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i am posting this entry from the eye-relieving comfort of my 22" LCD (generously donated by elias and amanda). it's being frankenstein-linked through a series of cable to my closed macbook pro, into a KVM switch that only controls the mouse that i'm sharing with my desktop G4, with the keyboard plugged straight into the laptop (for some reason it couldn't see it through the KVM). the monitor is connected directly via the DVI port (while my desktop machine uses the analog port) and i switch back on forth using the digital/analog button on the bottom of the screen (third from the right, i've since learned it's location by touch). long story short, this is how blog posting and everything else computer-related should be done! although i appreciate apple's effort to squeeze the maximum resolution out of the 15" macbook pro screen, everything is so tiny! a 22" upgrade feels a lot better. although, if i had the money, i'd go 30". that's my dream. i know i've made it if i can rock out with a 30" LCD.

today was deadline day for client B. there was no way i was going to meet it, no matter how much wishful thinking on my part. i was just waiting for the very minute before notifying them that i needed an extension. i'd been working diligently on the project since this morning (having gone to bed last night at a relatively reasonable 4am), until the client wrote me a fateful e-mail. they said they were leaving the office early today so they wouldn't need a delivery until monday. it was as if somebody had pressed the release valve. you'd think that'd be good news for me but i actually took it as bad news because i knew that was my out and i wouldn't get anymore work done today.

with some projects there's no tension and i finish them on time, sometimes even ahead of schedule. those are the fun happy projects. this project however is not one of those. this one monopolizes my time, ruins my nights and weekends, and robs me of precious sleep. is it any wonder i try to put it off as long as possible, procrastinate the hell out of it? so when the client told me the delivery wasn't today, part of me was cheering, but another part of me was saying, no! you fools! might as well tell me to stop working for the rest of the day! the only way i can focus on this project is if i have a mean taskmaster managing it for me. as much as i complain, it's the only way i can finish.

so sure enough, after the announcement, i could feel myself detaching from the razor-sharpness of my programming mind, leaving my zone of coding, and into the fuzziness of weekend mode. i tried to fight it, but the will to put off something for tomorrow was too strong. even now, as i sit here, 3am in the morning, i'm still thinking i could log in some more coding for tonight, but i just have to realize that's not going to happen. hopefully i can regain my focus on saturday (heard the weather's going to be lousy, so a good day to be at home working), especially now that i've figured out a new work setup with the bigger LCD.

the procrastination started when i decided to take a short break and go out and get some halloween candy on sale. i took the motorcycle and went to the rite aid on somerville avenue. i was surprised to see they'd already cleared out their halloween aisle, with just a couple of shelves of costumes and candy. the rest of the shelves were completely empty. not satisfied with the selection, i went to my old candy standby of the dollar store. what i saw freaked me out. with still a week left in october, they had already brought out the christmas stuff: holiday lights, plastic trees, felt stockings. i hardly saw anything halloween-related. it was as if halloween and thanksgiving didn't exist, and everything was about christmas, still 2 months away. hopefully this bad economy will make retailers rethink their strategy, as people this year probably aren't in a very spendthrifty mood, and to remind them to "get their buy on" 2 months before christmas is kind of disgusting.

besides candy, i also bought a barbecue lighter, one with a bendable snakehead attachment ($2). it was what i was searching for last weekend when i finally decided to turn on the heat and i needed something to start the pilot light. that sunday morning i ended up buying some lighters when i really didn't have any need for them.

my short break got a little bit longer when i decided to hit the supermarket to buy some fruits. when i finally got back home, i got caught in some web surfing (reading every piece of election news i can get my hands on) before i decided to take a shower. after that i decided to relocate from my bedroom to the living room, and with the evening news about to be on, naturally i had watch that first.

now at that point i could've done some coding, but unfortunately i got my hands on a copy of doom 3 for the mac. funny how i always find these games whenever i have something else i should be doing. but what's a little harm in playing a few minutes of doom 3? so i installed it and ended up playing for almost 2 hours, finally stopping because i started to get really motion sick from the jerky camera action in the game. i remember when doom 3 first came out 4 years ago, it set the bar in first person shooter games with an emphasis on the immersive experience, particularly the horror element. i remember watching videos of teenage boys playing it in the dark and screaming their heads off because the game was so scary. looking back, i think we've made a lot of progress in these kind of games. i'd like to know how the recent dead space compares with doom 3. i still prefer resident evil 4 over doom 3 though. doom 3 is definitely scarier, particularly in numerous dark room situations where you have to choose between either holding the flashlight or a weapon. but for the most part, you're running around rooms trying to find your destination, shooting monsters along the way, so it can get kind of repetitive (as last in the few hours i've played so far).