Life goes on…
The baby isn’t a baby anymore. Today she is 2 years old! I’m still amazed by her, in every way. We let her pick out her gifts and she had very definite opinions on what she liked and didn’t. It was really awesome seeing her make decisions and act based on her own opinions. I think it gives her more of a motivation to be verbal as well (although she already has some words she uses regularly). The ‘party’ is tomorrow, so maybe I’ll post some pictures after the ordeal is over.
The job situation is looking pretty bad. No telling how much longer it will last. I wish things had happened differently, but they didn’t, and so here we are. There are leads and prospects that I’m following up on. Hopefully they will turn into something fairly lucrative. K has gotten herself a promotion, so she is very happy. She’s really worked hard and earned it, so I’m very proud of her as well.
I just finished Xenosaga II. Ugh. I really loved the story, but I hated the battle mechanics. I don’t use that word lightly either: HATED. As in, I put off playing the whole series for 6 months because I didn’t like it that much. So I finally popped it into the PS3 (version 1.5 now) and beat it. I did no grinding, and I didn’t finish up the side quests. I then moved on to Xenosaga 3 and was pleasantly surprised with a brisk beginning story and a good battle system for both the ‘on-foot’ characters and the E.S.’s (mecha, basically). I’ve only put maybe 15 hours into it so far, but I think I’m going to like this one a lot. Bravo to Namco-Bandai for pulling this series out of the gutter and making it fun again.
Last Boss
I’m something of a procrastinator when it comes to finishing video games. Even the most horrible lackluster stories won’t keep me from actually playing through most of an RPG. I especially enjoy grinding on bad RPG’s, because I’m only interested in the mechanics, and grinding gives you a good sense of how balanced a system actually is. A good story will usually interfere with my grind, because I’m too interested in finding out what happens next to sit and watch the numbers. However, even if the story is good, I’ll sometimes forget to beat the last boss and watch the ending. There’s no more stat building at that point, so it sometimes seems a bit pointless if the story isn’t captivating enough. Tonight I beat Dragon Quest 8, even though I’ve had it all but beaten since before November. It wasn’t a bad story, but it wasn’t hard to guess. Makes me wonder if Blue Dragon isn’t going to be this same tripe with an FF5 job system. Oh well, I like FF5′s job system.
Going to be selling the 360 until the new model comes out later in the year. I’ll be a lot happier with the whole package if they reduce the heat and give me a bigger hard drive. Of course, if they put the HD DVD drive in it and add the HDMI port like I’ve read, I won’t complain. Go ahead and charge 5 or 6 hundred for it, MS. Hardcore gamers and HD enthusiasts will pay that, no problem. I was really enjoying having HD Star Trek (TOS, of course!) available, but I’d filled up the HD already, and we don’t have many games to play on it. My wife was playing Lumines on it, but she got L2 on the PSP and has been playing on there since then – more skins for less, really. Anyway, must get back to finishing something or another – I’ve got 5 more bosses to beat tonight! 
In gadget news…
Just picked up a new Hebrew-English dictionary called the Babylon (by Modan). What drew me initially was the promise that it stored 6 million words (although this includes conjugations and declensions) and 300,000 idioms. For me that means I can look at a word in modern or ancient Hebrew, type it in, and have a good chance of getting a decent definition. In addition, it’s a sturdy little unit, with a leather case, and a screen/keypad protector thrown in for good measure. The extra functions seem superfluous to me, and the screen is more like an old calculator than the dictionaries I’m used to seeing, but I can forgive that for the sake of utility.
Memery
Sorry WordPress readers, I can only guarantee this for LJ readers…
“Reply to this post, and I will tell you my favorite icon of yours.
Then post this to your own journal using your own favorite icon.”
Reposted after having replied to dybbuk67
Hemingway
I’ve long admired this WordPress theme. So today, because I was already going to install the WordPress 2.0.7 mini-update, I thought I’d tinker with that a little and see if I could get it working. I added a tag cloud and the XSPF player I’ve grown fond of recently, then took out the text header and replaced it with the Ayrkain.com site logo. Then I put the Kadmon tagged posts on the front to keep the content focused. I think it turned out nicely. I need to add some navigation to it, but that will have to wait.
Edit: Well, after looking at it in IE and realizing that a third of my traffic still uses it, I decided to go back to my old standby: Citrus. Ah well, Hemingway didn’t even use widgets, just custom PHP “blocks” that you had to insert yourself. Probably won’t be compatible with WP 2.1 (which should be out next month I’ve heard).
iPhone
Damn! That is hawt!!!
Homebrew makes me happy
The PSP Homebrew community (specifically a hacker named Dark_AleX) has figured out how to get PS1 games running at full speed on the PSP, by using a custom firmware and mimicking the licensing scheme from the crappy titles that Sony put on the PSN Store (Hot Shots Golf… yeah, that was a hit). I’ve spent the last day or so backing up my old PS1 discs and making ISO’s out of them. So far, I’m really looking forward to playing through Xenogears and Final Fantasy Tactics most of all, but there are others that I never got around to playing, like Rhapsody (which appeared on the Japanese PSN Store, but not the US PSN Store). I gotta say, I’m in homebrew bliss. (Edit: Before I could even finish editing my draft, DAX released a new version that I’ve been tinkering with since last night – 3.03 OE-A, which is compatible with all the latest legit UMD games as well as the Popstation ISO’s)
Also, just upgraded to WordPress 2.0.6. More bug fixes and a few little features here and there. Good stuff all around, and I just got my WP t-shirt too! 
Anyway, Shabbat Shalom!
Eyes to see
To look upon something is a powerful act, in and of itself. I put her to bed, rubbing her forehead and hair softly. Her eyes slowly close, and she begins to snore lightly. I look at her, and see all the curves of her face that show how much of a baby she still is. I look through, to the blue mist, and then again, beyond it. It is now alien to me and no longer recognizable as separate from anything around. Impressions of mustered stubbornness linger, then fade as the textures take focus for a second. Eyelashes are butterfly spikes, and the darkness compliments the swirling blue patterns that emanate then fade. I transition back, identifying the nose first, because it is distinctive and rounded. The lips give me a chance to reorient, and then eyes. It always leads me back to the eyes. I haven’t moved, and was only gone for a second. The journeys grow longer as I get older, and perhaps someday I will journey deeply into a blade of grass, a summer sky, or a storm cloud. But for now, I am content.
