So I'm perusing my e-mail and I notice an interesting e-mail from the
MemphisLan.com (a local computer gaming league of sorts) And I notice that
they are having GibFest 7.0 (The big gaming event they put on) this weekend.
It consists of the following new activities (and in a new location)

-------
Gamers,

      I just got done with the Con Meeting today about the Gibfest that is NEXT
WEEKEND and here are some highlights.

---Free Beer to those over 21 and "Premium Beer" for a 5$ donation to
charity.
--- Free Drinks (Mountain Dew, Code Red, DrPepper etc) all night
--- Free Snacks all night
--- Limited free food (sandwiches and such)
--- Location:Holiday Inn Select 2240 Democrat (at Airways) In Memphis, TN
(901)
332-1130 . This is a NICE Hotel with tons of power for our event.
--- 24 hour anime rooms for those time when you need a break.
--- Vendors on sight with tons of items to sell. Mainly non pc game related
but
still tons of interesting items.

-------

Not to mention that they whole three days is nothing but nonstop computer
gaming on a network with more than 70 people.

So I read over that list and began to have a wanton desire to cry. If there
was anyway in the world I could've been in Memphis at this event this
weekend, I would have found a way to cut off my left nut and be there. Where
is a Geek's heaven? It's in Memphis on March the 22nd-24th. :(

I had always wanted it.

It was the coolest thing. No one had one. The devil has his charms they say,
and Microsoft is no exception. The Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer. No one
else had come out with optical mouse yet, and I just had to get my hands on
one. In Early 1999, no one had realized the wonderful potential of optical
mice, for Apple taking them up was still quite a while away. I was loathe to
spend $70 on just a mouse, but every time I saw it in the store, I had to
touch it and feel it's power. It was even red like the devil...

My roommate Austin had told me all along that it was a waste of money, and
that a wireless mouse would be a much sounder investment. But I never
listened of course. The allure of the red glow was far more powerful than
common sense.

Finally in early 2000, I was in Memphis for a weekend, and I ended up in
Wal-Mart with a friend. I had just received my tax return and I had a little
money for once. I again saw the famed mouse in the electronics section, and
I had to have it.

It was pure bliss from the second I plugged it in. That bright red eerie
glow showed true the most sinful of pleasures that the mouse was. And it was
even better when I used it. It fit my hand so well. Such sensitivity. And
the extra buttons, what a bonus.

At the end of the first day, When my roommate and I wound down for the
night, turned out the lights, climbed into our respective beds, all was
quiet. The room had a tiny unusual red glow that drew my eyes. I then tried
to get to sleep, secure in my satisfaction. Then my roommate, who I thought
had gotten to sleep, spoke aloud from his loft. "Grant. Your laser mouse is
scaring me man."

The Writer's Block Issue!

My Day as by Reference to Star Trek:

--

Main power is back online, sir.
We have many hails waiting, some from the Federation.

Ship cleaning and overhaul complete.
Set course for History system in sector 210. Maximum Warp.
Sensors indicate harsh subspace interference in this section of space sir.
Oooh, ouch. Shields up.

We have a mission from Starfleet command to deliver these documents to the
Printing Headquarters.

More subspace interference sir... Shields up?

Incoming Hail from Admiral Dave Kidd
We have a mission to map the Photo sector and store it in the main computer.

Set course for the CS system in sector 200, Maximum Warp.
More subspace interference sir. I'm raising shields.

There appears to be a problem in engineering sir. We need to refuel our
anti-matter containment pods.
Set course for Starbase Student Center for refueling.

The main computer reminds us of an upcoming rendevous on Earth with members
of the Anti-Smoking Council.
Set course for the Starbase Comm, maximum warp.

It appears that we have a new mission to remap the entire sector around the
Ad Design system.

Sir, more problems in enginnering, appears we need more deuterium this time.
Fine. Set course for the S. Forest system, warp 5.
Same interference from earlier sir. I am raising shields.

We have many hails waiting for us sir, from all over the Federation.

Sir, main power appears to be failing.
Systems offline.

--
Now the real contest is who can decode this back into real english of what
my day consisted of. Have fun!

While many people have been hacked, no one has been hacked as crazily or
stupidly as I was. This story is from about two years ago.

I had recently gone looking for a "Matrix" screensaver, but was unsatisfied
with the one that was popular, because it didn't look like the display
screens from the movie. I found an alternative Matrix screensaver on another
site, and was enjoying how much much realistic it looked.

So one day I'm sitting there downloading music or browsing the web and my
screensaver starts (this screen saver always said "The Matrix ver 1.4b" or
something in a box before it started) and I'm like "Hey, what the hell, I'm
not idle" Then instead of little green characters scrolling down the screen,
I get a small chat window with a black background and green text. Then this
appears:

<john> Hey, so I see you like doing graphics.

I'm still trying to comprehend what has happened, and also, my first
instinct is to type "Morpheus?" However, I quickly understand what has
happened, but also realize that this guy has me by the balls, as I'm sure he
could delete everything on my computer. So I play it cool.

<john> Hey, so I see you like doing graphics.
<server> Yeah, I do
<john> I see you have Photoshop, but I need the full install. Can you throw
it in C:?
<server> Sure man
<john> cool

I close the window and throw the Photoshop install files into the C: drive.
A few seconds later I see my network hubs light blinking, and I wait while
he takes it, all the while going crazy about what I'm going to do. Then when
he's finished, the chat window pops up again, and the guy says

<john> hey thanks dude
<server> yeah, anytime man>

And then HE closes the window out.

Still a little crazy, I jump over and yank the network cables out of the
wall.

Needless to say, I formatted my hard drive before all was said and done.

So sometime around mid-October this past fall, We decide that it is indeed cold enough to turn on the heat. However, to do that, we'll have to call the gas company to turn on the gas for the furnace. So we decide to wait until Nov. 1st (which is no biggie really, it doesn't get that cold too early in Southern Illinois) so as to not be charged for October.

However, lo and behold about a week later, heat starts coming out of our vents as if by magic. We are quite confused by this, but accept that people in the apartment above us in our duplex had called to have the heat turned on, and the company turned on ours as well.

However, the electric bill (gas company is same) arrives in November, with a ZERO balance for gas. I repeat ZERO. So we're cool with it, and decide it's no big deal, we must be getting heat off the guys upstairs. If it gets really bad we say, we'll call and have it turned on.

December comes. It gets quite cold outside. We have plenty of heat inside. Zero balance due for gas.

January is cold and full of snow and ice, but we're quite toasty.

Then somewhere around February 13th or thereabouts, the heat becomes cold air. It appears that the upstairs people had never been fully getting any heat out of their vents, and had finally complained. The filter had fallen in such a way that it was directing most/all the heat to our vents.

It was actually OK. The weather had been fantastic, in the upper 50s and lower 60s. So we weren't that bad off. So the decision was made that we could make it. In One month we would be in the spring months, and we would be fine. How bad could it be?

Jump to today.

Bright and early this Tuesday morning, snow is coming down. And the house... is.... freeeeeezzzing! LITERALLY. I invoke my state of emergency plans, and turn on all the lights in my room, (desklamp, reading lights, torche, overhead) and then make sure my monitor is set to NOT turn off. My space heater is running almost 24/7, but I have somehow created a cave in which to live in, where my room's temperature stays about 60-70 degrees. However, the living room and kitchen are at a nice wonderful 50. yay. So my roommates are out in the living room with coats on, and being highly contemptuous of my self-created climate zone, to the point that they have gotten irritable with me.

*As Josh hovers over the Oven* (on, and with the door open) "Grant, you're just hogging all that heat in your room! Bring your space heater out into the living room to get some circulation and heat going!" I refuse. After all, it's my heater. I tell Josh and the rest they could buy space heaters for themselves at Wal-Mart for $15. It's what mine cost. I retreat back into my cave and ponder the course of events. I look down at my space heater and know that I will not give it up. It's every man for himself.

There are many squirrels that live on college campuses. Especially my college campus. Apparently, constantly being around humans has made these little critters tame to an uncanny degree. Well one day I was walking down the path, and a squirrel stopped and asked me what I knew about Microsoft Outlook. I was a bit confused at first, but I asked her what she needed to know. Well, she wasn't exactly at her computer right now, but she asked for my screen name and if I could help her with it later.

Later on at my computer "squiral962" messages me asking "Hi. it is me. Can you helap me?" And asks me several computer questions, and I try to answer them to the best of my ability. I still am a bit confused to how all this is happening, and I'm also confused why the squirrel seems to have bad spelling and grammar.

Then I wake up this morning and wonder how much stranger my dreams are going to get.