Absurd Singularity

Despite the freakishly warm weather we've been having for the past month or so, fall is finally here.

This here is Reese, my parent's neighbor's lab. Whenever I visit my parents I'll usually take a bunch of pics of him if he happens to be out and about. Anyway, this one particular picture stunned me when I was going through my shots because of its unprocessed sharpness. The focus was dead on and it was spectacular. You can download the full-sized image here for a look-see. Converted from RAW without any post-processing. Damn, when this 300mm f/4 IS hits, it's one scary piece of glass.

I purchased the original Nintendo DS system when it was first released only to sell it a few months later to help pay for the subsequent Sony PSP system. It didn't help that back then there was only one game that I considered buying and even that one I wasn't particularly wedded to.

Now, almost 2 years later, I've jumped back on the bandwagon and picked up this Nintendo DS Lite - Onyx system. And talk about having to handle it with kid gloves, this thing's more of a fingerprint magnet than the black iPod and PSP! The highly reflective glossy black surface takes up the entire top and bottom casing. This is one item you'll want to store with a chamois cloth. =p Although I've found that the microfiber keyboard cover that comes with the Marware Protection Pack for MacBook works pretty darn well too.

At least the playing area doesn't have the same glossy characteristics. The D-pad was surprisingly not stiff upon first contact which was kinda weird cause you usually expect a few days breaking in period for those things. Despite its smaller size, I haven't found it to be too uncomfortable yet...

Compared to its older brother the DS Lite is definitely much more svelte, without the fat bottom look. The entire system is actually the same width as the top case of the original DS. Definitely takes care of my prior beef with the original DS in that there seemed to be too much open/unused space just lying around.

The one thing about the DS Lite that just absolutely crushes the old DS is the screen (or screens in this case). The original DS screens were rather dim and grainy which I thought was rather odd for a system released at the time. Especially when compared to the PSP that came out shortly afterwards, the DS screen was a joke. These new Lite systems fixes that problem completely. Not only are the screens brighter but they seem to be much more colorful as well. The Lite is what the DS system should have been to begin with 2 years ago when it comes to the hardware.

And the first thing I did after removing it from the box? Slap on screen protectors of course. I've been using these Brando Ultraclears for awhile now and they're highly recommended in my book. They make them for pretty much anything that has an LCD screen. They are a bit pricier than the ones you'll find at say Best Buy or whatnot and you have to wait longer for them since they ship from Hong Kong, but I've yet to see another brand that's as easy to use. These things are great!

Anyway, hopefully I'll hang on to this one longer than I did the original. I now have 3 games for it that I play on a regular basis, but only one that I would actually play in public. How sad is that. ;-p Somehow I feel uncomfortable playing a cooking game or calling to my imaginary dogs in public. Go figure. ;-p But, this thing won't be leaving the house until the hopefully spiffy case I just ordered for it comes in.

of a dead hard drive. While I can't say that this is the fastest that a hard drive has ever died on me, I can say that this was the most critical as it was my main drive and I've probably lost about a month and a half's worth of data (best case). *sigh* Very annoying as there was zero warning. I came home last night, started to browse the web, and then spinning beach ball followed by the dreaded clicking/clacking/grinding sounds. Wasn't like previous HD failures in the past where it was a slow death, allowing just enough time to backup the important data. Just boom!! dead drive. Won't read, can't startup, can't do crap.

At least it's still under warranty so I can get a replacement but still, the data loss hurts. I really have to implement and stick with a daily backup program after I get things back up and running again. Been burned too many times already.

The other annoying part? Check out Hitachi's packaging steps. The electro-static discharge bag I can deal with but to have to use thick rubber foam to cushion all around it? No bubble wrap, peanuts and other regular packing materials allowed. That's just retarded for a notebook drive at least. I don't even know where I can get a hard drive shipping package for a notebook drive. Who sells that stuff? I can understand it maybe if the drive wasn't really dead but in my case, it's freakin' deader than a doornail. You'd have to be a god to bring this thing back to life. Will have to call Hitachi support after the weekend to see if I can send it in in just a bubble wrapped mailer since you can't damage it much more than it already is. Grrr...