Not much time to write lately.

April 28th, 2005

You know, I sit here, daily, programming away at work, sometimes venturing off to websites that have strange things, like the South Park character generator, news, tech sites, and mostly, sites that show deals at retailer websites. I love buying things, so that’s why I go to those sites!

I’ve been very busy at work lately, trying to get a big project done before we have our baby. I’d hate to leave the project unfinished for a few weeks, so I’ve been setting aside extra mental bandwidth for the project, and it’s been a damn good time, too. Been learning more about ASP and tying in with databases and recordsets. Thanks to my friend, Tim, at work.

After this Saturday, we’ll be home-free in terms of having the baby. We have a final exam and a portfolio project due that day. We’re crossing our fingers and praying the little person will at least wait a few more days. We’re about 3 weeks to go as of this coming Saturday!!!

My South Park Guy

April 28th, 2005

I was playing around with a screwy little site that my friend, Tim, at work, showed me. Yeah, I have a friend or two.

This is what I made:

South Park Character Generator

Happy Birthday Dino!!!!

April 26th, 2005

Happy Birthday Big Brother!!

Gina, Happy Belated Birthday (via the blog, anyway), it was exactly 1 week ago.

It’s always been cool that Dino and Gina have birthdays 1 week apart, April 19 (Gina) and April 26 (Dino)!

My Chat with a Chinese Gold Farmer!

April 26th, 2005

Two nights ago, I had the chance to have a fascinating chat with a Chinese Civil Engineering student that attends Hunan University. I always like to ask the farmers I see in the game if they are farmers. This dude actually wrote back, and he had good English. I was so happy!

Unfortunately, this farmer only earns about 800 RMB ($96) per month playing 7-12 hours per day. He said he was unhappy. He said his friend told him about the job. Man, that’s some pretty shitty money.

Regardless, I am quite fascinated by this notion of turning virtual resources (gold and items in World of Warcraft) into real money. There are companies overseas, mostly in Asia, that pay game players to play these games and “farm” in-game currency by killing monsters and selling items looted from these monsters. It’s amazing because the impact this has on the game is immeasurable. Also, the impact this has on small economies is immeasurable. If I was a student of economics, pursuing a PhD, I’d love for this very topic to be the subject of my dissertation.