Day Two Hundred-eight: Evening of February 28th 2010

Not much of an entry today. I played Borderlands and love the target seeking missile launched from the ‘Monster’ vehicle. What is fascinating is how you can find a masked position, fire, watch as the missiles home in on the target, and they can’t see you. This makes for easy experience points. The missiles can be launched from a distance and, provided you have targeted the enemy, hit them without drawing return fire. I guess it’s the fire control technician in me that appreciates that feature. Consider it a game playing tip, if you haven’t experienced it already.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make whatever kind of contribution that you can afford.

Day Two Hundred-seven: Evening of February 27th 2010

While I was on Xbox Live this morning, I ran across a video describing how to finish up Mass Effect 2 without losing anybody in the final battle.

Originally, I thought I would have to tailor the selection of the team members to fill in for specialists through out the game. So when it was time for the final battle, I knew that it would be important to know what each of the team members could do. It paid off, almost. I failed three time, before I fitted the right person for the task, and I thought that I was home free but Mordin Solus, the salarian scientist was shown dead. I couldn’t understand, everything else fell into place a far as the other selections.

Which brings us to the video on Xbox Live. As they describe their solution, they mentioned that Mordin consistent died no matter how well everything else went. The recommendation was: Put Mordin in charge of bringing the kidnapped crew back to the Normandy. It worked. I don’t want to give anything else away, but if all else works, and Mordin doesn’t survive, give him that singular task.

I squeezed in some more of the DLC, and it consistently challenges/defeats me. I have to constantly adjust my tactics to complete the various quests.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make whatever kind of contribution that you can afford.

Day Two Hundred-six: Evening of February 26th 2010

After I posted yesterday’s entry, the DLC for Borderlands appeared in the PlayStation Store. The download, entitled, Secret Armory of General Knoxx, is a 1.6 gigabyte file. On the PlayStation farthest from the wireless router the download took about two and a half hours. On the unit closest to the router it took twenty-four minutes. Remarkable that the signal strength fall off can result in such a difference in downloading time. Of course there could be other factors, one being heavy traffic on the servers supporting the PlayStation Network. There wasn’t any rush, I wasn’t really going to do any serious playing after the download. I did check out the look and feel of the game and was impressed. I couldn’t wait until the next day to get into the mix. Boy was I in for a surprise.

The addition is challenging, forget that, it’s hard - period. Just finding the parts for your transportation results in a boss battle with high speed female ninjas. I’m glad I know how to back peddle and have a powerful shotgun. After four tries, I made a mistake and jam myself into a corner. I couldn't get out, the ninjas are blocking me, so I drop my shielded machine gun and blast away at whoever is in front of me. When the firing stops, I’m the last player standing. An example of a fortuitous mistake. I notice that I have switched weapon to my submachine gun. That action was a prelude to what was to come.

Later, I was explaining to my daughter how tough it was using the regeneration process to demonstrate what was happening to me. The game uses a ‘death tax’ to act as an incentive to keep you honest in tough situations. Your death results in a portion of your bankroll being removed. It is a consistent percentage. So as your funds go down your penalty keeps pace. How tough is it(or how careless am I)? I started with a bankroll of about four million in cash and when I quit play it was down to six hundred thousand.

Luckily, I was holding on the all the extra armament and enhancements, which I cashed in to make room for some super health packs. I’ve got to be ready for tomorrow.

Oh yes, it was worth the ten dollars that was spent to download Borderlands: Secret Armory of General Knoxx.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make whatever kind of contribution that you can afford.

Day Two Hundred-five: Evening of February 25th 2010

I didn’t get a chance to look for a step-by-step directions for setting and using Bonjour for Windows XP. The challenge to complete this task is diminished because we have four computer that can access the printer. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

I had to wait for some deliveries so I settled in to the recliner and managed to finish up Batman: Arkham Asylum. The final battle against a physically enhanced Joker and a crew of henchmen was a lot of fun. I actually managed to hit a couple of multiple button combos in the battle, I needed them and they helped when there was a six to nine henchmen in the arena.

A minor disappointment with Borderlands occurred when the downloadable content (DLC) scheduled for today didn’t materialized during the day. As soon as I finish this entry, I’m going to see if it has appeared in the PlayStation Store. I’ll be looking forward to play the new scenarios tomorrow.

We shall see.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make whatever kind of contribution that you can afford.

Day Two Hundred-four: Evening of February 24th 2010

Well, I found the software that Apple presents as the solution to have the printer recognized by Windows XP. It is called Bonjour for Windows. I read the directions, installed the software, and missed something, because it did not work. I tried a variety of configurations, and nothing worked. I was getting ready to go back online when I received a phone call and was unable to finish up this project.

What I need to find is a more step-by-step oriented description of the process. I’ll try that tomorrow.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make whatever kind of contribution that you can afford.

Day Two Hundred-three: Evening of February 23rd 2010

I had to set up our new laser printer and make sure it was recognized by all the computers using the Airport wireless network. I had scouted it out at the Apple support section of the Apple website. The Airport unit has single USB port, which had been setup to be a network backup hard drive. The support site recommend using a powered USB 2.0 hub to allow the computers to recognize both the hard drive and the printer.

My wife stopped off at Office Depot and picked up the hub, a 16 foot USB cord, and some color laser printer paper. After dinner, I went up stairs to set up the printer. The Xerox setup instructions were relatively clear. Some changes were noted by the placement of updated procedures on the printer in the locations that were affected. Once the printer was prepped, I setup the hub, and ran the cables to the hard drive, airport and the printer. I made sure to plug in the power supply for the hub (some units can work passively, without power, but not for this setup). I plugged in the power cord for the printer, then the USB cord and turned on the power. The printer started to warm up, meanwhile I fired up the Mac G5 tower, to see if it recognized the two units. It took a while, but the hard drive popped up, no printer yet, but I hadn’t loaded the drivers for it. The drivers were downloaded, installed and now I was ready to locate the printer. Rather than use the system preferences (Printer and Fax) I decided to use the Print command in the File Menu and set up the link to the printer through that channel. I worked with the add command I found the Phaser 6125 print drivers, loaded it, and went back to the Print command.

Bam, it worked. I called my wife, told her to load the drivers and try printing from her laptop downstairs. Bam, it worked, although it took about ten minutes for her to setup her machine and send an image to the printer. My daughter was next, but she didn’t have anything to print, because she was working on school related homework. Okay, but the drivers loaded and she should be able to print when she needs to.

I decided to try my little netbook, but I knew it wouldn’t work because it doesn’t recognize the hard drive, but I tried anyways. I was right, no ‘Bam’ here. Maybe I’ll check online and see if Apple has any suggestions for this situation.

We shall see what happens tomorrow.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make whatever kind of contribution that you can afford.

Day Two Hundred-two: Evening of February 22nd 2010

Not much to say today. Recuperating from the weekend, so there was a lot of sleeping in the morning, especially after shoveling some heavy wet snow. By the time I was finished taking care of the pets, making the bed, and restocking the bathrooms, it was about one o’clock in the afternoon. I had crackers and cheese for lunch, watched TV, and debated what game to play in the afternoon.

The television became a distraction and I got hooked on lightweight family adventure with “The Rock” in the lead. When it was over, I called my wife to see if she had a powered USB hub so I could try to set up the new laser printer with the hard drive on the wireless network. So a little after 3:30 in the afternoon I began playing Batman: Arkham Academy.

I must have been engaged because it was 5:15 pm when I took a break to check on the pets, hit the head, and get some water to drink. My wife called and said she was having a problem with her digital engraver. At first we thought it was a mechanical problem, but as I got ready to take the dog out, I remembered it’s a Windows application. I called my wife back and got a hold of her as she was leaving, I told her that the problem may not be the machine, but the software. She confirmed that the plate she was engraving had slipped and she stopped the program, before the run was complete.

As far as the game is concerned, I’m playing offense almost completely. Very rarely do I counter an attack by one of Joker’s minions. I’ve got a few combos that I could use but I have yet to work them in either. I know that I’m going to have trouble down the line, so I’m going to make a conscious effort to incorporate the moves into my fights.

When my wife got home, just a few minutes after dinner arrived, and said she was going to re-install the software tomorrow. She remembered that she had removed/uninstalled the drivers for a different model of etcher.

We shall see what happens tomorrow.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make whatever kind of contribution that you can afford.