The first day of the mass o gaming humanity know as million man lan (aka lanwar), is in the books. We arrived about at about 11:30am (doors opened at 10). Everyone filtered in throughout the day, and more will show tomorrow. The layout this year is HUGE. Well it’s always huge, but even more so this year with all the exhibitors and games for the general public. It’s kind of like three events in one: the BYOC for the lan gamers (like me) who will be here 24×4, the pro-tourneys for the likes of Fatal1ty which kickoff tomorrow, and the vendor exhibits for all of us plus any spectators who wander in.
Speaking of Fatal1ty…the guy must have quite the ego after going to events like this. Between the Creative booth which looks to be an alter to him, the gigantic banners throughout, and the bunches of machines branded with his logo, he really is the commercial posterboy for the twitch generation.
After setting up our boxes we staked our claim on the campground. We’ve got a big 3 room tent and my Aztek/tent for the lot of us. It gives us a place to grill some burgers and catch a few Zs (probably very few – heck it’s past 4am now!)
In general the first day is a warm up of sorts with everyone getting settled. No tournaments until tomorrow (later today). None the less, I got a good share of UT2k4 and BF2 play in. And then there’s the avalanche of downloads which has begun. Be strong my SATA friends, for you will soon bear the weight of many servers.
Filed under Lanwar
A brief basement update here. We just finished taping and cornerbead tonight (well a tiny bit remains here and there, but I’m calling this phase over). Now to go back over everything with another couple coats of mud. This is taking forever! But things are shaping up.
A few pictures so you can see where the 77 sheets of drywall went…
The stairway with the very hard to find recessed lighting:
The main room. A large movie screen will sit between the built-ins…eventually. The built-in shelves are looking good – a ton of work – but they are lit on a dimmer and have a really clean look.
To one side of the main room we have the future home of the wet bar. Here I will mix many a drink as we try to forget how much work all this was.
Just adjacent to the wet bar is a hallway leading back to other rooms. Here you can catch a glipse of two features which should be filed under “you really like to make a lot of work for yourself”: three cutout “windows” (to mirror the three-shelved built-ins) and beyond that, a lighted niche.
Down the hall on the right is a furnance room and the laundry room which you can get a glipse of below. The door on the right goes to storage under the stairs (also taped and mudded).
And that brings us to the end of the hall where we have the “back” room. It’s a small bedroom/exercise room/whatever with a large (unfinshed storage closet behind it).
And lastly, I bring you back to the main room, to see the best picture I could manage of the ceiling…my Sistine Chapel…or what Donna calls “the work of a mad scientist evil genius>”.
Filed under Basement
So with Million Man Lan (MML5) fast approaching and figuring I’ll be having case window envy, I thought I’d try making a new transparent top lid to my case. My requirements were (1) it had to be cheap, (2) couldn’t involve modding any of the original case pieces, and most importantly (3) it couldn’t actually make the already sweet case look any worse.
I went to Home Depot and picked up a piece of Lexan (polycarbonate) and some aluminum angle (1″ and .5″). Total cost of materials was about $35. I debated going with something cheaper than Lexan, like arylic, but since my monitor will sit on this, I opted for strength and durabilty. Constuction took about 3 hours with the majoirty of that just for figuring out how to piece it together. A jig saw with a fine metal blade worked very good in cutting both the aluminum and the polycarbonate. I won’t go into gory details of the construction, but the Lexan slides perfectly until the top lip of the front face and it’s held in place with two thumb screws in the back (just like the stock lid).
Meanwhile I do still have the original solid aluminum top in the event I ever want to swtich back (like when it’s eventually rack mounted).
Filed under Comp hardware / mods
What better way to spend it than getting a group together to see the late show of the remake of The Omen.
Overall, not a bad flick. On any other day maybe not so much, but worth $9 (!) tonight. I thought Mia Farrow was the standout – memorable scenes include the air injection in the IV and her flying end-over-end death. Other creepy non-movie moments include Nancy’s hoodie and Finding Nemo.
Filed under Movies
