Never thought I'd be on a boat

Bender's trouble baby

Well as many of you know I had a biopsy on a small mass in my throat back in November. It came back so I've had another biopsy. The last time it tested as moderate dysplasia which is what doc is expecting it will come back as this time. It's worrisome because a non smoker of my age probably shouldn't have cells like this. But it's not advanced to a stage where it's considered cancerous and we can undertake treatment options. So we watch it.

The surgery was as terrible experience as ever for me. The Mercy hospital seems to be top notch I've got no complaints there. My veins don't pop out very much so they always have trouble getting the IV in, that's always terrible. Apparently last time they had trouble with me breathing through the nasal mask while they were incubating me. This is normally done while under general anesthetic. Because of the trouble last time I got to be awake for the incubation tube this time. Being away for having a tube stuck into your lung is not a good feeling.

In other news it's less than a month before baby is born. Nursery is prepped and I've got my stroller ready to truck baby around. Super mega chicco stroller. We went and talked to the bike guy about a burly, think we are probably going to get a mid range one.

I'm finally settling down and getting some of my Ham Radio stuff working. I picked up an FT-767GX cheap with all the modules a while back as well as an Icom IC-28. I'm looking right now to mainly do some digital modes on 10 and 6 meter bands, probably PSK31. Eventually I might upgrade to general so I can do 30 meter digital modes. I've got 10 and 6 meter dipole antennas coming from Universal Radio. I like them because they support cats, not dumbly dogs. Plus they have good service and prices. I would have built an antenna myself but I don't have the time or space to be building antennas with a baby on the way. These will do for now to at least get me on the air for now, cheap.

Additionally I've got a Tigertronics Signalink USB on the way from DX Engineering. This will be connecting to a 1st gen Intel Mac mini I bought a while back for the shack. The Signalink is a bit more than a Rigblaster but it integrates with my software tools better near as I can tell, since it has a built in soundcard rather than pass through. Additionally the integrated soundcard means less cables for me to connect to the FT-767GX. I find myself liking tye 767, and Yaesu radios in general.

Thats all for now, I'll post again when I get my antennas up.

Ghostbustin Weeoop

So we all know the "checkered" history of the recent Ghostbusters game. Ign has posted a preview and this game just keeps looking sweeter and sweeter.

IGN Ghostbusters Preview

Sweet things.

a. PKE Meter for scanning ghosts
b. Slimer
c. awesome cut scenes
d. Janine
e. Equipment upgrades

I hope my baby likes Ghostbusters because it's going to get a healthy dose of it when this game is released.

Tales of a Witchering Nature

I played a good amount of The Witcher demo this weekend. I have to say this is one of the best RPG's I've played in a long long time. The graphics were pretty swanky and ran smoothly on the MBP Geforce 8600GT. They fit well with the medieval magical setting. I'm typically more of a console RPG player normally especially when it comes to action RPG's but the semi-action nature of the control scheme worked well. It involves selecting your target and keying up a series of timed clicks to hammer out lucrative combos. While I love your standard J-RPG just because they are so ridiculous, be it Tales of Vesperia to Eternal Sonata, I love them all. Sometimes you just want a meatier, richer, more adult story-line. Something like Mass Effect. The Witcher pulls no punches in hitting you with mature content everywhere, all your values will be challenged and you'll be all the more cultured for it. Geralt isn't some goodie hero, he slums n sluts around with the best of them. Overall I say give the demo a try, you may find one of the best RPG's to come along in years. Amazon has the Enhanced version for 35 bucks, 5 bucks less than retail and digital download services. I really don't understand how publishers can still cling to the idea that they can charge the same amount for a DL or a richly packaged physical copy (witcher comes with a music cd, storybook, map, etc...). Why pay 5 bucks more for a DL? I'd have probably forgone the physical version if the DL was say 30 bucks not the 40 MSRP of retail.

Hawkiz?

I just played through the demo of Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. It's decent enough I suppose, more arcady than simulation so it fits well on the 360. The voice activated controls work well but they are pretty awkward to use in play rather than hitting a button. The "assist off" mode is fun but puts the camera at a damn odd angle. It works well enough for the game but it was pretty disconcerting of a viewpoint. It's hard to describe but the camera pulls back and focuses on the target while you control the plane. At 60 bucks I won't be playing this but I can see myself picking it up at 20-25 bucks, maybe on the used market.

Fallout

IGN has a pretty damn good read on the history of Fallout.

http://retro.ign.com/articles/948/948937p1.html

Typical Redumblican Hypocritical Rhetoric

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/02/sebelius.abortion.fight/index.html

Calling Sebelius an "enemy of the unborn," Catholic League President Bill Donohue said the Kansas governor's nomination is particularly disturbing because the health and human services secretary is one of the few members of the administration who can directly affect abortion policy.

One could just as easily call most Republican's "enemy's of the born" since they appear to stop caring at birth. Then it's milk um dry and send them off to endless wars. Yea abortion is terrible, but it's not the Morality Police MCPUBs job to tell me or anyone else what their morality is. Republicans are all about individual freedoms, as long as it's their narrow view of individual freedoms. Sorry guys, you want to prevent abortions, maybe you should think about supporting some social programs to that effect. Quit being a bunch of hypocrites and maybe I can start taking you guys seriously.

They say they are fiscal conservatives.
They really consistently plunge us into worse financial situations than the "liberals"

They say they are value oriented, morally guided people. This is why they are so apposed to legalized abortion.
They really support sending thousands of Americans to needlessly die in endless wars, they fight against scientific advances that could save lives.

The list goes on. Guys if you want me to take you seriously you need to get back to your actual roots. Real fiscal conservatism, and keeping your nose out of my business.