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I made a quick, stealthy trip to Austin a couple of weeks ago. A small video game company flew me out there to interview with them. My boss knew about it, but I didn’t tell many other people about. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I’m flattered that they paid for me come out there. I don’t think I’m going to get the job, but it was great being back in Austin again, even if it was only 15 hours. Strangely enough it was 1 year ago that weekend that I made my first trip to Austin to see Conan O’Brien. I’m pretty sure that city is going to be my next home. It’s just a matter of when.

Side Note: It was my first flight in over 11 years. I went from Jackson to Chicago to Austin. The trip back was Austin to Houston to Jackson. This all took place over about 30 hours. I was so tired of flying once it was all over.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K. Dick. I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while. It’s the book that the movie Blade Runner is based on and I wanted to read it before I watched the movie. It’s pretty good. I like these old school sci-fi novels. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic future. The main character is a bounty hunter whose job is to “retire” androids that have escaped to Earth. The movie was good too, but not quite as good as the book.

The Walking Dead Vols. 3 & 4, Robert Kirkman. These 2 volumes were just more goodness. I really liked Vol. 3. I didn’t like Vol. 4 as much as the first 3, but it was still good. I need to get back to work on this series. Maybe this weekend.

The Way of Shadows, Brent Weeks. This book is the first in The Night Angel Trilogy. It’s about a kid who is tired of being bullied and decides to become apprenticed to the city’s best wetboy. A wetboy is an assassin that has a magical power. I liked the story and I’m going to finish the trilogy. I doubt that it’ll be one of my favorite series, but it’s good enough.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemison. This was the latest Sword and Laser selection. It’s the first part of The Inheritance Trilogy. I liked it more than most of the recent S&L choices. A young lady is summoned to appear before her grandfather, who is the ruler of the land. He names her one of his heirs, which sets up a competition between her and her 2 cousins. She’s placed in a power struggle she doesn’t want to be in and at the same time she’s investigating the mysterious death of her mother. I think this is the first fantasy book I’ve read that was written by a black female. The author does a great job constructing the world with all the gods and the political stuff. I liked her characters and the way that she writes. As much as liked this book, I’m not sure I’ll be reading the other 2 books in the trilogy. The first one ended like a stand-alone book and I’ve heard that the second one focuses on different characters.

• Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie
• Awakening, Kate Chopin
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
• Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Mick Foley
• The Associate, John Grisham
• Ford County, John Grisham
• The Fourth Hand, John Irving
• The Turn of the Screw & Daisy Miller, Henry James
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemison
• The Walking Dead, Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 4: The Heart’s Desire, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 5: The Best Defense, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 7: The Calm Before, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 8: Made to Suffer, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 9: Here We Remain, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 10: What We Become, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 11: Fear the Hunters, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 12: Life Among Them, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 13: Too Far Gone, Robert Kirkman
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larson
• The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larson
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larson
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• I Am Number Four, Pittacus Lore
• The Giver, Lois Lowry
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• Suicide Kings, George R.R. Martin
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
• Batman: Year One, Frank Miller
• Either You’re in or You’re in the Way, Logan and Noah Miller
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson
• A Memory of Light, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
• Private Parts, Howard Stern
• The Way of Shadows, Brent Weeks
• Shadow’s Edge, Brent Weeks
• Beyond the Shadows, Brent Weeks
• The Optimist’s Daughter, Eudory Welty
• The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams
• Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams
• To Green Angel Tower, Tad Williams
• Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1 – Unmanned, Brian K. Vaughan

Well, the PlayStation Network has been back for a little over a week. The PlayStation Store should be back soon.

I bought L.A. Noire for the PS3 and everything is fine so far. The only time it froze up was when I foolishly hit the PlayStation Store button. I’m returning the Xbox 360 version today.

I am pleased.

I was very excited to play L.A. Noire when I got it Tuesday. I pre-ordered it when I saw first saw footage of it at the beginning of the year. Everything I saw and heard about it after that made me think that this would be a great game. After all, it’s from Rockstar and they have a great track record.

When I finally got home from work and put the game in, it froze during the opening cut scene. I’m thinking that this is no big deal because every game freezes at some point. I started the game again and got to play for a little while before it froze again. This kept happening, but less and less time passed before it froze again. When I stopped playing I was at a point where I couldn’t progress because the game kept freezing in the same spot. I was MAD. Every once in a while I come across a game that won’t stop freezing on the 360. Call of Duty 4 and Ghostbusters are 2 examples. I figure that it’s something about my console and the game that don’t go well together. Maybe I just need a new Xbox? I was thinking about sending my copy of L.A. Noire back and getting the PS3 version. However, these comments on the Rockstar website and other articles I’ve seen show that many people are having the same problem on the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Not everybody, but it seems like enough to show that there is a problem.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do at this point. Maybe they’ll figure something out before my 2-week window to return the game is over. I’m just disappointed that I can’t play the game. What I did get to play was a lot of fun. I hope I can continue soon.

Remember when one of the benefits of console gaming over PC gaming was that you could count on any game released on a console to work on that console? I guess that’s not the case anymore.

I’ve received several notices a few weeks ago saying that my personal information may have been or has been compromised by hackers. One was from Ohio State, one was from Best Buy, and one was from another company that I can’t remember right now.

This PlayStation Network intrusion that happened a week or so ago has me pissed off the most. Basically, the network was hacked and our customer data was obtained. Sony took the PSN down, began an investigation, and began rebuilding the system so it would be more secure. First I was just a little annoyed by not having access to the network. But I got mad when 6 days later Sony told us exactly what information was accessed: name, address, birth date, PSN ID, password, security question, email address, and possibly credit card number and expiration date. Somebody can do some damage with the information. And it was 6 days before we were told this. I understand that they took their time doing a forensic analysis and wanted to know for sure what damage had been done, but still. And why aren’t passwords encrypted??? At least we now know that credit card numbers were encrypted. They still don’t know if those were accessed. It would be nice to know which credit card I have on file with them, but there’s no way I can find out from them because the network is still down. I’ve heard that you can’t even call and find out. I feel sorry for their customer service representatives.

They’re expecting to have some services restored by May 3, which is about 2 weeks after it was taken down. I wonder if they’ll give a partial refund to us paying customers. I hope their improvements will make PSN more secure. I’m eager to get back on, remove my credit card information just to be safe, and start enjoying the service again.

We had an exciting day yesterday, but not in a good way. Bad weather is one of the most exciting things that happen around here, and it’s not the kind of excitement you want. I’m just now getting a chance to see the videos of the tornado in Tuscaloosa yesterday. They got hit hard. Smithville, MS, which is north of here, is two-thirds gone.

The weather here never got that bad as far as I know. We mostly had to deal with inconveniences. The whole Golden Triangle area (Starkville, Columbus, and West Point) at least lost power around 4pm. I don’t know how all this works. Apparently, the Tennessee Valley Authority supplies power to this region. Somewhere they suffered damage, and that caused us to lose power. At first I was hearing on Twitter that it would be 2-3 days or longer before we got power back, but it ended up taking about 8 hours.

Being without power made me once again realize how dependent I am on technology. It’s not just that I couldn’t watch TV or use the Internet on my laptop. I also couldn’t cook or go get food. The few places that were open probably couldn’t take debit cards, so I wouldn’t have been able to pay for anything. I was certain that the university would have power back because of the Maroon Alert updates I was receiving on my phone, so I figured that I might have to go back to work even though I didn’t have power at home. But I didn’t have much gas in my car and didn’t know how I would get some. Luckily, we got power back. Before it got too dark, Coldstone Creamery gave out free ice cream rather than let it melt. It was fun to get out of boring house for a little while and be around a large group of people.

I’m glad that things have settled down today. I’m tired of the bad weather that we’ve gotten at least once a week this month. Hopefully, that’s it for a while.

I think it was last week that I kept seeing “http://thatcan.be/my/next/tweet” in people’s tweets.  It didn’t make sense and I figured I had just missed something since I was in a training class and wasn’t following Twitter closely.  It turns out that particular site “generates future tweets based on the DNA of your existing messages”.  I generated 10 tweets for myself.  I guess I say “wow” and “lol” a lot.

• Got a week. yes, brand new trending topic location is Ealmart getting Portal 2 Launch Mississippi gains.
• DirecTV customers can see him in my iPhone cam around I like it yes wow lol Bad Des!
• Anybody getting hungry again and stones may break my least favorite season 1 Watched a good things about.
• I like the rest of someone lol I’m at the house hunters I had a long time flies They a week.
• I like the week 😀 Sorry, I don’t remember this video out — Destructive Jackson, MS It’s a case for HBO?
• I saw it to be waiting a week. yes, brand new camera Wednesday and Castle he was having yes wow lol I?
• You could see Wilfred now I am watching Hereafter Check this email I was surprised when it yes wow lol I.
• Marking another one does not much, dude. Hope you’re doing good way tonight lol after I can see him in.
• Teehee xbox preview at the rest of Tokyo 8), Kanye West 5) & Green Day 3) oh…
• Oh that new trending topic location is that one lol hi tornado watch viva la revolution burger It’s.

Spring is my favorite time of the year. I hate cold weather and I love warm weather, so I get excited when it starts to warm up again. I also like that people wear less clothing and I get to smell freshly cut grass again.

I was very excited when the weather got warm recently, but then it got cold and rainy. I think it’s supposed to get better for a little while this weekend. I can’t wait for a little stability!

I think 2008 was when I decided that I really wanted to go to San Diego Comic-Con at some at least once. I’m pretty sure I had heard of it before then, but I don’t think I seriously considered going. What changed? 2008 is when I started using Twitter. So many people I know on Twitter went that year and had a great time, so that made me want to go. For various reasons I put off going in 2009 and 2010, but last year I decided that 2011 would be the year that I went unless something major came up.

As of today, it’s pretty much a certainty. It would take something major for me to change my mind. I’m not going to recap the troubles of buying tickets. I’m glad that it’s over. Today I received confirmation of my hotel room and put down the deposit. I’ll buy a place ticket soon. I don’t think there’s any need to worry about every airline selling out, is there?

It looks like I’ll get to mark item #2 off my list. To me that seemed like the one that I would be most likely to change my mind on. Next year I hope to go to SXSW in Austin.

San Diego, here I come!

I love tech and I love getting new tech.  I’m usually not one of the first people to go out and buy a new gadget.  I’m not rich enough for that.  Once the price starts to go down or a 2^nd or 3^rd generation of a device is released, that’s usually when I start to look into buying it.  I ordered a new device recently (details after I get it) and that made me realize that I haven’t bought a lot of new tech over the last year or so.

Last summer I got a Roku to go in the bedroom.  I realized that I was missing lying in bed and watching TV.  It was going to be too much hassle and an extra monthly charge to get DirecTV to put a receiver in there.  Buying a Roku would just be a 1-time cost.  With Roku, I now have access to Netflix Watch Instantly, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and even TWiT and Revision 3 shows.  There’s always plenty to watch on each.  It’s definitely been a great investment.

After Thanksgiving I ordered a new Dell laptop.  It was kind of an impulse.  Dell has always been good to me, so I decided to stick with that brand.  My 4-year old laptop was fine.  I was running Windows Vista on it.  It took a while for it to start up and shut down, but I wasn’t noticing any sluggishness during normal use unless I tried to play games on it.  This new one made me realize just how old the other one was.  This one, of course, is much faster with more RAM and more storage.  It has a larger, HD display.  It has Windows 7, which is much better than Vista.  I can actually play new games on this and that is a plus.  After having it for a few months, startup and shutdown is still so much faster than it was on my old laptop.  I think my favorite new feature is the built-in webcam.  I don’t use it yet, but I do want to start chatting with people.  Another great investment.

I also got a Seagate 1.5 TB external hard drive and a cool Logitech USB headset, but those don’t seem like anything special.