Heart Shaped Box

Oooh... Looks like I've been slacking on the Blog front, doesn't it? Probably because I have, although at least I suppose it's proof of being busy. ;o)

Anyways, today is Christmas Eve, a day on which it is notoriously difficult to get into a working frame of mind. Which is why I'm sat here, Blogging. As you can probably guess from the lack of updates here, work at HEXUS has given me plenty to do, which is most definitely a good thing, and is still providing plenty of enjoyment on my end. Aside from that, life goes on as normal, aside from the prospect of needing to find a place for me and the wife to live within the next few weeks, a process that will gather pace once Christmas is out of the way. It's hard not to get stressed about that, but I'm sure everything will slot into place in due time.

Today's entry title comes from (obviously) the Nirvana song, pumped to me as I write this courtesy of Last.FM - Possibly the greatest Internet radio service ever. To explain, the site is partnered with another great site - Audioscrobbler. The basic principle of Audioscrobbler is that you download a plug-in for your favourite media player, which then notes the mp3s you listen to and collates them in a central database under an account you've set up on the site, then displaying your listening habits and so on and so forth.

Last.FM takes this one step further by offering you an Internet radio station which chooses what songs to feed you based around the music in your profile. It works incredibly well, and rarely gives you a song that you'll hate. Even if it does, you have 'Love', 'Skip' and 'Ban' buttons to denote songs you really love or hate, and your profile will thus become more specific to your tastes from there. I can't praise the service enough (They have a pay service too with some extra functionality, which I'm seriously considering forking out for), so anyone with an interest in broadening their musical horizons or simply listening to some damn fine music should check it out at least one. See? A Pixies song has just come on. Yes, it's that good.

Finally, this is my opportunity to wish anyone reading this a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope you all have a great time, and stay tuned to everything I do through 2005! ;o)

This is traditionally a time to start taking stock of the year just gone by, and I can safely say that 2004 is the best year of my life. Great new job, fantastic wife, and plenty of good friends out there. Some (if not all) of you reading this have played a part, big or small, in making this a great year for me, so to you goes my heartfelt thanks and gratitude.

First day of school

Yes, that's right, today was my first day of full-time employment with HEXUS. And I did I enjoy it? You bet your life I did! ;o)

My first day proved to be pretty fruitful, as I managed to knock out a couple of articles by the day's end, and also got things a little more organised here in my 'bunker' - Which is a good job, as I have a shed-load more stuff headed my way! Oh, and did I mention that Rys is the greatest boss in the World ever? (Seeing as I'm sure he'll read this, I guess this is the online equivalent of giving the teacher an apple, but hey, he's a great guy, what can I say?)

To complete a fine day, I received my Christmas present from Tara today. Of course, no placing of items under Christmas trees on this occasion, I dived straight into the box. :oP All I can say is, that girl has got to stop spoiling me! Oh well, I do exactly the same to her, and have done this Christmas, so I guess we're even.

Half-Life 2 Deathmatch

So, Valve had a Half-Life 2 Deathmatch mode under their sleeves all along then... It got released on Steam yesterday, and I have to say, it's.... Unique. What other DM gametype lets you pick things up and throw them and people? You have to give Valve some kudos for taking the physics engine that helps make Half-Life 2 itself so impressive, and successfully inject it into an online game mode.

Having said that, the enjoyment of the whole thing was somewhat short-lived for me - There's only so many times you can chuckle with glee as you crush someone in a corner with a car, or take them out with a well-placed radiator to the head. After a while, it starts to feel more like 'domestic argument simulator' (Hey, there's an idea for a mod!), with everybody eschewing traditional weapons in favour of simply throwing stuff at each other. It's immensely fun for half an hour or so, but then it starts to feel kind of childish. Maybe I'm just getting old...

Still, now it's out there and at the mercy of the mod community, there's stacks of potential in their, so I can imagine some really great things coming out of it. It's been a long time since I've really found a game I can get into playing regularly online (Battlefield 1942 was probably the last I gave up any real time to), but maybe something under the Half-Life 2 moniker will crop up and grab me.

Away from that, my Leadtek 6800GT and Ultra review (yes, them again!) for HEXUS is done, so I'll throw it into the back-end once I'm done with this. I can't wait until next week when I can start really sitting down and cranking out content, especially seeing as my last few days of my current job are going soooo slowly - There's only so much you can do when you know you're about to leave!