Soul Calibur Four (probably the only place spelling it out)

Check out my stance against the arbitrary use of “Roman numerals” in sequels! Wooooo!

All right. Enough of that. I picked up Soul Calibur IV yesterday at my local Game Stop which I admit was a gamble considering my past with the chain. Way back when, I pre-ordered Final Fantasy XII; this was before it was delayed the first time–during the wait, I had to replace my receipt once because it was starting to fade. When the day finally came and Final Fantasy XII was available, I went to the Game Stop where I had placed the pre-order and found out that the store was sold out. I’ve heard stories of people paying for a game in full and Game Stop “losing” that customer’s information, but the Game Stop had my information intact and acknowledged that I had pre-ordered Final Fantasy XII (collector’s edition, btw ;p ), yet the store was sold out. Just to make it clear: I had given the store money for a game over a year in advance with the understanding (and legally binding agreement) that when Final Fantasy XII was available the store would set aside a copy especially for me–look, the store sold what I had already paid for. If I did have the receipt with me that day, I’m sure they would have tried to pretend to have “lost” my information. I demanded my money back, went to a rival store in the same mall, and bought the collector’s edition of Final Fantasy XII, and the nifty collector’s guidebook, for less than it was at Game Stop. On the way out of the mall, I slowed my walk past that Game Stop, gave them an old-fashioned crotch chop, and haven’t entered that store since.

Fortunately, I had no problems getting my copy of Soul Calibur IV. Then again, I also had a receipt; the store had already lost my information last week when I was trying to use my Edge card benefits without having the card on me. I will probably continue to visit Game Stop except on days when either dipstick, jackass, or dipstick #2 isn’t working–you know the guys. As for pre-ordering: unless the pre-order actually came with some kind of incentive (I’d take a keychain), then I’m through with pre-orders. To Hell with this giving stores money ahead of time so they can “forget” all about it. Game Stop, as Stephen Colbert would say, you’re on notice!

VG Cats on E3

From what I hear, the husk that is E3 has taken a turn for the worse, and Nintendo is losing its porcelain image.

Take a look at the latest edition of VG Cats and its take on Nintendo’s new direction:
VG Cats #257: Waiting

VG Cats copyright 2008 by Scott Ramsoomair

New-fangled Technologies

This entry is more about me keeping track of a couple stories than wanting to discuss or summarize them. Sorry!

Artificial DNA as Software and Artificial Enzymes as Hardware!

LED Breakthrough at Purdue

Things to get you going

It is difficult to try something new. There is the excitement of the unknown and the anticipation of a new experience, but sometimes generating the emotional or psychological momentum to get started can be a challenge. After my stunning success at the job fair [note sarcasm - ed.], I decided to finally the freelance writing thing a try, and I almost got there. The jobs around the house were piling up, I’m helping my Mom move and fix up a house, and several other things, including excuses, got in the way.

I have a history of good-intentioned plans crashing down around me at the slightest tilt toward confidence. Perhaps I just look for the errant shove to send my goals tumbling, but I’m not here to psycho-analyze, I’m here to broadcast my latest attempt to get myself back at my desk and writing–this blog doesn’t count; no fun in that. Yesterday, I went to Staples and bought a chair: The Lane Brown Leather Guest Chair.

Why a “guest” chair and not one of those executive models? Well, I’m not made of money and am currently absent a means of steady income. Paying about $120 for a chair was a treat for me [just noticed that the online store has the chair for a higher price than in-store ]. Before the new chair, I was using a Sentry Fire-Safe file box (the low review is probably because it sucks as a seat, and because file folders tend to drag on the bottom)[I do not endorse Wal-Mart or its products, the safe was a gift - ed.]. Uncomfortable seating has a way of deterring decent writing sessions.

The new chair is comfortable and matches my box cases, and is sturdy–not so much as a creak. If I were in the mood to start reviewing furniture, I’d give my new some high praise with like stars or something. With the motivation of using my new chair on a daily basis, I just might writing again. Whee! \o/

Hopefully more interesting things to come,
~Jon K Langdon

Job Fair

I attended my first job fair this past tuesday at the Mansion in Voorhees, NJ. Lots of women in scrubs and people dressed casual; only a few of us wore full suits. The event was hosted by Monster.com, a service that promotes its job fairs to appear as if dozens of eager companies would be waiting for prospective employees to arrive. There were about nine setups and one of them was an information service that was not recruiting.

When I made that hour drive, I wasn’t expecting to be hired on the spot and sure enough no offers came my way. I dropped off my resume with three companies, none of which were looking to hire writers or editors. The man who took attendee signatures at the door lauded the importance of networking, and normally I would agree, but in my case their were zero media companies in attendence that were seeking my kind. This job fair was all about management and sales, two areas I have no interest in. Overall, this job fair had to little to offer me and I can probably expect much of the same from the next one. Would I attend another job fair? Maybe. I want to try my hand at freelance writing–spent enough years in college preparing for the inevitability.