Donkey Kong and the Classics

I’ve been playing some of my old MAME32 games like Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. 1943 Battle of Midway, Galaga, Mappy and Xevious. I especially enjoy the Donkey Kong games.

These old games from the early 80’s bring back a lot of good memories. I dropped a lot quarters into Donkey Kong when it first came out. I spent a lot of time attempting to get past the “pie level“.

One thing that makes these games fun today is their accessibility. I can fire them up for 30 minutes and still have a lot of fun. I don’t have to invest hours before getting anywhere. They don’t require any patches or downloads. I don’t need a cheat book to make it past the third level. There’s a simplicity that’s been lost with many games today that cost fifty bucks.

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Wii passes 360 in worldwide sales

Take a look at the chart below which represents total lifetime, worldwide sales of the big 3 consoles. (Found at VGChartz)

A few thoughts come to mind:

  1. The 360 has bombed in Japan. Less than 500K sold.
  2. Imagine how much further ahead Wii would be if they were available. They are still hard to find most places.
  3. Sony is barely in the game. Good thing they still have the PS2.
  4. Looking only at Japan sales, the Wii beats the combined sales of Sony and Microsoft.

It’s funny to see Nintendo and Sony swap places going back just a couple of years. Nintendo has shown that innovative games still rock and will sell well. People will pay to be able to play franchise games like Zelda and Mario that aren’t available on the other consoles.

I love seeing Nintendo kick some Sony and Microsoft butt. Nintendo is also the only company to make money selling their console. Both Microsoft and Sony sell theirs at a loss. Nintendo is in a good position to further their lead over the next year. Sony has no momentum and Microsoft is taking a $1 billion hit to replace defective 360’s, effectively scaring away many potential buyers.

Update: Microsoft wireless racing wheel overheats. Someone needs to start a contest to see who can guess the next 360 part to overheat. My money is on the HD-DVD player.

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Jumping through hoops at the Horizon Fitness website

Our Horizon treadmill that’s about 16 months old stopped working last week. I went online and found the Horizon website. After looking around for a bit I located the section where one can request service.

Check out the service request page below. I get the feeling that Horizon is making it as difficult and time consuming as possible in hopes that many owners get frustrated and just leave.

The service request form asks for information pertaining to where I bought the treadmill which is fine although why would they think I’d have their phone and fax number let alone the STORE EMAIL??!! How would I know what the store email is and why would Horizon make it a required field? I think I know why.

This is the 2nd time I’ve filled out the form. I filled it out last week and never heard back. I’m going to call them tomorrow. Whatever bucket the service requests are making it into via their website isn’t being checked. It’s a black hole.

Nice work, Horizon. Do you think I’ll ever recommend your products?

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Joel says Office 2007 box has learning curve

Office2007box After watching a coworker spend some time figuring out how to open a box of Office 2007 Pro I understand Joel’s frustrations. I don’t know why Microsoft decided to get all cute with their boxes, but isn’t the idea to make it as quick and painless to get to the product for your customer who just shelled out hundreds of dollars? The Office 2007 box looks like a book with its curved edge. If it looks like a book I’d assume it would open like a book. I guess not. For the most part, I’ve liked using Office 2007. Outlook works quite well and I really like Excel 2007.

Joel also had this to say about Vista. I couldn’t agree more.

I’ve been using Vista on my home laptop since it shipped, and can say with some conviction that nobody should be using it as their primary operating system — it simply has no redeeming merits to overcome the compatibility headaches it causes. Whenever anyone asks, my advice is to stay with Windows XP (and to purchase new systems with XP pre-installed).

Apple clutter vs. PC Clutter

What a great picture showing a major difference between a Mac and a PC.

My PC’s cable management looks a lot worse than the PC in this picture. Kim has the Dell 410 and it doesn’t look this messy because we keep the computer on the floor and drape the cables off the back of the table facing the wall.

But the new iMac does look very elegant as one would expect. But it still seems strange to me that when the iMac become out of date I’d have to toss the whole thing, monitor and all. My experience has been that my monitors usually outlast my computer by at least a generation or two. imackeyboard_4_20070807

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WordPress blog in 5 minutes

I was chatting with my mother-in-law tonight and she was asking questions about my blog and explaining some of the limitations she’s run up against hosting her blog on Blogger. I decided I’d get her up and running on WordPress.

A few years ago it might have taken hours to get a WordPress blog The image “https://i0.wp.com/www.asuperhost.com/asuperhost-pics/fantastico.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.running from scratch. Tonight it took less than 5 minutes. Here’s how I did it:

  1. Logged into my control panel at Bluehost which runs my website and this blog.
  2. Added  domain to my account and parked it for ten bucks.
  3. Used Fantastico to install WordPress 2.2. This is one slick utility. Creates the MySQL database and user account.
  4. Updated WordPress theme.

It was quick and painless. I spent a little more time adding a few more plugins and importing her posts from Blogger which worked very well. She downloaded Windows Live Writer which would install on her XP machine but when it tried to configure her blog setting would error out (missing some attribute) and close down. Installing it on her Vista laptop took care of the problem, but it was frustrating since it worked fine for me on XP.

But overall it was still easy to get everything up and running.

My top 12 favorite song parts

Almost all of my favorite songs have a part that’s just perfect. Where on each listen I’ll wait for the moment when everything comes together. Sometimes it’s a certain chord. Or drum solo or vocal. Many times it’s hard to explain the part to someone, even if they’ve heard of it. After a lot of listening and some editing I’ve narrowed down my top 12 favorite songs parts. I’ll start with my very favorite one but after that I couldn’t rank them. These are the songs I never tired of. What are your personal favorites?

Running to a Stand Still by U2 – One of the few songs that can give me chills. A friend of mine once called it “the perfect song” and I agree. But the part that makes it special is the ending where Bono pulls out the harmonica with soft guitar in the background. It’s hard to describe. If you haven’t seen Rattle and Hum on DVD it’s worth a watch if for only this song. Otherwise you can view it here.

[audio:standstill.mp3]

Bargain by The Who – At about two thirds into this classic, Pete Townsend slows it down with a gorgeous, mesmerizing guitar that leads to a crazy cool drum explosion by Keith Moon. It’s sad that Moon wouldn’t live much longer because this was the time when two music giants fused their sound and made magic.

[audio:bargain.mp3]

I’m your Captain by Grand Funk Railroad – This one is hard to explain. This epic song is nearly ten minutes long, but it’s around the eight minute mark where, in the middle of a jam, vocal lead Mark Farner, yells out, “SOME BAD, SOME BAD” yet many people miss it since it’s a bit muted. I don’t know why I like this so much. Maybe it’s the orchestra. Maybe the build-up or the amazing drums intertwined in it all. I don’t know, but it makes the song one of my favorites.

[audio:yourcaptain.mp3]

A Day in the Life by The Beatles – One of the better known endings in rock and roll and for good reason. It was so amazingly refreshing when it came out and yet nobody has approached it today lest they be compared to the Beatles. The song is weird to begin with and the ending just feels so unexpected the first time you hear it. This massive build up that sounds like it’s going to explode followed by the slight pause and then Mal Evans slams down the final piano chord that makes history. The producers were smart enough to let the piano linger a bit. Absolutely fantastic.

[audio:dayinthelife.mp3]

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC – Probably my favorite opening riff. Sounds so menacing that it’s impossible to listen to unless the volume is cranked way up. I love the methodic drums in the background as they complement that angry guitar from Angus Young. Downright intimidating.

[audio:dirtydeeds.mp3]

I Fought the Law by The Clash – Short but sweet. The cool galloping drums followed by that sweet guitar chord that launches into a great tune. Of all their songs, the first of this song personifies the Clash for me: high-strung, skilled and immediate.

[audio:foughtthelaw.mp3]

Hey You by Pink Floyd – I can’t even imagine how many times I’ve listened to this opening guitar by David Gilmore. Several of my friends who were not Floyd fans were won over once they heard this opening. So simple. So relaxing. Like many of their songs, they are best listened to in the flow of the entire album. But this was the song and the part that won me over to The Wall.

[audio:heyyou.mp3]

Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg – I know, I know. The song is a bit corny and you’re probably wondering how some mellow 80’s tune makes the list. I’ll tell you why: I’m a sucker for the saxophone. And the ending of this song includes some of the best sax I’ve heard. The song brings back a lot of good memories from that time in life as well. But that sax mixed with background piano is near perfection.

[audio:oldlangsyne.mp3]

Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin – It was hard to narrow it down to only one Zep tune. I initially thought about the organ ending of “Thank You” or the opening riff on “Whole Lotta Love”, but I was quickly reminded of the number of times I’ve played this song just to hear the master that is Jimmy Page absolutely nail the ending. I’ve never heard anything remotely close to this and that’s what makes Page that master that he is. For me, he’s the best guitarist who has ever lived.

[audio:overthehills.mp3]

Patience by Guns and Roses – I know it’s been overplayed, but this album came out while I was living in Germany. When I returned to the states I heard this song and immediately loved this mellow guitar from Slash. It’s so clear and calm which is a 180 degrees from most of their music. It hits the perfect chord.

[audio:patience.mp3]

Tom Sawyer by Rush – You know the part. It’s one of the best drum solos in the history of rock and roll. But it’s setup perfectly by some crazy guitar by Geddy Lee. And then Neil Peart puts on a show. He hits his drums so fast and furiously it’s hard to imagine how he pulls it off. Few groups gave them drummer so much leeway as Rush and it paid off. Keith Moon and John Bonham sometimes get more publicity, but I don’t think it gets any better than Peart.

[audio:tomsawyer.mp3]

Out of the Woods by Nickel Creek – This is the song that got me into Bluegrass music and includes the best mandolin part I’ve ever heard. Those few notes from Chris Thile are just amazing. I saw them in concert a few years back and I was so bummed out when they didn’t play this song. The mandolin fits in perfectly with the guitar and violin. I just love this song.

[audio:woods.mp3]

 

Utah Mine Disaster

For the last couple of weeks, I wake up each morning and walk downstairs to my computer. I launch Firefox and go to the Salt Lake Tribune website hoping to read good news about the miners. I continue to hold out hope that one of the bore holes will somehow find the pocket full of miners and his whole nightmare will be over. But each morning has been met with more delays, more equipment problems and more drilling. As an observer from over a thousand miles away, I can’t imagine what the families of the missing miners must be going through but it must be their own version of hell on earth.

This disaster has opened up a world that I didn’t want to believe existed. We don’t hear about these jobs or terrible working conditions until a tragedy shines light on a world few people understand. Watching the interviews with the spouses and children of these miners drives home the fact they are attempting to make a life of their own and support their family, just like the rest of us. Nearly all admit they are drawn to the mine because of the good wages. Few of them have much education and most are second or third generation miners.

The first national press conference that Robert Murray gave was a textbook example of how not to calm the relatives of the lost men. I was so angry watching him drone on about global warming and suspect earthquake activity when all these families wanted to hear was that he was doing everything he could to rescue their loved ones. It was a PR disaster that should have never happened. Yet over time I came to feel sorry for this guy. He’s clearly a miner at heart and doesn’t possess the skills to deal with the media frenzy that suddenly dropped on his world. If any good came out of that first interview it’s that, going forward, federal officials will manage future press briefings.

I hope the miners passed away quickly and didn’t have to endure days of darkness and cold without much food or water. And I really hope that changes are put in place that improve the working conditions for these people who risk their lives each day as they climb into a maze of tunnels, thousands of feet below the earth’s surface.

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