A blurb about this Friday Five:

Ear worms are those annoying little songs that get stuck in your head. Sometimes they are the last song you hear on the radio before you go into the office, sometimes they just randomly pop in.

1. What is a common ear worm that you get?

Generally it is the song that I really like at any given moment, which can last for a week or two. Examples of past songs are “Let It Die - Foo Fighters” and “Falling Down - Atreyu”. There are also times it’s some crappy song I hear from one of the many YouTube videos sent my way.

2. How long do they last?

Not very long. Ask me what I do to get rid of them, and I’ll tell you.

3. What do you do to get rid of them?

Glad you asked. Generally, all I have to do is listen to something else, anything, really, and that “ear worm” will be purged. I’m not really one to have a song repeating over and over again in my head driving me to the brink of madness, but I may hum it without knowing it, thus annoying others around me.

4. What is the worse ear worm you’ve ever had?

This fucking song that Sandy (my manager) played over and over again for a while. Some kids singing “Castaways… we’re all castaways”. I’m sure he’ll start playing it again now that I’ve said that, but it doesn’t bother me much anymore. I have headphones.  

Oh, and this is a great song that was somewhat stuck in my head for a few minutes today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-NOZU2iPA8

Thanks Molly.

5. Do you get some guilty pleasure in passing the ear worm along?

Sorry, are you asking me if I enjoy mentally torturing people? Come now. You know the answer to that one.  

In this day and age, when someone goes on vacation, especially if that individual is in a demanding position at work, very rarely is it ACTUALLY a vacation. With so many ways to connect with someone, be it cell phone or email, if there is a really pressing need, anyone “out of the office” can be contacted. As a vacation is an important escape from the pressures of every day life, and a rare one at that, the possibility of such an intrusion into their vacation can weigh heavily on that person’s mind. During those times, it is important to make clear that you will be completely unavailable should shit hit the fan, and if necessary, ensure that your vacation destination is out in the middle of no where… preferably a place that has yet to embrace the technology that we are so used to, that we take for granted, and in some cases, see as a curse.

The CEO of the company that Molly works for has an awesome “out of the office” reply that not only got the point across, but made me laugh as well:

WAY OUT OF OFFICE ALERT (till Dec 2nd)

No, seriously.  I mean “in a place that doesn’t have wireless” out of office.

“Oops, I dropped my Blackberry in the ocean” out of office.

“Sand in my toes, better drink that before it gets warm, ok, I guess I’ll go swimming again, can you pass me another because I seriously can’t get out of this chair” kind of out of office.

“sooooo, not checking message unless it is hidden at the bottom of a rum punch, gotta put more sunscreen on or I am going to fry” out of office.

I think you get the picture.

Physically back on the 2nd, mentally back sometime later that week.  Will return emails when the saltwater dries out of my keyboard.

If things are falling apart or you need to track someone down (or else you really need to say what an awesome job we are doing), call **removed**.

Some snobby bastards may find something like the above unprofessional, but I think it’s an indication of the laid-back attitude that a lot of CEOs (the good ones anyway) have these days, including the CEO of the company I work for. It is important to remember that a CEO is a human being just like the rest of us, and usually has more on his or her plate than those who are working at the same company.

As such, if they need to get the hell out of dodge for a bit, it’s in everyone’s best interest, and also the company’s best interest, that they be given the time they need to relax and clear their minds. They’re not gods… they just get the final say on how much booze is going to be at company party.  

Back when the Nintendo 64 was still a hot item, I was enthralled with 3D platforming games. “Mario 64” had set the bar, and pretty much paved the way for 3D gaming, so it was a challenge for other developers to either match or surpass what is still to this day considered the standard when it comes to 3D platforming games.

It took a bit, but a company called Rare, best known for it’s “Donkey Kong Country” games, not only blew past “Mario 64″ with it’s game entitled “Banjo-Kazooie“, but in my mind they created the best 3D platforming game ever, which has yet to meet it’s match. I played that game for hours upon hours, perhaps a total of many days or even weeks. The graphics (for it’s time) were phenominal, the gameplay was awesome, and the challenges were addictive. Rare released a second game of “Banjo-Tooie“, which was fun, but wasn’t quite as fun as the first one, IMHO.

Fast forward 10 years, and Rare has now released the latest in the series: “Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts“. At first, I didn’t know what to think about such a game… the platforming had taken a back seat, and the focus was now on building vehicles to assist you with accomplishing a variety of tasks in the game. It wasn’t until I got my hands on the game a few days ago (which thus confirms that yes, I did receive a replacement Xbox 360!!) that I realised that yet again, Rare has created a game that I can sit back and play for hours.

Let me be brief: my gaming tastes are very unlike the majority of gamers. I don’t like sports games, or in-depth RPGs, and I hate first-person shooters on consoles. In the end, that doesn’t leave me with many games to enjoy. Thankfully, the games that I do enjoy, while rare (huh huh), are usually very deep, have a lot of freedom to do what you want, and will take forever to finish… that is, if I ever get around to it. For example, after a time of playing each and every GTA game, I lose interest in the story, and just go on rampages within the virtual world.

Anyway, back to “Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts”. It’s not for everyone. Unless you like a LOT of dialogue in a game, then you will hate it. The characters don’t have voices, aside from mumbling, so you have to read everything they say… and they don’t shut up. Also, if you want to have a pick-up-and-play game, then you won’t like this either. For me, as I **LOVED** playing with Lego as a child (and still do; take that as you wish), this game has appealed to me in a way that no other has. I can build my vehicle how I want, with the parts available, and as long as it would work within the confines of some loose physics (the game uses the Havok engine, which frikkin’ rocks), the contraption should do what I planned. That being said, sometimes it’s fun to mess with physics, and create something that shouldn’t work at all, and watch how the game shows you why. 

I’m not very far along in the game, as I just figured out how to use my personally-designed vehicles within the game worlds and outside of the missions, so I’ve been creating flying machines to explore the worlds and collect notes (used as the currency within the game) and crates that contain parts to be used in the vehicle workshop. I’ve spent hours so far just creating vehicles instead of playing the game.

One other cool feature of the game is that you can upload pictures to the “banjo-kazooie.com” site. They can be pictures of anything in the game, not just of your contraptions, and you can pause the game at any time to take a snapshot, name it, and upload it. I decided to take some snapshots of the two vehicles I created that I’ve been playing with:

This one is a “flying taxi”. When you have empty seats in your vehicle, inflatable passengers appear so they’re always occupied. The same occurs when Banjo jumps out of the driver’s / pilot’s seat to walk around.

This is a monstrosity I call “land sea air”… for obvious reasons: it has wheels, wings, and inflatable rafts. It also has been designed to carry items in the center of the vehicle.

So, there we have it. I love this game, and I expect to lose may hours to it. I’m sure Molly will let me know when I’ve been playing too much… I just hope she’s kind when she snaps me back to reality!!

1. What made you happy this week?

My Xbox 360 was delivered successfully to the repair depot, and I finally got confirmation that they are working on it. With any luck, I should have it repaired and returned to me soon. I need my “GTA IV” fix!!!

2. What made you sad this week?

“Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts” was released for the Xbox 360, a game I’ve been waiting for for a few months, and I can’t play it as my console is in the shop. Don’t get me wrong, I have tons of other things I can be doing, but I’ve been looking forward to this one game for so long, and now I have to wait even more. Bah!

Also, I am nearing the end of the Sword Of Truth series! I’m almost done the last book, and I don’t know what I’m going to read next. I’m a very picky reader, and it’s rare that I find an author or a series that I can sink my teeth into. I’ve been reading Terry Goodkind’s books for over a year, and it’s been an adventure, but now I have to find something that hopefully compares to the awesome storytelling that I am now used to.

Dang it.

3. What made you angry this week?

The ongoing issues I’m having with Rogers and their billing… or lack there of. I think I’m one of the only customers on the planet who is concerned when he DOESN’T get a bill from a large corporation. Having worked at a few large telcos (Primus, Telus, etc), I know that eventually they sort out the billing issue, and they WILL charge you for the time they missed. I’d rather get this sorted now and out of the way before a bill with four digits is delivered through my mail slot.

Thankfully, a co-worker has a friend that works at Rogers, and he asked him to look into this for me. I’ve called Rogers at least three times over the last two months about this issue, and the reps on the phone were not able to assist me. It’s not really their fault; they probably don’t have the tools necessary to correct a weird error such as this. But, my co-worker’s friend does have some pull, so it looks like this will all be sorted out soon, and I can happily start paying my Rogers bills.

Joy.  

4. What are you looking forward to in the next week?

Not spending any cash. This means that I won’t be going out as often for the next little bit, which means I’ll have plenty of time to stay at home and watch movies or play games. Right now, I have two games going on: “The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker“, which is a game from the GameCube that I last played in 2003 and decided to give a run through again. The other game is “World Of Goo” for the Wii, which if you have one, you MUST get this game. It is a physics puzzler, and an extremely good one at that.

5. What are you not looking forward to in the next week?

Not sure yet. Usually the things that I generally don’t look forward to doing end up being a ton of fun, so I’m trying to stop feeling a sense of dread ahead of time. This coming week is pretty clear too, so I don’t have anything on the horizon at the moment.  

This is just classic:

Obama’s Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy
Stunning Break with Last Eight Years

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama’s appearance on CBS’ “Sixty Minutes” on Sunday witnessed the president-elect’s unorthodox verbal tic, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama’s decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it “alienating” to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.

“Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement,” says Mr. Logsdon.  “If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist.”

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, “Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off.”

The President-elect’s stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

“Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can’t really do there, I think needing to do that isn’t tapping into what Americans are needing also,” she said.

- source -

It’s really going to be interesting to see how comedians deal with Obama once he is in office. For the last eight years, their job has been pretty easy when it comes to making fun of Dubya… all they had to do was sit back, wait a few minutes, and literally state what they witnessed. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Personally, I think the biggest jokes will be the comparison of Obama to Bush, with Bush naturally taking the hits for all his failures in contrast to Obama’s successes. Sure, we’ll see what happens, but if Bush thinks his “legacy” will improve over the years, he may be in for a bit of a shock.

Thanks to McLeody for passing this my way!