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I’ve been slowly working on Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson for the past couple of months. I really wanted to like it because of all the good things I’ve heard about it, but for me it was only okay. I guess the amount of time I spent on it should be an indication of how much I liked it. It took about 100 or so pages for me to and eventually I got to the point where I just wanted it to end. Maybe my next book will be better. Hopefully, it’ll be coming in the mail tomorrow.

• Dreamcatchers, Stephen King
• Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
• Summer of the Monkeys, Wilson Rawls
• The Hedge Knight, George R.R. Martin
• The Sworn Sword, George R.R. Martin
• The Taking, Dean Koontz
• Timeline, Michael Crichton
• Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
• Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• The Long Walk, Richard Bachman (Stephen King)
• His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik
• Throne of Jade, Naomi Novik
• Black Powder War, Naomi Novik
• Empire of Ivory, Naomi Novik
• What Would Jefferson Do?: A Return to Democracy, Thom Hartmann
• A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
• Confessor, Terry Goodkind

Yeah, I voted today. Mississippi is having elections for all the major state offices. There were some local elections too. Going down the ballot, there were some names I recognized from the ads I’ve been seeing/hearing. For the most part I was lost. I haven’t been keeping up with politics as much as I used to. After I left the polling place, I was listening to something on WMSV where they were listing all the candidates for the state offices. I didn’t recognize most of the names that I heard even though I had just seen them on the ballot just a few minutes earlier.

I’m just glad that I don’t have to listen to the ads on the radio anymore. I could always skip the commercials on TV. In one radio commercial, some guy is blasting his opponent’s record on education. He says “His record on education smells worse than your old hog pen” and then you hear hog noises. I am not making that up.

I got my second replacement copy of Halo 3 from Microsoft yesterday. The disc is looks excellent! No scratches! This weekend I’ll finally be playing Halo 3!

What did we do before DVRs? I’m so glad that we have DVRs now. I had heard people say that it changes the way you watch TV, but it really does. Say I’m watching a show like Heroes or LOST and they give you a brief glimpse of something mysterious and important. I can rewind it and watch that part over and over again even if I’m watching it live. I can actually pause and go to bathroom or to get something to eat and not worry about missing anything.

I hardly ever watch anything live. I’m usually watch shows a day or two after they are recorded. It’s good being able to skip through commercials. Who wants to sit through commercials? Sometimes I’ll wait until a show has already been on for a while before I start watching just to I can skip the commercials.

I don’t have to try to in front of the TV at certain times anymore. If I want to record something. I no longer have to worry about making sure that the VCR, TV, and DirecTV receiver are on the proper channel. I don’t have to worry about setting the proper time and channel. It was a big pain and I have up on trying to do all that. It’s all so easy now. I can record new episodes of shows that I like to watch or record reruns of old shows (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Press Your Luck, Tales from the Crypt, 227) just for nostalgia. I think one of these days I’m going to tell it to record 6 hours straight off one of these cable channels I’m interested in trying out.

The biggest problem I have is that both DVRs are about full. I guess we need to start watching stuff or burning them to DVDs. I’m not ready to start deleting unwatched stuff just yet.

Nice being back in New Orleans…taking in the city…good music…Pumpkins were awesome…won money at the casino…lots of walking…muscles still sore…stomach still upset…picture with Wolverine…good time.

I’ve heard all the buzz about Guitar Hero, but I had never played it until tonight. I downloaded the demo from Xbox Live. Although I was using a regular controller and not a guitar to play, IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. I’ve been missing out. Now I want to buy the full game when it comes out, which I think is on Sunday. Damn them and their marketing techniques!!!

Is it coincidence that I did my best on “Even Flow”? “Cherub Rock” is going to be in the full version. After seeing the Pumpkins this weekend, I’ll probably want the game even more. We’ll see if the urge dies down and I end up changing my mind.

I got my replacement copy of the Halo 3 Limited Edition. The Game Disc has a bunch of crap on the bottom. I hope that it’ll actually play and won’t freeze up on me. The Essentials Disc looks perfect. They did throw in a free month of Xbox Live Gold, which is good because my trial subscription ends in 2 days.

Update, 10/21
I tried the Game Disc and it’s unreadable. I’m sending it back in to Microsoft tomorrow. Maybe I’ll finally get to play Halo 3 in another week or two. I hope everyone else hasn’t moved on by then.

Voodoo Fest in New Orleans in 2 weeks. Looking forward to that. Can’t wait to see The Smashing Pumpkins. Haven’t been to a concert since 2003 I think. Haven’t been to New Orleans since that same year. Haven’t been outside of Mississippi since 2004. Shame on me.

The weekend is here relaxation shall commence in about 2 hours. Looking forward to that too. Catch-up time.

A promotion at work and a raise effective January 1. Looking forward to that as well. A promotion also means more responsibilities.

At first I was planning my Xbox 360 purchase around the release of Halo 3. Then I heard about a game called Eternal Sonata. It’s published by Namco Bandai, the same company that made Tales of the Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss. I love those Tales games. Eternal Sonata was coming out a week before Halo 3, so it wasn’t a big deal to plan my purchase around its release instead of Halo 3’s and it was the first game that I played on the 360.

What a great game this is! The graphics are gorgeous. I need to upgrade my TV. The battle system is great. One thing that I think is neat is that the characters and locations are named after musicals terms. Examples are Beat, Viola, and Ritardando.

A lot of people say that the game is too easy. I agree that it is very easy. There are some boss fights and areas that will give you a challenge. I got a little tired of blocking moves every time an enemy attacked. My biggest complaint is the length. I guess I’ve gotten used to very long games. John and I finished (last week or over the weekend) it in about 45 hours and are already more that halfway through the second play through. There are a lot of things you can’t do until the second time through. Yes, I am becoming an achievement point whore.

This is a great game if for fans of RPGs. I hope I didn’t reach the peak on my first 360 game and it doesn’t just go downhill from here.

My copy Halo 3 Limited Edition came in the mail from Amazon yesterday. I had heard about problems with discs coming loose in the Limited Edition. As soon as I picked up the box I could hear the discs moving around. Both discs are messed up. At least Microsoft is replacing them for free. I haven’t even tried putting the game in the system. I’ll probably check to see if they’ll play. Hopefully in about 2 weeks I’ll be playing Halo for real.