ATI came though. On the nineteenth, the replacement card arrived. However, work was has busy enough, and I had enough other priority items to do at home, that I have not able to replace the video card yet. That will be done on Saturday.

It is hard to believe that the year is drawing to a close. November is nearly over; the holiday season is about to start in full force… of course as far as retail is concerned it has started already. I’m sure we will see a large number of sales this year. Bargains galore if you have the cash to spend… It’ll be interesting to see how the retail sector fairs in market.

I received my America’s Army CD the other day. I already have the game installed from a download, it will be interesting to see if it is the same product on the CD as is available for download. I also saw the CD for sale in Best Buy the other day as well. If you are into FPS (first person shooters), it is well worth checking out the game. Despite what any of the critics may say, there will be few who can produce a FPS better than the army can.

I also picked up the Spearhead expansion for MOH: AA (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault). Despite the crummy demo experience, the single player version of this game is worth checking out, especially if you liked MOH: AA. A good deal of improvements on the game play, models, and terrain interaction. If I get time, I will write a real review on the product and post in the reviews section.

Last week, the audio CD "An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 (The Liberation Trilogy, Volume 1)” was burned through in an only four days. I have listed this for sale on amazon.com, as the only way to keep feeding the learning desire is to sell the items after I have used them, and use that money for the next purchase. This was a good read/listen however, I am not nearly as up to speed on WWII as I would like to be, so I have many items I have filed for further research. Someone who is up to speed on WWII history will find this an easier and read/listen than I did. However, I am looking forward to the other installments. If you have not already take a good look at the CMOHS (Congressional Medal of Honor Society) website. There are a number of stories, well worth the read and many soldiers who deserve to be remembered for their actions.

Playing with ringtones,

Uploading Ringtones To an Ericcson R300LX Phone

The R300LX will store four custom tones in the phone, You will need to send an SMS message with the "eMelody" format for the phone to accept the ringtone. One site to get them from is lehed. Here is an example, "Inspector Gadet" from the morning cartoon.

:eMelody: defgapfp#gpepgpfpdefgap+D+#Cppppdefgapfp#gpepgpfpDpppp#CD

Create an email message and in the to field enter,

YOURCELLPHONENUMBER@mobile.att.net

To reduce of the size of the message Leave the subject blank, however it is not necessary. The text of the message needs to start with ":eMelody:" followed by the ringtone. Send the message, and wait for your phone to receive it. A window should pop up on your phone displaying "New Melody Received - Play ?" Press "Yes" to listen to the tone. If you like it, press "Yes" to save it. Select which "Melody Field" to save it in and press "Yes" again.

Today was my start with the new employer. Same drill just a different name on the paycheck.

On Thursday of last week, my ATI Radeon 8500 128 video card died. The fan on it seized, and the core processor overheated. The result was some massive tearing on typical 2D desktop draws, and you could forget 3D.

This will be my first attempt at support with ATI so we will see what happens. It is in warranty, but they require a $250.00 (US) security deposit for the advance exchange. I received the typical automated replies, but have not received any further information. Attempting to track the item on the UPS website just displays that they have received the billing information. Typical.

I has a spare NVIDIA card around, so I needed to juggle video cards from the server to the workstation. That wasn’t fun, but I am up and running, and after 16 business hours (80 normal hours) ATI has not even shipped the replacement card yet. Damn good thing if I do say so myself. The card had best ship by tomorrow; else, I’ll be spending time listing to hold music courtesy of ATI.