I got a fresh image on my work laptop today. The current image includes a bunch of what amounts to spy/garbage ware provided by THE COMPANY and cloaked as securtiy updates. So. That cannot happen.

So I started on my mission to join a local domain that the engineers maintain for our test labs. OK, but switching domains is disallowed on the newest corporate image, so what do I do…..well, I join WORKGROUP in the hopes of rebooting and then joining the new domain. This seems to work, but after the reboot I cannot log on. It seems it has erased my user accounts that I created while still logged on to the corporate domain. Strange, I would have thought these local computer accounts would persist. So now I’m stuck here at the logon screen with no username or password.

After some searching, I found a utility that runs on a boot CD and will blank out passwords. Very hack the planet. So I tried this out, betting that it was going to insta-corrupt my hard drive. But it worked, I blanked out the passwords for all the users that were left (guest, core, helpdesk – the users I created were indeed GONE). Reboot, log in as core, join my new domain, reboot log into my domain. Success.

I feel very h4×0riffic today

Picked up a used xbox game over the weekend. I saw a preview of the new Tiger Woods golf game for 360 and decided that I needed to play a golf video game. Tiger Woods 2003 was only 2.99 so it was a done deal. What a fun game. It’s really relaxing. There are some obvious improvements that I hope future versions of the game have – a better picture of the green so that I know where to land my iron shots for example. But overall, it’s a fun little game, I enjoy winning tournements, and trying the skills zone. For a few bucks at your local video game reseller, you need to get this one.

I’ve also been toying with the idea of selling my xbox and getting a 360 or a WII. Hmmm….

I played the preview weekend for GW new expansion – Factions.

They added two new classes, the assassin and the ritualist. The assassin is very cool. It plays like combo between a tank and ranger, but with no armor and no ranged attacks. Huh? Well, it uses close range dagger attacks, like a warrior, but relies on a sequence of skills to pile on damage, like a ranger. It’s probably a tie between assassins and air elemental spikers as to who can kill the quickest. The ritualist is fun to play also. As best I can tell, it’s very similar to a shaman in WOW, it does some healing and some damage, but nothing extrodinary in both. In GW its much like a necromancer, in that it summons spirits to help it do its job. The spirits they had in the demo were awesome, but their damage sucked. But there is a wide range of spirits – to cause blindness, healing, hexes, critical hits, etc. There is also a set of spells for ritualists that allow you to summon the spirit and hold it for a while before deploying it. This is awesome, as you can summon it when you have ample energy, and use it just when you absolutely need it.

Can’t wait for the expansion!

Well, I finally hopped on board and bought COD2.

It’s a good game. The single player is awesome, although I’m dying more that I’d like. I have to switch from being a run and gun guy to working more slowly and using cover — things that didn’t matter in COD1.

The only thing I don’t like about COD2 is the graphics. Whaaaaa – aren’t they supposed to be better? Well yes they are, but for some reason, my computer or otherwise, the graphics suck. I can barely see people, and everything looks smoothed out. No sharp corners and definition to the picture. I also don’t like how the players look like battlefield players – I like the old ones better. Your character also seems to have a slower response time.

But everything about the gameplay I’m really enjoying. I like the one weapon only, the lack of a health bar, the crosshairs disapearing when moving. The maps seems cool, although I’m still very very lost. And the weapons are fun too. I’m enjoying the semi-auto rifles more than I did in the previous game.

Looking forward to some CTF action!