So, since my low point a couple of weeks ago, things have been much easier for me - I hesitate to use the word 'better', as it's really just involved me putting my worries and concerns on the back burner in the knowledge I have to deal with them, and soon.
The long weekend over Easter was fantastic though, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - Me and Tara didn't do anything all that special, but we spent the whole time hanging out together and generally enjoying one another's company and it made for a wonderful time, a real tonic after the weekend that had gone before.
Away from that, work has been ticking along at the usual pace. The most frustrating thing currently is that my work on content for Elite Bastards has basically stopped in its tracks, I've simply not had the willpower to do anything EB-related recently, but hopefully once all my problems are sorted then I can get back to churning out some more material.
Finally, I really have to thank everyone reading this who left words of support for me either here or through other means after my last entry - It means a lot to me to know I have you guys' support and friendship at a time like this, and I really appreciate and treasure it. So, thanks again, it's good to know there are people like you around. :o)
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Monday, March 21, 2005
I had a bad weekend....
Very bad... Probably life-changingly so. I really can't talk about it any more right now, but we'll see what happens over the coming days and weeks. Right now though I'm distraught, really I am. :o(
Friday, March 18, 2005
Time for a change
I finally got bored of the old Blog template style I was using, so I've switched to a new one - It's simpler, but feels a bit neater and 'cleaner'. I guess you could also call it boring, but oh well... I'm not entirely convinced that anyone much reads this regularly anyway, although you're always welcome to prove me wrong with a plethora of comments. :oP
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Playing catch up
If there's one thing I haven't had much time for this past couple of months, it's been anime watching - My wife loves Japanese culture at least as much as me, but I haven't been able (OK, so I haven't tried) to drag her into any of the shows I watch. Anyway, over the past week or so I've been making time (in my lunch breaks and the like) to catch up on things - I'm now up to speed on Bleach (Well, apart from Episode 23, but I'm waiting for the Lunar Anime fansub on that count), and am on my way to catching up with Naruto too - I watched up to Episode 122 last night, and my wife is in London with friends until late tonight, which should allow me time for a mini-Naruto marathon. :oP
It feels somewhat wrong to be persevering with Naruto now it's been licensed - Theoretically speaking, I should be deleting the lot and waiting for an official release. But, unlike most anime, Naruto is unlikely to make it to the West in all its glory. Simply put, it is (Like Pokemon, Digimon, DragonBallz et al) a marketing man's dream. And who do marketing men love the most? Children, that's what. I think it's safe to assume that the Naruto that ends up airing in the US/UK will be shorn of any blood, gore and death, probably to the point of having entire episodes or plotlines removed. Recent episodes have seen the death of many a main character, something all but unthinkable to the marketing people over here (Imagine the controversy of killing Optimus Prime in Transformers: The Movie, and create it over and over on a weekly basis) - Is that really going to fly in the Western market? It'll be interesting to see what happens to the series as it transitions to the West, but I can't help but be pessimistic.
Outside of anime, everything is good enough. I finally got my X850 XT review done, and also managed to knock up a look at ATI's plans for 2005. I really should be looking towards my next reviews and articles instead of watching copious amounts of anime tonight, but.. Well... Tough. :oP I'll get around to it soon enough, I promise. Now CeBit is over, I'm also waiting for... Well, I'm not sure what to be honest. But something. I don't even know if it's good or bad, just something, and I know someone who might be reading this who knows the answer. :oP Oh well, patience is a virtue that I'm slowly learning to co-exist with, so I suppose I'll just have to wait and see...
It feels somewhat wrong to be persevering with Naruto now it's been licensed - Theoretically speaking, I should be deleting the lot and waiting for an official release. But, unlike most anime, Naruto is unlikely to make it to the West in all its glory. Simply put, it is (Like Pokemon, Digimon, DragonBallz et al) a marketing man's dream. And who do marketing men love the most? Children, that's what. I think it's safe to assume that the Naruto that ends up airing in the US/UK will be shorn of any blood, gore and death, probably to the point of having entire episodes or plotlines removed. Recent episodes have seen the death of many a main character, something all but unthinkable to the marketing people over here (Imagine the controversy of killing Optimus Prime in Transformers: The Movie, and create it over and over on a weekly basis) - Is that really going to fly in the Western market? It'll be interesting to see what happens to the series as it transitions to the West, but I can't help but be pessimistic.
Outside of anime, everything is good enough. I finally got my X850 XT review done, and also managed to knock up a look at ATI's plans for 2005. I really should be looking towards my next reviews and articles instead of watching copious amounts of anime tonight, but.. Well... Tough. :oP I'll get around to it soon enough, I promise. Now CeBit is over, I'm also waiting for... Well, I'm not sure what to be honest. But something. I don't even know if it's good or bad, just something, and I know someone who might be reading this who knows the answer. :oP Oh well, patience is a virtue that I'm slowly learning to co-exist with, so I suppose I'll just have to wait and see...
Thursday, March 10, 2005
2MB broadband and hardware aplenty
It happened a day earlier than I was expecting, but I now have a 2MBit ADSL connection in my house, thanks to Nildram's new offerings. In July, all of their customers get regraded to 2MB (assuming their line can handle it) regardless, but for just shy of £13 they'll do the job right away. Of course, I couldn't resist, and put in my order at the tail-end of last week. I was given an activiation date of today, but last night found myself sitting pretty with a higher connection speed. I haven't really stretched its legs yet, but it certainly felt nice while I was downloading Catalyst 5.3... :o)
On the reviewing front, I finally polished off the article from one of our forum members last night, so that went live today. I have no excuse not to start on my next big review now, and I really need to get a move on with it, seeing as I've secured another couple of video cards for review, which'll be going head-to-head with one another. I'm intrigued as to how the two boards will shape up after having seen all the marketing, so I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into them. You guys will have to wait and see what I'm talking about, although some of you should be able to guess already. :oP
In an ideal world, I really want to review the ASUS SLI motherboard I picked up, but it really doesn't feel right to even attempt to review an nForce4 SLI board without testing its SLI capabilities. I also have to question myself as to what exactly should be tested benchmark-wise on a modern motherboard - When you take a look around most reviews and find a set of largely theoretical results that show little differentiation between different boards, you have to wonder what the point is, perhaps it's better to concentrate largely on feature set. So, I think that one can take a place on the back burner for now, but it's still something to think about for the future.
Away from the whole computer hardware and Elite Bastards thing, life and love are going just swimmingly still, although with nothing spectacular to report. It's actually been a quiet week all things considered.
On the reviewing front, I finally polished off the article from one of our forum members last night, so that went live today. I have no excuse not to start on my next big review now, and I really need to get a move on with it, seeing as I've secured another couple of video cards for review, which'll be going head-to-head with one another. I'm intrigued as to how the two boards will shape up after having seen all the marketing, so I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into them. You guys will have to wait and see what I'm talking about, although some of you should be able to guess already. :oP
In an ideal world, I really want to review the ASUS SLI motherboard I picked up, but it really doesn't feel right to even attempt to review an nForce4 SLI board without testing its SLI capabilities. I also have to question myself as to what exactly should be tested benchmark-wise on a modern motherboard - When you take a look around most reviews and find a set of largely theoretical results that show little differentiation between different boards, you have to wonder what the point is, perhaps it's better to concentrate largely on feature set. So, I think that one can take a place on the back burner for now, but it's still something to think about for the future.
Away from the whole computer hardware and Elite Bastards thing, life and love are going just swimmingly still, although with nothing spectacular to report. It's actually been a quiet week all things considered.
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Six months and NDAs
Monday was mine and Tara's six month wedding anniversary - Maybe nothing special in the grand scheme of things, but to me it seems like an important milestone. Considering all the stories of rough rides I'd heard from others, the whole six-month period has gone fantastically smoothly, give or take the odd tiny bump or two. I seriously can't imagine myself being any more happy or content than this - I know I must go on about it in basically every single Blog entry, but I still can't get over how things have changed for me over the past few years, all thanks to one person. :o)
In other news, the NDA for ATI's HyperMemory technology expired yesterday (as anyone who saw my article will have realised), although to my minor irritation it was pushed forward a couple of days at virtually the last minute, leaving me with only a couple of hours to polish off what I'd done so far and pour all of the rest of my thoughts into the article. All in all, it came out pretty well all things considered, seeing as I was all but ready to forget the NDA lifting time and simply publish it "When it's done". It may not be the most interesting technology in the universe, but it was still article-worthy to my mind and it was nice to be on 'the inner circle' of these things for once. :oP The experience has piqued my interest in how these low-end boards and their memory sharing technologies perform in the real world as well, so maybe that's one for the future. :o) The next article on my 'to do' list for Elite Bastards is a biggie, but I want to get it done sooner rather than later. I also have in my possession another intriguing article written by a contributor which I'll try to get out the door this week once I've cleaned it up and sorted out some charts.
Nothing much else to report really - Work is ticking along as per usual, Tara drank way too much watching Chelsea win the Carling Cup, Bill Murray and William Dafoe were both great in 'The Life Aquatic' and... err.... that's it really.
In other news, the NDA for ATI's HyperMemory technology expired yesterday (as anyone who saw my article will have realised), although to my minor irritation it was pushed forward a couple of days at virtually the last minute, leaving me with only a couple of hours to polish off what I'd done so far and pour all of the rest of my thoughts into the article. All in all, it came out pretty well all things considered, seeing as I was all but ready to forget the NDA lifting time and simply publish it "When it's done". It may not be the most interesting technology in the universe, but it was still article-worthy to my mind and it was nice to be on 'the inner circle' of these things for once. :oP The experience has piqued my interest in how these low-end boards and their memory sharing technologies perform in the real world as well, so maybe that's one for the future. :o) The next article on my 'to do' list for Elite Bastards is a biggie, but I want to get it done sooner rather than later. I also have in my possession another intriguing article written by a contributor which I'll try to get out the door this week once I've cleaned it up and sorted out some charts.
Nothing much else to report really - Work is ticking along as per usual, Tara drank way too much watching Chelsea win the Carling Cup, Bill Murray and William Dafoe were both great in 'The Life Aquatic' and... err.... that's it really.
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