I am SUPER LAME

posted on: 2008-03-15 at 10:21:00 PM

O.k. Sorry. Again. I never write in this blog. I should. I spent a lot of time getting it all to work with my web site -- what a waste!

I feel especially bad because there's a WHOLE LOT to talk about! Every few days, something happens that's noteworthy -- and I tell myself "Hey Carl-- YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BLOG ABOUT THAT." Then a week or so passes, and the buzz of that particular news goes away. BLOGGER-MOMENT RUINED FOREVER!

Well, we'll start at the top. I'm unemployed.

I have been full-time Mr. Mom for over a month now. Being at home all day every day with my son is totally different than what I expected. I love Oliver with all my heart, and he is a really super awesome little man -- but OMG, there is so much that I don't like about being stuck inside these walls with his sorry little butt. As my best friend puts it: "babies are alarm clocks with no snooze button." Every day is dominated by his needs (again, I love him and I wouldn't trade the world to be without him -- but WOW).

I get a few moments here and there to get personal things done, but I lose my drive within a few hours and usually "put it off until tomorrow." The reality is slowly sinking in that I need to find a new way to organize my time or my life will remain on pause.

It's almost like I have two needy dependents: my son, and this house. My son lives and breaths, crawls around, screams and needs immediate attention all of the time. This house remains completely still and emotionless -- yet it slowly decomposes and comes into disarray which requires regular, periodic upkeep. It's like fighting a tornado and a hurricane at the same time!

I have applied for about twenty jobs and have been officially declined by one, and have no responses to the others. BLEH. Starting this week, I am officially becoming frustrated.

I think the worst part of my unemployment is that I've slipped into a pretty icky depressive state. I do what I can (take walks, listen to calming music, have hobbies, etc.), but it is still hard to keep a positive outlook. I've been getting quite a bit of therapy through this, and after seeing two doctors and two licensed clinical Psychologists, it has become clear that I suffer from some form of ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder). The docs think that I have one or both of the following: "Classic ADHD" and "Over-Focused ADHD." Each of which are very different and take opposite kinds of medicines to help quell the symptoms. The doctors are wary to prescribe the wrong one because if I take the "Classic" meds, it could throw me into a panicky state, whereas if I take the "Over-Focused" kind, it could cause me to basically become even more scatterbrained and irritable. I am still awaiting a final diagnosis (hopefully this Friday).

I've been battling this my whole life, so putting the spotlight on my "brain dysfunction" isn't really a big deal to me. But combined with this depression I'm suffering, IT SUCKS.

In other news, I've been slowly selling off things over Ebay. It's very interesting what things are valuable and what things are not. Example: I can't sell a like-new high-quality gaming video card to save my life -- but I can sell a BROKEN 14-year-old sound card! Ebay is like another universe to me. It's very interesting to see how it all works.

I'M FINALLY GOING TO UPDATE MY WEBSITE! WOO HOO! Stay tuned, fools!

Labels: depression, ebay, unemployment

posted by Carl | 1 Comments | Leave a comment

---

Bloody PS3s

posted on: 2006-11-17 at 9:14:00 PM

All right...

People are going ape-shit over the Playstation 3. I'm sure most of you have already read the news – but for those who haven't, let's catch you up:

Sony releases a game system about once every five years (Playstation 1 on September 1st, 1995, Playstation 2 on October 26th, 2001 and the Playstation 3 today, November 17th, 2006). As with most new technology hardware, production is limited at first, as chip-makers and factories are still working out kinks in their designs and manufacturing applications. With limited supplies at the onset, many gamers are left without their coveted Playstations, and many parents are left disgruntled with the video game industry. This has been the case since the very first machines came on the market in the late 1970s.

Sony has been especially bad with system launches. At release, on average, there is about 1 system available to every 50 cash-in-hand buyers. But Sony knows how to work the system: Generate hype via extremely expensive mass-marketing and "viral" advertising, sue the pants off of any competition that they can afford (usually, smaller niche companies which pose little threat, but have a good, intelligent customer base), and then release their hardware before the final designs are finished, and while the factories are still being developed.

During the first two releases (PS1 and PS2), the hype was, for the most part, legitimate -- and the lack of supply was due to an overwhelmingly high demand because the machines were cutting-edge, well-priced home video game consoles that rightfully deserved a spot in most U.S. homes. They still released the systems too early, and they still denied the customers the service and support that other video game companies have always delivered (Nintendo and Sega, for example), but the Playstations 1 and 2 were revolutionary, and the $300 initial investment was worth it for both.

At the turn of the century, with the wide-spread use of the Internet and online auctions, video game console releases took a very strange turn. Entrepreneurs (and mind you, I use that term VERY loosely) realized that the lack of supply for Sony's machines meant that they could scalp them for thousands of dollars. If the formula holds true (1 machine for every 50 cash-in-hand buyers), then the laws of statistics, and the average income of game buyers (and Sony's ability to pump millions of dollars into advertising and lawsuits to drown-out the competition) meant that a few of those buyers would be willing to pay upwards of 5 to 10 times more than the system is worth.

Some people call this "supply and demand." I call this SCALPING.

At the launch of PS2 in 2001, about half of the available systems were actually never sold to the consumers at launch. Instead, they were held in auction for weeks, while the middle-men sellers wrung-out potential buyers for thousands of dollars per system. Most of the auctions' final bids were retracted or were never sold because the hype was so intense, bidders didn't realize what they got themselves into and buyer's remorse set in. This created a vicious cycle of sellers relisting and lowering the price to attempt to close a sale before the artificially inflated price dropped below their "reserve" prices.

Of course, many systems did sell at the insanely inflated prices, but it wasn't because of simple "supply and demand," it was because some selfish, wealthy people artificially stopped-up the supply-chain of decent, well-priced product. The truly sad thing is that most of those entrepreneurial buyers and sellers ended up only making $50 - $100 after waiting for weeks for their first successful auction – and even some lost their entire investment!

Some people call this "supply and demand." I call this YOU ARE ALL FUCKING STUPID.

Microsoft's XBox-360 launch in 2005 was little different. There were more machines available at launch, and the amount of systems that actually sold for considerably higher than the retail price were very small (only a few hundred ever successfully sold on Ebay for more than $100 over their sicker price, and only a few dozen for over twice as much as the sticker price). Another difference about the XBox-360 launch was that six people got shot, and two people died over a disputed sale (but that was in North Dakota where apparently it's o.k. to bring guns into Wal-Mart).

Now, the Playstation 3 is launching. Some people have camped out for over four days. Sony has gone to extremes by not only releasing an impossibly small amount of machines at launch (around 200,000 units in the U.S.), but also inflating their own price to $600 for the machine plus one controller. Not only has Sony screwed the general public out of a console because of their botched launch, but what they have to offer SUCKS DONKEY DICKS. The Playstation 3 lacks many of the features that their competition has to offer (for a lower price, even). About the only thing that Sony can honestly lay claim in is having the fastest processor on the market (and even that could be argued to some degree). Their controller is flimsy and offers nothing new, their console is bulky and overly-priced, and you basically have to already own, or be currently purchasing an HDTV to read the on-screen displays. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't see that as being something worthy of purchasing for the "average" gamer.

But as I've said already, Sony are masters of deception. They've marketed the balls of their PS3, and the online-auctioning has started. Some estimates are tallying that up to 90% of all PS3s being sold at launch are going straight to auction, which makes sense considering Ebay currently has about 9000 PS3s – and they haven't even been released yet.

GOOD LUCK SELLERS.

It's good to know that there are still good companies out there, and that there are still decent people who would rather walk into a store, spend their hard earned money on a real tangible piece of hardware that they will enjoy the same day (all without cheating someone else out of theirs).

I am going to very much enjoy my Nintendo Wii this Sunday.

Labels: ebay, PS3

posted by Carl | 0 Comments | Leave a comment

---