Category: Uncategorized

Today is launch day for Halo: The Master Chief Collection! This is by far the biggest game I’ve worked on in terms of ease of recognition and popularity. Some of the games I worked have been popular and well-liked by a small core or cult audience but Halo is in another universe altogether. I don’t even have to explain to people what the game is about, they just hear Halo and they get it. I don’t believe any of the games I’ve worked on had a midnight release but Halo did, across several continents. I am estimating that more people will play the new Halo game in one week than any of my other games combined. I am extremely lucky to have had a very small part in making this title. My name is just one of many in the credits. In fact, you can see the credits here. The UFG section is right near the bottom so it’ll be easier if you just use “Ctrl-F” and search for “Erwin”. It’s weird that they put us in the Halo 2 section since technically the work we did is in the unified front end which is used by all the games.

While I’m very grateful to have been a small part of the Halo universe, making this game was not easy. Making games is never easy, no matter how easy it might have seen when you’re interviewing for the position. There were times of frustration during the summer but I suppose that’s part of making games. If you ever see me in person, I’d be more than willing to share some stories from the development cycle.

It is interesting to note that as I write this, the entire world, with the except of the Pacific time zone now has full access to the game. It appears that searching through social media, lots of people are reporting that the multiplayer features are very broken for them. Here’s one particular example. I would love to comment on this but a blog isn’t the best place for that. Perhaps over beers while we trade stories of game development? I am sure over the course of the next several weeks these issues will be ironed out but I will watch with great interest to see how the public reacts to these problems. I find that gamers in general are very patient and reasonable people, especially over the Internet.

I’m super happy my latest game is now out! I hope everyone enjoys it!

According to the official government forecast, temperatures in the area will be close to freezing come Monday evening. Does that mean I’ll be bringing my winter coat out of storage? Unfortunately, it looks like that will be the case.

It’s already bone-chilling cold in Alberta and the Prairies, so I guess we’ve had it good if we’re just hitting the freezing mark now. The good news at least is that the weather is calling for clear and sunny skies all week, despite the freezing lows. I’m wearing socks right now indoors. This week will be a definite test of my resolve to keep the heat off.

I have just returned from the Halo wrap party. The venue was a bar that served food. Great place except it was really tight on space at the height of the party when everyone was in attendance. The drink tickets were generously handed out. Everyone got four to start with but I found it was easy to get more without any trouble. On two occasions, people just handed me a shot without any prodding. One particular person I know got super duper drunk. I’d never seen him get that drunk before. When I arrived at the party, which was early on, he had already exhausted his drink tickets. On the way home in the cab, said friend asked me, “Erwin, you know where I live right?”. This indicated to me that perhaps he himself did not know where lived at that moment. We got him home safely though.

I’m about to eat a turkey bacon club sandwich, so I need to attend to that. Great party overall! Glad to be a very small part of the Halo universe now!

It’s been almost three years since I attended my last wrap party but tomorrow I get to go another one. It’s a combo shindig, celebrating the completion of both Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition. Our Halo team was super small so it makes sense to combine both events together.

Interesting note, I believe this is the first time I’ve gone to a wrap party where the game I worked on hasn’t shipped yet. Halo ships next week. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again. I’m also looking to stuffing my face with food and having some beverages.

I did some laundry today and washed some of my bedding. While my bed was bereft of any sheets, pillows, and comforter, I decided to rotate the mattress around 180 degrees. I was planning on doing this for a while but today seemed like a good time to do it. Rotating the mattress like that would be useless if I slept directly in the middle but I don’t. For whatever reason, I sleep off to the right. I also don’t move around a lot, so even though I have a double sized mattress, I probably could get away with sleeping on a twin. This is no doubt because the majority of my life, I’ve slept on a twin.

So for over four years, I’ve slept on just one side of my bed. It used to be that you could even out the wear on your mattress by rotating it and also flipping it but the flipping part doesn’t work now with these pillow top mattresses. I’ve got one of those, so I’m stuck with just two different orientations as opposed to the four. Does it make a difference? In my case, yes it did make a difference. The unused side of my mattress is decidedly firmer as my fat ass has not forced those poor mattress coils to compress permanently.

My first night on what is essentially a new mattress awaits! Tomorrow I might even rotate my pillows! Life is exciting!

I woke up today and headed off to an electronics supply store. As I mentioned in my last post, I was hoping to get some metal standoffs, which would allow me to connect my new CPU cooler to the stupid ass backplate which was glued on. It took me just over an hour of my time and I had to brave the non-stop monsoon rains that are currently plaguing Vancouver. On the way back, I stopped off at IHOP to get a late lunch. Man, I love places like IHOP and Denny’s.

Upon returning home, I didn’t waste any time in trying to screw the standoffs into the backplate. They didn’t fit. These were the closest fit I could find in the store and nothing short of making my own custom pieces of hardware would solve the problem this way. The four standoffs cost about seventy-five cents each but I wasn’t really concerned about they money at this point. There was only really one solution left. I had to pry this damn metal plate off the motherboard somehow. Like I mentioned previously, the Internet said heat was the key, like using a hair dryer.

I cursed silently before heading right back out into the rain. There’s a drug store a few blocks from where I live and it was the easiest and cheapest place for me to get a hair dryer since I didn’t own one. I was prepared to pay a maximum of $20 for one. When I got to the store, I found a Revlon one for $18. It even had two attachments, including one that concentrated the airflow into tight line. This would be useful.

As I waited in line to pay, it dawned on me how much extra money and effort I had expended on this little project that was supposed to be fun, easy, and quick to complete. I almost began doing the math on how much I’d already spent versus buying a new motherboard and just bringing over the CPU and the RAM. I stopped myself because I didn’t want to know the answer but now that I think about it I believe I still come out ahead, even though it’s real close.

Once I got home with the hair dryer, I went right back at it. This project was going to be finished tonight one way or another. It would either be a success or I’d somehow ruin the electronics or some components trying to get the backplate off. I started off perhaps a bit too eagerly with heating the adhesive under the metal plate. I had the hair dryer on the highest setting and even though I was moving the dryer around, one corner of the plate got very hot without me realizing. It became very hot to the touch and I feared I had damaged some of the components on the board. The good news was this corner of the plate was now the easiest to start prying off. The heat definitely had softened up the adhesive and it was pliable to a certain degree. I used the corner of an old plastic rewards card from a bookstore to slide underneath the plate where I could. I had to reapply the heat about five more times (this time on the lowest setting) along the edges. After each time, I could loosen more of the plate from the adhesive. I was very careful not to use too much force to pry the corners and edges off. Every time I felt the resistance getting too high, I’d heat it up again. Overall the process took about fifteen minutes to finally get the whole plate off. The adhesive underneath the plate was extremely thick and it left some residue on the board. I did not bother cleaning up most of it.

I wanted to stop and celebrate this moment but I wasn’t done. I still had to get back to the original task and installing the new CPU cooler which I got on Saturday. This task, fortunately, was much quicker. It took all of five minutes and for everyone’s reference, this new backplate is screwed on not stuck on with glue. The next step was then to mount the motherboard back into the case connect up all the wiring again.

Because I have such bad luck, I was almost certain that my computer would not boot up after I finally had solved all my hardware issues. To my great surprise, everything just worked, which is why I can write this post that you’re reading now.

Now some of you might be wondering if all this effort, money, and frustration was worth it. From a technical standpoint, I guess yes because I ran some tests and in certain circumstances my computer is now twice as fast as it was before. I also learned a lot about CPU cooling that I did not know before and I now know how to install one of these (and uninstall pain in the ass ones too). It was also a great exercise in perseverance, patience, and dealing with frustration.

I’m so glad this is now over. I can play games again and move onto the next items on my to-do list.

Several weeks ago, I thought the process of building myself a new computer was going to be a one week task at most. I’d get a new power supply, take out my old motherboard, and swap in the new one I got from work for free. A straightforward set of tasks even for someone like me.

For a while, it did seem like it would be that easy. The new power supply was easy to buy. Taking out my old motherboard was also very easy. Then the complications started. When I went to install the new motherboard into the case I realized I needed a new metal plate for the back. I wrote about that in a recent post. Ok, so no big deal, I paid $16 on eBay for some Dutch guy to mail me one. I waited a week for it to arrive and in the end, I just needed some patience. The plate arrived on Friday which meant I could finish the build. I snapped the plate in the back and it fit perfectly. Five minutes later, I finally was able to install the new motherboard.

It was done! Everything was in place and I just had to turn it on and I’d have a new, faster computer. Turn it on I did and because I’m a pessimist I expected it to not boot up. It did, however, boot up fine into Windows. My new computer was working!

Then I realized something wasn’t quite right. There was a fan in the case that was going full-blast and it sounded like I had a jet engine in there trying to take off. I looked inside and it was the CPU fan. For those who don’t know, nearly all CPUs in everyday computers need some sort of cooling. If we didn’t cool them and ran them like we do, they would overheat within a minute and break. To counter this, people attach a huge chunk of metal (usually copper) onto the CPU chip itself to draw the heat away, where a fan blows cooler air over the metal to dissipate the heat.

Normally, when you’re just sitting in Windows doing nothing, a CPU fan shouldn’t be trying to get your whole computer airborne. I downloaded a program to tell me how hot my CPU was. Turns out the chip was near 70 degrees Celsius when I didn’t even have any programs running. Damage occurs at 100 degrees Celsius and normally it should be around 30 when you have nothing going on. Upon closer inspection, I realized the heat sink and fan was a budget piece of crap. The heat sink was too small and the fan was way too loud. It would have to be replaced.

Unfortunately, the heat sink and fan on my old motherboard didn’t fit the new one. I’d have to buy a brand new heat sink and fan combo. I’d put all this effort into the computer thus far, I was determined to finish this. On Saturday, I went to a computer store and bought a new CPU cooler for $35, which isn’t bad since some coolers can cost more than $100.

Upon bringing the cooler home, I read the instructions and it seemed like it would take only about ten minutes to install the thing. Awesome, just a few more minutes until it was all done. I began to install the mounting hardware for the cooler onto the motherboard. It was then I noticed a stupid metal plate on the back. This plate was blocking the holes I needed for the new cooler. Said plate was from the old, crappy cooler and not compatible with the new one. Unlike most quality coolers, this backplate was stuck on with an adhesive instead of being fastened with screws. I needed to get this plate off because I had no way to secure the new cooler on with it still there. It was at this point that I was just frustrated. Another thing in my way. How could this have happened?

I tried gently prying off the plate with my fingers but I could tell it wasn’t about to budge. The adhesive was stuck on very tightly. Using a screwdriver or some other metal tool to pry off the plate is also not an option. Doing so can easily damage the motherboard itself or the components on it.

I used the rest of the evening to research my options on the Internet. I discovered one option is to remove the plate using a heat gun or a blow dryer. The strategy is to use heat to melt the adhesive enough so that you can pry it away from the board. People have done it before apparently but it makes me nervous. Heating one part of the board and just on one side makes me wonder if the board will warp due to differential expansion.

The second option involves getting some hardware, like four of these spacers to bridge the gap between the stupid plate and the screws to the new cooler. In this way, the new cooler will screw into one end of the spacer and then I attach the other end to the sticky plate.

My inclination is to go with option two initially because it’s less risky. There’s no melting and prying with this option, even though it kinda sucks I have to go visit an electronics supply shop.

I was so naive to think I was getting a faster and “free” upgrade to my computer so many weeks ago. What more could go wrong with this?

So today was not one for the ages. It did not start off well right away. I woke up and while I was still in bed, I detected a slight tickle in my throat. I think everyone knows that feeling. You’re not sure if that tickle will develop into a sore throat and subsequently a nasty cold.

Things didn’t get better when I was late to meet my parents for dim sum. Luckily, it wasn’t too bad and we had a nice meal. Dim sum was quick though and before I left, my mother gave me some food so I didn’t have to think about dinner tonight. That’s great from both a convenience and money-saving standpoint.

Since I thought I might be on the verge of a cold, I decided to go home right away and just stay indoors for the most of the day. It was also raining quite hard too so it wasn’t pleasant weather to be out in anyways. Once at home, I just drank tea all day hoping my the tickle in my throat wouldn’t get worse.

By the evening, my throat did feel better but it’s one of these things where it can feel better and you feel worse after you sleep on it. There’s something about sleeping that allows a cold take over. I’m also now feeling the slightest of nasal congestion. It’s nothing too bad and I don’t feel like I even have to blow my nose but something is definitely off. I will have to wait until tomorrow morning to see how this plays out. Of course, I hope this doesn’t develop into a full-fledged cold.

I guess the most productive thing I did today was answer e-mails, mostly from recruiters. I feel lucky that despite not even indicating to a single person that I’m interested in finding a new job, people are coming to me with requests to chat about opportunities. To my amusement, one of the messages I replied to was from a Google recruiter. Google is wasting their time trying assess me as a candidate for their company. I know people who have gone on to work at Google and I know the type of tests you need to pass to work at Google. I’m no idiot but the reality is, I’m not smart enough to work at Google. Some might say that’s a self-defeating attitude but I call it being realistic.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully, I won’t feel like crap and I hope I’ll be able to get to back on track with some real tasks.

Every week during my time off, I’m trying to have a new set of goals or a list of things I want to tackle for that week. Sometimes it just might be a continuation of last week’s goals or things but I’m trying hard not to have too many weeks where I’m just being lazy. I figure I’ll inevitably be lazy anyways, even with goals so let’s not plan on being lazy.

Next week, I’ll be trying to get less fat and start being more active. I purposely didn’t have this as a goal right away because I was genuinely exhausted after my contract ended. Week one was basically just sleeping in and getting as much rest as possible. Now that I’ve been able to restore my energy reserves, it’s time to get back into better shape.

I prefer to be outdoors when I’m active and this is unfortunately a bit of a challenge during Vancouver’s rainy fall weather. Luckily, I bought a whole bunch of gear last fall that will help resist the wet weather. I have great hiking shoes, a North Face jacket, and a pair of water-resistant pants, all designed to keep a person dry during outdoor activities.

As for what I’ll be doing outside, I enjoy walking everywhere so I’ll partake in some urban adventures. I’ve never done the walk around Stanley Park in any season other than summer, so it will be interesting to see how it is in the fall. Something tells me it won’t be as nice. What will work against me is the amount of daylight. With the stupid daylight savings time, it can get dark as early as 4pm. I’m a sucker for sleeping in so I need to make sure I’m out there early enough to be not caught in the park in the dark.

Anyways, it’ll be good to work off all those OT meals from the summer.

As many of you know I’m currently unemployed but enjoying my time off. The freedom to sleep in and have lots of free time is tempered by the fact that I have no money coming in. That’s ok though as I’m not about to lose my home and I’m not digging through the garbage for scraps. For the most part, I lived well within my means during the nine months of my last job contract and that’s allowed me to take some time off.

So while I’m not about to be living on the streets, it doesn’t mean I can’t be smart about my spending while on this little break of mine. One of the things I’m striving to keep in check is how much I spend on food. It’d be easy to spend as little as possible and just eat junk (and delicious fried carbs) for all my meals but that’s not the way to go. One of the things I’m doing is trying to eat all the food that I already have.

I have a cupboard and freezer with food that needs to be eaten. I’ve already paid for this stuff, so let’s eat it! Unfortunately, I’ve discovered I’ve probably waited too long for some of this stuff. There are two cans of Chunky Beef Soup that expired in 2010. I have about four cans of green beans that I remember buying when I moved into my apartment in early 2010. There are no best before dates on those cans so it’s difficult to know if there are still safe to eat. I also have two cans of corned beef that are from the same time as the green beans. They too do not have a best before date on the cans. The corned beef contains a significant amount of sodium nitrite though so does that make it better or worse? As many of you know, I don’t take risks when it comes to food safety, so the soup, green beans, and the corned beef will have their cans recycled. I feel bad for wasting that food but I’m not going to take chances.

I also discovered a few cups of microwave Kraft Cheese and Macaroni. They expired in 2011 but I think if I still wanted to eat it I’d be fine. It’s just dry pasta and the packet of chemical cheese probably hasn’t gone bad yet. I used to love eating these things but I realized the stuff they put into the cheese powder probably isn’t good for you. Things like MSG just didn’t appeal to me after a while. Again, it’s unfortunate but I think I’ll have to toss these.

The good news is that the rest of the cupboard is looking fine. I have lots of pasta in there, things like lasagna noodles and orzo that’s years away from expiring. I have two cups of microwave basmati rice that technically expired last month but that’s totally ok. I have an unopened package of generic Shake’n Bake that expired two years ago but I think that stuff keeps pretty well so I’m going to use that very soon.

In the freezer department, I think I’m gonna need to toss a few frozen chicken wings I have lying around. Not sure why I decided to leave three wings in there. There’s also a box of terrible fish sticks I need to toss. I bought them from Shopper’s Drug Mart and if you’re thinking a drug store is a bad place to buy frozen fish sticks then you’d be correct. I also have a large supply of frozen dumplings in there and those are fine. In fact, that’s what my dinner consisted of tonight, some dumplings.

So there’s my strategy to at least keep some of my costs down, eat what I already have. When that runs out, then it’ll be time to hit those dumpsters!