Week in review…

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/31/06 at 01:03:28 pm

This has been another long week, there’s defiantly a lot going on, I’m not going to get into a rant about work, especially because it’s such a new job and I should keep a good attitude about it for a little while longer. But the place definitely has no problems reminding me that I’m always open to something better.

I was contacted by a firm in which I applied for a couple months ago and managed to set up an interview for next week. It’s a job I’m seriously interested in; The drive isn’t far, the pay is good, and it’s in my field of expertise. So we will see what happens with that.

This week I decided to whip up a little project, it can be found at marklangenfeld.com/client. I wanted something to refer potential clients and professional acquaintances to rather then having them get their first impression from my weblog and such, for obvious reasons. Tell me what you think in the post comments if you’re so inclined.

My week may have been slow, and I may have to work tomorrow (Saturday) but the rest of the weekend is shaping up to be alright. Last night a friend and I hit Grand Casino Hinckley, It’s always fun to blow money on slots and such, and I actually didn’t do too bad. It sounds like Sunday I’ll be taking another trip to the Mall of America with the family so that gives me something to look forward to.

Anyway, I have a lot to do and a lot to catch up on and little time to do it so…

Happy Friday!

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/25/06 at 02:03:05 am

I took off from work early today to meet the cable guy at home for the installation of my new cable internet. I’ve been waiting for a conventional broadband solution to come out here for a long time and I’ve been using the neighbor’s open AP for means of internet access since I moved in last summer. So it was a big deal this winter when USCable partnered with WarpDrive online and managed to get the lines and equipment ran out here for the high bandwidth cable services like the internet, HD cable, and so fourth. I decided to go with the ‘Sonic’ service right away to get the best connection I could, its 5 Mbit down and about 600 Kbps up for only around 34 bucks a month. A good deal in my opinion. With the job I have now I should know.

As I said in my last post; a few friends and I were planning to hit Mall of America last night for dinner and such. We ended up having dinner at Buba Gump Shrimp. The food was really good and the service was great, I highly recommend checking into the place if you find yourself craving seafood at MOA… For those of you not familiar with Mall of America, Knott’s Camp Snoopy has been the amusement park there since like the beginning of time. It’s sad because just recently Knott’s pulled their affiliation with Mall of America and the mall was forced to come up with a new theme for the park in less then a month. The result isn’t pretty, the new name is “The Park at MOA” and it’s basically a really bland amusement park with no theme. Apparently they are in the works with firms similar to Knott’s but a permanent change might not happen for a year or so. Anyway the Camp Snoopy gift shop was selling the last of its peanuts stuff for like 80% off. I ended up buying a bunch of it.

Alright, it’s late and I believe that’s all I have to say. Goodbye for now.

Nuggets of Information

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/22/06 at 11:03:57 pm

So far it has proven to be a very long week and it’s only Wednesday. When and if tomorrow ever rolls around it sounds like I’ll being making a little trip to Mall of America with a few friends after work.
We will likely take the Light Rail in from Lake St. Park and Ride… If you’re familiar with North East Minneapolis you probably know which station I’m talking about. Anyway it should be some good times; we’re just going down to grab dinner at Hooters or somewhere and maybe do a little window shopping… Nothing too special but at least this gives me something to look forward to this week.

On another note, you may notice a new banner ad on the site for http://dreamincode.net. Dream in Code (DIC) is an online community for web developers and programmers. I’ve likely rambled on about DIC in the past, and I know I’ve had links and buttons on here before… But I’m going to go ahead and give them another plug. I’ve been a member of DIC since Oct. 2001 and part of the administration staff since late 2002. In that time the community and its members have honestly taught me everything I know about programming and web development. Currently the community is growing faster then ever and if you ever wanted to get into or expand your knowledge about programming, web development, graphic design, or networking DIC is the perfect place. Dream in Code offers resources and the tools to learn for everyone. Interested? you can visit Dream in Code by clicking Here the registration is completely free of charge and the knowledge you can receive is priceless.

New Feature: Photo Moblog

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/19/06 at 05:03:21 pm

I’ve been working on a way to post photos from my Hitachi G1000 PocketPC Phone for a while now. Because it’s far from a conventional cell phone or a conventional smart phone for that matter… Posting photos to a site like Flickr from the device was no picnic.

I had to set it up with a special email account and use Flickr’s post by email feature. I have a system worked out to where I can send the photos fairly quickly. I can just take the photo, move it to the email program and send it off.

Expect frequent updates and many photos to be showing soon on the new ‘Photo Moblog’. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while and I think I’ll have a lot of fun with it in the coming weeks. You can access the photos posted from my PocketPC Phone at my Flickr gallery located at http://www.flickr.com/photos/markodageek/ or you can click on the new Flickr badge located to your right.

This time I made it.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/16/06 at 11:03:39 pm

On Monday morning we ended up with nearly a foot of snow which caused something like 4 hour freeway delays. After watching some of the MN/DOT cameras online I decided to stay home from work. Come Tuesday I arrived at work about 40 minutes late due to the traffic. The highways were still fairly icy from the day before. In fact many portions such as on ramps and such look as if they haven’t been plowed at all.

Now let me explain what I’m getting at. If you’re a returning reader you likely know I live in Minnesota. Aside from Alaska we have some of the harshest winters in the nation. A foot of snow never used to be a big deal… It’s not like Texas or somewhere, where a few inches of snow can shut down the entire state. We have enough equipment to where we could clear off of our major highways in a matter of hours. The problem is that equipment isn’t being used. Over the last couple years MN/DOT has been whining about budget problems. Less money is going to equal less plows on the road, in fact on my 55 mile journey to work on Tuesday I saw only 2 on the freeway.

The budget issue isn’t the real problem though; it’s what’s causing them. Currently MN/DOT is working on a massive renewal project just north of Saint Paul where I694 and I35E meet. They are essentially ripping apart a semi-new freeway to put in another. Nothing is being changed, nothing is being added, and the freeway that’s being torn up is by no means in bad shape. It seems lately these sorts of projects are becoming a trend while the highways and services such as snow removal that really need the overhaul are being ignored.

I’m not going to sit here and rant about MN/DOT all night, however I could. The point is MN really needs to get their priorities straight. Not just with transit either, Inter-city public safety needs financial help (Minneapolis Police), Education funding needs help… The list goes on. What is being done about it, Light Rail expansion and new sports stadiums!

But as the title says I did make it to work today. We had another 6 inches or so dumped on us in a matter of a few hours this morning and the roads were treacherous. I left extra early to make it into work on time. But again, MN/DOT must have been sleeping in; I passed only one lonely snowplow on the way to work.

It’s amazing how…

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/15/06 at 09:03:35 pm

Just a quick change of the site’s header can give it a new look. This is actually the first I’ve made where I didn’t take the photo myself. But I found it to be mildly amusing so I went with it. I’m not sure how I feel about the header just yet so don’t be surprised if some slight alterations are made.

On another note a few people have asked why recently I have been nearly unreachable during weekdays. The company I work for has their offices located in a Federal building and use of cellular phones is actually banned in the upper floors. That’s why if you try contacting me while I’m at work I won’t respond. It’s also why I originally wrote this post on paper to be posted later rather then posting from my Pocket PC phone or something..

Another topic that has been brought to my attention is my Resume. I was actually thinking on updating my resume tonight when I get home. The resume on the site is fairly outdated and there are some things I would like to add to both the online and print versions. The resume will likely be updated by the time you read this, so if you’re an employer, I’m always open to a good offer.

Half-Life 2

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/14/06 at 08:03:02 pm

After being completely hooked on this game to the point where I’m actually ignoring certain aspects of life just to have time to play, I thought I would jot down a quick review here at work to help pass the time. After about a week of playing a couple hours daily after getting home and about 18 hours this past weekend I did manage to beat in my opinion the best FPS game I’ve ever had to endure.

This is saying a lot coming from a big fan of series like Halo and such but the game really was amazing. I think what really blew me away was the attention to detail that was done. Details can really add a whole new dimension of realism to the game play and in Half-Life 2 (HL2) there’s so much going on that isn’t centered around the main character.. It just makes you feel like your actually there.

I had the chance to play both the Xbox and PC versions of HL2 and it was interesting to compare the two. They definitely skimped on some of the detail with the Xbox version and overall it just feels dryer then when playing on the PC. If you have a computer that will run the game I would suggest looking into the PC version. Personally, I ran the game on my P4 3.2 GHz / 1GB DDR2 / Geforce 6800 with the graphics settings cranked up at 1280×1024 and it runs without a hitch.

The story in HL2 was solid and very well done. I’m a huge fan of urban combat myself so blowing away nazi Combine soldiers in the streets of a metropolis was wicked fun, but it seems the game offers an amazing story-backed experience for everyone.
There’s lots of action, puzzle solving, and graphic horror scenes involved in HL2 and it all ties very well into the story. However it’s definitely not a game for the younger ones.

Although the game has plenty of content it seemed to end fairly abruptly. There was a lot left unexplained, this may have been done on purpose however it really caused the ending to be too predictable. This happened in the first Half-Life too.. It’s like the extreme realism suddenly drops off in favor of some kind of fantasy ending to the story. The problem is that the transition doesn’t blend real well due to the lack of information about what’s really going on. Don’t get me wrong, the ending was good it was just sub-par compared to what else I’ve seen in the game.

If you plan to get HL2 definitely look into the first Half-Life. HL2 picks up right where the first left off and to get the full jest of what’s going on you almost need to be familiar with the story. I picked up Half-Life 2: Game of the year edition which includes a re-mastered copy of the original Half-Life along with Counter-Strike: Source for around $40.00 USD…

It’s like an addiction!

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/11/06 at 11:03:17 pm

Ever since I got this computer finished I’ve been hooked on Half Life 2. I have the weekend off and I planed on getting some things done but I’ve literately been playing this game all day. It is hands down the best FPS I’ve ever played. The story is solid and interesting, the graphics and realism are amazing… If you haven’t checked it out you can get the Game of the Year Edition for about $40 US and that includes Counter-Strike Source and a re-mastered version of the original Half-life.

On another note, the new job is going well so far. I just finished week three and I think I can officially say that it’s bearable and definitely better then what I was doing. Thinking about those cold nights in the middle of nowhere still send shivers through my spine. What can I say; as a friend put it I’m definitely a “weenie” I get scared easily. Working a drone day job for ‘The Man’ is definitely something I’m more comfortable with.

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