Jaybird's PsychoNoble Blog

New Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Why hasn't this blog been updated in forever? Well, because I started up a new blog in a new place that I have actually been updating on a very regular basis:

http://jaybirdpn.wordpress.com/

It isn't as site-specific as this blog once was, but it will provide you with lots of my general ramblings.

At some point I hope to integrate it back into this location, but I've been a little too preoccupied to try to figure that out, so for now you'll have to settle for the link (apologies).

Enjoy.

This Pandora Radio Thing

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:04:00 +0000

Has anyone else heard of this? My friend recently introduced me to this online radio thingy. Basically you put in a band or song you like and it generates a "station" around similar bands. It is kind of cool and sometimes can be a way to discover other bands.

Yet, it doesn't always seem to work the best. Like, for example, when I put in Weezer, I pretty much just get a bunch of bands that were popular around the same time. Yeah, the Foo Fighters, The Strokes, The Killers, etc. are all good, but they don't really sound like Weezer at all.

But then I put in a band a little more obscure, such as Metric, and I actually get some interesting results. Mostly bands I don't know much about or haven't heard of. And that can be kind of cool. Really, that is probably the best use of it, putting in a lesser known band or a band you are not very familiar with.

I'm only listing alternative music, but it works for pretty much every genre.

There are ads, but I cope with that by comparing it to an actual radio station. Considering the ads are only 15 seconds every 6ish songs, it really isn't that bad.

Stations currently created: Weezer, Metric, Modest Mouse, Radiohead, Flaming Lips

Ann Curry is a Fox

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:33:00 +0000

The Today Show might be a black hole of suck in the mornings, but at least Ann Curry is there to give me a few minutes of happiness. Oh how I await 8am Pacific, when Ann Curry graces my screen with her presence and tells me about the news. The way she smiles, the way she laughs... I just can't get enough of her. Quite simply, she is a fox. The fox to end all foxes.

I have to drudge through the nonsense of Matt Lauer, the insanity of Al Roker, and the ignorance of Meridith Vieira, just to get my sweet few minutes with Ann (we are now on a first name basis). It is a special time for me, when I can just sit there alone, just me and Ann, and talk news.

"Oh Ann!" I say, "How can you be so smart AND beautiful?"

"At least 42 people in Iraq were killed by a car bomb today..." she responds coyly. That naughty girl.

Oh how she tempts me! Fluttering her eyes, pouting her lips, discussing the death of a beached whale. I must have her!

Although I know I never will, for she is the forbidden fruit. One that you can only wish and hope, but never to have or touch.

And she lives on the East Coast. I mean, psh, that would never work!

When did I get so busy?

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:22:00 +0000

I keep asking myself that question. When did I get so busy? It seems that over the past year or so I've picked up so many extra-curricular things to do that I don't even have time for them all. Let's see...

I, of course have, PsychoNoble. We've got a good thing going with the biweekly Radio show and I've had plenty of ideas flowing in for the new Gaming Column.

Speaking of gaming, I've picked up more and more responsibilities in Star Trek CCG. I've gone from player, to tournament director, to play tester, each of which stacks on top of one another. I've been spending most of my deck building time testing new cards, which hasn't given me enough time to build a deck for the Regional in a week (the most important local tournament of the year) that I also just so happen to be running.

And as if that wasn't enough, I've decided to try my hand at the ultimate nerd game, Dungeons and Dragons. Oh yes, I went there. I'm pretty excited to get something going on a normal basis with that as well. We'll see.

Then there is creating the Land of the Undead website from scratch. Lots of designing and redesigning and rereading and creating and writing and rereading and redesigning. Stuff like that. Almost there!

So I ask again, when did I get so busy? Meh, who knows? All I know is that I'm loving every second of it.*

*Unless you count the job part, and the potential second job, and then starting school again. That stuff... not so much.

Gone to Europe

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:23:00 +0000

That's right. Europe.

I'll be away from the site for about a month while I tour Europe. Most of my time will be spent in Italy, but with a few stops in Germany and France. I'm pretty excited because it is my first time overseas. It should be quite the adventure. Some highlights:

London Layover
Rome and all things Rome-y
Southern Italy, otherwise known as "I try to not get something stolen"
Cinque Terre which should be gorgeous
Venice where I begin to run short on funds
Berlin where I try not to make any offense Nazi jokes
Paris where I can finally get made fun of for trying to use French

Anyways, I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures and what not when I get back. Whether or not I'll do anything site-related with my trip is unknown, but we'll see. Until then, see you in May!

Spinning Plates

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:36:00 +0000

Running a website is like trying to keep a whole bunch of plates spinning, and sometimes I just can't get to every single one. And it seems that recently this blog has been one of those plates.

It's not like I forget about the blog plate. I see it over there, starting to wobble. But there have been so many other plates to worry about. We started up the Radio plate and we've done a great job at getting that spinning. Then we've also got the continuing Articles/Columns plate that always needs to be in check. I've got my Land of the Undead side project plate I'm trying to get spinning. Then there's the God damn Message Boards plate that keeps falling over and smashing. All the while the blog plate wobbles and wobbles until I realize I haven't given it a good spin in months.

So here I am, giving the blog plate a good spin. Hopefully, if I can, I'll keep spinning it for as long as I can, but you never know what other plates may need some attention (the Store plate might need some attention soon).

Or until I leave the country for a month. That would distract me as well.

The Adventure Continues

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:24:00 +0000

I've started working on my next Choose Your Own Zombie Adventure. Instead of continuing the story of Stranger in a Strange Place right away, I've decided to do a stand-alone story from another character's perspective.

"What!?" you might be saying, "How can you leave us hanging like that and not continue the story?! Do you hate us?! Do you even know what you are doing!?" To that I would say, do not worry, the story in SiaSP will be continued. Yet, when I was thinking about where that story is going, I realized there are some things I just wouldn't be able to do that I think would make for a great zombie story. In fact, I was thinking of integrating even more stand-alone stories into the world.

Think of John's story as the ongoing adventure, with periodic breaks that explore other people in different circumstances. It will all take place within the same continuity, meaning certain events and characters will cross over between different stories, while at the same time adding a greater depth to the world as a whole.

The stand-alone story that I'm just beginning now will focus on a group of people held up in a vacation home on the ocean. Think Night of the Living Dead. Unlike SiaSP, which concentrated on a select few people, this new story will bring in more characters and a completely different feal. From inside the house, this group will try to hold off the zombie force while also battling the different ideals of the people involved.

After that, I promise you I will get to work on the next chapter of John's new life. I have a lot of fun ideas for that story as well and it'll be epic in comparison to what you've already read.

Vacation (hopefully)

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:29:00 +0000

I'll be heading out Tuesday evening for a week in Texas. That means I won't be around as much and definitely won't be updating the site after that point. The real question will be if I can even make it out.

Seattle has been dumped on by snow. Like... lots. Add that to the fact that Seattle has no idea how to even handle an inch, let alone nearly a foot. UW was closed today for the first time in about 30 years. Thousands of people are stranded at the airport with hundreds of flights canceled. The city is shut down. There is little hope. I built a snow man.

Will I make it out tomorrow? Only time will tell.

Me? Graduating?

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:28:00 +0000

By this time Wednesday I'll be done with college. At least undergrad. It is sort of crazy to think about that, because it sure doesn't feel like I'm done.

I'll have my degree in Philosophy with a minor in Math, yet I don't feel like I have any real mastery over either of those two topics. Sure, I know more Philosophy then the layman, but enough to earn a degree in it? I guess so... And don't get me started on math! Because I hate math!

Now it'll be 8-9 months of trying to keep afloat before I go to Grad school for Library Science. And by "go to" I mean, "come to me," because I'm most likely doing it online. Library and Information Sciences are cool like that.

As for the website, I'll probably be getting another article up at some point next week. I started one, but wasn't really feeling it. So either I'll finish up that one or have something new.

And of course there is also the secret project we are working on that should be ready to debut soon. I'm glad we've taken the time to test it out some to see what works and what doesn't. Otherwise it could have been an ugly road (or at least, uglier). But until then, well... yeah.

Forum Problems

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:09:00 +0000

Damn viruses/hacks/malware/spyware/whateverware. Whatever it is causing problems, I have to say I don't care for it. No sir.

Basically we've been having a problem where something changes all of our site permissions and adds crazy code to all of our pages. It's a pain. And I'm pretty sure it's coming through our Message Boards. At least that's my hunch, because of the recent problems you have or may not have noticed on the boards. They're fixed for now, but who knows.

As a user, I don't think there is anything to worry about. As far as I'm aware it hasn't affected my computer or anyone else's. Just something annoying to deal with on the site. I've made a few updates and changes in hopes of keeping it from returning. I wouldn't bet any money though.

If you do notice anything weird that you think may be coming from our site, let us know. I would hate for our site to become a harbinger of viruses. But for now, I'm pretty sure the coast is clear.

On King's On Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:15:00 +0000

In my best Jim Gaffigan impression, "I read a book!"

Actually, I like to think I read many books. One that I recently finished piqued my interest. I thought I'd share a little about it with you.

If you are at all interested in writing, you should read Stephen King's On Writing. Now, I know what you are thinking, and yes, I agree, Stephen King is not the best writer in the world. But you would be hard pressed to think that Stephen King doesn't know anything about writing. Because in fact, it seems he knows quite a lot.

While On Writing has some "do's and don'ts" when it comes to writing, that is not why you would be interested in this book. You would be interested in this book because it is much more about how Stephen King grew into writing. Nearly the first half of the book reads more like an autobiography than a "how to" book. King tells numerous stories from his childhood and beyond that led him down his path to becoming a writer. You see the ups and the downs, the sad and the happy. You learn about how Stephen King came to be, how he broke into the industry, and how hard that was for him and his family.

Even if you don't care for his work, most of his lessons are hard to deny. King obviously has a grasp on his trade. On Writing is a great read for any wannabe writer or anyone just curious to learn. And, most importantly, it's entertaining! I couldn't put this book down. I read it in less than two days. That says something about a book called On Writing.

It's done!

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:39:00 +0000

It feels good to finally post my secret project, Stranger in a Strange Place. While it was fun to write and I hope to do it again in the future, it took a lot of time and effort. More so than I originally thought it would when I began the project. But after months and months, it's finally done. Hoorah!

Looks like I can finally get back on track now with my usual PsychoNoble duties, that of writing articles. Sadly, I had to push back some ideas to focus on the Zombie Adventure, but hopefully I can get some of them up soon. Yet, even as we speak, another deadline looms, one with special significance for PsychoNoble. Hmmm...

Anyways, this week has been quite busy. I've been preparing almost non-stop for my big Halloween party (Oh, and I'm going to be Han Solo) and getting some Star Trek CCG stuff in order (StretPharmacist, I just pulled 2 Rogue Borg with your name on them). That's not to mention work and school (I guess I am mentioning them now), with a midterm on Thursday.

Not sure how to end this post. Oh wait, I got it.

Huge Update Coming

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:04:00 +0000

Curious as to why you haven't seen any content from me as of late? It's because I've devoted all the PsychoNoble time I've had to my massive secret project. And guess what, I'm unveiling it before the end of next week (Oct. 31)!

While I don't want to give away much, I can tell you a few things about it:

I've been working on this project, in one form or another, for at least a year and a half. During that period it has gone through a few different drafts and variations. Hopefully the final product will be worth it.

Content wise, this is the single biggest thing I have ever done for PsychoNoble. It easily dwarfs any of my Articles or Events in size and scope.

It is also something never before seen on PsychoNoble.

It is moderately interactive. Can't say much more about that without giving it away.

While I believe the project is appropriate at any time, I'd say it fits in quite well with this time of the year.

There you have it. Now go speculate while I put on the finishing touches. And of course, stay tuned!

When Apathy Strikes!

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:44:00 +0000

What have I been doing for the site recently? Not much.

It's not to say I haven't had time, because I've had plenty of that. I'd say it's more do to lack of ideas and motivation. I have my one big thing for the site that I'm working on, but even that is sometimes hard to make myself do.

Apathy. It strikes without warning. Common symptoms are lack of motivation, or caring, or giving a damn. May be caused by who the hell knows. Symptoms often last for... awhile.

Oddly enough, school is starting up soon and I'll actually have more free time. That's right, more time. Due to how my work... works... I can only work twenty hours a week during the school year. Thus, cutting my work time in half and adding my ONE class I'm taking to finish up my degree. And that one class? Planets. That's right, one random 100-level class is all I'm taking. Safe to say, I'll have plenty of extra time on my hands. Hopefully by then (one week... dang) my apathy will be cured.

For now, I'll let ideas come to fruition in my head and someday I'll get around to putting them up.

A Resurrection

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:05:00 +0000

Way back when, I started working on most likely the biggest single piece of work I've ever done for the site. It was unlike anything I've ever done and unlike anything on the site. Simply put, it was fiction. Yet, due to a variety of reasons, I never quite got it done. Mostly it was due to it becoming too large and unyielding. It got a little too big for me considering the time and creativity I had at the moment. Thus, an unfinished piece was doomed to lay dormant on my hard drive.

That is until recently. I've been reading Stephen King's The Stand and it has inspired me. For some reason this book has got some of my creative juices flowing and has allowed me to reevaluate what I was doing. I swear I can't read that book without getting distracted about my own story. After taking such a long break from the project, I can now see what needs to be done for me to actually finish it. I was painting myself into a corner the way I was going about it before and what I need to do is simplify it. I can easily do without some of the things I was forcing into it while still leaving what I envisioned.

Today I began working on this project again. Much of what I had done previously will easily be adapted into what I am doing now, but a lot work will still need to be done. I have a date set in my mind when I want it done by and hopefully I can do it. Yes, I realize I am being quite vague about all of this, but that is simply because I want it to be a fun surprise. And also as a fall back point in case for some reason I don't finish it this time around...

Camping Adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:57:00 +0000

Well, I'm back from my camping adventure. I had an idea for a possible PsychoNoble Film I could make while in the Hoh Rainforest, but after getting back I'm not sure how it'll turn out. Once I get rested and back up on my feet I'll get to work on it. If it ends up not being crap I'll post it on the site. Some camping highlights:

Numerous warnings about bears and elk and their apparent lack of human fear. Stories of bears seen on hikes and at the visitor center were about. Tales of two elk charging campers were told. I was quite excited to see some action, but alas, not an elk or bear was to be seen. The closest I came to wild animals was a dear walking through our camp site and a squirrel that hung out in the tree above our brand new tent.

Speaking of a brand new tent, we had to buy a new tent after we discovered we forgot to pack tent poles. It was either that or make a tent out of rope and tarp, and subsequently get eaten by a bear. We opted to go for a new tent, since the one we were using wasn't ours anyways.

It was nice and hot everywhere we were... except near the water. We were having a little heat wave, so we hoped it would be nice at the ocean. Now, it is always colder at the ocean than on land, but we hoped it would still be warm. Little did we know that we needed sweatshirts and pants to not freeze. Damn you weather... damn you!

There were loud and obnoxious people on the trails, including little shouting kids and people who were smoking. Seriously, smoking, in the rain forest, on a hike.

Overall it was nice to get away, but there were also a lot of frustrating things that put a damper on the trip. It was fun, but could have been better given less annoyances.

Anyways, I'll see what comes of that film and I'll also probably be getting started on my revamp of the Bags and Boards column. Until then.

Conversions and Things

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0000

You never really realize the amount of work you've done until you have to go through it piece by piece. This is what I've been doing currently, as we are converting over all of our old files into our new layout. Tedious is a good word to describe it. Over the past 3-4 days I've made good progress though. All of my Articles, Events, and Miscellaneous pages are completed. That alone has to be over a hundred pages. Up next, everything else! Luckily I am not the only one converting files, as StretPharmacist has lent a helping hand as well.

Hopefully we can get through all the converting shortly and start focusing on what I actually like doing, writing. I have months of back-up in my head that I just need to get down and put out there. In the ideal world, I'd get something up this week, but safe to say I'm quite busy outside of the PsychoNoble world as well. I'm working seven hours a day and studying for the GRE that I'm taking on Thursday (8/14). Immediately following that I'll be heading out to the Hoh Rainforest for some hardcore camping action until Sunday. No promises, but I'll try to get up one of my Columns before then.

Well What Do We Have Here?

noreply@blogger.com (Jaybird) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:05:00 +0000

That's right. A blog... in a web page! My mind is blown as well. For awhile I didn't know if I had the computer skills to pull off such a stunt, but alas it turns out I did. It took longer then I thought it would, but the end result is acceptable. But on to other news...

If you are reading this, undoubtedly you have witnessed the PsychoNoble Relaunch. I hope you like it, as we (and myself personally) put a lot of time into creating a great product. With most of the big changes done, I'm looking forward to writing for the site again. I already have ideas for my first two columns (B&B and NTS) and should be getting them down shortly for your viewing pleasure.

Anyways, I'll keep this first post short and let you look around the rest of the site some more. Check back as I update this with, well, whatever I feel like.