Animeseijin

February 8th, 2010 omo

Why do I follow Mako’s silly excuse of a blog?

Because she post pics like these.

It’s not exactly a secret, but I can’t read Japanese. So why do I read Japanese blogs? I’m subscribed to Makkun’s blog, out of some misguided sense of duty–the same reason why I buy almost every solo CD she puts out I guess.

I also follow ItoShiz’s blog, but because she usually posts some interesting pictures and she doesn’t post much anyways, so it isn’t as if it makes a difference.

I follow a few other Japanese blogs for non-informational purposes, but they usually have some actual utility even if I can’t read it.

(BTW this post will get crossposted to omonomono.com in a slightly different form.)

Tags: blogging, japanese

Posted in Anime, Social | No Comments »

A New Challenger! PAX East

January 27th, 2010 omo

My friend is running a group and a room to PAX East. Traveling is cheap enough. Hotels is not bad, given I will be there only for 2 days.

PAX East would be fun, but it could also be just a waste of my time. It is slotted in early April, so if Japan were to happen this will not, and vice versa. But either is sufficient for idle amusement, tho PAX is much affordable.

Boston also means I can meet up with some folks. Steve, Alex, Wah. Whoever.

I guess I have to make a call in the next week at any rate.

Tags: pax

Posted in Games, Social | No Comments »

Japan in March

January 25th, 2010 omo

Yes? No?

Drilldown to pro/con:

Pros:

• Hang out with Moy (and others?)
• Maaya’s big concert
• TAF?
• Cherry Blossoms
• [new!] UBW, Eden, Nanoha, MacF films on screen!

Cons:

• BAD for budget constraints, really bad.
• May not have enough vacation days, need to survive on boss’s graces
• Going now means means no fun for later on in the year, and I can always just go later on in the year when the cons are not so … con.

The exact date range is going to be late march to early april. Maaya’s show is on 3/31, and TAF runs to like, April 3rd or so.

Maria and JP already set their travel plans for the last 2 weeks of March. I know I can probably run into Dave if I try. If fortune shines, maybe even Seizo. If I feel daring, maybe Taguma. Or Qix.

Tags: japan

Posted in Social | 1 Comment »

2010 Cleaning

January 11th, 2010 omo

I suddenly found myself at a slow work day, so I’ve finally migrated the current omonomono WP theme over to 2.9 usability. Probably it is better if I spend more time investigating pre-existing themes to avoid reinventing the wheel, but this was pretty quick and painless. The only thing that I might have problem down the road is the static page mouseover things, as there are dynamic versions available… Not that it matters, omonomono is unlikely to go through a design change anyways. Even visual, let alone topical.

If you know any good (meaning very simple) single column themes (no sidebars!) that offers page templates like “archives” and “links” etc and must have a dynamic mouseover page link implementation, let me know.

Another 2010 thing is I joined a gym. Because it was $20 a month and they have a pool. Now it’s just a matter of seeing if I can make the time to go. I am plenty motivated if the facilities are good, actually.

Maybe I can squeeze in some time to actually migrate this thing today. Or perhaps a blog post…

Tags: blogging, wordpress

Posted in Admin, Social | No Comments »

Yankees 2010

December 23rd, 2009 omo

Well, at this rate they’ll drop the two players I watch the Yanks for! I know the odds are not zero, but by non-tendering Chien Ming Wang yet tendering to Mitre and Gaudin it’s bad news. Of course, Wang’s price is higher than those other two, and he probably won’t be ready to pitch until May at the earliest…

More importantly, how many 19-game winners can you find on the market at the price Wang was paid? This is why free agency is most likely going to rob him from another year playing for the Bombers. The only thing is that he is in mid-rehab, and there’s no way to tell if his injuries since 2008 has permanently changed his game, and if his climb back to his number one game will happen, and how soon it is going to be. 2009’s free agent market is relatively soft, so this means supply for this kind of a pitcher is low (especially now that the Braves have dealt and we’re probably done with the blockbuster pitcher trades this season). This is what the other 29 teams have in store for them if they want to poach him. In some ways, those two 19-win seasons are what is keeping him in this limbo, but playing for the Yanks means you have to perform, after all.

Certainly my hopes are that Wang sticks with the Yankees via a incentive-based contract, but it’s more likely that a team like the Dodgers will pick him up at this time, especially Vasquez resolves their rotation problem. There’s just no space on the roster for Wang.

Less can be said of Hideki Matsui’s tenure. Everyone knew he was gone even before the end of the post-season and he isn’t going to stick around, so that cut was clean and it ends his career in pinstripes(thus far!) on a very positive note. Good luck Godzilla.

Oh, which Yulin is this? Taken from here.

Tags: baseball

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Figuring out Figures to Display

December 16th, 2009 omo

Ikea this holiday season is selling their DETOLF display cabinets for $60. Believe it or not, anime figure collectors all across the world uses this, because it’s so cheap.

I’ve looked around. The kind of cabinets I want run usually for about $300-400. If I get a break on price I can probably score something I like for under $250, but, well, that’s still a lot more than $60. And the DETOLF is serviceable. If anything, picky people can try to repaint the top and bottom slaps of wood to match their interior decor. I just went with what the walls were painted like.

And for $60, I’m rather satisfied with it. The only real issue I have with it is that, well, it’s flimsy like most Ikea furniture. In essence, the DETOLF is 3 tall panes of safety glass held together by two slabs of wood top and bottom. The thing that keeps the cabinet together are these two sets of metal railing, in which you screw into the top and bottom wooden pieces. It also holds the glass shelves inside the case. The two railings are flimsy as all heck! If they were solid and doesn’t vibrate when you walk next to them on hardwood floor, maybe I would be a happer man. If they don’t hit the glass sides of the cabinet when the shelves are empty and make that cheap rattle sound, I’ll be even happier. For extra credit, if the DETOLF was about a foot shorter, I would also be very happy because then I can set it on top of this drawer/desk combination, rather than setting it on the floor.

Setting it on the floor, if you’ve seen a DETOLF (top link has picture), means it is a display case meant for a larger room with more open spaces. Or how else can you see the stuff in the lower shelves? Elevating the DETOLF is the only other way to go. Those more expensive display cabinets all do this, of course. There’s another issue–a lot of figures I own (and probably a fair reflection on what’s on the market) tend to be sculpted with a frame of reference that is even or below the horizontal plane of the figure. In other words, a lot of these figures are meant to be looked UP at, rather than looked down at.

I think my dad’s pottery collection goes better than animu figurines on these shelves.

At any rate, I got a pair of these set up. I also tore into a backlog of figures that I bought over the past 12 months which remained in their boxes. That half-price Ciel I bought via AmiAmi was quite nice, to my surprise. Ureshiko-san donned her umbrella. Tamaki-nee’s chains were a pain to put on, but now she kneels like the eroge giant that she is. Also need to figure out where to put that OTHER Ureshiko-san and the SUPER LARGE Mai Tokiha (is she 1/6? Way too big for 1/6). I probably should also move that surprisingly lovely Itsuki Kannagi/Musumi Shimoyama figure, since that is just 1/10 and looks ridiculous next to a 1/6. Aegis Figma was cute, but probably funnier than cute; my first Figma, too.

As for the bottom shelf, I stuck Etopen there. It’s quite large for a little thing like that, or rather, I think the scale of it in the anime is spot on.

That is on top of all the other figures I already had out in display. Sigh.

Tags: figures

Posted in Anime, Reviews | No Comments »

New PC Part 2.5

December 16th, 2009 omo

This is not exactly related to my series of hardware upgrade and setup for the new box, but part of the long-term project.

A serious, big-picture look at the IT system I employ at home determined that the next “real” upgrade I should get is a systemic backup. At least, this is something I’ve been thinking about for a year or so. So I ended up buying a ReadyNAS Duo and a couple 1TB drives to go with. Cyber Monday and all.

(Man, did December snuck up on me or what.)

I’ve already done the research on home NAS for some time. And if you’ve understood the average fail rates of consumer-grade SATA drives (and its older relatives), and what data loss really means to most users, it becomes no surprise that Apple would even bother something like Time Machine.

However, backups are still a luxury, not a necessity. It might be necessary to back up important data, but it’s something that can be easily done. A totally computing-illterate person can upload all his documents onto google docs or something, achieving the same practical effect at no cost and some inconvenience. It’s spending on things you don’t really use just in case when something goes wrong.

So if we’re going to spend money, we should do it “better” than just randomly copying file to external drives. What Time Machine and the like does is regular system imaging, which can restore hosed systems easily. It’s automated, so once you set it up, you can forget it. With something like ReadyNAS you are given those capabilities and much more. And in addition you could set up file-based backup from the NAS itself, as it’s really just a Sparc-powered linux box. ReadyNAS Duo is about as big as a shoe box, so it’s quite convenient.

I am still in the process of setting it all up completely, because I’m also in the middle of a switch/expansion for the home network. Once that’s done I’ll set up automated backup for my mechanical drives as well. I have already set up a weekly cron job for the system drive, although in retrospect that drive is not going to fail any time before the other drives I’m using.

Anyways, I think ReadyNAS Duo justifies its price tag. Enterprising buyers can also try for a ReadyNAS NV+ or a used NV, as they are basically 4-drive versions of the same thing, and with more flexibility.

Posted in Gadgets | No Comments »

Facebanned

November 30th, 2009 omo

Somehow my Facebook account has been suspended. I sent an email to their redress email address but somehow I’m not expecting a response or any action on their part. I was also kind of rude in the email I guess.

I wonder if this is due to some kind of perpetrated virus or something.

Tags: facebook

Posted in Social | 1 Comment »

New PC Part 2

November 24th, 2009 omo

Instead of breaking down and putting it together over Thanksgiving I caved in last weekend and build the thing up. What’s left to do is rebuild the old box using one of the drives I currently have (probably the 250gb).

I’ll break it down into sections–

Impression:

• SSD is hella fast. When people say it’s the best upgrade you can get, I believe it. Then again I was always a fast-disk-ftw kind of guy.
• Win7 is pretty okay. Being 64 bit didn’t cause any problems, besides the $30 upgrade program needs an upgrade, and a fresh install probably means I had to do it twice.
• I like windows gadgets, but the one gadget I want/need (VPU temp) seems like a pay-only dealie, as it requires a component software used by hardcore tuners. I am not.
• The Antec 1200 is a beast. Huge. I can raise a hamster in it if I didn’t have to weave like 2 additional cords from the matching-heug Antec CP-850 just to power up all the fans in the case. And there are SIX of them that comes with the case, with space for one additional more on the side.
• Airflow in the case is serious. It’s definitely like an air tunnel. My VPU used to run on average 85-90C in my old case, now it runs 75-80C. That’s impressive; in fact it’s so impressive the VPU fan is off unless I play a game, which it rarely spins past 30%. I think this means “mission accomplished” in a different sense; it saved me the money of buying a VPU HSF upgrade or a new, quieter VPU. Kinda wish for a switch to turn off the fans short of unplugging them.
• Airflow in the case is also curious. Like a typical full tower case, one side of it is the “top” end and it is about 50% perforated. It’s also where you can install the additional (120mm) fan. Go google up an Antec 1200 review if you’re curious how it looks. In the box there are two pieces of clear plastic wrap covering it. I am thinking of leaving it like this; this way it’ll create a more linear flow of air from one side of the case to the other, and possibly a stronger positive pressure. It just looks dinky.
• The three forward case fans are the loudest thing in the box. And instead of a typical Antec “H M L” switch, they have dials that you can turn to full, mid, min, or anywhere in between. Kind of neat I thought
• Oh, the fans are decked out with blue LEDs. The top 200mm fan have LEDs on a switch. How thoughtful. But the rest of them don’t, and it kind of sucks :( Why not? It’s freaking annoying.
• I don’t entirely regret buying the Antec 1200 by accident, because it did solve one problem I’ve had, but it’s just too much for poor omo. At the very least it makes my stock CPU coolers more than sufficient. As you might have heard, the new i5/i7 have low profile HSF compared to even my socket 775 Conroe. Not that it matters–
• Overclocking this generation of i7s is like overclocking old school 80486, where you can wire a switch to the case for that “turbo” button. It’s more complicated nowadays, because there are more than a few power settings you have to change on the BIOS side, but also some CPU features like that Intel Turbo thing which OC’s single cores for single thread apps, and obviously your multipliers will be off the spec so it’s wonky and you might want to turn it off. MSI has literally a button on their boards that does this. Gigabyte does not, but in the BIOS there’s a preset feature which does this for you basically. Oh, it helps to have 1600 DDR3 ram. Which I do \o/ And of course, a reboot to turn it on/off. So it’s not quite as easy as the days of old. It really doesn’t take much to run my i5 up to 3.6GHz without breaking a sweat. And I mean by ME breaking a sweat trying to find the best values to tune the rig. As far as I can tell the CPU only runs hotter because the powersaving features are off, so when it idles it still clocks at 3.6ghz and not downclock to 1.1ghz as it would stock.
• Did I mention the heug case + the heug power supply is heavy? I guess one thing to note about the PS is that it really is quiet, and pretty quality. I don’t regret getting it even if I’ll never use anywhere close to 850w that it is specc’d for.
• So much of what I installed with this box is already in Win7’s came-with drivers, I ended up forgetting installing random crap, lol.

To Do:

• Need to move crap around so I spare out a drive for the old box. I already have an image
• Since I inadvertently solved the VPU heat/noise problem, and I doubt I’ll overclock any more than “stock OC” I might just cancel the CPU HSF, or use it in the Sonata. I’ll probably leave out the heat pipe crap this time.
• Wish I can engineer a light switch for the 5 other sets of LEDs in the Antec 1200. Time to google up a mod. Srsly, that is almost a deal breaker right there. Good thing they’re not that bright and I can point them away from me.
• Still have to figure out a backup solution. I would like a NAS but given this monster case I might just settle for 2x or 3x 1tb drives and run RAID 5. Just hope my currently 1tb will last when 3x 1tb drive is < $200 (not far in the future I think).

Regrets:

• I spent too much money.
• Related to that, it isn’t difficult to reconfigure some stuff and eek out enough cash for an i7 860. The improvements are notable simply because of hyperthreading… But rly, I’m sure my CPU can handle hyperthreading, but it’s just disabled in the hardware. Wish some magic can unlock that lol.
• Related to that, too, is the RAM. I mean I guess I have 1600 ram but I should’ve known better that I’ll rarely use it. Could’ve saved maybe $10-20.
• It’s freaking heavy. Again, and gaudy, and the light problems.

Tags: pc building

Posted in Gadgets, Reviews | 1 Comment »

New PC

November 19th, 2009 omo

Christmas is EARLY this year wooo.

This post is work in progress. I’m not too keen on posting my personal spending to the world wide web but think of it as a way to tell you about what are the prices this day and age. I picked my parts based on influence from Vinny and silentpcreview.com. It’s not a bad start if you don’t mind spending 200+ on case and PSU!

112.34 – Motherboard

283.98 – CPU and RAM. Nothing special here.

262.13 – Case and PSU. I actually didn’t mean to buy this particular case but I didn’t double check when I purchased it…

26.49 – some heat sink

259.99 – systems drive

The Newegg orders have 2% cash back totalling to 13.58

The X25-M 80gb has a 30 rebate. If I bought the P183 as originally intended I would have saved $20+tax on top of another 25 rebate (and drop the cash back down by maybe 40 cents).

Oh, I spent 30 on a digital copy of Windows 7 Pro. Yeah go Alumni Account Powahs.

That adds up to…

974.93

Ouch. In return there is 43.58, so it tops over $931. If I didn’t screw up with my order it would have been under 900. orz. But all this is for an i5 system with 4gb of ram and a 80gb SSD. I think you can probably do slightly better if you go the way of Dell or HP as they’ll give you an i7 for about the same cost, plus keyboard, mouse, cables, and an optical drive (woo another $30 worth of stuff). You just won’t have the SSD and you’ll have a 250gb or 500gb drive. You won’t have an ultra-quiet system either. Not that matters, since an Antec 1200 is not exactly the quietest kid on the block unlike its cousins P183 and P193.

Oh, you won’t have the freedom to go SLI either, nor will you have SPDIF outs. You will have a video card that’s…like the one I’ll migrate over into this box though. I won’t count it since it sort of is “used” or whatever.

Then again I’m not sure I’m done spending yet. There may be 1 more upgrade. We’ll see. In addition I might end up buying a optical drive anyways, since it’s cheap and rather useful, instead of using an old one. Or just wait till Blu-Ray write drives are cheap enough.

Tags: deals, pc building

Posted in Gadgets | 2 Comments »