I Give Up

Sigh…Steam got hacked, possible encrypted CC and personal information taken. This and PSN hack make me hate the internet sometime.

A Milestone…

Just realised that I’ve not only written more blog posts than I did previously on The Slacker Chronicles, but I’ve also written more blog posts overall.

Hooray for me!

I Apologise For The Inconvenience

I think I’ve caught a cold. For roughly the last week I’ve barely slept, my sinuses are all congested, and I apparently have a slight fever. So more than likely a cold. Its been a boring week otherwise. I’ve done nothing. I don’t have any motivation to do anything right now, all I want to do is sleep. Due to this I’ve barely played anything of Eternal Darkness this week. I would have thought I’d be done it by this point and moved on to something else. Instead I’ve spent the week watching an anime called, “Tiger & Bunny”. I enjoyed it quite a bit, which is something I’ve not been able to say about an anime in a few years.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and I’ll try to beat Eternal Darkness this weekend and keep the internet posted.

Life of Randy: Too Much?

Just realised that having everything be Life of Randy might be too much. Basically because of my resolution to write something everyday, there will be one Life of Randy post per day, so roughly 30 Life of Randy posts a month, 365 for the whole year. Yikes.

Might have to use that label for only specific things, or maybe rename this blog, “Life of Randy”?

I’ll figure something out.

Just Write, Dammit

Time and time again I have seen it written that in order to become a good writer, you need to just write. I know I’m not a prolific writer, I know that everything that I write isn’t pure gold. Even though I know this, I am just unable to sit down and write for any length of time.

Today while going through my newsfeeds on Google Reader (Yes, I’m one of those people), I came across an article titled, “A Sure-Fire Approach to Improving Your Writing (and Getting Over Writer’s Block)”. Once again, it said the same thing I already know…just fucking write. The articles author, Seth Godin suggests the following:

If you know you have to write something every single day, even a paragraph, you will improve your writing. If you're concerned with quality, of course, then not writing is not a problem, because zero is perfect and without defects. Shipping nothing is safe.

And guess what? That’s what I need to do. So starting tomorrow, I’ll be writing something, anything, just so that I can work on my writing skills. And it won’t be good, I know that, but it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t have to be good.

So my plan for this month is to complete my video game challenge of the month starting with Eternal Darkness. On that note, there will be a slight delay to my initial impressions, due to a personal issue. I hurt my back and its uncomfortable to sit in front of a computer or play a game for long periods of time. My initial impressions of Eternal Darkness will be up by Tuesday barring any issues.

I’ll be posting something short tomorrow. TTFN!

Microsoft Phone Virus/Malware Scam

I think the worst part about being unemployed and not currently going to school is the phone calls from telemarketers. I’m on the Canadian Do Not Call list, which to date has been pretty effective. Other than the occasional call from a market research firm, or a promotion from a company I’m registered with, I’m mostly left alone. However recently I’ve been receiving phone calls from a call centre in India claiming to be contacting me on behalf of “Windows” or “Microsoft” or “The Internet”. Yes, you heard me, they’ve claimed to be calling on behalf of “THE INTERNET”.

An example of my most recent call from them goes something like this:

[Call Start]

Telemarketer [friendly] : Hello, I am calling on the behalf of Window’s Operating System, and our records indicate that the internets are reporting a large number of virus originating from your Microsoft computer.

Randy [emotionless] : I am aware that this is a scam. Please stop calling me.

Telemarketer [angry in a thick Indian accent] : Well, how do you know this is a sc--

[Call Ended]

For any one reading this, yes, these calls are scams. For one, Microsoft will never cold call you regarding any customer support issue. They will only call you if you first contacted them about an issue.

This scam is so big at the moment that even the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has listed it as their “Scam of the Week”. Please go to their site for more details.