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All posts for the month February, 2007

A long break

Posted by Matthew on February 22, 2007
Posted in: Gaming, General Nonsense. 1 comment

Mellofone Delnor

Wow it has been some time since I posted. I’ve been busy. Mainly with Guild Wars. Wow is that game addictive. It has a few great changes to the standard MMORPG that most still do not have.

To speed the game up, when you move into “explorable areas,” each player or team gets a copy of their own area. That means you get your own things to fight and your own things to accomplish, without other players buzzing around you all the time. At first I didn’t think I would like it, but playing without all of the extra public junk in the game is quite a switch. I like it.

You can also save a lot of time when traveling. Once you have visited an area, it is then displayed clearly on your map and you can travel to it simply by clicking the map. No more 20 minute runs from area to area like the other games.

Of course other games will always have that, because they charge a monthly fee to play. Guild Wars still remains free, and is more then worth it.

One more to the list

Posted by Matthew on February 16, 2007
Posted in: Gaming, Linux. 1 comment

Add one more game to the list: Guild Wars Nightfall. It almost like a standard MMORPG, but there are no, repeat no, monthly costs to play. Not only that, but it is also supported (and runs very well) in Cedega.

Chalk up another game that works in Linux.

So far I made it through the tutorial/training mission, and am just about ready to get started in the real game. This game seems to be much more story oriented then other MMORPG’s, which (to me) seem to be a bunch of randomized tasks and mini-missions that have to be completed. I could be wrong, but so far it’s great.

I’m just waiting for a party member or two to join up so we can get a heck of a war party started.

So long Foppa

Posted by Matthew on February 15, 2007
Posted in: The Flyers. Leave a Comment

I knew it was coming and the writing was on the wall.

The Flyers have traded Peter Forsberg to the Nashville Predators for some players I’ve never heard of and some draft picks.

The Flyers have not won a game this year without Forsberg. Although, they also suck pond water this year as well. I am really about done with sports. I just can’t take it.

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.”

If you don’t know what movie that is from, shame on you.

Game time

Posted by Matthew on February 14, 2007
Posted in: Gaming. Leave a Comment

I just started to look into a new game called City Of Heroes. It is your basic MMORPG online game, which has a monthly fee for persistent play. However, this is based on comic book super heroes. You basically create your own hero, with different abilities and weaknesses, and you fight crime. And Super Villains.

The counterpart to the game, is City Of Villains. The same exact idea, but you play on the evil side of things for a change.

So far the Villains game is laying out just like every other MMORPG; start out doing small tasks and gradually gain experience points. You start gaining player levels, and the tasks start to become more involved and more difficult. I’m about 3 or 4 hours into the game, and it is still holding my attention. I’m not sure how long it will last, especially since it is $14.99 a month to continue to play.

However, so far I like it. Better yet, it runs perfectly in Cedega so I don’t have to boot into Windows.

Let it snow!

Posted by Matthew on February 13, 2007
Posted in: General Nonsense, The Flyers. Leave a Comment

The snow is really coming! The weatherperson says we should get around 6-9 inches when the storm is done…

I had a “day off today.” Usually that means I had a Dr.’s appointment. Waiting for the Dr. is more like it. Blood pressure looks great, and the Dr. was really impressed with the information I could give him regarding my diet. By impressed I mean baffled. So that finally went well.

Of course, last night the Flyers not only won, but KILLED the Red Wings. Let me tell you why. My crappy TV cable doesn’t carry the new Versus (formally OLN) network. The Flyers have 9 games a year on VS. So I was stuck listening to them on Sirius. It is, in fact, better then nothing.

Well somehow they pulled out a win. Wait, I mean they killed. 6-1, scoring 5 goals in the 3rd period. And all because I couldn’t watch them on TV. Thanks RCN!

The Shuttle desktop is 100% back in operation and now (unfortunatley) dual-booting Gentoo and Windows XP. Sometimes I just have to break down and play games in Windows I guess. Against my better judgment of course…

Busy weekend

Posted by Matthew on February 12, 2007
Posted in: General Nonsense, Workout and Fitness. 1 comment

Usually I use the weekend to slack off, but I got a lot of things done this weekend for a change. I worked out both days and stuck with the standard routine. Today is Day 4, or rest day.

However, from now on I will be putting all of workout/fitness stuff in a separate blog called My New Life. I know it’s a corny and cheesy name, but I needed something and that fits. So shut it.

I will be posting a quick blurb daily about the workout stuff as well as a quick snapshot showing the days caloric intakes. I’m not so much interested in “promoting a blog,” but more keeping a diary for myself. So again, head on over there to watch my progress…

I also finally, as well as reluctantly, installed Windows XP onto the empty partition of my new Shuttle PC. I bought a few new games that have no Cedega support yet. Hopefully yet that is. So I installed Windows and I hope to get the dual-boot setup today or tomorrow. That way, I won’t be stuck when I want to play a game that doesn’t specifically work perfectly in Cedega. I just need to setup grub to handle the dual booting and I will be all set.

Another great step forward

Posted by Matthew on February 10, 2007
Posted in: Workout and Fitness. Leave a Comment

Onward to day 2. Still feeling good. The knee has been improving, so much that I figured I would try to add a little stationary bike cardio work in after the lifting. I felt good enough to go 20 minutes on the bike’s resistance level 1, and switching to 2 for the last 2 minutes. Only time will tell how well the knee holds up. Mainly tomorrow morning I think…

I also looked into some food/exercise tracking software. I found a decent product called FitDay. They have a free web based tracker, but also a Windows (ugh) version for $30. Feh, I went for it. What’s $30? I’ve wasted FAR more on FAR less.

Feb 10, 2007 Food Statistics

It works fairly well. It has a relatively large, albeit generic, food database. However, it also has the option to add custom food items. That’s a great time saver to add stuff I eat just about every day (fruits, salads, etc. etc.). So far I am very happy with it, even though I’ve only been using it a day. I am again considering moving my fitness stuff to a separate blog to post daily information, but I’m unsure if I want to do that now or not. As you can see, the above image shows I took in less then 1500 calories. I actually need to eat MORE. I usually don’t have that problem.

I am still on track. I won’t give up.

Back to day 1

Posted by Matthew on February 9, 2007
Posted in: Workout and Fitness. Leave a Comment

After having a great day 3, day 4 officially rolled in yesterday. Day 4 is a rest day. I was planning on doing some cardio (an hour, hour and a half) but this knee injury is keeping me from that. I could probably start on the stationary bike, but I don’t want to make the thing any worse then it already is.

Today was the start of the rotation again and back to Day 1, Chest and Shoulders. I don’t feel too bad after it, but the day after is always the sore day.

The key is that I just have to keep on plugging away. Failure is not an option.

Still at it!

Posted by Matthew on February 6, 2007
Posted in: Workout and Fitness. Leave a Comment

Sure it’s only day 2, but I’m still at it. Day 1 was Chest and Shoulder day, and today was Arm and Back day. Day 3, tomorrow, should be Legs and Trunk day. Day 4 is rest day, which I will try some standard cardio work, such as a brisk walk or some stationary bike. Like I said earlier, because of a knee injury/problem, I will be mostly skipping the leg exercises for now. I’m going to try to do the exercises without weight and see how possible that will be to start.