Games

Today, in recitation, we discussed games, both current and "old-school" games. I found video games the most fascinating when I was younger, ages 8-11 or so. Video games have changed so much since then. The graphics are pretty crazy now. I compare the games that existed then that I played, like Street Fighter and Tekken to the today Street Fighter and Tekken games. I just saw a commercial for Tekken 6 on television, that is crazy. It just keeps going, and the game looks pretty good compared to the first ot second version.
I am also pretty amazed with video games now in general. I thought that Dance Dance Revolution was pretty extraordinary, just because you were involved, not only because you played with a different type of controller, but it was different. Now, there's the Nintendo Wii where you actually control the game and can play all types of sports on it. I can't really believe it. It's exciting.

October break

Over fall break, I went camping in, basically, the middle on nowhere Kentucky. We had no cell phone service for about 15 miles from where our campsite was, but thankfully, we had a GPS!! We were completely ready for the trip. We had planned ahead of time for food, tents, chairs, everything you can think of for the trip itself, except for directions. Well thankfully, our handy Garmin helped us. It was on the spot with our mileage and speed, how amazing. I guess I never realized its many components until I had to spend about 5 hours in the car with nothing to do. It even helped us find the nearest Chinese food on the way home from Kentucky, since my friends were all craving some deep fried goodness. I suppose I underestimate what technology can do these days, but in a way I'm glad. But it's also scary. I can't imagine life without my cell phone or even a GPS now. I had no cell phone reception for two full days and I thought my life was going to end.
What has the world come to?

Frustration with my cell phone

Although I have 3G capabilities on my phone, they are pretty useless here in West Lafayette. I get really frustrated when I go into the house I am living in and I am hardly able to send a text message because I don't even have service. Why doesn't T-mobile expand more here? I feel like  T-mobile is the only company that don't really have a lot of towers here, and that seems to be a problem. I actually get more bars when I am OFF CAMPUS. That is ridiculous. I don't live off campus, therefore it doesn't do me any good at all.

It's most frustrating when I am unable to send picture messages quickly. I appreciate the capability on my phone, but it makes no sense to have that when it take two days to download the picture being sent to me. So, my point is, I think West Lafayette should have more T-mobile towers, or that T-mobile should invest more here on campus. I'm out of state and where I'm from, T-mobile is the service to have since you get to use your 3G network EVERYWHERE! It's just frustrating when I'm at school.

Geocaching

After we did our geocache activity, I was surprised at how exciting it was. I didn't really understand the activity so much after reading about it online. It seemed silly to go out and search for some hidden stash, but after all I think it was pretty eventful and I was able to learn more about teamwork and cooperation as a class.  I like the idea of using a GPS to locate the hidden cache, I am actually thinking about whether or not it would be a good idea for a summer road trip. It seems very interesting. I like adventures and it would be a good one to travel and see different states to find a cache.

Entertainment

So I just recently discovered some websties that are super interesting and provide a lot of entertainment, whether you are bored or just looking to learn some new stuff. The first is Reddit which is just a site with news feeds from all types of different sites, it's categorized into different categories such as technology or politics.  Pretty much any interesting, odd, or just strange news could be found here. It links you directly to the site responsible for posting it. It's prettty entertaining if you have some extra time and want to learn some new things or just find out some new things or just look at some funny comics or pictures. The second one is Digg which is a similar site that has news feeds from different sites all at one place.  I think it saves me a lot of time, as well as provides some really cool things that you wouldn't find otherwise.  It's different from Google reader because you don't have to subscribe to different sites themselves but it's all in one place. But this however does not stop you from putting Digg or Reddit into your RSS! Amazing! I don't even have to go to the site everyday to find out what's new and interesting! I can just use my Google homepage.

iPods and their amazingness

I am currently obsessed with the game Knights on the iPod.  It's a game where you protect your castle from wizards, knights, and soldiers, among other things from breaking in.  How you play? You literally pick up the attackers of your castle and throw them into the air. It makes for a pretty entertaining time.  I especially like the feature of the Dragon Altar where you put one of your attackers on a hook and a dragon flies down and eats them off the hook. If you haven't tried it, definitely play this game, it will keep you entertained and the sounds of the little knights dying is priceless. 

It's definitely a good waste of time, especially if you are procrastinating from school work, or just entertaining in general.

Try it if you haven't, it's amazing.

iTunes is frustrating, but perhaps it's my computer

So last night, my computer kept telling me that iTunes was not working because I had to download a newer version. Basically I suck at computers and did the same thing three times[uninstall and install iTunes and Quicktime three times] so that I could have iTunes work normally again. The point being, I hate computers.