Brett Favre Interception

Here is a link to a funny clip of a Brett Favre Interception this weekend. Lucky for him, it didn't count towards the five he ended up throwing that game.

Thanks to Evan for the video link.

Civ IV Crash Screenshot

Damn thing keeps crashing on me. Looks like the game still doesn't like my graphics card.

New Update for Civ IV Crash! Civ IV has released a patch or two that has solved 90% of my crash problems. You can either update Civ IV through the game or from here: Civ IV Patch.
Since this posting has gotten a lot of hits about Civ IV Crashing, I've decided to update it. For those that are running into Civilization IV crashing to your desktop there is an answer (or answers). The main problem seems to be memory and autosaving. Civ IV is a memory hog. I have 1 gig of Ram and the game always crashes especially around the 1900's. Ways to slow down the crashing besides buying $100 in memory upgrades:

Stop Civ IV Crashing:
* Make sure you turn off all other programs - especially instant messengers, browsers,and autoscan virus programs (I'd keep that one on if you play online).
* Install Catalyst 4.12 drivers (for those with ATI cards). This is the most stable set of drivers out there.
* Look in your installation directory for a file called "_Civ4Config" and open it in notepad. Change the AutoSaveInterval to 0. This will turn off autosave (so remember to save people!).
* Register at CivFanatics and search for your problem. There are tons of people out there with Civ IV crash problems just like you.

Hope this information helps you and stops the Civ IV crash!

Xbox 360 Preview

So, one of the perks of working for out in Redmond is you have access to a bunch of new products and services before the rest of the world (sometimes). Well, last week, Xbox released a few 360's around the US to various stores. Well, the MSFT visitor center has (I believe) six setups going. Three games were being played, Call of Duty 2, King Kong, and some other game (never seen it before).

After a 5 minute wait, I got to play my first game of 360. It was Call of Duty 2. I played the first one, so I was pretty familiar with the controls. Speaking of controls, the new joystick/pad whatever you call it is pretty sweet. It felt very comfortable and familiar to me. I didn't get to see the box because it was locked behind a cage, but I had seen one a few weeks ago and I'm impressed. The pictures floating around the internet doesn't do the console justice.

Anyway, The graphics for COD2 were tight. Everything seemed to run smooth, and I didn't see anything crazy like people walking through walls or sword jumping. I watched the guy play King Kong. The graphics are amazing, but I don't think the gameplay is too exciting. I didn't watch much of it, so I can only comment on the one scene/mission I saw.

I'm looking forward to the release. I still haven't decided if I was going to buy one. If I do, I might throw it up on Ebay so I can make some $$$. Every christmas there has been an artificial shortage of the hot item (They can make enough xboxes, they just want to keep the buzz high - I don't blame them). Hopefully my buddy Robert will get his and the HDTV he's been drooling about and I can leech off him. Kinda what I did with Halo 2 live with Evan.

Chicago Wins The World Series

In Sports today, the other Chicago MLB team won the World Series. In other news, the city of Chicago doesn't care. The North Side is where it's at, and the Windy City still embraces The Loveable Losers.

I will say one thing - I've enjoyed watching the White Sox. With a payroll ranked 13th in the MLB, they played real baseball. They don't have the big name power hitter, or jam packed All Star lineup like some other losers. Instead, they built a solid team that plays the fundemental ball. They were ranked in the bottom for just about every team statistic this year (except HRs), yet they won the most games. They played great defense, and their crazy ass manager made them play as a team.

Sure the ratings probably sucked for this series, but it was some of the greatest ball I've seen in years. Every game was close, one game played way into the next morning, and in the end the state of Texas has to wait for their first World Series Championship.

This Cub fan salutes the White Sox for their great season. This year the White Sox, next year the Cubs!*


*typo. The sentence should read "... Next year the Cubs continue to suck and hopefully Dusty Baker is fired, Kerry Wood is traded, D. Lee wins the Triple Crown, and the Braves finally let someone else win the NL East."

Civilization IV - AKA Another Crappy Product

Okay, so I'm not a huge gamer. I don't have the biggest computer with all the cool joysticks, gamer keyboards and mouse, or any of that stuff. What I do have is a small weakness for sports and strategy/simulation games. I can't remember what the last game I bought was. I believe it was The Sims. After playing the "Interactive Dollhouse" (term coined by Mark) for more hours than I should have, I quit playing. I never got the expansion packs or any of that stuff. I played, I lost sleep, I moved on.

Now, my favorite game of all time has to be Civilization (followed closely by SimCity). I love how you control a race of people, starting from 1 person to eventually nuking the world (or flying to Alpha Centauri). There hasn't been a new Civ game in a long time, so I was pretty excited to see the new one come out. I've been bored lately, and nothing passes time like destroying countries while building spaceships.

So, I drop $55 on the game, get home, load it up, and wouldn't you know - an error. Now, Since I have been a gamer for some time, I'm pretty comfortable with the fact that there are several prequalifications in order to play new games. Number One: Go buy the newest, fastest, most expensive computer system out there. This will ensure you can play the newest games at the minimal settings and experience a fairly choppy gameplay. Number Two: Update everything - drivers, Windows, drivers, drivers. Number Three: Read the hell out of some forums (in this case the Civ IV Forum) to join in on the misery of the other thousand with your problem.

Well, I refuse to upgrade my computer. I just got upgraded it 6 months ago (if that) and I really don't need much more. So, I get some unknown error and read the boards. Sure enough, it's a capatibility issue with my card. Now, the manufacturer might be cheap, but the brand is ATI, one of the most popular video cards out there. So I'm reading about the ATI Fix, do everything they say, and still can't get it to work.

My point of the rant is this - Why do companies continue to put out products that they know have problems with? This entire Civ IV launch was a disaster. One of the key inserts is printed in French (I wanted the Freedom version Damnit), The CDs are mislabeled, and you can't even play the game! I can't think of one thing right that they did. Don't they realize people are going to revolt against this product and future products because of this blunder? Game Developers are notorious for this behavior. They figure they can release the game "on time" to hit whatever goal they set, and just create a patch for the problem(s) later. It's sloppy, lazy, and pathetic.

This is the reason people pirate stuff. Here I am stuck with a $55 doorstop with 3 mini frisbees. Meanwhile, some kid in Thailand is making sure everyone gets to play this game for free.

Seahawks vs. Cowboys

Sports Weekend Day two is upon us. After watching Southern Cal beat Washington the day before, it was time to check out the Seahawks in action. Little to my knowledge, the Seahawks have sold out 16 straight seasons so I was forced to buy tickets from certified scalpers. After paying a small ransom for parking, we did a quick walkthrough the stadium parking lot and headed to the Pyramid Brewery for some lunch. I like their beer, and the food isn't too shabby. We get to our seats way up at the top (uncovered) about 10 minutes before kickoff. Qwest Field is a very odd shaped stadium. I really don't know what hippie architect created it, but they definitely weren't a sports fan. They say the roof covers 70% of the stadium, but I'm not so sure. Anyway, some extra seating could definitely be thrown in. A new scoreboard is also in order. I had to scan 8 different scoreboards to get all the information I needed. Oh, and forget about getting a score for another game. The updates happen maybe once a quarter, and by the time you realize what board it's on, they are gone.

Evan and I were lucky enough to witness history. Believe it or not, this was the first game at Qwest Field that it actually rained during the game! Four years in "rainy" Seattle and not once did it rain during a home game. Evan hooked us up with some trendy Seahawks ponchos in the 2nd quarter so we wouldn't be soaked. For the most part, the game was pretty uneventful. Shaun Alexander was shutdown, Julius Jones didn't even make the trip, and the rest of the offense just decided to not play. So, it was pretty miserable sitting in the cold and rain, watching two teams battle it out for bragging rights to being the least productive.

The best part of the game happened in the final two minutes. The Cowboys had the lead 10-3, and were dominating. Hasselbeck made a couple great throws, Shaun finally got a decent run, and Ryan Hannam (who?) caught a td to tie it up. So, with time almost expired I'm thinking OT. Not so fast. The Cowgirls get a huge kickoff return and are making an impressive drive. 30 seconds or less left, Cowgirls are at midfield, and then WHAMMY! Bledsoe throws a pick and Babineaux takes it down to the 31 setting up a 50 yard kick by Josh Brown for the win. Well, the gods must have been smiling on Brown, because after missing a FG to send the Skins game to OT, he comes back and hits this one for the win. 10 points in 46 seconds for the Seahawks and the place erupts in cheers. Now, I'm not a Seahawks fan yet, but I despise the Cowgirls. It was great to watch those Dallas Bandwagoners' faces. Total disbelief. As they walked out, heads hanging low, a Seahawks faithful shouts "Hey Cowboy fan! 1991 called and they want their Starter jacket back!"

After getting lost finding the highway (I guess it's not eco-friendly to post road signs), we hit up Fatburger and then watched an amazing Game 2 of the World Series.

Thus concludes Sports Weekend. Hopefully I'll get some Mariners tickets for next year and have round two.

Sports Weekend

So this past weekend, a best friend of mine came into town. The theme for the the trip: Sports Weekend. On cue for Saturday was the undefeated USC Trojans playing the mostly defeated UW Huskies. Evan was able to get tickets for this game last month after a friend of a friend bailed out on getting us prime tickets (We still love you O - it's not your fault the broad is a flake!). We woke up early to watch Gameday and after placing some free bets, we headed to downtown Seattle.

I took him to Pike Place Market, probably the most popular Seattle landmark (besides that crappy eye sore). We walked around and Evan took some pictures of the fruit & Vegetable stands as well as the flowers (I can only hope that this was for his wife). We had breakfast at the Athenian Inn. They have a great view of the waterfront, and an even better view of the locals. Only here can you find a local downing a cup of coffee at 8:30 in the morning, following it up with a grapefruit with Vodka while chain smoking. The food is excellent, and if you order the special, you can get out of there with a full stomach for $10 (with tip). We finished off the market by stopping at my favority bakery, grabbed a soft pretzel, and headed to the UW Stadium.

Before getting into the game conversation, the campus of UW is amazing. They have a really nice layout that has a lot of open space. The buildings have great architecture (as opposed to some campus buildings) and the campus library is huge. A friend of mine who went there informed me that The Ring was filmed in that library. He also told me that on a clear day, when you look at the horizon past the fountain, you can get a pretty sweet view of Mt. Ranier. Anyway, we get to the stadium, and I have to say it's not the most eye appealing structure. It does have a nice view of the water, and people can pull their boats right up to the stadium (for a small fee).

Okay, so it's kickoff. UW gets the ball and the player busts out a huge run down to the 6 yard line or something. Upset in the making? Not so fast my friends. 3 and out, they settle for a FG. Next thing you know, USC is up a couple tds and it's pretty much over. My assessment of USC is this - They need to play 4 quarters and find a defense. Reggie Bush is amazing. During a punt return, I commented that he "stutter steps" too much. He then proceeded to stutter step his way to the endzone. Adidas taste good. Matt Leinart is going to be a solid NFL qb. UW is horrible. Ty Willingham is the most overrated coach, followed by Chuck Amato and Ralph Freidgen.

I'm glad I got to see USC in action. Would have been great if UW could have pulled the biggest upset in sports history, but there was no way that would happen.

Anyway, it was a great day and I had a lot of fun catching up with my old buddy.

Next post I'll talk about the Seahawks game.

Calvin and Hobbes

I've come to realize that Sunday Comics suck these days. I really don't care for this new wave of comics being tossed on my doorstep. I went to the local B&N last night and saw this year's christmas present. Finally, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes in a 3-Volume Hardback set. Now, I already own this set since I have every C&H book there is. However, I have no doubt that this will make it under my tree this year (even if I buy it myself).

Too Busy to Blog

Although I have TONS of meaningless topics to speak about, I've just been too busy. With the new job, getting everything "ready" and working on the wedding site (oh yeah, i'm engaged!) I just can't find the time.

Hopefully in the not too distant future I'll discuss things like:

*Why DVR is great
*What it's like to plan a wedding on opposite coasts
*Google
*MSN
*Project Management
*Vietnamese Food
*Married man living the single life.

Until next time......