I got a PSP-2000

So, it may be shocking that I waited all this time to get a new PSP, but I finally purchased one with a small discount. I could have waited a little and got a black one, but I wanted a silver one so I wouldn't get fingerprints on my PSP again. Also, I just wanted a different color and was willing to pay more for it.

All right, the first thing that surprised me was how light the new PSP was. I knew it was going to be lighter, but I could barely believe I was holding it. I set it up and upgraded the firmware to 3.71. I spent a while transferring all my stuff from my 512MB Memory Stick Duo to my 1GB one (that came with the PSP). I tried out the TV out feature, and it wasn't bad. I didn't spend too much time with it because I tested it while my Dad wasn't home (lol, he'd be upset if he saw me messing with his HDTV). When I get back to my apartment I'll mess with it more on my own HDTV.

As for games, they look a tad brighter IMO, but it could be my PSP screen was old. I didn't notice a big difference in load times with a few games, but I really noticed it in Guilty Gear Judgement especially. It use to take a while and felt worse than the PS2/360 versions of X2. It seemed to load just as fast. Also, the new D-pad makes the game much easier to play.

Although not needed for the game, the analog nub is also much better. Only gripe I have with the new PSP is getting use to holding it, since I'm use to the bottom being a little curved. I also like the new UMD tray, unlike some.

I was glad to get the Family Guy UMD with the PSP, since I like the show and never owned a UMD movie. Gives me something to watch now. The UMD movie looked just fine with the TV out.

Overall, not much to say, but I'm happy with my purchase. I possibly could have gone longer without purchasing it (due to money being tight), but it's great. Now, I'm not too sure what I will do with my old PSP.

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Horrible Weekend

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything in any of my blogs. Well, you can probably guess because I’ve been busy with college, and yes, that is the truth. Some might have had a good weekend, but mine was mostly stressful.

As soon as I finished my last class at 12:30PM on Friday, I went straight to work on homework and my lab report for the class. I ended up finishing the homework, while getting most of the lab report done, before I went to bed at 10pm. I also managed to get some Stat homework done. I only took breaks to grab something to eat, then taking it back to my apartment. I didn’t have much opportunity to play video games, but I did play DDR Extreme 2. I decided to check out the assignments, for CPT 175, to see what the class was doing. Since I already took Visual Basic last semester and knew how to use it pretty well, I decided to see how quickly I could do the prelab and lab. Only took me about 10 minutes to do both. I didn’t go out anywhere, but I did have a few short AIM conversations with friends.

On Saturday, I woke up early, around 6:30am. I spent my day finishing stuff up I didn’t finish on Friday night, along with finishing most of the stat homework done. I spent some portion of the day researching parts for a robotic hen I have to build, for a class. I did spend some time playing Wild Arms 4. I’m still only a few hours into the game, but I’m finding the game to be quite fun, especially the platform elements on the field. Around 7pm, I walked to DDR night, since a friend of mine was going to be there, and we wanted to play some multiplayer games on our Nintendo DS’s. It was a lot of fun getting the opportunity to play someone right beside me, in Mario Kart DS. However, I didn’t get to play long, since I had more researching to do.

Sunday, was just a boring day. I was in my apartment the entire day, trying to research and get what I need for my project done. I was up until almost 1AM, working on it. I was extremely tired and could barely see my PC screen. I only had the opportunity to play Mega Man X: Collection, for 30 minutes.

It sucked because I ended up getting up at 6AM the next morning, to go to classes for 5 hours straight, an hour break then another 2 hours. So, you can probably guess I was very exhausted. Luckily, I feel better now since I’ve finally gotten an opportunity to get a good meal, since I was barely eating for a few days. Although, I might have a déjà vu tonight, since I have to work on the robotic hen even more.

Just to let everyone know, a robotic hen is my ECET 396 project. We do work in a team, of three people. Every person is assigned to a block, such as main controller, motors/sensors, and the power block. I’m doing the power block. The project is definitely stressing me out and making me feel very depressed, since I really don’t feel I’ll ever get it to work, by the end of the semester.

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Worst Final Exam Ever

At 3:20pm today, I experienced the worst final exam in my entire lifetime. I studied very hard for it, after my ECET 304 final exam yesterday. I spent hours and hours re-doing every single homework assignment, re-organized my entire notebook, and so on. I needed a 30% to keep a B, while I needed a 97% to get an A. Although I badly want the A, I knew the chances were going to be unlikely, since Grant makes his test for ECET 324, so long and hard (although he curves them). Well, I got the test in my hand, and it was 14 pages long. Each page had a few math problems, which used a very, very long equation. There wasn't even enough room on the test to fit the equations. Most all of the problems on the test, were set up very differently, so I have no clue whether I did it right. I tried searching through my crappy textbook and all my notes, to see if I did a similar problem before. I found out that I have not. I basically tried to answer stuff the best I could, although I still left two pages of the final exam blank. I'm wondering if I remembered to answer one of the multiple choice questions, on one page. The only easy question on the test was, "How much is the final worth?".

After that horrible exam, I went straight to the Bookstore, which happens to be very close to Grissom Hall, where I had my final exam. I ended up getting $37 out of that textbook, which isn't bad, since it's easily the worst textbook I ever read in my life. Normally, I like the textbooks I get, but that one was horribly written. Well, now I'm just hoping I can get a B in the course, although I rather have an A. I'm just hoping his curve is around 90%, since I will definitely need it. I'm so glad I dropped out of ECET 424, since I definitely don't want to put up with the ECET324 crap all over again for another semester. At least I'll be having the two top Professors in my major, so I'll be taking fair exams next semester.

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Sadly, no DS today

Yesterday evening, I saw a coupon in the Meijer Super Saturday Ad where I can get 15% off on a general merchandise item, that was $50 or more. Well, I've been waiting for Meijer to run this sale, for I could get a Nintendo DS Mario Kart Bundle. I was so excited last night, that I'd finally get a DS. Before I went to Meijer, I went to the ATM to pick up some extra cash, to buy the DS. I went to Meijer, and sadly, there was no Mario Kart Bundle DS. However, I did see an original DS without a game, and Mario Kart was on sale for $29.99. I considered getting that, because buying the two seperately was still cheaper than the Mario Kart bundle, after the 15% discount, but I decided not to go with it. My reason is that red is my favorite color. There's no other color I'd want for my consoles/handhelds more than red. If I got silver (or whatever that color is called), I guarntee I'd be upset with myself later on. I'll be playing the DS for a while, so I feel its best to get the color I want. I did check another Meijer, and still no luck.:( Although I like Meijer, they have pissed me off lately, since they didn't carry DDR Ultramix 3 and DQVIII, when I was planning to get it during a buy one, get one 60% off sale on all video games. Well, I guess its good I didn't get a DS, since I have finals next week. If I don't see some special by 12/21, I'm going to just by a DS for $150. $150 is not much, but it would be nice to save a little, for I can buy as many DS games as possible.

I did see DDR Mario Mix at Meijer, a few of them, and considered getting them. However, I really need to make sure I have a DS, so I decided I'll pass for now.

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I got the stereo to work

Today was a great day in ECET 304. Brandon (partner) and I came to lab at 2:30pm, which is an hour before we normally arrive at lab. In case you didn’t know, I found a chip (NTE801) where I could input the mono signal into a circuit containing the NTE801 then it would convert the mono signal to a stereo signal. We had a problem yesterday with our stereo circuit, since the sound from the radio was very quiet. We decided to purchase some LM386 audio amplifiers, and build circuits with a gain of 20, for each speaker. Well, my partner and I added the audio amplifiers to each speaker, and it worked. We could clearly hear the music from the radio in both speakers. We asked Prof. Denton to check us off, to see if we get 150 bonus points and the opportunity to write a mini lab report, instead of a basic lab report. I was very nervous at first since he kept picking up one speaker, then putting it down then picking up the other, trying to listen for stereo sound. I was so worried that the NTE801 stereo chip wasn’t working correctly. He kept asking us to change our radio station. Finally, on some Hip Hop station, we all could hear a voice in one speaker, while a different voice was being heard in another speaker, meaning that the stereo worked. I was so happy that the stereo worked (worked extremely well) and I got 150 bonus points out of it. I got a few other bonus points also, so my total bonus was 210 points.

I definitely feel very happy right now. The only downside of my day was walking outside in blizzard conditions. I live 15 minutes away, so that was horrible.

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