste, I know the number of washers is correct, I know it doesn't need a shim, I just have to get the screws holding it all together to the right tension.

I don't want to spend any more money fixing this stupid thing. I've spent $15 on thermal paste, $20 on screws and washers, and $30 on a third party internal fan. If I buy anything else, it will be a new Xbox 360. From a store I can trust. The good news is that I can save $100 by buying the "arcade" version, which comes with a memory card instead of a hard drive, seeing as there's nothing wrong with the hard drive I have. If I sell the controller it comes with, as well as my old Xbox "as is" on eBay, I can even get a little money back. Although if it comes to that, I'm going to wait untill the spring or summer. There's a chance that Jenn and I might have moved by then, into a new place with level floors and a less wiggy electrical supply. We'll see what happens.

Suddenly I'm more interested in this movie.

2008-01-25T20:17:45Z

The teaser trailer for Star Trek XI is out on the apple website now. IMDB also has a lot more casting details than the last time I looked.

Captain Kirk will be played by Chris Pine (never heard of him, but he looks right)

Uhura will be played by Zoe Saldana (never heard of her, but she looks right)

Bones will be played by Karl Urban, who played Eomer in Lord of the Rings.

And now the real reason why I'm now stoked to see this movie...

Sulu: John Cho. You know, Harold, from Harold and Kumar.

Scotty: Simon Pegg. That's right. I almost died laughing. Screw the rest of the movie, I want the adventures of Sulu and Scotty played by John Cho and Simon Pegg.

I really hope that the people who make this movie don't try to make it too serious or AWEXXXOME!!!, because that would spoil the fun.

Either way, I have to wait untill December. In the mean time, why not entertain yourself with this image.

Monthly Update

2008-01-22T18:08:35Z

So I posted once in December, now January's almost over, and I'm posting again. The holidays were good, I got to see lots of people, and I got everything I wanted for Christmas (beer, turkish delight, AND macadamia nuts!)New Year's was awesome, although I had to buy a suit. Then again, I got it at the Sears clearance centre by Lougheed Mall, so it cost about $80, which isn't bad at all, and I now have a suit, so it's all good.

On the Xbox front (since I seem to have stopped talking about Lego) I've done the washer fix three times now, the third time I hammered a piece of copper pipe flat to make a shim to go between the GPU and its heat sink. That third fix worked great for about two weeks, then it started getting finicky. My brother gave me and Jenn Marvel Ultimate Alliance for Christmas, but the Xbox died a minute after I put it in. After a while it started crashing for all the graphics intensive games, which meant I was limited to playing Marathon 2. Eventually it would crash for that, and every time it was a 0102 error code, which usually means a GPU error. I assumed that the problem was the GPU overheating, mostly because the air blowing out the back was really hot. On Dec 27th I ordered a Talismoon fan to replace the fan that the Xbox comes with, and it finally arrived last friday. I put it in right away, of course. I also cut away the mesh over the fans and on the left intake side to try to increase the airflow. I couldn't get it to work that night, but Saturday after work, I made some adjustments to the screws holding down the GPU, and Presto! It worked. I played Rumble Roses XX for an hour, without crashing. Sunday night I popped in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and played that for an hour and a half, I would have gone longer, but I was really tired after work, and shut it off and went to sleep. Yesterday Jenn and I played Guitar Hero 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance for well over two hours, again with no problems. Given that the air coming out the back is significantly cooler, I'm really hoping that I've got it fixed for the long term now.

I've also made a New Year's resolution regarding the Xbox. I'm not allowed to play between 9:00am and 6:30pm unless I've been to the pool in the last 48 hours, and practiced on the accordion that day or the previous one. The exceptions being when I'm sick or injured, or when I'm entertaining guests.

Anyway, because the Xbox is working now, I've ordered two wired controllers, so as to have four controllers by the time my birthday comes around, and we can get some four player mayhem going on, though I only have four games for four players: Big Bumpin, Pocket Bike Racer, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Rumble Roses XX. I also have two guitar controllers for Guitar Hero 2, and while I haven't unlocked much, I have found a cheat code that I can at least unlock everything for the party.

Speaking of which, the party is on Feb. 9th. A pyjama party, mostly because I want to slob about in my PJ's. I'm doing the invites through Facebook, and I've noticed that you can invite people who aren't on Facebook via email. They get a personal link to rsvp, although they can't view the full guest lists. It's functional at least, although I don't have Mimi's email. I also may have forgotten some people, leave a comment if you didn't get an invite and would like one.

Open Letter to the Big Man, 2007

2007-12-06T01:38:55Z

Dear Santa Claus,

The last couple years, I've tried to wax philosophical to you, and for all my enfeebled attempts at being highbrow, I actually learned something last year, and I'd like to share it with you. It starts with Christmas 2004. Up until then, I'd always spent Christmas morning with my folks, in only two different living rooms for 24 years. However, 2004 was the year I moved in with Jenn and her sister, and that Christmas morning I spent with Jenn, Kimba, and Beth. They weren't family at the time, but I figured it was close enough since I was marrying Jenn within the next three months. Christmas 2005 Jenn and I were alone in our cozy little basement suite, our first Christmas as a married couple, and it was perfectly lovely. Last year was our second Christmas as married people, and we spent it alone again. And without the romance of it being our first, it was a little lonely and anticlimactic. That's when I realized, for all my bluster about what Jesus means, the part you play, and how Christmas fits into my religion, it all means nothing without a warm, friendly, clan of people to share it with. I know it sounds incredibly trite, like I'm just reciting the moral from a holiday special or something, but it really is true. And really, that's the long and short of it.

As for whether or not I've been good all year, I'm not sure how to answer that. I think I've contained my temper quite well in the face a disappointing consumer experience, and while I've complained in my LJ quite a bit, I haven't yelled or threatened anyone, and I haven't taken any illegal action against the company, but that doesn't put me in line for sainthood, does it? Mind you, I've been putting in a small amount of volunteer hours with my church's sunday school, and I helped the BC Renfest with their Halloween fundraiser. Not exactly Mother Theresa type stuff, but I hope it means I'm not all bad...

So, straight on to the point of any letter to Santa: what do I want for Christmas? To be honest, I'm not sure how much point there is in telling you, seeing as I'm already getting lots of things that I want. I've already made arrangements with my folks to spend Christmas morning with them, and Christmas evening I'm spending with my father in law. I don't know when I'll see my sister in law and my mother in law yet, but I look forward to seeing them too. With Jenn's new job, I know she'll also be available for everything. I've been wanting to do dinner and a show on Granville Island for Christmas ever since I did it the first time in 1996, and it's finally happening again this year, I have the ticket tucked away nice and safe, and Jenn and I both have the night off. As an added bonus, I've even been cast as the villain in my church's Christmas pantomime, and I've been wanting to play the villain in a small scale production since high school, so this is great for me. So really, there isn't much more I can ask for that will make me happier.

Having said that, I can never have too many macadamia nuts...

Warmest wishes,
Stephen Elliot Brown

Xbox and Meth Lab update

2007-11-18T00:02:23Z

Yesterday Jenn and I went to the Toys R Us in Coquitlam to start Christmas shopping. We had time to kill before the bus came, so we went to the electronics section to tease ourselves. We came out so frustrated, that we decided that it was time to give up on MDG and the BBB and just fix the Xbox 360. I spent the rest of the afternoon getting supplies, and came home ready to go.

First of all, I re-read the instructions, while eating dinner, while listening to the soundtracks from the Star Wars movies, to get myself in a state to stick it to the man:

Of course, if you do this at home, the ketchup and hot sauce are optional, but boxed mac and cheese is my power meal. It used to be Kraft Dinner, but then I found out that Kraft is owned by Phillip Morris, so now it's Western Family all the way. It's actually way better than the other generic brands.

Next, grab your toolbox, drill, a chunk of wood, your extra screws and washers, and of course:

$14 worth of thermal compound. From what I've read, Arctic Silver 5 is the bomb, so that's what I got. Now to remove the case:

Apparently the tabs at the back are the really finicky bit, but just shoving in a bunch of flat toothpicks does the job beautifully, and doesn't mar the case. Next up, pull out the motherboard, take off the heat sinks, and scrub off the old thermal paste:

Now to modify the metal case. There's 8 holes that needed to be drilled out, but more challenging was removing the vent screen. There's a vent screen on the plastic shell, too, so there's no need for an inner screen to slow down the air flow as well:

Now that there's no way I can possibly return it, it's time to do some repairing! Actually, it's easier than I thought, just replace the X-clamps with a better fastening, and add some cardboard airflow guides.

Put it back together and...

Woot! Celebrate by downloading the Marathon demo...

and drinking a pint of beer.

The bad news is that it only worked for a couple hours. Now it works for a bit, freezes, and then gives me the three red lights again. But that's better than not working at all! I'm actually pretty confident that I can get it going for real, I just have to get a few more parts and keep playing with it.

This morning I got Jenn up at 11:30 so we could finally bottle the mead we cooked up near the end of June. I had placed the carboy tilted on a counter on thursday night, so it had two days to settle. The clarity was really amazing. We sanitized our equiptment, drew a sample and set it aside, and started bottling. It didn't take long at all, mostly because there was only enough to fill six 750mL bottles! Then we took the sample's readings. Apparently, our brew is 9.8% alcohol by volume! Ah, but how does it taste? Put it this way: we are kicking ourselves very hard for only making six bottles! It's sweet and spicy, in a very Christmas like way, so I'm very glad to have it ready for December. Of course, I have no idea what mead is supposed to taste like, so I want to share some with someone who knows, but other than that, I don't think there's enough to go around. We'll have to make a quadruple batch (at least) for next year.

Random french bit...

2007-11-12T04:23:59Z

Heard this song on late night CBC the other day and thought of Derek, even though I only had a vague idea of what the lyrics meant.

Just thought I'd share.

udpate:

Hey Derek and Kyle, here's a random grammar question for you:

Is there a reason why the preposition that goes with the transitive use of "going" is "to", but for "looking" it's "at"? Just thinking about how they're both the same word in french...

bumbot @ 2007-11-09T20:39:00

2007-11-10T04:42:57Z

Ha ha ha!

I bought Lego on my honeymoon! So did my honey!

Just in case you thought I gave up...

2007-11-08T01:32:49Z

I just filed a complaint with Advertising Standards Canada and the Better Business Bureau of Vancouver against MDG. Here's what I put in the BBB complaint:

Please use the space below to describe your complaint in detail.

In summary, I received a refurbished Xbox 360 from MDG, but their advertisements, salespersons, and receipts omit the fact that the unit is refurbished, thereby implying that it is new. Furthermore, the unit I have in my possession is defective, and can't be repaired by the manufacturer because it shows signs of tampering.

I purchased a computer from MDG on July 14. One of the reasons for purchasing from MDG was because their advertisements in the 24 and the Metro, which offered a free Xbox 360 with purchase. On July 19, my Xbox 360 arrived at the store, and I picked it up and brought it home. On July 28, my Xbox 360 stopped working and showed a "General Hardware Failure". August 3, I contacted MDG with the problem, and asked for an exchange. I had to call several times to the store and their customer service line to arrange the exchange, which was approved on Aug 15. Aug 20, I dropped off my defective Xbox 360. Sept 26, my replacement arrived at the store. I picked up my replacement on Sept 27. On Sept 29, my Xbox 360 stopped working and showed a "General Hardware Failure". Because MDG had taken fifty-six days to perform a simple exchange on a defective unit, I decided to take my problem directly to the manufacturer. I phoned the Xbox support line on Sept 30, where I was told that the manufacturer's warranty on my Xbox 360 had expired in June 2007, although the warranty on a "General Hardware Failure" would continue until June 2009. I arranged for a repair through Microsoft, and sent my Xbox 360 to them by courier. On Oct 29, I received my Xbox 360 back from Microsoft with a letter explaining that my console had been returned not repaired because the technician found evidence of tampering. I tried phoning the MDG customer support line, but I was told I would have to talk to the store manager. On Nov 2, I phoned MDG and spoke with the manager. IT WAS AT THIS TIME that I was informed that the Xbox 360 was indeed refurbished, and that the in store warranty was only fourteen days long. The manager told me that because I had taken more than fourteen days to report the problem, there was nothing he could do. I gave him my Xbox 360's serial number and my service number from Microsoft, and asked if he would fix the problem if Microsoft would prove that I had reported the problem to them on Sept 30. He took down my phone number and told me that he would see what he could do, although he sounded very reluctant. It is now Nov 7, and I have heard nothing from him. From July 14 to November 7, I feel I have waited long enough for a functioning Xbox 360.

Please describe the settlement you are seeking from the business:

I would like a new Xbox 360, not another refurbished one, which is what their advertisements led me to believe was included with my computer. Failing that, I would like a monetary reimbursement for the purchase of an Xbox 360 from one of their competitors. I do not want a refund for the "+package" which included the Xbox 360, because the "+package" includes an upgraded motherboard and extended warranty for my computer, and I don't want to lose those.

I haven't actually taken apart my Xbox yet, so if something does come of this it can still be returned. If it doesn't work out, I can content myself with having a broken toy to take apart and put back together, so I can (hopefully) be satisfied no matter what the outcome. One of the reasons why I've posted this is so that I can copy and paste the complaint into any customer review type website (as well as any MDG related groups on Facebook).

Is this a solution?

2007-11-07T23:19:24Z

Still no word from MDG, but yesterday I had a thought. If I call the 360 a writeoff, Jenn and I still have a hard drive, ethernet cable, and wireless controller, which were free. In other words, we have the stuff that doesn't come with the Xbox 360 Core System, and surely those must be really cheap now that the regular system has come down in price. Getting one of those would give us a new console with an intact warranty, not to mention a second controller. After work, I went online to start looking at prices... only to find that they aren't sold anymore. However, I did find an ebay auction for a repair guide in pdf that was going for about $15 cdn.

I talked to Jenn about it, and I downloaded the guide. Basically, you take apart the console and hit the motherboard with a heat gun to try and improve the soldering. The guide also provides links to forum posts on how to analyze the general hardware failure and in there I found some alternate fixes at this site: http://rbjtech.bulldoghome.com/pages/rbjtech_bulldoghome_com/XboxHome.htm These would only set me back about $20, and make it more sturdy than it would be if microsoft fixes it. I think I'll try these before I buy a heat gun and point it at my Xbox's insides, but the guide from eBay has detailed instructions on how to disassemble the unit, so it's not a total loss. Plus, the warranty is already voided due to "evidence of tampering", which means that I can't even pay microsoft to fix it for me, so it's not like I'll be able to make things worse. Furthermore, this means that I can paint the console, which is cool. I'm actually quite excited about fixing it myself, so at this stage in the game I'm content to let MDG hide in the corner and be useless. I'm still mad at them, but now that there's a chance that I can fix the problem myself the quotient of impotent rage has drastically reduced, and really it's the impotent part that bugged me the most.

I still want to make official complaints about MDG, but I don't think I can bully them into doing anything. At this stage in the game, doing what I can to hurt their business and educate the public against them is more satisfying. I'd rather try to fix the console myself, and if that doesn't work, take it to the electronics repair guy down the hill and see if he can do anything.

Xbox problem, continued...

2007-11-02T19:02:14Z

I just got off the phone with the manager at MDG. I explained the problem, and he confirmed my suspicions that they give away refurbished consoles with their promotions, and he also told me that the unit only has a two week warranty. Well, it's been more than two weeks since I picked up the replacement, so now he's trying to tell me that he can't do anything. I reminded him that the unit only worked for three days, which is significantly less than two weeks, and pointed out that I would have told them sooner if they hadn't taken 54 days to fix the problem the first time. So now I've given the manager the serial number of the console and the service number I received when I phoned microsoft. I'm hoping this will prove that it was well within two weeks that the problem appeared. He said that he'd phone them and see what he could do, so now I'm waiting to hear back from him.

If he tries to tell me he can't do anything, I'll point out that I wasn't told that the consoles are refurbished or that the warranty was only two weeks long. At this stage in the game, I'd be happy to get a partial refund on the Plus Package that the console came with instead of a replacement (the going rate for a refurbished console seems to be about $200), but we'll see what happens. If he doesn't do anything, my next step is to try to talk to someone over his head, and if that doesn't work, then I think it will be time to talk to the BBB and whatever news companies will listen. If worse comes to worse, the least I can do is sit outside their business with a placard, but I'm hoping it won't come to that.

Should I just rename this blog?

2007-10-30T06:44:29Z

Okay, so I talked to Microsoft on Oct 1 about the Xbox being broken. Oct 15 my empty box arrived and I shipped out the console. Today, I received another box in the mail. I was busy all day today, so I didn't get to open it until I got home. That's four weeks total, beats the pants off MDG, right? Here's the letter that came with it:

Dear Xbox Enthusiast:

An inspection of your console has revealed that tampering or attempted tampering of the console has occurred. The warranty is voided as a result of these actions. In addition, Microsoft is unable to offer repair services for a tampered Xbox console. Therefore, the console is being returned to you as-is, not repaired. If you were charged, your charges will be refunded by check.

If you have further questions, please contact the Xbox call center, 1-800-4MY-XBOX.

Sincerely,

Xbox Repair Service

I had this console in my possession three freaking days before it broke. I did not tamper with it. Xbox customer support is currently closed, so I called MDG customer support. He said there was no reason for there to be evidence of tampering, and that I should phone Microsoft and find out why they think it was tampered with, and if they couldn't help me, to take it up with the manager at the Vancouver MDG store.

I'm beginning to think that I've had enough of this crap. I don't know what I'm going to do about it, but I'll start with talking to Microsoft, and maybe MDG. I'm wondering if I might be better off without a game console.

Found this kind of interesting.

2007-10-23T20:12:15Z

Cut for those who don't want to know.

Do you have an inclination for BDSM?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Experimental

Experimentation is a great place to be. Open-mindedness when it comes to sexuality can open doors and allow you to discover things that you didn't think you would find engaging. Having such a curious attitude can help you learn more about your own sexual nature as well as the nature of others.

Experimental

82%

Switch

75%

Submission

43%

Domination

43%

Vanilla Sex

43%

Bondage

39%

Exhibitionism and Voyeurism

36%

Masochism

14%

Sadism

11%

Degradation

Costuming and Xbox update.

2007-10-16T00:55:09Z

My empty box arrived today. I was out picking up groceries when it came, but Jenn was home to sign for it. I packed up my Xbox and took the bus out with Jenn when she went to work, and now my old Xbox is waiting to be picked up and taken back. So far it seems like a tie between MDG and Microsoft, but I figure that if my replacement comes by Nov 18th Microsoft wins. The annoying thing is that I have two more days of work left, this wednesday and thursday, and then I'm off for seventeen days. What will I do? I won't be playing video games! It's probably for the best though, I should get in some quality time with the accordion (I haven't practiced since May, I'm a bad monkey), maybe swim. I've got a list of around the house type tinkering that I want to get done, so that will be my chance.

In other news, Vcon approaches! It's this friday, in fact. It looks like Jenn won't have time to make my tricorn hat, and I haven't finished my mask or bought a pistol yet, but it's not too bad. I just found a felt cowboy type hat at a dollar store that might work as a base, or even if I just colour the outside trim with a permanent marker and pin up three sides, it should be okay. I've also phoned the costume rental place by the hobby shop on 6th St. and they have plastic flintlocks, so I'll be going out there tomorrow to pick one up, since I'm already going out that way to get some comic books and green hair dye. That just leaves my mask. Of course, I don't know where the base got to, so if I can't find it before I go out tomorrow I might just buy something, but Jenn might know where it is. In the mean time, I promised I'd help make bias tape. I have to wash the dishes first, and I should probably fold laundry, but I'm thinking I'll be able to get around to it.

More 360 problerms.

2007-09-30T04:14:57Z

July 14: Jenn and I buy a computer from MDG, it comes with an Xbox 360.

July 19: The Xbox 360 arrives, I pick it up.

July 28: I receive a General Hardware Failure indicator.

Aug 1: I phone Xbox customer support, they suggest I exchange the Xbox.

Aug 3: I phone the person who sold me the Xbox, and ask for an exchange. He said he had to look up how to do it, and would phone me back.

Aug 15: Richard had not phoned me back, so I phoned MDG customer service in Ontario. Within 45 minutes of phoning they approve the exchange and tell me I just have to drop off the old one and pick up a new one. I leave a message for Richard explaining this.

Aug 16: Richard phones me, confirming what I already know.

Aug 20: I drop off the old unit, and I'm told that I'll get a call when the new one comes in.

Sept 17: I phoned Richard for a status update, he told me that he'd call the warehouse and get back to me the next day.

Sept 21: Still no word from Richard, so I phoned MDG customer service again. They told me I was supposed to have received the replacement right away, before the old unit was sent back. I leave a voicemail for Richard explaining this.

Sept 26: Richard phones me to tell me that my replacement unit is now in. I only had to wait 37 days since I dropped it off, 54 days since I told him it was a problem. I was ecstatic that the wait was over.

Sept 27: I bring home my new Xbox 360. I set it up. I play. It is good.

Sept 28: I got off work early, and came home to play some more. I also get it to read files right from the computer, something I had trouble getting the first one to do. I download some demos from the Xbox Marketplace, and left the downloads going while I went to bed.

Sept 29: Jenn came home from work and played on the Xbox. Apparently it froze a few times. I got up at 5:15am and Jenn was still up, so I tried to show her what I had downloaded, but the screen was freezing again. I figured it might need time to cool off, so I shut it down and went to work. I came home, ate dinner, and turned it on to watch a trailer I had downloaded. It worked fine for two whole minutes. When I tried to watch a second trailer, it froze. I let it sit for a couple minutes, and went online to register it while I was waiting. I entered my information and the serial number, and apparently the warranty had expired in June, I guess that means MDG sells reconditioned units. It might have been nice if they had said that up front. I went back to the Xbox and turned it off and on again.

GENERAL HARDWARE FAILURE!!!!!!!!!!

I played on the damn thing for over three hours the day before, so there's no way that it's overheated from being turned on for five minutes now. Could it have something to do with my crooked floor? That doesn't seem right, though, it was never a problem for either computer, the DVD player, CD player, or even my old original Xbox console. I phoned Xbox customer service to ask why the warranty was expired, they didn't really know, except to guess that it must have been used or refurbished. The good news is that it was the one year warranty that was expired, meaning that General Hardware Failures are covered until June 2009.

So now the question is, do I take it back to MDG, or send it off to Microsoft for repairs? MDG is really slow to deal with, but getting a repair might take longer. Then again, maybe if I get a repair, I won't have to deal with this again. I think I want to let Microsoft fix this one, I'll see what Jenn has to say. Either way, when I have a little more time and energy, I'm going to write a letter to MDG about this.