I took the plunge...

I'm debating again...After almost five years with the Sidekicks I may call it quits...

My Target actually has Wii's in stock. I want to buy one so so bad but I shouldn't...

Since I pre-ordered The Orange Box last week I was able to start playing the Team Fortress 2 beta this week. It's part of a deal going on right now. I never actually played the original Team Fortress but this one is a ton of fun. Since it's beta it's still a little buggy and has crashed on me a few times but it's worth it.

The game is a class-based multiplayer first person shooter. The fun concept is that you get to switch between the nine different classes that don't just look different, they are different. There's the Engineer who can build stationary guns and teleporters, the Spy that can turn invisible or disguise himself as a member of the opposite team, the Medic who can heal his teammates. The other classes are the Pyro, Heavy, Scout, Sniper, Demoman, and Soldier. And you can switch between the classes whenever you want.

It also keeps statistics of how long you play in each class and how well you do. The statistics are cool but I kind of don't like seeing the time I've played as each character. I get the feeling I'm going to log quite a few hours with this game and I don't want to constantly remind myself how much time I'm wasting...

Sorry for the delay of my review for those of you who requested it but here goes. If you're not familiar with The sorensilk iPod Challenge, start here and make your way through my posts over the last 10 months to watch my progress at the bottom of most of my posts. Now, a few fun figures:

Number of songs - 7112

Hours of music - 496.8

Number of days - 317

Total file size - 36.09GB

Averaged 1.5 hours a day

Number of songs skipped - 0

Anyone who has a very large collection of music on their iPod can tell you that there's lots of it that they don't listen to regularly. It's just not possible. If I listened to mine non-stop, 24 hours a day, it would have taken me 21 straight days.

7112 songs is just a lot of music. And those are only the ones that fit on my iPod, I have more on my computer. But I had purposefully placed every single one of those songs on my iPod. Some of them were great songs that I listened to several times a week. Others, I may not have listened to a single time since I first loaded them. But then why had I even bothered to sync them in the first place? I decided to remind myself why.

One of my main worries before starting The Challenge was that I would get stuck listening to a lot of songs I didn't want to. After all, when making your way through almost 500 hours of music that had been collected over several years, odds are it's not all going to be 5 star quality. I was right, there were moments throughout my 10 months of listening that my thumb got awful close to the skip button. Generally this was only the case when I was listening to a techno song that I had five different remixes of and had to listen to all of them in a row. Surprisingly though, those moments were few and far between. I was pleased to confirm that I really do have good taste in music.

Anyone who knows me is aware that my taste in music is also extremely broad. Once again, this became even more apparent as I made my way through The Challenge. One minute I would be quietly enjoying "Fur Elise" by Beethoven, and then I was suddenly switching to "Futuresex/Lovesound" by Justin Timberlake. It took a few weeks to get used to these interesting transitions but once I did it became part of the appeal of The Challenge. My music was keeping me on my toes.

The Challenge became second nature within a few weeks. I quickly began to enjoy the variety of music it provided me. I had also gained a new freedom that I hadn't considered ahead of time. No longer did I have to spend any time or effort trying to decide what to listen to. I had a 10 month long playlist set for me. This was an unplanned benefit that was quite gratifying.

The only part of The Challenge that really surprised me was how long it took. I didn't originally think that it would take me close to a year to complete. I was committed to it though and received quite a few encouraging emails about it as I went through. I even had a few people join in.

It was nice to get to regularly report my progress and know that people were following along a little. When the majority of your days blend together it was nice to have something that I was building towards. I've actually decided to continue that idea and start another "challenge" soon. It won't be quite the same as The iPod Challenge but I'm going give everyone regular updates and even encourage feedback and suggestions on it. But more on that later.

Overall, The Challenge was a great experience. It was cool to hear all my music and remind myself why I liked it. I even stumbled across several songs that I hadn't listened to before and have begun to appreciate those artists much more now. Even if you don't want to go all the way through your music like I did, I encourage everyone out there to find a song or an album that you haven't listened to in a while and give it a good listen. Re-discover your music.

The sorensilk iPod Challenge: 1011/06 - 8/23/2007

I went to the eye doctor. She told me the same thing I've been told for years; my left eye is a little blurry but my right eye is great. I can wear glasses when reading to help reduce eye strain but it shouldn't get any worse if I don't wear them.

Then she dialated my pupils. They're gigantic now.

I had lunch at Chili's the other day and noticed some accidental racism. They were offering shirts that you could color yourself. All the shirts were black and they labeled them "colored" T-shirts. Whoops.

I found a nice greeting card assortment for all the Red Hat lovers out there. Send them to your equally geeky friends.

Today is Day 317 of The sorensilk iPod Challenge. I'm on song 7112 of 7112 - Zwara by Juno Reactor. I'll be sure to do a full recap soon...

Well, my tire did anyway. And this is the third time in the past few months. I live in a neighborhood that's still being built so often times construction material (like screws and nails) end up in the street. If you drive the wrong way you get screwed.

Of course, it was too bad to repair so now I have to order a new tire. But the tread was getting close to low anyway so I used it as an excuse to get four new tires. I only but street-class autocross tires because I love the twisties. This has given me the chance to try out a different set...

Day 315 of The sorensilk iPod Challenge

Song 7067 of 7112 - You Started Laughing by Supertramp