The Gimcrack Miscellany

Finally, no more right-click Task Bar, select Toolbars, and uncheck The Language Bar every time I login to my Windows XP machine. I found a post about how to do this, and I’ll conveniently list the steps for you below:

• 1. Click the Start Button.
• 2. Select Control Panel option.
• 3. Double-Click the Regional and Language Options icon.
• 4. Click on the Languages tab.
• 5. Click the Details button.
• 6. Click the Language Bar button.
• 7. Remove the checkmark from the Show Language Bar option.
• 8. Click OK.

Yeah, he can definitely rock out when he wants to. He can also put you to sleep. That’s not a bad thing, unless it’s 11:00pm and you have to drive home after the concert and work the next day.

I bought my tickets for this concert the moment they became available during the pre-sale, and my seat was darn near across the street. How did all those people get tickets before me? Did they all win them on WTTS? Bah.

Despite the bad seats, I still enjoyed the concert immensely. He opened with a vamped-up version of Peaceful Valley, replacing violins with electric guitars that sounded almost Floyd-ish. He played songs from nearly all of his albums, with the usual exception of Rock N Roll and Love is Hell. That means there were songs from Heartbreaker, Gold, Demolition, Jacksonville City Nights, Cold Roses, 29, and his new one Easy Tiger (of which he played at least half the album).

My favorite by far was Mockingbird. It’s amazing how many different ways he interprets the studio versions of his songs. Both Mockingbird and Everybody Knows were sped up with extra instrumental sections and choruses. Let It Ride had no piano, which I did not expect, but I still enjoyed.

Rounding out my favorite song performances of his concert are The Sun Also Sets, Cold Roses, and Goodnight Rose. He played a new song I had never heard before, and it was amazing. Lots of sound and a good jam song.

The best part of last night was how much he talked to us and interacted with the crowd. He cracked jokes, made fun of inconsiderate people in the crowd, and told us about his adventures in Circle Centre mall just prior to the concert. He seemed to be in a great mood, and it really showed throughout his performance.

I’ve heard mixed reactions to past performances of his, namely The Vogue, so while I would say go see him at any cost, I think I need to attend a few more concerts to find out about his apparent inconsistent nature. I can assure you that it will be an interesting show no matter what.

Here’s my planet.

I don’t know what that means, but it’s mine. Oh, and I also have resources:

I can use those to build & fuel things. Plus, I’m working on upgrading all my mines to build up tons of resources (which will undoubtedly dwindle away faster than they’re stockpiled).

Someday, I’ll be able to pay attention to this screen:

Those are the other systems in my galaxy that I can either join with or fight against. I have no idea how to do any of that, but that’s what the forums are for I guess.

Wanna be in OGame with me? Ok, go here and create an account. It doesn’t matter if you’re logged in or not, the OGame universe is persistent - meaning all your resources keep building up even when you’re off line.

My coworker showed this game to me last week, but then he got banned because he didn’t follow the rules. He created two accounts in the same universe. That’s not allowed.

He had to start over and now I have more resources than him. We will join an alliance together and send resources to each other using our rusty old cargo ships. It’s the first step towards galactic domination.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the best part - it’s free. Also, since OGame is a text-based massively multiplayer online game, all you need is an internet browser and your fingers. Actually, my coworker lost the use of his left middle finger during an unfortunate flag football incident, but he can still play. So really you don’t even need all of your fingers, just most of them.

Those screen shots up there were taken in Firefox. I believe you can even play on a mobile device, like your iPhone. My brother talks about how to do this in case you’re interested.