Behold... My first real digital tablet sketch! Yeah, yeah, it's not great, but it ain't too bad for my first real experience with drawing something that isn't just a bunch of random scribbles. Those don't count... But this, I think, was enough to make me realize how drawing with a tablet is a little different than drawing on paper, and giving me a nice display of the pros and cons! Like how you can undo anything you don't want, but how it's a little odd to be drawing with a pen on a flat surface, but looking at a computer monitor instead of where the pen is going.

All in all? I want a tablet... NOW.

By the way, I've got this posted on deviantArt. My first in a... very long time.

We all know Adobe products are massively bloated with useless junk that you can't uninstall without erasing the entire program, but come on now... Can anyone tell my why Illustrator needs all the browsers closed? Like the iTunes installer wanting to restart my entire system for a music player (which, as it turns out, was to update drivers for the latest locking of your iPhone), what could a painting program possibly need to add to a browser? It drives me nuts what these programs ask to do sometimes... It especially drives me nuts when new, Vista-aware programs want to restart. Why?! Vista's driver layer is outside the kernel now! It doesn't need to restart! I always tell it to buzz off when it wants a restart, because everything usually works properly anyway, but I can't stand the programs that force you to restart.

lern 2 code plz, k thx...

I usually post some pretty heavy stuff, so here's something new! The current amount of tabs I have open in my three windows of Opera! It's 51, to save you all the trouble of counting by yourself... Which is a light load, actually. You should see it when I'm browsing deviantArt for the latest Okami stuff... I'll usually have 50 tabs in a single window, then, with all this somewhere else. This is also not counting my desktop, which has a lot of the more important things that I need to keep open all the time... You know, like Mission maps for Guild Wars or quest-giver locations in World of Warcraft. Stuff like that.

Also, my room is finally clean after so many weeks of preparing for Finals.

I read this article on Digg, but I didn't bother to mention it for some reason. But Tay brought something very interesting (and completely expected, when you think about it) in relation to it, so now I must mention it! In a very unexpected turn of events, it would seem that Internet Explorer 8 (yes, they're still cranking out IE. Did you think 7 was the last one?) is standards-compliant now. It would seem that IE8 passes what's called the Acid2 test. This is a good thing, right? Of course it is! It's what everyone's been asking for since IE6! Finally, Microsoft got something proper, this time! Anyone would agree! No more writing around IE's inherent flaws in rendering, and this time, if something shows up wrong, it's probably your code instead of IE8!

Actually, no. There's someone who doesn't agree. Of course there is.... There's always someone out there vocal enough and insane enough to say that even when Microsoft does what people want, it won't matter. People complain about something, Microsoft fixes it, and people just find something else to complain about. (Example: People complain about drivers smashing Windows XP and to get all that stuff out of the kernel. Windows Vista does that, but I think you can tell what people think about Vista. I'm waiting for Vista SP1 to come out so I can flaunt when people said they wouldn't touch Vista until it came out... You just know that it's only a front to dodge the shots that they have an inherent, inexplicable hate for Microsoft, and that they'll find someone else to complain about when SP1 arrives.)

This guy pulls random charts out of his bu-... Erm, ahem... Out of his website's logs, and attempts to prove that people won't use IE8 by showing that the majority of his visitors are predominantly Firefox and/or still IE6 users. That's right. He's using logs from his own blog that is all about technology. I highly doubt that the regular Joe who uses what browser Windows gives him will be visiting that site. Take my site, for example, even! Everyone I know uses Firefox or Safari. As far as I know, I'm the only one using Opera. Actually, here! I can post my Google Analytics logs, too:

As you can see, clearly, Firefox dominates, with IE at a distant second place. What does that mean? It means, quite simply, that the people who visit my site use Firefox the most. Generally speaking, the people who find my site most interesting also think that Firefox is best. My site isn't exactly a public necessity, now, is it? All this tells me if that my friends use Firefox the most. If you wanted to get a good idea of what browsers the general public used, you're going to have to ask Yahoo or Google or YouTube or MySpace or something that everyone uses. But let's take a closer look at the logs that tell me what version of Internet Explorer everyone uses, shall we?

Huh... Look at that. 63% of the visitors who use Internet Explorer are using the latest one. It's a bit of a wider gap than the logs the other guy pulled out, eh? For kicks, let's look at what versions of Firefox people are using!

Pretty much the same as the other guy's. 2.0.0.11 (wow, what a version, what is that? Major.Minor.Patch.what? What comes after Patch? Hotfix?) is the lead, of course, because it's the latest. But, hmm... Do you want to know why everyone upgraded Firefox? Is it because they're security conscious and want the latest little itty-bitty third-point release? Maybe! I'm going to bet, though, it's because Firefox pops up a window when you start it and it keeps bugging you to upgrade to the latest obscure version. You know, I'll also bet that if Internet Explorer did that, more people would upgrade, but... I'm also willing to bet that if Internet Explorer popped up an upgrade window like that, people would be extremely upset and complain that Microsoft is trying to cram upgrades down their throats. So, as it is, you have to run Windows Update and manually choose to install Internet Explorer 7, or download it from Microsoft.com.

My ultimate point is this:

Internet Explorer 8 passes standards. This is a very, very, very good thing for web designers. After so long of complaining to Microsoft that their program doesn't work the way it should, it finally does! However, there are people out there who, after complaining for so long, keep complaining because... Why? I don't think anyone really knows besides the fact that it's cool to whine about Microsoft. They'll pull out logs of their little bit of the internet and say "Look! Look! IE6 is still almost half of the market share! Here's the proof" when their tiny little site about the latest in-depth technological posts are probably going to attract people who are interested in that sort of stuff, and probably don't even use Windows in the first place.

It's the Browser Wars all over again, and I know people have their favorites. Mine, personally, is Opera, but I also use Firefox (my third choice), and Internet Explorer 7 (my second choice), and I keep them upgraded and I use them all for different purposes. (Safari, by the way, is installed, but I only use it to make sure my site shows up properly.) I'm just saying... Try to keep an open mind, will you? It's a good thing IE8 is standards-compliant, and some of you need to get off your soapbox for 5 seconds and give Microsoft some credit. (And stow the "about time" comments.) Ah, but that's a little too much to ask, isn't it... These are the same people want Microsoft to get more in tune with the general user, but they aren't willing to tell Microsoft about what they generally use their computer for. (Which, by the way, I asked anyone to tell me how else Microsoft could learn how to "get in touch" with the general user, but, as I predicted, I received no comments.)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a room to finish cleaning for company tomorrow!

I'm bored, and I'm dodging the task of writing a bit of my new story idea by writing something here, instead. A whole lot has happened, but nothing of great importance in the grand scheme of things, so I'll just summarize here:

1. I canceled GameTap, and, therefore, Myst Online. I figured, hey... I don't play it. The only time I ever think of playing it is when there's an episode, but even then, I mostly just check MystLore for the latest update from those who are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, and I don't have to sit there, logged in to the City 24/7 to catch some story myself. Granted, I dabbled in the Ages, though I wasn't too impressed with Ahnonay lacking the lever to make the whole thing single-player capable. Forcing me to play with other people so I can work out my theories isn't my idea of fun. Some people like to work together, and some people don't. Personally, I prefer to work alone. I've been blasted for complaining about it, but I really don't care. Playing with people is not my idea of fun. Tough luck if you see differently, and don't like me saying so. On the bright side, you won't have "crazy GS" wandering around, and I'm saving 10 dollars a month and nearly 10GB of disk space, and I don't get to hear the hypocrites tell me I'm too obsessive over World of Warcraft.

2. With my canceling of GameTap, I decided to take that moment to purchase the remaining two Guild Wars expansion packs. I now have Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North. I must say, after taking a break and clearing my preconceptions about the thing, I've found it to be far, far more fun than I remember. Maybe I was listening too much to that one guy who hates it so much? I don't know, but it's fun now, and Capella made a new guild a while back, so I've joined that, and I've been playing with her! (Finally! I get to play with someone who isn't all-for-it one minute and then completely adverse to the idea the next!)

3. For Christmas, my brother bought me a World of Warcraft character transfer. We were talking about Warcraft and how much we both dislike Normal realms and how irritating our guild on Kilrogg was, advertising aid for anything to anyone who would join, and then turning around and yelling at us to never expect help, and then running off to the latest maximum level instance. (Excuse me? We're just asking for help like you said you'd offer. It's not my fault when I expect some follow through with your promises.) Anyway... I digress. My brother mentioned that he was looking into transferring his main character on Kilrogg to the new RP realm we've been playing, and he said he'd be willing to transfer my character, too, if I wanted, if I would help him with the Outlands. My initial reaction? "Nah!" But then I started thinking... I have a maximum level character wasting away on Kilrogg, because there's simply no point in continuing on a realm that does nothing but raid all day! So... I gave in, sold the equipment on all my other characters, transferred the assets to my 70, and shipped her over to the new realm, all in about 10 minutes! Let me tell you... There's actually a point to playing on that character now! And no more annoying guild. (I'll bet they don't even notice I'm gone.)

4. I got the new Halo 3 soundtrack and, maaan... So gooood. All the tracks I wanted out of the game and on a CD are there. O'Donnell can read minds, he can. And he makes kick-butt music. Like I said before, Halo music isn't some stupid, stereotypical, repetitive, tense, first-person-shooter music... It's a REAL soundtrack, with REAL emotions. Not just... anger. There was someone, once, who told me that Martin seemed really uppity and arrogant about his music, and that this particular someone didn't really like him... But, hey, the way I see it, he deserves some renown for this stuff. I'd be kind of proud of this music if I was the one behind it, too.

Alright, well, that's probably plenty of things for now. Like I said, it's been a busy week since I got out of college, in a way, but not really anything of a serious nature, and now! I go to poke around at writing a little bit of this story idea I have floating in my head... I had so many ideas floating around in my head yesterday that I was getting a headache. A sure sign I need to put some of it on paper.

I passed Network+! And Linux+, and A+ Essentials/IT Technician.

I can now officially be hired to work on your Windows/Novell/Unix network or work at your help desk, or fix the broken computers laying around your office, or maybe be the guy in the back who does all the fun work while you deal with the people. Yep, that's me!

As soon as CompTIA's website goes back online, I can submit all the last minute technicalities and get my As. (Of which I now have in Math. That means I have a 4.0 grade point average again this semester.) But, man, how ironic is it that CompTIA's website is down? Maybe they should hire some Network+ engineers, har har.

For the first time in... ever... The noise on my telephone line is NOT caused by property wiring, but the wires currently maintained by AT&T! I am both overcome with joy and sorrow at this prospect.

On the one hand, the on-property wiring has finally held its own and has pretty much been flawless since the whole debacle back in the day. On the other hand, AT&T's uncanny ability to provide reliable service has shown forth once again! (Sarcasm, I swear.) It's just snowed, iced, and rained for most of the weekend. If DSL dies such a horrible death in the start of winter, I hate to think what it'll do come spring.

Oh, and by the way, I unofficially (meaning it's not exactly in the main records) got an A in my Linux class, and am officially Linux+ certified, I have unofficially got an A in A+ IT Tech and A+ Essentials, and am officially A+ certified, having passed those two tests... According to my math professor, I either needed at least a D or a C to get an A in my math class, and he assures me that based on my past performance, I have an A.

I think I'll take a break today. Play some Okami or Twilight Princess or just... Hang around, and then study for Network+ final exam tomorrow, and take it on Friday. If I pass the exam, I'll have an A in that class, too. (If I don't pass, I think I'll get a B, but as far as I'm concerned, it'll be an F, since the entire point of this class is to get Network+ certified.) Hopefully, though, I'll get As all around and keep up my lovely 4.0 GPA.

And as I write this, my modem has died 5 times, and once during a transaction buying some Xbox Live points to download the latest Halo 3 maps. Hopefully I wasn't charged for that... I am a very unhappy puppy when my modem is flashing red 9 out of 10 times that I look at it.