Lots of people have seen the movie Transformers in the last few days. I was, unfortunately, not one of them. I just didn’t get around to it this weekend. It’s probably made enough money already that a sequel is inevitable.
I’ll probably see it next weekend. By the way, if you’re wondering, the above still is actually from the movie. When I was deciding pics for this post, it was down to that one and a pic of Optimus. I flipped a coin. Sorry Prime.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okLWiJJcGgE]
So some dude in Copenhagen recorded about ten minutes of gameplay footage from our game and then uploaded it to YouTube. The above video isn’t the best quality since it was recorded off an LCD TV. It’s the longest and most detailed video of our game currently out on the Internet. The best parts of the video are near the end.
As a developer on the team, we’re really not supposed to comment on these type of things. I will say, however, this isn’t the final game. The video doesn’t show all our cards.
I had a meeting at 11am this morning. At 10:50am, I decided I had just enough time to head off to Tim Horton’s across the street to grab a doughnut. It took me only five minutes to get my chocolate dip doughnut and I was inside elevator #5 at Pricewaterhouse Coopers Place in short order, going back up to my floor. Incidently, the building that EA leases their space from was named Vancouver’s “office building of the year” for 2006.
As the elevator rose to my floor on 12, it stopped like it normally did, except the doors did not open. I looked up. The LED display blinked off. The panel was blank. I pressed the door open button. It did nothing. I pressed for the ground floor. Nothing. I pressed for our reception floor. Nothing. Damn, I was gonna be late for that meeting.
I could hear people on my floor beeping in with their access cards, so I was definitely on 12. I looked at the panel again. There was a button for the alarm and there was a button to call someone. I’ve seen both buttons for over two decades of elevator riding. Today was the day I got to press one of those buttons.
I pushed the call button. To my surprise, someone answered in a less than a second.
“Hello?”
“I’m stuck in an elevator #5.”
“Do you know what floor you’re on?”
“Yeah, I’m on 12.”
“Is there anyone else with you?”
“Yes, there’s a supermodel with me and she’s giving me unwanted advances.”
“No, it’s just me.”
There was a flurry of chatter on the other end. Whoever I was talking to was radioing to other people. I began to eat my doughnut.
“Ok, we’re sending a security guard up to 12 to have a look.”
“Sure.”
“Are you having any medical conditions right now?”
“Um, no.”
“Can I have your name?”
“Sure, it’s Erwin.”
“What?”
“(lowly)Fuck.(/lowly) It’s Bob.”
“Ok, Bob, do you work for EA?”
“You bet.”
By now I could hear someone banging on the elevator door and yelling.
“Hello?!?!?”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“What’s your name again?”
“It’s Er-it’s Bob. Bob is my name.”
“Is there someone you want us to call?”
“Is this for next of kin?”
“Oh no! Not at all!”
“You can call my Mom if you want.”
“Are you doing alright in there?”
“Yes, I’m doing fine. I’ve lived a long, full life.”
“Oh ok.”
There was a silence for about a minute. My doughnut was now consumed. Then the voice returned.
“Is there someone at EA that we can call for you?”
“Well, I am late for a meeting, so maybe you can call my manager.”
“Ok, we can do that. We’ll also need your full info so we can compensate you.”
“I’m looking forward to getting that t-shirt.”
Just then the elevator started to move and it went up to 16. The doors opened and I was emptied out into a reception area for some stuffy company. I went around the elevator bank and proceeded into the stairwell. No more elevators for now.
I made my way down to 12 and passed by the elevators to get back into our studio space. There were three security guards there on walkie-talkies.
“You should probably get #5 looked at.”
Then I ran to my meeting as fast as possible since I was ten minutes late already. Turns out the meeting was delayed, so I went back to my desk. Soon after, one of the SEs, Derek came to my desk.
“Building security wants to talk to you.”
I went back out to the elevators. They didn’t even know that the elevator went up to 16 and let me off. They insisted on my full info so they could “compensate” me. I told them my real name and phone number, which a security guard proceeded to write down as “Earwin”. What the hell lady? I corrected her with incredible indignation.
I was trapped in the elevator for approximately ten minutes during which at no time did I even feel like I was in the slightest danger. What compensation could they possibly offer me? By the end of the day and for me that was 10:30pm, I had received no offer of compensation.
That was my first time I was trapped in an elevator. It was exceedingly devoid of excitement but perhaps that’s how all such stories should turn out. Here’s a list of elevator mishaps. The worst by far are the ones where a decapitation is involved and the head is trapped in the car with other people.
I had an appointment with my dentist today. As such, I had to head way west down Robson, almost to Stanley Park. I decided to take a bus there and patiently waited along Seymour near Hastings.
While waiting, I looked across the street. There was what appeared to be a small storefront in one of the buildings. It was no more than perhaps 10 feet wide. There was a window there and it was high enough off the street level that it made me think it was some sorta take-out window for food. Then it got interesting.
Staffing the window was this young lady. Even from across the street, I could tell she was um, quite gifted in the chestral region of her body. It also helped she was wearing a tight-fitting white top that plunged down at an extreme angle, enough so that even the Grand Canyon would have been proud.
As she flittered about the window, I could see three guys lined up for food. It wasn’t even noon yet. As great as the spectacle was, I began to be intrigued at exactly what type of food this place served. I couldn’t tell as there were no large signs above the window. There were things posted near the window but I couldn’t read them from that far away.
Then my bus came and I had to be off. I’m still wondering what they serve. Maybe I’ll go find out tomorrow.
On Sunday, I saw fireworks for the first time in about two years. With the return of Canada Day fireworks to Canada Place, I decided to make use of EA’s patio on the 19th floor which overlooks the water.
Because I’m a sucker for work, I arrived at 7pm to get a few hours of work in first. By the time I got to the studio, there were lots of people in the area around Canada Place. By the time 10pm rolled around, there was a large crowd waiting for the festivities to kick off. It was then that I headed up to the patio. It was apparent I was not the only one with the same idea. Half an hour before the show started there already other EA employees and many of their friends and family lining the rail facing the water. I claimed my spot and patiently waited for the half hour to pass. They were mainly Need for Speed people and save for one other dude, no one else from skate. was there.
Finally, the moment arrived and we were treated to an excellent display of pyrotechnics. I had a great view of the whole thing and I didn’t have to jostle with an unruly crowd. That’s how fireworks should be!
With the Canada Day holiday, I am taking a much deserved day off. Our regular posts will return late Monday night where I’ll probably mention what I had for lunch or link to a story about flies emerging from some part of the human body.
Between work and celebrating the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, I forgot a rather important date last month. May signalled the 10th anniversary of the completion of my undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.
Yeah, I’m not a mechanical engineer anymore. Plus, I went on to get graduate degree as well. Nevertheless, the undergrad degree still remains the most difficult thing I’ve done to date.
Well, enough of that looking back stuff. To new adventures!
I’m getting my hair cut today which is something I’ve needed to do for many weeks now. I think it’s been almost two months since my last one. My hair has reached comical levels of afro-ness.
I was going to take a picture for all to see but I just couldn’t bring myself to capture the moment forever!
My alarm didn’t go off this morning. Now I’m “late” for work. This isn’t fun.
On any given day, there are literally millions of MSN instant message conversations going on in the world. Some conversations are mundane, others are entertaining, while most lie in between. I would like to share with you one MSN conversation I had today. I was talking with a friend, let’s call him Jim. Jim is thinking about doing a lateral move in his company. He has some reservations about it and is still mulling it over. Here’s my response…
Erwin says:
It’s because it’s what you love, Jim. It is who you were born to be. And here you sit. Thinking. Well, Jim is not a thinker. Jim is a programmer. He is a coder, and that’s what you need to do. You don’t need to think. You need to code. You need C++. You need to go out there, and you need to rev your compiler. You need to fire it up. You need to grab ahold of that line between speed and memory, and you need to wrestle it to the ground like a demon cobra.
Jim says:
lol
Erwin says:
And then, when the fear rises up in your belly, you use it. And you know that fear is powerful, because it has been there for billions of years. And it is good. And you use it. And you ride it; you ride it like a skeleton horse through the gates of hell, and then you win, Jim. You WIN! And you don’t win for anybody else. You win for you, you know why? Because a man takes what he wants. He takes it all. And you’re a man, aren’t you? Aren’t you?
I totally wrote that off the top of my head… yep, sure did. I also had Shake ‘n Bake chicken for dinner tonight.