Because I’m pre-occupied with games and weather and a cat attaching itself to my arm whenever I attempt to type.

The Dark Knight is out- everything else can fall off the face of the Earth as far as I’m concerned. Did I rent it? No. Did I buy it? Not yet. What the hell is taking me so long?

There are a few reasons I haven’t purchased or rented the dvd and one of them is because I live for the build up. Yes I’ve seen it but I haven’t seen it in my home. The second reason being is that my student loan should be completed next month. 7 years of paying off that damned thing and it’s almost complete! Once it’s done I should be able to once more receive my income tax return and get to an ungarnished paycheck (the dept of Ed WILL take everything until a student loan is paid off). I appreciate the loan to further my education despite my poor choice in education, but it will be nice to resume life as normal. I can buy stuff for other people again instead of living hand to mouth and seeming like a selfish b word!

My point? Trust me, I do have one… I can get a PS3 with blu-ray… and I wish for my first blu ray to be of The Dark Knight. My first game to be of Tomb Raider Underworld.

In OTHER news- I’ve been on/off updating the site and Facebook because of computer issues at home. While I can update my status on FB at work, I can’t access the mail portion or requests. At home my computer has been messed up and FINALLY- today it has possibly been resolved. I’ve had my laptop on for 5 hrs now and there have been NO issues I can access my files, my monitor remains on and my only issue is the McAfee scan taking FOREVER- which bogs down the performance.

V-bear… I think you’ve fixed the monitor issue! The corrupt profile and inabilty to access my files, I had been working on for the past few hours (not continuously of course) but I now have regained complete control over the computer and I think awesomeness has been reached. I *think*. I hope. Oh God I hope so.

The next thing on my list to fix- my Exilim Z77 Digi cam. The LCD is shot. It’s a bright white- but the camera works. I can take pictures… just no idea of what exactly… and I can’t turn off the flash because I can’t control the controls. I HATE flash! The reason this sucks other than my love for taking pictures- I recently inherited Jesse (aka Mad Movie Guy’s) GIGANTIC whiteboard which I’ve used to draw my version or rendition of films I’ve recently seen. The latest film? Zack and Miri make a porno. I saw this flick almost a week ago and drew my take on it right after… not that it’s the best thing in the world, it’s a fun, quirky drawing that will probably never be seen by anyone who isn’t me or home visitors.

MY COMPUTER WORKS AND I AM HAPPY!!!

I’m currently watching The Princess Bride- I haven’t really seen it in 20 years so this is a nice treat… and I’m also thinking of a conversation I had early today that I may copy/paste once I get the history from the other computer (no worries- anyone I copy and paste a conversation with, I gained permission to copy/paste text conversations I have with)

Previously I was uber cool. Awesomely cool and a certain surreal relationship with someone stripped me of all my coolness completely by the year 2006. I am to be given situations and tasks spontaneously of situations that can make/break the cool factor and you, the readers can grade me. Although I am docked several cool points for the initial tasks (reenacting via dolls…) it should help me get back to my old cool self.

HOW will I come up with the situation? I’m still trying to figure that one out. I’m hoping to get help from the readers or one of my language books (open to a random page and act out the scenario or how I believe it should go).

Will I be cool again? Only time will tell.

I don’t really have a kawaii obsession this week, but ‘awww’. I’m sure if I were learning a different language it would be cute, just laughable… but since I’m not… here’s a random Bishoujo Kyouiku segment I’m throwing out there(and will continue to do so once in a spontaneous while). Ayaka surprises the girls of Morning Musume with English Lessons. It’s pretty amusing.

Puffy AmiYumi really rocks it in a fun J.Pop kind of way and I’m in a fun J.Pop kinda mood. Posted about a year ago and revisted- Tokyo… I’m on my way!!!

I love this girls’ (insert awesome Yiddish slang here). She took a couple of bottles of wine to test out Googles supposedly safe guard against drunk e-mailing and has possibly sent herself to the same social suicide wasteland that I am now in due to some wonderful Merlot nights oh so long ago ;)

Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008

For a company that’s dominated the Internet by doing one simple thing well, Google has also managed to build a thriving side business in bells and whistles: its features offer everything from the ability to search inside books and videos to the ability to watch a kid fall off a bike from the privacy of your own home. So when I heard that Google had unveiled a new feature called Mail Goggles that is designed to stop you from sending embarrassing e-mails while drunk by requiring you to do math problems, my first thought was, That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. My second thought was, I want to try it.

One of Gmail’s optional features — along with more sensible applications like keyboard shortcuts, an e-mail signature or a profile picture — Mail Goggles operates on the theory that if you’re sober enough to complete a series of simple arithmetic problems, you’re sober enough to decide if you really want to e-mail your ex-boyfriend and tell him you still love him. With Mail Goggles enabled, Gmail will send your e-mails only after you have completed five arithmetic problems within 60 seconds. By default, the feature activates during weekend nights between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., although the settings allow you to change the date and time. If you’re more of a Tuesday afternoon drunk, Mail Goggles will be there for you. Of course, at that point, you might have bigger problems to worry about.

I decided to test Mail Goggles in the most systematic way possible. I surrendered my Saturday night to research, experimentation and the scientific method.

Hypothesis:
Mail Goggles will keep me from sending e-mails that I might otherwise regret.

Supplies:
2 bottles of wine
1 laptop
My college friend Laura, who once helped me climb up a concrete pedestal in order to dress a Civil War statue in a Hawaiian T shirt.

The test:
10:03 p.m. Mail Goggles is activated. I send a control e-mail to test my sober math skills. I subtract 12 from 22, and wonder if I’ll ever be too incapacitated to come up with the number 10. “You know you can change the difficulty level,” says Laura. We pour ourselves some wine, change the difficulty to Level 3 and start watching a movie.

10:25 p.m. I’ve had one glass of wine. I reply to a friend’s e-mail about her recent bad date. Mail Goggles doesn’t work — no math questions appear and the e-mail is sent. “Maybe you have to sign out and sign back in,” suggests Laura. That works. If this is a necessary step, though, it’s a huge flaw in the Mail Goggles system; nobody signs out of Gmail after every use.

10:45 p.m. Two glasses of wine. I e-mail another friend and tell him that his eyebrows are too big and he looks like one of the Jonas Brothers. I have this thought every time I see him, but I usually keep it to myself. The e-mail goes through. My friend will now ignore my phone calls for the next few days. I decide to change Mail Goggles’ setting to maximum difficulty, Level 5.

11:10 p.m. Three glasses of wine. The problem 420+152 is not hard enough to keep me from e-mailing an acquaintance to tell her that I don’t understand her religion and her clothes are out of date.

11:35 p.m. Three and a half glasses. I feel great. It takes me two tries because I mistype my answers, but I successfully e-mail Laura to tell her that I want more wine. “But I’m sitting right here,” says Laura. She politely opens the second bottle.

12:17 a.m. Four glasses. To my unemployed friend with a master’s degree: “Why don’t you move out of your parents’ house and get a real job?”

12:43 a.m. E-mail a co-worker and complain about the economic depression.

1:09 a.m. Mail Goggles makes me answer “8 x 2″ twice. I use this opportunity to tell my cousin that her feet smell.

1:37 a.m. I drink some more wine and try to tell a friend that his hipster arm tattoo is going to look ridiculous when he gets older, but I can’t type the words correctly and I get stumped on 517-139. I keep forgetting to carry the numbers. “Water and bed for you,” says Mail Goggles, but then it lets me try again. And again. My insult succeeds on the third try.

1:52 a.m. You know what? I should e-mail my ex-boyfriend, even though we’re not on speaking terms. Mail Goggles makes me divide 42 by 7 but otherwise has no problem with my incredibly bad decision. Maybe the program would work better if it filtered certain phrases like “What’s your deal?” or “jerkface.”

2:32 a.m. I write one last e-mail, apologizing for the previous e-mail, but I’m too tired to do the math.

2:47 a.m. I fall asleep on the couch and wake up half an hour later, thirsty and confused. Laura has apparently gone home.

10:15 a.m. I have three responses asking what my problem is.

Conclusion:
Mail Goggles’ math questions are too easy to deter any but the sloppiest of drunks. However, my last e-mail remained unsent. If you have to do math at 2:30 in the morning, you’re more likely to stop sending e-mails because you give up, not because you actually get the answers wrong. As a purely dissuasive tool, then, Mail Goggles works as advertised. Of course, there’s still the text message, the Facebook message and the good old-fashioned drunken phone call. There are plenty of ways to humiliate yourself if you try. And for those determined to reveal their true feelings via e-mail, the company that brought you Mail Goggles helpfully provides a way around it as well: the Google calculator.