Violent Video Games

I’m not a gamer.  I enjoy video games, and I’ve spent quite a bit of time playing them, but I could probably count on one hand the games that I’ve played through to the end, and I don’t play regularly.  I play everything on “easy” (which would mortify some of my gamer friends), and I will often bore of a game in less than an hour.

 

But let me tell you something about video games…

 

They make me nicer.

 

I usually handle stress pretty well, but with work, school, a family, (and I seem to always be sick lately) it can build up.  And I can get a little ornery—not so much ornery, but less patient with people, more critical, and more opinionated.  I’m sure that there are a lot of things I could do to relieve the stress, but xbox is one of them.

 

I first noticed it about a year ago.  I took my x-box with me on the holiday vacation to play with my family.  The next two or three months were really busy, and I hadn’t even unpacked the console.   One day I had some free time, and wanted to play for a while.  (I think we had been talking about a game at work)  I pulled it all out, and spent maybe an hour or two playing that night.  The next day I was driving and realized that I felt good, I was relaxed, some of the tension in my neck and scalp were gone (I lose hair when I get stressed) and I was spontaneously smiling.  I tried to think what was different that day, and the thing that popped into my head was the video game.  I’ve tried to pay attention since, and when I play more often, stress doesn’t build up as much.  When stress does build up, playing will help release it.

 

Now, don’t try to read too much into this.  I know that it all really is just a waste of time, there are lots of better things I could be doing, and there could be a million reasons why it works.  Maybe it is just because I enjoy games, and any diversion is a stress release.  Maybe a lot of things.  I know there are a lot of studies, and a lot more talk, that try to correlate violent media to violence in people.  And I’m not necessarily trying to prove or disprove anything.  I am simply stating my experience. 

DHCP and HDCP

I have a great job.  I love what I do, I like the people I work with, and I like having a lot to do.  I work with technology.  Not the sexy cutting edge stuff (usually) or the cool high ticket gadgets but a lot of the little things that make everything else work together.

 

I realized a while back that we are some of the few people who know the difference between DHCP and HDCP.  Most people in fact, probably don’t have a clue what either one does, is, or that they even exist.  So I am even eliminating the masses.  Of technically trained people, I bet there aren’t many who know the difference.  I would guess that most of the technical world would know one or the other–  DHCP has to do with networking, and HDCP has to do with High Definition video, so that covers the spread of ‘geeks’ pretty well.  Of course, there are people that do know what the two FLAs stand for, or at least the applications, but percentage-wise I bet we are few.

 

 I wouldn’t claim to be a networking guru, and while I’m pretty confident with HD applications, I’m not an expert in the true sense of the word.   My job is fun because I have to stick my nose in a lot of areas.  Within 10 minutes we can talk to someone who is on a government contract looking at 10s of thousands of dollars of video equipment, next a stubborn old man who is too cheap to throw out his 7 year old printer, then an avid jogger who just got a new iPod.  We try to understand and relate to all of them, and try to find the best way for technology to fit their needs.  It keeps it interesting.  Sometimes money is not an issue, often money is the issue.  Sometimes we are dealing with constraints of time, size, weight, software, etc. etc.  but we can usually find some kind of solution. 

 

I think for me the problem solving makes it interesting, and the technology behind it makes it fun.

Pseudo Semantics

I used to think that blogs were the worst things to happen to the internet.  (but I think I started with a bad sampling) I thought that it took the concept of a forum–open, moderated discussion for the masses–and stripped out all the good.  Allowing anyone with a keyboard to print their rants as doctrine, and only allowing the comments/opinions they accepted. 

I later realized that some people actually have something worth reading about in their heads.   And for the rest of us…if you care about the person, you enjoy finding out what they write/rant about when no one is interrupting or dismissing their ideas.  It’s actually quite enlightening.

This is admittedly a jump-on-the-bandwagon blog.  And everyting here is a little tongue in cheek.  Not that the content is fake, I won’t try to convince you I am something I’m not…but on the other hand I won’t likely show who I really am either.

 So if you are looking for meaning, this is not the place, but if you don’t mind a little superficiality, then maybe you should poke around for a while.

Welcome to Pseudo Semantics.