Not because of the stupid elections, but Harmonix is releasing a very appropriate track pack for Rock Band: Presidents of the United States of America!

At the beginning of the year, I made a list of my most wanted bands for DLC. The second on that list was PUSA, and before the end of the year I’ll be able to play four of their songs. JOY!

Word of the millennium: tutorial

I read somewhere that adding images to your blog posts makes them more fun to read. I went back and added images to some of my recent posts.

What do you think? Keep adding the images or don’t waste my time?

Hey today marks exactly one month until my 25th birthday.

In completely unrelated news, I’ve updated my wishlist page with a few recent DVD and game releases I’d like to pick up sooner or later.

After an epic triple overtime in game five to lose, and a game six with a final minute that had me on the edge of my seat, the Detroit Red Wings have brought home the trophy. Congratulations, you guys earned it.

Special shout out to Dan Cleary, who is now the first Newfoundlander to win the Stanley Cup in the history of hockey. You’re my hero, Dan!

My weekend was interesting, thanks for asking.

On Friday I had to cut my workday short due to lack of energy. I’d been feeling the effects of a nasty cold since late Tuesday. I missed a goodbye party for a co-worker and a movie with other co-workers. Towards the end of the day, I started feeling severely dehydrated – really high fever, headaches, dizziness, the works. Around 9:30 I went into the basement where it was cool, and drank a gallon of water. Started feeling better around midnight, then went to bed. I have a new appreciation for water.

Saturday I was feeling much better, so I went out and ran a few errands and did a few things to start cleaning the house for my sister’s rehearsal dinner. At 9 I went to watch the guys play soccer (I hated not being able to play), then we hit the bar as normal. Looking back, I probably should not have gone, but I’m glad I did, ’cause I got to play a few games of euchre with some strangers from another table. Unfortunately, we were seated at a smoking section, which, again, probably wasn’t the best for my current health situation. Especially since the smoke smell infused itself in the mucus caking my lungs and nasal passages so every time I blew my nose or coughed, I would get that wonderful cigarette fragrance. YUCK!

Sunday I tried to get rid of some of that mucus so I picked up a thing of Mucinex on a recommendation. Unfortunately the side-effects of this particular drug (nausea, headaches, vomiting) hit me pretty hard. I didn’t hurl, but I had to summon all of my limited iron-stomach powers not to. I won’t be finishing the bottle – the side-effects are certainly worse than the symptoms it cures.

How was your weekend? How much water have you drunk today?

Know what that means?

Have a listen to this.

Dear Chick-who-honked-at-me-and-flicked-me-off,

When two people arrive at the same time across from each other at a 4-way stop, one is going left and the other is going straight, the person who is going straight gets the right of way. Them’s the rules.

Love, Plaidman.

Plaidsoft was born a year ago yesterday! YAY!

The kitties were born a year ago on this coming up Tuesday! YAY!

Two weeks ago I was surfing the interwebs and I happened upon an article about a group of dudes who had plans to run through four Legend of Zelda games (Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess) in 48 hours – Friday 5pm to Sunday 5pm – and stream it live. I made a mark on my calendar to watch the spectacle on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday I booted up my computer and pointed my browser to the broadcast to see that he had already beaten OoT and headed on to MM, and they started taking pizza donations. The day trudged along and I left for my soccer game and went to bed. Sunday morning I opened up the laptop and noticed they had converted their pizza fund to a donation to Child’s Play, a charity that brings entertainment into the lives of sick children via video games and boardgames. In the 48 hours they didn’t complete all four games, but they did gather over $1200 for the charity. Quite generous of their viewers.

So generous, they decided to do it again the next week, and every following week thereafter, hoping to raise at least $10k by the end of the year. Last week they attempted a speed run through the Zelda game they didn’t complete (Twilight Princess) and gathered over $300 in 12 hours! This week they are going to make a run through Paper Mario. Since they haven’t played it before, they’re starting early – around 10am (central time) – and are, again, accepting donations for Child’s Play.

Their live broadcast can be viewed on cameronbanga.com (with their blog), or justin.tv (with live chat). If you would like to donate to the cause, you can do so through their PayPal account.

It’s only a week into 2008, and here I am preparing for another conference. This time it’s a little bit more in my area of interest. Unfortunately, since my company is paying for the registration costs and the room, I won’t be able to decide *all* the sessions I attend – just a few of them. I’m sure the sessions that are beneficial for the programming group will be interesting. A ‘party’ is scheduled for the end of the day Friday. When I think of conferences and parties, I immediately flash back to the rave that was featured at the tanning conference last October. Since this is a programmer’s conference I imagine the party will be much less retarded. I hope.

On the subject of 2008, I thought I’d share some of my resolutions.

1. Fix my bike or buy a new one.
2. Between biking and running, travel at least 150 miles.
3. Post in the blog more.
4. Learn PERL or Python.

I ran 3 miles in the past week, and made 3 posts in 3 weeks. I think I’m doing pretty good.