Archive for May, 2003
I didn’t really expect a reply but I was kind of hoping for one. When you write a business a “demand letter”:http://www.snapturtle.com/archives/000267.php you’d think that they’d want to resolve the issue before it gets worse.
Knowing full well that they weren’t going to do anything about the *mold* problem, I called the county health department this afternoon and will be scheduling an appointment with them later this week. I’m sure after my landlord receives a letter from the health department then we’ll see some action but by then, it will be too late.
Under California law I can vacant my apartment and break my lease when the dwelling is not safe for living. My wife looked at a different apartment today and even though the cost was a little bit more per month, the price is right when you’re talking about everyone’s health.
May 19th, 2003
Argh! I’m frustrated, sick, torn, disgusted, and outraged. I’ve lived in my current “dwelling” for 3 years and from day *one* there has been a very serious issue with the sliding glass door in the living room area. The f-ing thing leaks, plain and simple. It leaks everytime it rains, sometimes moving as far as 2 feet on the carpet from the door. Are there any geniuses out there… what happens when water soaks carpeting for extended periods of time? Say 2 straight days of rain.
The answer: *mold*. Ah yes, that ever presence of mold is really starting to drive me mad. Mold is dangerous, causing health problems that can sometimes go undetected. So, since my lease is due in a couple of months, my apartment complex is attempting to have me re-sign the lease under their terms and conditions.
Well, since the problem *STILL* hasn’t been fixed after 3 years of constant nagging from myself and my wife, I’ve decided to write them a demand letter. I’ll spare you the babble but basically it states that if the problem isn’t fixed soon, I will not be re-signing my lease but will move to a month-to-month lease. But under their conditions, month-to-month imposes an extra $150 fee, which I will refuse to pay due to the mold problem.
Am I over-reacting? I think not! I have an almost 4 month old baby who’s been sick twice now and I wake up every morning with a running, snot infested nose, a classic sign of mold. I’m tired a lot, more than I use to be or should be. I haven’t been able to track it down but again, another classic sign of mold. Regardless of possible health issues I may have right now, “they can happen”:http://www.allergynursing.com/moldy/health_hazards.html. Plus a leaky door is just plain unacceptable.
I am a little worried however about the demand letter. What if they “screw” me more? What happens then… Do I get evicted and if so, where the hell am I going to live then? However, I do take some solace in knowing that “California law”:http://www.dca.ca.gov/legal/landlordbook/problems.htm#habit protects me in this case.
We shall see.
May 18th, 2003
Autumn and I spent the afternoon going to a movie together for the first time without Mommy. Of course, since the movie was “Pokemon Heroes”:http://www.pokemon.com/movies/06000391.asp, I was actually excited to go (uh… someone check my pulse). 
The movie wasn’t half bad actually. There was some pretty good CG animation in some of the scenery shots, but as always, the Pokemon were hand drawn. I’m a big fan on 2D animation, heck, my all time favorite fighting game series is still “Street Fighter II”:http://www.klov.com/S/Street_Fighter_II_-_The_World_Warrior.html.
Anyway, since I’m a geek at a Pokemon movie I took a couple of shots of the film. I was actually going to moblog the shots but the phone display is so bright in the dark I thought it best not to.
Anyone else ever take pictures using a camera phone in a theater before? Geeks unite! 
May 17th, 2003
Added more photos of Aiden recently. The additions are in the “April photo album”:http://www.snapturtle.com/gallery/album13/2 and I’ve added a new “May photo album”:http://www.snapturtle.com/gallery/album16 of Aiden.
Aiden at 3 months (Apr. 25th 2003)
Aiden sitting up (May 3rd 2003)
Hard to believe but in just 8 more days Aiden will be 4 months old. Time flies…
May 16th, 2003
While Sony and Microsoft are lowering the prices of their consoles, PS2 and XBox respectively, to $179.99 (a $20 discount) Nintendo has one upped them again. Come June 23rd, when you buy a Nintendo GameCube you’ll get a “free Game Boy Player”:http://pocket.ign.com/articles/403/403068p1.html inside the box! What does this mean? Well, for the low low price of $149.99 you instantly get access to the largest gaming library ever created, the Game Boy. Oh, you also get access to the GameCube library, which isn’t half bad either.
I “own”:http://www.snapturtle.com/archives/000064.php the Game Boy Player and love it. Being able to play games such as “Golden Sun”:http://www.goldensun-games.com, “Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire”:http://www.pokemon-games.com, “Tactics Ogre”:http://www.nintendo.com/games/gamepage/gamepage_main.jsp?gameId=934, or “Metroid Fusion”:http://www.metroid.com all on my big tv is awesome! What makes the Game Boy Player even better is that some people don’t even own a Game Boy and now if you purchase the GameCube with included Player they won’t really need a Game Boy in order to play these awesome games plus oh, what, 4000+ more titles? And I keep forgetting that they’ll also have access to the full GameCube library which includes games like “Zelda: Wind Waker”:http://www.zelda.com, “Metroid Prime”:http://www.metroid.com, and Splinter Cell.
But alas, even a great promotion such as this won’t help Nintendo move into the 2nd spot in console sales ahead of the XBox because quality games don’t mean anything to pimple faced 15 year olds. They want the latest graphics, online play, and a giant black box as their console of choice. Sure, I own a PS2 and up until a few weeks ago I owned an XBox, which I hardly ever played. The PS2 has some good games that I play on occassion but Nintendo has always been the place where I spend the majority of my gaming time. I guess it stems from my healthy dose of 8-bit Nintendo back in the day. Oh well, as long as Nintendo keeps making games, I’ll be buying them.
I’m a Nintendo lifer.
May 16th, 2003
I did it! I actually beat the Pokemon Elite Four and finished Pokemon Sapphire, kind of. You see, once you beat the final “boss” in a Poke game, the game really just starts. I still have to collect all 202 Pokemon to complete my Pokedex (uh… its like a catalog of Pokemon), so far I’ve captured only 71. Long way to go I’d say.
So, out of the 71 Pokemon I’ve caught so far, which is my favorite? I’m glad you asked because its Marill (#55) of course!
Isn’t it cute? Yeah, I thought so. How could you resist should a cute little ceature. Heck, my wife can’t resist anymore. She’s now addicted to Pokemon Ruby and we’ll be battling here soon enough to declare the true Pokemon champion of the house. Hmm… is there any doubt who that will be?
May 15th, 2003
Americans love their cars. Nothing better than driving 30 miles to work in your brand new Lexus, listening to the 10 CD changer while smoking a designer cigar. Ah, the life…
The US doesn’t do enough to support mass transit and I don’t mean Greyhound or Amtrak which are privately owned anyway. I’m talking about real mass transit, like the “trains chriskk takes”:http://radio.weblogs.com/0118995/2003/05/07.html#a80 instead of driving. In Japan, a drivers license is a couple thousand dollars?!? Are you kiddin’ me? Do you know how many people in the US wouldn’t bother to pay that price? I think the last time I actually paid for a license was when I first got it and it cost me $35. A few years back a got a new one and that one cost me $25, maybe.
Don’t get me wrong, cars are damn convenient for taking the kid to school or getting groceries but I honestly don’t think we do enough in this country to deter new drivers. Instead, a few bucks buys you a license and adds you to the mess we call traffic and gridlock. Oh well, someday maybe there won’t be anymore room to drive our cars and we’ll all just end up walking instead because our government ran out of money to pay for a good mass transit system.
My tax dollars at work.
May 15th, 2003
Yes! Hooray! Woohoo! w00t!
“Blizzard”:http://www.blizzard.com has “announced”:http://www.blizzard.com/wow/e3/2003/pressrelease-mac.shtml that their online RPG, World of Warcraft, will indeed be developed for the Mac platform! OMG! This is huge! Blizzard has always supported the Mac, but in some cases games weren’t developed during the same cycle so the Mac versions of their games were always delayed, sometimes for YEARS! But according to MacCentral, World of Warcraft will “ship simultaneously”:http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/05/14/blizzard/ for both PC and Mac.
Why am I so excited about this game? I’m a huge Warcraft fan, playing the first Warcraft of an old Mac and I haven’t stop playing the latest version, Warcraft III. Heck, I’m even a Mac beta tester for their upcoming expansion pack, “Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne”:http://www.blizzard.com/war3x/.
The whole idea behind World of Warcraft (WoW) is to be a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) which will allow for thousands of people to play the game at the same time within the same world. Instead of the static 4 on 4 battles from the past games, WoW features unlimiting gameplay by allowing players to do whatever they’d like within the game world.
*Awesome*.
May 14th, 2003
Hey, all you doubters out there, how’s 2 millions songs in 16 days sound? That’s right, Apple’s iTunes Music Store has “sold 2 million songs”:http://www.macnn.com/news/19445 in only 16 days of business. Not bad I’d say. Just “last week”:http://www.snapturtle.com/archives/000249.php I talked about how they sold 1 million songs and that the trend of selling a million songs a week won’t continue.
Hmm… :^)
May 14th, 2003
From the “OMG! Hurry up and get here!” file, Nintendo has announced the game I’ve been waiting for since the release of Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire… “Pokemon Colosseum”:http://cube.ign.com/objects/566/566822.html.
(source: “IGN”:http://www.ign.com)
Look at that! OMG! I can’t wait to play this game. Being able to see the actual size differences between Pokemon is just awesome. Also being able to level up Poke while fighting in full 3D glory is awesome. It’s going to be a really long wait for this game, I can feel it. The Japanese version isn’t suppose to come out until sometime this fall which means the US version won’t come until a few months later. What makes the wait even worse is I could easily import the game and play it on my Japanese Game Cube. However, since my Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire games are US copies and not Japanese, the Colosseum won’t be compatible so buying an import copy is just a waste of money. Oh, the agony!
Another cool Pokemon game announced today isn’t really a game at all but more of an organizer for the Game Boy Advance games called “Pokemon Box: Ruby & Sapphire”:http://cube.ign.com/objects/015/015336.html. Looks pretty cool, being able to sort your Pokemon easier and the ability to store up to 1500 collected Pokemon! A nice added bonus is you will also be able to play Ruby & Sapphire on your T.V. without the use of the “Game Boy Player”:http://www.snapturtle.com/archives/000064.php.
And finally, another Pokemon game (that I actually care about) is “Pokemon Pinball”:http://pocket.ign.com/objects/550/550431.html for Game Boy Advance.
(source: “IGN”:http://www.ign.com)
This game looks like too much fun, I remember playing the first Game Boy Color Pokemon Pinball for hours on end. I actually bought the game on a vacation trip to San Diego a few years ago and have always liked it.
I’m sure some of you are thinking I’m a freak and that’s fine by me. I love Pokemon… there I said it, I love Pokemon. They kick ass and you’re just jealous that I can name all of the original 150 Pokemon (still working on all the damn new ones). I’ve already told you I was a “Poke addict”:http://www.snapturtle.com/archives/000251.php, now do you believe me?
May 13th, 2003
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