Bob IS guilty and there's nothing he can do about it

Duke Nukem…Forever? Hell yes!

bobisguilty — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:30:27 +0000

I finally got my grubby hands on the game I’ve been waiting 15 years for. The first big name in first-person-shooters came back in the 90′s as Duke Nukem 3D. He was macho, he had big guns and he loved strippers. Aliens showed up and you blasted them with the big guns, while throwing money at strippers and spouting random one-liners that have become household quotes.
So, after 15 years, does the new one deserve praise or the relentless beatings it’s been getting? I’m going to take the high road and say it deserves the praise. Sure, it’s a first-person-shooter. Yes, they haven’t really come a long way since the 90′s. Obviously, games have changed and FPS games aren’t really all that exciting or fun anymore. But think about it for a minute.
Duke 3D came out when first-person-shooters were the absolute rage of gaming, mainly in the computer world. The graphics were top notch, it was almost like a forbidden fruit for most since it wasn’t really geared towards children, so a lot of us had to play it when nobody was looking to be able to to get flashed by some pixelated women. So, it’s just natural that the creators of the new game go back to what made the old game so lovable: It’s a first-person-shooter, it’s filled with one-liners, it has women.
Sure, parts of the game may seem boring to the younger generation who are used to WoW, MMORPGs and games other than platform FPS games. But to old-schoolers like myself, who pretty much grew up with FPS, this game is incredibly fun, and the nostalgia of listening to Duke is fun in itself. I laughed at most of the random things he says.
I only played it for a couple of hours, but those were some of the most fun couple of hours playing a game I’ve had in a long time, not counting Arkham Asylum. It isn’t for newcomers or young gamers, it’s for the people who loved the original 3D game and who have been waiting for fifteen years.
I’ll admit, running around an entire level as a miniature Duke isn’t all that fun, but it’s more fun to me than farming junk just to turn around a sell it (why on Earth would anybody want to actually work in a game? THAT’S boring to me) and it’s something to do, instead of having to look for something to do, this game throws you in the middle of the action, saving potentially hours of wasting time running around looking for a mission.
I could go on comparing the new Duke to the old Duke to MMORPGs, but really, it all just boils down to personal preference. You may not like it, that’s fine, take it back, get rid of it and move on. You may love it, that’s fine too, keep it, play it and move on. I’ve read a lot of reviews bashing it, but those were written by people who haven’t been playing games for the better part of twenty years and aren’t used to games like this.
At the end of the day, you will either love Duke or hate him for making you wait fifteen years for a game that could’ve come out thirteen years ago. But to me, it was worth the wait just to be able to go back to the days when games were actually fun and didn’t mirror real life. That’s what gaming is all about, getting away from reality. End rant.

Two More Days

bobisguilty — Fri, 27 May 2011 22:19:51 +0000

I’m kind of looking forward to Sunday, then I’m not looking forward to Sunday, it’s all mixed up for all different reasons. FIrst, I’ll start with why I’m looking forward to Sunday. I get to leave Europe and go home, I get to see my wife and hold her again, I can see my friends, my phone will work, I can get up in the mornings and go to work, spend more time with my laptop and get everything straightened out, I can play some video games and spend time doing absolutely nothing by myself and I can finish my man cave.
The reasons I’m not looking forward to Sunday: I have to leave Europe, I like it here, it’s beautiful. I have to sit on three different planes for about thirteen hours, granted no planes are delayed for any reason. I don’t have anything to read on the plane since I finished the book I started reading on the way over here and the batteries for my laptop won’t last 13 hours, I wouldn’t have anything to do on it if they did.
The other day I ranted pretty hard about Backtrack 5 and, while I’m not taking it back, I will say I might have been a little too rough on it and its programmers. I might have figured out the problem and how to fix it but I can’t do anything until I get home. So I’m going to hold off on talking any more trash about it until I can get to a point where I can try out a couple more things, I might have spoken too soon, which is something I do a lot. It’s who I am and I’m not apologizing about that, I might change it, though.
I start school next week, this should be an interesting adventure for the next three or four years. I logged into my classes today and got the obligatory “this is who I am” paragraphs. I guess I should’ve just written, I’m a dick, I take shit from no one, I hate with a passion but also love when it’s called for.”
Anyway, enough about all that. It’s getting late here and now I’m going to sleep to spend my last full day in Berlin. PIECE!!!!!!

Bye Poland, Lick Butt BackTrack!

bobisguilty — Wed, 25 May 2011 20:35:56 +0000

First the good stuff: We’re getting on a train tomorrow to head back to Berlin for a few days before heading home. I absolutely love Poland and would come back in a heart beat. The country is beautiful, the people are the nicest people I’ve ever met and things here are just generally better. I’ve enjoyed the last couple of weeks I haven’t been at work, stressed out and having mental breakdowns every day, I’ve definitely enjoyed the time I’ve spent with my mom and all the rest I’ve gotten.
Now for the bad stuff, get ready, it’s long. First off, kind of off subject, Backtrack 5 can lick my ass-crack. Looks fine, has a lot of awesome features, great for security enthusiats like myself. But, if you’re going to release something so famous and widespread, for the love of God, BETA TEST! I’ve spent the last two weeks trying everything I could to get my wireless working on my laptop with Backtrack 5 with absolutely no luck. If you built it and then tested it on your laptop and called it good before releasing it, you should be beaten with the keyboard you programmed it with. I know, I know, you can’t test for everything, there’s no way to calculate and anticipate every single hardware configuration. That’s why Backtrack 4 was released as a, say it with me, B-E-T-A, and people got to report what was wrong and what didn’t work.
5 was just released, so I might seem to be a little hard on it. But, next time, if it works on one release, make sure it’ll work on another. Take all the drivers from the previous version and include them in the new one. “But that would take too much room!” Seeing as how the previous version was just over 1 gigabyte, that’s not that big of a deal. “We offer a great community full of people who are familiar with our program that can offer help.” No, you offer a forum where people who are up their own asses and feel like they’re too good to help, so they just talk down, berate and mock…pretty much everything but offer help. And that’s if you can even get your question posted! A moderator has to approve it first, so if they don’t like it, they won’t post it, you won’t get help, the world moves on.
It’s like asking a Mac user why Apple products are so awesome. You get a lot of fluff but no real answer, and a lot of attitude. The main answer I’ve seen and received is “Google it.” WOW! Great advice! I didn’t know there was this website I could go to to ask for help and get answers! That sounds like the greatest place on earth! I SHOULD’VE TRIED THAT FIRST! WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?! Or, my personal favorite, “This has been answered here a million times, do a forum search.” That sounds reasonable. Instead of just helping someone, your advice is to make them read through hundreds, if not thousands, of useless posts that have nothing to do with the problem they’re having, granted the shitty search function actually works and finds posts relating to the problem at hand. Kind of like using Google. Needle in a haystack.
Okay, I’m off my high-horse now. To contradict all that hatred and anger: Backtrack 4 was a godsend! It took 5 mintues to install my wireless card (which is completely confusing why it wouldn’t work on 5, but I digress). It had thousands of the most useful tools security enthusiasts and wanna-be hackers alike could really sink their teeth into. In fact, I love Backtrack 4 and will stick with it until Offensive Security releases a better, more stable version of Backtrack 5. Why didn’t I just start off swinging from Offensive Security’s nuts about Backtrack 4? Because I haven’t just spent 2 weeks trying to get my wireless working, with no luck, with 4. I also haven’t been mocked and called names because, for some reason, the damn thing just won’t work and somehow, that’s MY fault. Another great Backtrack forum past-time, blame the user and not the program.
Anyway, I’m leaving Poland tomorrow and my head cold is keeping me from tasting anything I eat or drink. I’m also pretty sure I won’t be able to sleep tonight or on the train tomorrow. I’ve pumped myself with antibiotics, Advil Cold & Sinus, cough syrup and sleeping pills. Since none of that worked last night, I’m willing to bet money it won’t work tonight. Hopefully I’ll at least try to get some rest on the train. I guess we’ll find out. Bye Poland! I’ll miss you dearly! PIECE!!!!!

Loving Poland For A Second Time, Laptop….not so much

bobisguilty — Sun, 22 May 2011 22:09:55 +0000

So we’re in Poland again, having more fun this time than last, seeing a lot more of it anyway. We’re here until Thursday and have done everything we’ve already wanted to do. Thursday we go back to Berlin for a couple of days and then head home Sunday. The train ride to Poland was pretty much what you’d expect, I read and slept a lot, so that’s probably what’s going to happen on the train ride back to Germany.
On to the computer problems: The first couple of nights in Berlin were fine, no problems at all. Then I installed VMWare to mess around with something, I had my laptop dual-booted with Windows and Backtrack. I rebooted and, suddenly, there was no grub menu, which meant I had no way to access Backtrack or Windows. Having no other way around it, I found a computer repair shop and, using a German Windows disc, fixed the problem. I think I already mentioned that, my memory’s been getting worse so I can’t be sure. Now we’re in Poland and I’m having some issues with wireless in Backtrack 5, I can’t get it working even though I had it working in 4.
Having gotten tired of messing around with it I deleted the partitions on the hard drive that Backtrack was taking up. Upon rebooting I realized that I deleted Backtrack, but Grub was still looking for it. Again, no way to get into Backtrack or Windows. Luckily, this time I was equipped with a Backtrack 5 cd so I reinstalled it and now I’m back in Windows. Now I just hope nothing happens with Windows because I’m not downloading a Windows cd, good thing Backtrack is free. I’ve done more computer work over here in Europe than I do at home. At least I can keep my skills up.
I finally got my Financial Aid in, so starting in nine days I’ll be a student. I got all my books in so I’m looking forward to having something to do with those, instead of having them sit in a cabinet collecting dust. Anyway, I’m in Europe, I’ll talk about school when I’m back at home attending classes. We spent a good amount of time today walking around Krakow. We went to the salt mines and went down about 300 km. Once we got to the top we walked around, back to Krakow unbeknownst to us, then back to where the salt mines were then taking a train back. Got back to Krakow and got to the five story mall and walked around that for a while, ended up eating at a Burger King.
I’ve been having some weird dreams with people I work with, which is weird because I don’t miss them and i don’t miss working with them, so it escapes me why I am dreaming about them. Oh well, it escapes me why my brain does most of what it does. I guess I’m going to mess around with my laptop some more and figure out why the wireless isn’t working in Backtrack 5 no matter what I do. PIECE!!!!!

WTF Were the last couple of days?!?! I’ll tell you…

bobisguilty — Thu, 19 May 2011 10:23:19 +0000

I’m going to run down the last week or so and all the fun I’ve been having. We all know about the accidental throwing away of the lock on my backpack and cutting it open, then cutting the lock off, so I’ll spare that. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned the absolutely delicious food I’ve been eating, but technically I just did so there. Then, all of a sudden, it happened. I wanted to intsall a secondary OS on my laptop for kicks but I didn’t have any discs to burn it on. After doing some research, I found I CAN install an OS without having a disc, granted I already have one or two OS’s installed first, which I do.
First, I grab some VMWare to test one theory, fail. I rebooted to get into the other OS and, wouldn’t you know it, the damn loader for both OS’s flipped out and lost BOTH Operating Systems. No command prompt, no special key combination to hit to get to a command prompt. So I give up and go to bed for the night. The next day we get up and hit the not-so-mean streets of Berlin and find the one computer repair shop everyone pointed us to, which also happens to be an internet cafe and a place to buy international calling cards. Upon arrival, it also happens to be a liquor store. But that’s not all.
The computer technician that works there doesn’t get there until eight in the evening, at this point it wasn’t even eleven. We weren’t waiting around all day for this dude to show up that might not even have a Windows disk. All I needed was a Windows disk and this whole thing could’ve been avoided. Anyway, not only do the people working there not speak English, they don’t even speak German, but they were nice so it’s all good. We walk out and head back to…somewhere, I think at this point we were aimlessly walking around contemplating asking anyone who looked like a hacker (yes, you can spot them)if they had a Windows disk.
On our trek around Berlin, we just happened to notice a computer shop. But it’s not really a shop, it’s more like a tiny Office Depot that sells printers. Because we had no other choice, we walked in and asked where a computer repair shop was, the gentlemen said yes (implying we were standing in one). Then I asked for a Windows XP disc and he went and brought one out. I was relieved, until I kept receiving the BSoD every time Windows tried to load the intsall program (ALL I WANTED WAS A DAMN COMMAND PROMPT AND I COULDN’T GET TO THE REPAIR CONSOLE). After a couple of reboots, I asked if he had a Windows 7 disck. Out it came.
I FINALLY got into the command prompt in the repair options of Windows 7, unfortunately it was the German version and I know enough to say thank you. Fortunately, pretty much all pictures and installs are the same the world over and I noticed the picture (and parts of the words) for repair startup. It scanned my hard drive and THEN I noticed what happened. Somehow, some way, something changed my OS drive letter from C to E. Hitting repair fixed that in a hurry and now I’m back in command of a working laptop. Now it’s time to start the day by getting some lunch as that took most of the morning to get this thing up and running. Totally worth it. PIECE!!!!!

Second Full Day In Berlin…Going Really Well

bobisguilty — Mon, 16 May 2011 20:17:14 +0000

Woke up in the afternoon, as opposed to the morning, and we headed out to see what was going on in Berlin. There’s a cemetery next to the hotel we’re staying in so we decided to head over there and take a lot of pictures. The cemetery was pretty big, a couple of hundred years old, and very pretty. I think I took more pictures of that than anything else. We went to the main train station yesterday (which is five stories high and kind of like a huge mall with trains going through it) so we decided to do something a little different.
We hit up a taxi and rode over to a palace that was here in town. It was pretty big but only one of the wings were open. We got to the gift shop and got a couple of things then walked around the palace. You can immediately tell the difference between modern and classic when you walk around these old places, modern places are big and give people lots of room. Classic places are small and don’t give off that much room, I guess decadence and space didn’t make its way into history until recently. Anyway, we walked around for a little while before I started getting hot, so I took my jacket off and slung it over my arm, then things started getting odd.
A guard came up to me after a few minutes and said I wasn’t allowed to hang my jacket on my arm. After supressing the urge to slap him backwards for being ridiculous, I slung it over my shoulder. This seemed appropriate as he let me on my way. After a couple more rooms in the palace, another guard walks up and says I can’t have my jacket over my shoulder. I have to tie it around my waist. After supressing the urge to knee his ribcage through his back, I tied my jacket around my waist and was immediately transported to 1985, since that was the last time I remember doing something so stupid.
I understand why I can’t take pictures inside ANYWHERE in Europe (after last year’s trip I didn’t even bother this time) but not having my jacket draped on my arm OR shoulder? Please, now you’re just being a jerk. We got what we came for here, we saw a palace, got some souveniers, it’s time to get something to eat. So I put my jacket on properly, transporting myself back into the present time, and walked out into the cold, rainy day.
There were a chain of restuarants across the street from the palace and we picked one that boasted to be a beer garden. Although I didn’t get any beer (I’ll have some on the way back through after Poland), I did have some of the best German food I’ve ever had. That’s an ironic saying, since one of the dishes weren’t even German, it was Polish. I’m not even going to start to spell it, so I’ll sound it out. It’s pronounced per-oh-gee. It’s a fried ravioli-type noodle with meat in it. Don’t know how it’s made, other than the fact that it’s delicious. Then I had some curry wurst, which is bratwurst with ketchup and curry powder. My mom had wienerschnitzel, which is always good. No, I’m not talking about the hot dog chain, it’s a flattened, breaded, fried meat.
Tomorrow, we’re going to another palace where, I hope, I can hang my jacket on my arm if I get too warm. I’d like to have that explained to me, there are some strange things I can’t do in this country that nobody can explain because I don’t understand their language and they don’t understand enough of mine. Anyway, it’s getting a little late and I’m going to read a little before I go to bed. PIECE!!!!!

Germany Part 2

bobisguilty — Sat, 14 May 2011 19:53:56 +0000

So my mom and I decide to come back to Germany to see the things we missed last time. We get ready and today we left. Flew from Lubbock to Dallas, stayed in Dallas for a few hours, then from Dallas to London, where we stay a few more hours. Then we get to Berlin and come straight to the hotel, then the fun begins. Well, it began in Dallas. I locked the zipper on my backpack so no one could get to my laptop and steal it. Then, without even acknowledging it happened, I threw the key away in the trash can, along with some trash and two other keys. The plane ride was interesting from Dallas to London, there was a guy on it that watched as my mom and I cut into the backpack, looking like we stole it and were breaking into it to tally the loot.
We cut enough of it open to get my hand in and pull out a book I wanted to read on the flight. The guy then got the privlege of staring at me while I read a book, then passed out for the rest of the flight. While in Heathrow, we ate some Chinese food that turned out to be pretty decent. Looked in every store in that airport and finally just sat down and waited. The flight from London to Berlin was only an hour and 20 minutes, which is a lot shorter than the 9 hour flight from Dallas to London.
The flight from London to Berlin would’ve been flawless had I not fallen asleep and had my sinuses fill up on me. Woke up with a searing headache and what felt like knives being driven into my snius cavaties, which was giving me a pounding headache. So, you know, second trip started without a hitch. Totally had to cut open my laptop bag because I threw the key away (accidentally), then felt like I was turning into Pinhead from Hellraiser, what with all the pain in different spots on my face and head. At the hotel I get the fun task of asking for a bolt cutter from the front desk. Luckily, they had one or I would’ve had to just cut the rest of my backpack open. I carry the bolt cutter back up to the room and proceed with cutting the lock off, looking hardcore in the process too. I bet I looked pretty sweet carrying those things up five flights of stairs. Anyway, enough about that.
We’re going to be here for a week before moving onto Poland, which we’re both looking forward to. Hopefully I still know enough Polish to get around and get what we need. I guess we’ll find out in a week. I’m going to turn off my laptop, slither down a little and pass out and get some good rest not sitting up. Sleeping on an airplane sucks because you can’t stretch out. Anyway, I’m going to sleep now. PIECE!!!!!

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!!

bobisguilty — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 09:44:33 +0000

It’s almost five in the morning and I’m still awake. Couldn’t tell you why. I guess it has something to do with staying up playing Zombies on Black Ops with a co-worker until 3, then not really being tired after that. Whatever the reason, I’m sure it doesn’t make sense. My brain’s going in fifty different directions with thoughts, songs and ideas, I don’t really have the wherewithall to get up and take my sleep medicine. Plus I’m on call and that wouldn’t do me any good.
Getting ready to go on another trip to Europe, this time for only 14 days instead of the 30 we took last year. We’re going back to Germany and Poland, Berlin and Krakow to be specific. Looking forward to that. This trip should be a little more laid back than the last one since we’re really only going to two places instead of half of Europe.
I was given a laptop by my mom that wasn’t of any use to her anymore, so I outfitted it with two operating systems for pen-testing purposes. Now it’s a pretty cool little laptop. It took a few days to get everything set up and running, with the sad realization that I probably won’t use it for its intended purpose as much as I planned for. So I’m using it for day-to-day purposes so it wouldn’t have been a waste of time.
I’m pretty sure I’ve also been fighting a sinus infection for the last few days, possibly week, I don’t pay much attention to time. I might have to break down and go to a doctor soon to get it taken care of, it’s starting to get annoying.
Speaking of annoying, I’m cutting this short and going to sleep. I haven’t posted anything in a long time so I thought I’d drop a line real fast before hitting the sack. PIECE!!!!!

Laptop’s Back To Working Condition

bobisguilty — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:42:50 +0000

After fourteen scans (with seven virus scanners, two times each), I’ve finally cleaned some junk off my laptop so I can actually use it now. It wasn’t letting me open any programs and it kept saying they were infected and would close them as soon as I opened them. I’ve seen that before, but this time there wasn’t a popup of some fake security tool scanning my computer for “problems”.
There was, but I closed it before it could start “scanning” so I don’t know if it was either Security Tools 2011 or Security Professional. Whatever it was, it’s not there anymore. I think I’ll scan it again tonight for good measure, just to make sure it’s super clean. You can never be too safe.
Almost half-way finished with a boot camp set of cd’s I got for my next certification. The information is outdated, but I’m going through them anyway “just in case” and I’ll go through some more up-to-date ones when I’m finished with these. That’s about all I have going on. I guess I’m going to get started on the next set of cd’s for now and hopefully stay awake going through them. PIECE!!!!!

Finally, an update!

bobisguilty — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 13:41:09 +0000

I can’t even remember how long it’s been since I wrote anything here. But I do know a lot has happened…just can’t really place what has happened in the timeline between then and now. So, we’ll ignore all that and start fresh. Getting ready for another trip to Europe but this one will only be two weeks instead of an entire month.
I was going through the videos of the last trip…the videos of the train rides and there was one where I was passed out. Not sure if I was actually asleep or just resting my eyes, but it looked like I was gone. This time we’re mainly going to Germany and Poland again, so I have to brush up on my Polish.
I’ve been studying for my next certification and that’s been going pretty good, I’ve been putting what I’m learning to good use on my network at home just to say I’ve had some practice. I forgot you’re not supposed to scan a broadcast IP address, or the IP address of the wireless router. Had to turn the router off and back on just to get the internet back to the Xbox.
Two friends had birthdays last Wednesday, so that was interesting. One was turning 21 and the other was turning 30. We hit up one bar and apparently that’s all we needed to hit. The 21 year old was trashed, I guess that’s what he set out to do. Then Saturday his family came into town and took him out again and some friends, so we met up with them at another bar.
I don’t remember doing anything else Saturday. Sunday I went to my parents’ house and had some awesome chicken and dumplings, then got extraordinarily tired and went home. I don’t know why but I’ve been more tired lately than usual, which is saying something because I’m usually two steps from falling asleep. Lately, it’s all I can do to stay awake.
I guess that’s a good thing since I usually can’t fall asleep without taking two Klonopin. That reminds me, I have to call my pharmacy and get a refill. Well, I guess I’m gonna take off from here. Got a few things to do before I start the day, even though I’m already at work. Oh well, I’m going to get some studying done today. PIECE!!!!!