It's Dai Time

Katie & Scott & Simon & Cecily.

Author: Scott (Page 32 of 104)

Day 273: veterans

November 11, 2009 / / 0 Comments

It’s veteran’s day today, which I know because my German phrase-a-day calendar informed me of such and because we didn’t have any mail when we got home.

Regardless of anyone’s attitudes towards particular wars or foreign policy, it’s impossible to be against veterans.  These are people who have fought wars so that the rest of us didn’t have to, people who have given their time, their lives, their general well-being to a greater good.

It’s funny, because I don’t know that many veterans.  Sure, I had a few high school friends who joined the air force or navy, but I don’t really know where they ended up, if they got deployed, if they’re out of the armed forces now.

And I can’t think of older veterans offhand.  Maybe that’s just because I don’t get to know enough of the older generation – parents of friends and such.  Maybe it’s because of the timing of conflicts during my generation.  Iraq war vets are still too young for me to know and older war vets are too old for me to have formed a relationship with so far in life.

So it’s a bit odd.  These veterans are out there, and I appreciate their sacrifices and efforts, but I can’t put a personal face to it.

Is that true of other people my age?  Or is it just that I didn’t get to know the veterans that are inevitably in my life?

Day 272: cod:mw2

November 10, 2009 / / 0 Comments

I just spent all night playing Modern Warfare 2.

I don’t usually indulge in massive game playing of a game on release day, but a combination of events led to this.

Amazon had it on sale with a promotion where I was able to get a $20 credit for future purchases if I bought it from them.  Because I’m currently in the midst of a free Amazon Prime trial, I was able to get the game with release day delivery for free.

So to take advantage of this fortuitous intersection of circumstances, I played both the single player campaign and a bit of multiplayer tonight.  It’s a good game.

The campaign is heart-pounding, suspenseful, and fun to play.  The multiplayer is just as punishing as the first Modern Warfare, but I so far have thoroughly enjoyed hitting people in the face with a riot shield while they try in vain to shoot me.

I also got to help read lines from high school plays this morning and ate shepherd’s pie for dinner.  Aside from the fact that Windows 7’s Homegroup networking, which is purported to make home networking so easy, doesn’t work, it’s been a pretty good day.

Day 271: layoffs

November 9, 2009 / / 0 Comments

As you might have read on the blogs or more highbrow news sources today, EA announced plans to cut 1,500 jobs today.  No, I didn’t get laid off.  Yes, I still have a job.

But every round of layoffs, no matter when they happen, what the financial rationale, how many people are affected, always hurts on a more personal level.  Every round that affects our location/division involves people that I know and, often, have worked with.

And it never seems fair, especially in light of the announcement today that EA is finalizing $300 million deal to acquire a startup that makes Facebook games.

But I don’t know the long-term financial EA plan, nor do I know the day-to-day finances, so I’m not in a position to say that these layoffs are not the best way forward toward making EA a better company, both in terms of products released and bottom line profits.

Still, school never prepared me for stuff like this.  Muffing interviews and not getting jobs?  Sure.  You soon learn to deal with rejection at a business level.  But good people who did solid, necessary work being there one day and gone the next?

I never get used to that.

Day 270: windows 7

November 8, 2009 / / 0 Comments

I’m posting this from Windows 7!

Yes, that’s right.  I upgraded the OS on our main computer today.  I watched that little progress bar fill as I listened to old episodes of This American Life on my iPhone and read a book about why children lie.

The OS upgrade was pretty successful.  It’s running and functional.  The only thing missing?  All the programs that were installed on XP.  So, it’ll just be a matter of re-downloading or re-installing a bunch of essential stuff.

Installing a new Operating System is kind of like moving.  You get a bit of a clean start, but you have all of your old crap in some folder stored away somewhere.  But it’s nice to be forced to think about each program again.  Do I really need to install that piece of software that I used once?  Should I really bring those old sweaters?

It’s a chance to reevaluate.  What really is necessary?  And what junk can I just leave behind, sell at a yard sale, leave undownloaded in the wilds of the Internet?

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 It's Dai Time

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑