Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Fragile

It’s scary how fragile life is. It’s equally as amazing how the passing of someone you barely knew could have such a profound impact on your day. A really good friend of mine lost a really good friend of his this week at a very young age. I didn’t know the him very well, though I was friends with him on Facebook. I know he and I lived completely opposite lives. We never would have gotten along politically but we both had a great friend in common.

So I sit here, four hours away, feeling completely helpless. I deeply mourn his passing because I know how much it’s impacting my friend. I think I am mourning more for my friend but I know the world has lost a great guy and music in South Bend will never be the same. Is it strange for me to feel so awful for someone that I didn’t know that well? Perhaps its because I know that my friend is going through a very rough time right now and perhaps I’m experiencing that vicariously.

Thank God for my friends wife! I’m glad that he has her to be there for him during this awful time. It shouldn’t take tragedy to be thankful for all the blessings the Lord has given us but it is often the time when I think about it the most. We should take comfort in knowing that there will be good music waiting for us in heaven when we get there because we know now that heaven has a new DJ.

Rest in Peace Reverend Ryno.

The MMO Times: 50!

Issue 50: Hello Everybody! I can’t believe I am sending out the 50th issue of this email/post. I hope all of you have found the stories I provide useful and interesting. This issue has some updates on some titles many of us may have forgotten about. Since Blizzard and Bioware have been doing random server maintenance perhaps this will be a good thing to check out during that down time.

This issue we have several new trailers for a couple titles we haven’t heard much about lately, including Age of Wushu and Transformers Universe. Since New York Comic Con 2012 just happened, several companies took the opportunity to unveil the trailers for their upcoming titles. There is also more information about changes coming to future updates of Aion and the new RIFT expansion, Storm Legion. Read on and game on, friends!

Biggs On: Dress In The Workplace

There is some subjectivity to this topic. Obviously what you wear to work will depend on what your job entails. I’m going to be speaking from the perspective of the day-to-day programmer. I’d say probably about 15 years ago (give or take) you would typically see programmers dress anywhere from business casual to business professional (i.e. dress shoes, button down shirt and a tie). Currently I wear business casual which is a nice collared shirt, khaki’s and nice shoes, but that is because it is the dress code of my firm and I will adhere to those policies. Personally, I don’t buy into “the better you dress the better you work”.

I could never wear a suit and/or a tie to work everyday and be as productive as I am when I wear jeans or even lounge pants. Honestly the more comfortable I dress the easier it is for me to focus on writing code. When my brain isn’t distracted by the attempted asphyxiation of a tie or the constricted nature of some dress shoes, that extra energy can be directed toward problem solving and writing code.

Honestly, I think that is one of the reasons why I am actually more productive on the days when I need to work from home. Some may argue that working at home presents more opportunities for distractions, but that isn’t the case for me. The fact that I am sitting in a far more comfortable office chair and wearing far more comfortable clothes is a better environment for my brain to focus. After all, it is the same desk and chair that I use when I do any kind of extra curricular programming at home.

I do understand the rationale for wearing professional clothing. In fact in college I had a course on conflict resolution and negotiation and we actually had an exercise over this exact topic and I was on the side that defended professional dress. I did the research on professional dress but, despite what I found, I still believe that the more comfortable you dress the easier it is to be more productive.

/cheers

SoapBox: I Can’t Wait Until November

I am so frakking tried of all the political commercials and the party bashing. I don’t care what side of the fence you sit on, what is the damn point of the merciless verbal bashing of the other party or supporters of the other party. I’m glad that I have DVR because every other commercial is a political slander ad. I don’t even turn live TV on anymore and I won’t until November 7th when I know that I will be free of all the frakking ads.

The hypocrisy is disgusting, the media just perpetuates it and the Internet throws gasoline on the flames. If someone like Natalie Portman or Tom Hanks expresses who they support, they are worshiped; but when Clint Eastwood exercises his right to free speech, or Stacey Dash tweets her support for the opposition, then everyone is quick to demonize and chastise. Show me where it is written that if you are a celebrity you must always support the same candidate the rest of Hollywood supports. Why are celebrities treated so much differently then everyone else??

This is why I admire some celebrities, like Mila Kunis (who, btw, shares an opposite political viewpoint then myself) who treats the social networks like they should be treated, to socialize. She doesn’t flaunt her personal philosophies in an attempt to sway others to vote like she does. She just likes to reach out to her millions of fans. It breaks down that barrier between celebrity and average citizen. Celebrities are people too and have the same rights to free speech as everyone else.

People will vote for who they feel is the right person for the job. Verbally berating them and making blanket derogatory remarks about their political affiliation isn’t going to change their mind. In fact it may have a greater probability of further enforcing who they are voting for; viciously attacking the other party only makes your own party look bad. It’s time to grow up and act like adults, folks!

On the same note, don’t let others (celebrities, on Facebook, on Google+, on Twitter, etc) dictate to you who you should vote for. Learn about the issues, learn where each candidate stands on that issue, and vote for the one you think best represents how you feel about the issue. Have a mind of your own for frak’s sake!

/endsoapbox

The MMO Times: Lots of Beta Going On

Issue 49: Greetings again, Gamers! I hope all of you have been enjoying your time in Pandaria (if that is your game of choice right now, if not then I hope you are enjoying the realms of your other games). I took an extra couple of days for this issue so we could have a few additional headlines to talk about. There hasn’t been too much going on in the MMO world since there was so much that has gone live in the past couple of weeks.

In this issue there are several beta announcements. You will see beta news for RIFT, The War Z and Marvel Heroes. Some interesting statistics for World of Tanks as well as some more content news for Allods Online and Guild Wars 2. So if you need a break from your adventuring, or your realms are offline for maintenance. then check out the following headlines to pass the time. Read on and game on, friends! 

The MMO Times: Emerge from the Mists

Issue 48: Hello Gamers, I know there are probably quite a few of you leveling your way through Pandaria (either on a main or you have moved to an alt already). Hopefully you take a break from your panda-induced adventures to take a look at this weeks MMO headlines.

I think the launch of Mists is also the reason for the short post. There hasn’t been too much news going on because everyone is leveling up to 90 or checking out the new Monk class. You can find more information on Blade & Soul in this issue, as well as SWTOR and TSW patches that went live. Read on and game on, friends!

Page 148 of 181

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén