So I won an Xbox 360 last week in a contest. Pepsi runs this contest every year. When you buy Pepsi products, the packaging contains a PIN that you enter online. They do a draw every hour for thirty or so straight days. The more PINs you enter for each draw, the greater your chances of winning. The neat thing is you don't have to buy Pepsi products to get a PIN. Using this link, you can request a single PIN. You can get lots of free PINs in this manner.
If this all sounds strangely familiar, it's because back in 2004, I wasted about half an hour a day for almost two weeks trying to win a prize. I accumulated close to 100 PINs and entered them into a single draw. I lost. It was devastating. My friend Sarah had the same thing happen to her. I skipped out on the 2005 contest.
Long story short, I grabbed a few PINs this year and completely lucked out. My Xbox 360 arrives later this month.
While winning a prize that retails for $570.00 is nice, I soon realized this "free" prize is going to wind up costing me money. The first thing is I have nothing decent to play the 360 on. All the TVs in my home are not HDTV compliant. They are of a decent size but each one has an aspect ratio of 4:3. Look, I don't want to sound whiny or anything but next-gen consoles are designed to be played on high-resolution, widescreen displays. This means that optimally, the aspect ratio should be 16:9 or 2.35:1 if you're so inclined.
Second, now I gotta buy 360 games. This is almost unavoidable but I can borrow games for free at work through the IRC. Also buying used games at rental chains is a great way to save money. A co-worker has let me know he'll lend me a few of his games too. Nice!
Third, now I'm tempted to buy 360 accessories. The prize pack only comes with one controller but it's always handy to keep another controller around if Jennifer Love-Hewitt wants to drop by to play some Halo with me. Controllers start at $50!
The first problem is something that has to be dealt with. It's a waste to play the 360 on regular CRT TVs. Unfortunately, LCD TVs are still pretty expensive. Even at 32", an HDTV ready LCD TV is over $1000. There are some priced at exactly $1000. Still, I wasn't expecting to be dropping a cool G on a TV anytime soon.
The solution I'm probably going to go with is to buy a widescreen LCD computer monitor. These things aren't exactly the same as HDTVs but they support high resolutions and are much more cost effective than the alternative. I can snag a 22" widescreen LCD for under $400. I can also use it for my computer so I get an upgrade that way as well. A single purchase that benefits two different systems in a bonus in my books.
I'll try to borrow as many games as I can and buy used ones. Maybe I can buy a used controller too.
A second solution also exists. I could just sell the damn thing for $500. I was thinking of buying a new computer before I entered the contest. Traditionally, I've been more of a PC gamer than a console one. If I sold the 360, it'd make my new PC quite cheap to buy. Still, the 360 has impressed me with its features and online service.
I feel quite lucky to have blogged throughout my grad school days. Those were such fun times and with a blog, I can go back and read what was going on with my life back then. For example, on Friday, February 6, 2004, I watched two movies that night. That's some of the crazy ass stuff I used to do in school.
It's a shame I didn't blog in undergrad because there were certainly some blog-worthy events in those five years. For example, there was the time those guys on my dorm floor lit a table on fire in the hallway and had to throw it out the door. Or the time those same guys all urinated in the same large glass jug for kicks. Then the jar got tipped over in one of the guy's room. It shattered into a million pieces. Or how about the time I went into a guy's room and saw him boil potatoes in a pot on a hot plate. After the potatoes were done, he showed me how you could just pour out the water onto his carpet. Let's not forget the time the potatoe guy started breeding fruit flies in an unoccupied room and called them his "children".
Man! I sure missed out on some awesome blog material. That was just the stuff about other people. I haven't even included my own personal stories.
I worked late again tonight. At least EA ordered dinner for us this time. Dijon chicken linguine. It was tasty but someone stole my garlic bread. That's ok, because they were lots of people without food, so I hope it went to someone who really needed it.
I'm tired, so I got nothing exciting to write about. Instead, here's someone else's blog post about not having something to write about.
Oh man, I came home from work at 11pm. That ain't cool. I got no time for nothing. Sorry. Instead, please enjoy this clip of Borat talking with Matt Lauer.
After a long evening of OT I came home to watch the movie Monster House. It was really well done. It is the second film to use what is termed "peformance capture" to help animate the characters. The result is some very articulate facial expressions on the 3D models. Just watch the part where one of the main characters, Jenny tries to sell candy door-to-door.
Well, because of the movie, that's all I got tonight.
Oh wait, um, do any of you know where I can get some used Xbox 360 games for cheap? I'm, um, asking for a friend.
I mentioned it in previous posts before but I'll write it again. I rarely make posts based on politics because I feel I don't have the requisite knowledge to write a thoughtful essay. That doesn't stop me from reporting about wang flies but that's different topic altogether.
Anyways, the midterm elections are coming up in the US. Next Tuesday, millions of US voters will decide on the fate of congresspeople, senators, and state governors. At stake is the control of House and the Senate. This can either allow Dubya to "stay the course" for the next two years or make his political life an even greater hell.
According to the polls I've seen, the Democratic party stands an extremely good chance of winning back control of the House. They are unlikely to wrestle away control of the Senate from the Republicans.
If you also watch the US news, you'll hear reports of US voters being unhappy with the how the country is being run and how they think the war in Iraq is going poorly. If you were to believe the polls and the news, you'd think the winds of change were in the air politically in the US. That's complete BS if you ask me.
I'm going to say this with some decent confidence. Next Tuesday, US voters will leave control of both the Senate and House in the hands of the Republicans. I don't care what the polls say or how many people have commented on how unhappy they are about the people leading their government.
The average US voter has given me no reason to believe they are any smarter than they were two years ago when they put Dubya back in the White House after he managed to muck up nearly everything he had his hands in. After all the Gitmos, the torturing, the secret prisons, Iraq, sexy e-mails with teenage boys, Haliburton, and many other scandals, I don't think a single one of them even registers with the average US voter.
The Republicans could kill a baby on national TV and I doubt it'd affect their standing with most Americans. The average American is incapable of thinking about change and doing something about it. They would rather continue to lap up whatever the White House tells them to believe. When Bush said, "we've never been 'stay the course'" I could see millions of Americans nodding in agreement and saying to themselves, "Nope, that's right, he never said that once in six years."
Nothing will change next Tuesday. I will briefly revisit this issue next Wednesday but it won't take long to write "I was right".
