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Rock Band and xBox 360

December 19, 2007

After all the delays waiting for the PS2 version of Rock Band, not to mention all the features that I would have been missing had I got the PS2 version to begin with, I went ahead and bit the bullet tonight. I went out and bought an xBox 360 and Rock Band. I’m so stoked.

New Toys 

The store was out of the middle of the road sized xBox 360, so I ended up getting the Halo 3 Special Edition. It comes with a couple games (not Halo 3, which I thought was odd) a battery charger and the unit itself is green and has some Halo 3 markings. I doubt it was worth the extra bucks I plunked down, but I was on a mission… they had me by the short and curlies.

After getting home with the goods, it took roughly an hour to unbox, unwrap and hook up all the pieces. The first thing I did was set up the video camera to capture the first time I played drums. I played on the easy level and I wasn’t entirely horrible. 92% playing Celebrity Skin by Hole.

I then played a few songs with my son. We switched back and forth between drums and guitar. I tried hooking up the microphone, but it didn’t seem to be working. Turns out, if you read some instructions once in a while, sometimes they have valuable information. I didn’t figure that out early enough, so I haven’t sung any songs yet. But, there’s always tomorrow.

I asked my wife if she wanted to play the drums. She played a couple songs and enjoyed it. She even mentioned playing some more in order to get better at playing. This makes me happy.

I sure hope I’m not too sick tomorrow and not able to make it in to work… That would be a real shame. OK, fine. I have 9 days off in row starting Saturday… I guess I can wait until then to rock my face off.

We’ll see.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , ,

Out of the Office notifications

December 19, 2007

At work we have an email account that sends a copy of all messages sent to it to everybody in the company. If somebody is going to take a day of work, they send an email saying that they’ll be out of the office, list the day(s) they’ll be out and will usually give information about who to contact in their absence. During the holidays there have been quite a few of these emails going around. They all look the same… boring!

Since I will be taking off a few days next week, I decided to entertain the crowd with a geekier version of the OOTO message. Mine looked like this:

<?php
while ($date > “2007-12-25″ && $date

The fact that I received 3 instant messages and 8 emails filled with “LOL”s, I’d say my stab at humor worked.

Good times.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , , , ,

Ratting out the Thief

December 19, 2007

After stewing on it for a couple days, I finally got around to contacting the corporate offices for the company who’s employee I’ve seen stealing cash on no less than 4 occasions. I went to their corporate website and used the contact us form to send the following message:

Back in June of this year, I witnessed an employee at store #XXXX pocketing a few dollars that should have gone in to the register. A couple of times I “thought” I had seen it happen, but there were at least 2 times where, without a doubt, I SAW it happen.

I called and spoke with the store manager, XXX XXXX. She explained that she had suspected there may be something going on and she would take the person off the register and would watch them very closely.

I did this all anonymously because I visit this store at least 3 times a week and didn’t want to cause any trouble.

Over the next couple months, it appeared that the issue had cleared up. Until this past Friday. I watched as he pocketed $7.00 that should have gone to the register. Then, if that wasn’t enough, on Monday morning, I saw him AGAIN take $3.00.

I would have called the store manager and told her about it, but it is obvious that she doesn’t have the ability to control it.

Here is the basic way he does it, when somebody hands him either exact change, or says “Keep the change”, since there is no need to open the register to make change, he hits a few buttons on the screen with his right hand while he palms the cash with his left hand. Since the rest of the staff will be on his right hand side, he looks over to make sure nobody is watching and quickly slides the cash in to his left pocket.

Without naming names (or even your company), I wrote a blog about it back in June:

http://geeeek.com/2007/06/21/heres-a-question-for-ya-2/

I wrote a follow-up on Monday evening that you can read here:

http://johnhawkinsblog.com/to-catch-a-theif

I just thought you should know.

Best regards,

John Hawkins

So, I’m curious to see how this pans out. I wonder if they’ll contact me and ask me to elaborate?

I’ll let you know.

Filed Under: Ranting Tagged With:

Rock Band for the PS2? Probably not before Christmas

December 18, 2007

Today was supposed to be the release date for Rock Band for Play Station 2. I took an early lunch break today at work to go out and buy it. I started out at Fry’s. I’m 99% certain that the lady I spoke with had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. I asked if they had the game for PS2. She sends me to a display up front and says if there are none up there, they are out. But, the thing is, the display was for Guitar Hero, not Rock Band. There was physically no space for boxes of Rock Band to have been sitting there at any point in time. I walked around for 5 minutes and then left.

 Next I went to Guitar Center. Yes, I know they sell REAL guitars there, but last month they were selling Guitar Hero 3 so I thought the trip was justified. Especially considering it’s in the same parking lot as Fry’s. Sadly, that was strike 2. However, the guy suggested I try the new Target store on Blue Diamond.

On the way to Target, I called Game Stop. They have a shipment in route, but it’s not arriving until Thursday. On top of that, they only have enough to cover their pre-sale orders.

At Target, I thought I struck gold. I walked to the back of the store, found the game section and THERE IT WAS! I could see 5 Rock Band boxes. When I got up close, 3 of them were for PS3 and 2 of them were for XBox 360. Poop. I found another shelf with more copies for the PS3. Asking the staff at Target was as helpful as the staff at Fry’s. They had no clue.

By this time my lunch break was mostly over. I headed back to work bummed out. After work I would try one more place. Toys R Us.

After stopping at our storage unit to pick up all the Christmas decorations, we headed to TrU. We found more copies of Rock Band for the PS3, but again, not for the PS2. We asked the lady behind the counter and she said that it has been delayed and they have no idea when it’s coming in. She sounded convincing (unlike the yahoos at Fry’s and Target) but I’m hoping she was wrong.

I have Rock Band pre-ordered through Amazon.com and yesterday they updated their release date for the game to say December 28th. I’m really hoping to have the game at the house before New Years Eve. We are going to have some friends over and I’m really looking forward to rocking our faces off!

Cross your fingers for me.

Filed Under: Ranting Tagged With: , ,

To catch a thief

December 17, 2007

Back in June I wrote a post on geeeek.com where I talked about watching a store clerk pocket some cash that should have gone in to the register at a place I frequent. After writing the post I called and spoke with the manager, told her what I saw and she said she’d make some changes. When it was obvious that she wasn’t going to, I did. I stopped giving exact change (forcing the clerk to ring the sale and give me change) and I also stopped handing him money and saying, “keep the change”, since he seemed to think that meant “keep all this money I’m handing you.”

Shortly after that incident, a new computerized ordering system was installed that basically FORCED the clerk in to ringing up the sales. I was pleased about that since I was only able to keep him from stealing money that I paid him directly. Who knows how much more he got away with during the day.

On Friday when I went in before work, the lady in front of me in line had pulled $7.00 out of her purse. She handed it to the clerk and said, “keep the change.” This immediately put me on alert. I watched for any signs that he may try and pocket her cash. Sure enough, he was back at it. He set the money on the counter between him and the register, out of view of the current customer. I’m standing back about 5 feet and have a clear view. He punches some keys on the touch screen, looks around for his manager, wads the bills up and slips them in to his pocket. I shake my head, get my food and leave.

This morning when I went in before work, one of the staff recognized me and started my order without entering it in to the computer. This means I also get to jump the line and go right to the register. This is a slice of happiness for me. It’s something I would do for regular customers back when I worked in the food industry and I appreciate when it happens to me. So, to reward her for her the nicety, I walk to the register and hand the clerk $3.00 and say, “keep the change.” I don’t even know why I was surprised when I walked away, turned around and saw him slip the cash in to his pocket.

As if this wasn’t enough, this evening we went to the mall to pick up a gift for the Secret Santa gift exchange I’m taking part in at work this week. As we were heading in to a store, 4 security guards were standing around 2 teenage girls. I immediately suspected that they were caught shoplifting. My suspicions were confirmed when I overheard one of the guards ask, “So, how many stores have you taken things from?”

I had planned to just ignore the clerk at my morning stop and just go back to making sure he has to ring up all of my sales. But, after the shoplifting episode at the mall, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I can not just let this go. Tomorrow I will go in and get a card for the corporate office. I’ll give them a call and let them know that they not only have an employee who is stealing, they have a store manager who is unable/unwilling to do anything about it.

Filed Under: Ranting Tagged With: , ,

Holiday Party Hangover

December 16, 2007

Last night was our company holiday party. 10 years ago the Christmas party was Me, the boss and our wives having dinner at TGI Fridays. Our party is now held at Mandalay Bay, has over 500 guests and requires months of planning. I’d say we’ve come a long way.

We started out having a few cocktails and then everybody was called to their seats for dinner. Before dinner was served they showed a pretty cool presentation of some accomplishments the company has had this year. Our CEO and President then took turns congratulating different teams and departments for some more specific projects and accomplishments.

The dinner was quite tasty. It was the first time I had ever had lobster bisque. It was excellent. I’m always amazed at how dinner can be served for over 500 guests and the food comes out hot and doesn’t taste like cardboard. I tip my hat to the people who make that happen.

After dinner they had some drawings for gift cards and an iPod Nano. Then a live band took the stage. They are apparently a lounge act from Caeser’s Palace. Taking nothing away from them as a band, I think it would have been better to have a DJ instead. We tried to tip the band $15 to play some Twisted Sister. They handed us our money back.

We had some more cocktails and then had more cocktails. After that, I think we may have had a couple more cocktails. As the party started to thin out, we headed up to a suite where about 20 of us hung out and had some more cocktails and a few shots of tequila.

Around 1 AM we left the party and stopped by the Forty Deuce night club to try and find some more folks from work who were hosting a get together. There was a line to get in, but I was able to talk my way past the line. I was pretty happy with myself about that. Unfortunately, once we got inside, the place was JAM PACKED and we weren’t able to find who we were looking for. We decided to call it a night and we headed back to our hotel room. I passed out almost instantly.

We woke up this morning around 8:30. I had a pounding headache and my stomach was doing cartwheels. I was in that weird spot where I thought I would feel better if I threw up. Instead we got dressed and headed home. I had a little bit to eat and took some Advil. thankfully, I started feeling better right away.

I spent some time going through all the photos I took at the party. You can see most of them on Flickr.

I had a great time at the party. I don’t even mind the hangover.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , ,

How NOT to tie a bow tie

December 14, 2007

Tomorrow night is my company’s holiday party at Mandalay Bay on the Las Vegas Strip. I plan on wearing my tuxedo, but wanted to jazz it up a bit for the party. We went to the store to look for either a red tie, vest or shirt. What I found was a candy-cane striped bow tie. So the outfit would have been: black shoes, black pants, black shirt, black vest and a candy-cane striped bow tie. Perfect! One minor detail. I don’t know how to tie a bow tie. We asked every sales person in Dillards if they could show me how. Not a single one of them knew how. “That’s OK”, I said, “I’ve got access to the internet.”

An hour or so and a great deal of frustration later, we went back to the mall. I returned the bow tie and bought an all red standard tie. One day I will learn how to tie a bow tie. This will not be that day.

If you need to learn how to tie a bow tie, this video appears to do a good job of showing how it’s done. I have no excuse on why I wasn’t able to learn how.

Filed Under: Ranting Tagged With: ,

Review: Superbad

December 11, 2007
superbad.jpg

superbadA common theme among movies aimed at teens these days is to release R rated clips from the movie months ahead of time via YouTube. With any luck the videos go viral and everybody and their brother has seen the clips a dozen times before the movie is even released. Unfortunately, as often happens, the hype build-up is greater than the movie can possibly hope to be. This was never more clear for me than with the movie Knocked Up. I LOVED the videos that were being passed around before the movie came out. Then, I went and saw it at th theater and I can hardly remember laughing during the entire movie.

When I first saw the R rated trailer for Superbad on Youtube, I laughed my head off. I could not wait for the movie to come out. I tempered my enthusiasm hoping that I would not have a repead of my experience with Knocked Up. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. I saw the movie the first week it was out in theaters and I loved it. Seth Rogan as Officer Michaels and Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fogell (McLovin) absolutely made this movie for me.

The characters in the movie are all likable. You find yourself rooting for the three unpopular guys (Evan, Seth and Fogell) who have their chance to hang with the in-crowd and hopefully get laid so long as they can use their new fake ID to obtain alcohol for the party. Of course everything that can go wrong does go wrong. When they finally make it to the party with alchohol in hand, they are the hit of the party. The girl Evan likes has way to much to drink, takes him upstairs to a bedroom and is throwing herself at Evan. Evan, being a really nice guy, won’t take advantage of her in her drunken state and narrowly avoids getting thrown up on when she pukes on the bed. The chick that Seth likes won’t make out with him because he’s drunk, and Fogell gets cock-blocked by 2 cops who burst in the bedroom seconds after he starts going at it with a little hottie.

There are plenty of funny scenes in the movie and the DVD has a decent gag-reel, line-o-rama and some other extras that make it worth picking up.

A very funny movie that I’m sure I’ll watch a dozen or so times.

Click Here to buy Superbad from Amazon.com 

Filed Under: Reviews

Review: Fuji Finepix Z5fd 6.3MB Digital Camera

December 10, 2007
finepix.jpg

Recently I dropped and broke my digital camera so it was time to head to the store to pick up a new one. My requirements were pretty simple. I was looking for a pocket sized camera with a decent sized viewing screen and at least 5.0 MP. After checking out several cameras, I decided on the Fuji Finepix Z5fd 6.3 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom.

finepix 

Like I said, my requirements weren’t very difficult to meet. So when I got the camera home and started using it, I was pleasantly surprised by all the extras that came along with it. The 6.3 megapixels capture enough detail that you can print photo-quality pictures up to 14 x 19 inches in size. The 8 x 10 prints I’ve made from shots taken with this camera are amazing.

The viewing screen on the back is a 2.5 inch scratch resistant LCD. This was an absolute must! The big screen makes it easy to use all the menu options, and when viewing the shots you’ve already taken it’s easy to see which shots you want to save and which you want to delete. I’ve been carrying the camera in my pocket most every day and there are still no scratches at all on my screen.

The Finepix Z5 also shoots video. When you are out with your friends and somebody is about to do something really stupid, it’s nice to have a video camera so quickly available. I have a 1 GB Xd memory card in my camera and can shoot about 15 minutes of video at 640 x 480 resolution. Once I get home it’s a piece of cake to grab the videos from the computer and upload them to YouTube.

The sliding lens cover makes for a super quick on/off switch. If you are putting the camera in your pocket, you will want to be careful not to slid the lens cover open.

The camera performs better than expected in low light situations. Here’s a photo I took at an awards show.

Derek at the Inc 500 awards 

The camera can also be set to several different modes depending on what you are shooting. The “Natural Light” setting takes two photos in rapid succession, one with flash and one without. Then, both images are displayed on the screen. This is great for shorts where you aren’t positive if the flash is going to be needed. I also like the “Continuous” mode. When using this setting, the camera will keep taking photos one after the other for as long as the shutter is held down. For capturing natural looking shots, this mode is fantastic.

The camera comes in three different colors. I bought the silver one for myself. My wife liked my camera so much she had be buy her the wine red model. It looks pink if you ask me. There is also a chocolate colored version as well.

Overall I’m thrilled with the Fuji Finepix Z5 camera. It far exceeded my expectations and would happily recommend the camera to anyone looking for a compact digital camera.

You can purchase the Finepix Z5 from Amazon.com. Or, if you would like to see all the technical specs for the camera, you can find them at fujifilmusa.com.

Filed Under: Reviews