Yahoo got a redesign. Looks a lot better now, more consise and clean. I'm a big fan of clean web designs. The buzz log is also pretty interesting. Kinda like Google Zeitgeist but more fun since it assigns a numerical value to the search entries (like a stock market for popular search terms).
Lexus gave me a quote of $1100 for replacing four tires. Uh, no way. a) the stock IS300 tires are nice but wear out really quickly. b) Searching online, the tire was around $170 about a year ago (might even be cheaper now). Lexus probably even gets a nicer deal from Bridgestone since they buy in bulk. So they are trying to screw me to the tone of ~$420 for labor. Anyways, decided to go with EmotionGarage, they offered me a more cost-effective solution. Might hit them up for future car mods if I'm so inclined.
My character in TW2005 is now maxed out. Playing on the PGA tour now. When I get too bored I'll amp up the difficulty and watch the bogeys pile up.
Chicago Cubs. Jolted again in the bottom of the ninth, two outs, two strikes. This almost makes up for the Rockies pulling a complete choke job and wasting a 5-0 lead in the ninth. Clint Hurdle is an idiot for not pulling Chacon who had walked FOUR batters in a row.
GO GIANTS!
¶ 6:28 PM 0 comments
The gameplay is similar to TW2004. The main reason you keep playing is the create player/golf RPG. It's just tons of fun to win tourneys, earn money, unlock items in the pro shop, increment your attributes, and do it all over again. There are an infinite number of ways to customize your character. As if sports games weren't addictive enough, right? After years of gamers hacking their PC copy to add individual shoes to the game, NBA Live finally added this option last year. Fighting games are doing it too, with VF4 starting the trend and Tekken5 continuing it. Customizable characters, unlockable items, some kind of career mode -- good.
The first character I created was myself. Pretty standard right? There are a ton of sliders to adjust so you can try to recreate yourself as accurately as possible. If you want an orc you can click randomize and it'll spit out some hideous creature. The guy I created just turned out to be the typical asian, was hard to get any closer. I got quickly bored of me, and next tried to create Michael Jordan. Beyond Tiger, there aren't that many "cool" golfers in the world. Two minutes later, I got frustrated and gave up. Then I created golf's "Anna Kournikova" and she's been my character ever since :)
There are a ton of new courses this year. Edgewood@Tahoe is quite fun to play, as is the course in Japan (I'm guessing they got the idea for Mount Fuji in the background from LOST IN TRANSLATION). However they axed a bunch of last years courses, only 3 remain. A bit of a shame, why not keep the old ones as well. Guess I'll have to fire up the course editor. Graphics this year are outstanding with lush vegetation and awesome water effects. My only complaint would be that some of the "victory animations" get repetitive.
At first I started out by dueling the local wackos on the legend tour. After beating them, I switched to playing tournaments where you can earn huge sums of money. This allows you to take lessons where you can improve your golf skills even more (i.e. controlling the amount of spin on your shots). There are also golfing challenges where you earn more money.
Basically there are a billion things to do. Say goodbye to your social life (if you are lucky enough to have one).
¶ 10:53 AM 0 comments
That pissed me off cuz beforehand my comp ran every benchmark/stress test fine at those settings. My CPU is supposed to be one of them "special" ones that can do 3.3GHz easy! Anyways, I finally noticed that my 3.3/5/12V rails were way low. Abit is notorious for undervolting their boards, but shouldn't be that bad. Turns out that my OTES fan had failed and the unit was just heating up the rest of the board. Removed it, reapplied some AS5 on my CPU, and so far everything is working great. Thank god, cuz I was actually thinking of RMAing my PSU.
2.4C@3.3GHz 275 FSB, 1GB XMS3500 running at 5:4 (220MHz) w/ 2-3-2-6 timings.
Abit still owes me an OTES unit.
¶ 11:14 PM 0 comments
That was too fucking sweet....
Plus the cubs lose by giving up a 3-run homer in the bottom of the ninth with two outs.
GO GIANTS!
¶ 4:32 PM 0 comments
Some things I noticed about this car compared to my 2001 model.
- outstanding responsiveness, at least compared mine. Hopefully the service will resolve some of those issues.
- now has presets for seat position. Old hat for Lexus sedans but a first for the IS series.
- CD slot now has dust cover - I like. Mine is all dusty :(
- nicer arm rest, but less space in the compartment underneath
- dashboard looks more ricey - no like
- groove in the gas hole cover to put the gas cap - really good (LS has had this for a while)
- little net type thing in the trunk
- spoiler in the back, not too ricey
- when you start the engine, the doors automatically lock. Good if you live in East Palo Alto I guess. What's weird is that even tho the doors are locked from the aside, when you pull the door latch -- it still opens.
- nicer cup holder divider
- NEW CAR SMELL! man, they need to bottle that and sell it, cuz I'd buy like 10 of 'em (so would every used-car dealership in the world).
Overall, nice, but not THAT much nicer. Still eats up gas like nothing. Wonder if there were any under-the-hood changes.
P.S. A curse on whoever messed up my mango smoothie. I had to eat it with a spoon. :p
¶ 1:27 PM 0 comments
Come on! I have 2 referrals and need 3 more. Sign up for the AOL account and cancel, or the ebay credit card. Those are the easiest methods. Heheh, AOL was like "you have only used AOL for 12 minutes, you have a whole 230492340923 hours left." Me: go away, I'm cancelling.
¶ 10:37 AM 0 comments
Man I really have a thing for hot girls telling me what to do with my money. No, no, no THAT type of girl (cough, CF, cough). Really hot BANKER girls. Mmmmmm...
So anyways, the last time that happened, my accounts got all screwy, and got hit with $165 fee for too many transactions on my ATM card. WTF! So called up BofA and they moved some money around and rescinded the fee. All good, right? Well I still wanted to go to that particular branch (branch with the hotties, for real!) to deposit some money and gab about what happened. This particular branch is pretty aggressive at trying to push you towards different accounts. I'm sure they benefit from it, but as long as I get no fee, it's all good.
So right as I'm trying to fill out the deposit form, hottie #1 starts by going "Yoo-hoo that pen doesn't work, use mine over here." Damn that was quick. So then I do my "BofA messed me my accounts, need recommendations on what to do." First she stammers "I don't know" then recovers and goes into her routine. Yeah she's doing her job but she's cute and i get to talk to her. Hah! I'm acting all clueless about everything (well not too hard in this case, dunno jack about banking). Lucky for me hottie #2 (the banker) that has to take care of me is even hotter.
Anyways we go to her office and she spouts off a bunch of info. Her perfume is pretty overpowering, reminds me of ... (ahaha Kenny u know what I'm talking about. biyatch). I want to know how this branch does their hiring ... and compliment them on it! She then whacks away at the computer for like 10 minutes while I just sit there, enjoying the view. Hottie #3 walks by, gotta hit her up next time I deposit some money. Anyways, all I really need is
1) Go back to an account where I won't be hit with stupid fees.
2) Maximize the rest of the money, put it somewhere where I get a decently high interest rate.
3) Her cellphone # (JUST KIDDING. I ain't a player).
Anyways I accomplished everything with the exception of #3. I did get her work number in case I have any questions. I guess I'll just have to formulate a long list of complicated questions in my spare time. ;)
Anyways, go to the BofA in Milpitas, they'll take REAL good care of you...
¶ 4:23 PM 0 comments
Xanga is the sole domain of young asian girls from what I hear. I guess they like to get into intricate details about their relationship for their own future reference. Even though their friends, their friends's friends, and all the mothers of those people are reading their blog. That must be why Ambar is on there... J/K Bar. So anyways, it was either blogger.com or livejournal.com, both have pretty clean UI's. This one is working for me so far, so I'll stick to it.
I dunno how the group thing works, but they have an option for it. Join my group! I'll try to take the requisite five minutes a day to post something interesting.
I'm out.
¶ 1:05 PM 0 comments
