Starting Today, I'm going to build myself a Mechazawa toy out of wood and some spare parts, mostly audio stuff. Instead of a centre piece, it's going to be something more functional. It would serve as an audio unit, iPod docking bay, and a Firewire (or FW+USB2.0 combo) hub. I haven't decided the scale just yet (I'm thinking around 2 ft high) but the body itself should be big enough to put my subwoofer in it along with various cords. I expect myself to spend roughly around 70 bucks on this project ...

... but to make up for it, I'm selling my 750 MB ZIP drive. I rarely use it and it's being given away at 70.00 USD (109.99 off MSRP). Additionally, it'll also come with a free 250 MB ZIP disk. (a 23.99 value!) ... So if you still have a ZIP 250 drive, this can be useful for you. Additionally, if you are in a university that uses ZIP drives in your degree program, (like Commercial/Computer Art) then this might come in handy.

Well ... that's it for now ... I need to finish my ceramics project and then worry about other things for graduation, like some stupid survey that the university wants me to complete before I graduate.

Nighty night.

Just out of sheer boredom, I decided to paste a line of text from my Clipboard:

Odoru ponpokorin

Reason why that is in my clipboard: A friend of mine from Japanese class asked me to look for this particular song. I haven't started looking for it yet but I was told that it was a theme song for an anime tailored to young children (say elementary school age). I guess I should find something fun and happy stuff to listen to while I wait for the dark and twisted stuff to come in the mail.

On a related mood, there's this track in my collection: angela - 綺麗な夜空 「kireina yozora」 or 'Beautiful Night Sky' out of angela's Sora No Koe album ... this is a pretty nice song to karaoke to that has an uppity feel to it. It makes me want to jump up and start singing to it, even in the shower. For anime reference, It's the first ending theme to Stellvia.

Now that I found some happy work-music, it's about time I get to work on the new design for this blog. The blue colour is starting to bother the heck out of me.

It's been a while since I bought an actual disc outside of Half.com ... I usually buy from the iTunes Music Store or Half.com, (for English music) or I jump on the BitTorrent leeching club for songs I could never find in the music store (like most of my J-Music).

However, I ended up buying two discs over the last week.

The first disc is Powerman 5000 - Anyone for Doomsday?. I wanted to get the CD that had Bombshell on it. (For reference, this is the Dudley Boyz' Theme Song in WWE) I saw a bunch of PM5K songs on the Music Store but no Bombshell so I thought, maybe it's a very popular B-Side that's been made into a music video a couple years ago. I went scavenger hunting around the PM5K website only to find out that the CD has never been released until last Christmas! しまった！ 「Damn!」　I thought maybe I was on drugs or something because Transform came out a year ago, last May. Anyway, I ended up ordering it straight from their web-store. It was 10 bucks plus 3 dollar shipping. That'll be coming in about a week. No big deal since most albums I obtain are 15 bucks or cheaper, depending on the age of the album. Of course, I could have just downloaded that one song but I'd like to have a high-quality source, like an actual disc. That, and I could rip it in different formats, like FLAC or APE or something ...

That, and the website mentions that this same album was "sold for upwards of $300 on eBay!" Man ... it must of been a collector's item at the time the album was supposed to come it.

The next disc I was looking for seemed pretty hard to get. I actually found it on eDonkey but ED2K works very weird with my home network and I can rarely download properly with it, if ever. This particular album was by ALI PROJECT called HERETIC & EROTIC. The only three ALI PROJECT songs I have so far are the two Avenger themes and the one from Noir so figured that I'd go album hunting. I also have their Avenger OST but I don't really listen to those tracks that much. I liked those three so I thought I'd look up some of their albums. From a bit of Googling, I have found two on their official website, hosted by their current record company, but others on another website. I decided to get HERETIC & EROTIC because I liked some of the samples from their website. I found the samples to be rather interesting so I decided to support them in purchasing one of their albums. I'm not sure exactly how the Japanese record industry works but I sure hope they get their share. It costed me 4200 yen (2800 for the disc + 1400 Shipping & Handling ... or almost 40 bucks). However, I did get a 500-yen-off coupon on my next purchase (if I bought 3000 yen or more worth of stuff not including shipping). I might get another import CD next month with that coupon (which expires April 30th).

But anyway, I usually feel good buying music instead of downloading it. It tells me that I have done a nice thing to the music community. Every time I leech something on the internet, I generally feel a little bad but well ... until someone starts up a Japanese import store around town, I'm going to have to settle with BitTorrent for my J-Music needs.

Hmm ... now that's a thought ... I guess it wouldn't hurt to sell a bunch on eBay as a business. I just need to know what's being demanded so I can supply enough of the right stuff.

I have nothing useful to write about lately ... my brain feels like it's been impaled with nails ... that and I've been trying to write something totally weird and bizarre for one of my writing classes... it's like an anime that resembles Cromartie in setting and theme but we thrown in Layla Ashley from Avenger just for kicks (and maybe a few other deranged females since I don't like the fact that almost every character is one gender). Plus, I had to put something defective in her brain, other than the fact that she has these horrible memories of Volk. I guess inject similiar memories but nothing in space or being beaten as a child. Maybe give her a very bizarre fear, like little girls with semiautomatics ... speaking of which, I have a character that's just like that ... but well ... I'll see how things turn out. When I'm done, I'll post the PDF.

Ee too ... Anooo .....

Well, in weirder news, I took this silly test:

Which Japanese word are you? by gokumew2
Username
You are:	おっぱい 「Oppai」 (breasts)
Created with quill18's MemeGen 3.0!

Now ... I need to see someone because now I think my brain is scarred for an indefinate period of time.

In much down the road of normalacy, I got a really neato iSkin for my iPod. I hated myself the last time I owned my previous iPod because it was scratched and dented and stuff, so I figured I invest 30 bucks in some decent protection. I got the Arctic one because I like the original white coloured iPod ... I think it beats the crap out of all the colours.

A friend of mine passed me this link on how to build your own iPod Battery pack: here

The hard part is trying to locate the parts but it looks like a cheaper alternative to buying this bulky thing from Belkin: here.

Now let's do the math. "If I was black, I would have sold half." (That's from Eminem's White America ... Eminem's a lyrical genius, but last I recall, he was suing Apple about some advertisement ... boy that guy has a thing for law enforcement.)

1 Belkin Pack $69.99 (MSRP)
+ 4 AA Batteries (3.99 x 1 for a 4-pack)
---------------------------------------
$73.98

Battery Life: 15 - 20 hours (according to advertisement)*
Cost per Hour (batteries only): 20 - 26 cents

1 2xAA Battery Holder (1.69 x 1)
+ 3 9v Connectors (1.99 x 3)
+ 1 Female Firewire Connector (12.00 x 1 + free shipping)
+ a deck of cards (0.99 from The Dollar Store)
+ 1 soldering gun (6.49 x 1)
+ 1 glue gun (around 5 bucks from your local crafts store)
+ 2 9v Batteries (3.29 x 2)
+ 2 AA Batteries (2.49 x 1 for a 2-pack)
---------------------------------------
$41.21

Battery Life: 10 hours (according to the website)*
Cost per Hour (batteries only): 91 cents

* = Mind you, I'm not talking about using those really expensive AA batteries that are specially designed for digital cameras (which are the ones I usually buy -_^) but the cheap generic batteries you can get from RadioShack instead. According to Mr. Perry's photos, he uses two generic 9v batteries and 2 AA Duracel batteries in his package.

NOTE 1: Prices do not include taxes nor shipping charges.
NOTE 2: For the Female Firewire Connector, you would have to cannibalize that frontal drive bay just for the connector. If someone can find just that bare bone connector from a store of US origin, then that would be great! On Drew Perry's website, he mentions CPC, which is in the UK.
NOTE 3: The final price assumes that you do not own a soldering and/or a glue gun. If you already own such items, feel free to subtract accordingly.

Although, from observing, building the battery pack looks cheap, but you would spend more money per hour when it comes to battery usage ... I'm sure there might be a cheaper way to output 12 volts from two AA's and two 9v batteries ([1.5*2] + [9*2] does not equal 12 but I'm sure there's some weird "electricity math" that I have yet to learn).

I already have a Belkin battery pack, which was a gift from a friend, but I have yet to build Drew's little battery thingy. When I get paid again (in two weeks), I'll get that to work and post some results here... right now, I need the money for art supplies, so that battery project is going to have to wait.

OR ... maybe someone can run a comparison for me. I have yet to see what happens.

But then again, this will have to wait a while ... I'm going to save up for a new digital camera. Hopefully a 4 Megapixel camera (I could get something better, but I can't afford anything after 4 Mpx)

-------

Speaking of the iPod, I just received my iPod yesterday. It's a brand new one ... I could tell because my old one was all scratched up and had some small plastic chipped off from the sides of the touchwheel. It works like a beauty and now I don't have to hate myself anymore.

Today, I was supposed to see an English instructor that I had two years ago because of some class that I took and got an Incomplete grade in. I finished the requirements a month later and haven't worried about it since ...

Now, I just got an email last Friday that said I had to take that class again because the incomplete turned into an F, according to head of the English Department. If I didn't retake the class, I wouldn't be able to graduate. So I figured I should see the instructor I had two years ago and find out what happened. She admitted that she didn't turn in my work because she assumed that I would still fail the class ... I admit that I wasn't good in that class (got C's and D's in the assignments for that class) but I know I tried. If I knew I was going to get an F, I would of either dropped the course or never come to class.

Okay, so I just scheduled an appointment to see her again between 12:00 PM and 1:30 PM ... she hasn't showed up and it's 20 after 1. I think it's one of those cases which someone (teacher) causes trouble for one person (me) or a group of persons and decided to move out of town, whether it is something unexpected (eg. a real death in the family) or pretending that something unexpected happened (eg. someone pretending that some died in the family just to gain sympathy while, at the same time, postponing the reality of the current situation until it is too late). I've seen this happen before ... usually, it's the latter until proven real. (eg. excuse slip or copy of death certificate)

It's kind of sad, really, that some folks would use such an excuse ... but then again, I have yet to hear this instructor's excuse; I only use the 'death in the family' situation as an example, since it's the most common one I run into, either in real life or on the Internet.

UPDATE: She actually did show up at around 1:35 PM ... Better late than never, I suppose ... and to make my day even better, she changed my F into a passing grade because of some weird technicality. So it's all good and I'll be able to graduate in May. w00t! My day just seems to get a little better ... it's just that I had so much suspense filled up in my stomach.

I find it rather bizarre sometimes but on half of the PC's I look at from time-to-time, there's always a pseudo-Mac component or two on the computer screen. I walked into my instructor's office to find a docking bay on his screen and the blue OSX wallpaper (minus the logo) on his desktop. Then I asked myself "I wonder what kind of machine he's got?" I saw a black ATX box under his desk. Now I said, "I never recalled Apple making computers with a black box, let alone one that runs OSX." Then upon closer inspection, it was a Dell Dimension computer and on the screen actually displayed a OSX-like dock on the Windows environment... that, and the green Start button stood out like a sore thumb.

On other strange cases, I see some totally change their user interface to look almost like OSX. I then asked myself, "Why don't they buy a real Mac?" Now if they already have a Mac but feel a little 'homesick' when using a PC, I'd probably understand the situation (one of the ECU-MUG coordinators is like that when he uses his Dell laptop) but how about those that have yet to own one?

Of course, I could probably come up with some reasons why they really want to get a Mac but could not get one:

1) Software, especially Games. Obviously, Windows software will not run on a Mac. You could get VirtualPC but that thing runs like a drunken horse driver, the last time I used it. I used both Windows XP and Windows 2000 on VPC and although Windows 2000 was a little faster, I didn't find it that significant. Running games ... well, I wouldn't want to try that. You're better off getting the Mac version of that same game just to play it at a decent frame rate.

2) Customization. I guess one of the things I miss from the PC world was that I could buy parts, like a motherboard and processor, and start building from scratch. I have never seen a Mac which someone has built from the ground-up. Although, there are case-modded Macs that I have seen on the internet. I guess I could try some kind of customization on my iBook, like painting it or something, but I'll wait until the warranty is dead, which is this coming Christmas 2004.

3) Price. From marketing, Macs are generally more expensive than PCs, even PCs that are pre-built by companies like Dell and Compaq. Although, it's been a while since I bought a pre-built PC (the last prebuilt box I purchased was a 233 MHz Pentium II Dell Dimension desktop ... my only Pentium box, everything else was AMD) so I'm not sure about the price difference, for example, between the cheapest AMD Athlon64 machine and a Single Processor 1.6 GHz G5 with nearly the same graphics card and PCI cards in it.

But then again, there's also those that think that Macs are cool and that they just like the look and feel of one emulated on a PC ... but just don't want to buy a real one ... I find it rather strange, but I guess mileage varies.

But then again ... again ... they're probably just preparing to make the switch and haven't done so yet. I know I have installed stuff like ObjectDock when I was on a PC just so I can help myself migrate to a real Mac.

Well ... it's just some things you might want to think about before making the switch to a Mac.

Speaking of Apple, I just received note from the Apple Depot that my iPod is returning home from it's quick journey to California. However, is it the same ol' iPod with different insides or does it have a brand new casing with a different serial number on it? I guess I won't know until next Monday ... until then, it's going to spend quite sometime in that plane from California to North Carolina.

/me hums Legend of Zelda theme...

I guess if this iPod is going on an adventure, it's going to need some adventure music and what would be better than good old Zelda? -_^

I went grocery shopping yesterday because I needed a bag of crystalized sugar for my art project. When I arrived in the sugar aisle, I couldn't help but notice a small bag of powdered sugar and realized how much it could pass off as cocaine. It was in a clear bag with the appropriate label: Powdered Sugar, but if you were to put that same contents into an ordinary ZipLock bag, it could really pass off as pot or some drug that comes in a white powder. I guess when April Fool's comes by, I could buy some powdered sugar, dump it in a small plastic bag, and sell it for x10 price of the sugar as pot ... but then again, I might be arrested before I could carry that joke over ... and even if I did manage to sell one, if that same person could afford a gun, I'd probably get shot a day later.

Oh well ... there goes that idea for making money.

Just today, I received that box from 'that fruit company' (as Forrest Gump would say) to ship my iPod in. Tomorrow morning, it's going airborne to California. Those guys at Laguna Blvd. better get my little pod fixed ... I'm already in denial! Although, Final Fantasy VIII was never one of those Final Fantasies that really got me going ... uh ... I'm starting to go off in a tangent again. ごめなさい! ._.

Also, I discovered something pretty neato the other week. I forgot to mention it but the program is called "Now Playing." It's basically a hook for iTunes which allows it to export the song data into a PNG file. Now I actually have a message board sig worth using! It actually replaces that weird Listen-To.com thingy I had a couple weeks ago.

Well ... if I'm going to bring up the subject of Role Playing Games, then I might as well bring up Lunar 2. My brother from Okinawa sent me a package with a coffee mug, a router, and Lunar 2. I have yet to play Lunar 2 but I have enjoyed playing Lunar 1. However, since my PlayStation is broken, I'm going to need to find an emulator for OSX. I could of sworn I saw one at MacUpdate ... but I'm too tired to look.

Meanwhile, I've been scrummaging around for a new alarm clock at the time being. I found this 14-day trial software called iRooster which hooks into iTunes to play a playlist at a given time. So far, it seems to work, but for some unusual reason, there's no repeating alarm feature ... which I think is rather skewed since it usually comes standard in most alarm clocks, either emulated or physical... but oh well. It works and that's all that counts ... besides, I don't think my iPod is going to be gone for more than two weeks so I can kill iRooster when I get my iPod back.

Lastly, I figured I should get my own hard drive enclosure ... the JL is going to need it more than I do anyway. Besides, if I did buy it off of Xander-kun, what's he gonna use next year when I'm long gone to either Japan or the military? ええ　とう。。。

I met Will Banks today near Lowes' Foods today. For reference, he's my Advance Composition professor and the coolest teacher in ECU. I wasn't sure why he was there but he was just walking by and we said 'Hi' as I waited for the city bus. Like always, I had my laptop with me when I was there as it keeps me occupied so I had to make note of such an encounter before I forget. I usually type things but I'd like to play games ... but nothing too intensive as this little thing only has a 32MB Mobility Radeon 9200 on it. That, and my hard drive is too slow (4200 rpm? Arg!). If I ever do get a lot of money, I'm going to upgrade the hard drive to a 7200 rpm drive ... although, I don't know how that's going to affect my warranty on this thing. I guess I should wait until next year, when the warranty on the iBook runs out before I try anything drastic. Last time I Googled around, there were over 20 screws to remove just to replace the hard drive. That, and I'll need to get a USB or Firewire enclosure for the original hard drive, so I could still use it.

Meanwhile, while I wait for that box from Apple, Xander-kun offered me a 20 GB ATA-100 hard drive, plus USB 2.0 / Firewire 400 enclosure. I gave him 21 bucks for half of the price of the enclosure but I might pay the other half before the end of the semester to fully claim the enclosure. After that, I might stash a larger hard drive in there, maybe 120 GB or larger, since the original hard drive is still Xander's. I could use more space anyway. The primary purpose of that hard drive is to stash the JL movies in a nice spot until they get burned on a DVD, although, it could be used for other things, like stashing large amounts of unlicensed anime ... or hentai.

Anywho, nothing else this weekend, except the usual loaf of bread and American cheese. Although, I may have over-drugged myself with caffeine. I usually fill up my coffee pot every morning a little over the 12-cup line and tonight, there's only two cups left. My preference is usually the strong stuff from the black Maxwell House bag, although, I do have a large blue can of the same kind of coffee. It's not as strong as the stuff from the black bag but I figured I'd save the darker black stuff for those days which I need to stay up to work on things or study for a big exam and that sort of thing.