Ice Cavern Studios

Wow, this sure has been a while. It’s now 2:45 in the morning, and I’m up late programming. Man, it’s like I’m back in college again. Accept that this time, I’m getting paid for my work. Well…in theory I’m getting paid. Being salaried, I don’t’ get overtime, but oh well. Yeah, it feels good to be doing some serious developing. I haven’t done this in a while and I’m pretty jazzed.

Yeah, I guess I haven’t mentioned that. Due to some outstanding circumstances, I’m writing some code that will be facing the live site. Like, MY CODE will reach MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. Holy Shit. That’s friggen sweet. At the same time. It’s friggen terrifying. Normally, my code is only consumed by people at Microsoft. And usually, I’m the only one who’s using it heavily. But this is different. Who boy is this going to be fun.

Of course, this also means that I have a lot to do. I have two projects on my plate. One I’m developing for. The other I’m testing. I must say, this is definitely a great experience for me. Although it eats my time. I would have had a bit more time today, but I had to go to some mandatory security training. I’m glad I went, and I found the class to be really interesting, but it ate up four hours of the day. So I had to make up for it.

*Shrugs* It’s not a big deal. Hopefully, by putting in all of this work, I will be able to get a little bit of comp time for Winter Formals. Oh yeah, I guess I didn’t mention anything about that. I’m going to be back in Princeton for Nicole’s Winter Formal. It’ll be fun, and I want to see Nicole. The price isn’t bad, so I’m going to do it. It will be good, especially since I will have two projects finishing around that time, and it will be a welcome break.

Hmmm…I should probably go back to the apartment now. I need to get up and get my dry cleaning and take care of some stuff before going to work. So, I’ll talk to ya’ll later. Baibai.

Life and Times

I feel like ass. I'm fatigued, my mind really isn't on work. I feel like i'm just kind of coasting. Bah. Today is sucking. Last night sucked. I didn't sleep well. My back is bothering. This is just a good day to go back home and sleep. I'm gonna call in sick after my last meeting. I'm just not with it today.

Life and Times

So this week has been pretty chill. Like really chill. Since it's just me and the cat; it's to be expected. What's also to be expected is the amount of Halo 2 I've been playing recently. It's pretty much a nightly thing. I eat, watch some tv, and go online to play Halo. And it's great. But the best part has been playing with my college roommates who are currently all on the east coast.

As of now, both Penn and Jeff (roommate from freshman year) have XBox Live accounts and copies of Halo 2. And with the ablity of to designate people as friends through XBL, I'm able to quickly and easily sync up with Penn and Jeff for some Halo 2. It's awesome.

A lot of this reaction comes partially from the nostalgia of playing games with Penn and Jeff. Penn, Jeff and I have played a lot of video games together. There was a lot of Playstation 2 being played during my freshman year, and junior and senior years saw frequent Halo matches with the roommates.

So now, through the magic of modern technology, we can recreate those experiences without being in the same room. Hell, we aren't even all in the same time zone. And we're not just shooting, we can also talk to each other through the XBL headsets. In real time, I can direct, congradulate, or make fun of my roommates. And they here me. It's almost as if they were sitting down with me.

I think this is the reason that I like Halo 2 as much as I do. When I'm just playing with other random people, it's not quite as fun. Nor is it as fun to play by myself. But to play online, with people I know personally, and be able to recreate the experience of sitting on a couch playing togehter; that is what I like.

So yeah, Halo 2. Keeping people together. Pretty fricken sweet.

Life and Times

Normally, I don't wait in long lines for anything. Like when all of the crazy fans line up to see a movie, I just look at them like a bunch of crazies. Why would anyone ever want to do something like that. Well, I'm now one of those people. I'm waiting in line at the company store for Halo 2.

It's already 8:15, and I've already been here for an hour and fifteen minutes. The store won't open for another forty-five, but that doesn't matter. I'm assured of getting a copy of one of the most anticpated games of all time. What's crazy, I'm not the first in line. I wasn't going to be. But still. There is a crazy line here at the company store. There are MS employees ranging from young guys like me, to older men getting copies for themselves and their sons. It's crazy.

At the same time, it's really cool to be here. The attitude is very friendly here. People brought and passed back doughnuts. People get coffee for people. And everyone is just very chill. This is a fun experience. Alright, I'm gonna go right quick just to see what the line looks like. Should be fun.

Life and Times

I never thought I'd be this busy around someone else's wedding. Then again, my roommates did get married yesterday, so it's been that kind of week. But things are calming down now (at least for me). I'll comment on the wedding later; I'm beat. Oh yeah, congrats to Meghan and Steve.

Life and Times