Pictures of a snow covered field in Pennsylvania
I took some pictures out in the field behind my house this evening. If there’s one thing I miss about Pennsylvania is the beautiful wide open spaces that always look great covered in snow.
Travel
A gamer vacationing with limited internet
So I’m 3 days into my 21 days of leave I’m spending back home in Pennsylvania and it’s been nice so far, except in one area: internet. My dad has Hughe’s Net satellite internet since he lives in the middle of nowhere and while it may be faster than dialup I’d hardly consider it usable as a gamer. Sure it’s fine for basic tasks, but there’s a 10gb monthly data limit that makes doing many things impossible. No Netflix streaming. YouTube videos are slow to load anyway, so I doubt Netflix would be enjoyable to use.
Now I know you may be thinking ‘hey you’re on vacation, get off the internet!’ but I’m just home visiting family. If I were on vacation I’d be in Florida or Seattle. Besides most of my friends and family are at work during the week, so it’s not like I could hang out with them anyway. My girlfriend is flying out from Boise on Friday and she’ll be here for a week so that’s when we’ll be going sightseeing in D.C., NYC, Baltimore, etc. since it’ll be her first time on the East Coast.
Anyway. I tried playing Call of Duty Ghosts over Hughes Net and there’s about a 3 second delay between input and response due to the nature of satellite internet, making it entirely unplayable. I’m able to play Forza’s career mode without issue on this connection at least. It has no issue populating my races with drivatars and updating leaderboards, etc.
I was able to connect using my iPhone 5’s mobile hotspot which did make Call of Duty play smoothly over an LTE connection. I used about 400mb of my 5gb data plan after a couple of hours which isn’t ideal, but I think it’ll do for the rest of this week at least. I’m probably going to have to go to a friend’s house to download the March 11 system update that coincide’s with Titanfall’s release (and with any luck Titanfall will probably have a day one update).
Anywho, just figured I’d stop in and update on my trip so far. Winter Storm Titan turned out to be a dud here in southern Pennsylvania as it only dropped about two inches of snow as opposed to the 8″ and up that was predicted. Now I’m just hoping it warms up enough before Vanessa gets out here so we can enjoy some decent weather in D.C. and New York.
I also picked up Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare but haven’t gotten to play a whole lot yet. I tried playing Garden Ops over HughesNet and managed to create a game but couldn’t connect with any other people so I only survived one round. I played a few split screen games with my brother which was nice, but we got disconnected from the EA servers a few times which terminated the game. It’s also worth nothing that both players are required to have an Xbox Live Gold account even though you’re playing on the same Xbox. This is weird because no other game on Xbox One has this requirement, only one Xbox Live Gold account is required on the console.
I’m off to make another cup of coffee. See you soon!
Flying back east
Just a little while ago I landed in Salt Lake City and have about two hours to wait for my connecting flight to Baltimore. It was a quick flight from Boise to Salt Lake, about forty or fifty minutes, and the scenery was beautiful, especially as the sun rose over SLC as we came in for the landing.
Getting through security this morning was quite trouble free now that I’m TSA pre-checked. There was a line of about forty or so people waiting to go through security but I was able to bypass it completely and go through the TSA pre-check entrance which also allows you to go through security with your shoes on.
I should be landing in Baltimore in about 6 hours, at around 4PM Eastern. I’m looking forward to spending three weeks in Pennsylvania, even though it’s going to be about 40 degrees cooler there for at least the next week.
East Coast things I miss
Next Friday I head back to my home state of Pennsylvania and I’m excited to be around some of the things I miss about the East Coast. I’ve been stationed at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho for nearly two years and although it’s been nice there are quite a few things I can’t get out here.
First there’s Sheetz, the one stop spot combines a gas station, convenience store, sandwich shop (MTO’s, or made-to-order sandwiches) and a coffee shop. I worked at a Sheetz in Red Lion, PA for nearly 6 years through college and up until I joined the Air Force. It was a great place to work, always bright, vibrant and alive even during the night shift. You had the chance to meet hundreds of interesting people a day in a fast paced environment. I also enjoyed the food. I’m excited to see what has changed since the last time I was home over a year ago. Things at Sheetz would change pretty often so there’s a good chance there will be quite a few new menu additions waiting for me when I stop in next Friday.
Next up is Yuengling lager, which is also native to Pennsylvania. It’s been my favorite beer ever since I turned 21 and I’ve never found anything that rivals it. I remember one of the first times I went out while I was at Keesler AFB, Mississippi and I tried to order a Yuengling only to be met with confusion by the waitress. It was a devastating revelation to realize I wouldn’t have access to my favorite beer in other parts of the country.
Panera Bread can be found all over the country, but for whatever reason there isn’t one in Idaho. Panera Bread is easily my favorite ”fast” restaurant and I’m quite excited to visit once or twice while I’m in the northeast.
I’m also excited to be able to visit D.C. and New York City with my girlfriend who has never been to the northeast. It should be a fun time! I just have to make it through four more days of work 🙂
A beautiful Idaho morning sunrise drive
This morning I had to go into work to check in so on the way back I set my GoPro Hero 3+ up in the dash and let it record on the drive back. I love the color of the sky and the flat, wide open spaces that you experience while driving in Idaho. This drive is from Mountain Home AFB to Boise via Airbase road, Bypass road and I-84W.
Shot using 1080p wide angle, 60fps.
Fooling around some more with the GoPro Hero 3+
Mounted the GoPro to my visor and recorded a drive this evening. Since the camera was hanging upside down I turned on ‘upside down’ mode which made everything reverse 😛 Shot in 1080p 60fps wide angle with spot meter turned on.
Snow from coast to coast
Friday marked the first decent snow here in the Boise area this winter, and it was well needed. The snowfall finally allowed Bogus Basin to partially open for the season. We’ll probably head up there once or twice over my Christmas break, so hopefully it gets a few more inches by then. Right now it has a base depth of 17″.
Over on the East Coast it’s snowing pretty heavily in Baltimore making for an interesting game between the Ravens and Vikings. Right now Baltimore leads 7-0 after a fumble recovery (that arguably should’ve been overturned, but we’ll take it) and some fancy footwork from Joe Flacco that allowed for a touchdown pass to Ed Dickson.
Phone calls in flight? Really that big of a deal?
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/disruptions-calling-from-the-clouds/?_r=0
In the few weeks since the FCC first announced that it may allow passengers to use their cell phones in flight (while actually connected to their cellular network in flight) many have been ranting and raving about how horrible a decision it would be. Personally, I’m quite excited for the change if it does indeed happen and airlines follow through. I absolutely hate being on flights that do not offer WiFi. Sure you can watch movies, read or listen to music, but I’ll admit I’m entirely addicted to being connected. A camping trip off the grid is absolutely horrifying to me. I’d love to be able to check in with Facebook, Twitter and WordPress in flight using my cellular data. I’d also enjoy being able to text and keep up to date on plans for when I land.
The main fear is that all of a sudden everyone will be making phone calls and being obnoxious in flight. I really don’t think it’d be that bad. I rode the light rail around Baltimore quite a bit back when I was living in Pennsylvania and people were free to make phone calls but not very many ever did. I know a plane is more compact and quieter so any phone conversation would travel further and seem louder, but how is it any different than being on a flight with a high school or college girl’s basketball team (the last time I flew into Boise the BSU volleyball team was on the flight). Furthermore if it’d bother you that much I’m sure you have a pair of headphones you could put in.
I know my view may not be popular, but think of all the other places people are able to use their phones. Is it really that bad? In Starbucks? On a bus or train? I haven’t found it to bother me at all. As long as I’m plugged in I’m not paying that much attention to what’s going on around me anyway.
The Village / Village Cinemas at Meridian and why reserved seating sucks
Yesterday Vanessa and I went out to Meridian to check out the new shopping center, The Village at Meridian. Its design is pretty cool and it feels more like a park or college campus than a shopping center. The signature feature is the fountain that is synchronized to music and lights at night. It’s surrounded by tables and a few fire pits which make for a great atmosphere to relax in.
We were planning to see Thor 2 at the Village Cinemas and we decided to go to the 4:30 showing. The movie theater is absolutely beautiful and very stylish. We arrived at 4PM to buy our tickets. The theater has reserved seating, and when we were buying our tickets the only seats left with two side by side seats were in rows D and up. We figured the screen would be far enough back that we could still enjoy seeing the movie in row D. Unfortunately when we got into the theater it was clear there would be no way we could enjoy the movie that close to the screen. What annoyed us most was the theater was almost entirely empty when we got in there and we really should’ve been able to sit where we wanted.
We ended up heading back to the box office to get our money back. Reserved seating in a movie theater is a very bad idea. I don’t very often plan hours ahead of time to see a movie, so it’s not practical to buy tickets online hours before a movie starts. Plans often change, or people often decide to join at the last minute. Reserved seating ruins the traditional movie going experience.
One of the newer movie theaters back where I’m from in Pennsylvania had reserved seating when it first opened, but it quickly learned it was a bad idea. People complained, got refunds or blatantly ignored the assigned seating and sat in other people’s seats often causing problems as the movies were starting. I can only hope Village Cinema in Meridian will learn how undesirable their reserved seating is and end the policy soon. Until then we’ll stick with Edwards in Boise.
Ice Rink opens next Friday!
Florida
I’m spending two weeks in Florida for work and so far it’s been a great experience. I’ve gotten to eat Panera Bread which was amazing since there are none in Boise (or anywhere in Idaho I believe) and I’ve had plenty of my favorite beer, the Pennsylvania native Yuengling Lager which is only available on the East Coast. I’ll try to catch up on blogging soon…Until then, I’ll just post some pictures:
Gumballs Plays Games 