Bonnegiorno! Here I am in L’Italia. We had a pretty good trip. We had a connecting flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago in the morning, and had some time to kill, so we decided to take the metro into Chicago, walk around, and have lunch there. It was pretty nice. They definitely have “The Windy City” right. The first thing that I noticed was how flat it was. Everything was in a perfect grid compared to anything I’ve seen in PA. They don’t really have any rolling hills out there.
We walked around in Chicago and saw briefly the theater district, the riverwalk, and possibly the Sears Tower (we’re pretty sure we saw it, but couldn’t distinguish it from all of the other big buildings. We ate in a small place called Potbelly Sandwich Works. I had a lunch meat sandwich wrap made fresh and some chicken noodle soup. It was very good. We didn’t have too much of a chance to look around since we only had 4 hours there, and the metro was a 45 minute drive. Fortunately, the security checkpoints didn’t take too long to get through so there was no worry of missing our flight. Travelling on a Tuesday was a great idea.
The flight wasn’t too bad for a 9 hour flight. We brought plenty of stuff to do. I had my laptop (it’s amazing how little you can do without the Internet anymore), we brought several books from the library, and Nick and Jess let us borrow their Nintendo DS’s for the trip. We played Mario Kart through the whole flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago, and played a good bit of the trip on the way to Italy.
Justin’s seat tactics worked. We ordered our tickets online, and it gave us the option to choose our seats. The plane had seating that was 2/3/2. Two seats next to each other near the window, and three seats in the very middle. All of the seats against the window were taken, so Justin took two aisle seats in the middle section in the same row that had an empty seat between us. He figured that the middle seat would likely be the last taken by anyone, so if there were vacant seats, we’d have a shot at an empty seat between us. Well, that’s exactly what happened. It made sleeping a little bit easier, but it’s still definitely hard to sleep practically sitting up.
The food wasn’t too bad either – we got beef and mashed potatoes, a small salad, a dinner roll, and a really good triple chocolate brownie. I wish I had slept more though, because we took off at 3:00 PM, and we arrived 9 hours later…at 6 in the morning in Italy. Basically, it was Daylight Savings Time, times 6. So we didn’t get much sleep before our first big day in Italy.
I have a lot to tell about already, but time is short. I still have jet lag, am exhausted from today, and have to get some work done too. I’ll try to get some pictures up for next time as well. Ciao!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Trip to Italy
Well, some of you know, but most of you don't. I'll be taking a two week trip with my brother Justin to Italy starting tomorrow. Definitely too busy today to be excited - it'll probably start tonight when we leave for Pittsburgh.
We've been trying to learn at least a little Italian, but it's been pretty tough. I took too much Spanish to be very good at Italian - I keep lapsing into old Spanish habits.
What I've decided to do is TRY to do a daily blog to keep track of my experience. Or at least an every-so-often blog. So all of you lucky people get to see my trip firsthand. So don't be too surprised if you see a frenzy of activity in the next few days or so.
Wish us luck, and the next time I blog will be from L'Italia. Ciao!
We've been trying to learn at least a little Italian, but it's been pretty tough. I took too much Spanish to be very good at Italian - I keep lapsing into old Spanish habits.
What I've decided to do is TRY to do a daily blog to keep track of my experience. Or at least an every-so-often blog. So all of you lucky people get to see my trip firsthand. So don't be too surprised if you see a frenzy of activity in the next few days or so.
Wish us luck, and the next time I blog will be from L'Italia. Ciao!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Team Fortress Hilarity
Even if you've never played this game, you'll find this absolutely hilarious. Some moron is using game exploits and just stupid activity to screw over his team, including making teleport death-traps for his teammates, preventing his own snipers from seeing, and locking his team in their spawn point with a glitch. Absolutely hilarious to hear everyone's in game reaction to his antics.
Warning: strong language.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUPzN7tp7bQ
Warning: strong language.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUPzN7tp7bQ
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Brain Phenomenon
So I've been working all evening on some projects, and when Nick and I are tired, strange things start to happen (don't tell our clients). But tonight I realized just how much fun you can have changing songs titles that have "_-ain" in them to song titles with "brain" in them.
Take these fun examples:
"Have You Ever Seen My Brain" by CCR (Have You Ever Seen The Rain)
"Last Brain in London" by ELO (Last Train to London)
"Where's My Brain" by Eric Clapton (Let It Rain)
"Brains on the Scarecrow" by John Mellencamp (Rain on the Scarecrow)
"Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Brains" by Ricky Nelson (Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain)
"Crazy Brain" by Ozzy Osbourne (Crazy Train)
I calculated it, and I am roughly 215 times more likely to sing along to the "brain version" of any of these songs. Should this be called the "Brain Phenomenon?"
Is anyone else amused by this? Or is it just me at midnight being really tired?
Yeah that's what I thought. Anyway, feel free to add any song titles that you find amusing as well.
Someday I'll post something relevant and interesting, I swear.
Take these fun examples:
"Have You Ever Seen My Brain" by CCR (Have You Ever Seen The Rain)
"Last Brain in London" by ELO (Last Train to London)
"Where's My Brain" by Eric Clapton (Let It Rain)
"Brains on the Scarecrow" by John Mellencamp (Rain on the Scarecrow)
"Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Brains" by Ricky Nelson (Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain)
"Crazy Brain" by Ozzy Osbourne (Crazy Train)
I calculated it, and I am roughly 215 times more likely to sing along to the "brain version" of any of these songs. Should this be called the "Brain Phenomenon?"
Is anyone else amused by this? Or is it just me at midnight being really tired?
Yeah that's what I thought. Anyway, feel free to add any song titles that you find amusing as well.
Someday I'll post something relevant and interesting, I swear.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Links
Well, I still haven't been doing a whole lot. Been working a lot, playing Titanquest, Team Fortress 2, and Rock Band a good bit. So nothing terribly new to report.
But I've been sent a number of purely entertaining links that I wanted to share with you all.
1. Mario in Javascript - Sure it isn't perfect, but if anyone has ever coded Javascript....this is truly a masterpiece.
2. Canada On Strike - The South Park season has kinda been meh so far, until last week's episode. Pure comedy. After watching it, make sure you watch the videos that inspired it. The list is located here.
3. Top 100 April Fools Jokes - Many of these were from a time when you wouldn't imagine too many pranks were played at a wide-spread level. Some are just awesome. I didn't realize that April Fools was celebrated internationally.
4. Speaking of April Fools - anyone who played WoW and missed this....inexcusable.
5. Windows 98 and XP Music - This is very nerdy, but still somewhat entertaining. I enjoyed it.
I know there are more...I'll just have to save them for another post later.
Keep posting fun links in your comments...I'm enjoying them, just never remember to comment back about them.
But I've been sent a number of purely entertaining links that I wanted to share with you all.
1. Mario in Javascript - Sure it isn't perfect, but if anyone has ever coded Javascript....this is truly a masterpiece.
2. Canada On Strike - The South Park season has kinda been meh so far, until last week's episode. Pure comedy. After watching it, make sure you watch the videos that inspired it. The list is located here.
3. Top 100 April Fools Jokes - Many of these were from a time when you wouldn't imagine too many pranks were played at a wide-spread level. Some are just awesome. I didn't realize that April Fools was celebrated internationally.
4. Speaking of April Fools - anyone who played WoW and missed this....inexcusable.
5. Windows 98 and XP Music - This is very nerdy, but still somewhat entertaining. I enjoyed it.
I know there are more...I'll just have to save them for another post later.
Keep posting fun links in your comments...I'm enjoying them, just never remember to comment back about them.
Monday, March 31, 2008
What's Up
So the last week has been pretty dull for me. Not that I've been incredibly bored, but nothing really new has come up. I refuse to post about the really dull and boring stuff that goes on in my life. (That definitely opened me up for some rips.)
Anyway, I'd like to hear from you people who read this. Anything interesting going on? Wow-related, video game-related, RL-related. I don't care. What are you all doing? Comment!
Anyway, I'd like to hear from you people who read this. Anything interesting going on? Wow-related, video game-related, RL-related. I don't care. What are you all doing? Comment!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Titanquest
So I've finally played enough of Titanquest to feel that I can accurately review it. I haven't completed the game, so I may change my mind on some aspects of it.
Have you ever played Diablo II in all of its glory? Made in 2000, this game is still actively played online (though not as much since WoW came out). Why is this? It's a classic RPG with a decent plot, great class balance, great skill trees, good item progression, and long-lasting strategy. You can pick up the game in minutes, and take months to truly master it. The game is more about your character than it is about the storyline or the monsters that you fight. It's interesting to think about playing the game as a different character using a different set of skills.
Titanquest is truly a Diablo II ripoff. Perhaps Diablo II created the point-click RPG genre. If that's the case, then Titanquest has developed it into the new generation Diablo. We're still waiting for Diablo III, but Titanquest can be considered Diablo 2.5 I think.
Again, the storyline really is bland. It's based in ancient Greece, and all sorts of monsters have come out from mythology to fight mankind. Your job is to find them and kill them. Seems pretty straight forward? It is. The storyline is slow and not very deep. But the gameplay makes up for it.
In Diablo II, you had 7 classes to choose from, and each had three talent trees to put points into. In Titanquest, they increase that to 8 (9 with the expansion), but the difference is that you don't pick one. You pick two. My character is an Oracle (combination of Spirit and Storm trees). You choose your first tree at level 2, and your second tree at level 8. The trees are more complex than Diablo as well. Each level you get 3 skill points (as opposed to 1 for Diablo). You can put these skill points into new abilities, or you can use them to progress higher up the tree. This way, you don't need to hoard points or save them until you get to the abilities that you want.
Having 36 different combinations can make for unlimited character skill development, and has led to the same kind of online following that Diablo has enjoyed. Like Diablo, the game is based around gear and relics (gems). The interface is nicer too. Instead of having left and right click, there is a bar to use for casting. It works similarly in the end, but it's much easier to see all of your options in front of you.
Other advantages that it enjoys over Diablo is improved statistic tracking, better graphics and music, better transportation methods, redos on skill points, side quests, and better saved game placement.
I really enjoy these kinds of games because you can nitpick about what abilities will be best for your character to have. It places the focus on character development rather than the environment interaction. I wish the game had a more engaging storyline, but I do enjoy the sidequests (something that Diablo lacked as well).
Multiplayer is also available, but I don't know if I can recommend it. Multiplayer slows things down a little, and if there's one thing that this game doesn't need, it's slowing down. I tried playing this with friends multiplayer and couldn't get into it. Single players gives you more time to figure out what abilities work and which ones don't.
In summary, if you liked Diablo II, you will like this game - it is superior in a lot of ways. Though I can't wait until Diablo III - it will probably blow this game out of the water.
Have you ever played Diablo II in all of its glory? Made in 2000, this game is still actively played online (though not as much since WoW came out). Why is this? It's a classic RPG with a decent plot, great class balance, great skill trees, good item progression, and long-lasting strategy. You can pick up the game in minutes, and take months to truly master it. The game is more about your character than it is about the storyline or the monsters that you fight. It's interesting to think about playing the game as a different character using a different set of skills.
Titanquest is truly a Diablo II ripoff. Perhaps Diablo II created the point-click RPG genre. If that's the case, then Titanquest has developed it into the new generation Diablo. We're still waiting for Diablo III, but Titanquest can be considered Diablo 2.5 I think.
Again, the storyline really is bland. It's based in ancient Greece, and all sorts of monsters have come out from mythology to fight mankind. Your job is to find them and kill them. Seems pretty straight forward? It is. The storyline is slow and not very deep. But the gameplay makes up for it.
In Diablo II, you had 7 classes to choose from, and each had three talent trees to put points into. In Titanquest, they increase that to 8 (9 with the expansion), but the difference is that you don't pick one. You pick two. My character is an Oracle (combination of Spirit and Storm trees). You choose your first tree at level 2, and your second tree at level 8. The trees are more complex than Diablo as well. Each level you get 3 skill points (as opposed to 1 for Diablo). You can put these skill points into new abilities, or you can use them to progress higher up the tree. This way, you don't need to hoard points or save them until you get to the abilities that you want.
Having 36 different combinations can make for unlimited character skill development, and has led to the same kind of online following that Diablo has enjoyed. Like Diablo, the game is based around gear and relics (gems). The interface is nicer too. Instead of having left and right click, there is a bar to use for casting. It works similarly in the end, but it's much easier to see all of your options in front of you.
Other advantages that it enjoys over Diablo is improved statistic tracking, better graphics and music, better transportation methods, redos on skill points, side quests, and better saved game placement.
I really enjoy these kinds of games because you can nitpick about what abilities will be best for your character to have. It places the focus on character development rather than the environment interaction. I wish the game had a more engaging storyline, but I do enjoy the sidequests (something that Diablo lacked as well).
Multiplayer is also available, but I don't know if I can recommend it. Multiplayer slows things down a little, and if there's one thing that this game doesn't need, it's slowing down. I tried playing this with friends multiplayer and couldn't get into it. Single players gives you more time to figure out what abilities work and which ones don't.
In summary, if you liked Diablo II, you will like this game - it is superior in a lot of ways. Though I can't wait until Diablo III - it will probably blow this game out of the water.
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