I picked up Serious Sam 2 yesterday for three reasons: to celebrate my new monitor, to continue the Serious Sam saga, and to support a developer who is willing to do something original. Having only played the game for a few hours, I cannot comment on much. But I would like to comment on what I've seen so far.

First on this discussion list is the graphics engine. I've been impressed with what I've seen for one reason: it's original. No, the locales don't look like something you'd see in real life, but that's the point. This is a fictitious story about a fictitious character in a fictitious universe. The cartoon-like aspect of the game lends itself well to this formula. Everything is well rendered and the enemies are definitely over-the-top (as they should be).

I was glad to see that the humor in the Serious Sam universe has been retained. Several of the early cut-scenes are funny, and a number of jokes occur throughout the early levels. Unfortunately, there a few low-brow jokes, undoubtedly to satiate the teenage demographic. But (at least so far) these have been few and far between. All of the fun-filled secrets are still around (some of which are fairly difficult to locate), as are the Sam one-liners (which certainly provide a laugh).

All of this good comes at a price, however. The game has crashed on me twice (even with the patch installed), the user interface is still too "console oriented," and the weapons don't seem quite as fun as the original. Levels are much smaller than the original (although they are much larger than the demo level), and there don't seem to be as many enemies this time around. I really enjoyed the frantic pace of having to deal with several hundred enemies at once; here we only get a handful (or two) of enemies at a time.

I still have a ways to go in the game, and I'm looking forward to completing it. The human-hamster ball is worth the price of admission alone (best original vehicle ever!) and the humor makes it all the more worthwhile.

Yesterday, I received my NEC FE2111SB 22" CRT monitor from Azatek.com, and I finally got a chance to set it up this morning. What a beauty! The monitor was listed as "not exactly new" on Azatek's web page. I have found only two flaws with the monitor: the face plate is lightly scratched (you have to be looking for it to see it) and one of the buttons on the front plate is indented (it looks like it's stuck in the depressed position, but the button is completely functional - it's just cosmetically out of line with the others). Both of these items are minor; I think they give the monitor "character".

I only have good things to say about Azatek. I placed my order last weekend (on Friday morning) and was assured that it would be mailed that day. When I received notification from UPS that it had not been mailed, I contacted Azatek's customer service. They promptly replied via email, stating that the monitor was not able to fit in that day's UPS shipment (the box this thing came in is gigantic, and apparently the UPS truck was full of other packages). My monitor was sent out first thing Monday morning, and got here (via UPS ground) yesterday. The monitor was extremely well packaged (these folks really know what they are doing) and it's in awesome shape! If you're in the market for a CRT, check Azatek out. I was pleasantly surprised by their fast, friendly service. And the low, low price of $337.80 (that includes shipping) didn't hurt either!

Over three months ago, I purchased a Creative Zen Micro MP3 player. And at the time, I commented on my initial impressions, all of which were favorable. Now that I have had sufficient time to play with it, I'd like to post a follow-up to that earlier article, expanding upon those initial impressions.

On the whole, I still adore this little device. I use it nearly every day at work and I have taken it on a trip or two. Because the Micro is indeed rather tiny, it makes the perfect traveling companion (no more CD wallet and bulky CD player). And with 5 GB of storage, I can take most of my music with me wherever I go. My Zen Micro currently holds 61 albums (851 tracks) and there is nearly 2 GB of available space left!

The battery life is quite good; I can listen to music at work for two days before I need to charge it. However, I am rather conservative on battery usage, so your mileage may vary (I only ever let it get down to one bar left on the battery indicator). One of these days, I should let it run all the way down to see how far I can go.

I mentioned in my earlier report that the Zen's ear buds were a little too large for my ears. I have since obtained a pair of Sony buds which hang over your ears. They sound great (although the bass is weaker than the Creative buds) and they don't fall out so easily.

Creative has certainly done a great job with the Zen Micro. Although I haven't tried all of its features yet (I still need to give the AM/FM radio a go), it has served me quite well. If you are in the market for an MP3 player, I highly recommend this one from Creative. You won't be disappointed.

It has recently occurred to me that Born Geek is lacking in several web accessible areas (Year of the Code Monkey is not without its share of similar problems). Because I still develop the Born Geek website by hand (old school!), it lacks the most common feature available in automated web-generation systems: site search functionality. The only way users can currently search Born Geek is to perform a site search at Google. How tragic! I am currently looking at two Perl-based site search scripts, and I hope to implement one of them in the very near future.

One other area that needs some updating is the site contact form. I am currently not making use of the <label> tag, which would greatly improve the accessibility of the form. Not only would screen-readers be a little happier, but users could click a control's associated label to set the keyboard focus (instead of having to actually click inside of the control).

Are there any other blatant mistakes I'm making as far as accessibility goes? If so, let me know about it!

Many months ago, I picked up the collector's edition DVD of Once Upon a Time in the West at Target (I got it on the cheap - only $7). But I only now have gotten around to watching it.

I'm a fan of classic Western films, and I'm particularly fond of Sergio Leone's work (I own all of the "Man With No Name" movies starring Clint Eastwood). So this particular movie was a real treat. It has all the classic Sergio Leone moments: tight close-up shots, brutal violence, and a mysterious hero. Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda played superbly in the film, and the score is nearly as good as that of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I heartily recommend this movie if you haven't seen it. Take note that it's fairly long (2 hours and 45 minutes), but it won't disappoint.

I have recently been looking at refurbished monitors from Azatek, in an effort to replace my 22" NEC monitor which got screwed up during my recent move. They have a nice (albeit limited) selection of Grade-A 21-24" monitors. I'm currently looking at the NEC FE2111SB 22" model, which they list in Not Exactly New condition. What that means remains to be seen, but at only $289, it doesn't look like a bad deal at all. I hope to order the monitor today: with any luck, I'll have it up and running by this time next week.

It's a shame that CRT monitors are going the way of the dinosaur. I'm surprised that no company has stepped up to fill the niche market of those who prefer the older CRT technology. You would think that there is a fair amount of money to be made by selling to enthusiasts, but apparently that's not the case.

Update: I've ordered the monitor, at a final price of $337.80 ($289 + $48.80 in shipping costs). Not bad for a 22" CRT!

I frequently get lost in Wikipedia. Not because the site is difficult to navigate, but rather because the stuff I learn there is so interesting. I routinely find myself clicking from one article to another. This is without a doubt the second best (?) time waster ever invented (the Internet in general being #1). Must ... stop ... surfing ...

• I still have no connection to the internet at home (although our network has been set up). Running a cable up to my room looks like it will be too difficult, so I'm researching some wireless solutions. I hope to be up and running tonight (tomorrow night at the latest).
• Googlebar Lite development has been very slow recently. Once I get back online, I hope to make some progress on this front: version 3.0 is long overdue. Firefox 1.5 Beta 2 and Beta 1 support will finally be available in 3.0, so that should please a number of people.
• My 22" monitor got hosed during the move. :( I've gone back to my 19" (which can only do 1280x1024), and I'm looking for a replacement (I've got to have 1600x1200). Dare I go to the dark side and buy an LCD?
• I turned 25 yesterday. :D

I have recently been bombarded with trackback spam here at my blog. After searching around the web, I decided to try out Spam Karma 2.0, a neat little plugin for WordPress. I have only used it for a very short time, but it's already filtered out the spam I was seeing! If you are having problems with spam on your WordPress blog, I highly recommend this plugin.

As a bonus, all first-time comments will be viewable immediately (they no longer go to moderation).

Moving day was rather eventful yesterday. My folks ran into a problem which almost caused the deal on our old house to fall through (which would have been a very bad thing), but it all got worked out and we're now moved in. And so now the fun begins. There are a lot of repairs that need to be done to the house:

1. The hot water heater is broken (I took a cold shower this morning).
2. Both air conditioners are broken, so it's rather hot on the second floor.
3. All of the smoke alarms around the house are 'peeping' (the backup batteries in them are dead).
4. Our cable hookup has been pushed out until Saturday.
5. There are apparently some mice in the house (our cat should have some fun with this).
6. Some wood around the dormer windows is rotting.
7. The previous owners left a broken refrigerator and freezer for us to cart off to the dump (gee, thanks).

I fixed the smoke alarm problem last night (at least the ones upstairs), so that's one job done. And several of the more important jobs are being taken care of today. It will take some real engineering to get a CAT-5 cable up to my room on the second floor, so that I can hook up my computer to our network. And we'll need to run the incoming coax cable over to our library, where we plan to put our NAT box and cable modem.

Anyways, things are starting to get back to normal. I plan to hook up my computer and begin unpacking my stuff tonight. One of these days, I might even get some pictures up somewhere. Googlebar Lite 3.0 development work should begin again soon - it will be out no later than the weekend of October 8-9.

What a morning! After a late night of packing, I wake up late, have breakfast, and finish some last minute packing chores. Then I pack up a suitcase with the stuff I'll need over the next day or two (or three) and put everything that's not to be put in the moving trucks on my bed. In doing so, I notice several items which have been lurking in the corner of my room for several days. I have no boxes to put them in (in fact, several items wouldn't have fit in a box anyway), so I go out to put them in the trunk of my car. As I slam the trunk shut, I realize a horrible truth: my keys are there in the trunk, along with everything else. And naturally, all of my car doors are locked.

With my dad's help, we locate the key box (which was packed away in the attic), but no spare key is to be found. My dad had made use of the spare a while back, so he was the last one to be seen with it. After placing a call with a local locksmith, my mom finally finds the spare: in a box of my dad's belongings. I cancel the locksmith, finish packing, and head out to work. On the way, an hour and a half late mind you, my car's check-engine light comes on.

I have no idea what the problem is, and I have no time to take it to the shop. Tomorrow I take a half-day of vacation to carry my cat over to the new house (which should be painful), and to meet the cable guy. And all of this rests on the hopes that one of the realtor's agents will meet me at the house with a key to get in.

I'll be so glad when all of this is over...

With the movers coming Tuesday afternoon, anything and everything in sight is being placed in a box. Most of our stuff gets packed Tuesday, and the rest gets packed Wednesday morning. Later that same day, we close on our current house and on the new one. Then everything gets moved in to the new house after that. I'm definitely looking forward to the end of all that.

I still have a decent amount of stuff to pack in my room, although I have made excellent progress. I would estimate that I'm nearly 85% done. But with tomorrow evening being the only time I have to finish everything, I'm beginning to panic a little bit. I know I'll get it done - it just seems so overwhelming now. There's no telling how many boxes I've already packed. 15? 20? 25? It's a lot, I know that. And so much of it is junk!

This is my last post from this house (my computer gets packed up tomorrow night when I get home from work). And please note that I will be "off the air" for several days. With any luck, I can continue to make blog posts from work. But don't expect any progress on the Born Geek front: updates there will most likely resume in a week (or two).

The demo for Serious Sam 2 is out, and I finally got a chance to play it last night. For whatever it's worth, here are my impressions:

The Good

• Cool, cartoon-style environments. I've seen a lot of discussion on this point, and virtually everyone thinks the art direction is poorly done. Considering that virtually every computer game today is striving for ultra-realism, I think this is a breath of fresh air. It's something original. What a concept!
• Loads of weapons. The demo showcases a number of really neat weapons, including the parrot bomb (of which you only get one round - so make it count).
• Fast paced action. Just like the Serious Sam days of old.

The Bad

• Can you say "Console Port"? It is blatantly obvious that Serious Sam 2 is being developed for consoles. The user interface with the game menus is horrible, especially when it comes to changing key bindings. If there's anything I hate, it's a poorly done "port".
• The demo is way too short. I certainly hope the other game levels aren't this anemic.
• Cut scenes are really shoddy in quality. Couldn't they have just used the game engine for these cut scenes, instead of this low-resolution pre-rendered crap?
• Sam did virtually no wise-cracking through the entire demo! What have you done with the Sam I once knew?!?

The full game will be released in a few weeks (October 10 is one date I've seen), and I do plan on picking it up. Will it be worth the $30 asking price? I certainly hope so. Perhaps the rough points will have been smoothed down in the final product. Let's just hope they don't mess with the core Serious Sam formula. That would be a crime against nature.

My family and I move one week from today, so we're beginning to kick our packing efforts into high gear. Until one packs up all of his belongings, one doesn't realize how much junk has accumulated through the years. I've packed up a total of five fairly large boxes so far, and their contents consist of only my books and computer game boxes. A tiny ripple in a very large pond.

Fortunately, I'm moving up in room size. I outgrew my current room a number of years ago, so it's well past time to have something larger. My new room provides substantially more real estate (having two closets will help tremendously), so I won't be nearly as cramped as I am currently. As soon as I have a sizable down payment stored away in the bank, I'll get a place of my own (and then I'll really be moving up)!

Unfortunately, all of this activity is hurting my Googlebar Lite 3.0 efforts. We are unlikely to have internet connectivity for a few days at the new house, so that won't help matters (although I can still work behind the scenes). So, don't be surprised if version 3.0 shows up later than expected.

According to the story over at Slashdot, it appears that the Opera web browser is now available for free. This should be an interesting thing to watch over the coming weeks. Will large numbers of Firefox users switch to Opera? I know that I certainly won't, but a number of Slashdot comments already indicate that at least some portion of the Firefox community is (and will be) making the switch. I don't see anything in Opera that immediately jumps out and says, "You should try me now!" Is there something I'm missing? Or is Firefox still the best little browser in the world?

Here's a small but handy Firefox tip for "safekeeping" your bookmarks. It also lets you share your bookmarks across multiple profiles!

1. Navigate to your Firefox profile directory. On Windows, this is usually located somewhere similar to the following: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
2. Copy your bookmarks.html file and paste it in a safe location elsewhere on your hard drive.
3. Back in your profile directory, create a text file called user.js (if one does not already exist). Open the file for editing in your favorite text editor (avoid word processors like Microsoft Word).
4. Add the following line of text to this file, changing the path to the appropriate location (wherever you copied your bookmarks to earlier): user_pref("browser.bookmarks.file", "C:\Path to Bookmarks File\bookmarks.html");
5. Save the file and restart your browser!

You can use this trick in multiple profiles, allowing them to all point to the same bookmarks file. Additionally, it helps to safeguard against possibly losing your bookmarks if your profile becomes corrupt.

Scott Berkun used to work for Microsoft on the Internet Explorer web browser. So if there is anyone around who can appreciate the machinery behind the web browsing experience, it's him. Scott recently switched to using Firefox as his primary web browser (his article explains why he made the change). But more interestingly, he provides several things he sees wrong with Firefox. Several of his points are right on target (there is some broken-ness in the Firefox world), and several of his points are a little off the mark (a few of his problems can be solved with extensions).

But Scott has class. He recently posted a followup article, clarifying a number of questions raised by the first one. In it, he admits that after he heard from a number of Firefox users, he saw that some of his views warranted another look. And he also (correctly) points out that there is still inherit broken-ness in the browsing world as a whole. Thanks for an insightful post, Scott. And here's to your switch to Firefox: you won't regret it.

I just won 10 more Prince Valiant books at eBay, bringing my library to a total of 27 titles out of the available 50 (the auction I won was actually for 14 books, but I already have four of them). The price per book in this auction was fairly reasonable: only $11.75 each! I've found that buying the books in bulk is the only way to get them at a reasonable price.

Unfortunately, this lot of books was listed in "fair" condition and the picture provided didn't fully show their actual state (at least the spines look to be in decent shape). I guess I'll see what condition they are in when I get them. The beautiful thing about eBay is that I can always turn around and sell them to someone else if I don't like them.

Interestingly enough, I'm still awaiting my order of volume #2 from Amazon. They apparently don't have any, so they have delayed my order for some time (up to November if I recall correctly). But I'm willing to wait - the early volumes are hard to get, especially at the low price of just over $11.00!

New Cheat Commandos!

I have recently come across two computing articles that I highly recommend:

Code Craft: Freedom Languages Author Kevin Barnes discusses the differences between the "safety" programming languages (C++, Java, etc.) and the "freedom" languages (Perl, Python, etc.). His points are well organized, his argument well written, and the article highly insightful.

The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security Recently featured on Slashdot, this article points out exactly what's wrong in computer security. Allow the following quote to provide a taste of this excellent work:

"...if the conventional wisdom was working, the rate of systems being compromised would be going down, wouldn't it?"