Mountain Dew MDX

Energy Drinks Are Back!
With the new Mountain Dew MDX!

Of all the craziness, they have come out with an energy drink from the people who started this caffeine craze!
Mountain Dew has the "MDX"
Their new slogan is, "Be Nocturnal"
lol

You can log onto their website and play the flash games, or watch the video ads
(I know my sister will love the second one)
:-)

Honestly, after trying it,
I can't taste a huge difference between it and mountain dew. Most energy drinks are really carbonated, but this tasted just like normal dew.
But, at $1.72, it's a really good deal (where most drinks are $2.09 after tax).

If it came down to it, though, I'd just grab an Amp.
(Speaking of which, is "Amp" a competitor of MDX? Very odd, since they are from the same company... I wonder how the target audiences differ)
But the little bottle is nice, since you can take it into computer labs (they require that your drinks have a cap before you sit in front of the computer).
Weighing in at 14oz, it's a cross between the huge energy drinks and the micro-cans.

I was talking to another computer science major
(Luke, from the TAGD team). He was telling me that the way you can spot a good energy drink is if it tastes like Science. I don't really know what he meant since, when I think of science, I think of beakers full of formaldehyde with frogs and pig livers... But if tasting "science-y" is the scale for good energy drinks, MDX fails. It doesn't even seem to wake me up more than mountain dew.

Sad day.
;-)

LiteStep

Howdy All!
Well, my current job with the university is going well. I get to meet a lot of professors and researchers. It's pretty cool. The other day I saw a guy sitting outside my office. He was working on his laptop. Now, I really like looking at other compsci major's computer setups. It says a lot about the nerd. This guy was using litestep instead of explorer.

I was shocked!
The last time I used litestep was back in the 98/ME days (one of the few things that would make windows ME stable; lol). It was nice to see that it had come a long way since then!
I, of course, immediately went home and downloaded it. :-)

Wow, has it changed a lot since I last played with it. It now has a special theme package that automatically checks and downloads required modules with the theme you want to use. It's really awesome!

Maybe it's because I've been playing with DSL
and other liveLinux distros, but it seemed a lot more intuitive this time around. Each theme totally changes your litestep experience.

For those who are unfamiliar with litestep
Litestep is an explorer replacement. It used to be a shell replacement, back when explorer was the windows shell. Now explorer operates as a file manager and... explorer (if I'm correct).
Anyway, it changes your "Start bar" and desktop to give the end user more options. It's pretty neat. :-)

Here's what my computer currently looks like:

Now, let me explain what is, and isn't lightstep. The bottom menu is litestep and so are the right menus. The CD-cases and system information (bottom left and bottom right respectively) are konfabulator widgets. The top-right toaster is a miranda plugin called "pop-up"
Litestep does not handle windows styles.
In order to get the ability to skin your windows, you will need to use windowblinds, styleXP, or unlock your style handler to accept non-Microsoft signed styles.
The background was made by yours truly... I was bored, so I filled one of my glasses with scope. :-)

Yeah, I have an OS test Tuesday (The class is really fun, but the book is uber-boring).
later

F.E.A.R.

Well, I just finished "FEAR" the game
HOLY COW!!!!
That was one of the most incredible games I have ever played through!
You can say tons of stuff about the game-play music, and graphics... but I want to focus on something that many game developers seem to forget...
THE STORY!

The whole time I played FEAR I kept getting "enlightened" to the story.
It is one of the deepest, richest stories I have ever experienced in a game.

I felt like I was a hero in a movie... and I didn't know if the hero won in the end!
LOL, I've watched several different movies that had plots that weren't this good.
In short, if you are ever feeling stumped or freaked out in the middle of this game, keep on playing, the ending is incredible!

1. The game gives you the story in a few ways:
   
2. Your team over your comlink will tell you information that you upload to them via laptops you find in the complexes
   
3. There are a few radios in the various levels that keep you in-touch with the outside world
   The answering machines on office desks
   
4. And finally, the various whispers, flashbacks and physical (non-physical?) encounters with the ghosts.

I have been watching scary movies for some time now,
and I know how to predict the endings; but I never saw this coming.
You most likely can do the same thing,
I think everyone knew the ending of "The Others" after seeing "Sixth Sense".
I honestly wasn't surprised in "The Village", except for the unveiling of the monster.
But FEAR kept on pushing it's story and twisting it, and a HUGE part of the game is spent in foreshadow so when it finally comes together... you are LITERALLY blown away!

I immediately got online to see if anyone else had a review for this masterpiece, and found that IGN (duh) had a great review!

To say that FEAR keeps the tension running high is an understatement -- playing the game for a few hours straight can get a little draining

I really encourage anyone who has not played this game to try the demo. I played it, but found it to be very taxing on my system. Surprisingly, the actual game ran well (and I played it on my laptop!!). I spent about 15 minutes setting up the performance options, but this is made either than with most games because there is an option to test the new settings using a "test scene" (very small level that loads fast and tests for the "average game-play").
Anyway, if you like the demo and the scares and shooting it offers, go out and get this game!
I nearly wet myself many times, and the FPS part of the game is a ton of fun too.
It's not often that I am happy to have a slew of armored commandos in a firefight, but in this game, you need a chance for the hairs on your back to go back down.
WARNING: This game is scarier than "The Ring", "The Grudge", or "Alien".
It's also scarier than "Doom 3", "Doom 3, resurrection of evil", "Resident Evil", or "AVP2". It saddens me to say that my favorite scary games all pail in comparison.

The reason this game is so much scarier than the movies is that in a movie, you have no control. In the game, though, the spirit isn't rushing towards the main character... it's coming after you!
::Shivers remembering many scenes that caused me to leap out of my chair::

My roommate started laughing at me when he heard me yell at the monitor and rip off my headphones. He thought I was a baby... Then, he watched me played and started freaking out too!
LOL
FEAR is most certainly a game that is as much fun to watch as play. And that says quite a bit about it.

I know that I'm crossing my fingers hoping that Vivendi makes a sequel!
:-)

My Rating: 9.5/10 A++

IGN's Review

9.0	Presentation Excellent production values, but a few holes persist.
9.5	Graphics It doesn't get much better than this, and the bevy of options make things highly customizable to your rig's capabilities.
9.5	Sound Gorgeous music, spooky ambient sound, and great sound effects abound.
9.2	Gameplay Challenging combat, great set pieces, detailed environments, but not a lot of environmental variety.
8.0	Lasting Appeal The main game is relatively short; multiplayer, while having some neat tricks up its sleeve, won't replace Counter-Strike any time soon.
9.2	OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average)