What The Boss means to me; an open letter to Bruce Springsteen

• February 18, 2009
• James Skemp

Mr. Bruce Springsteen, While I can't remember the exact date, or even the year, it was shortly after my parents had divorced, and my father moved out into the country, that I first listened to Born in the U.S.A.; it was one of my father's old tapes. Now, I really wonder that I didn't wear that old tape out. I was pre-teen, and living in northern Wisconsin, and raised Catholic, so not all of the lyrics made sense (not that I really thought about them all that much outside of remembering the exact order, so I could sing the songs by heart), so in that sense, I certainly was lacking an understanding of what they really meant.

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On "Shafty"

• February 17, 2009
• James Skemp

the terrible thing about hell is that when you're there you can't even tell as you move through this life you love so you could be there and not even know but you say so what I'm doing just fine the irony is that it's all in your mind and that's why hell is so vicious and cruel but you'll just go on an oblivious fool (Phish/Marshall. "Shafty." Lyrics. The Story of the Ghost.

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What I've been up to (Feb '09 edition)

• February 14, 2009
• James Skemp

As my last post may have suggested ... I've been playing games. Here's a small taste of the games currently on my plate. Playstation 2 Shadow Hearts: From the New World was close to completion .. before I bought an Xbox 360. Persona 3: Fes still remains to be started, and ditto for Persona 4 ... Yes, I didn't even start Persona 4. Yes, I know how good reviews said it is.

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Dear ... whomever (Halo 3)

• February 9, 2009
• James Skemp

Dear whomever, Halo 3 sucks. First, I can only play two missions (missions implying goals) at a time because there's far too much confusion after those two missions. What did I do, and why? Is there any point? Should I just go as fast through the map as I can? (Having done this the last two missions, it seems to work great, assuming I can find my way around, which leads me to .

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Microsoft Log Parser timestamp formats

• February 6, 2009
• James Skemp

The following article covers the timestamp format specifiers accepted by Microsoft Log Parser. Date Year y, yy, yyy, yyyy = last 1, 2, 3, or 4 digits, relative to 2000 Month M = no leading zero MM = leading zero MP = leading space MX = no leading zero, or with or without zero when parsing MMM = 3-character abbreviation MMMM = full name of month Day d = no leading zero dd = leading zero dp = leading space dx = no leading zero, or with or without zero when parsing ddd = 3-character abbreviation dddd = full name of day Time Hour h or H = no leading zero hh or HH = leading zero hp or HP = leading space hx or HX = leading zero, or with or without leading zero when parsing Minute m = no leading zero mm = leading zero mp = leading space mx = leading zero, or with or without leading zero when parsing Second s = no leading zero ss = leading zero sp = leading space sx = leading zero, or with or without leading zero when parsing Millisecond l = no leading zero ll = leading zero lp = leading space lx = leading zero, or with or without leading zero when parsing Nanosecond n = no leading zero nn = leading zero np = leading space nx = leading zero, or with or without leading zero when parsing Other tt = AM/PM ?

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The Wii for gamers

• February 5, 2009
• James Skemp

"Seriously considering purchasing a Wii (and only playing virtual console games)" - James Skemp In the February 2009 edition of GameInformer, they have an article titled "Hardcore Gamer's Guide to the Wii." In that same issue, on the ratings page, there is one Wii game with an 8.5. The next highest is 8.25, followed by a number of 7.75s. Since GameInformer is a magazine for gamers, I therefore make the claim that the article should have been titled "Gamer's Guide to the Wii" (note the missing word).

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You either did or didn't waste your time playing the video game

• January 26, 2009
• James Skemp

You know what grinds my gears? When people say that they wasted time playing a video game. For example, 'I was playing Fallout 3 and it began freezing at this certain point, twenty hours in; since I can't proceed, I've wasted twenty hours of my life.' Hello? What do you get for finishing the game? Not the hours that you spent playing it. Or did you? If you spend 80 hours and beat a game, how is that really different?

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Should Obama have a personal blog?

• January 24, 2009
• James Skemp

I work at the State Bar of Wisconsin, the membership of which elects a president every year. (Technically they elect a president-elect, but that's moot.) One of the things my co-workers and I (Rob and Dan) bounced off each other was a blog for the president-elect, for the three years they serve (president-elect, president, and outgoing (?)). With the Obama administration, I wonder if the time of weekly addresses is out, and the time of a more timely blog is in.

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Thoughts on sacrifice and religion

• January 21, 2009
• James Skemp

The following is a reply to a co-worker on Facebook regarding a particular topic. Since it's on Facebook, I probably can't link to it, but since I don't want to lose my response ... I'm afraid I can't be as eloquent as everyone else; I'm a little mentally drained on nights. That said, Obama called for all American's to be ready to make sacrifices. There is little doubt that greed (part of the great motivator) is what brought this country to the knee it now rests on.

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New attack options for Battleship

• January 20, 2009
• James Skemp

To some extent, the game Battleship is fairly out of date. With today's technology, are we really calling attacks on individual areas at a time? For this reason, I put forward the following attack additions. Requirements are for the player using these attacks. Tactical Strike Requires an undamaged submarine. Give up one turn. If, on the next turn, your submarine is still unharmed, attack a 3x3 grid on the opposing player.

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