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Than the Moa

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Blog Entries posted by Than the Moa

  1. Than the Moa

    I made a skin

    By Than the Moa,

    First off, I want to thank everyone at the staff who help contribute to the skin! I know I was probably a pain to deal with sometimes, but hey, we managed to get a skin done! Special thanks to John for jumping in from time to time and making some changes, and to Andrew for giving us the opportunity to work this.
     
    Now then, if you have a problem with it, come at me. I'm the one that made the majority of the skin coloring decisions. I wanted it to evoke the classic BZP style while being able to evolve upon that. The base gray used in the background was selected for it's non-eye searing quality, something that is always important to consider in web design. The blue-gray tones blend well together and make for a sleek visual approach that is not gaudy or distracting. The dark red jumps out immediately, and are used on items that are meant to catch your attention. Yellow is used as a highlight across a number of places as well, especially as an indicator color to inform you of what items you are currently targeting with your mouse.
     
    If you don't like the skin, that's alright. There will be a couple avenues for you to use. You can offer constructive criticism, but it needs to be constructive. I can't improve anything if all you want to say is "I don't like it" or "it's bland and generic". Those statements don't mean anything to me, I can't design a skin around "make it not bland and generic". There will also be a potential for member driven skin development. We haven't decided what form this will take, but it does seem likely that we'll go the contest route. Stay tuned.
  3. Than the Moa
    Has it really been 3 years since I last had a blog post? Astounding!
     
    So much has changed in that time. The last time I had a blog post it was my first summer home from college. Between then and now, I moved out of the dorms, got my first apartment with some amazing people, had a year long internship with a focus in web dev, lived by myself for 3 months, graduated college with a degree in computer science, moved to Minneapolis, MN (ewwww), and got a job right out of school in application and web development for a technical consulting firm that has a deep partnership with Microsoft..
     
    My oh my how much things can change.
  4. Than the Moa

    BUILD

    By Than the Moa,

    No, no, not building with Lego.
     
    Building with code!
     
    Microsoft announced their BUILD developers conference today.
     
    I also get a significant amount of money to go to a conference for work of my choosing.
     
    Guess I may be in Seattle the week of Halloween.
     
    (Please give me a free Surface tablet, please?)
  10. Than the Moa
    Forgot to put this up yesterday, so here it goes.
     
    What I have been playing:
    This past week I've been playing a lot of Midnight Club: Los Angeles. I picked it up on sale and I love the games for being over-the-top arcade street racers. I also (as always) got some Halo 3 time in. I also nabbed Mass Effect (again, since my old copy is lost forever) but only played about an hour before I let a friend of mine borrow it (he had never played it so I figured I'd give him a chance). Otherwise, I haven't played much else this past week.
     
    What I want to play:
    Mass Effect 2
    Halo 3: ODST
    Assassins Creed 2
     
  11. Than the Moa
    Going up north with my dad to visit some family this weekend. I leave sometime this afternoon, won't be back until sometime Monday. Please don't pm unless it's something that cannot wait. I might sneak on from time to time, but I'm not going to have time to deal with all your problems.
  14. Than the Moa
    So, went to Buffalo Wild Wings tonight with my friend for the first time. We were just about done and waiting for our check when the power went out. Power was out for a couple blocks. We ended up having to wait about a half hour while they sorted things out and they finally had us pay something. It was an interesting night.
  18. Than the Moa
    So the weather is fantastic here this week. Sunshine and temperatures in the mid to upper 60s, I love spring.

    But I still find myself spending time indoors and playing games in some of my downtime, so let's see what I've been up to in this week of gaming.

    What I have been playing: I borrowed (and beat on normal) The Force Unleashed from a friend of mine. I can't really dcide if I like the game or not. It's a bit short and there are definitely some issues with it, but there are some moments where it seriously feels awesome not to mention that the storyline bridges the prequels and the original trilogy together pretty well (except if you go for the dark side ending that I watched my roommate do, that is like, the worst thing in the world, perhaps it was meant to make you feel bad for going dark). I also got my hands on the Mythic Map Pack for Halo 3 and enjoyed some time with it, all 3 maps seem pretty good, though I'm gravitating towards Orbital as my favorite. I feel that one seriously fills a gap that was missing in the previous Halo 3 maps (small, linear confined areas of combat). Sandbox is insane for forgers as well and I can't wait to see what people will come up with for that map. I haven't really had much time with other games though, those two pretty much took up all my gaming time (which was somewhat limited since I wasn't in a position to play any games this past weekend since I was gone).

    What I want to be playing: Mass Effect
    Mass Effect 2
    Orange Box (Gotta clear some more achievements)
    Halo 3: ODST
    Midnight Club: LA
  19. Than the Moa

    Windows 7

    By Than the Moa,

    Windows 7 is amazing. It's going to be installed on this computer (or if I happen to pick up a new one before then, on that one) as soon as it comes out.
  21. Than the Moa

    Social

    By Than the Moa,

    So I picked up a new mp3 player (or PMP if you prefer that term). I purchased a 8GB blue Zune. Why Zune? I like the software for starters. It's a lot more elegant than the horrid mess that is iTunes or Windows Media Player (which doesn't make sense since Zune is a Microsoft product as well...). I also like the UI a lot. It's simple and to the point and doesn't try to be in your face or flashy, it also lets me set a background displayed on the menu screens so that's cool. I also love the touch pad. It's a pretty intuitive way to use and navigate the device (a full touchscreen would be nice but no such Zune exists and all other full touchscreen devices are well out of my price range).

    In other news, school clips along well enough. I have a test tomorrow in my stats class. Also have a rough draft for an English assignment due Thursday. Not to mention a lab in Advanced Programming (& data structures) as well as a large assignment come up next week. Obviously things are starting to ramp up as the semester (and school year, hard to believe I'm almost through my freshman year of college already) draw near their end which explains why my time on BZP has been a lot more limited as of late. May 15th is the last day of finals week and then after that it's trying to find a summer job that won't have me working 6 days a week, 10 hours a day or more.

    Also, changed my avatar, it's actually not something Halo (and specifically ODST) related this time. Woo?
  22. Than the Moa
    Hey, what better time to stay in and play video games than when there's a outbreak of some new flu strain!
     
    What I have been playing: Not a whole lot. Pulled in the usual Halo 3, spent plenty of time with Midnight Club: LA, got a little time in with Halo Wars and spent some time getting into Mass Effect for my 2nd go around with that game. It was a light week, school has been limiting game time lately.
     
    What I want to be playing:
    Mass Effect 2
    Fable 2 See the Future DLC
    Burnout Paradise Cops & Robbers DLC
    Halo 3: ODST
     
  23. Than the Moa
    Going to Milwaukee tomorrow to go see the Milwaukee Brewers (26-17, 1st NL Central at time of writing, looking like it will be 26-18 ,T1st NL Central) face the St. Louis Cardinals (26-18, 2nd NL Central, likely to be T1st). Should be a fun time.
  24. Than the Moa
    Welcome to a new weekly feature (shamelessly taken from a video game blog I read often), What Are You Playing!

    What I have been playing: I've been spending a lot of time with Gears of War 2 with a friend of mine at school and good ol' Watashi Wa. I've also been taking advantage of my roommate borrowing Fallout 3 from a friend of his by playing that at times, it's a fun game at times, but can be incredibly frustrating, especially since it feels a lot like Oblivion with guns (try as hard as you want to say it isn't, but the graphics, the interactions with people, the interactions with the environment, etc... are all holdovers from Oblivion). I also dropped some points on The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai on the XBLA. It's a fun little title, though it can get repetitive in quite a hurry. I fired up the Orange Box for some Half-Life 2 action, working on getting all the Half-Life 2 achievements, then I'll move on to HL2: Episode 1 and 2 respectively and try to nab those missing achievements. Halo 3 managed to sneak some time in (as is usual). I also picked up Phantom Hourglass on my DS for the first time in a long time and advanced myself closer to the end of that game.

    What I want to be playing: Mass Effect
    Mass Effect 2
    Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack
    Halo 3: ODST
    Left 4 Dead
    Dead Rising 2
  25. Than the Moa
    I have good days. These are days when I laugh, when I talk with my friends, when I have fun, when I'm caught up in the moment, when I smile.
     
    I have bad days. These are days when I sit at home and think about the past, when I dwell on previous mistakes, when I think about the people no longer involved in my life, when I just can't let go.
     
    I like the good days.
     
    I hate the bad days.
     
    The bad days will continue through most of the summer I suspect. I know a way to stop the bad days, but I most likely won't have a chance until I go back to college in the fall. Then I can erase/replace the reasons for the bad days. Then I can have good days all the time.
     
    Until then, I have good days, and I have bad days.
     
     
     
     
     
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