hwan.com

First things first, I got my new iPhone. I had lost my old one the night of my birthday , it having likely fallen out of my pocket into a taxi from the same pants I lost my trusty SCP-4000 . Comfortable those pants but negligent in their holding of valuables! And I say "old", but I only had that iPhone for about 3 months, sigh. So, it turns out that to replace a 16 GB iPhone costs $650 CDN I kid you not. Once again I had to turn to Rogers customer service to rant about the price thrust upon me. After an anxious wait they offered me a refurbished one for $250 which I greedily took. It has since arrived and iTunes, surprisingly to me, restored all my files and setting properly and conveniently so that I am back to where I was, minus $250 but without the scratches and the wonky Home button my old iPhone had. Today I applied that Invisible Shield I had ordered on-line, a small project reminiscent of my days working with vinyl graphics. Second things second, my apartment ...

Yes, in the last minute throes of uncertainty, I went to Kitchener to hang out with Growl and company for New Year's Eve, thanks to an unsolicited last minute offer. The night was... largely, mostly, almost entirely uneventful. Drinks (SoCos) and shots (Jager bombs) were had. Photos were taken. Names were forgotten. Coats, mittens and scarves were lost. Words were slurred. Asses were slapped. Friends were reunited. The day following the only nearby place to eat was Tim Horton's, Waterloo otherwise a ghost town. Growl and I then played some eight hours of Mirror's Edge, that new first-person parkour platformer. I have to say, it looks downright gorgeous -- such clean, simple designs and graphics, without any of that murkiness that seems so popular today. The game can be difficult at times but when you start getting the hang of wall-jumps and wall-running, well, it's an exhilarating, rewarding experience. As a tumbling/running/clambering-over-things game, it...

Sick with a strange flu-like malaise. I was up at 4 AM, my throat a channel of broken glass. Slept most of the day away. Am somewhat better now, but still out of sorts with grogginess. I did go for a bike ride, the weather being excellent for that. I went to KW to hang out with Growli this past long weekend. Played hours of Rainbow Six Vegas 2, which is a lot of fun for two people working cooperatively. I still find 1st-person shooters on consoles a claustrophobic experience, like driving a very slow vehicle. The storming of rooms and setting up zones was otherwise quite rewarding. We also went to Phil's Grandson on Sunday night, which I'm pretty sure is the very last time I ever go down there, that dank, sewer-like club. Ever foreboding, ever unrewarding. Oh hey, did you get a chance to try Google's new Chrome browser ? It's neat how they can just throw together a bunch of different engines and make something fairly decent. I would make it my primary br...