Adam’s Cerebral Spillage

Back in the days when I was fairly heavily into PC games I used to play a lot of Quake 3, and when I say a lot, I mean a LOT. It was mostly confined to the Rocket Arena 3 mod (which now lives on in a mode known as Clan Arena), and I regularly played in a team in several leagues. In fact at one point we won our division in a European league which, despite sounding like a very lame boast, was a proud moment. Anyway, the point of all this dithering and waffling is that the game has been reborn, and yours truly has gotten in on the beta test.

Quake Live (formerly known as Quake Zero) is essentially Quake 3 again, the game itself hasn’t really changed in any way, shape or form. The major change is in the way the game is delivered. Rather than a massive install and a dedicated executable with everything that goes along with it, the game is now played in a web browser. Yup, that’s right, a normal web browser. It’s an impressive technical feat if you ask me, I remember struggling to meet technical requirements just to run the game in the past, let alone just opening Firefox (Chrome isn’t supported yet) and visiting a website.

The first time you sign up and log in you need to install a plugin, which I suppose is where most of the magic comes from, and once you get to the site proper you can see that it’s downloading an updating files in the background. It’s very clever, using a Skill setting match against a bot to hide the downloads in the background. Once past that formality it’s on to the game proper, and it’s very impressive. The game window acts as a server/match browser offering up all the game modes you’d expect such as FFA, TDM, CTF and CA, a click later and you’re into a game. It works brilliantly, the maps load really quickly, the pings are good (all American servers so far by the looks of mine @ 150ms) and it plays surprisingly well. I need to play with the options a bit more to see what’s available, but as far as free games which run from your browser go, there’s nothing even close. It’s a closed beta for the time being, so unfortunately if you like the sound of it you’re going to have to wait a little while first. The only problem I can see is my addiction starting up again. A chance would be a fine thing though, my computer is constantly threatening to die for good. At first it was just choosing not to boot whenever it felt like it, now I think the CMOS battery is dead. Every time I power it up I have to set the bios up, I have to wait for hardware detection, it’s just a mess. Maybe once the house is done I can look at saving and getting a replacement.

It was gorgeous out yesterday so we took the dog to the beach for an hour. I can’t believe how much like Spring it was, the sunshine was really warm, there were loads of people out kicking footballs and running about, and there were dogs as far as the eye can see. Murphy loves it when we go to the beach now, he’s in his element down there. The first few times he didn’t know what to make of it, but he knows Portreath beach like the back of his hand paw now. As soon as he’s off the lead he has an uncontrollable urge to go to a particular pile of rocks and make a little pile of his own. After a couple of lengths of the beach we head over to the rock pools for a paddle. I have a bit of a predisposition which for some reason makes me want to get my dog in the water whenever I can. Whether it’s because I want him to be a strong swimmer, or just that I find him funny to look at when he goes all wet and straggly, I don’t really know, but a trip to the beach isn’t complete unless I have a damp spaniel for the rest of the day.

He’s still going to agility, and on the whole is doing very well. His only downfall is his lack of attention when other small dogs are about. There’s a little spaniel in his usual class who he’s utterly besotted with, but she doesn’t even know he exists. It’s quite hard to work a good combination of jumps, tunnels and turns when your dog buggers off after the first jump and starts sniffing. This week I took him to an earlier group and he did a lot better. He’s perfectly capable of doing a combination of 8+ obstacles when his brain is in the right place, but he’s a bit too free-spirited (not badly trained, honest) at times. Bless him though, he enjoys it, especially all the cheese he gets as bribes and treats.

Murph’s two years old soon, it’s gone very quickly.

Technorati Tags Quake Live, Spaniel

Today, my little dog Murphy is exactly one year old!

Here he is just before giving his new green pulling toy a good going over this morning. He’s such a good dog on the whole, apart from his apparent shoe fetish – he loves to chew them.  According to his Kennel Club certificate today is his birthday, so he’s now one year old!

Training was very hard last night, the warm-up was a very tough one and the whole lesson was very fast-paced. During the speedy basic drills there were times when I wasn’t sure if I was coming or going. We did some kicking forms too, yours truly was last to finish. It’s not always best to finish first, I’m pleased that even though I took longer, my techniques (while not great) were better than some around me. It depends whether you look at it like a speed or endurance drill really, ideally it’s both, but I have some time to work up to being both fast, and performing really well.

We did some self-defence, and my new ones mean I have a couple of new ways to bring someone to their knees, or put them down flat on their back. It’s just a case of getting the technique just right so they’re powerless to resist. It’s a science, that’s for sure.

When I got home I was really beginning to feel what the previous few hours had thrown at me since my hurried trip home from work, and took myself straight to bed for a little reading and to let myself wind down and take in everything. It didn’t work very well at first, the first hour or so I just felt really wound up, but later I was able to close my eyes and get a peaceful nights rest. I’m a great one for replaying the days events in my head as I drift off, I find it helps me make sense of it all and figure out what’s what.

Let’s have a couple more tracks to close with, the first one is for me, it’s not easy listening that’s for sure but listen to her voice! If you do start listening, give it a whole play, the guitar riffs are fantastic.

Arch Enemy – Blood On Your Hands

And the next, I heard it on another blog recently and it reminded my how much I like it. Definitely not one for just me this one, everyone should enjoy this.

When In Rome – The Promise

Technorati Tags 1st birthday, arch enemy, murphy, Spaniel, tang soo do, training, when in rome

No, the title is not an example of my poor spelling, it’s an oh-so-clever play on words by yours truly, for this past weekend was truthfully like summer. Weekends at the moment have slots reserved for walking Murphy because by the time we get back from work on a weekday it’s already dark. The woods and the beach aren’t much fun at night for a very sociable little dog. The forecast was supposed to be quite good, but it was way beyond anyones expectations I think, we were treated to glorious sunshine and warmth.

On the Friday evening I went with some friends down to a couple of new local bars to check them out and see just how much money sitting in nice surrounds would cost per drink. First off we headed out to the Sand Sifter at Godrevy which was really nice, if completely bereft of people. We had a quick drink there and then headed over to a new place in Hayle called Salt, which was really nice. Very laid-back and really nicely done out, which as anyone who’s spent any time in Hayle will tell you, is quite something! My friends crashed at our house that night, none of them (me included) making it through the screening of Die Hard 4.0 which seemed like such a good idea at the time.

The next morning we took the world’s gingerest spaniel down to see my friend and her dogs, and took them for a run and splash at Gunwalloe, down at Church Cove. It was so gorgeous, you’d swear it was summer and not officially the middle of winter.

 Church Cove

The poor pup was absolutely shattered after this, and I’m reliably informed would barely move that evening. He’s such a sorry sight if he’s knackered.

Sunday came around and it was still sunny! I didn’t think it could match up to the previous day but I was proved wrong, it was hotter again. This time Murph was joined by his three usual cohorts and our other friend’s dog, a particularly speedy greyhound. I’m not sure how long we were down there, but I’d wager it was easily a couple of hours. The beach in question this time was Perranporth.

 Perranporth Beach

That picture was taken where we sat for a glass of something cold outside the Watering Hole, which isa pub rather handily built on the beach itself. Once again Murphy made the most of it with plenty of dog-chasing, dog-sniffing and splashing about in rockpools and the river. It was all he could do to lift his head to look at me when I got in from training last night. It’s easy to forget sometimes that he’s still only 10 months old.

Thanks to Mother Nature for this sneak-peek at what summer may be like this year, I can’t wait for barbecue season.

Technorati Tags beach, church cove, dog walking, hayle, perranporth, Spaniel, summer

Those of you who’ve been reading regularly will remember that last March, our household became one larger with the addition of a spaniel pup, a pup we named Murphy. This is how he looked back then (excuse the dodgy phone camera picture)…

Cute eh? Well recently that cute little bundle of fur has decided that it’s a great deal of fun to – and there’s no polite way to say this – hump the bejeezus out of just anything he can get his spindly little legs around. Unfortunately this has also come to include me, and I’m not just talking about your run-of-the-mill leg loving here, he’s particularly fond of my arms for example.

Last night we were engaged in a bout of a sport I recently invented – Spaniel Wrestling – because the hideous weather meant a walk would’ve been more like flying a ginger kite, and he started to get frisky. In my attempts to preserve his manhood, I’ve been trying to convince my other half that he should be able to keep what he was born with, and that it was just his youthful exuberance to blame, so I quickly ended the game and went to lie down on the sofa. Captain Von Humpydog had different ideas though, and though that this would be the perfect opportunity to assault me and attempt his coup d’etat – getting it on with my head!

Suffice to say his attempts were cut very short indeed, but it’s left me feeling that maybe it is indeed just about that time, and that maybe Murphy has to lose his plums. I shudder at the thought of waking up one night and finding him up to his antics with whatever part of me he’s turned his affections towards. The problem is this…

How on Earth are you meant to resist that!? Every time I look at those big seal-like eyes it’ll be like he’s saying “Why? Why did you do that to me? Look how cute I am”. I’m sure common sense will prevail, I just feel sorry for him joining the cats in the house’s Order Of Eunuchs.

Hang in there Murph, use the Force! Or at least have a cold shower.

Technorati Tags half a man, humping, plums, Spaniel