Still Alive...

It's been a while... Sorry for the disappearing act, guys. Real life has intervened in a big way, lately, and I haven't had the time, or, more importantly, the ambition, to do much of anything related to the internet, other than looking for ways to make a decent income. On that note, I'll point out that the donation button from my last post has been permanently placed on the right. Now, I don't expect anything, but any amount that could be donated would be greatly appreciated.

Regarding my disappearance from YouTube. I ended up deleting my channel, again. Reasons? Well, I can't say. I call it an "internet identity crisis", where I had difficultly reconciling my motives for creating content on YouTube, and the reality that I wasn't exactly meeting my expectations. Those expectations have been adjusted, and I hope to get back into the game with YouTube and video game Let's Plays, in the semi-near future. Stay tuned for more information!

In real life, I'll share a bit of inconvenient news. Around the beginning of April, I broke my left hand. It was a fairly serious fracture of the third metacarpal (the bone that connects the middle finger to the wrist), which required surgical reduction, and insertion of a steel rod to hold the bone in place while it heals. Fortunately, everything is going well. Since the surgery, I've retained nearly complete use of my hand, aside from overly-strenuous activity. I'm actually able to touch-type this post, with no discomfort. I'm in a cast for the next 3 to 4 weeks.

Also, tomorrow is my birthday! I will be turning 24.

So, I'm a Broke-Ass Chump. :P

Here is a button. The button does cool things. (Explanation forth-coming. I did this on spur-of-the moment because a friend expressed interest.)
Explanation, copy-pasta'd cause I'm lazy. :P
Hey guys, just wanted to post a quick update, and apologize for the lack in content, lately. I hope to get episode 7 of Drew's SMP Adventures recorded in the near future.
On a slightly-serious note. I'm considering my current PC, and how outdated it is, and find myself longing for something slightly more powerful. I already have a spare computer sitting around, that would serve as a nice temporary replacement, with a few parts. Estimated cost to get it running would be about $100, which includes a new motherboard, and some RAM. Given my current situation, finding that much extra money would be difficult.
Current:
Intel Pentium 4 2.6GHz w/ HyperThreading
2GB DDR 400 RAM
GeForce 6200 w/ 512MB VRAM
Upgrade:
AMD Athlon X2 2.2GHz Dual-Core
4GB DDR 400 RAM
ATI Radeon HD 4350 w/ 1GB VRAM
I have all the parts, aside from the 4GB of RAM, and the motherboard has several bulged capacitors, which cause the entire system to hard shut down at random. I've priced the replacement board at roughly $50 USD, plus another $50 for the RAM. If anyone could consider donating, it would help me to continue producing my LP, and perhaps start a couple other projects.

UPDATE: Success! My good friend "MagickEh" just donated the e-bucks I needed for the motherboard. Now, the only (somewhat optional) component left is the 4GB RAM. Between my current PC, and spare modules I have scattered around, I can probably load it up to 3GB, so this doesn't have to happen any time soon. I'll leave all the info here, however, and be sure to mention it in my next LP, with special thanks.

Hnggh!

So.... Yeah... A whopping 4 months has passed since I last took ten minutes to put something in here. In that time, things have changes, but also stayed pretty much the same. I'm still working at previously mentioned job, and things on that end are going well. I'm also working on some of the same hobbies I have previously. On that note:

Shameless Plug #1: New YouTube Channel

Some stuff happened, and I had a momentary herpdy derp moment, wherein I decided it was a good idea to delete my entire YouTube channel. Yeah... I have nothing good to say about that. Nothing at all. However, I've started back from square one, and have a new channel. Things are still a bit bare, right now, but I can assure you that content will start to appear in due time.

A lot of the focus for this channel is going to be Minecraft SMP, now that Better Than Wolves mod is compatible in a multiplayer environment. I play a great deal on the Edolas server, which is whitelisted, and fairly strict in terms of who gets in. I have no control over the whitelist. </disclaimer>

Shameless Plug #2: I wrote some stuff

Another time-sink I've been investing myself in from time-to-time has been a peice of fanfiction, based on the Harry Potter Universe. The story, Harry Potter and the Concept of Freedom, is a direct continuation from the end of Deathly Hallows, wherein Harry must now come to grips with life beyond saving the world, while still being asked to save the world. I won't spoil anything. Read it, if you're into that sort of thing, and be sure to leave a review and follow the story for updates. I have a pretty detailed plot laid out in my brain, and I'm estimating that it could be upwards of 40(!!) chapters long before all is said and done. Once it is done, I'll likely publish a full-quality, free PDF, with some added stuff, here and there.

So, yeah, that's all I have for today. Here's hoping I don't forget to post again before the next 4 months goes by. If not, see you around next January.

Breaking the Silence

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; I'm absolutely terrible at keeping things like this blog up-to-date. Youtube subscribers will also notice that I haven't uploaded a video for several weeks, as well. There are reasons for this sudden abscense, one of which is a much-needed relief to myself.

As of April 13th, I was informed that I had been offered a temp-to-hire position as an IT Consultant with a growing company in my area. The pay is excellent, and the company has a great atmosphere. I'm glad to finally have the opportunity to do something that I enjoy, and make an honest living in the process. I won't go into further details of what it is that I do, as I have always been very careful about revealing personal information to the internet.

However, with my new-found employment, my spare time is greatly diminished. Hence, I've been forced to temporarily place Drew's Empire Resurrection on hold, until I can save up to rent an apartment slightly closer to my office. Once that is taken care of, I'll see if I can resume the series for Season 3. Better Than Buildcraft, now in the hands of Better Than Wolves forum member Gilberrke, is now updated to version 3.26, for Minecraft 1.2.5, and while compatibility with some of the addons I had previously used (such as Additional Pipes) is no longer available, I'm looking forward to finding an opportunity to play around with the new release.

I've also been playing a few other games. I just purchased Oblivion on Steam for under $13, complete with expansions. My first exposure to The Elder Scrolls was with Morrowind, and it seems that Oblivion is equally, if not moreso, expansive and daunting in the amount there is to do. I've only just gotten started, so I may fire up FRAPS and record a chunk of footage for the hell of it.

Another interesting thing to note. I had recorded some Minecraft footage to explain everything that I've just put into this post, but it seems that YouTube is being uncooperative. Uploading the footage, I am told that the video is too long, which is rather strange, as my account has been approved for over-15-minute videos for some time now. I have double-checked my videos, and have no outstanding copyright violations, not that I expected I would. Very curious. I'll have to look into it.

In any case, that's all I have to say at this point.

Drew