How awesome is my laptop?
FUCKING awesome.
I wanted something to distinguish my portable rig from every other identical boring business laptop out there; I kept having these visions of losing it or mistaking it for someone else’s in an airport, and I didn’t want to just slap stickers all over it. SkinIt had the DIY custom answer.
I only paid $35, but it’s worth $51.50.
Today’s the day it all went down. Take a spin through the site — it’s the reason I’m a puzzle nerd today.
Kyle Orland pointed this one out to me. It’s March 14. This blog post will release at 1:59pm (because I missed AM).
Happy Pi Day.
Work’s been a little rough lately — just lots to do and finite time in which to do it. I haven’t had many mental cycles to myself lately and therefore no pointless updates here. So, a brain dump:
I am not a fan of traveling, but I’ve been on the road a lot lately. Three trips to Boston in the last year, one for each of the major games that are being developed there (BioShock, Rock Band, and Fallout 3). I was in Vegas for CES, in Seattle for Left 4 Dead, Atlanta and Raleigh for cosplay shenanigans, and in NYC today for another assignment.
I’m kind of flight fatigued, but for the chance to go back to New York…you won’t hear me complain. New York is special.
When I landed it was cold, with snow on the ground from a few days prior. I couldn’t wait to touch it. I checked into the hotel early, crashed for a few hours from the red eye, then walked from East 31st to Bleeker. It was heaven. I just miss walking through the city, and I realize it’s something most people who visit don’t do. They take cabs. I was going to take the subway, but I realized, dammit, I miss this place. I want to look around.
Guitar World’s old offices were at 23rd and 5th, right in front of the Flatiron, and I’d walked from there to Penn Station and back every day for six months before I moved to Brooklyn. I’d also walked down to Union Square for lunch and action figure runs plenty of times. Walking 30 or so blocks was…thrilling. Hell, I stopped for a slice of yes-America-this-is-what-it’s-supposed-to-look-and-taste-like pizza and still got there 10 minutes ahead of my appointment time.
I managed to sneak in a visit with my parents at Penn Station after I was done with business. They hopped on a commuter train from New Jersey and we had dinner at Houlihan’s, right there under the Garden. I never know how it’s going to go but this went great. It was the first time I’d seen them face to face in five years…and that was a weird sneak-it-in-on-another-trip too, when our travel schedules overlapped uncomfortably in San Diego. This time it was a lot better. No dicey topics, no fights, no problem.
I overslept by more than an hour this morning, which caused me no small panic as I fled to the airport (I still got there an hour early, just unshowered and unshaven – thank you, deoderant), but I’m taking the lack of desire to leave as a sign by my subconscious. Also, an advisory not to buy the hotel’s alarm clock for my own home. And a reminder not to play Professor Layton so long into the night next trip.
New York is awesome, but it’s also fickle. I searched the local souvenir shops for some evidence of the Knicks, who are currently in the middle of their season, languishing at the bottom of the standings. Couldn’t find so much as a logo. (Even the Super Bowl champion “New York†Giants are already over; apparently; the town’s sports souvenirs start and end the almighty fucking Yankees.) I did, however, find a Ghostbusters t-shirt, which hasn’t been in theaters since 1988.
Maybe the Knicks should fire Isiah and hire Egon.
Wow, I’d forgotten about this. At CES, this was my favorite product — but I didn’t remember I’d been (willingly) caught on video.
Not to spoil the ending, but yeah, I hang in for a while and then fail. I mean, um, it’s a prototype kit and all.
Check out his first answer. He’s got a point — what’s the difference between a vehicle attack and a vehicle attack?
I always liked him anyway, but that made me smile.
I do miss the old days. This is a fantastic archive of what arcades looked like in the late 70s and early 80s. Specifically, it’s two chains, Time Out and Station Break. Station Break in NYC was seminal to me, as was Space Port in Quaker Bridge Mall.
Memo to world: Celebrate today or don’t. Both are perfectly fine. You don’t need to convince other people that your take on Valentine’s Day is right.
That’s all.
