Not Dead

General

I am well aware it has been several months since I last made an entry to this little blog. Well, it is now a new year and once again it has given me time to reflect on my goals for the coming year. It is my hope to make a great deal of headway in finishing up the final requirements to earn my degree. I am on the home stretch, and I find that quite exciting. Work is steady and rewarding, and I suppose I am grateful to have it in this current economic state and amongst stories of misfortune from many people I know.

At any rate, another year is upon us, and with it comes new challenges and opportunities, for which I am grateful.

Chuck

TV

As the second season of NBC’s Chuck wraps up tonight, there is talk of the show possibly not being renewed for a third season. I’m not much of a TV evangelist, but I would just like to say that a decision not to renew Chuck would be a poor decision indeed.

In the extreme case that someone at NBC is listening, don’t cancel it. Thank you for your time.

Mass Effect

Gaming

I finally got around to playing Mass Effect (I bought it months ago), and I must say it is awesome. I definitely am not an RPG guy, but the game was quite compelling. It took me about 20 hours to finish, which seems a bit low compared to the developers’ claim of 30. At any rate, I’ll probably play it again as a renegade to check out the additional conversation dialog.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

Gaming

This weekend I took a few hours to power through F.E.A.R. 2, the sequel to the awesome game from 2005. The reviews are mixed on what to label this game, but I just would like to chime in and say it is good. It doesn’t quite live up to what one might expect from three years’ work, but Monolith has been busy with other projects as well and that is understandable. Just about everything that matters about the game is right on the money, though. The thrills are good, the action definitely pleases, and Monolith bats it right out of the park with the ending once again. I will not spoil it, but I will say nobody can see it coming.

Also, Jen Taylor is a fine voice actress, but her voice has become a bit too recognizable by now. And I haven’t even played all the way through Halo. (Hi, Zoey!)

Windows 7 Beta

Internet

As has been publicized in many places, the beta for Windows 7 is available to the public, which is a first for Microsoft if I recall correctly. Product keys to activate the beta are available for the first 2.5 million people to download the software, which will expire on August 1. It has been made clear that the expiration date for the beta is not the official release date for Windows 7 (by then, there will be a new beta or perhaps even a release candidate).

I just ordered a new hard drive and will likely be giving this bad boy a test run. Vista gets railed on for a lot of things, so hopefully Microsoft has paid attention.