November 2006

So here’s the summary.

Having gone momentarily insane over the Black Friday specials at Best Buy, my wife decided that we would make sure we were able to snag two particular items:  a $250 Toshiba laptop, and a $130 Samsung MiniDV camcorder.  Of course, to do this, she dropped me off at the front door of the store around 5:30PM on Thanksgiving as we were driving back from dinner in Connecticut.  Having arrived at 5:30PM, I found myself #6 in line, behind a family from Manhattan who’d been there since 2PM, some nice people who arrived around 3:30PM from the Bronx, and a dude from Jersey named Paulie.

Fast-forward.  Wife arrives back at Best Buy around 9PM with blankets, my Nintendo DS, a couple of books for me, and some chairs.  Thankfully I had already established a perimeter using my Evil Stare, and thus had a bench for myself and the aforementioned Paulie.  Wife goes up to Dave & Buster’s and snags us some dinner so we don’t go insane.  I discovered that I had a knack for something:  when someone came up and set up their chair near the front of the line, I didn’t have to say a word.  I just hunch down in my chair and start staring.  Eventually they become unnerved and ask the other people in line why I’m staring at them, at which point the others inform them that it would probably be a damn fine idea for them to get to the back of the line where they belong.

Fast-forward some more.  We managed to get 3 vouchers for doorbuster deals somehow, and ended up with the following:

• Toshiba L35-S2151 laptop
• Samsung MiniDV camcorder (since given to Sara’s brother)
• Panasonic MiniDV camcorder
• 2 Motorola Bluetooth headsets
• 4 4-packs of MiniDV tapes
• Blazing Saddles on DVD

All in all, fairly successful, and I’ve learned that people do not want to mess with me when I’ve had little to no sleep in a 25-hour period because apparently I give off a vibe that says “I bet I would feel rested if I drove a pipe wrench into your face” or something like it.

And props to Ken for snagging me the 400gb external hard disk from Staples.  Awesome.

I am currently sitting outside of a Best Buy waiting for them to open in about… 6 hours.  Wife and I are 6 and 7 in line.  I am insane.  I am going more insane.

A Best Buy employee gave us the WEP key for their wifi, so I borrowed someone’s laptop to keep in touch with the world at large.  I have a problem.  Clearly.  For many reasons.

Drums, drums in the deep.  There is no way out.  We cannot escape.

They come.

In the fine tradition of Jorge’s weather posts, I say…

“It looks like Armageddon outside.”

WHY, WHY DOES THE WEATHER LOOK LIKE A SNAKE STRIKING AT THE NORTHEAST?

There is what I would consider a long-running inside joke about ArsTechnica having a bit of a Mac bias. So what do I see today when I’m reading an article?

Today’s Penny Arcade may long hold a place in my heart.  I’ve been feeling more like this lately - out of touch with the modern gamer, despite my assertion that I am, in fact, a gamer.  I’d say that I’ve been a gamer since I was 4 years old in 1981 and started playing Dungeon on the family’s Apple.

I just don’t know much longer I can do it.  I’ve accepted that out of the “next-generation” consoles, I will probably get the Wii and that’s about it.  Games like White Knight Story make me feel funny in special places, but I’ve gotten to the point where I’m looking at it and saying “OK, let’s get real.  $600 for the console, another $60-80 for the game, and the TV in your office isn’t even hi-def.  You’re insane.”

And I’m coming to accept that.  Emulation has been my saving grace.  I can now play Bard’s Tale until my eyes fall out on any platform in the house, and it doesn’t matter.  Amiga games?  You bet.  Apple 2?  Damn straight.  Feeling self-abusive and up to giving Wizardry 4 a try?  Hey, therapy is part of my medical package.

But what brought this on, you say?  I was looking at the minimum specs for Neverwinter Nights 2.  I may have been subvocalizing them as I read, but as I read them, I swear I could hear my game PC, and it was crying like a child in front of a puppy that had been smashed by a hammer.  It was bad.