WWE calls Cyber Sunday (formerly Taboo Tuesday) "the most interactive Pay-Per-View of the year". Because, unlike the others, they have a mock voting setup on their site, inviting fans to "vote" on various aspects of the matches. In some, fans can vote for a champ's opponent. In some, fans can vote on the match type. And there are some where fans can vote on a special guest referee. Of course, the voting is fake, just a way for WWE to pander to the few marks who still believe it's real. Not that this is a bad thing, by any means, if it makes the fans feel they're a part of something, that's good. But just like any PPV WWE puts out, all the matches are scripted weeks or months in advance and well practiced. So the outcomes were determined before the "voting" began.
So not only will I post my predictions, but my "votes" as well. I didn't just vote, though, I actually played along. My wife and I, for the most part, discussed each one and voted what we thought would be the best. Not always what we'd want to see, but would be the best business-wise, since we are certainly not your average marks.
Now, here's the card as posted on WWE.com:
WWE Championship Match (Fans' Choice)
World Heavyweight Championship Match (Fans choose the guest referee)
ECW Championship Match (Fans' choice)
Triple H vs. Umaga (Fans pick the stipulation)
MVP vs. Matt Hardy (Fans choose the stipulation)
The WWE Championship match is between newly-crowned champ Randy Orton (who was "awarded" the belt after Cena's injury, lost it to Triple H, and won it back from Triple H, all at No Mercy, the last PPV), and the fans choose the opponent, between Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy, Mr. Kennedy, and Shawn Michaels.
We voted for Mr. Kennedy, because he's a rising star after being drafted to RAW from SmackDown, and he was the one who put Cena out. However, I predict Shawn Michaels will be in the match. Randy Orton put HIM out a month or two ago, and his return the day after No Mercy pretty much guaranteed a feud. Triple H is after the WWE's top honor as well, so I predict, as do others, a feud between Triple H and his old tag-team partner (Michaels) if Shawn Michaels wins. However, Orton just won it, and they like to build credibility for the title by not moving it much. So I predict Randy Orton will defeat Shawn Michaels.
For the World Heavyweight match, which is the top title on SmackDown, we have Batista vs. Undertaker, fans choose the referee, between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield.
This was a tough one, but we voted for Mick Foley, just because he's our favorite. No other reason here. Stone Cold is our prediction, though. Foley is underutilized, but Stone Cold draws crowds, and everyone likes seeing him (including us). JBL would be a real surprise. He's one of the announcers on SmackDown, used to perform a few years back, nothing too special or appealing about him. As for the match, if it were Wrestlemania, Batista wouldn't have a shot at breaking Taker's 15-0 record, but it's not, so I think Batista will hold onto his title.
In the ECW Championship match, the fans choose champion CM Punk's opponent. Will it be John Morrison (formerly Johnny Nitro of MNM), the WWE's knockoff of the 60s rockstar; the 500lb. Big Daddy V (formerly Viscera); or The Miz?
We voted for Big Daddy V, and that's my prediction for who WWE has lined up to go against CM Punk. Nobody stands in the way of this guy - how could they? And he's been being pushed lately. John Morrison is a former champion, and the pattern ECW has established in its year-plus history (not counting pre-WWE ECW) is one of passing the belt around, each person holding it for a few months, and dropping it to someone credible. I don't see The Miz as being credible, and I don't see it going back to Johnny Nitro. Big Daddy V, like Big Show before him, is more than credible and it would be hard to take it from him. But I don't think the WWE would be writing themselves into a corner giving V the belt, not at all.
For Triple H versus Umaga, the fans pick the stipulation. Will it be a street fight (anything goes, win by pinfall or submission inside the ring)? Or a First Blood match (first one to bleed, loses)? Or a steel cage match (cage lowered around ring, win by pinfall, submission, by climbing over cage and landing on the ground, or by walking out of the cage via door)?
A street fight would be nice. Triple H could get his trusty sledgehammer out and work Umaga over with that. First Blood would be a bad choice, because both of these guys can and will fight well after first blood. So we voted for steel cage. As my wife put it, Umaga would have nowhere to run. I asked what if Umaga gets to the door. My wife: Triple H won't let him get that far. What we're talking about is the 2 or 3 times Umaga has run from Triple H, despite being the monster the WWE uses to squash "new talent".
Then we have MVP vs. Matt Hardy, which has been one of the best feuds in the WWE in recent years. MVP is this real snobbish SOB who basically believes he's better than everyone, including other performers, including the fans, including his tag-team partner Matt Hardy, who pretty much wins their matches and defends their belts while MVP watches. When they're not in matches, they commonly have these little games. Chess, pushups, beer drinking, pizza eating, whatever. Either Matt Hardy wins and MVP comes up with an excuse, or MVP cheats. So it's just real funny. In their Cyber Sunday match, they can either have a boxing match, a wrestling match, or a mixed martial arts match.
We voted for boxing, just because it would be different. A wrestling match? That's what they do anyway. Mixed martial arts? I don't think either of them know any. This was just a stupid match anyway, but that's all MVP vs. Matt Hardy is, just good dumb fun. Nothing wrong with that.
Also, beyond the matches, there's a little surprise WWE has been gearing up for. The trouble is, some of the smarter fans had it figured out weeks ago. I kept my mind open, but now that it has been confirmed, I dare speak and ruin the surprise. Former superstar Chris Jericho, aka Y2J, is returning, either Sunday or Monday. It hasn't been specified which.
Around Summerslam or Unforgiven (before No Mercy), the WWE started running a promo on its shows which featured Matrix-like code, with references to SAVE_US.222, SAVE_US.X29, 2ND_COMING, REV_25:15, stuff like that. Just a little 15 second clip that's been confusing people. My wife was one of the first ones to call it. "Oh, that sounds like what Chris Jericho does" and then she dismissed it. But people denied it. Wikipedia pretty much gave it away, actually; once it was finalized, I believe, Wikipedia began silencing people, preventing any discussion of it. (I think Vince McMahon donated some money, suggested they do so. Usually Wikipedia isn't like that.) I then read on ChrisJericho.com that he was returning to the WWE, after several promotional telecasts, it said. Then I read an unofficial report that the WWE was planning on doing it at Cyber Sunday, but USA wanted better ratings and were encouraging them to wait for Monday Night RAW on the 29th. Since X is 10 in Roman numerals, it could be suggested that the SAVE_US.X29 is pointing to Monday (the 29th). 222? I guess that just coincides with the second career segment of this guy.
Some fans consider it a done deal. Then again, the WWE has staged surprises before, so there's really no telling. But all the signs point to Jericho.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Automatically type backwards, no joke
Of course I have to start with the story as to how I found this. Years ago, I was a member at the test board for the Invision Power Board forum platform. The board installation on their site, which was probably first a test board and announcement system, had evolved into a community, led by the IPS staff. I ran a board running IPB in those days, and left the community shortly after they shut my board down, not for not paying or anything, but because I suggested someone might be able to find a game they were looking for on eMule. Didn't provide a download, just told them where to get the program and how to search. Basically a load of BS, but I guess they were covering their asses. Still, lesson learned: Don't trust a program that can stab you in the back. If you pay for it, it should serve you, not someone else.
Anyway, I had heard the name HydrogenAudio a couple times, it was supposed to be the authority on digital audio. The name stuck in the back of my mind, and having a question about MP3 I'd been meaning to ask for a while, I finally signed up on their forums, asked my question, and was looking around, when I came across this little bit.
There is a certain character that, if you copy and paste it, everything afterwards is typed in reverse. Sound dangerous? Well, it is... various sites have voiced a concern about it being used for various illicit purposes. I guess you can think you're getting a picture, video, or song, and you're really getting a virus. I mean, "EXE.STUFF.MP3" looks like a song file, but backwards it's "3PM.FFUTS.EXE" which Windows will try to execute as code. And if it really is code, as opposed to sound, you may be up the creek. But this wouldn't be here, in this blog posting, this would be in an email or on a web site that's set up to cheat you in the first place. In other words, by itself the character is not harmful, just tricky.
A character, for the non-technical, is a letter, a number, a symbol, a space, something like that. It's computer language. The word "blog" is four characters, and "Nathan's Blog" is 13 characters, because we count the letters, the apostrophe, and the space.
Here's more information on the potential danger of this character.
http://www.heise-security.co.uk/news/96498
And a link to the page I got this information from:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=57324
Now for the fun part. I post the character - and then I'll copy the entire blog thus far and paste it after the character - that is, in reverse. (PS: Use it wisely.)
҉
Of course I have to start with the story as to how I found this. Years ago, I was a member at the test board for the Invision Power Board forum platform. The board installation on their site, which was probably first a test board and announcement system, had evolved into a community, led by the IPS staff. I ran a board running IPB in those days, and left the community shortly after they shut my board down, not for not paying or anything, but because I suggested someone might be able to find a game they were looking for on eMule. Didn't provide a download, just told them where to get the program and how to search. Basically a load of BS, but I guess they were covering their asses. Still, lesson learned: Don't trust a program that can stab you in the back. If you pay for it, it should serve you, not someone else.
Anyway, I had heard the name HydrogenAudio a couple times, it was supposed to be the authority on digital audio. The name stuck in the back of my mind, and having a question about MP3 I'd been meaning to ask for a while, I finally signed up on their forums, asked my question, and was looking around, when I came across this little bit.
There is a certain character that, if you copy and paste it, everything afterwards is typed in reverse. Sound dangerous? Well, it is... various sites have voiced a concern about it being used for various illicit purposes. I guess you can think you're getting a picture, video, or song, and you're really getting a virus. I mean, "EXE.STUFF.MP3" looks like a song file, but backwards it's "3PM.FFUTS.EXE" which Windows will try to execute as code. And if it really is code, as opposed to sound, you may be up the creek. But this wouldn't be here, in this blog posting, this would be in an email or on a web site that's set up to cheat you in the first place. In other words, by itself the character is not harmful, just tricky.
A character, for the non-technical, is a letter, a number, a symbol, a space, something like that. It's computer language. The word "blog" is four characters, and "Nathan's Blog" is 13 characters, because we count the letters, the apostrophe, and the space.
Here's more information on the potential danger of this character.
http://www.heise-security.co.uk/news/96498
And a link to the page I got this information from:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=57324
Now for the fun part. I post the character - and then I'll copy the entire blog thus far and paste it after the character - that is, in reverse. (PS: Use it wisely.)
Anyway, I had heard the name HydrogenAudio a couple times, it was supposed to be the authority on digital audio. The name stuck in the back of my mind, and having a question about MP3 I'd been meaning to ask for a while, I finally signed up on their forums, asked my question, and was looking around, when I came across this little bit.
There is a certain character that, if you copy and paste it, everything afterwards is typed in reverse. Sound dangerous? Well, it is... various sites have voiced a concern about it being used for various illicit purposes. I guess you can think you're getting a picture, video, or song, and you're really getting a virus. I mean, "EXE.STUFF.MP3" looks like a song file, but backwards it's "3PM.FFUTS.EXE" which Windows will try to execute as code. And if it really is code, as opposed to sound, you may be up the creek. But this wouldn't be here, in this blog posting, this would be in an email or on a web site that's set up to cheat you in the first place. In other words, by itself the character is not harmful, just tricky.
A character, for the non-technical, is a letter, a number, a symbol, a space, something like that. It's computer language. The word "blog" is four characters, and "Nathan's Blog" is 13 characters, because we count the letters, the apostrophe, and the space.
Here's more information on the potential danger of this character.
http://www.heise-security.co.uk/news/96498
And a link to the page I got this information from:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=57324
Now for the fun part. I post the character - and then I'll copy the entire blog thus far and paste it after the character - that is, in reverse. (PS: Use it wisely.)
҉
Of course I have to start with the story as to how I found this. Years ago, I was a member at the test board for the Invision Power Board forum platform. The board installation on their site, which was probably first a test board and announcement system, had evolved into a community, led by the IPS staff. I ran a board running IPB in those days, and left the community shortly after they shut my board down, not for not paying or anything, but because I suggested someone might be able to find a game they were looking for on eMule. Didn't provide a download, just told them where to get the program and how to search. Basically a load of BS, but I guess they were covering their asses. Still, lesson learned: Don't trust a program that can stab you in the back. If you pay for it, it should serve you, not someone else.
Anyway, I had heard the name HydrogenAudio a couple times, it was supposed to be the authority on digital audio. The name stuck in the back of my mind, and having a question about MP3 I'd been meaning to ask for a while, I finally signed up on their forums, asked my question, and was looking around, when I came across this little bit.
There is a certain character that, if you copy and paste it, everything afterwards is typed in reverse. Sound dangerous? Well, it is... various sites have voiced a concern about it being used for various illicit purposes. I guess you can think you're getting a picture, video, or song, and you're really getting a virus. I mean, "EXE.STUFF.MP3" looks like a song file, but backwards it's "3PM.FFUTS.EXE" which Windows will try to execute as code. And if it really is code, as opposed to sound, you may be up the creek. But this wouldn't be here, in this blog posting, this would be in an email or on a web site that's set up to cheat you in the first place. In other words, by itself the character is not harmful, just tricky.
A character, for the non-technical, is a letter, a number, a symbol, a space, something like that. It's computer language. The word "blog" is four characters, and "Nathan's Blog" is 13 characters, because we count the letters, the apostrophe, and the space.
Here's more information on the potential danger of this character.
http://www.heise-security.co.uk/news/96498
And a link to the page I got this information from:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=57324
Now for the fun part. I post the character - and then I'll copy the entire blog thus far and paste it after the character - that is, in reverse. (PS: Use it wisely.)
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Jolly PC goes low-tech with multimedia
So last year sometime, I bought a TV tuner. For the technically unintiated, this basically adds the inputs from the back of a TV, to the back of your computer. There are more advanced ones (some come with remotes, for example; mine does not) but I got mine for a fair price. Around $80 if I remember right. It didn't do all that it said, but we were able to hook up a VCR to it and copy over some tapes. Didn't like the results so we just left it alone, figured it would be better in Windows Media Center, when we go to Vista, which will be whenever Micro$oft work all the bugs out.
The other day, Jen called the local rock station with a funny story, and I thought of the TV tuner. Not only does it have an FM tuner, it came with an antenna, which was currently connected! So I scrambled looking for a program that would receive a radio signal. Now you want to hear something sad? 2007 and the only "radio program" I could find was $30 and lets you jack a radio in through the sound card. Now what in the blue hell will that do? Great, you still gotta tune it the old fashioned way, all you're doing is importing sound, which has been possible for free for years. Hell, it's built into Windows, Windows 95 and newer. I don't know who that company thought they were fooling, but not me.
I checked on the CD, but it was nothing but drivers.
So I wrote to the company that makes my TV tuner card. I noticed on the web page it said the device could play FM Radio. That about set me off. So I email them, and I ask them just how I'm supposed to play FM radio on it. They tell me there's a new version of the CD, and I can download its contents. 52MB but Jen and I were stepping out for a bit anyway, so I started the download. This installed, among other things, a radio program. We open it up, and it plays perfectly. We configure half (5) of the presets to local stations we know, and I teach Jen how to record from the radio using the free audio editor Audacity. I mean, sure we can download music, but if the radio station comes in perfectly clear, we can record what should be a near-perfect quality Mp3 in the time it takes to listen to the song, crop the recording down, and save it in the appropriate directory.
So yes, we have working FM radio on our already so-badass-it-kicks-your-computer's-ass PC. That really hit home when I was channelsurfing looking for more presets (added a classical station, a lite rock station, and a rap station just to fill presets) and the Delilah program came on. It reminded me how much I hated hearing that corny program whenever it came on - and how much I hate the "Hey There Delilah" song (even though it's apparently about a completely different Delilah). But, sanity is returning. Metallica's on, on the rock station, and not that new "hey let's impress teenagers" new stuff they got, I'm talkin "For Whom the Bell Tolls" from 1984. From back when they still had heart. "Take a look to the sky before you die, it's the last time you will." (Lyrics say "he will" but if you listen to it, it's "you will". Guess they changed it at the last minute.) I wouldn't put this song on if it were me. I'd probably play something I play a lot, so sometimes it's nice to pass the controls over to somewhere else. They pick something really annoying, I can just change the station.
There's a button on the radio for CD. This closes the radio and opens Winamp. Stupid. It probably just calls whatever program Windows uses for Audio CDs. At least it didn't open Windows Media Player, that thing takes longer than Windows itself to start up. OK, so I go back to it, and click the TV button. It doesn't work, as it can't find any channels. OK, what can I do about that? We can get a few channels in the bedroom - due to another antenna. So I take that and hook it up to the computer. I try the TV program again, and it can pick up six channels over the antenna. Judge Mathis, Montel's show, and some other crap. I didn't expect anything great, but hey, I'm happy as a pig in shit, I got my computer to watch TV.
Now, down the road, when we get satellite (or cable, if we can get Suddenlink to serve our area) we can hook the box right up to the TV and switch from computer to DVD player to satellite (or cable) to computer... OR I can run it through the TV Tuner (maybe I can do both?) and pull it in through the computer. Fullscreen, it'd be the same thing - I can still control it from the couch with the remote - but with the added option of being able to record. Yep, DVR for free. I could and record WWE Monday Night RAW and be doing something else, like playing my DS, or watching it as it records, and then watch it again with Jen when she gets home.
Heh... Pearl Jam on the radio now.
The other day, Jen called the local rock station with a funny story, and I thought of the TV tuner. Not only does it have an FM tuner, it came with an antenna, which was currently connected! So I scrambled looking for a program that would receive a radio signal. Now you want to hear something sad? 2007 and the only "radio program" I could find was $30 and lets you jack a radio in through the sound card. Now what in the blue hell will that do? Great, you still gotta tune it the old fashioned way, all you're doing is importing sound, which has been possible for free for years. Hell, it's built into Windows, Windows 95 and newer. I don't know who that company thought they were fooling, but not me.
I checked on the CD, but it was nothing but drivers.
So I wrote to the company that makes my TV tuner card. I noticed on the web page it said the device could play FM Radio. That about set me off. So I email them, and I ask them just how I'm supposed to play FM radio on it. They tell me there's a new version of the CD, and I can download its contents. 52MB but Jen and I were stepping out for a bit anyway, so I started the download. This installed, among other things, a radio program. We open it up, and it plays perfectly. We configure half (5) of the presets to local stations we know, and I teach Jen how to record from the radio using the free audio editor Audacity. I mean, sure we can download music, but if the radio station comes in perfectly clear, we can record what should be a near-perfect quality Mp3 in the time it takes to listen to the song, crop the recording down, and save it in the appropriate directory.
So yes, we have working FM radio on our already so-badass-it-kicks-your-computer's-ass PC. That really hit home when I was channelsurfing looking for more presets (added a classical station, a lite rock station, and a rap station just to fill presets) and the Delilah program came on. It reminded me how much I hated hearing that corny program whenever it came on - and how much I hate the "Hey There Delilah" song (even though it's apparently about a completely different Delilah). But, sanity is returning. Metallica's on, on the rock station, and not that new "hey let's impress teenagers" new stuff they got, I'm talkin "For Whom the Bell Tolls" from 1984. From back when they still had heart. "Take a look to the sky before you die, it's the last time you will." (Lyrics say "he will" but if you listen to it, it's "you will". Guess they changed it at the last minute.) I wouldn't put this song on if it were me. I'd probably play something I play a lot, so sometimes it's nice to pass the controls over to somewhere else. They pick something really annoying, I can just change the station.
There's a button on the radio for CD. This closes the radio and opens Winamp. Stupid. It probably just calls whatever program Windows uses for Audio CDs. At least it didn't open Windows Media Player, that thing takes longer than Windows itself to start up. OK, so I go back to it, and click the TV button. It doesn't work, as it can't find any channels. OK, what can I do about that? We can get a few channels in the bedroom - due to another antenna. So I take that and hook it up to the computer. I try the TV program again, and it can pick up six channels over the antenna. Judge Mathis, Montel's show, and some other crap. I didn't expect anything great, but hey, I'm happy as a pig in shit, I got my computer to watch TV.
Now, down the road, when we get satellite (or cable, if we can get Suddenlink to serve our area) we can hook the box right up to the TV and switch from computer to DVD player to satellite (or cable) to computer... OR I can run it through the TV Tuner (maybe I can do both?) and pull it in through the computer. Fullscreen, it'd be the same thing - I can still control it from the couch with the remote - but with the added option of being able to record. Yep, DVR for free. I could and record WWE Monday Night RAW and be doing something else, like playing my DS, or watching it as it records, and then watch it again with Jen when she gets home.
Heh... Pearl Jam on the radio now.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
I hate dreams like this
So I'm laying in bed - not literally, but in the dream - thinking about how broke I am. I remember an action figure I stuffed a $20 in, but then sink in despair realizing I haven't seen it in weeks. I just happen to be looking around, and I see a piece of it in my sock drawer. (Long story short, my sock drawer is sitting on a box, the rails are broken on it.) So I start digging, and there it is. I snap it in half, and sure enough, in the bottom part there's a folded-up $20. I can almost smell the Hardee's Monster Thickburger as I take it out.
Then I wake up and realize I have all of 60¢ in my pocket. I hate dreams like that!
I can't be too mad, though, at least that's the only one I remembered. I get nightmares, bad, but it's such that it doesn't bother me anymore, like I'm desensitized to them. Now I just wake up with this creepy feeling followed by the relief that I didn't remember more of it. All I remember was a bunch of gamers who had gone into comas, like a .hack//SIGN kind of thing, and that doesn't really sound scary, but I remember it being so.
Overall though I do hate not being able to remember dreams, even bad ones, because if they're not based on copyrighted works, I might be able to work them into short stories, maybe get something published.
Then I wake up and realize I have all of 60¢ in my pocket. I hate dreams like that!
I can't be too mad, though, at least that's the only one I remembered. I get nightmares, bad, but it's such that it doesn't bother me anymore, like I'm desensitized to them. Now I just wake up with this creepy feeling followed by the relief that I didn't remember more of it. All I remember was a bunch of gamers who had gone into comas, like a .hack//SIGN kind of thing, and that doesn't really sound scary, but I remember it being so.
Overall though I do hate not being able to remember dreams, even bad ones, because if they're not based on copyrighted works, I might be able to work them into short stories, maybe get something published.
This is funny, but messed up.
So, I'm reading the GameFAQs board for Pro Wrestling (WWE) and someone submits a picture of their girlfriend to brag on her shirt (and to ask for opinions on it) but almost nobody comments on the shirt. They go on about whether the girl is a guy or a girl, how hideous she is...
...Now, I'm not a big fan of shallow cruelty, but the following passage was just epic (ironically, the topic creator described the girl's shirt as epic).
And no, I'm not posting the girl's picture, I don't really want to contribute to her torment - just post a funny passage from the topic. And by the time you find the Pro Wrestling forum on GameFAQs, the topic will most likely be purged - topics only last a day or two anyway.
...Now, I'm not a big fan of shallow cruelty, but the following passage was just epic (ironically, the topic creator described the girl's shirt as epic).
Jesus: Dad, I know you like to make ugly people to balance things out but what you did here is just mean!The Orton pose is a reference to current WWE champion Randy Orton, click the first link to see it. It's like a victory pose.
God: What? I wanted to get creative. It takes talent to make something that hideous. *Orton poses*
And no, I'm not posting the girl's picture, I don't really want to contribute to her torment - just post a funny passage from the topic. And by the time you find the Pro Wrestling forum on GameFAQs, the topic will most likely be purged - topics only last a day or two anyway.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Parking fees too high? Read this.
Saturday, October 6, 2007. Greenville, North Carolina. College football game, East Carolina University's Pirates vs. University of Central Florida Golden Knights. Final score, 52-38 ECU. Supposed to be a great game.
USA Today's coverage of the game
Too bad I'm not into sports. I didn't watch it, but I do work in Greenville, so I had to deal with the traffic. In fact I work very close to the stadium. Almost close enough to hear the game. But not quite.
I'm sure ECU tries to provide ample parking, some of it free and some of it paid. College games, I do know, cost less to attend than NFL games, so I'm sure the parking fees are a bit less. I could not find on the ECU website the prices of parking. Maybe there aren't any, but for the sake of argument, let's put it at $10. Ten bucks to park on the ECU campus within walking distance to the stadium. Also, there is a lot across town that ECU has a deal with, they run a bus to and from the lot every so often, probably the 20 minutes the round trip probably takes, maybe 30 so the driver isn't rushing. Pretty sure the park and ride parking is free, it's just a mall or shopping center lot where all the stores are closed.
The problem with parking downtown, where the stadium is, is local businesses are hurt when people park in their lots and leave their cars for several hours to watch a game. A store stocks up on beer, soda, water, frozen pizzas, whatever people might want before or after the game. Restaurants stock up on supplies as well, since a home game brings a lot of visitors. But then people, residents of Greenville or not, fill these stores' and restaurants' lot up with cars that don't move for hours, and customers have nowhere to park. The businesses lose money - thousands of dollars, in some cases.
What's the cost of a parking space? A store figures a customer who is in the store for 10 minutes spends X amount of money. A customer in the store for 30 minutes spends Y amount, and a customer in the store for an hour spends Z amount. How long does it take to run in and get a case of beer? Assuming the idiot can read and doesn't park in the fire lane (and Greenville is home to a lot of idiots, as evidenced by looking at any fire lane, doesn't matter which one), they might spend 5 minutes in the store, spend $20 on a case of beer, and they're gone, maybe 10 minutes tops. Just on beer, that parking space is worth $120/hour. Now figure the store has 250 parking spaces, that's $30,000 an hour - assuming everyone's coming to buy a case of beer. Of course these figures are all guesses - I don't know that much about the business side of running a store - but at least you can see that if a lot is filled with cars that aren't bringing the store money, the store is losing money as customers go to the competition.
In fact, during one of the last big games Greenville hosted, the store I work at lost thousands. The other businesses in the lot lost a lot, too. So they went to the lot owner and demanded a better solution, so they could profit from the game. The lot owner offered what seemed to be a win/win solution. He posted signs that clearly stated that the lot was for the use of customers only. Then, he told the tenants that he would hire a security guard to patrol the lot, and anyone who parked and headed for the stadium would be warned that their car could be towed if they left it, the idea being that people would find another place to park. Sounds like a great idea, right?
But of course, there's always going to be the idiot, or idiots, who have to test the waters, and that's what I walked into last night at work.
So it's pretty busy in the store, the manager and the other employees and I are all running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We're not understaffed, but due to the volume of business, technically speaking we were.
Next thing I know a young couple comes in, the girl almost in tears and the guy obviously angry. And I'm the unlucky SOB they see first. Apparently they went to a football game, didn't see the signs (or heed the warning), and didn't see the security guard, and thought everything was fine. They get back from the game and their car is gone. Their first thought is that perhaps it was stolen, but then we tell them that the lot owner was having cars towed. So they call the police, they make a few calls trying to find out where their car is and how they can get it back.
Then an older genteman strolls in, at least that's what he appeared to be. He knows his car was towed, he's not as naive as the young couple. He's cussing anyone and everyone out, he's blaming the store because it's the biggest business on the lot and he assumes the store's upper management owns the lot. He knew his car would be subject to being towed, but he thought he'd be smart and park around back, as if the "customers only" rule applied only out front.
I do, of course, sypathize with these people, to a point. They wanted to save ten bucks (or whatever) and park in a store's parking lot. They didn't think at all that they were costing the business any money because they only thought about their car, not realizing what that the mob of sports fans as a whole were doing to the business. They really only thought of themselves and their situation - but that's how most of us are, sometimes. Oh, and the tow fee - $125. That'll put a dent in anyone's pocketbook. If it seems about three times what it should be, consider the tow truck drivers were probably demanding double time to work during the big game. And the old "stupidity tax" idea, you park in front of a sign that says No Parking, maybe you should have to pay a little extra.
Not all the sports fans who parked there were towed. Greenville only has so many tow trucks, and our lot was not the only lot calling them. As it happens, three cars were towed. The third car's occupants came in later: A young black couple and their 3-year-old son. By this point, the first three (the young couple and the beligirent old man) were standing out in front of the store, telling anyone who would listen that the store had their cars towed just because they wanted to watch a football game. Call the police? The police were tied up between downtown and the stadium. I'm sure we could have gotten an officer to the store, but when? And they weren't exactly in the wrong, and desperate. See how rational you are over a hundred miles from home, your car taken away.
This is about where my sympathy for the three of them ended. The young lady found a couple that were headed out that way. A couple driving a big SUV, an Escalade or a Suburban or something. The couple ask "well how many of you are there?" She says just her, her boyfriend, and the old man. Forget about the black couple, forget about the black kid. I don't know if they were racist or just stupid, but then again the family didn't say anything, and the manager and I were in such shock to say anything until they left. We called a cab for the family, though, and I'm not sure if the store picked up the tab or if they got charged.
Oh, and here's a nice little twist. Guess who owns the towing company? You guessed it, same guy who owns the lot. And same guy who was supposed to hire a security guard to keep people from parking there. My guess is the guy told the security guard not to approach people, just to report cars whose passengers went to the stadium rather than one of the businesses, after they departed the parking lot, and then send in the tow truck. Well, he made at least $375 at it, more than I make in a week. Sweet. Or not, depending on how you look at it. But he had his bases covered. He had signs up clearly stating that the parking was for customers only, and that all other vehicles were subject to towing. It's perfectly within his legal right to send tow trucks out there to enforce that. I'm sure the signs cite the specific laws that cover a land owners' right to have vehicles towed at the owner's expense.
So next time you're out and faced with a $10 parking fee, just suck it up, pay it, and be glad you have the convenience of parking closer to the event, as opposed to walking there and back from a store or restaurant, finding your car was towed, spending an hour or two and $125 getting your car back. Paying $10 to park does suck - again, if that's what the fee was - but I think the alternative is much worse.
PS - I'm sure most towing companies are honest, but some are not. My brother had his car towed. After paying to get it out, he found they had broken one of his windows - fortunately, one of those little triangle windows, not a big one - broken in, stolen his CD collection and ripped his CD player out of the deck. He went to the police, I think, but the towing companies have a law of some kind protecting them. I think the honest reasoning is that, if they damage your car while towing it, it's on you for being stupid enough to get your car towed in the first place. But some towing companies will use that law to steal things out of your car, or sabotage it. If that happens, the tow fee is likely the least of your problems.
USA Today's coverage of the game
Too bad I'm not into sports. I didn't watch it, but I do work in Greenville, so I had to deal with the traffic. In fact I work very close to the stadium. Almost close enough to hear the game. But not quite.
I'm sure ECU tries to provide ample parking, some of it free and some of it paid. College games, I do know, cost less to attend than NFL games, so I'm sure the parking fees are a bit less. I could not find on the ECU website the prices of parking. Maybe there aren't any, but for the sake of argument, let's put it at $10. Ten bucks to park on the ECU campus within walking distance to the stadium. Also, there is a lot across town that ECU has a deal with, they run a bus to and from the lot every so often, probably the 20 minutes the round trip probably takes, maybe 30 so the driver isn't rushing. Pretty sure the park and ride parking is free, it's just a mall or shopping center lot where all the stores are closed.
The problem with parking downtown, where the stadium is, is local businesses are hurt when people park in their lots and leave their cars for several hours to watch a game. A store stocks up on beer, soda, water, frozen pizzas, whatever people might want before or after the game. Restaurants stock up on supplies as well, since a home game brings a lot of visitors. But then people, residents of Greenville or not, fill these stores' and restaurants' lot up with cars that don't move for hours, and customers have nowhere to park. The businesses lose money - thousands of dollars, in some cases.
What's the cost of a parking space? A store figures a customer who is in the store for 10 minutes spends X amount of money. A customer in the store for 30 minutes spends Y amount, and a customer in the store for an hour spends Z amount. How long does it take to run in and get a case of beer? Assuming the idiot can read and doesn't park in the fire lane (and Greenville is home to a lot of idiots, as evidenced by looking at any fire lane, doesn't matter which one), they might spend 5 minutes in the store, spend $20 on a case of beer, and they're gone, maybe 10 minutes tops. Just on beer, that parking space is worth $120/hour. Now figure the store has 250 parking spaces, that's $30,000 an hour - assuming everyone's coming to buy a case of beer. Of course these figures are all guesses - I don't know that much about the business side of running a store - but at least you can see that if a lot is filled with cars that aren't bringing the store money, the store is losing money as customers go to the competition.
In fact, during one of the last big games Greenville hosted, the store I work at lost thousands. The other businesses in the lot lost a lot, too. So they went to the lot owner and demanded a better solution, so they could profit from the game. The lot owner offered what seemed to be a win/win solution. He posted signs that clearly stated that the lot was for the use of customers only. Then, he told the tenants that he would hire a security guard to patrol the lot, and anyone who parked and headed for the stadium would be warned that their car could be towed if they left it, the idea being that people would find another place to park. Sounds like a great idea, right?
But of course, there's always going to be the idiot, or idiots, who have to test the waters, and that's what I walked into last night at work.
So it's pretty busy in the store, the manager and the other employees and I are all running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We're not understaffed, but due to the volume of business, technically speaking we were.
Next thing I know a young couple comes in, the girl almost in tears and the guy obviously angry. And I'm the unlucky SOB they see first. Apparently they went to a football game, didn't see the signs (or heed the warning), and didn't see the security guard, and thought everything was fine. They get back from the game and their car is gone. Their first thought is that perhaps it was stolen, but then we tell them that the lot owner was having cars towed. So they call the police, they make a few calls trying to find out where their car is and how they can get it back.
Then an older genteman strolls in, at least that's what he appeared to be. He knows his car was towed, he's not as naive as the young couple. He's cussing anyone and everyone out, he's blaming the store because it's the biggest business on the lot and he assumes the store's upper management owns the lot. He knew his car would be subject to being towed, but he thought he'd be smart and park around back, as if the "customers only" rule applied only out front.
I do, of course, sypathize with these people, to a point. They wanted to save ten bucks (or whatever) and park in a store's parking lot. They didn't think at all that they were costing the business any money because they only thought about their car, not realizing what that the mob of sports fans as a whole were doing to the business. They really only thought of themselves and their situation - but that's how most of us are, sometimes. Oh, and the tow fee - $125. That'll put a dent in anyone's pocketbook. If it seems about three times what it should be, consider the tow truck drivers were probably demanding double time to work during the big game. And the old "stupidity tax" idea, you park in front of a sign that says No Parking, maybe you should have to pay a little extra.
Not all the sports fans who parked there were towed. Greenville only has so many tow trucks, and our lot was not the only lot calling them. As it happens, three cars were towed. The third car's occupants came in later: A young black couple and their 3-year-old son. By this point, the first three (the young couple and the beligirent old man) were standing out in front of the store, telling anyone who would listen that the store had their cars towed just because they wanted to watch a football game. Call the police? The police were tied up between downtown and the stadium. I'm sure we could have gotten an officer to the store, but when? And they weren't exactly in the wrong, and desperate. See how rational you are over a hundred miles from home, your car taken away.
This is about where my sympathy for the three of them ended. The young lady found a couple that were headed out that way. A couple driving a big SUV, an Escalade or a Suburban or something. The couple ask "well how many of you are there?" She says just her, her boyfriend, and the old man. Forget about the black couple, forget about the black kid. I don't know if they were racist or just stupid, but then again the family didn't say anything, and the manager and I were in such shock to say anything until they left. We called a cab for the family, though, and I'm not sure if the store picked up the tab or if they got charged.
Oh, and here's a nice little twist. Guess who owns the towing company? You guessed it, same guy who owns the lot. And same guy who was supposed to hire a security guard to keep people from parking there. My guess is the guy told the security guard not to approach people, just to report cars whose passengers went to the stadium rather than one of the businesses, after they departed the parking lot, and then send in the tow truck. Well, he made at least $375 at it, more than I make in a week. Sweet. Or not, depending on how you look at it. But he had his bases covered. He had signs up clearly stating that the parking was for customers only, and that all other vehicles were subject to towing. It's perfectly within his legal right to send tow trucks out there to enforce that. I'm sure the signs cite the specific laws that cover a land owners' right to have vehicles towed at the owner's expense.
So next time you're out and faced with a $10 parking fee, just suck it up, pay it, and be glad you have the convenience of parking closer to the event, as opposed to walking there and back from a store or restaurant, finding your car was towed, spending an hour or two and $125 getting your car back. Paying $10 to park does suck - again, if that's what the fee was - but I think the alternative is much worse.
PS - I'm sure most towing companies are honest, but some are not. My brother had his car towed. After paying to get it out, he found they had broken one of his windows - fortunately, one of those little triangle windows, not a big one - broken in, stolen his CD collection and ripped his CD player out of the deck. He went to the police, I think, but the towing companies have a law of some kind protecting them. I think the honest reasoning is that, if they damage your car while towing it, it's on you for being stupid enough to get your car towed in the first place. But some towing companies will use that law to steal things out of your car, or sabotage it. If that happens, the tow fee is likely the least of your problems.
Friday, October 5, 2007
An update on the puppies
6:35pm.
I just got up not even an hour ago, and Jen wants me to feed Sammy, because when she got home from a girl's day out with her sister (read: paying bills in Greenville) she didn't have the time. Normally she does it, as a tradition from when the puppies were born and I was crippled by that wart, I couldn't get out to see them. She just did it and did it on her own. But I get out there from time to time - like today.
So I'm filling Sammy's dish up with dry food, and topping it with wet food, and she's barking away at me, like I could possibly move any faster. Sammy is a bitch in both senses of the word: A female dog, and an angry... Well, not woman, but an angry female dog. Maybe not angry, but... Bitchy.
The puppies themselves, the seven that survived the first week, are mobile, bouncing all around, but most choose to stay at the back end of the pen, under the tarp and near the kitty bed we got for Smores (but she never used it, even when we put catnip in it, so the puppies got it). One ventures up to the middle of the pen to watch Sammy eat. They're still too small to eat, themselves.
Two more puppies come near the halfway point, where the water is. It's in a 5 gallon bucket, so they can't reach it, but one seems to use it as cover, you know, stealthy like ninja, like Sammy's not going to notice. The first one is emboldened, and makes a dash for a hanging teat, and Sammy nearly bites the puppy's head off barking at it. And then I yell at Sammy because, you know, she was just barking at me to hurry up with HER food.
But then I realize it's best to leave them be. Sammy seems to know what she's doing. One puppy died, but that's probably because he got stuck in the fence and we didn't catch it. I saved him, but then one died. I'm not even sure the one that got stuck in the fence is the one that died, it's just an assumption. But the other seven are healthy and seem fine. And it's not like Jen's sister's cat, who completely neglected her first batch of kittens and let them die. (Not Jen's sister, the cat - she wouldn't feed them at all and tried to hide them througout the house where they wouldn't be found. Real cruel.)
As I walk in, I hear Sammy bark again, and the whimpering of a puppy...
OK, went out there and got her dish back. I don't fully know why we keep her food dish with her food, outside the pen, but it has something to do with ants. Ants go for the dish, empty or no, and ants aren't good for Sammy or the puppies, something like that.
I just got up not even an hour ago, and Jen wants me to feed Sammy, because when she got home from a girl's day out with her sister (read: paying bills in Greenville) she didn't have the time. Normally she does it, as a tradition from when the puppies were born and I was crippled by that wart, I couldn't get out to see them. She just did it and did it on her own. But I get out there from time to time - like today.
So I'm filling Sammy's dish up with dry food, and topping it with wet food, and she's barking away at me, like I could possibly move any faster. Sammy is a bitch in both senses of the word: A female dog, and an angry... Well, not woman, but an angry female dog. Maybe not angry, but... Bitchy.
The puppies themselves, the seven that survived the first week, are mobile, bouncing all around, but most choose to stay at the back end of the pen, under the tarp and near the kitty bed we got for Smores (but she never used it, even when we put catnip in it, so the puppies got it). One ventures up to the middle of the pen to watch Sammy eat. They're still too small to eat, themselves.
Two more puppies come near the halfway point, where the water is. It's in a 5 gallon bucket, so they can't reach it, but one seems to use it as cover, you know, stealthy like ninja, like Sammy's not going to notice. The first one is emboldened, and makes a dash for a hanging teat, and Sammy nearly bites the puppy's head off barking at it. And then I yell at Sammy because, you know, she was just barking at me to hurry up with HER food.
But then I realize it's best to leave them be. Sammy seems to know what she's doing. One puppy died, but that's probably because he got stuck in the fence and we didn't catch it. I saved him, but then one died. I'm not even sure the one that got stuck in the fence is the one that died, it's just an assumption. But the other seven are healthy and seem fine. And it's not like Jen's sister's cat, who completely neglected her first batch of kittens and let them die. (Not Jen's sister, the cat - she wouldn't feed them at all and tried to hide them througout the house where they wouldn't be found. Real cruel.)
As I walk in, I hear Sammy bark again, and the whimpering of a puppy...
OK, went out there and got her dish back. I don't fully know why we keep her food dish with her food, outside the pen, but it has something to do with ants. Ants go for the dish, empty or no, and ants aren't good for Sammy or the puppies, something like that.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
New Zelda game. Timeline questions again.
While the Nintendo DS has been out for at least two years, we've just now received the first Zelda game, and of course Jen and I had to get it. The Legend of Zelda is probably the biggest Nintendo franchise after Mario, and I happen to prefer the Zelda games as they don't move quite as fast and focus more on exploration, require a little more intelligence than Mario games.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is the direct sequel to the Nintendo Gamecube game TLoZ: Wind Waker. I can't say anything about that game since I have never even owned a Gamecube, let alone played Wind Waker. So here I am starting out with PH, and apparently one does not have to know anything about WW to play PH. Lovely.
Getting started, the game is almost entirely controlled independent of the buttons on the DS. Movement, attacking, even weapon selection is all handled using the touch screen. You can even draw on the map by touching an icon to swap the map with the action screen, and writing on the touch screen. Movement is simple. You pretty much touch where you want to go. If there's an enemy in front of you, drawing a line from Link (or whatever you name him) to the enemy makes Link perform a jab thrust, stabbing the enemy. Drawing a line between Link and the enemy causes Link to swipe his sword left to right or right to left. Lastly, you can draw a circle around Link to make him do his famous spin attack. It gets more interesting once you get the Boomerang. You get an active item icon in the upper right corner. You touch the icon to select the boomerang, and then you draw its trajectory. It attempts to follow the path you've given it, and when it's done (or fails, if you just scribbled), it returns to you.
The plot thus far (and I'm not far at all) is that Link washes up on the shore of a strange island, having failed to rescue Zelda, who goes by the name of Tetra and runs with pirates. A fabled Ghost Ship appears, she jumps on board, Link goes after her but misses, lands in the water, the Ghost Ship vanishes and his own ship abandons him or loses him. So again Link's trying to rescue Zelda, although for once it seems as though Ganon isn't involved.
So I go online, and it appears they're still debating a timeline. It happens with each Zelda game, fans want to know the order in which the games take place. The fact that Wikipedia supports the theory and says one game takes place 100 years after another pretty much sinks the argument, I mean how old is Link anyway? Here's how it was before the N64 versions. It may have changed officially or in fanfiction, but here's what it used to be.
Consider the name... Legend of Zelda. What is a "Legend"? It's a story that is passed down from generation to generation, and at every step something changes. Two thousand years later, every society on the planet has the same story told, just differently. Different exxagerations, different cultural influences, make for different stories.
Therefore there is no timeline. It's the same story told differently. Direct sequels (like Phantom Hourglass being of Wind Waker) aside, each game is just a retelling of the original legend, the "Legend of Zelda".
Ganon isn't Jason Vorhees. He doesn't just keep coming back to life after being definitively killed each time. Ganon isn't even the main villain in some games - chalk that up to cultural influence.
And Link doesn't have amnesia. He doesn't forget everything that happens after each adventure, pawn all his stuff.
So some games reference others, do they? Well, I don't know anything about that, but I'd bet, on the part of the developers at least, it's just common themes from game to game. Most of them have fairies. Most of them feature the Triforce. Most of them feature a young hero named Link (who could later be renamed). As the years went by (in our world), different introduced new things, and different developers who thought those things were special reused them. That's just a story element that remained the same in two or more stories because it was important.
Lastly, I'm not even going to touch which games correspond to which countries or cultures. There's no real evidence AFAIK that Hyrule is anywhere on our Earth to start with. It's just some kingdom that existed some thousands of years ago, and these are the stories. The story is basically the same each time, but each retelling adds to the legend. And as long as the games keep selling - as long as people follow the legend - then the legend is successful.
And that's all there is to it, folks. Phantom Hourglass is a great game so far, but it's not an original story that takes place before or after the other Zelda games (but it does take place after Wind Waker, apparently). It's just another story based on the legend.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is the direct sequel to the Nintendo Gamecube game TLoZ: Wind Waker. I can't say anything about that game since I have never even owned a Gamecube, let alone played Wind Waker. So here I am starting out with PH, and apparently one does not have to know anything about WW to play PH. Lovely.
Getting started, the game is almost entirely controlled independent of the buttons on the DS. Movement, attacking, even weapon selection is all handled using the touch screen. You can even draw on the map by touching an icon to swap the map with the action screen, and writing on the touch screen. Movement is simple. You pretty much touch where you want to go. If there's an enemy in front of you, drawing a line from Link (or whatever you name him) to the enemy makes Link perform a jab thrust, stabbing the enemy. Drawing a line between Link and the enemy causes Link to swipe his sword left to right or right to left. Lastly, you can draw a circle around Link to make him do his famous spin attack. It gets more interesting once you get the Boomerang. You get an active item icon in the upper right corner. You touch the icon to select the boomerang, and then you draw its trajectory. It attempts to follow the path you've given it, and when it's done (or fails, if you just scribbled), it returns to you.
The plot thus far (and I'm not far at all) is that Link washes up on the shore of a strange island, having failed to rescue Zelda, who goes by the name of Tetra and runs with pirates. A fabled Ghost Ship appears, she jumps on board, Link goes after her but misses, lands in the water, the Ghost Ship vanishes and his own ship abandons him or loses him. So again Link's trying to rescue Zelda, although for once it seems as though Ganon isn't involved.
So I go online, and it appears they're still debating a timeline. It happens with each Zelda game, fans want to know the order in which the games take place. The fact that Wikipedia supports the theory and says one game takes place 100 years after another pretty much sinks the argument, I mean how old is Link anyway? Here's how it was before the N64 versions. It may have changed officially or in fanfiction, but here's what it used to be.
Consider the name... Legend of Zelda. What is a "Legend"? It's a story that is passed down from generation to generation, and at every step something changes. Two thousand years later, every society on the planet has the same story told, just differently. Different exxagerations, different cultural influences, make for different stories.
Therefore there is no timeline. It's the same story told differently. Direct sequels (like Phantom Hourglass being of Wind Waker) aside, each game is just a retelling of the original legend, the "Legend of Zelda".
Ganon isn't Jason Vorhees. He doesn't just keep coming back to life after being definitively killed each time. Ganon isn't even the main villain in some games - chalk that up to cultural influence.
And Link doesn't have amnesia. He doesn't forget everything that happens after each adventure, pawn all his stuff.
So some games reference others, do they? Well, I don't know anything about that, but I'd bet, on the part of the developers at least, it's just common themes from game to game. Most of them have fairies. Most of them feature the Triforce. Most of them feature a young hero named Link (who could later be renamed). As the years went by (in our world), different introduced new things, and different developers who thought those things were special reused them. That's just a story element that remained the same in two or more stories because it was important.
Lastly, I'm not even going to touch which games correspond to which countries or cultures. There's no real evidence AFAIK that Hyrule is anywhere on our Earth to start with. It's just some kingdom that existed some thousands of years ago, and these are the stories. The story is basically the same each time, but each retelling adds to the legend. And as long as the games keep selling - as long as people follow the legend - then the legend is successful.
And that's all there is to it, folks. Phantom Hourglass is a great game so far, but it's not an original story that takes place before or after the other Zelda games (but it does take place after Wind Waker, apparently). It's just another story based on the legend.
Why buying online is better
Foreword: This post is neither sponsored nor endorsed by any companies named here. I'm writing this of my own experiences, because I want to, not because I'm being paid to or offered any discounts the general public can't get.
I just bought a stack of blank DVD+R discs. Normally I pay $25 or so at Walmart (probably $24.83 or something, you know how precise they are with their prices) for a 50-stack, which is a pretty fair deal. It averages out to about 50¢ a disc. Not bad for 4.45GB of one-time written storage. When we have kids, they won't touch our real DVDs - either they'll use copies or we'll have them on the computer somehow. A good friend at work stopped buying DVDs because his neice and nephews were trashing them - that won't happen to us. And, you know, you buy something, "they" don't like you copying it, but neither are "they" in a big hurry to replace them when your kids damage them, "their" answer is to just go buy another copy of the movie at $20 a pop. But then "they" have never had to worry about that next paycheck or where the money to buy diapers or milk will come from, so you gotta do what you gotta do, right? But enough of the social rant. $25 for a 50-stack of DVD+R discs is pretty good, is it not? Sure it is.. Unless you can get a 100-stack for $31.60 shipped at Newegg.com. But, while Walmart is real precise with their prices, Newegg's fluctuate. Tomorrow it might be a buck more or less, Newegg is a very strange beast.
However, Newegg beats if not annihilates that "great deal" you see at Walmart or Best Buy or Circuit City wherever, all the time. And DVD media is just the beginning. Go price hard drives at Best Buy. Write down the brand, the capacity (80GB, 160GB, etc.), the speed (5400RPM, 7200RPM, etc.), the interface (IDE or SATA, etc.) and any other information - model number works great. Jot down a few. Oh, and be SURE to note the price. Then look the drives up on Newegg and see if the price isn't right around half. Same thing with DVD burners. Best Buy's prices do seem fair, for what you're getting. A DVD burner is something really special to have, right? Without shipping, Newegg lets them go daily for under $30! I never see them below $60 in Best Buy's printed ad.
With that in mind, when I say in March 2005 I ordered the parts to build this computer and spent about $1200 on Newegg.com, how much do you think those parts would have cost me at Fry's? (Neither Best Buy nor Circuit City, certainly not Walmart, sell the parts to build a computer, but Fry's does.) Yeah, you can bet this is a $2500 PC by retail pricing. Then you factor in what your average geek, independent or working for a place like that, is going to charge you to build it. To have this computer built for you in March 2005 would have cost you easily $3,000-$3,200 and I did it for $1200. That's some serious cash. And for what? For whom? Does stuff really need to be marked up that high?
Remember, Newegg doesn't just cover computer parts. They have all kinds of accessories. From blank discs to flash drives (and flash cards) to crap you just don't need. Watch the bundle deals, every now and then they'll throw something in for free. I've gotten 2 stickers and a shirt for free with stuff. And when I got my computer stuff, I bundled a motherboard, a CPU, and one of the sticks of memory and got a free digital download of the game Half-Life 2, at the time valued at $60 (and called "The Best Game Ever Made" by, I think, PC Gamer - although I disagree with it, it still means something).
I'm not done here - and computer stuff at Newegg is just the start.
You probably know that if you buy movies and music the first week they're out, you get a good deal, especially if it's a major album or movie. Best Buy tends to sell albums for around $10 and Walmart sells most new movies for $15.99, in both cases for the first week only. I don't think you can beat that buying them online. But after that first week, the price goes way up. Some CD stores have the audacity to charge as much as $22 for an album. At Best Buy it's closer to $15, and of course Walmart has to sell them for a buck or two less, but they only sell the "clean" albums, so unless you're some kind of 17th century prude, you shouldn't be buying music at Walmart anyway; supporting censorship is wrong for so many reasons. Look on Amazon, though, and you can find the same albums for $12.99 or $13.99. And same with DVDs, after that first week they can go for as much as $21-22, or right at $20 at Walmart, but they're usually a buck or so cheaper at Amazon.com. So where's the break? Well, most DVD and CD sellers sell 20-year-old classics at the same price as current hits. Not so on Amazon - you can usually get movies that are just a few years old for right around $10. Add the fact that you get free shipping if you spend $25 or more, you're looking at some good deals. Maybe get a new DVD you want for $20, then browse their bargains and pick up an old favorite for around $10, $30 for 2 movies and free shipping isn't bad at all.
Now here's a way to really get a deal with Amazon, but it requires having a Coinstar kiosk at a grocery store near you with Amazon.com gift code functionality. Just approach the Coinstar, hit the button to start, tell it you have coins, and see what your options are. All Coinstars let you turn in your coins for cash with an 8.9% fee, and most let you donate to various charities. Look for a Gift Certificate option. You should get free coin counting this way, with the minor stipulation that you have to have at least $5 and no more than $500 in change. Out here, the two Harris Teeters in Greenville, NC, have gift code/cards (they actually spit out cards in some cases), but a couple Food Lions are strictly cash/donate. You'll have to look around some in your own area. Now what you do is, make a habit of only spending paper money and pennies - and nickels if you want to push it. You take your change and put it in a jar. Never spend dimes and quarters, or nickels if you want it to go a little faster. The thing about pennies, they aren't worth the space they take up in your jar, especially if the jar is small. Nickels really don't, either. The most space-efficient coin is actually the dime, but quarters aren't far behind. If I save dimes, quarters, and a few nickels for 3 months, I can have close to $50 in coins. That's 5 not-so-recent movies and I might have to pay a buck or two. Or if I don't spend it all, Amazon keeps the remainder of the gift amount for the next transaction, up to 2 years, I think. The trick with saving coins, though, is strategy. You don't want to throw pennies away, as a matter of fact you should have 4 on you as often as possible, so you can get your change back in other denominations. Do the math quickly in your head - if you would get a nickel back, give up another nickel to make it a dime. It's best to use self-checkout machines, like at the grocery store, rather than burdening a cashier with the hard math.
But yeah, I have over 300 DVDs - at full price that's about $6,000 in DVDs, and I know I didn't pay that. I have spent a lot on them over the years, enough to perhaps own some stock in the movie industry. My collection isn't nearly the biggest, possibly not even among working-class movie lovers. I've seen some nice collections, but you know people with collections like those aren't worrying about money. But I'm talking wall to wall shelves custom built, 2, 3, 4 copies of the same movie in different editions, pretty much every edition of every movie they don't hate, just because. That's just ridiculous, but you can get DVDs for a heck of a lot cheaper than in the stores.
And that's just new. If you're willing to accept nonremovable stickers all over your DVD case, maybe the disc itself, maybe some writing on the case or disc label, maybe a smudge on the disc, and the knowledge that someone else owned it before you, you can get some killer deals on used DVDs. First of all Amazon, which I already mentioned. Just look up the movie you want, and look for more buying options near the top, on the right. Note that buying from others through Amazon doesn't count towards free shipping, and shipping is often higher buying from third-party sellers, so you have to factor shipping in as part of the cost. Some sellers will sell some things for a penny because the shipping is marked up enough that they turn enough of a profit in the shipping that they don't care about getting more. So you might get lucky. In brick-and-mortar stores, of course your Blockbuster and Hollywood video stores have used DVDs, but did you know Gamestop (formerly EB Games) has them as well? They usually have quite a lot, at better deals than Blockbuster and Hollywood offer. And unlike them, Gamestop's are bought from real people, so the DVDs are the same ones you can buy, whereas Blockbuster and Hollywood only sell retired rentals. How many times was a DVD rented out before it was retired, you have to wonder. And then the case might be different, and it's possible the DVD will have different (often less, I think) special features than the retail one. After all, it's just for rental. Some rental places are ignorant to "original aspect ratio" and only sell "Fullscreen" (aka "missing 1/3-2/3 of the picture") DVDs, and most only sell the Theatrical cut of a movie if an Unrated version is available.
I just bought a stack of blank DVD+R discs. Normally I pay $25 or so at Walmart (probably $24.83 or something, you know how precise they are with their prices) for a 50-stack, which is a pretty fair deal. It averages out to about 50¢ a disc. Not bad for 4.45GB of one-time written storage. When we have kids, they won't touch our real DVDs - either they'll use copies or we'll have them on the computer somehow. A good friend at work stopped buying DVDs because his neice and nephews were trashing them - that won't happen to us. And, you know, you buy something, "they" don't like you copying it, but neither are "they" in a big hurry to replace them when your kids damage them, "their" answer is to just go buy another copy of the movie at $20 a pop. But then "they" have never had to worry about that next paycheck or where the money to buy diapers or milk will come from, so you gotta do what you gotta do, right? But enough of the social rant. $25 for a 50-stack of DVD+R discs is pretty good, is it not? Sure it is.. Unless you can get a 100-stack for $31.60 shipped at Newegg.com. But, while Walmart is real precise with their prices, Newegg's fluctuate. Tomorrow it might be a buck more or less, Newegg is a very strange beast.
However, Newegg beats if not annihilates that "great deal" you see at Walmart or Best Buy or Circuit City wherever, all the time. And DVD media is just the beginning. Go price hard drives at Best Buy. Write down the brand, the capacity (80GB, 160GB, etc.), the speed (5400RPM, 7200RPM, etc.), the interface (IDE or SATA, etc.) and any other information - model number works great. Jot down a few. Oh, and be SURE to note the price. Then look the drives up on Newegg and see if the price isn't right around half. Same thing with DVD burners. Best Buy's prices do seem fair, for what you're getting. A DVD burner is something really special to have, right? Without shipping, Newegg lets them go daily for under $30! I never see them below $60 in Best Buy's printed ad.
With that in mind, when I say in March 2005 I ordered the parts to build this computer and spent about $1200 on Newegg.com, how much do you think those parts would have cost me at Fry's? (Neither Best Buy nor Circuit City, certainly not Walmart, sell the parts to build a computer, but Fry's does.) Yeah, you can bet this is a $2500 PC by retail pricing. Then you factor in what your average geek, independent or working for a place like that, is going to charge you to build it. To have this computer built for you in March 2005 would have cost you easily $3,000-$3,200 and I did it for $1200. That's some serious cash. And for what? For whom? Does stuff really need to be marked up that high?
Remember, Newegg doesn't just cover computer parts. They have all kinds of accessories. From blank discs to flash drives (and flash cards) to crap you just don't need. Watch the bundle deals, every now and then they'll throw something in for free. I've gotten 2 stickers and a shirt for free with stuff. And when I got my computer stuff, I bundled a motherboard, a CPU, and one of the sticks of memory and got a free digital download of the game Half-Life 2, at the time valued at $60 (and called "The Best Game Ever Made" by, I think, PC Gamer - although I disagree with it, it still means something).
I'm not done here - and computer stuff at Newegg is just the start.
You probably know that if you buy movies and music the first week they're out, you get a good deal, especially if it's a major album or movie. Best Buy tends to sell albums for around $10 and Walmart sells most new movies for $15.99, in both cases for the first week only. I don't think you can beat that buying them online. But after that first week, the price goes way up. Some CD stores have the audacity to charge as much as $22 for an album. At Best Buy it's closer to $15, and of course Walmart has to sell them for a buck or two less, but they only sell the "clean" albums, so unless you're some kind of 17th century prude, you shouldn't be buying music at Walmart anyway; supporting censorship is wrong for so many reasons. Look on Amazon, though, and you can find the same albums for $12.99 or $13.99. And same with DVDs, after that first week they can go for as much as $21-22, or right at $20 at Walmart, but they're usually a buck or so cheaper at Amazon.com. So where's the break? Well, most DVD and CD sellers sell 20-year-old classics at the same price as current hits. Not so on Amazon - you can usually get movies that are just a few years old for right around $10. Add the fact that you get free shipping if you spend $25 or more, you're looking at some good deals. Maybe get a new DVD you want for $20, then browse their bargains and pick up an old favorite for around $10, $30 for 2 movies and free shipping isn't bad at all.
Now here's a way to really get a deal with Amazon, but it requires having a Coinstar kiosk at a grocery store near you with Amazon.com gift code functionality. Just approach the Coinstar, hit the button to start, tell it you have coins, and see what your options are. All Coinstars let you turn in your coins for cash with an 8.9% fee, and most let you donate to various charities. Look for a Gift Certificate option. You should get free coin counting this way, with the minor stipulation that you have to have at least $5 and no more than $500 in change. Out here, the two Harris Teeters in Greenville, NC, have gift code/cards (they actually spit out cards in some cases), but a couple Food Lions are strictly cash/donate. You'll have to look around some in your own area. Now what you do is, make a habit of only spending paper money and pennies - and nickels if you want to push it. You take your change and put it in a jar. Never spend dimes and quarters, or nickels if you want it to go a little faster. The thing about pennies, they aren't worth the space they take up in your jar, especially if the jar is small. Nickels really don't, either. The most space-efficient coin is actually the dime, but quarters aren't far behind. If I save dimes, quarters, and a few nickels for 3 months, I can have close to $50 in coins. That's 5 not-so-recent movies and I might have to pay a buck or two. Or if I don't spend it all, Amazon keeps the remainder of the gift amount for the next transaction, up to 2 years, I think. The trick with saving coins, though, is strategy. You don't want to throw pennies away, as a matter of fact you should have 4 on you as often as possible, so you can get your change back in other denominations. Do the math quickly in your head - if you would get a nickel back, give up another nickel to make it a dime. It's best to use self-checkout machines, like at the grocery store, rather than burdening a cashier with the hard math.
But yeah, I have over 300 DVDs - at full price that's about $6,000 in DVDs, and I know I didn't pay that. I have spent a lot on them over the years, enough to perhaps own some stock in the movie industry. My collection isn't nearly the biggest, possibly not even among working-class movie lovers. I've seen some nice collections, but you know people with collections like those aren't worrying about money. But I'm talking wall to wall shelves custom built, 2, 3, 4 copies of the same movie in different editions, pretty much every edition of every movie they don't hate, just because. That's just ridiculous, but you can get DVDs for a heck of a lot cheaper than in the stores.
And that's just new. If you're willing to accept nonremovable stickers all over your DVD case, maybe the disc itself, maybe some writing on the case or disc label, maybe a smudge on the disc, and the knowledge that someone else owned it before you, you can get some killer deals on used DVDs. First of all Amazon, which I already mentioned. Just look up the movie you want, and look for more buying options near the top, on the right. Note that buying from others through Amazon doesn't count towards free shipping, and shipping is often higher buying from third-party sellers, so you have to factor shipping in as part of the cost. Some sellers will sell some things for a penny because the shipping is marked up enough that they turn enough of a profit in the shipping that they don't care about getting more. So you might get lucky. In brick-and-mortar stores, of course your Blockbuster and Hollywood video stores have used DVDs, but did you know Gamestop (formerly EB Games) has them as well? They usually have quite a lot, at better deals than Blockbuster and Hollywood offer. And unlike them, Gamestop's are bought from real people, so the DVDs are the same ones you can buy, whereas Blockbuster and Hollywood only sell retired rentals. How many times was a DVD rented out before it was retired, you have to wonder. And then the case might be different, and it's possible the DVD will have different (often less, I think) special features than the retail one. After all, it's just for rental. Some rental places are ignorant to "original aspect ratio" and only sell "Fullscreen" (aka "missing 1/3-2/3 of the picture") DVDs, and most only sell the Theatrical cut of a movie if an Unrated version is available.
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