The Orange Box Rocks!!

With the disappointment of Halo 3 still in the forefront of my mind (damn thing cost $60), The Orange Box came at a great time to get that bad taste out of my mouth. For those who don't know, The Orange Box is a collection of five Value games (Half Life 2, HL2: Episode One, HL2: Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress), recently released on Xbox 360. The five games have previously been released for PC some years ago.

I played Half Life 2 on the PC in 2004 and it was awesome then and it's awesome now on the 360! In fact, it puts to shame most 360 games in the graphics department and definitely in the gameplay and fun factor departments.

Unlike Halo 3, Half Life 2 is a very submersive game. The environments are very interactive. The people not only talk, but react to you (try throwing some trash at them). The game won awards for it's ground breaking physics engine. Almost every object in the game can be picked up and thrown around (that gets really fun once you get the gravity gun). The "puzzles" are short, creative and rewarding; they usually show off part of the in-game physics capabilities. The pace of the game is also excellent; the levels never get repetitive or boring.

Speaking of physics, Portal is a trip. I'm not even going to bother explaining, so just watch this embedded video:

I beat Portal in one sitting (2h 50m). It was really fun.

I don't have much interest in Team Fortress. Online, competitive gameplay is too stressful for me.

Half Life 2 easily makes it into my top 5 video game list.

Dyno Tuned the Vette

I got my car dyno tuned at 21st Century Muscle Cars. John Page (the shop owner) is very friendly, accommodating and knowledgable. Kenny K., who did the actual tuning, is extremely friendly and owns his own C6 which he modified (headers, cams, etc) and tuned himself.

I was expecting to dyno at 390 rwhp stock and gain about 5 rwhp from the tune. Instead I dyno'ed very low for an LS3 (364 rwhp) and gained 30 rwhp from the tune. Apparently my LS3 C6 is an anomaly and came from the factory pig rich (AFR for the first dyno run was below 10.0), which accounted for the low horsepower.

Most LS3's are 390 stock and gain 5 from a tune. I was about 365 and gained 30 from the tune. Either way, end result is 395 rwhp... so I shouldn't be too concerned, right? Right??

Btw, for you non car people out there, 395 rwhp means my car makes about 445 horsepower. Hell, let's just call it an even 450... :)

2008 Sub $100,000 Test Drive List

Corvette C6 Z06

Test drive? Hell, I might even own one of these someday.

Porsche 911 Carrera S

I'm not really a Porsche fan. I think they are kind of ugly, somewhat pricey for what you get, and a bit overrated by the magazines. Still, I want to see what all the hoopla is about. Btw, I would have put the 911 GT3 on this list instead, but it is $7,500 over budget.

Lotus Exige S

I will probably never own one of these because they make terrible daily drivers, and I'm not wealthy enough to have a $60k car that is strictly a toy. Still I'd want to test drive one just to see what a true, dedicated track car feels like.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X

What, I can't have a ricer on the list? This car has garnered so much respect from rags, as well as the enthusiast community, over the years that I'm curious to try out it's latest incarnation. Also, I have little experience with AWD cars, so I want to see what that is like.

Honda S2000

Owners seem to love them. I've never heard a bad thing about an S2000 from an owner, instead they rave about them. The car is very high strung with very little torque, so I'm curious to see what makes them so good.

Honda Civic Mugen Type R / RR / Si

This is the car I love to hate. :) How can people call it a sports car? It's FWD for crying out loud! It's chassis' primary design function is that of economy! You can't just take an economy car, slap a bunch of performance parts on it and call it a sports car! Still, it has somewhat of a cult following... that has to count for something, right? I just want to test drive one so that my bashings have more credibility, ha!

Saturn Sky Red Line

I have a weird obsession with this car. I know it's not that great of a performer, but I love it's edgy design. They always catch my eye and it takes me a second or two before I realize what they are. Some would argue that it is a sporty little roadster because it's based off the same platform as the Pontiac Solstice.

Ford Mustang GT500 KR

Though I've kind of lost interest in drag racing, I'm still a Mustang fan. I wanna see what this car has on my previous beast. Also, I have read some articles that say it can keep pace on a road course, though I speculate it's via sheer horsepower.

Is a Mac really worth it?

I've been toying with the idea of getting a Mac for a while now. I'd like both a MacBook as well as a Mac Mini. I'm not a normal computer user, so these would be the upgrades I'd get for each of them:

• 2 gb memory
• 7200 rpm hard drive
• Superdrive (aka a dvd burner)

Both the MacBook and the Mac Mini come with 1 gb of memory via two 512 mb sticks. Guess how many memory slots each one has? You guessed it! If you want to upgrade to 2 gb, you can't reuse any of the memory that originally came with the machines.

You cannot add a Superdrive a la carte. You must order the higher end model of each machine to get it.

The 7200 rpm hard drive is about a $100 aftermarket upgrade.

So all said and done, that $500 Mac Mini is looking more like $800 and that $1100 MacBook is looking like $1500.

Now I can upgrade my current computer to have a much faster Core 2 Duo processor than either of those Macs, along with a video card that easily beats them, for a grand total of $400.

"Yeah, but OS X has the best, most badass, eye candy interface ever!" Ehh. Check out this video of what is going to be included in the default installation of (K)ubuntu Linux (released in 10 days).

So now I gotta ask myself... is TextMate really worth $400 to $1100?

Halo 3... meh.

I got Halo 3 a few days after it was released. I bought it from Gamestop and the clerk there asked me what version I wanted. I kinda just stared at him until he started to explain. There is the normal version which is just the game. Then there is a special "limited edition" which comes in a tin case and cost $10 more. And then there is the "legendary edition" which comes with the pictured helmet and costs $130. I was offended for two reasons:

1. The clerk had the audacity to assume I am a big enough nerd to even consider either special edition, especially the "legendary nerd" edition with the helmet on a stand.
2. That MS is such a money grubbing piece of shit that they are charging over $70 for a plastic helmet which adds nothing to the gaming experience.

I guess that's what really pisses me off about Halo 3. It is so over-hyped and over-marketed that it's a massive success, despite the game actually being mediocre.

How is it mediocre, you ask? Let me rattle off a short list...

• The graphics aren't that great. I feel like I'm looking at a PC video game 5 years ago.
• The character animations are even worse. Their movements are so unnatural and "jagged". Walking up and down stairs, their feet don't properly fit the steps. When people hold their hands up to their faces, you can tell they aren't really touching.
• I can't tell when I'm hitting an enemy. Gears of War had blood spurting and Resident Evil 4 had enemies recoiling in pain. Halo 3 has almost nothing. Same with death animation in Halo 3, very weak. Sometimes I waste ammo on an already dead enemy.
• The gravity hammer is nothing near as cool as the chainsaw bayonet.
• Overall, the weapons aren't very satisfying (especially the shotgun, where is the feeling of brute force??).
• I don't know, it just doesn't have the polish that Gears of War has or Resident Evil 4 had (at the time).

I honestly think MS paid off a lot of reviewers in it's ultimate hype campaign. Check this out though, my friend Adam sent me this review, which I think is pretty good. :)

Holy brake dust, Batman!

Wow. Freaking Jesus, wow.

I drove my car on a road track for the first time last weekend (Sept 15th & 16th). It was with The Driver's Edge which is a non profit (I think) organization that organizes non-timed high performance driving events (HPDEs) at various race tracks all over Texas. I simply call it "racing school" because you have an instructor with you the entire time and they teach you how to drive fast... very fast.

Out of all the things I've done, I'd rank it number 2 behind skydiving for the first time in intensity, excitement and fear. Some people liken it to riding a roller coaster, but I think that's a bad analogy. On a roller coaster, you just sit there, along for a high g-force ride. You're on tracks and you're not going off the tracks. On a road course, the only things keeping you on the track are your wits... and your instructor's commands.

This two day event was quite an eye opener. Most people don't know anything about the physics of driving. They don't know how to load the front suspension before a turn, or how to accelerate through a turn to keep the rear tires planted. They certainly don't know that lifting off the accelerator or hitting the brakes while going around a corner too fast is going to cause the car to go into a spin. That's right, if you're going around a corner too fast and you don't think you're going to make it... give it more gas!

One thing that they kept stressing to us newbies is to breathe. Driving on a road course for the first time can be a harrowing experience, especially if you're driving a 450 hp sport car capable of speeds in excess of 190 mph. It goes against all instinct to keep the gas pedal floored while approaching a 180 degree turn, then at the last possible second, slam on the brakes and pray that you're going to slow down enough to make the turn. When I say "slam" on the brakes, I'm mean you're hitting them so hard that if you didn't have a seat belt on, you're going into the windshield.

The Vette is awesome. It's way too much car (power-wise) for a newbie like myself. Other cars were hitting 80-90 mph at the end of the straight if they were lucky. I was hitting 105 at the middle of the straight (and being too scared to upshift, haha)! I never had to take it out of 3rd gear the entire time on the track. It had more than enough power in 3rd gear alone to scare the living daylights out of me.

Handling-wise it's great also. I'm too wet behind the ears to comment on the numb steering that Vettes are known for, but I did notice that the Vette has tons less body roll that my previous S197 Mustang GT (2005), despite the Mustang's aftermarket Roush suspension.

I'm going to sum up the remaining points of interest since this post is already kind of long...

• Your wheels get completely covered in brake dust.
• After a session on the track (or during), you're not allowed to stop in the grass because your car's headers and brake rotors are so hot that they can start grass fires.
• After a session on the track, you cannot use your parking brake or hold your foot on the brake pedal because your brakes are so hot that the rotors will warp.
• You get used to the sound of tires squealing. In fact, tires squealing becomes the norm rather than the exception.
• As a newbie, your skills are laughable compared to your instructor's. My instructor had people puke and lose control of their bladders while riding with him in his run group (btw, he has a modified 2007 C6 Corvette).
• There is a high probability that you will lose control of the car at high speeds. Well... if you are pushing it and have a high horsepower car anyways.
• I lost control 3 times, the 3rd time at 90 mph and went off track into the grass/dirt. It wasn't even scary because by then I was so used to the speed.

After just one HPDE, I'm addicted. All I think about is going back for more and getting better and faster. Unfortunately, it's an expensive hobby...

Click here for more pictures.

Dustpans are teh suck!

Have you ever noticed that you never get all the dirt off the floor when you finish a sweeping job with a dustpan? I hate dustpans. They are so primitive. Why do people still use technology that was invented millennia ago?

Check out my current sweeping technique. I sweep all the dust, dirt and crap into a corner, then suck I up with a vacuum cleaner (the hose part). It works great and it gets all the dirt.

Throw away your dustpans!!!