Panem et Circenses

As anyone on my ever-dwindling list of friends will tell you, I am not a huge gamer. I have played the Haloz and the Callz of Dutiez, but can't really get into them. They all just seem like variations on the old Wolfenstein I used to play back in 90's. I also played Guitar Hero for a while when that first came out, but eventually gave it up to learn to play a real guitar (been learning for about 18 months now - still not that great). But there have been a few games that I really, really liked and continue to go back to.

Among them is a neat little artillery game called Gunbound. It's your basic angle-and-power Wormsesque game. I have been playing that since about 2005, I think. I play it at work (during lunch of course) nearly every day. Well yesterday I logged in and was greeted with a message saying something to the effect of 'Gunbound will no longer be available in North America after July 23rd'. Bummer for me. But there is also Desktop Tower Defense. I play that sometimes too. I guess it will have to fill the void. I just wish they would make more decent casual games like these.

But not everything is casual games with me. I also really can get into Civilization 4, which is, in my opinion, the best of the Civ games ever. I mean Leonard freaking Nimoy does the voiceover for each technologic discovery! I recently reinstalled Civ 4 on my PC and promptly wasted 4 hours playing it. It just never gets old for me. The interface is perfect, the music is awesome, and the graphics are just elaborate enough to be pleasant without being a distraction.

I am always on the lookout for any new games that might pluck that little string in my brain that these games do. I started playing City of Heroes (again) a few weeks ago. It's already kind of boring me. I am hoping that StarCraft II (when it finally comes out) will be cool, but I am dubious.

Snohomish Skate-flavored Park

Several years ago the City of Snohomish built a skate park for all those troublesome teenagers to use. I drive by it several times a week and have begun to notice a odd phenomenon: no one skates at the skate park.

I mean no one. Ever. I see kids standing around with their boards talking, but I never see anyone Gleaming the Cube, as they say (or as they said 20 years ago). There are others kids on bikes and a few more on inline skates. But even they rarely actually do anything. Today I found a link on the City of Snohomish web site labeled 'skate park camera' (sorry about the IP - apparently they don't believe in DNS). I have it posted below. I think it deftly proves my point.

http://75.151.103.26/

Bonus! There is a great view of the long condemned Hal Moe Pool in the background.

A frightening tableau

A frightening tableau
Originally uploaded by thinkgeekmonkeys

Found this picture today on Flickr. It's from the folks at Thinkgeek. Good to see Wil Wheaton finally getting his comeuppance. Even second-gen Kirk is getting in on the arse whipping.

XEN-Upgrade

No, this is not about the Scientology character, but rather the latest interation of what was once called the Citrix Metaframe Presentation Server. Now it's called Xen App, and since I am running the upgrade process, this is the XEN Upgrade.
My primary task is to test the web interface portion (CWI) upgrade process going from Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 to Xen App 5.1. It's a pretty painless process. The tricky part is from having to do it automagically to 50 web servers. I have not had to use my scripting skillset for a while, so I am a little rusty.

Here's the process I am attempting to script:

From 4.5 ->

1. Web Interface Access Management Console extension (CtxInstall.exe - select web app)
2. RESTART
3. Visual J# 2.0 Redist (vjredist.exe)
4. .NET Framework 3.5 (dotnetfx35setup.exe)
5. RESTART
6. Go into IIS and stop the CWI site.
7. Run WebInterface5.1.1.exe and accept defaults.
8. Go into IIS. Go to the properties of the CWI web site and change the ASP version to 2.x
9. RESTART
10. Go into IIS. Go to properties of the CWI site and go to the Home Directory tab. Manually set the Application Pool to "CitrixWebInterface5.1.1AppPool" - this sets itself to 'invalid application pool' after the installation.
11. Start the CWI site in IIS.
12. Repeat 50 times on servers throughout Washington State
13. Do a happy dance - (optional)
    

World of Weightwatchers

On the advice of a friend I just signed up for Weight Watchers Online (WWO). We will see how it goes. I read an article on Wired about how using WWO would appeal to computer geeks like me because it was kind of like an MMORPG (I think it's no accident that WWO is very close to WoW). Anyway, as I told my friend, I am hoping to be a sexy, svelte level 10 Ogre soon. I am going to looks so freaking hot as an Ogre. You don't even know!

I will try to update on any progress, or lack thereof. I get 45 points a day. I just learned that Mountain Dew is only 3 points, so I might just not eat for a day and down like 15 of those instead. I mean it's called Weight Watchers, not Diabetes Watchers.

Breaking News: Comcast Doesn't Care

Well after having Comcast for about 2 months now I recently got to experience my first billing problem. Full marks to Comcast for not making me wait, I guess. When I initially called for server their sales rep quoted me a price of $189/month for basic cable with HD, 50Mbps Internet service, and telephone service. I was excited because we were paying only slightly more than that for all these services separately before.

But how surprised I was when I got my first bill and it was something like $260. So I called Comcast customer service and was told that it was almost certainly a billing error. They gave me a ticket number for reference and recommended that I pay the bill and it would be corrected on the next statement. No problem.

So the next statement came, and guess what? It was even more. It had gone up another $20 or so. Now I called again and gave them the story. I was told words to the effect of "there's no problem here - that's the correct pricing". They went through their price structure and I agreed it was correct. I guess their sales rep just gave me wrong (and conveniently low) numbers. But apparently they don't stand behind what the sales reps tell customers.

Then I asked why it had gone up again. They said that someone had inadvertently 'given' me a premium channel that I didn't ask for. I had them turn that off, but I still had to pay the extra $20 for their accident.

Good job guys! Within two months you have turned a potentially fanboy into a reluctant customer.

Asgard is a Lie

Another poem/song I just wrote. Seems kind of pretentious posting them here. But I find it serves as some kind of therapy. Not really sure why. All I know is I usually feel better when I do this. So, take that for whatever you like I suppose...

The room without doors surrounds you
Your rainbow bridge is a fiction
You can only see a memory of freedom
Your Asgard is you addiction

That paradise you seem to promote is a lie
It has drawn you in with flashing lights
You deftly climb that falling ladder
But at the bottom you know you will die

Will you cast off those cosmopolitan chains?
Will you embrace the truth of freedom?
Will you find your way with strife and pains?
Or will you go the way of Edom?

Your heroes are just shapes and shadows
Just empty stories and simple lessons
The real champions you used to know
But now are just memories and visions
To you
To you

I reached for you but you handed me a hammer
The trolls you slay are only toys
Have become the tools of your destruction
The Trickster has tricked you with witless ploys.

Will you cast off those cosmopolitan chains?
Will you embrace the truth of freedom?
Will you find your way with strife and pains?
Or will you go the way of Edom?