CES 2009 & Mirror's Edge: Part 1

So, as some of you may not know, I had the opportunity to go to CES 2009 in Las Vegas this month. Now, while Las Vegas is not normally somewhere I would go, the chance to do more volunteer work with Mirror's Edge was more than worth the mental agony of, well, being in Las Vegas. So it was with this firmly in mind that I repeatedly tricked myself into thinking I knew what I was doing, all the way to a friend's house in Las Vegas.

Normally, there would be a paragraph here about how annoying Airport security is, but things went pretty smoothly. So there.

Oh, but you have to take your laptop out of it's bag for the X-Ray. Which is stupid.

Anyway, Las Vegas itself is surprisingly flat. I suppose growing up in the Silicon Valley, I have grown accustomed to the flatness being covered for by trees and such. Well, there are two things in Las Vegas: Buildings...and more buildings. That's it. Very few trees. It looked like a scene the Mars rover would send back, if you photoshopped inumerable cookie-cutter houses into it and took out any rocks bigger than, say, your foot. So it was in this environment I endeavoured to spend as little time outdoors as possible. Which worked.

I stayed with a family friend, which, though they were wonderful hosts, I would not do again. The family friend was cheerful, drove me to and from the convention center, and even bought me Starbucks' Mochas. This is a huge plus. But the house, nice as it was, also contained five dogs, some four-odd birds, one of which was one of those giant macaw things that makes ungodly loud screeching sounds, and well, that's really it. But enough about that, let's get on to the convention itself.

I was there early in the morning on the day before to convention to help set up. Aaron, the guy I had worked with at Nvision, was lucky enough to come in in the afternoon. I got my badge, which was an "Exhibitor" badge that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and found my way to the Nvidia booth. I was introduced to Bea, Paul, Michael, and Nhu-y, June, and Anthony, some of the nice people I'd be working with, and they were astoundingly friendly, especially to a volunteer they'd never met. The first thing I did, after getting my badge and introductions, was to slam my finger in a giant cargo container while looking for a box of Mirror's Edge stuff. The resulting blood-blister is almost completely gone. Luckily, it didn't turn out to be too much of a problem. After opening said box and finding it to be full of foam-core poster boards and sorting them, I was given a list of computers and a new task. I went around hooking up ethernet cables to most of the computers and marking on the list which compy had which cable. Then I got to watch the 3D Presentation and it completely blew me away. There's really no going back after you've seen the speeder chace from Episode II in 3D. After that, I wandered around doing odd jobs for people. It was during that time that Aaron showed up, and soon after, we were getting Mirror's Edge up and installed on the three GTX 295 computers.

The three computers I spent most of my time on showcased three things:

1. Nvidia's brand new GTX 295 graphics card
2. Nvidia's PhysX technology
3. The Mirror's Edge Time Trial Tournament

I learned a lot about each of these, though it wasn't until the first tournament that the setup made sense.

After everything was set up, several of us went out to dinner for Aaron's birthday. I took a taxi with Nhu-y, since I wanted to stay around someone who knew what they were doing. I was surprised to be invited, since I'd only worked with Aaron for three days prior to this event. Anyway, we had dinner at the SHIBUYA restaurant in the MGM Grand. Dinner was amazing and I got to talk to some really neat people. I didn't use any Japanese, but that's probably for the better since I'd likely screw it all up. I got to hear a lot of entertaining stories, and overall, a great time was had. After dinner, I stayed in a room at the MGM for the night, since my ride wasn't able to come get me. It was nice to have a nice quiet night to talk to Sharon and then get to sleep.

The next day, I woke up, took a shower, and then met Michael down in the lobby to take the monorail to the convention center. He ended up covering my ticket (I told you there were nice) since the machine wouldn't accept my AE Gift Card. On the ride over, we talked about the conventions we'd been to, and how weird 'backstage' Las Vegas looked.

Then the convention began. The first day was pretty slow at the Mirror's Edge booth, but it was still fun. I learned a lot about the 295 cards, as well as where to find the PhysX goodies withing Mirror's Edge. A few kids there with their dad's company came and hung out, which was cool. We ended up running only one tournament that day, the winnder of which received a GTx 260 Graphics card. They were also entered into the Grand Tournament, to be held on the last day. I had a burrito for lunch, and the darn thing cost $9. Crazy. Luckily, there was a refrigerator with water and a ridiculous amount of Diet Coke available to us Nvidia people. I also had chance to play Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia, Mirror's Edge, World of Warcraft (fun story there), Tomb Raider: Underworld, Left 4 Dead, and Burnout Paradise in 3D. They were all extremely awesome.

Garlic Bread

I love garlic bread. It's a common side dish with dinner at my house. Usually it's a store-bought affair; something you stick in the oven and bake for a specified time. Sometimes, it's homemade. This usually works out well, when my mom is cooking. My dad has been known to 'crisp' it a bit. When we were kids, any black meant the entire loaf was unacceptable.

Last night, my mom tried to make garlic bread. I walked into the kitchen as she pulled the first burnt batch out. There were about three pieces that weren't charcoal. Of course, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. So she prepared a second batch. It doesn't take long, just mix up some crushed garlic and butter and spread it onto slices of bread. She then set a timer, in order to avoid the previous tragedy. Bread in the broiler, we resume our conversation. After a minute or two she suddenly remembers the bread and opens the oven.

It was burnt. The bread near the front was charred beyond recognition. Some of the slices further back were actually on fire. Amid a moment of disbelief, with a perfectly cruel yet apathetic sense of timing, the timer on the counter dinged.

There were about five total pieces of garlic bread left out of the 30 or 40 that were prepared.

Six Things to Do When You're Bored at Work

So, out of nowhere, my friend Alycia's dad called her today. After a few confused exchanges, it was revealed that he was calling her because he was bored. At work. This man, an awesome guy by all accounts, called his daughter at school. Because he was bored. At work. Thus was born a list of "Things to Do When Bored". Below is a transcript for you to enjoy.

1) Sit on your boss's desk. Twiddle your thumbs. Respond to nothing but "Quasimodo".

2) Sit in front of the break-room microwave while wearing an apron. Spatula is optional.

3) Lurk in hallways. Occasionally say "Gollum" and "Where is the precious?". Stay in character.

4) Set co-workers' Firefox homepages to 'javascript:alert("TEXT")'.

5) Draw up elaborate plans for a corporate take-over. Use glitter-glue and construction paper.

6) When questioned about your project, have a musical number prepared. Complicated choreography and top hat required.

So there you have it. Next time you're bored at work, try one of these out.

Opening a Box

Whether I get much use out of this place or not will depend highly on the people who read it. I intend to talk about games, Japanese, computers, programming, and a plethora of geeky stuff. Gods know I'm not the best gamer, the most fluent Japanese speaker, a case modder, or even a decent programmer, but I have an interest in such things.

This "Box" so to speak will vary its contents from time to time, and we shall see how it goes. That being said, let's start with a generic Christmas rant.

DISCLAIMER! I celebrate Christmas. It's just the way I was raised. Happy Channukah, Kwanzaa, and other holidays whose spellings I will likely slaughter. Isn't there an Islamic holiday around now, too? Or do you guys get a break after Ramadan? Thanks in advance to anyone who can let me know.


Yesterday was December 1st, and as such, was the first day I wouldn't simply destroy any radio playing a Christmas song on sheer principle. I can only hope that somewhere, somehow, the same people who schedule such music to played in early November have their alarm clocks mysteriously set two hours back. A lot of people would agree, I think, that the Christmas decorations seem to go up earlier and earlier each year. Or, perhaps, it just seems that way because I get less and less excited about the holiday each year.

To me, Christmas has always been about the presents. Those mysterious, multicolored boxes each held a secret, willing to divulge it only after the whole family was up and had eaten breakfast. The past couple of years have yielded decent presents, and I'm thankful for that. This year, in case any of you are curious, my wishlist is topped by three things: A new airsoft pistol, a bluetooth headset, and a new battery for this laptop. Chances are that I may get Painter X, which is a fabulous program for painting and such.

So, that about wraps it up for the first post. I hope you have found it enjoyable and angst-free.
Cheers,
Komaru