The Metric Jester's Blog

Baby's coming!

2015-06-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

My wife has just hit the 6 month mark in her pregnancy and boy am I tired... um, wait now, that was a mishmash of bad jokes. We've been working hard at finding a new place to live, this place has been great to us and we would have loved to stay, but there just isn't enough room for baby. Finding a place here in town has been proving to be difficult, it's a seller's market and we don't have a down payment. So we are trying to find a good rent-to-own home, hopefully in town, and within budget. Names have been bandied about but nothing is final yet, but we at least know that the technician thinks it's a boy.

Well that's it for now, gotta go!

A Personal Touch

2015-01-18T06:59:00.002-08:00

The biggest reason why my blog isn't constantly updated is because to me, my life is mundane. I don't go on big trips all the time, I spend 90-95% of my time with my wife, and the other 5-10% is playing video games. I've re-discovered Minecraft and have been playing that a lot. I've been following Hermitcraft [hermitcraft.com] this year, and the Wednesday night program at church has never been better.

So that's the update!

Rise of The Magi

2014-06-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

So a man I call a friend is in a bit of a pickle right now. He fought for 3 months over the title of his very first published novel, a fantasy novel that tells you God is real. Now Rise of the Magi is the title of a completely unrelated comic book, that on the first page tells you God is magic. This is truly a case of spiritual warfare, as this new comic was given away free this year for free comic book day. Now I'm not going to go into any further detail about how you can help out my friend, but I'll let him do it here: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/12622-rise-of-the-magi-book-blast

Also I would be very happy if you check out his book right here: http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Magi-Forgotten-Portals-Novel/dp/158169430X

Starbucks

2014-05-21T08:15:00.003-07:00

I don't know the exact date of the first time I went into a Starbucks. I remember I was very confused, since this was the first one in my home town, and it had just opened. When I expressed my confusion to an exasperated and maybe even disgruntled employee, she bullied me around the menu and kept telling me EXACTLY where to stand, how to order, and even WHAT TO ORDER. I didn't like what I got, when I told her I didn't like it she asked "Why did you order it?" and I just couldn't bring myself to answer such an uninformed question, that I walked away leaving most of a "coffee" on the counter, when I get called back to pick it up and take that horrible thing with me. I just threw it out on my way out the door, and vowed not to return. A few years later my now wife then girlfriend took me, I told her to order something I would like, she did, and now I'm at a starbucks twice a month.

My life is awesome, but my blog not so much.

2014-05-20T19:49:00.001-07:00

yeah what the title says.

hired by a call center

2013-11-20T20:26:00.003-08:00

It's not all bad, I have a job, it pays well, especially since I like afternoons and they give shift premiums for afternoons.

2 years later and Distributel still sucks.

2013-10-22T18:48:00.001-07:00

So today my wife and I finally got thru to Distributel's customer service. We've been trying every day for the past 2 weeks, hanging up after every 2 hour wait. Now I realize that there needs to be some back story so here goes: I cancelled my Distributel Internet in May 2011 because I lost about $1000 in NSF fees due to the nature of their billing and President Choice Financial's No Fee Bank Account. In other words: I got paid on the 1st, PC held the government cheque for 7 days, so when Distributel tried to take out $40 on the 4th, it bounced and PC charged me a $45 NSF fee, so Distributel would try again on the 15th of the month, but because I need to pay rent and buy food and pay the ridiculous NSF fee there wouldn't be enough in the account. Every month for almost a year Distributel would cost me $90. Neither side would claim ownership, neither side would help me. I'd call every month over the same damned problem, just to get the cold shoulder and the response "Just pay it." So when I sent back the modem I only had about $20 cash with me, and that was really all the money in the world I had. I went to the Post Office downtown with Distributel's Modem, in a plain brown box, and the $20, put them on the counter and asked them to send it to Distributel's address, with my address as the return. The post office told me that $20 is not enough money to get a tracking number, and I just did not have any more money, and no one was answering their phones, and I wasn't about to go pan handling for $18 more, so I told the Post Office to just mail it. I called Distributel and told them to note on the account that I posted the modem. When Distributel asked for the tracking number I had to tell them that I simply didn't have enough money (what with all the billing problems I had), and so didn't have a tracking number. Little did I know that Distributel would NEVER believe I sent the modem. Bunch of lying thieves........

Now jump forward to a couple weeks ago... I'm on my Honeymoon with my new wife and Gatestone Collections calls me. Of course we answer since we're only in Niagara Falls. Gatestone says we STILL OWE $236 FOR DISTRIBUTEL, FROM TWO YEARS AGO. RIDICULOUS! So since then we've tried every day to get thru and today was the day. When we talked to the first CSR she told my wife and I that the modem HAD been returned, but hadn't been credited off the account, but there were administration fees on the account that are the reason for the high price. When Christina asked what those were, the CSR said "I don't know but I'll transfer you to a senior representative". The senior rep Bryan said that the modem really hadn't been returned, and without a tracking number there's no way to prove that we even sent it (sounds like he's trying to get my money to me). I've now asked him for a copy of my entire account including any notes, so that I can see EXACTLY what they see. It's my thinking that this whole problem is because someone has put a note on my account that I should be screwed over for every cent I have because I'm on ODSP or just happened to be rather upset (or irate if you rather) when they started costing me $90 a month in NSF fees.

Now this has been the MOST painful experience with a company I've ever had. If you ever think "Hmmm... maybe Distributel is a good idea." just remember that they don't really want to HELP you, they'd really rather see you poor.

Life Update

2013-10-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

So this is the 4th day of being married. Every day I get up early, and every day my wife sleeps in. It's not really a big problem, and it's only me that has to get over it.

Married Life

2013-10-07T11:32:00.002-07:00

It's awesome!

I'm Married!

2013-09-02T20:49:00.002-07:00

woo hoo!

My wedding is on Saturday

2013-08-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

My house is dirty, I haven't done my laundry, there's almost no food in the house, and I need to change the sheets on my bed. I have about 3 hours a day at home when I'm not sleeping and all that time is taken up with cooking, eating, and checking my e-mail. I still haven't hosed down the kitchen. My wife will be moving in in 6 days and I want it perfect for her.

Ancient video games

2013-08-20T12:38:00.002-07:00

I'm a collector of many things.. bottles, Lego, classic books, board games, and even video games. I'm not about to list all of them here, but in this house I've moved into, there just isn't any room for them all here. I need more shelves, or higher shelves, or something. I really don't want to have to let go of my old video games, and classic computers.

18 days left

2013-08-13T12:02:00.002-07:00

So I've had to replace one of my groomsmen, because of money troubles. It only seemed like a huge deal, but luckily I had an understudy. I'm not going to start naming names, but all will be revealed in good time. Well in 18 days. Life has otherwise been all right, and I plan on having a good time until the bills for the wedding roll in.

3 and a half weeks

2013-08-06T21:46:00.001-07:00

This marks three and one half weeks from my wedding. The few things left are buying the pocket squares for my groomsmen, picking up some more ribbon and feathers for the cake, and paying for everything. The photographer is set, the DJ has his list, and we are just waiting until the end of the week for everyone's RSVP. We see the hall owner and give our final numbers on the 12th of August, so whoever hasn't responded by then isn't coming. Our biggest problem is the same problem we've had all along, and that is how do we pay all this wedding stuff off?

What a horrible jerk I am!

2013-07-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

I was in such an uproar...

The troubles of no high speed. This edition Forza 5

2013-07-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Read this article today.... http://kotaku.com/not-gonna-say-but-thats-just-dlc-but-i-will-say-i-t-809103005

It's not inconceivable for my avid game playing aunt to be without high speed because she lives in northern ontario.... are you telling me that she has to travel 2 hrs to the closest city, set up her XBOX in a Tim Hortons, complete with TV, and download something to play a game she just bought? Do you think Microsoft even cares that people who have to drive snowmobiles 4 months of the year to get anywhere also have to drive those snowmobiles to check their e-mail? Forza has been a mostly single player game, and that's how I would play it, but I spent 2 months without internet the last time I moved... I played a lot of video games, and spent a lot of time in Timmies checking my e-mail on my phone. The one by my house doesn't even have a plug for customers to plug in their laptops... do you think they'd let me hook up an XBOX?

MacMiner

2013-07-05T10:32:00.001-07:00

of all the rotten luck, here I think I have a good little app to try to mine litecoins on an older mac and this happens

oh yeah...

2013-06-28T23:02:00.001-07:00

I bought a car two weeks ago. Only told people in person, forgot to blog about it. 2001 Cavalier 2 door, they call it silver, but it's little a bit champagne. Christina's the only driver though, so it's her car too.

Nerdvertising

2013-06-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, I said nerdvertising. It's a word I've made up to categorize commercials that are epitomized by the Axe Apollo "Nothing beats an astronaut" ads. This last one really made me sick, the one in the coffee shop, where the girl just starts rubbing the "nerdy-looking" guy's face... gross.

Pay me with bitcoin

2013-06-24T23:58:00.001-07:00

Pay me with bitcoin: Please send payment to bitcoin address

Wii U and the trouble with slow starts.

2013-06-23T21:40:00.002-07:00

It's not that I'm worried, in fact I'm not I know that the Wii U will sell well just as soon as the Wii stops working... but see that's the problem. Nintendo made such a good system with the Wii that it just won't die. So many have been sold that almost everyone has one. I don't, but that's because I could borrow my parent's Wii if I want to play it. The Wii U isn't just fighting against the PS4 and the unfortunately named XBOX, but it's fighting with the Wii as well. And for some people it's fighting against the 3DS and the PlayStation Vita. My mom said this to me: "Why would I go out and buy a Wii U if I have a perfectly good Wii sitting here, unused?" Of course this is the same woman who said: "What's the point of spening so much money on a 3DS if I have a DS, an iPad, an iMac, a TV, a PS3, and a Wii in my living room?" Smart lady, get use out of what you have, and you don't have to keep buying every new console right when it comes out.

Anyway my point here is that the Wii U will have a slow start, it's expected, but Nintendo gave it a good start by releasing it well ahead of the Playstation 4 and the unfortunately named XBOX. They've also got some really good games that I am looking forward to trying.

Flowers

2013-06-22T23:56:00.000-07:00

The creator of Gran Turismo 6 likes Bad Piggies

2013-06-21T00:30:00.003-07:00

http://www.gtplanet.net/kazunori-yamauchi-interview-track-design-bad-piggies/

It would figure that Kaz Yamauchi would like bad piggies...

The NEW XBOX

2013-06-18T02:43:00.000-07:00

So... here's my thoughts on the new XBOX:

I won't call it by that unfortunate name they've given it for a publicity stunt, I've got an xbox 1 in my closet gathering dust already why would I need another?
When I asked my fiancee what it looked like she told me "It looks like a Playstation." When I showed her a Wii U, she told me "That's a Wii U" and when I showed her the picture of a PS4 she said "That's definitely a Playstation." A picture of an XBOX 360 "That's an XBOX". She knows her consoles. My point is that XBOX looks like a Playstation, not an XBOX. The soul is gone in the design.
The specs of the controller say it's bigger and heavier than the XBOX 360 controller, which is already too big and too heavy, and it puts my left hand to sleep with that awkwardly placed thumb stick.
I already have a tv box from bell, why do I need another?
Most of my family and friends already have a Playstation 3, and so do I. If I switch to XBOX Live, I'll have to get new friends and family to play video games with....
My fiancee panics that when I am watching a livestream people can see and hear her, how do you think she'll feel about a video game console that sees and hears her? (she has spent more time with skype and phones than livestreams, she expects it to be a two way conversation that way)
XBOX 360s UI was so hard to figure out that I usually just gave up and gavve the controller to someone else and told them what to find for me. Most of the time they couldn't find it either.
They are using DDR3 for the system memory. Now this isn't a bad thing, but DDR3 comes in 6 different flavours, how much would you like to bet that Microsoft will cheap out and buy the slow one?
AMD APU. Again not a bad thing, in fact it's a pretty good idea, having CPU and GPU on the same chip means less worries about bus length, latency, and timing. The less you have to worry about differing clock speeds between PCI-e bus and CPU-RAM bus the smoother the operation. But it comes at a cost, less room for GPU and less room for CPU. They share space, so are therefore smaller. An APU just simply won't perform as fast as that Intel i7 and Nvidia GeForce GT 680. I have the same beef with PS4
Operating system: XBOX 1 came with Windows CE, XBOX 360 came with Windows CE, what do you suppose they will put on the new one? Windows 8 I'll bet, with no desktop, make it look more like a windows phone so more people will try to buy one of the 3 windows 8 phones out there. Or a surface. Blech, I'm tired ot people complaining to me that their new computer doesn't work how they want it to, go buy a Mac at least then you expect it to be different.
I don't like XBOX to begin with, so I'm already biased against it. There's only one or two titles I actually enjoy playing on either XBOX and that was the Forza Motorsport games, and Fusion Frenzy. I'm not a Halo fan, I don't like Madden, I dislike how Call of Duty is okay for teenagers to play even though there's a big white M on the box, and I find it quite uncomfortable to have to give a thumbs up with my left hand and a thumbs down with my right hand in order to play anything on that huge controller they have. I have pictures showing just how bad it is in my hands, I can't reach X or Y with my thumb if my index and middle finger are on RB and RT at a comfortable place. In order to reach those two buttons I have to choke up on the controller so I'm pushing RT with the inside of the second knuckle of my middle finger, and RB with the inside of the second knuckle of my index finger. Now to move the right thumbstick I have to reach down further than before, arching my wrist, and giving my hand a claw-like appearance. Trying to hit the B button like this is a nightmare, so I usually have to pretty much let go of the controller with my right hand to tap it. My left hand has to do all the heavy lifting then, so I need to grip it harder with my left hand, which in turn means due to the wedge shape of the XBOX 360 controller I have to grab low and really reach high with my thumb the move the left stick around. I can't reach LT with my middle finger either, because it's holding up the entire weight of the controller. All in all a very uncomfortable design, and it looks to be more of the same this time around.

Bitcoins, a talking about, not like last time...

2013-06-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

So I've been mining bitcoins for a little while now, and, yeah, it's not easy to make bitcoins. Litecoins are neat, with a cryptography back-end that is intentionally hard to decrypt with current hardware. In fact it's even hard to decrypt using a purpose built processor. which is supposed to extend the lifetime of mining. Because of the way transactions in bitcoin and litecoin work, they seem to be somewhat self-defeating, there is a point in time in the future where we can no longer make any new blocks at the current bit depth, and so no knew transactions can be completed. This will be the complete and total end of bitcoin, and it's getting closer and closer with every hash created.

At this point I'd advise you not to go into bitcoins if you plan on only mining them for money. They are money, don't think of them as a means to an end, I don't care that they are currently trading for $100 each, unless you invest thousands of dollars you won't be making thousands of dollars off of bitcoins by joining now. Litecoins are a different thing entirely, it is still early in it's mining so there's plenty of blocks out there to be found. Solo mining of Litecoins is not working well any more, could take you a month or more, while pools from around the world will find a couple dozen. I'm not going to tell you which pool to join (there's lots) but I will say this find a PPLNS pool for litecoins not PPS. My reasoning isn't about You can find all sorts of explanations of PPLNS and PPS on the interwebs somewhere, but my reasoning is that if the pool creators are concerned enough about how we are getting paid, they must be rather hands-on.