This bag is made by Timbuk2. Which comes with the Collector’s Edition of Mirror’s Edge for a grand total of $130. This has to be the most expensive Collector’s Edition (other than an Unused Factions Collector’s Edition box set) that I’ve seen to date.

You know how it goes with in-game advertising these days. This one is a little more of a slap in the face though, since it basically doubles the cost of the CE. I hope that bag is durable just like the one Faith will be relying on to keep our packages safe. With Timbuk2’s nicely padded messenger bags.

Although, now I’m a bit puzzled. Since GameStop is offering a pre-order deal that comes with their own messenger bag. Though, I already placed a pre-order with GameStop for their cheaper bag + early access to something from Mirror’s Edge (time attack mode or something?). I might look back onto the Timbuk2 one on eBay later. Maaaaaaybe…

So it appears that Street Fighter IV has been making their way into select Arcades in the United States.  I was thinking this was only a pipe dream to be added into the ever-expanding list of Japan-only-Arcade exclusives.  However I was proven wrong to find that the Narrows Plaza Bowl
 in Tacoma, WA had, not one… but TWO! Street Fighter IV cabinets gloriously displayed on 32″ HD LCD monitors.  I grow green with envy knowing that such an arcade is 45 minutes away from my home, and not at my town’s Gameworks.  But I will be patient for the console release.  The big turn-off (aside from the long distance to get there), is that the game will cost $1.00 per play.  And they take only dollar bills.  It’s a bit of an outrageous price if you ask me, this is also probably why it would not ever show up at Gameworks (whom I have recently stopped by again here and there to see that they are sporting the $0.50/play idea).

I can remember how skeptical I was when I first saw this game, and seeing the artwork take a turn “for the worse”.  As more and more footage and clips have been released, I believe that the artwork DID take a different turn from the original series (with the exception of the horrible Street Fighter EX on the PS2), but in a good way.  Team CAPCOM has done an excellent job maintaining the original vibrant colors that the beautifully done Street Fighter III: Third Strike series has done.  I am definitely willing to give this game a try, and so should you!

Earlier my friend Vicky had notified me that there was going to be a thunderstorm hitting Seattle towards the end of the week around Thursday and Friday.  However, it came a day earlier than expected but there wasn’t much rain at all surprisingly, as I was expecting like in most storms.  The cloudy night sky was lit up with bright flashes throughout Wednesday night.  Followed by the loud crashing of thunder.  It became so loud and persistent to the point that it woke me up in the middle of the night, and I have been up ever since (now the sun is coming out).

I went online to see who was still awake, and my friend Jenn Louie was asking me if I knew any musicians regarding a little request she had; describing the thunderstorm using more articulate terms than the simplier terms (which I see no harm in using).  After she decided to settle with words like crescendo and accelerando she went back to sleep leaving me to talk to my friend Ivy who is in China right now.  It was raining in China at that time, so I was telling her about how there were a lot of thunderstorms that have been passing through my city all day and sent a link to her (posted below) that the local news station had recorded.  I could still hear the thunder (and sometimes even FEEL it) and see the flashes of lightning right now (6:30am).  Perhaps this is the “answer” to our many complaints about the rather hot weather that we have been experiencing the past week or so.

http://www.king5.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=260024

That is only Wednesday afternoon/evening/night.  I have to see how bad it can get when that other thunderstorm swings by King County from the Cougar Mountains (south of the Puget Sound region).  With that said, I shall try to sleep for 90 minutes before heading out to work.

I’ll keep this post short since I should actually be waiting outside to catch the bus to work.  Quickly browsing through my RSS feeds, led to a few articles that caught my eye.. namely because the titles:  Chrono Trigger were in it.

http://kotaku.com/5021353/is-chrono-trigger-ds-coming-to-america

For those of you who clicked read more here… surprise!  It’s been confirmed!  I can’t wait!  Especially since there is a North American version scheduled as well for release, which means that I can put down my Kanji dictionary.

http://kotaku.com/5021416/square-enix-confirms-chrono-trigger-ds

FEATURES

— A masterpiece with an engaging and unparalleled storyline, leading to the discovery of multiple epic conclusions to a journey that transcends time

— An unprecedented and inspiring musical score created by Yasunori Mitsuda

— Intriguing battle system made possible by the unique combination of the Active Time Battle system and Tech skills

— Famed character designer Akira Toriyama lends his signature art style to create the vibrant world that has captivated gamers around the world

— Taking advantage of the Nintendo DS hardware, CHRONO TRIGGER makes its way onto the portable platform with all-new dual screen presentation and Touch-Screen functionality

— A brand new dungeon and a Wireless Play mode adds exciting new dimensions to this timeless classic

Thanks Wendy for organizing the get together so fast!  Thanks Steven, Richard, Tommy, Alex, Vicky, Elisa, Micah, Michael K., Rob, and Aaron for all showing up too!  June 27th, was opening night for Wall-E.  Also was a small event that Wendy organized for a birthday’ish dinner with some friends for my 24th birthday.  The food was a bit spicy though.  But I still liked it, and the cake and everything .

After dinner (which ended around 8:30), we headed off to the nearest movie theater in Lincoln Square.  The original time we were hoping to catch the film was sold out, so we decided to catch the one that played 45 minutes after the other one.  “Should we ask the ticketers if they have enough for 12 people before we purchase?  You know, just in case they sell out in-between us?” I inquired.  Wendy relayed the message to Tommy, who confirmed with the rest of us that there were 77 tickets.  However, just after purchasing my ticket, apparently the time became SOLD OUT.  Turns out that the people failed to check how many tickets were left after taking online-reservations into account.  After debating whether to try another movie theater or to just catch the next one which plays 90 minutes from our original time.  We decided it’s better to just stick around because we already spent a lot of time finding parking and gathering all of us together.  We purchased the tickets and headed over to a bar/club to pass some time.

The interior was really well-designed, and had a very casual atmosphere.  Not too rowdy, the music was tasteful and played at a decibel level that wouldn’t make most people deaf after prolonged exposure, that’s always a plus.  There was also what appeared to be a bridal shower there as well, at the lounge area.  I didn’t get anything to drink, as I am not much into drinks as I used to be.

After passing enough time, we decided to head back on over to the theater and attempt to get some seats for 12 people together, or relatively close together.  Luckily for us, we managed to get two adjacent rows, seven in the front and five in the back.  This configuration is still nice since everyone isn’t spread out everywhere.  After playing, “guess what’s gonna come up next” with Micah and Vicky regarding the in-theater advertisements, the lights finally began to dim.  And Wall-E being a DIsney/Pixar film (Rated G), I knew the movie previews were to be of similar rating.  “Fly Me to the Moon”, whose title reminds me of many singers who sang a song with that title; Frank Sinatra, Utada Hikaru, Bossa Nova, and so forth.  Was an unimpressive film about Flies going to space.  I guess for me, just knowing that they would most likely be crushed from the pressure of the rocket escaping the atmosphere was enough for me right there.  “Journey to the Center of the Earth” with Brendan Fraser was about some family from what it seems, that went on a little hiking excursion near some mountains.  A huge storm forces them into a tunnel where they fall through the thin surface to the ‘center of the Earth’.  “Beverly Hills Chihuahua”, probably one of the most useless trailer ever, depicting absolutely nothing about what the story could be about.  It was just a 3-minute long ‘music video’ depicting Chihuahuas wearing Aztecan costumes and dancing around.  I had to IMDB that one just to make sure it was even a real movie in production.

Finally, the previews are over!  I’m not going to spoil anything about the movie itself.  But I can say, that the number of actual spoken words just barely breaks past “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron”.  But the movie is far more interesting than a bunch of horses.  My impression of the entire film, was that this would be a “Charlie Chaplin” movie animated with robots.  Well-executed, it couldn’t have been any better.  The robots’ personalities as well as their limitations to thinking were clearly displayed and showed how they “evolved” into something more.  Anyways, it was a great film, I will recommend it for anyone.

I stumbled upon an interesting addition to my current palate. In the past, I have never been fond of kkaktugi (깍두기 – cubed radish kimchi) because of how unappealing the saltiness and sourness the daikon or radish (depending on which was used) was. After more than 20 years of persistently avoiding this dish, eating it only when told to. I have finally grown to appreciate the taste of the radish and daikon.

I believe my taste to have changed a little ever since I finished reading Salt: A World History, by Mark Kurlansky. Which takes us on a journey about how powerful salt has been for making our civilization. As much as I love the book, I must say I was a little disappointed in how the author chose to write the book. As I found myself jumping from centuries forward to centuries backwards within the same chapter. The book however, is an easy read so overlooking the non-chronologically written tale is definitely no effort. Anyways, thanks to this book, my appreciation for kkaktugi has been found! Thanks Mark Kurlansky.

Today I finished writing a letter to my friend. I put a lot of effort into sculpting this fine literary piece of art. Included is not only the content, but the penmanship that was used to forge such a letter. Something I haven’t done in a long time. As old-fashioned as it may seem, everyone LOVES getting snail mail if it’s not a bill, rejection letter, spam, eviction notice, or a package bomb. I had some older leftover stamps that I was planning to use for mailing. But even after reaching $0.35 I was still $0.06 short. This meant a trip to the post office to cover the remaining difference. Sadly even though the postage cost is still relatively “low” (putting the cost to mail a letter in a few days for under $0.50 into perspective), even $0.35 seems to be enough for me. But then again, maybe I was just feeling a little lazy at the time.

At the post office, I noticed forever stamps were also available for $0.42; stamps that will never change in value at the time of purchase. Seeing this, I realized that postage had gone up another $0.01! I was surprised because I remembered buying a stamp for my friend’s taxes at the APC (Automated Postal Center) back in April for $0.41. I asked a postal worker when the price increase happened, and was told it had actually happened about two weeks ago! Argh I should’ve stocked up on forever stamps when I heard about them, I would’ve saved some money! I decided I would purchase a couple of these forever stamps to save me a trip and possibly more future grief when I’m feeling too lazy to walk to the post office. Okay, at a glance you may be reducing your annual return because the value of the stamp is the same as the forever ones. However, purchasing them very close to when the next rate increase will definitely increase your annual return because you have just purchase [still] useable stamps at a lower rate and don’t need additional postage. In the long run though, I believe that even forever stamps will lose their value and meaning as seeing that paper mail is becoming less popular (except tax filing deadlines in April).

So… if I’m calculating this correctly. The first stamp released in 1945 was only $0.03, in 2008 the stamp is currently rated at $0.42. So it increased about +$0.39 in 43 years. That’s an average of about +$0.01 (or $0.009) per year. That’s still a VERY low return rate… but yeah it’s okay.

Anyways! Taking the letter with me (as I don’t like metering my mail), I dropped the letter into the mailbox, cautiously peering into the hatch to ensure that it had not gotten stuck for another person to steal. I wonder when the next postage increase will be? Nonetheless I will be prepared with my forever stamps to save me another trip to the post office!

Best Buy is currently offering only $175 for this monitor. Apparently the price as advertised in their Memorial Day Sale (May 25th – 26th) was around $219 ~ $229, but at the register it was tendered at $175. This has only been confirmed true for the Northgate branch, but I am sure it applies to all the Best Buy stores around the country. Here are the specs below:

Features:

Ultrafast 2 ms response time
1000:1 contrast ratio (3000:1 dynamic)
300cd/m brightness
1680 x 1050 maximum resolution
Wide 170 degree horizontal and vertical viewing angles
DVI-D and D-sub inputs
One-touch MagicBright3 function with multiple preset settings lets you fine-tune monitor brightness for text, Internet, gaming, sports, movies, dynamic contrast and user-defined levels
Plug-and-play functionality – no drivers or software needed
Tilt function for comfortable viewing
Wall mountable with optional mounting kit (not included)
Ultraslim 2-3/4″ profile without stand
PC and Mac compatible

Specifications:

Product Height 16-1/2″ with stand (14-2/3″ without)
Product Width 20-1/3″
Product Weight 10.9 lbs. with stand (10.3 lbs. without)
Product Depth 8-1/4″ with stand (2-3/4″ without)
Monitor Type: Flat-panel LCD
Screen Size: 22″
Viewable Screen Size: 22″
Maximum Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Aspect Ratio: 16:10
Response Time: 2 ms
Brightness: 300 cd/m
Contrast Ratio: 1000:1 (3000:1 dynamic)
Flat Display: Yes
TV Tuner: No
TV/Cable Ready: No
Picture-in-Picture: No
Inputs: 1 D-sub, 1 DVI-D
Compatibility: PC and Mac
Vertical Frequency: 56-75Hz
Horizontal Frequency: 30-81kHz
Power Consumption: 50W
Package Contents
Flat Panel Monitor ,Power Cord , VGA Monitor Cable ,tabletop stand

Edit: After fishing around seattle.craigslist.org for anyone already trying to make a buck or two off this deal, it seems to be a valid claim. The same monitor as the one I’ve mentioned, for $199. It’s still a good deal, but why not save more money and just buy it for $175 right?

As I was riding home from work on the 65, I watched through the windows as we passed through the route to my house. Unleaded regular gas prices have finally broken the $4 “wall” leaving a grand total of $4.09 per gallon of gas. At times like these, I’m kind of glad I don’t have my car anymore. That is a lot of money I just saved, by taking the bus and spending $20 for a 4-month pass.

Of course bus riding does have its flaws. Certain limitations as to where you can travel without doing a little research ahead of time (which usually requires a computer or an iPhone as some of my friends have been getting). I personally don’t mind it too much. Taking the 522 in the morning is a dream for me. Although I wish my stop in Lake City wasn’t the last stop before going downtown (usually all the good seats are gone by the time I get on). But the really comfortable seats and space makes up for it. Plus I can sleep while commuting, another thing that could get me injured if I were driving and sleeping.

Back in the days, with my driving habits. I would maybe have to refill it at least once every week and a half. Lets do a quick math note here.

• my old Taurus had a 16-gal tank…
• then take its 16-gal tank * $4.09/gal = $65.44 per 1.5 weeks to fill up a 16-gal tank…
• keeping in mind that there’s, 52 wk/12 mo = 4.33 weeks per month…
• which means, 4.33/1.5 = 2.88 times per month that I’ll fill up my tank…
• and finally, $65.44 * 2.88 = $188.46 per month alone on gas.
• Oh yeah and $188.46 * 12 mo = $2261.52 per year!

Of course this is all assuming that the price will always stay at $4.09/gal. Then again I could do a little more research and find out the rate of fuel-efficiency decrease, add in some transaction charges (since I rarely carry cash) as well, but lets save that for another day.

Today is Sunday. That means time for work at my other job in the University Village, Storables. Sometimes I get people who question my motives in working at a low-paying wage-based job when I already have a salary-paying career. Well, there are actually several reasons why.

First off would be the benefits. Now I don’t have many benefits in-general but the combination of this and my other job do provide me with ample benefits to cover my medical, dental, vision and vacations.

Then there are the discounts on the METRO 3-month bus passes, anyone working at the University Village only has to pay $20. With the recent fare revisions ($1.50 from $1.25 as of March 1^st, 2008), this is quite a deal. Browsing through the online store the $1.75/trip PugetPass for 3 months is $189, which doesn’t appeal to me as much as paying $20 instead. However, the discounted passes dubbed as, “FLEXPASS” offers a $4.75/trip PugetPass for 4 months.

Lastly, there are the co-workers. I enjoy spending (even if it is only just once a week with them) a Sunday working but at the same time, socializing and talking to my co-workers whom I’ve become friends with.