Manic Panic? Don't think so. I want my hair color to last more than a week. Which is why I use Special Effects. Then again, I get it done at a hair place in town, by a girl who's amazing with color. The color I had before I just got it done had patches of 5 different shades, each of those shades her own blending of color - I think she used 12 different colors total. I loved it.
And I find it makes me a lot more memorable at work, which I think is a GOOD thing.
Awesome to hear such things help a lot when fixing peoples' problems.:) I would have never thought of that.
Heck, if it would guarantee me a 360 at launch, I'd flash my chest at as many geeks as needed. And yes, I am female, so I'd assume they'd find it worthwhile.:)
You can dress comfortably and fashionably at the same time. A pair of Old Navy khakis, a pair of rockport walking shoes, and a decent button down shirt is not a difficult ensemble to throw together and it looks more stylish than jeans and a t-shirt.
My gawd, stop encouraging this. It's like a damn IT uniform, and starting to cause people to look like swarms of clones. I know khakis, a cornflower blue button-down shirt, and loafers are like the official uniform where I work.
Thank gawd there are a few of us to make sure to mix things up and keep them interesting. Some purple/blue/green hair helps, along with some stuff from Hot Topic (though I need to find a better place, their stuff is cheaply made, I've discovered), and presto! I've actually gotten a couple comments from people who were on-site for training or somesuch that I was the first person around that they'd seen that actually looked like they had personality.:)
There's a chance I may be eating LUNCH there on Monday the way things are going. G4TV's going to be broadcasting from there starting at 6pm PST, the Penny Arcade guys may well be in the line there, and it appears that a sizeable number of people from the main MS campus may be trying to come by at some point.
I'm getting my 360, so I'll be there whenever is necessary. My group of people already has plans for how to make sure we get ours. So unless there are a couple hundred people there on Sunday, we're not worried. But the fewer the people that go there, the better.:)
That's because of the hard drive. Hard drives don't get cheaper beyond a certain price point, they just get bigger.
So anyone complaining about the Xbox not getting cheaper better not have been complaining about the 360 not having a HD built-in, since you can't have both at once.
It's like someone threw Tempest, Robotron, and Asteroids in a blender, then added a ton of eye candy. Pure hard-core old-school 2-d shooter gameplay in the prettiest package I've ever seen. I think I'm more excited about this one than any other launch title. In fact, I can't seem to stop watching the video.
That's right, just go ahead and wait until later to get one. Especially if you're in the Redmond/Bellevue, WA area. Don't go out and wait in line for an Xbox 360. Just keep on playing on your regular consoles. Really, there's no reason to get one. You really don't want it now. You want it later.
If you're thinking you're gonna go wait at Best Buy in Bellevue, you're not. It's not worth the trouble. Just pretend it's just another day, and don't go out.
Please wait? The fewer the people that go out, the better the chance of getting mine. And I'm already planning to take Tuesday off of work.
I do hope this points system they've implemented still allows you to take the direct approach and just take the money from my debit card. I'm kinda worried they'll make you buy arbitary amounts of points even if you're using a debit / credit card and could easily purchase the exact amount needed.
Yes, you will be able to set it up to automatically take care of buying the points from your credit card when you go to spend them. Or you can lock out such a thing from happening to prevent, say, your kid from just spending a lot of money purchasing things. You can also buy cards at the store for points, so that you won't even need a credit card to get and use them.
You make it sound like you need to use the player for streaming music to use Last.fm. I barely ever touch the player - I use the plug-in to track my own music, then use the recommendations and similar artists info to figure out which artists I need to hunt down. The site isn't only about the streaming music.
Considering that it's a 5-minute investment to get a plug-in installed and configured and an account created, and then you do NOTHING while your play information is logged on the site, not at least using the plug-in seems actually pretty silly.
I buy CDs, but I would NEVER throw them away. Why? Because I like the ability to go back in a few years and re-rip everything at higher sampling rates as storage space increases. Why get locked into a 128/160/192kbps version when you may find yourself with room for 256/320kbps later? Or heck, when storage gets cheap enough that you can rip CD's in straight-up WAV format? Only when every single bit of data is copied off the CD would I ever consider actually getting rid of them.
Last.fm is a great way to expand your musical horizons, and introduce yourself to new artists that you're very likely to find enjoyable.
I've been using the site for a year, and not only finding great new music, finding it on smaller labels (such as Projekt), and even independent artists (Hungry Lucy, Collide). In fact, I'm finding a lot of these artists that I like better than just about any RIAA crap, because the ones recommended to me are very tailores to my tastes by the site.
After this particular game, where we slaughtered them and I had half the team's kills, I had one of the guys on the other team say afterwards "PMS, how big is it?" One of his teammates said "how big is what?" Then the guy responded "her dick!"
Sadly, I didn't realize until afterwards that I should have told the guy "bigger than yours - and since I'm a girl, that says something." But I ignored it like I do most of the time.
First, it wasn't an admin job, but a SDE/T position. A bit more technical.:)
And when I started, I wasn't interested in the Xbox. What got me to get one was that I spent a weekend at a (non-MS employee) friend's house dog-sitting, and they had an Xbox and KOTOR, which I started playing and really enjoyed. And since I could get discounted games and accessories from the company store (but not on the Xbox itself or non-MS published games), I figured it would be worth it and got one. This was in Jan.
I then bought Halo, liked it, so I bought Halo 2. After watching an internal H2 tournament, I decided to give online a try so I could check out multiplayer. It was decent fun, but when it - and Xbox Live - really took off for me was when I asked for some advice on Halo from an internal news group, and ended up with about a dozen gamertags to put on my friends list, and found myself with people to regularly play with.
Through those people I found PMS, then because it was known amongs some people that I was in the clan, I got a email from an Xbox Live guy bitching about a loss him and some friends had to some PMS girls, and next thing I know, I'm playing with them (including Major Nelson, e (who's in charge of Live), and other people).
So while working at MS did influence it, there were a LOT of other factors involved. Being excited about the 360 I'm sure though has a lot to do with being here because I get to see so many trailers and demos and stuff, and have got to put my hands on the console and play it a few times.
Oh, and I'm nowhere near marketing or PR, so I still qualify as a person, right? (And marketing, PR, and corporate lawyers all do not count as people, no matter what company they work for)
Any "vested interest" as a gamer totally outweighs any such interest as a MS employee. If the 360 does well, I get, what, a few extra dollars of value in the little bit of stock I own? From a gamer perspective, if the console does well, I get to see more games and better games available for the system, and that will make me happier than an increase in stock value that might pay for a dinner out some evening. Should I include "Disclaimer: I will be buying a 360 and thus if the system does better I'll have more games to choose from"?
And claiming Live prevents entire genres of games has no basis in reality whatsoever. You think they're making developers sign contracts that requires them to only make certain types of games on Xbox Live? What a load of gibberish. Xbox Live is a framework that handles certain parts of online gaming so the developers don't have to worry about implementing it all over again - it doesn't prevent any types of games from being done over live.
BTW, lock-in? Ask EA about that - you sign in through Live, but then you're on EA's servers doing things EA's way. And here's a hint - EA's way is pathetic. The largest game developer out there, and they can't even do a halfway decent service compared to Xbox Live.
That doesn't mean I'm doing it to represent Microsoft or anything like that. I'm a hardcore gamer too, and that's the part of me that's interested. The part of me that has been playing on Xbox Live since March and been totally impressed with how well it works and how much easier it is than online play on the PC, and wishes Sony would take a clue and do the same thing with the PS3.
I know it's not popular to believe it here on Slashdot, but we're people too. I own an Xbox, GC, and PS2 (along with about 10 older game systems). I use Firefox (cause tabs are that important), WinAmp (much more practical skins and kickass visualizations), and have a Gmail account (better UI, more storage space).
They haven't activated the chip in my head to control my thoughts in months.:)
The gamer ratings that are a new feature on Live for the Xbox 360 are meant to help deal with this. As people play online and leave feedback for each other, the ones with more negative feedback are going to watch their ratings decrease, where the positive ones will increase. Thus those people who are fun to play against will be matched up with each other, and the groups of morons and asses will have to play others like them.
Will it work? We have to wait and see, but it should be better than how it is now.
BTW, they DO listen and act on feedback even on the current Live. It's just not always obvious they're doing so. People do get temporary bans and voice bans. Yes, voice bans. Those people you're playing against who appear to have no mic? Some of them may just not be able to use it because of how they've used it before.
I don't own an Xbox but I am super pleased that they are coming out with the new version because it then means that the regular Xbox games and console will be coming way down in price
The games? Maybe. The Xbox console? Not going to come down in price. You know why? The Hard Drive. Because the cost to manufacture them doens't drop below a certain level, they can't reduce the price on the console any further without just increasing the losses they're taking.
This is the biggest reason they're making the HD external in the 360 - so they can reduce the price of the console further while still being able to reduce manufacturing costs to keep them in better balance.
Yeah, cause that $50 a year is a horrible, ridiculously expensive option. I mean, wow, that's over $4 a month - how can anyone afford rent with such a huge cost?
You might have to skip a Starbucks stop one morning to cover the cost! Your life is ruined!
Considering that digital cable and some broadband costs more than that EVERY MONTH, I can't take seriously anyone complaining about the cost of Live.
Slashdot Mirror
My employer is fine with my hair now... which has been great and is now a requirement for any future positions should I ever leave this place.
:)
But I do wonder if they'll be ok with dreadfalls when I do them...
Well, the best page I've found for info and pics of the colors is here.
Manic Panic? Don't think so. I want my hair color to last more than a week. Which is why I use Special Effects. Then again, I get it done at a hair place in town, by a girl who's amazing with color. The color I had before I just got it done had patches of 5 different shades, each of those shades her own blending of color - I think she used 12 different colors total. I loved it.
:) I would have never thought of that.
And I find it makes me a lot more memorable at work, which I think is a GOOD thing.
Awesome to hear such things help a lot when fixing peoples' problems.
Exactly...
:)
Heck, if it would guarantee me a 360 at launch, I'd flash my chest at as many geeks as needed. And yes, I am female, so I'd assume they'd find it worthwhile.
Or a Microsoft employee.
You can dress comfortably and fashionably at the same time. A pair of Old Navy khakis, a pair of rockport walking shoes, and a decent button down shirt is not a difficult ensemble to throw together and it looks more stylish than jeans and a t-shirt.
:)
My gawd, stop encouraging this. It's like a damn IT uniform, and starting to cause people to look like swarms of clones. I know khakis, a cornflower blue button-down shirt, and loafers are like the official uniform where I work.
Thank gawd there are a few of us to make sure to mix things up and keep them interesting. Some purple/blue/green hair helps, along with some stuff from Hot Topic (though I need to find a better place, their stuff is cheaply made, I've discovered), and presto! I've actually gotten a couple comments from people who were on-site for training or somesuch that I was the first person around that they'd seen that actually looked like they had personality.
There's a chance I may be eating LUNCH there on Monday the way things are going. G4TV's going to be broadcasting from there starting at 6pm PST, the Penny Arcade guys may well be in the line there, and it appears that a sizeable number of people from the main MS campus may be trying to come by at some point.
:)
I'm getting my 360, so I'll be there whenever is necessary. My group of people already has plans for how to make sure we get ours. So unless there are a couple hundred people there on Sunday, we're not worried. But the fewer the people that go there, the better.
At least, unlike Sony, they actually passed on using the ones that looked like a grill.
That's because of the hard drive. Hard drives don't get cheaper beyond a certain price point, they just get bigger.
So anyone complaining about the Xbox not getting cheaper better not have been complaining about the 360 not having a HD built-in, since you can't have both at once.
The XBox 360 is the first high-def console, and I find myself not giving a rat's ass, because I would rather have fun games than high-def any day.
Geometry
Wars. A $5 Live Marketplace game.
It's like someone threw Tempest, Robotron, and Asteroids in a blender, then added a ton of eye candy. Pure hard-core old-school 2-d shooter gameplay in the prettiest package I've ever seen. I think I'm more excited about this one than any other launch title. In fact, I can't seem to stop watching the video.
It just oozes gameplay and fun.
That's right, just go ahead and wait until later to get one. Especially if you're in the Redmond/Bellevue, WA area. Don't go out and wait in line for an Xbox 360. Just keep on playing on your regular consoles. Really, there's no reason to get one. You really don't want it now. You want it later.
If you're thinking you're gonna go wait at Best Buy in Bellevue, you're not. It's not worth the trouble. Just pretend it's just another day, and don't go out.
Please wait? The fewer the people that go out, the better the chance of getting mine. And I'm already planning to take Tuesday off of work.
Actually, it's not just winning. It's winning a close game. Slaughtering other people is only fun for a short time, then it gets boring.
I do hope this points system they've implemented still allows you to take the direct approach and just take the money from my debit card. I'm kinda worried they'll make you buy arbitary amounts of points even if you're using a debit / credit card and could easily purchase the exact amount needed.
Yes, you will be able to set it up to automatically take care of buying the points from your credit card when you go to spend them. Or you can lock out such a thing from happening to prevent, say, your kid from just spending a lot of money purchasing things. You can also buy cards at the store for points, so that you won't even need a credit card to get and use them.
You make it sound like you need to use the player for streaming music to use Last.fm. I barely ever touch the player - I use the plug-in to track my own music, then use the recommendations and similar artists info to figure out which artists I need to hunt down. The site isn't only about the streaming music.
Considering that it's a 5-minute investment to get a plug-in installed and configured and an account created, and then you do NOTHING while your play information is logged on the site, not at least using the plug-in seems actually pretty silly.
I buy CDs, but I would NEVER throw them away. Why? Because I like the ability to go back in a few years and re-rip everything at higher sampling rates as storage space increases. Why get locked into a 128/160/192kbps version when you may find yourself with room for 256/320kbps later? Or heck, when storage gets cheap enough that you can rip CD's in straight-up WAV format? Only when every single bit of data is copied off the CD would I ever consider actually getting rid of them.
Last.fm is a great way to expand your musical horizons, and introduce yourself to new artists that you're very likely to find enjoyable.
I've been using the site for a year, and not only finding great new music, finding it on smaller labels (such as Projekt), and even independent artists (Hungry Lucy, Collide). In fact, I'm finding a lot of these artists that I like better than just about any RIAA crap, because the ones recommended to me are very tailores to my tastes by the site.
Well, some of us are working on making it more acceptable for girls to play games and be open about it.
Yeah, I'm used to that.
After this particular game, where we slaughtered them and I had half the team's kills, I had one of the guys on the other team say afterwards "PMS, how big is it?" One of his teammates said "how big is what?" Then the guy responded "her dick!"
Sadly, I didn't realize until afterwards that I should have told the guy "bigger than yours - and since I'm a girl, that says something." But I ignored it like I do most of the time.
First, it wasn't an admin job, but a SDE/T position. A bit more technical. :)
And when I started, I wasn't interested in the Xbox. What got me to get one was that I spent a weekend at a (non-MS employee) friend's house dog-sitting, and they had an Xbox and KOTOR, which I started playing and really enjoyed. And since I could get discounted games and accessories from the company store (but not on the Xbox itself or non-MS published games), I figured it would be worth it and got one. This was in Jan.
I then bought Halo, liked it, so I bought Halo 2. After watching an internal H2 tournament, I decided to give online a try so I could check out multiplayer. It was decent fun, but when it - and Xbox Live - really took off for me was when I asked for some advice on Halo from an internal news group, and ended up with about a dozen gamertags to put on my friends list, and found myself with people to regularly play with.
Through those people I found PMS, then because it was known amongs some people that I was in the clan, I got a email from an Xbox Live guy bitching about a loss him and some friends had to some PMS girls, and next thing I know, I'm playing with them (including Major Nelson, e (who's in charge of Live), and other people).
So while working at MS did influence it, there were a LOT of other factors involved. Being excited about the 360 I'm sure though has a lot to do with being here because I get to see so many trailers and demos and stuff, and have got to put my hands on the console and play it a few times.
Oh, and I'm nowhere near marketing or PR, so I still qualify as a person, right? (And marketing, PR, and corporate lawyers all do not count as people, no matter what company they work for)
Any "vested interest" as a gamer totally outweighs any such interest as a MS employee. If the 360 does well, I get, what, a few extra dollars of value in the little bit of stock I own? From a gamer perspective, if the console does well, I get to see more games and better games available for the system, and that will make me happier than an increase in stock value that might pay for a dinner out some evening. Should I include "Disclaimer: I will be buying a 360 and thus if the system does better I'll have more games to choose from"?
And claiming Live prevents entire genres of games has no basis in reality whatsoever. You think they're making developers sign contracts that requires them to only make certain types of games on Xbox Live? What a load of gibberish. Xbox Live is a framework that handles certain parts of online gaming so the developers don't have to worry about implementing it all over again - it doesn't prevent any types of games from being done over live.
BTW, lock-in? Ask EA about that - you sign in through Live, but then you're on EA's servers doing things EA's way. And here's a hint - EA's way is pathetic. The largest game developer out there, and they can't even do a halfway decent service compared to Xbox Live.
Read my journal. I admit to working at MS.
:)
That doesn't mean I'm doing it to represent Microsoft or anything like that. I'm a hardcore gamer too, and that's the part of me that's interested. The part of me that has been playing on Xbox Live since March and been totally impressed with how well it works and how much easier it is than online play on the PC, and wishes Sony would take a clue and do the same thing with the PS3.
I know it's not popular to believe it here on Slashdot, but we're people too. I own an Xbox, GC, and PS2 (along with about 10 older game systems). I use Firefox (cause tabs are that important), WinAmp (much more practical skins and kickass visualizations), and have a Gmail account (better UI, more storage space).
They haven't activated the chip in my head to control my thoughts in months.
The gamer ratings that are a new feature on Live for the Xbox 360 are meant to help deal with this. As people play online and leave feedback for each other, the ones with more negative feedback are going to watch their ratings decrease, where the positive ones will increase. Thus those people who are fun to play against will be matched up with each other, and the groups of morons and asses will have to play others like them.
Will it work? We have to wait and see, but it should be better than how it is now.
BTW, they DO listen and act on feedback even on the current Live. It's just not always obvious they're doing so. People do get temporary bans and voice bans. Yes, voice bans. Those people you're playing against who appear to have no mic? Some of them may just not be able to use it because of how they've used it before.
You've just summed up all of Slashdot in one sentence.
I didn't think that was possible, but you've done it!
I don't own an Xbox but I am super pleased that they are coming out with the new version because it then means that the regular Xbox games and console will be coming way down in price
The games? Maybe. The Xbox console? Not going to come down in price. You know why? The Hard Drive. Because the cost to manufacture them doens't drop below a certain level, they can't reduce the price on the console any further without just increasing the losses they're taking.
This is the biggest reason they're making the HD external in the 360 - so they can reduce the price of the console further while still being able to reduce manufacturing costs to keep them in better balance.
Yeah, cause that $50 a year is a horrible, ridiculously expensive option. I mean, wow, that's over $4 a month - how can anyone afford rent with such a huge cost?
You might have to skip a Starbucks stop one morning to cover the cost! Your life is ruined!
Considering that digital cable and some broadband costs more than that EVERY MONTH, I can't take seriously anyone complaining about the cost of Live.