Mobile Thoughts, Augmented Gaming

So, I'm having trouble really organizing my thoughts into something particularly relevant to post. The reasons for this are pretty clear and straightforward to me, and I'm sure plenty other people can probably fully understand them. Others will feel it's completely alien. You see, my mind is bouncing around. A lot. This is good. My intuition is picking up every little scrap of thing it can find and assimilating it, working it over, and pushing it to its farthest extreme. When you have so many ideas and thoughts streaming through your mind, it's hard to focus on one thread, pluck it out, and really put it into words. And, in all honesty, I don't really feel the need to. Yeah, it's comforting to me. It's a sensation I haven't really had the pleasure of experiencing for awhile. This, mind you, was the core and original reason for moving to Seattle. To kick start my brain's relational engine. It's working, and hopefully I'll be able to keep it flowing and maybe even amplify it. Let's see if I can't at least pluck a few little strands out for you.

First, I've been linking up my plans. This is different from what I've been doing previously, where I've been more or less just contemplating the various possibilities. Now, I'm actually tying all of them together and making an actual plan. I bought my backpack tonight, it's a nice 35L bag. I like it.. tomorrow, we're cleaning the basement. Don't want to leave it in the state of complete entropy it's in right now. Sunday, we're going to.. my going away dinner, I guess. Mongolian Barbecue. Nummy. Tuesday is my flight. I've got a reservation at the Green Tortoise Hostel for Tuesday Night, Wednesday Night and Thursday Night. I've e-mailed my Uncle to see if I can crash with him Friday and Saturday Nights. I have an appointment with Terri, of Kelly Services in Downtown Seattle Wednesday at 1.30p. She has a job I might be able to fill, so if so that'll go well. I'm also going to be spending some of my time next week looking for a room to rent. If all the pieces fall together properly, I'll have a job and a place to live in the first week of March. This is ideal.

Let's see.. buying the backpack made me seriously think about the possibilities of hiking. There are a fair number of parks and forests in and around Seattle. It might be fun to go hiking in the Olympic Forest. Just saying.

Among various longterm plans, I'm planning to save up and purchase myself a Dell 1525N Laptop. That'll be useful. I spoke with Jared last night about it, and he helped me decide how to go about it. Y'see, Dell loves to ridiculously rip you off for things. Like Upgrades. To go from 1 GB of DDR2 667 to 4GB of the same speed costs $400 from Dell. I can by 2x2GB DDR2 800 by Mushkin from NewEgg for $119. Yeah. I'll probably also upgrade the HDD in a similar fashion. Get myself a hot little 320GB for less than the 160GB upgrade. To go along with the laptop, I'm also debating a Bluetooth GPS Receiver. The Holux GPSlim-240 is looking pretty tasty to me right now. For a couple reasons. The first is that combined with Kismet, you can create Maps that are color-coded by Signal Strength. I think it'd be fun to start mapping out the Open Wifi around Seattle. Also, I've been thinking about what Mobile Computing really means. Most people think of embedded devices, Cell Phones, PDAs, etc. I'm thinking along different lines.. being as interested in Game Development as I am, I think it'd be intriguing to make a sort of MUD/MMORPG/Thing where you can find various items and mobs based on where you physically are. Sort of like Geocaching meets Multiplayer RPG. I think it'd be intriguing. Although, honestly, I'd love to have myself a practical pair of AR Glasses. Coupled with an OQO, I think I would be in heaven. Just the various.. things I could do with that. Especially if I could convince an OQO to run Ubuntu. That would make for some seriously interesting gaming. But then, once AR hits, it will add a very intriguing level to gaming. Imagine, for instance, walking down the street and seeing dozens of virtual people walking among the crowds. Or seeing your friend overlaid with a suit of armor. Yeah, it's a bit of a pipedream, but if I could find a set of not-too-bulky AR Glasses (Read: VR Glasses that are Transparent. That overlay the vision.), and get my paws on an OQO, I'd probably start working on it for kicks.

There are other things bouncing around in my head, but those are the two big ones. Finally, I was talking to James, and I decided to look up the club scene around Seattle. Looks like there're around a dozen Dance Clubs. Not sure how many play Good Music, but it does look like there might be some enjoyment to be had there. Alright folks. I'll catch you tomorrow.