Day 2: A song that makes you cry

A little background on the character this song is themed for:

Solid Snake, the main character of most Metal Gear games, is an ex-Army badass who finds out that he is a clone of a near super-human man called Big Boss because he is just that. He's the biggest boss. So, Solid Snake, upon finding out that he is the inferior clone to this guy that he actually killed several years previously, goes on to save the world from a nuclear weapon.

Ten years later, at around 50 years old, he looks like he's 80 and feels much older.

Turns out that the scientists that participated in the cloning actually altered his DNA to make him rapidly age and die an early death to minimize a secondary cloning. He would die a miserable early death in the name of government secrecy.

So he saves the world again, and quits smoking.

This song embodies the crushing misery of living a life devoid of hope outside what you create for yourself.

PS3 Shenanigans pt 3

This is it. Frankenstation MK. 3.




It runs quite well for about two hours. Since there is no cooling mechanism, it overheats eventually and shuts down. I have to wait for the oil to cool and it runs again, so at this point I just need a pump and radiator and I'll be in full working business.

PS3 Shenanigans Pt. 1

So, the Playstation 3, bane of my time spent best elsewhere, and home theater champion, has crapped out on me, again. This is actually the third time THIS system has died on me (I got a replacement about six months ago when my first one died.).

Since Sony refuses to replace it for free, I am left with little choice but to fix it on me own. And I have done so twice now. The yellow light of death is a symptom of a cracked solder on the Cell processor. It's a microscopic crack due to either over heating, or uneven heating. To fix it, you heat up the processor to about 700 degrees F and it melts and reforms, then solidifies as it cools, allowing the proper connections to be made and maintained.

That is, unless your heatsink has two gouges in it from faulty manufacturing. Like mine.

The original heatsink will repeatedly cause this problem for me no matter how much thermal grease I put on there, and no matter how cool I keep the system. It's going to heat unevenly and cause differing rates of expansion along the surface. The constant uneven (oxymoron?) shrinkage and expansion will only serve to ruin my goodies.

Solution? New heatsink. Added awesomeness? Playstation 3 submerged in a bath of mineral oil.

Heck. Yes.

Check out this video for an idea of what I'm doing:


Except with a Playstation instead. I have most of the materials assembled: Fish tank, heatsink, fan, plan... Once I decide how to mount the generic PC heatsink to the proprietary Cell processor, and then buy five gallons of mineral oil, I'll get started for realzies.

Pics included.

I have a lot of thanks for Rachel, who has been absolutely fantastic in supporting this ridiculous endeavor. She drove me to Wichita twice now to get parts, and also gave me a pep talk when I felt like it wasn't going to work.

Rejoice! For I have created a new blog entry!

Today, and I mean yesterday for you non-vampires (I've been up since 5 PM and it is now about 8 AM), I earned (and I use that term loosely) 89 dollars by trading in my old video games that I never play to Gamestop. With that PHAT CASH I will be purchasing Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots with a few dollars left over towards a new controller.

Let me tell you how much MGS4 will rock.

THIS FRIGGEN MUCH! (LARGEST FONT SIZE AVAILABLE, THAT'S HOW MUCH!)

It has so far gotten mostly perfect glowing reviews by everyone that has played it. I played the Online Beta and was fairly impressed. Basically, I want you all to know that I will not be leaving my room for any reason except to wee wee and eat (IF I eat).

Anyway, I'm just a little excited. It has been several years of waiting for me (10 years. Fans of the series have waited 10 years for answers to questions asked in Metal Gear Solid for the original Playstation.) and I look forward to having a good cry as my favorite characters and their stories come to an end.

See, I get really involved with people and characters. I do it in real life and in the fiction that I read or watch or play. I relate with people fairly well, and when characters are put into entertainment through some medium (film, writing, games) I tend to relate to them as well. It is somewhat devastating to be cut off suddenly from people that you empathize with, fictional or no. When I finish a good book or game, I tend to get super depressed because the story is over and I can't live it with them step-by-step anymore. The feeling is exactly the same as totally falling in love with someone and suddenly being out of contact with them for a few days when you REALLY REALLY want to talk to them or just be with them. Can't get it off your mind...

So anyway, weird storm is brewing outside. There was a power surge that dimmed the lights and turned off my sound system here in my room, but didn't trip the breaker on the surge outlet so my TV and Computer stayed on. Some blue sky is just now poking through the clouds. I think I'll go to bed now.