computers, gadgets, games, scifi …
I’ve put up several more pics, and tried to organize the gallery a little better. There are still some more pics I haven’t put up yet, the husband is holding them hostage on his laptop. Ok, so maybe not really hostage, but they aren’t on any of my machines, so I’ve put them off till last.
None of these new pics have descriptions yet, but someday I’ll get to that. 🙂
Ok, so I haven’t gotten around to actually adding any more pics to my gallery – but I did go back and label the pics that are already there. I also tried to trim the galleries, but I don’t think I was very successful at it.
And, for the husband’s family, I do know your names. I made a conscious effort to not put names in, I instead used relationships. (i.e., ‘the niece,’ ‘the mother-in-law,’ etc.) I made this decision because while I don’t have a problem with my name being ‘out there’ on the ‘internet,’ I realize that not all people feel the same way. I don’t want to make anyone feel exposed.
Using relationships in lieu of names also serves a double purpose: for people who don’t know the people in the pictures, relationships serve as a better description. The husband’s coworkers, for example, have no idea who ‘mildred’ is or how she might connected to me – but they do understand step-great-aunt-in-law. Er, well, maybe not that relationship, I’m not entirely sure what that one means …
I rang in last year with my lego batmobile. This year, it’s lego star wars for the ps3.
Now, I am not a serious gamer – I prefer mah jong and solitaire to the generally more reflex-testing console games. But the lego star wars game is just plain fun – and no serious skill needed. If you die, no biggie, you lose some coins and come back to life. Have no coins? Whatever, come back to life anyway! It’s all good.
The cut scenes are truly a delight – they tell the star wars story, but with lego characters. Someone lose a head? Off pops the lego head. Someone lose a hand? Off pops the lego appendage. No gore, just pure silly lego fun.
And the two player functionality is awesome – a second person can just join and leave whenever they want – no commitment required. This has actually come in handy on some of the more difficult maneuvers – while chasing darth maul up and across and over platforms (lots of jumping required), the husband and I just couldn’t seem to get it together and both make all the jumps. Sometimes I’d miss, and end up dragging him down with me. Rarely, it was he who would miss, and we’d both go plummeting back down to the beginning. So what to do? I dropped out until he made it all the way to the top, then joined back in. My qui-gonn, as the computer, had managed all the jumps just fine.
We’ve made it to episode III fairly quickly, which is a plus. Games that drag on for too long get frustrating, and then I never finish them. Once we make it to the end, the game isn’t over – you can replay the levels with any characters you choose. Last night, the husband and I replayed one of our beaten levels as qui-gonn and darth maul. It did make getting to the end of the level a little difficult however, as we kept feeling the need to kill each other …
Woohoo! If you google ‘tiny sony speakers’, guess what the first hit is? You guessed it, akaemi.com!
A few weeks ago, ‘tiny sony speakers’ showed up on my google analytics as search terms that somebody used to get to my site. I laughed, as I realized they must be getting to my post about the Tysons Corner Mall. What a disappointment that must have been – someone was looking for, well, tiny sony speakers, and instead found an ode to my favorite shopping establishment.
Well, those search terms have risen to the top of my search terms list, with 4 whole people. That’s right, there are 4 people who were sadly disappointed with my mall raves instead of a tech review or perhaps an online merchant. Looking further down the list, there are 3 people who discovered how much I love my ‘cowgirl pants,’ and one person who has discovered my love for the ‘choco cherry love blizzard dairy queen.’
I can’t imagine that anybody who has found my site through googling has really, truly, found what they were looking for. (Well, except maybe the 3 people who googled ‘akaemi.’) But, hey, I don’t care – I’ll take visitors any way I can get them. 🙂
I got bored of the old look, so I found a new theme for akaemi.com – not to mention a new gallery! I really liked the way the gallery works at strahotski, so I downloaded the nextgen gallery plugin and installed it. 🙂 I haven’t uploaded all my pics yet, so right now all you’ll see is Christmas 2004 and my Europe pics (hey! you wouldn’t look good either if you were only showering intermittently and getting your sleep on night trains …)
Hopefully I’ll finish with all my pics soon … but probably I won’t, I seem to be easily distracted these days …
If I were to just consider the comments on my blog as proof of readership, it would appear that I only have 3 or 4 visitors a month. And that’s just a little bit sad; almost might as well just write in that journal I keep on my nightstand. Yeah, that journal full of completely blank pages.
Fortunately, I have a little something called google analytics installed at akaemi.com. Anytime I start to wonder if anyone even cares about my silly little blog, I log in and look at the map overlay of my visitors. Google is so thoughtful as to plot dots on a world map, to show me where my traffic is coming from. The larger the dot, the more visitors I get from that area.
The biggest dot is always Ashburn. Because that’s where I live. And, well, I am the most active visitor of akaemi.com. Then there are several other northern Virginia/Maryland dots, courtesy of past and present coworkers, as well as my husband’s coworkers. (I’m pretty sure my husband makes his friends read my blog. So as to keep me from getting all despondent about having negative google analytics numbers. It doesn’t matter, though, I’ll take pity readers …)
The next biggest concentration of dots is always Washington state/Oregon. Because that’s where my family lives. And there’s like 6 of them, so that makes for a HUGE concentration of my readership.
Following the Pacific Northwest comes Texas. There are usually dots scattered through the state. My husband’s family all lives in Texas – including somebody who apparently lives in Texarkana … there’s always a Texarkana dot.
The other consistent dot is Miami. Since the launch of akaemi.com, I have had Miami fans. I assumed that it was the one person I knew who lived in the sunny city, but when I thanked her for reading a few weeks back, she had to admit that she didn’t know I had a blog. She is now a faithful reader – my Miami dot has grown bigger – but even before her support, I could always count on Miami. So, thanks Miami!
And then I usually have random dots. Today’s random dots are Santa Clara and Singapore. In the past, I’ve had hits from as far away as Brazil, Germany, Japan and Malaysia. Usually it’s just one visit, so that means akaemi.com was really not what they were looking for. But it’s always fun to get international hits.
So, all in all, google analytics lets me know that I have 26 loyal readers, and that 3 or 4 of you visit my site every day. As far as a website is concerned, those are pretty pathetic numbers – I’m never going to find fortune and fame through akaemi.com. As far as I’m concerned, however, 26 is a pretty awesome number! I pretty much have to include everybody I know to come up with 26 people.
So, thanks, you guys! I’m glad you keep coming back. 🙂
I have a lego collection. That’s right, I’m a 28-year old woman with a lego collection.
And not just any legos; mostly Star Wars and Batman, but also a Spiderman and a Steven Spielberg set or two. My pride and joy would have to be my Millennium Falcon and my Batmobile.
My favorite thing about legos, though, is the little people. I have a batman, cat woman, two-face, spiderman, mary jane, steven spielberg, yoda, chewie, han solo, princess leia in white robes with buns, princess leia in metal bikini, luke skywalker, darth vader, darth maul, r2d2, anakin, and jabba the hut. I have little lego light sabers. I have little lego flames. I have little lego wheels, and little lego steering wheels.
I first discovered legos when b3 got a pirate lego set for Christmas one year – and yes, I did insist on putting it together for him. There were lego sharks, lego monkeys, a lego parrot, lego cannons, and lego palm trees. Not to mention the castle and pirate ship! It was awesome, and I was hooked.
If you haven’t given legos a try lately, consider it. At the very least, go to a lego store and marvel at the wonder that is lego.
A few weekends back, I was at microcenter helping my husband find the elusive G7 mouse, when I stumbled across some home design software.
I had been using some free demoware, that you could use for 30 program-runnings. And if you liked the product, you could buy it. I had just decided to buy it when I went to the website and discovered it cost $500. For a 2D floorplan maker! It did have some neat libraries full of furniture and fixtures, but, still, not $500 worth.
So when I saw an $80 3D home designer package at microcenter, I was intrigued. The pictures on the box promised some neat results, and so I took the plunge.
It took me several hours to transfer my house from my old demoware to the new product, but when I finished – wow. It’s my house! In 3D! With the right textures and colors for everything! I have a brick front, and siding everywhere else. My house is on a slope. The walls have the right colors, the floors are made of the right materials. My kitchen has gray tile and dark granite countertops, just like in real life. The ceiling even has recessed lighting! It’s – wow. That’s all I can say. It’s a real live model of my house.
Which means – I’ll be able to virtually remodel my house before I do the real deal! And I’ll know what it’s gonna look like. And if I hire someone to do the work, I can show them a 3D picture of what I want – and not just a magazine clipping with a “general idea.”
I love my new 3D house. 🙂 I’ve just finished with the basic floor plan and permanent fixtures. Next up: actual furnishings!
ding!
After two years, and over 16 days of solid play, I finally made it to level 70. By all accounts and purposes, that is a shamefully long time to level a World of Warcraft character to maximum levelage, but, you know, I have way more hobbies than the average wow-er.
So now, at level 70, I finally have my flying mount. Which means I can fly over mountains, instead of running around them. Or land right in the middle of a field of baddies, without having to fight my way through. Or just fly somewhere, in a straight line, instead of running along a meandering road.
In most games, once you hit the top, that’s the end. You put your name in the hall of fame, and you start again, or you move on to a new game. But that’s not how wow works.
If I save up 5000 gold, I can buy a super-fast flying mount. Which means I can fly even faster! Unfortunately, that flying mount is really ugly – which will provide motivation for me to do the quests that will let me buy other super-fast flying mounts that don’t look like flying lions covered in spiky, neon armor. (Seriously, nobody can ride one of those and feel good about themselves …)
I still have 25 more levels in my leather-working to go. In order to get higher, I have to find the right vendors who sell higher-level patterns, and then I have to gather the mats to make the stuff. And then I’ll be able to sell that stuff on the auction house, to move toward my 5000-gold goal!
And then there’s this thing called ‘raiding.’ I don’t think I’ll ever get into that – it sounds way too intense to me – but my husband has already started getting my rajali ready for raiding. Because, well, he wants to take rajali raiding. And that’s a-ok with me, because the reward for raiding is some seriously nice gear. And, well, all of rajali’s clothes are a horribly mis-matched hodgepodge of things I’ve picked up along the way. He only recently traded up his halter-top chestpiece (Seriously? A chestpiece for a boy character that looks like a halter top? That’s just degrading …) for one that actually looks like armor.
So, there’s plenty more for me still to do. In fact, some would say that the game has just begun.
5 years ago, as a single gal, my home entertainment system consisted of a tv, a digital cable box, and a dvd player. The cable guy was kind enough to program the cable remote to work the tv. And when I wanted to watch a movie, I had to break out the dvd remote. So I had 3 components and two remotes. And I knew how to work them. And life was simple.
Then I got married. Enter surround sound, directivo, an xbox and a game cube. And a universal remote. It was a mid-range universal remote, one that could “learn” from any remote, so you never had to worry that it wouldn’t have the right codes for your stuff. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite have all the right buttons for all of our devices, so my husband mapped a few buttons to things that weren’t labeled what they were.
One remote is easier than 4, and it’s certainly less to get lost in the couch. The remote worked fine, and for the most part, I remembered which buttons did what. I could go from watching tv, to watching a dvd, and back again. But if my husband left it set up for gaming, I couldn’t always remember which buttons to push to get the video and audio back to where I wanted. There was many a holler through the apartment when I needed to know which video input the directv was on, and which button to push again to change the audio. Even when I could remember which sequence of buttons to push, it was a fairly involved process that took 5 or 10 button-mashings. Certainly not beyond the ability of a capable adult, but remembering each sequence for the 4 different options (directv, dvd, xbox or gamecube) could be challenging, especially when I didn’t use all the options on a regular basis.
When we bought our house, I made a deal with my husband: If I got a house, he could get a fancy new tv. What with the nearly half-million dollar mortgage (welcome to 45 miles outside of dc …), it didn’t seem so crazy to spend a few thousand on a tv. I almost balked at the $250 logitech harmony remote – there are tvs that cost less than that! – but, again, what’s a couple hundred when you are signing papers for a couple hundred thousand? I didn’t get why this new universal remote was so much better than the universal remote we already had – that I had almost mastered – but he was so in love with it, I gave in. Plus, it was made by logitech, and, well, who doesn’t love logitech?
To program it, he had to hook it up to his computer, via usb cable. It took an hour or two, and needed a few quick tweaks over the next week or so. But once he was done – once it was finally ready – I understood what was so awesome about it. It became very clear to me that it was the best remote. EVER.
When you pick up the remote, the lcd screen lights up, and you see the list of ‘Activities.’ The activities on my remote right now, for example, are ‘TiVo’, ‘DVD’, and ‘PS3.’ You push the button next to the activity you want, and the remote figures out what it needs to do in order to get you there. It knows what state the system was in last, and it sends all the right signals to all the right devices to get you to your final destination. It gets to the right video input, and to the right audio output. I push ‘TiVo’, and then I am at my tivo list, with my list of available shows. One button push. If I want to then watch a dvd, I press the ‘Activities’ button at the top of the remote to get my activity list back. And then I push the button next to the ‘DVD’ option. Two button pushes. And I’m ready to roll.
The other great thing the remote does, is it makes the rest of the remote buttons control the right things. When I am in tivo mode, the fast forward/rewind/pause/play buttons control the tivo. When I am in dvd mode, they control the dvd player.
(There are more advanced options available – using the lcd screen, for example, you can get to every single button on every single remote for every single device you have. I, for one, have never done it. I’ve never had a need to. But, the remote is capable of more than just the simple stuff I outlined above.)
This is the year 2007. We send rovers to mars. We do surgery using itty bitty cameras that are threaded though people’s bodies. We have cars that parallel park themselves! It is high time we had a revolution in remote control technology. This isn’t 1970 when a home entertainment system meant you had a television set – we are in an era where home entertainment systems are composed of multiple components, all intricately connected. It is a little silly to use 4 remotes just so you can sit down and watch the evening news. It’s even silly to have a clunky universal remote that makes you push 10 different buttons just to go from playing your PS3 to watching a DVD. In fact, It is downright ridiculous for someone with a high end system – a tv that cost over a thousand dollars, dvd player, sound system, etc. – to NOT have a logitech harmony remote. (Or one with similar capabilities.) I mean, honestly, if you spend $2000 on a tv and $200 on Monster cables, and then you skimp on the remote – that’s like wearing $2 old navy flip-flops with a designer gown. If you are going all out, then finish the package, and get the nice remote.
I love the logitech harmony remote. We started with the $250 logitech harmony 880, but just replaced it with the newly released $170 ($120 at Costco till October 31) 720. It is one remote. With one button to push to get you where you want to go. There is no more frustration. There is no yelling across the house. There is just me, enjoying my home entertainment system. I will never again live without such a remote. Trust me ladies, this remote will change your life. Logitech has several models in different price ranges (I actually prefer the cheaper 720 to the 880), so you do have a little flexibility as to how much you spend. (It looks like currently, Best Buy has models that range from $100 to $400.)