Bioshock

Yay, it runs! The framerate's a little low, but this is actually a *little* low and not ten frames per second or anything. And that's without changing any of the default graphics settings.

According to the readme, this is probably caused by a driver problem that's fixed in the newer nvidia drivers that I can't use because nvidia doesn't support its laptop cards. I'll have to wait for Dell to write a new version of the laptop drivers, which, if they're anything like Sony, will never happen.

The game itself is pretty silly. "Kill your friends with the circus of values!"

I also bought a cheap HDTV at Best Buy. It looks like I could have saved $20 if I'd bought it online, but whatever. It looks like some of the blurriness that I'd been attributing to the excessive use of composite switchboxes was actually my old TV being old and sucky, because everything does look clearer, even though I'm not actually using any HD cabling. I'll have to figure out how to work that at some point.

But anyway, between the router and the TV, I now have everything I need to get an xbox 360 or PS3, except for the willingness to spend $400 on a console. Not sure where I can buy that...

LOUD NOISES!

Well, not really.

I didn't almost run over someone in the parking lot. I mean, I was going 10 mph, and after I screeched to a stop I had at least another ten feet before I would have hit him... I didn't see him until the last second, though, because it was night and he was wearing black, against the black asphalt. He was seriously invisible until the headlights hit him, and since I was turning that wasn't until the last second.

He *acted* like I'd almost hit him. Or something. He stood there in front of my car weaving back and forth as if to dodge, before finally picking a direction and walking off to the side. I was completely motionless through this. Then he started gesticulating at me, so I rolled down the window and gave him a piece of my mind.

"Um... sorry. I didn't see you until the last second, probably because you're wearing black at night?" I wasn't really angry.

We met again at the door, since he was taking out some trash and I was parking my car. He asked me if I was drunk. I asked him why he'd stood there in front of my car for ten seconds after I'd stopped. Then we got to the end of the entrance hallway and went different ways, so, well, hopefully I won't recognize him the next time I see him. But I don't think he was angry either.

In retrospect, he probably thought I was drunk (and was surprised that I'd had to stop to avoid hitting him) because I'd made a reeeeeally wide turn. Because I was parking, and that was how to get an angle on the space (which was on the inside of the corner, just after the turn). I've noticed that a lot of people don't do that -- they just sort of try to park without having a good angle and then make a three or five point turn to line up on the space. Very annoying if you're behind them.