glh's Journal: General Updates (Building, Halo2, Graduation)

Building Update....
Things are going pretty well on the new construction front. We now have everything ready, per the builders requirements, so we can have our "pre-construction meeting". This meeting kicks off the construction process. It will then take up to 6 months to complete our building project.

I spent last week gathering all the permits. Had to go to two places- the zoning department of the new city, and the water/sewer department for the county. Found out the town we are moving to has a population of around 6000 people (I knew it was small, just didn't know how much). She spoke highly of the neighborhood we are building in which made me feel good (not that I was worried!). After that, I swung by the county to pay the tapin fee. Hard to believe they can charge *that much* to hook a pipe up to water!

The only thing we have left is to finalize our brick selection. My wife really likes a particular brick, but it is a "jumbo brick" which basically means it's a little bigger. Apparently it takes 4 jumbo bricks for every 7 standard ones. Anyway, the mason at the brick company she went to said it should be the same cost overall because it takes less of them, and is less labor, mortar, etc. We are waiting to hear back from the builder if it is the same net cost as a standard brick (my guess is that it will be more..)

We are looking at having the pre-construction meeting the Weds. before thanksgiving. They are estimating to do the dig in late Dec. or early Jan. They assure me that they can build a house year round, and will go into more detail on how they do things different in the winter to ensure a good house. Hopefulyl that will be the case, but I know if I was pounding 2x4's in sub-freezing temperatures I wouldn't be as careful about getting things trued up :) Regardless, that gives me until about Feb. / Mar. to put our current house up for sale. Heh, get ready for a whole schlew of new JE's :)

Seriously though, I hope these are helpful for those of you considering building a house (it seems like I hear a lot of crickets whenever I write these). Even if not, it'll be a good way for me to remember how it went later down the road...

Halo 2 Update...
I joined a clan- a group of guys that I know through church. It's pretty cool, we really rock as a team. However, I still individually suck quite badly, especially at the slayer matches. I'm pretty good with vehicles and capture the flag type games, but not so good when it's just an all-out hack-n-slash. Maybe I need a new controller, but I'm just really having trouble aiming and generally not getting killed in a gun fight. Any more tips (Otsy?) or links to strategy/hints would be much appreciated. The ones last time really helped, BTW.

Graduation is coming up, I will be getting my MBA (Information Systems concentration for all you MBA bashers) on Dec. 18th. My last class is going real well even with a bad case of "senioritis". I am currently learning in terms of the "official way" to do UML diagrams, and some of the OO terms that I've never spoken before, but have used plenty of times (ex- "Aggregation", "Composition"). I've also done lots of use case and sequence diagrams before but I'm also getting some good exposure to all the other ones. Still, it kind of amuses me how in the business world you pretty much do what makes sense (even if it may not be perfect), but in the academic world you do it "the proper way" (even if it may not make sense). I suppose that's the core difference between academics and practicality.

Maybe Slayer just isn't your bag?

[Osty]

No sweat. I've seen plenty of good team players who couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag if they don't have a team backing them up. That's why Halo 2 has separate rankings for the different matchmaking hoppers. As far as tips go, just a few more:

• Learn the levels. This has been true of FPS games since before Quake. Learn where the sword is, where the shotgun is, where the rocket is if one is on the level, where the overshield is, where you can find a plasma rifle to complement your SMG, etc, yo

Re:Maybe Slayer just isn't your bag?

[glh]

Hey, good advice again- thanks! I didn't realize the 5.1 surround actually made a difference, I will have to start piping things through my sound system. Well I am getting a little better, still sticking to a lot of the teams, but not getting my butt kicked quite as badly.. :)

Re:Maybe Slayer just isn't your bag?

[Osty]

5.1 surround makes a huge difference for most games. If you don't have it setup already, you need a few things:

• Either the Advanced A/V pack [xbox.com] or HD A/V pack [xbox.com] (the first gives you s-vid connectors, the second component) because you need the optical audio output those packs provide. Buy the one appropriate to your video inputs. If you use composite video (yellow RCA plug), the Advanced pack is the one you want.
• A receiver that supports optical (TOSLink) audio input and understands Dolby Digital 5.1. If you

Re:Maybe Slayer just isn't your bag?

[glh]

Hey, thanks for the tips- I really had no idea about setting up 5.1, nor did I really even knox that XBOX supported it (just never really paid much attention, I suppose). I do have a DTS / Dolby Digital receiver but I will have to get the AV pack. In fact, I have an HDTV but am currently using the S-VIDEO cable, so that'd be a good thing regardless... thanks for the links!! Halo 2 should be worth upgrading :)

As far as campaign mode goes, I'm currently on earth getting and just finished up the tank portion

Re:Maybe Slayer just isn't your bag?

[Osty]

BTW, I didn't know you worked for MS, that's cool! What do you do there?

I've been here for a few years, working on various service-related portions of MSN (the billing system [microsoft.com] that backs all of Microsoft's subscription services like MSN, XBox Live, bCentral, etc), and currently work on the team that develops the software for customer support representatives for those subscription services. It's an interesting and challenging problem space, IMHO, and we're hiring [microsoft.com]. (forgive me for the pimpage)

Also... I

Premature congrats

[Red Warrior]

on both. Talk to Sol about bricks. I've heard that she's something of an expert.