TheChrisD - Rant Central

Wireless Lego Microwave

Aaah! Attack of the bad post titles! Run for your lives!

It’s a bit of a slow blog day today, or this week for that matter, so this is really just going to end up a compilation of several small things that have been through my head for the past few hours.
Compilations FTW.

Wireless

So, today was another day where Emily was in the house, so I was dragged out along with the rest of the family. So while in the Blanchardstown Centre (after ringing to check if Avril had gone to her Gaeltacht or not, going to 3 different ATMs for cash, and enjoying KFC for the 3rd day in a row - only this time for breakfast-lunch rather than for dinner), I stopped off in GAME to look for a new game to possibly buy.

There were a few contenders, but most got shelved for various reasons:

• Kane’s Wrath (360) - Would like to rent it first to see if the controls are worth it.
• C&C3 and Kane’s Wrath (PC) - The money is better spent on the monster computer before buying the games.
• Mario Kart Wii (Wii, duh) - Well, technically we still have it rented, so I’ll wait until I decide to ship it back.
• Rock Band (360) - It probably won’t be as fun just guitar, bass and vocals, plus €70 is still expensive.
• Battlefield: Bad Company (360) - From the sounds of things, it’s a rental. Plus still €70.

By the end, I ended up purchasing Super Smash Bros. Brawl and a Wii Classic Controller to play it with. Should be fun. Except coming back home to realise that the Wii is a bit of a bitch and doesn’t come with an Ethernet port, since they expect you to connect wirelessly.

Which really doesn’t help when our wireless network is encrypted by the “person in charge” - also the reason why I have to connect my computer with wires - and the encryption method probably won’t work with the Wii, since it doesn’t with my DS. Epic fail. So now I need to go seek out that Nintendo USB Wi-Fi thingy for both my DS and the Wii, so I can finally get them online!

Until then, I shall be honing by Pokémon Trainer and Lucario skills

Lego

Most of you probably don’t know about my Lego racing car. It’s a little model that I started to build, probably about 2 years ago at this stage, and since then I’ve been refining it and remodelling it as I see fit. It’s one of those little things that I like doing that keeps me occupied. Plus it’s an excuse to use all those Lego pieces that I have lying around after all these years. May as well make something decent with them.

The latest design, which I took pictures of, has 2 distinct model variations. I got the idea for them after realising that the IndyCars have different configurations based on the type of track they’re racing on. So, I have the “Speedway” variant, which is focused more on raw speed. The nose is long and high, the front wing more streamlined, the back wing longer and much less angled, as well as a bigger “hole” for more air. Meanwhile, the “Road Course” variant, is shorter, has a much lower front wing with more downforce, and a bulkier rear wing that it more aggresively angled to get more downforce for the twisty natures of the tracks.

Yes, I’m probably a bit anal at this stage, but what do you expect

Microwave

I was quite bored yesterday, so I started watching the entire “Is It a Good Idea to Microwave This?” series from the beginning again. It was very fun going back over all those explosions and other not-so-nice things. Enjoy Experiment #79: Two iPods. Be sure to pay attention from 2:30 onwards!

PS: In the time between taking those car pics and writing this post, I’ve modifed the core design again
Flashes of design inspiration happen so fast you really don’t have time to think about them…

PPS: See you at the Tweetup tomorrow night, if you’re going!