Monday, March 30, 2009

Warp(ed) Drive

Got the Lazarus drive installed into a brand new case yesterday. When I ripped it out of the laptop I felt a little like the priest from The Temple of Doom. The new case actually fits too, so now I should be able to get my data out. Yet, I can't and I blame Vista.
Once again, that operating system makes a nuisance of itself. Or it's me, it might be me. Does Vista have a My Computer? I ask, because yesterday's computing went a little like this:

Me : "Hey computer, here's a new drive in the USB port."
Computer :" Found it."
Me: " Great! Now where is it?"
Computer: "Where is what?"
Me: "The New Drive"
Computer: "The New Drive What?"
Me: "Where is the new drive?"
Computer: "First base."

Grrr....it's a damned Abbot and Costello skit. So, I'm trying the drive on my computer at work and we'll see if that works. Then, it's all XP for both the drive and the system and maybe, just maybe it'll work again. Then maybe, just maybe, I can get back to work again.

-In other not news, I haven't received anything back from the independent contractors that I sent resumes to. I'm thinking that it isn't the fertile ground of employment that I thought it could be. Seems like it's time to try something else. Back to Monster for me. Well, that and get my Vertical Slice finished. Then I can hire me.

-Since my data is locked away inside my old drive, and my level design for the cliffs needs some revision, I find myself wasting time playing Ninja Gaiden II. After beating NG Black, I thought I was pretty hot stuff. It's a badge of honor as far as I'm concerned. "Yep, beat it and many of the missions. What? You only got to the second level? HAHAHA!"
So imagine my surprise when I get hacked down by chumps in the first level and fight the first boss half a dozen times. I didn't remember the last game being that hard. Or rather, I remember being a lot more agile and deadly.
Yesterday, for some reason, it clicked again. The internal mechanics of the game and my own internal clock lined up again. Like the planets or something. Blocks, counters, throws, things were happening faster than I thought about them. I found myself ripping through enemies like a Ninja Cuisinart. I see a room of 50 enemies and now all I think is, "Bad day to be them." It's F-ing sweet.

EDIT: I'm retarded. I mean, I went full retard on this one. The Lazarus Drive works, it was me, I was the problem.
An ATA Connector has two rows of little places to put pins. Something that would plug also has 2 sets of pins, so they connect all pretty like. So, when I pulled the drive out of the case to have a look, I had the idea to turn over the drive and, you know, look at the other side. I saw pins sticking out as only 1 row of little pins was connected correctly. Fixed it by connecting it correctly and now my drive works. I can get to my precious data. It's much quieter now too. Which leads me back to thinking that a broken fan is what ultimately killed Lazarus.

-Yes, I use the term retarded in only the most inappropriate way. You could send emails and complain, but before you do let me share something that I saw on internet.
"Arguring on the internet is like the Special Olympics : even if you win, you're still retarded."
I get the impression I'll regret writing that one day. But remember, it's all in good fun and nobody reads this anyway.

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