Tech news and some quick updates

Hey guys,
Steve here.
OK. I know I’ve been gone for quite a bit of time, but I won’t say anything about it because it has happened so much lately, that giving another excuse for why it was so would be frivolous and redundant. So instead, let’s get on to what this post was mainly about, because a lot has happened in the last 3 weeks.
First of all, I got my personal computer back last Saturday, complete with all my files! Guess my theory was correct–it was, in fact, not the hard drive. I guess I fried the motherboard, the AC jack, and the AC adapter; the latter two things being the result of the charger getting stepped on while plugged in.
Since then, I’ve avoided charging it at night, and also I’ve been shutting it down at night to prolong battery life. I’m hoping this will prevent me from breaking the computer again.
My fixed computer, along with the fact that we finally replaced the battery to the fire alarm in my room, have resulted in me being able to produce pod casts again, this time without those annoying chirps! But since I haven’t been very active on my website recently, I haven’t done anything in the way of pod casting since getting my computer back.
Speaking of pod casts, I still want to do ‘the Road to Rage’ for the game, but I think I will do a demonstration of the version which has single player mode. Unfortunately, this version is a bit out of date, because Ghorthalon, the developer, took single player out of the newest rtr version; however I think he might add it back in.
Anyway, so it doesn’t seem as though I’m just recording a podcast on a game you can’t get your hands on anymore, I’ll put the download link for that version on the show notes. So, you podcast fans, the episode will come out on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014.
Switching topics, I’ve not done much in the way of coding, even though I have pure Basic, and my “secret project” files are on my hard drive. However, especially as we head into October, I’ll ramp up the coding. Once I create a playable version, I’ll do a podcast (teaser if you will) on it. Trust me, this game is far more interesting than the beginner projects I’ve recently done, which none of them were published. But that’s oK, those were just beginner projects that, at the time, seemed a big deal to me. I mean, I have a playable version of the card game I was making on my hard drive– a couple code tweaks and it will be ready to go, and I guess I could toss it on the software page just for the heck of it. It was really just a small project though.
But as for the word pad I was creating, I discontinued it. The reason for that was because I lost motivation, and couldn’t fix some of the visual aspects of the program. As a result, I won’t post that here.
All that aside, school has been going well for me this year, that is, after I quit getting lost. The only class that I find a bit boring is choir, but hopefully that will change.
Well… to say the year has gone totally good would be stretching the truth just a bit. Because, just 2 days after getting my home computer back, the fans on my school computer decided to go bad… erg! What is it with computers these days? Every time a computer of mine has broken, it’s been different every time–virus, hard drive failure, broke the lid half off, motherboard/AC jack, then fans. Makes me wonder… what’s next? But then again, I really don’t want the answer to that question.
Well anyways, for the two days after my computer broke until I got a temporary replacement, I had to walk across the school and back every time I got an assignment, which by the way was quite frequently. This was because there was a computer with a screen reader on it, however it was in the special education classroom. It got bad enough to where I was walking down there 3-4 times a day, so I was definitely relieved to get that temporary replacement computer. No drop box, and a short battery life, but who cares!
Anyway, I guess that about wraps up tonight’s post. Hope you enjoyed it!
Thanks for reading,
type you later,
Steve.
P.s. Also, remember me in your prayers not only because tomorrow is picture day, (something I really don’t like), and I have choir class, but also because I would really like to get my school computer back soon. I also hope, that like my home computer, the files on it can be saved.

A Mostly Good Week

Hey guys,
Steve here.
Though it went by pretty fast, the first week of high school was somewhat stressful. As I said in my last post, I had quite a bit of trouble navigating the school, especially on my B days. In fact, on Thursday, the first day I went about my B day schedule without assistance, I got majorly lost going to pretty much every class, and it took me the better part of 10 minutes to get where I was going. By the end of that day, I was practically cursing the school’s name, and feeling very frustrated.
Thankfully, however, my o&m teacher came back Friday and yesterday, and we practiced that schedule over and over again, so I feel pretty comfortable with it now. Today was the first A day that I had to be by myself, and I didn’t get lost once. Tomorrow, I’ll have to do it alone as well, and though it’s a B day, I don’t feel in the least bit nervous.
That aside, the classes and social aspects of school have gone quite smoothly. Besides making some new friends, I ended up with some pretty good teachers, and my classes, though long and some of them resulting in lots of seemingly frivelous homework, are also not bad.
Off the topic of school, I’m once again able to program! Thanks to Danny, who provided me with the latest setup file for pure basic, I was able to install it to a flash drive, and with drop box on my school computer, access and edit the source code for my game. And, even though it’s been roughly a month since I last worked on it, I created an outline detailing my plans and goals for the game, along with in depth descriptions of each and every feature I plan to add, thus making it easier to pick up where I left off.
Techie rambling aside, I am rather happy to have my good old pure basic back. It’s been a long month without being able to code, the cause of that being the failure of my computer.
Speaking of which, I just learned last night that it will be sent in to HP, so they can have a look at it. They will be sending a box to put the computer in, and we’ll have to mail it back to them, then they can begin fixing or looking at it.
So saying, I recall telling you guys that I might be able to do a podcast soon. I didn’t do it last week, however, due to the fact that for 1 I hadn’t decided upon a game and for 2 we had a family get together on Sunday. I now have a game that I want to do it over, called the Road to Rage. Since the game is on a computer which I have access to, and I am equipped with the means to record a podcast, I will try and get that done and posted this Sunday. So if you listen to my podcasts, keep an eye out for another episode!
Well, I guess that about wraps up tonight’s post.
Thanks for reading,
Type you later,
Steve.
PS. I’ve finally started reading the James Bond (007) books. I’m only on the first one, and so far am really enjoying it!