Chapman's Log

Over the Holidays, I found some great deals on new computer equipment on NewEgg.com and ended up picking up some stuff to put into my old PC. I hoped to give a little bit of gaming kick to get myself up to speed with the current generation of games; my PS2 was starting to lose its appeal.

I got 4GB of RAM and a GeForce 9800GT graphics card bundled with Call of Duty 4 for around $130.00 after rebates. When the package came in the mail, I frantically ripped open my PC and began to install these much-longed-for goodies.

The first thing I noticed was that I was literally one millimeter away from not having room for the GeForce. The thing is huge, and it just barely had enough clearance to slide into place. With a sigh of relief, I felt it slide down into place and lock.

Next up was the RAM. When I went to unclip the old RAM, I realized that the graphics card was so huge, the RAM clips actually touched it when they were closed, forcing me to remove the graphics card again in order to install my new RAM. Needless to say, this close call made me quite nervous. The GeForce literally could not have been any larger. If it had been, I would have wasted some serious cash.

Anyway, after I got everything finally secured into place, I closed everything up and plugged in the computer. The difference is like night and day. Suddenly I feel like it’s capable of doing what I want it to do. Logically, the first thing I did was install Call of Duty 4 to test out the new graphics card…

Wow.

It handled the game with flying colors. All options set to their absolute maximum, no problems at all. I couldn’t believe this horribly shitty PC was capable of being upgraded to smoothly. Before the upgrade, it could only play relatively old games at their lowest settings. And it did that in quite a shitty fashion.

So now I’m looking into new processors. That is the last thing on my list. Hopefully fairly soon I will be able to run games like Crysis and GTAIV smoothly at the higher settings. It’s been so long since I bought a new game console or had up-to-date equipment that I didn’t quite realize just how far gaming had come in the last few years. I have been blown away by the graphics, much like when I was 9 years old after plugging the N64 I bought with lawn mowing money for the first time.

You know that one event in your life that suddenly changes your mindset? The thing that makes you commit to living differently?

Well, I feel like I had one of those. But that’s it. I can’t actually name an event that would have caused this to happen, but I feel results, as if it did. Suddenly I’m a far more organized person. I have more control over my life and I feel like all of my thoughts are in the right place, out of nowhere. I’ve met some interesting new people. Even my taste in music instantly changed at some point. I feel like a different person in a lot of ways.

This has eventually led to being a happier person who is more satified with who he is, something I drastically needed. I just feel right for the first time in ages. Isn’t that weird?

I’m sure everyone has heard the story and seen the video of George W. Bush stealthily dodging a pair of shoes thrown at him by an Iraqi man at a press conference yesterday. It was pretty insane and hilarious to watch.

But I think the most epic thing of all about this incident is just how agile Bush really is. He’s stealthy and nimble, very much like a cat. The first shoe comes flying his way like a heat-seeking missile, and he pulls a Matrix maneuver and dodges it. Then he appears to bat the second one away with his hand, or at least would have if the shoe hadn’t missed entirely and hit the flag behind him.

Now I don’t know about you guys, but if I was standing in front of that podium and saw that shoe flying toward me, I would probably freeze up and get nailed by it, or try to block it with my arms instead of stealthily dodging it. That took some skill. Ninja skill.

President Bush, I don’t even like you. But mad respect for that epic shoe dodge. You, sir, did it.

Some of you may or may not have heard of the cult internet sensation known as Adam’s Block, a channel on Justin.tv where a man in San Francisco named Adam Jackson placed a webcam outside his apartment’s window pointed down at the street. It ran 24/7 and captured all sorts of crazy footage for six weeks.

In that short six-week time span, Adam’s life would change. His exact location was compromised, local news stations did reports on his project, he very quickly became a very talked-about subject.

While his intentions were good (giving some of the donations to the Glide Church, holding fundraisers, etc.), he quickly experienced what can happen when a lot of people work together to ruin someone’s life.

He and his girlfriend began getting death threats. Hooded men followed Adam to work. Flyers were posted around the neighborhood labeling him as a pedophile. Phone calls were made to his boss claiming the same. Much of Adam’s life has been extremely visible to the public eye, and this made him an easy target to find.

I had the fortune of working as a moderator for Adam in his channel while it was broadcasting and I met some great people. It was a wonderful community before its popularity brought the bad seeds along with it. But all good things must come to an end, and as of a few days ago, the channel has been taken down, the cameras have been removed, Adam is relocating to a new home, and trying to fix what was starting to happen before the channel was taken down. Trying to get his life back on track.

The whole point I am trying to make here is that the internet can be a very dangerous place if the right people get ahold of the right motives and the right information. So please be careful out there.

Jizz In My Pants – SNL Digital Short

I normally don’t find these Digital Shorts all that funny (aside from Dear Sister, which exploded my sides from laughter). But this one provided multiple lulz for me.

In other news, I think I might be getting sick… again. My throat started getting scratchy earlier, so I promptly slammed down some Nyquil and I’ll be passing out soon. Haha.

I have decided to do a lot of organization of my life online, and consolidate all of my different outlets together so there is a link from one to the other. In addition to this, I’ve started frequently updating my Twitter and Facebook statuses to keep track of what I am doing throughout the day.

Doing something like this sounds a bit stupid on paper, but I’m finding it strangely motivating to put what I have on my to-do list or what I am in the process of doing online, it’s helping me stay more organized overall.

I also linked this blog to my Facebook, so when I post something on here, it will also be added to my profile as a Note. I duplicate my status on Twitter to Facebook as well, and even report songs I Love on Last.fm on my Wall. So it’s like Facebook has gone from being this friends thing for me to being the collaborative link to all of my internet activity.

It’s amazing how something as seemingly simple as Facebook can have such powerful possibilities. Anyway, I’m still toying with it but I like it a lot so far, it’s fun.

Check it out at
http://www.twitter.com/drewchapman

I’m going to try to keep this thing updated very regularly as well. If anyone reading this has an account, add me!

Seriously, it is.

If I could completely eliminate procrastination from my life, I would be set. But for some reason, it destroys me every time and I somehow don’t learn from my mistakes and I let it keep happening.

For instance, at this very moment I should be painting and finishing my portfolio for this semester. But knowing me, I’ll sit here doing nothing for a little while longer and end up schlepping the thing together in a panic.

On paper, why should I even procrastinate? Either way, I’m going to have to do the work, and if I am putting it off by doing something more leisurely, I won’t even get to enjoy it because I’m – get this – dreading the work I have ahead of me. On the other hand, if I were to go ahead and get the work done in a timely fashion, my quality of work would go up, I would eliminate stress, my grades would improve, and by the time I was finished, I could enjoy those same leisurely moments, only with a clear mind and without the stress that accompanies impending deadlines.

Oh shit, I just talked sense into myself somehow. God I’m an idiot. Time to get this last night of work out of the way before Christmas break.

Seriously. I can’t get enough of these guys. Psytrance is the shit.

So I’m sitting on campus with my laptop out right now, and I’m doing something so socially awkward that if I was anyone but myself, I’d be failing at life right now. But since I’m a fucking badass, I can do this. I’m playing DOOM while listening to Psytrance in the corner. And I look like a fucking champ.