Ever bought music?

If so, you may be eligible for a cash settlement from a lawsuit against the RIAA. Evidently, if you've bought any music from a retailer between the dates of January 1, 1995 and December 22, 2000, you can join the settlement group of this class action lawsuit. If the court finds the RIAA guilty of raising the minimum prices of music products (price fixing -- a violation of state and federal laws), the court will issue a settlement that it deems fair. If the settlement equates to $5 or more (with a possible limit of $20 per person), you will receive money. If it is settled at less than $5, the money goes to charity. If the court says that we all have to apologize for being greedy people in a formal 5,000 word essay, then we have to do that too (but only if you joined the settlement group by following the link above). If you choose not to participate in this lawsuit, you are not affected by any of this.

Bragging Rights

Well, the District 10 BPA meet is over now, and my former students did a spectacular job! In Visual Basic, my students took the first 10 places. One student was the only entry into the Java category, so he won 1st Place. Brian Bates took 1st Place in both PC Servicing and Troubleshooting and Computer Network Technology. Congratulations go to the following students (in no particular order):

• Brian Bates
• Billy Lampton
• David Mills
• Zach Fuchs
• Scott Mueller
• Greg Haller
• Brandon Crowe
• Josh Catt
• Mike Virgin
• Nichole Bond
• Alex Smith
• Tanisha Washington

You were all great to have in class, and I'm very proud of you! Good luck at state, I'll be there backing you!

Looking for $$

I'm trying to get some stuff up on eBay, but as it turns out, my dad has BOTH of my camera's memory cards. DAMMIT. Anyway, I'm looking for ways to make some extra cash, preferably as either single-day oddjobs or weekend projects. I'm still subbing, but I've only received one call this week, and my car was broke down at the time. Maybe I should change my availability to include all high schools and all classes until I find higher-paying work. I upgraded 4 NES systems yesterday, thereby removing the blink problem. By "upgrade" I mean I replaced the 72-pin cartridge connectors. Not necessarily a cheap fix, but now they're FIXED, and coincidentally ready for sale.

Trip(s) & New Job?

Bumped into an old classmate/co-worker from Wal-Mart the other night... it seems that he has quit Wal-Mart for a helpdesk job at Integra bank. Now, another friend of mine (who is now married) and his wife work at Integra also, and she'll be leaving soon (from her helpdesk position). Chris told me to send my resume in because he's been dropping my name. Resume is finished, cover letter is on the way... I'm going to Indy with Kristina for a Target shindig she's going to attend. It'll be 2 days away from Evansville, so we'll probably see the sites too while we're there. More to come later!

Video Game College

Slashdot recently ran a story on The Guildhall. The Guildhall is an extension of Southern Methodist University and offers an 18-month hardcore game development course, offering 3 areas of study, including: Software Development, Art, Level Design. Price to attend: $37,000 which includes a development computer system loaded with everything you will need. Students will work on a 2D puzzle game, 2D platform game, 3D mod, and finally a 3D game itself. If you are super serious, head on over and apply. The project is headed by several major people in the games industry including my own personal hero, John Carmack from id Software.

Volkswagen Getting Fixed

The other night, at about 1am my car's CV Joints decided they had had enough. My front passenger tire felt like it was going to fly off, and the steering wheel kept jerking violently to the right. I had to drive about 10 miles at a speed of 10 mph. My heat has been null for some time now, so I was very cold. Hopefully, the car will be back in action at the end of today. *fingers crossed*

Mr. Griffin Does BPA

Business Professionals of America, here I come! I will be judging some of the Visual Basic entries this Saturday morning at Ivy Tech. Also noteworthy to the students at North, I will be going to state with you guys (and girls)! Should be a lot of fun, and with any luck, you'll blow them away at state!

Got a PS2?

If so, and you like value, mosey on down to your local Target store and pick up an Action Replay 2! They're only $29.99, they come with a disc loaded with PS2 codes (expandable of course), and even a disc for PS1 codes and games (works on PS2 and PS1!). The value doesn't stop there, folks! In addition, you get an 8MB Memory Card, and a DVD player hack allowing you to play DVDs from any region! Schweet! Oh yeah, check out these fonky features too: The memory card manager lets you use not only memory cards, but an Iomega USB Zip drive as well! Now you can compress your save files to make more room on your mem card, too. Damn, I sound like I work for Datel... I can't help it, I get so hung up on good deals. Don't throw $40 at a Gameshark when the Action Replay has so much more... More later!