Life updates!

I am generally not very great at sharing my thoughts or feelings vocally, but seem to do much better writing them out to share. Over the last year, my life has changed in so many amazing ways I cannot honestly begin to explain all of them. First and foremost, I met my amazing, beautiful and hilarious girlfriend Marisa (Porkchop). She has brought me out of my shell of social anxiety, being an introvert, and so much more. Over the last 3 months we have had such an amazing time being together, from every day things to going to PAX and meeting a ton of amazing friends, going on a 1500 mile road trip to California and a few spots in Oregon. I cannot begin to thank her enough for how she has help bring me back to the person I used to be. For anyone who didn't know, we do plan on getting married in the next few months so she will be able to stay with me in the States permanently! Working two jobs is fairly stressful, but she still keeps me motivated and smiling on the worst of days.

Now on to other news. There is a possibility for lots of big changes soon in my life. I may have a job opportunity that will be in the surrounding area of Seattle. This is a huge career move for me in a field I am very passionate about, and although there is no promise or final choice on the job at all yet, I need to be prepared to possibly step away from my full time stream and step it down quite a bit while I move/set up a new living arrangement and get that sorted out. I have no doubt in my mind that I will continue streaming, it just might be a little less once I'm situated working a full time job. Once again, this job is in no way set in motion, just a possibility. Being someone who has ever lived in Oregon, this is a big risk and bigger step for me and the stress and constant fear of failing is looming heavy in my mind. That being said, with an offer like this, if I have the chance to do it, I need to take that risk and see what happens.

I love all of my family and friends, everyone in the twitch community that I have met over the past 2+ years, you are some of the most generous and giving people I have ever met, and I want to continue being a part of that amazing community, you guys are just as much my family as anyone here, and I owe so much to you for what you have done for me. I will never be the guy who leaves you all out of the loop, if you ever have any questions for me at all, feel free to email or message me any time, I love reaching out to you guys!

DayZ Writing

As we make our way off of Taviana in our C-130J, I look down at the West island airstrip and remember the countless hours of time spent roaming the island trying to quarantine and save as many locals from the infection as possible. Midway through the flight, we hear some radio chatter about heavy storms and dangerous weather.  

A short time later, the plane began to violently shake us back and forth, I closed my eyes, clenched to the seat tightly and shortly thereafter blacked out. Coming to; I can only imagine to be a couple hours later, water was splashing in my face and I was being torn down with the plane. I frantically remove my harness, look for any other survivors, nothing. I look for any floating debris that I may be able to rest on until I can calm down and figure out what to do next.  

Once the weather had cleared up a little, I can see land in the distance!  
I grab hold of my debris and start slowly paddling toward the mass in front of me. Completely clueless as to how far we have come, I am not sure what this place is yet, I need to get closer to find out where I am.

There I was, stranded, near naked, in a place I had little to no recollection of. Being stationed on Taviana for so long, I barely could remember the layout or landmarks of Chenarus. As I made my way down the coast, I started to remember some of the towns I was passing. It seems as if I have made my way to Elektro.
I have started searching building to building for anything that would help me survive not only the Z’s, but the survivors that are surely in the area. I may try to make friends if I do happen to bump into anyone, I won’t hold my breath as people are more unpredictable than the weather day-to-day.  
It begins to rain heavily as I make my way to the Western firehouse, terrified and trembling with fear I slowly make my way around to the back door. Silently, I sit waiting in the corner for any signs of life. Ten minutes go by, it feels like hours, I sit shivering in the corner while a breeze rolls through the lower floor. No sounds, no distant gunfire… Was I the only one here? I wondered.  

Part 2

Cautiously, I make my way up to the top of the firehouse. I find a nice hat and some torn up cargo pants, not a big upgrade, but these will help me carry more. I peek out of the windows to try and survey as much of the city as I can, there are about 8 zombies in sight to the West, stationary at this point. May as well head to the pub, maybe I can still grab a pint that has been lying around, take my mind off of things for a bit. Keeping low through the streets, I quickly head into an office building. Keeping my fingers crossed that I can find any food and possibly a drink, as my stomach has been aching for about 2 hours now.  

Introversion

I feel as if I am becoming more and more disconnected from my "normal" life lately.  I am constantly becoming more introverted and almost to the point of becoming agoraphobic at times.  I feel the need to be more and more disconnected from reality and drown myself in video games and music to escape it.  I push myself away from my friends, then feel bad for not giving anyone my time.  My anxiety levels have been through the roof lately, and I just sit on the computer to relax because even going out to get the mail weighs heavily on my stress levels.  The constant feeling of restlessness is brutal and I am still unsure on how to correctly handle it.  This is not a reaching out for help episode, I am perfectly fine with being introverted and keeping my distance from people, it seems easier than anything else in my trials and tribulations over the past several years.  It is quite hard for me to correctly explain my feelings with out getting aggravated or annoyed, so I am not asking for complete understanding or acceptance, just know that if I seem distant or dismissive that it is just me and my own thoughts. I feel more comfortable behind my phone then in person.  I recently read a clip online that said "My life is a constant struggle of wanting to be alone, and not be lonely." This completely sums up how I have been lately.  I just want it to be known that when I do come out of my cave, it is extremely hard for me, and I will probably act weird, but it does help the anxiety just bullshitting with friends or family. I honestly am trying to work on this as much as possible, but it is something that I need to handle on my own accord.  I know that I make plans, and then last minute back out or forget about them altogether, and I apologize for being a bad friend in that regard, sometimes the stress of actually getting my ass out of bed is too much for me to handle and I just need to try and hit reset for the day.  If you have taken the time to read this, thank you and I hope it brings to light why I have been acting differently lately.  I am always around, I am not dealing with depression or anything like that, just trying to work out my personal issues with myself.  I constantly look for reasons to not trust people or just despise them all together, it sounds very bitter and horrible, and I honestly don't even know why, just another thought I suppose.  To end, please know that I love all of my friends, and just hope that you can understand and forgive me for my actions and attitude over the past few months.

Sprint Galaxy S3 Review

Galaxy S3 (Sprint SPH-L710) Full review:

Technical Specs:

Processor: 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Processor

RAM: 2GB

Internal Storage: 16GB (actually around 12GB)

External Storage: N/A (up to 64GB MicroSD supported)

Screen Size: 4.8”

Camera: Rear 8MP/Full 1080HD Video recording, front: 2MP/ 720P video

Android Version: 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

Look on Google if you need more specs…

Starting the review, this is my first one, may need some improving, give me feed back or questions.

First impressions, very light weight, attractive looking phone in Pebble Blue, still fits in my hand like the Galaxy S2, slightly more slippery and rounded.

Cons on body design: it is a little slippery without a case, I do plan on getting a protective case soon though, Power and Volume buttons seem like they are a 1/3 down the side of the phone, I prefer them towards the top more but this is a very minor complaint, and I do love the fact that they added a center home hard button, as much as I enjoyed the 4 soft buttons, having to press a button down is more preferable for me personally.

As an avid Rooter, I would flash a new ROM onto my Galaxy S2 every few weeks to test several out to find a favorite.  I am waiting a few weeks to throw a custom ROM on the S3 to fully test the stock capabilities of the phone.  Right away I am noticing a lot of the features from my S2 that were only available after I had rooted it such as; Facial unlock, Data usage monitor, displaying battery %, etc, small features that not many people care about but I thought were nice additions.  Then next big thing would be the Lock Screen modifications, I now can have a news ticker going on the bottom and can choose up to 4 shortcuts that I can directly access from the lock screen rather than unlocking and going through application list. The ability to watch a video complete with sound, while you are doing other things on the phone (Social media, email, text messaging, etc.) blew me away, it may be more of a gimmick, but I like having the ability to do it when I am browsing the web or something while watching or just listening to a video while I am focused on something else. 

The stock OS is amazingly smooth, no lag for anything, very fast reactions, the camera offers a no-lag shutter as well, and has a burst shot mode as well, and the ability to manual focus on something or auto focus completely separate which I have never seen done 100% in a mobile platform.  I still have not had the opportunity to video chat or do a G+ hangout, I do need to test these to see how quality is for everything.  I have seen a few reviews for the phone which are also very helpful being they are videos that you can watch and actually look at the device (link below).  S-voice (Apple’s Siri-like voice system) is pretty functional as far as I have tested this far, It is not a feature I will use very often unless I am driving more than likely, but it is very polished and helpful if you do tend to use Voice control.

All in all, I do really love this phone and do not regret buying it at all, the software improvements from the Galaxy S2 to this are wonderful, not many “new” features, but updates and more stable software is more important than flashy new features to me.  There are many minor features I’m sure I missed, also I have only had this phone 24 hours so I am sure there is still plenty to discover as well.  Worth the price if you use a top quality phone for its full capabilities.

As always, please ask any questions you have or any ideas as well.

Zedomax Review –

Zedomax International Quad Core Galaxy S3 Review

Zedomax Galaxy S3 Quad Core vs. Dual Core models

Zedomax Galaxy S3 vs. HTC One X vs. HTC Evo 4G LTE

Flossy Carter Review –

Flossy Carter Sprint S3 Unboxing and first impressions
Flossy Carter Full Review 

Outsourcing Customer Service

Outsourcing from American companies seems to be a large trending action within the last few years.  Not aware of this? Just pick up your phone and dial any fucking customer service department for any company!  There are probably more reasons corporations are doing this than I am aware, but who cares, it’s my blog, and I tell it how I see it.  To begin, saving money in the long run for the company; As this is a grand idea for any greedy bastard, there are more than likely a ridiculous amount of other ways you could save money rather than laying off x amount of employees (depending on company size).  I realize they may not all be overseas outsourcing, and in that situation, if you can speak decent English, and I can pronounce your name, I have no qualms.  I am not a racist, I am not a bigot, I want to be able to speak with a customer representative in a professional manner and not have them repeat every other sentence because I cannot understand what the hell they are trying to explain.  That being said, if everyone is whining and bitching about how god awful our economy is, and just needs someone to blame (the President generally) please realize, that the government as a whole is partially to blame, but it’s not like those greedy bastards are going to take a pay cut anytime soon… Would you? No.  Our country is built and based upon American greed, that being said, we have ourselves to blame as well, not just someone a bit higher up on the food chain.  Take responsibility for your own actions.  When these companies outsource to the Middle-East, or wherever the hell they are doing it now, those are American jobs flying out the window, sometimes hundreds or thousands, therefore, unemployment rises, and economy plummets yet again.  It is a vicious cycle and it helps no one at all, we need to be creating more jobs in our own country, that way more money will circulate and stimulate the economy.   Am I saying this will solve all of our problems? Not one bit, we are lazy, don’t want to work our asses off to earn a living, we want hand outs, free things and discounts for anything.  I do not claim to be a politician, I do not claim to be a genius,  I am just merely trying to state a fact that is so painfully obvious as an issue to me that I couldn’t let the internal hate fester anymore and needed to share my personal feelings on the matter.  I am 25 years old, I have a decent job at a growing company, I have debt that I am paying off by working overtime and paying my bills, I have no credit card and a bad credit score.  I am clearly not the poster child for knowing how to run a multi-billion dollar company.  That being said, I have learned valuable lessons in the last 7 years and I have grown from them, nobody is helping me get out of debt, I am doing it alone, I was dumb, got in over my head and now I am paying the consequences.  I am pretty decent at managing my money at this point and I feel like I know more now having gone through this than if I had not.  I want to hear feedback on this, bad or good.  I am not a child and can take it.

iPhone vs. Android OS

I am guessing this one will be quite controversial, so I am ready for the debates!  Keep in mind,  I have done plenty of research into both sides and will admit, at the beginning I almost went with an iPhone, but thought Android would become a better choice for me.

To begin; iPhone, iOS, etc. closed source software. What this breaks down to is the use of constraints on what can be done with the software and the restriction of access to the original source code (wikipedia) it basically means it is near impossible to modify.  Android on the other hand, very simple to modify and change because it is open source.

With that general explanation out of the way, lets get down to brass tacks here.  The iPhone 4s or whatever the newest version is... Seems to be still locked in the 3g network, now with 4g networks for mobile devices have been available for around 2 years give or take a few months, with this software available and usable, why hasn't the iOS adopted it yet? they have had ample time and it seems like a difference in internet speed that is quite drastic would be an easy upgrade. Android have tons of different phone designs over multiple manufacturers, which really captures the budget market and the higher spenders market and everywhere in between. iPhones do not have this, there is one device and it is an Apple product so therefore it is expensive.

Now the general customization factors in for me at least, I love making all of my own ringtones and alarms, etc, something you can't really do with the iOS or at least not do it easily... There are a ton of free applications on the Google play market that allow you to download free ringtones as well. From desktops to widgets you really can make an android phone 100% yours, which to a certain extent is available with an iPhone, but it is still fairly limiting.

Rooting your Android device is another thing that is completely Android specific, and what rooting is, it basically unlocks your phones true potential, you can find hundreds of ROMS online to change your UI elements, remove stock options that bogged your device down or that you weren't really fond of.  You can remove all the bloat software companies throw on your phone pre-purchase.  it allows you to over/under clock your device for higher performance or longer battery life, etc.  Now if you are generally happy with your Android device there is probably no need to root it for you, I love modification and finding out more about my phone so I have it rooted and have tried no less than 15 different OS modifications on it.

Now I am not saying Android is a perfect platform and there aren't faults, yes sometimes you get the force close, the laggy screens and similar issues, but you have to realize, android is a never ending adapting machine, they are trying to make everything work over what I can only imagine to be a couple hundred completely different phones with separate specifications, so yes, there will be down falls, but it is always to try to help more people be able to use the application or what have you.  I have played around with several different iPhones and just felt held back in comparison to what my Android devices have done and continue to do for me.

I still feel like the Android market will out last and over take the Apple market with time, with a uncountable number of people being familiar with Linux and Unix coding vs the one team of Apple developers, there will be  much more developments on the Android side.

Android is the future, iOS the past.  This is of course coming from a self-proclaimed Android genius and the many hours upon hours of research I have done.

Also if you had any questions about Android, please let me know, I can either give you an answer or find it for you.  If you are interested in rooting your android device, look up Max Lee or 'Zedomax' on YouTube or check out highonandroid.com, this guy is a genius and the best source for android information that I have found this far!

Hipsters

Ahhh yes my friends, the long awaited Hipster ranting has arrived!

I know all of the readers more than likely have an idea of what a hipster is.. if not, let me paint a horrifying picture for you; Greasy, scruffy seemingly unwashed looking hair, generally a plaid top, tight jeans/pants, and lets go with converse on the feet, also carry around Apple paraphernalia and are known to wear beret's/other douche-like head-wear.  Now that you have that image in your dome, let my wonderful hatred flow...  To begin, The whole indie subculture elitist attitude has got to be my biggest pet-peeve of this whole Occupy-era asshat group of insignificant pricks. The fact that they feel the need to mock you for being "mainstream" or not having culture or whatever is completely ridiculous and hilarious to me, given the fact, they wear a style of clothes that went out of "style" long long ago, they drink PBR like its the greatest damn thing ever invented, and swear by apple products... Now I find irony in the fact that whenever I think of Apple and any of their sheep driven products is that of conformity to the masses and what ever costs the most.  Now from what I have gathered in my real life research on this subject is that more than likely these miscreants are at least decently educated for the most part, and can afford to wear respectable clothing, but choose to be the evolution of the filthy hippy.  I will never understand the idea of this, I like wearing nice clothing and looking presentable, at least for the most part. As far as music choice goes, it seems like they are single minded and locked in the mindset that if it is popular, it isn't good.  Now I can agree with the fact that 95% of music today is complete shit and it is making people dumber and it more than likely will just continue to downfall, but I have tried listening to the indie music scene several times, and it seems so stereotypically similar... Moving along to the other big pet peeve that seems to follow hipster-like people... Dubstep; the most depressing thing to be considered music since Bob Dylan.  I'm sure I will get flak for that, but really, I don't care, Bob Dylan is horrible and if you enjoy hearing that mongoloid fart into your ear than I don't even feel bad for you. Back on track, Dubstep, I can't even call this travesty art or music, it is essentially a tangent form techno, which includes "drops" and fucking fax machine noises, it literally takes no talent, you use fruity loops or similar programs to time is up and create horrifying sounds, it has no instrumental qualities and it is pretty much the same type of uselessness as auto-tuning.  I would gladly listen to white noise and a fat guy scratching his nuts before being able to enjoy anything close to dubstep.

In conclusion, if I have offended you with this, then my job is done and you are more than likely one of the hipsters.  So shut your pie hole, go listen to beck and try not to spill that PBR on your fresh plaid, because lets be honest, you are just an emo kid that grew up a tiny bit...  I really do hate you.