Day: December 9, 2005

Lucy introduced me to the writings (ramblings) of Herbert Kornfeld a few years ago and I thought we had lost him…not a new posting since 2004, but lo and behold, he is back, along with free access once again! (The Onion was pay per view for awhile…)

Click here for Herbert’s Ramblings.

A biography of Herbert:
Herbert Kornfeld writes about workplace issues for The Onion. He works as the Accounts Receivable Supervisor at Midstate Office Supply, the state’s oldest wholesaler and retailer of office supplies and business machines.

Note: I would highly recommend reading the entries from Day 1 onward. His entries follow a storyline of sorts. So just navigate backwards in time and start there.

Can I just say that the ramblings of Herbert closely mimic the ramblings of our very own James in his accounting department? I remembered Herbert as soon as I read a few of James’ entries. His blog is here.

update: Oh, this is mint. They made a website for Midstate Office Supplies.

Query:

I have a cell phone. I’m now going to get a landline. I’m thinking of getting a smaller cell phone package.

Should I:
– stick with Bell Mobility since I already have a phone and have fulfilled my contract.
– get a new phone which means I would have to sign a 2-3 year deal depending on where I go and get good perks.

For example, if I sign up for three years with a new phone number at Bell – I get a new phone, and a portable DVD player. However, my number would change.

Also, if I go to Future Shop, I get a new phone, and a $100 gift card but my number changes.

So…in my eyes, I’m thinking signing up for a contract isn’t that big of a deal to me. I think for the rest of my days I will have a cell phone. And from what I know, the contract doesn’t lock you into that plan, it just means you can’t go to another supplier. So if I stuck it out with Bell for the rest of my life, what’s the big deal of signing up for a contract?

I need some advice on this. Has anyone been royally screwed when it comes to contracts? I have not. I never had the desire to switch phone companies. Well, except for the fact that it’s freakin’ expensive, but I’m sure I could just change to another plan

iplaying: Yo Mama by BC-5

Continuing on from Benoit’s entry on how he was introduced to video games, let me tell you my story:

I recall playing a Colecovision in Gaspe and didn’t really understand what was going on. Then I moved up towards Atari over at the Suddard’s where I am going to be honest here…I thought it sucked. What was with that lousy joystick?

Alright…here’s where we step it up a notch for the best 10 years of my life. I don’t know how I afforded it, but I remember that I ordered a Nintendo Enterntainment System from Nanny down in Florida. Supposedly the games were cheaper down there but I have to wonder now…anyhow I got home one day from school and Mom said Dad needed help downstairs with something and I thought that was strange since he was usually at work by this time. Then she said he needed help playing Police Quest (which will be explained later in my post of how I loved computer games). I went downstairs and lo and behold, there was Dad hooking up the Nintendo. Whoa. What a feeling. You know how you can’t remember half the stuff you’ve done in your life, but there are certain moments where you can recall them like they happened yesterday? This is one of those moments. Dad went to work and I played Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt all night and woke up early the next morning to play it again.

Nintendo became my life. That’s right…I was a video game geek. Lucky for me, I meet Marc who lived a few doors down who shared my passion. I can still remember the countless hours we spent playing Dragon Warrior just to build up enough experience to progress into dangerous territory with harder enemies. Man, RPGs were not made well back then. Now they are built so you don’t have to really build up experience…you just keep playing the game. Actually, this brings up a good rant as to how experience points are not really needed anymore in video games.

Then came the time where the Super NES came out and I needed it. However, my parents didn’t see the sense of having two video game systems (Heaven forbid!) and to get a Super NES, I had to sell my NES and all its games. It was a sad moment in my life, but on the horizon I could see the new Zelda game inserted into the Super NES console (BTW, probably my favourite video game. Perhaps I should sit down and make a top 10 list).

Over the years, I became lest enthused with Super NES and moved towards computer games – mostly the Sierra Quest series – King’s, Police, Space, Leisure Suit Larry…you name it, I played it. I loved those games. I’ll go more into computer games in another post.

When I moved to college, I played video games here and there but never really felt the itch to sit down for hours anymore in front of the television set. I am disappointed with how I turned from the uber-geek of video games to someone who isn’t even interested in them anymore.

Last year I thought that I was becoming bored with the monotony of going to work and coming home, that I may want to try a new video game console since Carrie and I used to play quite a few video games all the time. Carrie and Philipp bought a Gamecube which we played religiously for awhile and I ended up getting an XBox last Christmas.

However, I’ll be honest with you, I probably played it 10 times.

Gone are the days where I was interested in video games. I don’t know why I am this way. It saddens me actually that I am this way. How could something that was such a part of my life, just wither and die?

So there you have it..my video game history! I suggest you go see Benoit’s entry since he has a very keen interest in the video game industry and it was an entertaining read. I also encourage you to write about your first forray into it!

iplaying: Release – Live in Kingston 2005-07-15 – The Tea Party