Pay to Play
May 12th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I’m a little sick of the new money making scheme in the Apple App Store. On a lot of games in iTunes, if you scroll down a bit, on the left side you will see a listing of Top in App Purchases. Basically, if you spend the money you can beat the game. I am currently playing a game, Tower Defense. I build towers of varying types to keep the monsters from getting past. The towers have guns and lasers and other defenses. Too many monsters get by and your dead. It’s very fun.
The problem is that there are Power-ups. In order to beat the game you have to get stronger and stronger towers. The only way to do this is to purchase these power-up in the App Store. I paid a buck for the game, and I spent another buck for a power-up and I’m still not half way through the game. Just how much do I have to spend to win?
Perhaps I am spoiled by games being only .99 in the past. Perhaps the game makers found a new, lucrative way to make money.
Mayday
May 1st, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Mayday isn’t just for communists. When I was growing up, the tv always showed the missiles and tanks rolling through the Kremlin on May first. So I just thought it was a USSR thing. Apparently, the Chicago police fired on people demonstrating for an eight hour day in the late 1800’s. Throwing a bomb at police will seriously piss ‘em off. Dozens of demonstrators and police died. Later the massacre became International Workers’ Day. It’s a holiday in 80 countries. Being a “worker” I’m not sure why I don’t get it off, when I’m working that is. It’s a shame the socialists, communists and anarchists have claimed Mayday as their own, using the name for their own political agenda.
Here’s the Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day
Las Vegas Vacation
April 20th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Last week T and I went to Las Vegas on a whim. We were going to go to our weekend spot, Glenwood Springs, but it was going to rain. After a bunch of indecision we decide on Vegas. Good choice! The weather was perfect and we had a great time. We love to walk in Vegas and check out the sights. Three days of walking most of the day and we were ready to come home and get some rest, watch some TV and sleep.
I would highly recommend traveling the evening before and sucking up the extra hotel day. We flew in Saturday evening after T got off work. A couple of hours gambling and off to bed. What is so great about this is that your ‘first’ day is a full day. Breakfast at Starbucks and we were off. Stay at Treasure Island for a great hotel with other casinos within walking distance. We went to Paris, The Venetian, The Wynn and a bunch of others to sightsee, shop and gamble.
The pond in front of the Mirage had baby ducks. Our first day there were three. The second day two. And our third day there was only one left. I guess cats got them at night. So sad.
I bought a new camera. A Nikon D7000. I had a great time taking pictures on our trip. It’s big and it’s heavy but it takes wonderful pictures. It has so many features, I had fun playing with the different stuff it could do. It has a big zoom lens on it so I could do both wide and tele shots.
I Want to Go Out on Top
April 4th, 2012 § 3 Comments
My snowboard season is over. Again it is not by my choice. I fell in the crud last friday and broke a rib. It seems that every year I have something that forces me to end my season earlier than I would choose. Two years ago I was heading to the mountains and I started passing a kidney stone. I had to turn around and finally call 911 to take me to the emergency room. That ended my 2009 run.
Last year I found a job that was working 12 hour days, 6 days a week. I really hated that one. It snowed and snowed and snowed that April. A-Basin stayed open until July 4th, and I was working. That ended my 2010 season.
This year I fell. I caught an edge. I fell pretty hard. It was embarrassing to fall in the terrain park and then sit there while all the young men watched me recover. At least I didn’t have to ride the ski patrol’s sled down. I am going to work tomorrow after a week off. I hope I can do it as I am still sore. I can move carefully and not hurt myself, but if I reach or twist I get a muscle spasm that sends shockwaves up my back.
How many seasons do I have left in me? Not sure, but I have already bought my season pass to Winter Park for next year. Hopefully I can break this trend and go out on top.
MM
The iPad and I
April 1st, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I have had an iPad since they first appeared. Since I am a gear junkie, I must have the latest. If I can afford it that is. So when the new iPad with a better resolution screen cam out I sold my 32 gig iPad 2 on eBay and bought one. I thought I would be a little cheap and get a 16 gigabyte tablet this time. Oh happy day when it arrived.
That is until I tried to load all my stuff on it. OMG it’s memory is tiny! I had to delete all my music and a bunch of apps that I use on occasion but can live without. I was OK with that for awhile until I wanted to use one of those deleted apps. Now it isn’t hard to install an app. Just go to the app store and reload it over Wi-Fi. I already own it so I don’t have to re-purchase it. That got me thinking though. I have money. Why don’t I buy a bigger iPad? So I did. I sold my 3rd generation iPad for a $25 loss on eBay and bought a 32 gig from Apple.
The new iPad with the hi rez screen is awesome. Text is so much more readable and photographs are vivid and rendered perfectly. Not much else has changed so spending the $600 for a new one is not really a wise purchase if you already own an older version.
I have always bought my iPads from Apple mail order. That way I can personalize it with my favorite quote engraved on the back. There are four iPads running around out there with this on the back.
“Do or do not, there is not try.”
