Wow.  I just realized how long it's been since I wrote code regularly.  I fixed a cosmetic issue in a single text string on a particular web form.  I got a great sense of accomplishment from that small act.  In that one moment, I felt like I had done more to advance my project than everything I had produced over the past months of doing documentation and attending meetings.

I need to find an open source project to work on if I'm going to continue being a non-developer in my day job.

Anyone want to buy a slightly used copy of Halo 2?  I'm completely disappointed with it and would like to cut my losses right now.  Why you ask?  Good question.

1) One of my friends sent me a clan invite.  When I sign in to XBOX live, I get a pop-up saying that I have a new message.  When attempting to accept the invite, I get a piss poor error message saying that I have “Insufficient Permissions”.  Holy crap.  What permissions could it possibly be checking?  I paid for this crap?

2) Here's the one that really stokes my fire.  I like to sign into XBOX live even when I'm playing single player.  That way, if one of my friends want's to play multi-player, I can be notified.  Unfortunately, the developers of Halo 2 thought it would be a good idea to ABORT YOUR SINGLE PLAYER GAME when your XBOX live connection is interrupted.  Again - Holy Crap!  Why in the world would anyone think it would be a good idea to terminate a single player game if an XBOX live connection is dropped.  Pop up a freaking icon or play a sound or something if you think it's important that I know about it, but for God sakes, don't abort my game and send be back to the last checkpoint.  How did this ever get through testing?  Don't answer that, because I already know.

3) After about 30 minutes of playing, I get violently ill.  Googling revealed something called “simulator sickness”.  Well, that's what I have.  I've never had a problem with FPS games before.  Only Halo and now Halo 2 induce this reaction for me.  If the above two problems didn't exist, I would suffer through it by limiting my sessions to about 20 minutes or so, but it's just not freaking worth the hassle.

I can't think of a better way to start the week.

My old boss, Gabriel Torok, is staring in a video on Channel 9.  Check it out.

This is exciting!  Polls are closed in Ohio, but no projection yet.

7:46 - CNN reporting that there are still huge lines in Cleveland.  I believe it.  Hopefully everyone who was in line at 7:30 will be allowed to vote.  Unfortunately, that may mean we won't know which way Ohio will go for a while.

7:50 - 51% Bush to 49% Kerry with less than 1% reporting.

7:52 - I wonder what is going on in Virginia.  With 11% reporting Bush is ahead 58-42.  I'm no statistician, but that seems like it's not even close.  Why hasn't it been called?

7:56 - CNN reporting that NAACP is suing to keep polls in Toledo open.  Cuyahoga County still has large lines in predominantly African American precints.  At this point, it's believe that they will all be allowed to vote.

7:59 - Ashland and Hancock counties are showing up RED (GOP) on the Ohio map.

8:01 - Kerry jumps ahead in the Electoral Vote count at the most recent poll closing mark.  77-66

8:09 - Early results show Ohio Issue 1 as passing.  This is the amendment that would prohibit same-sex marriage.

8:10 - Even though Dan Rather has said several times that CBS would rather be last than wrong, they have called more races than CNN at this point.  They have Bush ahead 80-77 in electoral votes.

8:12 - Barack Obama wins a senate seat in Illinois.

8:14 - CBS calls North Carolina for Bush.  I'm leaning towards sticking with CBS tonight since they're being a bit more agressive. I know.  2000.  Florida.  I get it.  Caution.  Whatever.  Lightning can't strike twice right?

8:18 - CBS calls Virginia for Bush.  Florida, Ohio and Penn. still up for grabs.  95-77 Bush.

8:20 - CBS reporting that Ohio Issue #1 has passed.

8:21 - Cuyahoga county becomes the first BLUE county on the CNN Ohio map.

8:26 - Local news reporting that in Summit county (where I live), someone was calling voters telling them that their precint was moved.  They're calling it dirty politics and that there will be an investigation.

9:04 - NBC calling Ohio a “Dead Heat”.

12:04 - Still a Dead Heat.

12:36 - Everyone keeps saying that Ohio is the new Florida.  It's ironic when you consider just how many Ohioans are also part time Floridians.  Let's just call this the snowbird election.

6:10 - Here we go again.

1:23 - Kerry has conceded.

It's election day here in the battleground state of Ohio.  I didn't make up my mind until I had the punch card stylus in my hand.  I don't care who you vote for, just vote if you have the right.

At my polling location, we had to stand out in the rain for over an hour this morning before we could get inside where it was dry.  Of course, my precinct was the only one with ANY line.  The other two that shared the same building had no line at all.  I think some redistricting is in order.  The most interesting thing was the signs in each of the voting booths warning about “Hanging Chads“.  Four years ago nobody would have known what that meant.  This year, they didn't need an illustration to explain.  Wow.

I just hope we actually know who won the election by the end of the week.  Four years ago was hell, but it definitely seems to have increased voter turnout this time.

My wife and I are on our way to put the earnest money down on the house we're going to build.

Well, that's not an easy question to answer.  First of all, I am really swamped at work getting ready for this little trade show we have every year right after Thanksgiving.  Secondly, my wife and I have finally decided to enter the ranks of home ownership.  We're still in the early stages of the process, but are fairly certain that we want to build rather than buy.  Talking to builders is completely consuming us.

Oh, if you're scoring at home... This makes one of my “Before 30” items a lay-up, but definitely puts another out of reach for good since I will be staying in the Cleveland area for the forseable future.  Screw it... why be cryptic?  I applied for a job (several actually) at Microsoft.  I never got called.  I'm moving on.

My friend and colleague, Rob, is on a trip to visit his family in the Dominican Republic.  He's blogging about it over here.  Very interesting stuff.

Back on Thursday.