judyonthenet

I’m volunteering at the Game Developer Conference 2010 in San Francisco now, which means I have to actually get up in the morning on a daily basis (and rather early, I might add). I figured since I’m still “funemployed”, I might as well go volunteer, attend some sessions, hopefully learn something, and maybe even meet new people. Yesterday was the first day of volunteer work, and it was a doozy. (Bag stuffing is surprisingly exhausting.) This is technically the third time I volunteered, but the last two times were in college (2004 and earlier) and in San Jose, so I still feel like a newbie.

Right now is the first time since Sunday I really had time to just sit and relax in front of the computer. After working a ton yesterday, then getting home late, then waking up early today, listening to a bunch of people talk all day, dealing with SF streets… I’m probably going to pass out once I post this.

The Moscone Center… looks warmer than it actually is

If anybody is around SoMa, let me know cuz I’m working until Saturday!

New thing I learned today: Applications of utility theory in gaming.

The lecture didn’t sound that exciting, but it was very well presented, educational, and interesting. I probably learned about utility in the AI context from my AI course in college, but it’s been a while.

I saw a commercial today with the robot sheriff in it. Except now he’s a robot U.S. Marshal.

U.S. Marshal Bullock!

The new show is called Justified, and it premieres in a couple weeks. Actually, looking at the commercials and trailers, he doesn’t seem to walk around like he’s got a 2×4 for a spine anymore. He talks about the same, but overall he’s less growly, scowly, and jaw clenchy than before. I can’t figure out much else about the show from the commercials. It looks like he deals with a lot of rednecks with guns.

Since Deadwood is, well, dead, I’m tempted to check out this series to get my fill of my favorite walking piece of emotionless law and order. Though, if I’m going to start a new FX show, I should probably be checking out The Shield.

New thing I learned today: Elmore Leonard wrote the books and short story Justified is based off of. His also wrote the short story “Three-Ten to Yuma”, which was made into a film in 1957 and 2007.

My mind’s drawing a blank this week, so it’s Team Fortress 2 screenshot time!

Rag dolls are always fun

Grave buddies

Jesus and Kelvin admiring Jesus’s work

I also admired Jesus’s work

This team was literally productive.

New thing I learned today: How to crochet a slip stitch.

I’ve decided rather impulsively to take up crocheting. We’ll see if anything ever comes of it.

Video games and related goods purchased:
…

Well, that’s a first, huh? Last month was close, but I really did it this time. There’s nothing that’s coming out that catches my fancy, and watching the balance of my personal accounts slowly decrease turns me off from spending as well. We’ll see if I can avoid the temptation of the new Dragon Age: Origins expansion, Awakening, that comes out this month.

Games I beat:
Mass Effect (PC)
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3)

I already posted my impressions on Uncharted. I was going to do something similar for Mass Effect, but for some strange reason, all my screencaps from the last half of the game never saved to disk. Not sure what happened, but I’ve double-checked all my key bindings, and Fraps seems to work just fine now. Maybe I’ll play it again and get screenshots through a later playthrough (unlikely). For now, I’ll just say Mass Effect was alright. And that Kaidan isn’t the hotness that is Alistair.

I’m enjoying Uncharted 2. So far, it seems like they have fixed some of the things I bitched about (i.e. Nate actually opened a door without using his foot). Unfortunately, it looks like I won’t be playing it tonight due to some critical PS3-paralyzing clock bug nonsense. Nothing seemed to break too horribly last night (thankfully, Uncharted isn’t one of those games where you have to make your own saves often), so hopefully the bug hasn’t affect any of my data. I was wondering what was up with the 12/31/1999 timestamps and messed up clock.

New thing I learned today: There are several products actually called Omni-gel, including a photo transfer gel and a dental therapeutic gel.

Couldn’t find any that hacks electronic locks, though.

*sigh* I hope I figure this out soon.

On a different note, I’m glad the Winter Olympics are over so I can stop caring about things I don’t usually care about (anything related athleticism). I really enjoyed the P&G Mom commercials (see 1 & 2), and Apolo Ohno busting out of his PJs was probably the most amusing 5 seconds of Winter Olympics commercial time. However, my favorite commercial is most definitely The Human Chain by Nike:

New thing I learned today: The Canadian hockey team for this year’s Winter Olympics has four players from the San Jose Sharks, while the US team had one. The current San Jose Sharks roster has 13 Canadians and three Americans.

Re: USA vs. Canada hockey game… *sigh* again. Maybe in 2014?