I have “allergies” and also chronic sinus infections. My doctor assumes B is caused by A, but that’s besides the point. The point is I always get them, and no matter how many antibiotics my doctors prescribes, it goes away on its own. Now, the past couple of days, I have been starting to get a sore throat due to sinus drainage. This is almost expected when the seasons change. This morning I woke up at 8, and because I have a festival to go to at noon, I decided to self-medicate. The usual Claritin, Chloroseptic lozenges, and Sinus medicine. Well, I didn’t pay attention to the box of the last one. I was only worried about it containing Psuedoephedrine HCl, as the other new stuff doesn’t work at all. So, I took whatever I found, and didn’t think about it.

Until about 20 minutes later, I became insanely tired. In fact, I haven’t got out of the bed once since about 8:30. It’s 10:30, for all who care. I re-read the medicines I took, worried that they had some drug interaction or something, and then I noticed it: Antihistamine. I dosed myself up with Sinus & Allergy medicine. So, now, I am on an antihistamine high. Which has completely shut down my ability to function. I am lucky that I can even type this or make it seem concise. My head is almost completely disconnected from my body. The good things are that I can breathe through my nose, my ear doesn’t feel so stuffy, and my throat stopped hurting. Except I am as high as a kite and look like I drunk a twelve pack in an hour.

And I’m supposed to drive a good fifteen minutes to help paint faces on children. An F-bomb would be appropriate here. Luckily, I’m volunteering, but I’m afraid to call because I don’t know how effed up I sound right now. It’s not as if I am the only volunteer for it today, but I still feel bad. Maybe I’ll make it up tomorrow, but right now, all I can think about is sleep.

Sorry for the hiatus; school started. Anywho, I was browsing Slashdot like I always do, and I came upon a story of pure idiocy. To give you the summary, Tikka bought a laptop at PC World (a BestBuy/CircuitCity type of store in the UK) about 4 or 5 months ago. Just recently he found out that his laptop has started to crack at the hinge. To those who don’t know, it’ll eventually brick the computer. Either way, he tried to take it back, and the manager refused the repair… Because he installed Linux on it. Here’s the article.

First of all, the manager says he can refuse repairs based on software installed. This isn’t a software issue. This is a hardware issue. Better yet, it’s technically not hardware but a casing issue. Linux will not break the casing! Hell, Windows would if it could grow arms since it tends to break everything else on our computers. Secondly, it’s not if MS would even care, if that’s what the manager was thinking. MS was happy when the computer was purchased (or manufactured?) because that’s when Vista was installed. They could careless if Linux is ultimately used since you already paid for Vista.

This would be as if I bought a car at a dealership. A few months later (still under warranty), the engine is crapping out. If I took it back there for repairs, and they decide to refuse the repair because I installed a new CD player, I’d be calling both the maker of the car, the media, and everyone else I know.

All this is is a manager who uses his “power” to make people miserable because he’s miserable himself. That, or he’s a MS fanboy. I emailed Tikka, telling him to bring it up with the manufacturer and/or consumerist.com. Those two may help him get his laptop fixed or replaced. But what do I know? I still use Windows. (Shame, I know.)

Edit: First of all, I’m sorry I assumed Tikka was a girl. It’s a habit. Though people may suppose I’m a guy with the nickname of Vagrant Ed. (If anyone knows Cowboy Bebop, they’ll know how I got my name). Also, there is an update with the fact that the manager refused because they couldn’t bring the laptop back to its original configuration. A big ‘ol WTF is deserved there. So, this has nothing to do with the outside damage, just the original software. WTF. WTF. WTF.

Today, I’ve decided to do some product reviews of some goodies that I have bought in the past from Thinkgeek.com: Jolt Gum, Giant Plush Microbes, Microbe liquid soap dispenser, and the dual-colored LED Faucet Light.

Jolt Gum: First of all, I technically didn’t buy this at ThinkGeek. My dad bought them for my brother a while ago, and I just got around to trying it. First of all, these things are nasty. They taste bad from the beginning, and last about an hour after you’ve already spit it out. I wouldn’t know if they really gave me any type of caffeine boost, only because I chewed it for about two minutes, tops. I really don’t know if this is any better than a cup of coffee followed by a piece of Trident, but I sure know that Trident tastes better.

Giant Plush Microbes: These are a Microbiology major’s best friend. My mom originally bought my brother and I each one of these cute things for Christmas a few years ago. First of all, I got the bookworm. My brother was given the Flesh Eating Bacteria one (a.k.a. Streptococcus pyogenes!). When my cousin had her baby shower for her little girl, I bought her the Common Cold (pictured at right) and the Kissing Disease. Her older sister got Porphorymonas gingivalis (a.k.a. Halitosis) a little while later. So, now, I also have E. Coli, the Black Plague, the Flu, Ebola, and H.I.V. Each microbe looks exactly like they do on a blown up microscope slide. The colors are based mostly on the stain colors used. I must say, however, that these are cute enough to put on your bed, but freaky enough that people are compelled to read the attached tags and learn about these microbes. They’re very hardy, as I have had mine sitting in the back window of my car for a year. The microbes haven’t faded one bit. None have broken or had loose stitching.

Microbe Liquid Soap Dispenser: This is how we clean the microbes we find above off of our hands. It is the coolest soap dispenser I have ever seen. Even if I didn’t know what it was, the microbe is so stylized and heavy duty that I’d be compelled to buy it. It’s made out of the same material as a rubber duckie, and is as bright as one, too. The only style out now is the Common Cold (looks like a plastic version of the picture above), and even though it is bright blue, it can fit into any sink decor. My dad even liked it, and has asked me to buy another one just for him. This is perfect for anyone going into a medical field, and it can help teach the little ones why they need to wash their hands. Kiddies, even though Mr. Common Cold is cute, his buddies Escherichia Coli and Salmonella typhimurium aren’t so cute when they ravish your insides.

LED Faucet Light: Well, if you are going to wash your hands thoroughly in the dark, you’ll need a special type of light. That’s where the LED Faucet light comes in. As soon as the water turns on, the LED lights up and helps guide your hands or dishes to cleanliness. The cheaper version only has a blue LED that turns on, but the other version has a blue LED until 87 degrees Fahrenheit, at which time the red LED light turns on, warning you that the water is hot. This is a nifty product that makes water look cooler than it really is (or hotter, depending on the color). The only difficulty with this is sometimes when you hit the faucet while it’s off, it’ll blink on. Also, it sometimes takes the lights a few seconds to realize the water is going through. However, to make up for that, in the box are extra batteries for the lights (which are small and relatively inexpensive). Never was washing so… illuminating.

I finally got around to watching TMNT tonight. I quit working at the movie theater only a month before this movie came out, so I didn’t have a chance to see it for free. Anywho, I popped this baby in, and realized that I hate CGI. Don’t get me wrong, the CGI on this movie was done pretty well, except for the part that everyone was completely disproportional. But, I gave the movie the benefit of the doubt, since the characters did resemble the comic/cartoon more than the live action movies. That being said, I started hating on the movie only 5 minutes into it. I was never a huge fan of the comic/cartoon version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I mean, I grew up on the live action ones, Secret of the Ooze being my second favorite movie as a child (after the Little Mermaid). I barely remember the cartoon since I was so young (negative 1) when it first came out, and I was too young to read comics at the time.

Regardless, trying to explain the South American background of the story made the intro too long. Not only that, but I couldn’t get into some of the voice acting. Especially Splinter. I understand that Mako, the guy who played his voice in this movie died part way through production. However, you can tell that instead of finding someone who had a similar voice, they found a Russian/Italian guy with the cliché New York accent. Wasn’t Splinter Japanese? So, that killed part of the movie. Another section that killed was April O’Neal. I am sorry, but Buffy is not synonymous with a computer programmer/news anchor. The other voice actors were either decent or close enough to the original that it was negligible. Don’t get me wrong, the people who make their living being voice actors, they’re good at it. The people who are normally on screen, for the most part, shouldn’t lend their voices to animated characters because they’re not good at changing their voice. The guys who played Mikey and Leo are pro voice actors. That’s why I didn’t feel like ripping out their voice boxes during this movie.

So, the storyline was sub-par and the voice acting was okay. That’s almost usual for a CGI movie. Why was I surprised? Because the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was something that shouldn’t have been touched if they couldn’t do anything good for the series. First of all, the comics are their own entire universe, so they really don’t count in the discussion. The cartoons can change anything all they want, because unlike a movie, they have to make new things happen each episode to keep kids watching. Kind of like Scooby Doo. This movie, however, made itself into one long episode of the cartoon. The other thing that really ticked me off was that there was no clear bad guy. Unlike the first two (three?) movies, there was a true bad guy between everything that was happening, and his name was SHREDDER! Ugh. Please, how can you make this movie and not include even a remnant of the scariest Japanese villain? I refuse to count the “foot clan” shown on screen, because they’re just related to the real Foot clan by name only. They were contracted by the supposed bad guy to help him capture monsters. WTF? The end of the movie sucked even more by then bringing up the idea that A) there was going to be a second TMNT coming out, and B) Shredder would be in it.

How pathetic. There were no good jokes in this movie, either. No quotable “Bossanova” moments, not one “Cowabunga!”, as I can recall. This show gets only 1 out of 5 Tetris pieces.

Mister Ben Heck, the undisputed King of Hacking gaming consoles, has done it again. He took two of the best systems, NES and Atari, and fused them into the portable NEStari. Follow the link for more details.

NEStari Portable- BenHeck.com 

I love the Nintendo Wii. I will admit that I’m being sort of a fan-girl here, but, I just love the system. However, I really hate the lack of good games right now. There are only so many times your boyfriend can beat you at Wii Bowling before you want to kick the system across the room. Now, that being said, I have compiled a list of the top 10 Wii games that I am looking forward to.

10. Wii Music: Nintendo is one of the only companies that really knows how to make a first-party game. That, or other companies haven’t put their full trust into the Wii format. This game looks geeky fun. A perfect one for all the conductors in marching band. Since the game isn’t close to production here, hopefully they’ll add on a whole bunch of extra games, like Guitar Hero for the Wii, or something like what Miracle Piano used to be.

9. NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams: Now, I never played the original on Sega Saturn. My parents never let me have a Saturn. Said I had too many gaming systems (we know that can never be true). However, I have to say that with being a Nintendo fan-girl, I used to be a Sega fan-girl. Once Dreamcast died, I still supported the games Sega made. Sonic being the exception, of course. This game just seems full of promise. The lead character looks like a mix between a harlequin and Rayman. If this game can help bring back Sega to days of glory, I’d be so happy. Therefore, I’m putting my trust into this game.

8. Wii Fit: Yes, I know, another Wii-branded game. Okay, so this game sounds absolutely ridiculous. You stand on a balance board and do exercises. Maybe some push ups, maybe some yoga. But to me, it’s just some awesome music away from being the next Dance Dance Revolution. Plus, how many American kids know how to do yoga? I’m all for anything that makes you get up and do something different, instead of sitting on your butt trying to save the princess all day. This is also just like Brain Age, which I was madly addicted to.

7. The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night: I truly added this one to the list because it’s coming out on the PS2, DS and Wii, and my PS2 doesn’t like reading discs anymore. Either way, who doesn’t like the action/platformer Spyro? I used to play the first Spyro games every day for hours on end, never quite finding all the gems. I used to beg my cousin to help me. She’s 30 now, if that gives you any clue. Hell, my mom used to play this game, and the only games she really likes are Super Mario Bros. 3, Urban Strike and Qbert. I am quite curious as how they’re going to pull the game off with the Wiimote.

6. Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon: Toki Wasure No Meikyuu: As much as I am a Nintendo/Sega fan-girl, I also love everything Squaresoft (a.k.a. Square, a.k.a. Squareenix), and Chocobos are the most Square you can get. Instead of just being a summon/enemy/form of transportation, you get to be one of the yellow birds that say “kweh” a lot. I haven’t been able to play the other Chocobo’s Dungeon games, so I don’t know how this one will be compared to the old, or if the RPG elements added into this game are just part of the series, however, I am excited. It doesn’t have a concrete Japan release date, however, it has been shown that there will be job elements included into the game, like some of the Final Fantasy games I adore. The trailers for it (in Japanese) show a Chrono Trigger-esque style of fighting where you see your opponents before you battle, and you engage them in battle right on the current screen, instead of jumping into a specialized battlefield. I like it.

Welcome to the Girl Geek, the home of everything geeky. I’m going to mix geek-news of many different kinds and articles I have written. If you’d like to be an article writer for the Girl Geek, let me know and I’ll make it happen. Otherwise, enjoy!