The graphics, though… leave a lot to be desired. I don’t remember the graphics being this pixelated! It could just be the fact that I’m playing it on an HDTV (which I imagine lots of people are if they bought this off PSN). I think older games look better on the CRT screens though, because the edges don’t look as sharp.

Anyway, it’s still an awesome game. It’s hard to believe how far games have come. I mean, I played through FF8 just late last year and the graphics for that wasn’t even as bad. Ah well, I don’t mean to be a graphics whore though, because all the newer games (or at least 95% of them) concentrate so much on graphics that the gameplay sucks so much.

So yay. Time to beat this mutha!

P.S. Sorry Tim. I’ll get to Xenogears eventually ;D

Ever since we played Spain in Jazz Band at the Mardi Gras earlier this month, my surge of thirst for getting better at improvising has never been stronger. I totally busted out a hot solo, but my solos can be REALLY unfocused sometimes. So I’m breaking out this book again: Patterns for Jazz.

The iPhone is a great practicing tool too. I downloaded the Tempo app (metronome) and I use the built in Clock timer to time myself 30 minutes per practice session. I learned that practicing in surges of 3-4 hours only really leads to quick burn out. I’m going to pace myself.

After a few days, I’m already on the 20’s of the exercises. I only got right before the 100’s before I graduated from UOG, so let’s see if I can eventually finish the book. Here’s hoping…

My best friend on Guam, Victor, has left for boot camp. That actually affects my life directly. It hasn’t been so bad though, because after he had his baby about a year ago, I haven’t seem too much of him anyway.  Every time someone leaves the island though, like last time it was Rommel, it makes me wonder what I’m still doing here.

Guam really isn’t a bad place to live. I have great connections here and am making a good amount being self employed. I don’t know though… What brings people back to Guam are their friends and family, and all I have left here pretty much is Rhea and Rich. Jhonjhon is actually my last best friend on the island, but between WoW and work, I barely see him at all (once, twice a year maybe?).

Anyway, Victor leaving feels like a new chapter in my life too, but he’s been gone, and life goes on for me. Good luck Vic! I wish you all the best, because that’s what you deserve. Just wish you didn’t have to go so far to get it :/

• Solved 4×4x4 cube
• Hackintosh’d my M1530
• Finished lots of website work
• Finished Freedom Fries original recording “Get Out”. They submitted it to Power 98. Listen!

Uh, that’s all for now, I guess. thanks!

Recording is something I love doing and it was the first business I planned on running after graduating from college. Unfortunately, after finishing Matala’s CD and also watching some other recording studio companies on Guam come and go, it simply seems that Guam isn’t a place where someone can run a recording studio full-time.

If Guam wants to see its music industry flourish, it needs to have some infrastructure. I remember being in Japan and ALL the performing bands in the bars and clubs having professionally made CDs. It was amazing. My friend, Tim, was telling me how it was required for bands in the city to finish a CD before performing. It makes perfect sense. Not only will you have something to sell at all your gigs, but it will help increase visibility and popularity and it will also show that you mean business.

Anyway, recording is very rewarding for me because I spent so many sleepless nights and countless hours learning tips and tricks from many books and many blogs and trying my best to perfect the craft.  I am not sure of my ability until I get these recording gigs once in a while where my clients will be very happy with my work, and it makes me with Guam had the economy to support a full-time recording studio.

Until then, I’m still here doing small jobs if you need me

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Just in time for the semester too! http://www.guamcollegebooks.com

When I got the iPhone, the first thing I did was connect it to my computer and sync it with iTunes. To my liking, I found out that the iPhone plays rather nicely with Microsoft Outlook. It synced my contacts and calendar no problem. HOWEVER, the iPhone does NOT come with a Todo app. I was very disappointed.

Luckily, I found a TODO app on the App store, but it was $9.99! The hell… I tried the trial version and it helped me get organized a lot better than the simple todo list in Windows Mobile, so I thought, hey, that’s pretty worth it. I bought it.After I did, I set up sync and was so happy only to find out that it DOES NOT synchronize via cable, but WiFi.

Uh, when I had my WM6+Outlook connected to my computer, it was sync, WAM BAM, k unplug, and you’re all set. This whole App+WiFi sync added another layer of complexity to my syncing process.

I figure I’ve been wanting to ween myself into using more online apps (like Google), so I moved all my e-mail from POP3 to Gmail, and calendars and contacts to Google Apps. Unfortuantely, I needed to get a different app for everything.

So anyway, I went from this:

• Connect phone to pc, sync finished

To this:

• Calendar: CalenGoo App
  • PROS
    • auto-sync with Google Calendar on load flawlessly
    • Works flawlessly
  • CONS
    • Does not use iPhone’s native calendar app
  • Price: $6.99
• Contacts: Sync in a Blink App
  • PROS
    • sync with Google Contacts
    • Uses iPhone’s native contacts app
  • CONS
    • Buggy. Sync not always exact
    • You have to manually sync by opening the program.
  • Price: $4.99
• Todo: Todo App
  • PROS
    • Great app. Keeps you organized
    • Notifications are great
    • Better than any TODO method I have ever used
    • Syncs automatically upon opening.
  • CONS
    • Syncs via WIFI: INCONVENIENT
    • Syncs with Remember the Milk ($25/yr subscription required): EXPENSIVE WTF
  • Price: $9.99

So now I have three separate apps that sync differently with several different services. The iPhone sure is fun to use, and getting organized isn’t bad to begin with, but if you need to be really organized, you better be ready to fork out extra money to do so.

Am I doing it wrong? Is there an all-in-one solution? I found an App called Pocket Informant, but it was rather expensive and I had already bought all these other apps. Also, I looked at some screenshots and wasn’t too crazy about the interface.

Unfortunately, about a year ago, one of my friends (AHEM!!) put the laptop on a surface where it couldn’t ventilate and it overheated and couldn’t be turned on anymore.  After doing some research, I found out that the m1210 has a defect where it is VERY prone to GPU overheating!! … So i guess that didn’t help.

To make matters worse, the GPU is integrated on the motherboard, so to fix this thing would require an entire motherboard replacement. Screw that. I sold out most of the parts immediately: the motherboard, the keyboard, the ram, etc. Everything but the casing and screen, because I couldn’t sell them.

And thank God for that. Just a month ago, I had some money saved, so I did some research and found out that I could get this sucker back up and running if I spent about $300. I was thinking… That’s about the price of a netbook, and instead of getting a dinky little thing, I can get my awesomest laptop back!

So I bought a motherboard ($175), CPU ($75), 2gb ram ($40), keyboard ($15), and battery ($30). I was really scared though, because the motherboard came from China, so sometimes you never know what to expect.

I received everything and guess what? It didn’t work!! Man was I pissed. I spent hours trying to figure out what was wrong, but I figure either one of two things: I screwed up, or one of the parts was dysfunctional.  I only assumed it was the motherboard, so I furiously contacted the eBay seller and asked him WTF and wanted a replacement. After he agreed, I was taking apart my laptop once again to take out the motherboard to get it ready to send.

But, before I did that, I wanted to run a little experiment of my own. After doing some research, I found out that Rhea’s laptop (Dell Inspiron 6400) uses the same components as my m1210, so I asked her (very nicely) if I could take apart her baby. She reluctantly agreed, so I took out the CPU and RAM and everything and popped them into my m1210.

It worked!! I couldn’t believe it. After doing some troubleshooting, I concluded it was the CPU that wasn’t working. Good thing I make sure all these eBay sellers have a “working guaranteed” clause in their auctions because I got a refund, and after more buying and waiting, I put this sucker together and it works again!

It’s good to have you back