blueZhift Blog

There’s been talk of so-called convergence devices combining the functions of multiple entertainment products in the living room for at least the last 10 years. One box handling broadcast/cable TV, on demand movies, and video games has been the holy grail for a number of companies. I’ve never been a fan of the concept though, preferring to keep some things separate, like my computer gaming for example. And it never looked like it was going to happen in any meaningful fashion, until now.

Things started to change with the arrival of two devices, TiVo, and later the Xbox 360. The TiVo started its life making sure I didn’t miss the shows I liked. But later it started trying to get cozy with my PC, giving me ways to start shows on the much larger PC hard drive and making use of some of its greater CPU power for some functions. But on the whole, it did these things badly. The TiVo hardware is just too underpowered to do much more than its basic functions. And as a person accustomed to high performance personal computers, I was never going to be satisfied with anything less. So I was annoyed with TiVo on this point, but I appreciated what it was trying to do. And unwittingly, TiVo had paved the way for the eventual conquest of my living room by Microsoft.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 arrived in my living room all ready to embrace my PC in ways the TiVo could only dream of. Playing video from my PC on the Xbox 360 was generally pretty easy and I didn’t have to wait for it the way my TiVo made me. The Xbox 360 couldn’t play everything I had, but updates came relatively fast and soon I no longer needed to burn DVDs to preview my video projects on the living room TV. Now I could render a version in an Xbox friendly codec and in minutes I was watching it from the comfort of my sofa. A beach head had been established. My TiVo still makes sure that I don’t miss shows I like, but that pretty much all I use it for now.

Xbox Live has a lot of videos and games available for download. But with only a 20GB hard drive, I really felt constrained against downloading video. Not only that, I already had a Netflix subscription, so I had little reason to pay for rentals from another provider. So when I heard that Netflix’s instant play internet movie streaming was coming to the Xbox, I knew the final assault on my living room was about to begin. I had used Netflix’s streaming service on my PC, but I hate watching movies on my PC and wanted no part of connecting my PC directly to my TV.

Netflix on Xbox Live came last month with the New Xbox Experience update and while there were some quality and network issues at the beginning, it’s been a real champ the last few weeks. My TiVo box isn’t going anywhere, but the entertainment center of my living room is clearly the Xbox 360 now.

Over the last few days, I’ve been battling freezing rain and snow, flat tires and busted windshield wipers. It’s not the way I would want to be spending my time. But ya know what? It’s not my time anyway. I was reminded of this fact one day when I was leafing through a copy of C.S. Lewis’, The Screwtape Letters. I read this in high school theology, but hadn’t picked it up since that time long ago. I happened across the following passage in chapter XXI.

You must therefore zealously guard in his mind the curious assumption “My time is my own”. Let him have the feeling that he starts each day as the lawful possessor of twenty-four hours. Let him feel as a grievous tax that portion of this property which he has to make over to his employers, and as a generous donation that further portion which he allows to religious duties. But what he must never be permitted to doubt is that the total from which these deductions have been made was, in some mysterious sense, his own personal birthright.

You have here a delicate task. The assumption which you want him to go on making is so absurd that, if once it is questioned, even we cannot find a shred of argument in its defence. The man can neither make, nor retain, one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift; he might as well regard the sun and moon his chattels.

I was so struck with the realization that my time is not my own that I took a serious pause. Then the further realization followed that I don’t really own anything at all. We are all just debtors in possession on this plane of existence. So with that in mind, I’ve been seeking out pure moments of joy and experience, being thankful for each one that comes along. So even something as mundane as carrying a flat mini spare to the gas station through the snow loses its sting and takes on a new value.

I don’t know if this makes me a better person or not, but I do feel that I’m valuing the gifts I get from God everyday more highly. The only thing that I can lay claim to are the decisions I make, how I decide to use the gifts I get.

Once again I find myself horribly bored on a Friday night, paralyzed and unable to decide what to do… I’m actually missing my FFXI avatar, having quit the game over a month ago. I’ll probably pick it up again next year, still you spend a lot of time in something without missing it at least a little when it is over. But in the meantime, like an addict who just can’t give it up, I’m thinking of sliding back into World of Warcraft.

I played WoW for a few days in a trial account after the Lich King expansion came out. Yeah, I told myself that it was just a trial just a little taste of something different. But I guess there is just something in me that likes running around virtual worlds killing monsters for hours and hours. I do like trying new things though, like right now I’m giving Gmail a spin. Since Yahoo is laying people off and seems to be in its death throes, I’ve essentially moved over to Gmail. So in the spirit of ditching the old and hooking up with the new, I may give WoW a shot yet again.

Well, it looks like I won’t be making a return trip to the anime convention, Ohayocon in January. While I’m not too worried about my own job right now, I’m just too worried about the overall economy to risk unnecessary expenditures. I had a great time at Ohayocon last January, but I need a lot of uncertainties to stabilize before I can go back. ACen is still on tap for May and probably Otakon too. I wish I could squeeze AX into the mix, but I’m not sure, unless some of my other ventures unexpectedly begin to pay off. Oh well…