matt hackmann - web developer - artist - nerd

Well, I didn't think I'd be the one to be sucked in by this, but I'm now hooked on DDR (Mario style). Actually, it's an incredibly satisfying game once you really get going. Not only are you burning calories faster than Bill Clinton could put them on, but it's also insanely fun at the same time. Yeah... get DDR... lose weight... have fun...

Not sure if I've said anything about being cashier again, but I'm definitely glad I came back. I get to see all my old pals again and I get to sleep through the entire morning (not like I have :-P). However, one night they had me helping i grocery again. I was dragging palettes of frozen food taller than myself all over the place and that's scarier than any other palette dragging I've done so far (especially when there's customers around).

Got my copy of New Mario Bros. last Tuesday and I'll say this: The 11 year wait for a new Mario platformer was well worth it. If feels a lot like Mario World and Mario 3 rolled together. The only gripe I have so far is that as far as I've seen there's nothing to make Mario fly :-(.

And, on a side note, after today I'm changing the F5 release schedule to Monday and Friday. Now that my evening is occupied by work again I don't have as much time to work on the comic.

As I write this it is seven hours until Nintendo's E3 press conference and I tell you I'm currently wide awake riding a wave of excitement (which is bad because I have to work today :-P). If you've been paying attention to gaming news in the last few hours you'll know that Sony tried to pull a fast one and copy Nintendo's motion sensing stuff (a move I called a while back, sadly it wasn't on the podcast :-P). Also, you'll know that the cheapest you can get a PS3 for is $500 bucks, and that version doesn't even come with built-in wifi. I will say this only once: Sony is going to fester in their own turds this next generation.

But on to more current news. Next Monday we'll finally see the release of the first Mario Bros. game since Yoshi's Island (1995, I believe). From everything I've seen this game is going to be absolutely awesome and from the reviews it seems that it lives up to standards Nintendo set back in the 80s and 90s. I have every intention of picking up my copy Monday.

Well, that's about all for now. Oh, yeah, cashiering rocks ;-). I must try to get some sleep if I expect to be awake for the press conference. Night!

It is once again my weekend (yay!). Work the last few days hasn't been nearly as bad as it had been, but still icky all the same. This morning was rather interesting, however. The district manager came to pay a visit today and the place was abuzz making sure everything was neat, organized, etc. It's kind of like what most college kids do when their parents come over: let things slide till the man shows up.

But, anyways, I e-mailed my supervisor yesterday (yeah, I've got corporate e-mail. 'Tis cool) and asked him exactly when I'd be going back to cashiering, and, thank heavens, he said probably between the first and fifth of May. I'd personally figured on the sixth since it begins a new work week, but the earlier the better :-).

I'll be getting up early tomorrow and try to get my appointment in for the driving test again. Hopefully I'll be luckier than I was last week. If that fails I'll try again on Wednesday. I'm really itching to get the thing because then I work on getting my spice orange Chevy Aveo:

'Tis sweet, no?

I bought the new DS "game" Brain Age the other day and I have got to say it is one of the sweetest things I've played in some time. My current brain age is 28, 20 being the ideal, down from 55 a couple days ago currently beating everybody else who's got a profile on my card (Mom, Jeff, and Chris). I've also discovered Sudoku. I don't know why I've scoffed at it all this time because it's very similiar to MasterMind in terms of solving it. However, I still like MasterMind. IT RAWKS!!

Later!

Ah, the new year has arrived and with it a job change for me. That's right I achieved my life long dream and got a part time job at the Sizzler! No, really. I am now a cashier at Wal-mart. I originally wanted to be a cart pusher because cashier was something I wanted to be even less. There was a bit of confusion for a while because I told Debbie (schedule lady) I didn't really like cashiering and I'd rather be a cart pusher. My guess is she misunderstood, got it reversed and set things in motion for me to become a cashier (they even changed my job code to cart pusher so they could change it to cashier which had me even more confused). But tonight was my first night working the register (being watched, of course) and it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I have tomorrow and Tuesday off so that makes things even sweeter.

Speaking of Tuesday there's bowling again (thank heavens)! Now that I have a job I appreciate the bowling night even more than I did before. Tomorrow Mom and I are going to go to Tulsa and do some shopping. I've got $50+ dollars of spending money ($300 if I borrowed from savings, but that's college money now). I'm thinking of buying Yoshi's Island or Mairo World (if I can find it :-P). I've even tossed the idea of getting a DS and Mario Kart DS around, but my laptop is cool enough for me at the moment ;-).

But, now that I've rambled on long enough, I bid you all a happy new year. 2005 was quite an eventful year for me and 2006 will probably bring some interesting things. Stay here for the latest :-)