Ok people...it's been a little quiet over here at the noisybox...most likely because of the holidays. Fear not, dear heathens! I've got just the thing to cure your depressed holiday woes! If this doesn't put you in the christmas spirit, then nothing will! Have a good one!

So John called me and said The Institute, which yeah, happens to be the adventure game that the previous solution was pulled from. He wins the Big Prize of a yet undetermined nature. However, I still think he cheated in two ways: 1) He's the only person who ever reads my sill rants, and 2) He Google'd for it. Cheater. :) I learned a new word today: sporge. Damn that really sucks. I ran across one while doing some Google Groups research and initially thought I had stumbled onto some crazy Al Qaeda training mission in hidden text...but I guess I'm just paranoid. I'm really not in the xmas mood. Bah humbug. I still have lots to do. I'm such a huge procrastinator. I'm writing Perl for the LED sign. Arg.

Now where was this stuff like 18 years ago? It's weird for me to look back on things like this. I forced myself to follow it through...and after doing so I think I remember actually beating the damn thing. Very strange, especially because my memory said that I never finished it. Nostalgia and self-pity. Let's proceed now with the strangest web log entry to date...Oh yeah, and the first person to name the source gets a big prize from me. Look(5 times), Talk(4 times), Look under bed, Get mug, E, Break mirror, Get mirror, S, S, *W, *Look wall, *Listen, *E, Open, *Talk, *Fine, Attack, Listen, Drop mug, Look(6 times), E, S, Open, Look shelve(twice), Get scalpel, Open, S, Open, Attack, Cut pads, Get rope, Get water, Look(6 times), E, S, Open, Get bottle, S, Eat powder....OK, done with first part...might want to save...Now you should be in a dream...there are 4 seperate dreams you have to go throgh. This is dream #1. From here on, never drop either the bottle, or the water, until I tell you to at the end. Onwards:::> <DREAM#1> E, Throw rope, Climb, *Look telescope, *Focus telescope, *Look telescope, *Look Earth, *Look continent, *Look metropolis, *Look building, *Look billboard(finally!), Climb, W(dear-old Dad is dead), Talk, The Institute, Climb, *Talk(3 times), Pull trigger(made my day), Open, S, Look base, Get glue, E, *Talk, Peace, Attack, Climb, Put glue on shoe, Drop glue, Climb, *Look log, Go hole, Look, Get shovel, Get bronze key, Climb, W, W, W(at statue door), Shafla, Unlock door, Drop bronze key, N, N. Ok, now you must continue to Drink stream until you turn >Bright green<, not just green...this could take about 10 times. After turning bright green, S, E, Climb, Climb, N, *Talk, Open (flip disk), Look natives, Get umbrella, N, Cut strips, N, Talk, Show mirror, Go crack, Look(doesn't that always happen to you when you wake up from a dream, I mean the sounds and all???), Eat powder. <Dream#2, The Titanic> Open umbrella, Look(5 times), Look deck(Gulp!), Get peserver, Drop scalpel, Drop mirror, S, Look(3 times), Jump, Jump, Dive, Get crowbar, Dive, Eat powder. <Dream#3, The Lizard Temple> Water plant, Climb <Dream#4, Africa> Eat powder(obviously addicted by now), S, Look stream, Move rock, Get lizard, Wake up, Eat powder(flip disk). <Dream#1, The Statue and Green PeopleLand> Climb, Open, S, W, Drop crowbar, N, E, Climb, Climb, N, N, Open(flip disk), N, N, Go crack, Look, Eat powder. <Dream#2> Open umbrella, Look(5 times, Drop preserver, Get scalpel, Get mirror, S(before you go on, make sure you have the mirror, the lizard, and the scalpel!),Look(7 times), Eat powder <Dream#3> Open, Sacrifice lizard(someone call the SPCA!), Drop scalpel, Climb, Hold breath, Climb, W,Show mirror, Listen, Listen, Get steak (for a, hah, laugh, Look throne, Pull handle...I told you it was a scream) E, Climb, Eat powder. <Dream#4> Throw steak, E, Open chest, Get screwdriver, Wake up, Eat powder (flip disk). <Dream#1> Climb, Open, S, E, Climb, Climb, N, Open(flip disk), N, N, Go crack, Look, Eat powder. <Dream#2> Open umbrella, Look(5times), Open, *Look painting, Unscrew painting, Get small key, Wake up,Eat Powder,(flip disk) <Dream#1> Climb, Open, Drop mirror, Get shovel, Dig shrub, Drop shovel, Get shrub, S, E, Climb, Climb, N, Open(flip disk), N, Open, Unlock box, Open box, Drop screwdriver, Get wrench, W, S, Open(flip disk), S, Climb, W, W, W, Drop umbrella, Get crowbar, Open, Look up, Climb, Push 56621(# on billboard...remember?), Open, Pry cover, Turn bolt(yeah...sure...),Drop bottle, Get gold key, Wake up (what a trip!) N, Open, S, Open,Unlock door Open(hmm...), Talk!!!!!!!!

Wow...I'm going through some of the web server logs (something that I admittedly don't do enough of) and ran across this link to an old photoshop project I did. That's just funny...I suppose if you keep a page up long enough somebody will find it eventually....the web is a wonderful and strange place.

I remade the intro page. But you probably already realized that if you're reading this. I really didn't like the feel of the previous one -- I think the new one "fits" a little better (if that's even possible). And yeah, in case you were wondering -- that's me at a young age right after I finished a monster game of Laser Blast on the Atari 2600. I beat 100k points, which I believe was supposed to get you into the Activision club and they would send you a patch...but apparently we never sent in the pic. :( Maybe I can scrounge one up on eBay some day...

Maybe you knew this, maybe you didn't, but Topato is made of poison!!!

You know, the first cup of coffee that comes out (before the pot is entirely full) is basically espresso. It's good, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it "thins" out the rest of the pot when you drink it. My brother and I caught Sigur Ros up in Seattle last Tuesday. It was a great show, totally hypnotic and drony. A good time was had. I also kicked his ass in the great-family-ping-pong tourny of '02... :) I'm having a really hard time NOT reformatting to install Linux as my primary desktop. I suppose I could keep a Win2k partition around "just in case" and also for those very few games I never play...it's just so much work. I really can't think of anything that I do on any regular basis that can't be accomplished (perhaps better) on a Linux setup.

Since a good deal of my time has been spent trying to finish up the LED sign project, I seem to be putting more notes on that page than here. Soooo...for the latest on what I've been up to, go there. :) I'll have a finished LED sign yet, dammit!

A few more notes posted on the LED sign page. It's coming along nicely. After waiting entirely too long, it looks like we're going to see "Punch Drunk Love" finally today. I'm stoked.

Much rejoicing! Lots of progress on the LED sign! I now have a working display with full computer control. Sweet. There's still some work to be done, but I really think that the worst is behind me. The main things left are: adding/tweaking some assembly code, improving the PC side software, making a PCB, and finishing up some chassis touches. Keep checking back for progress updates. Oh yeah, and I also threw up a silly little page for the Rice-a-Roni PIC programmer. :) Stupid, but fun!