Sony's PSP launched on Thursday (at a beefy $349.99 for the Gretzky Value Pack). This is a typical PSP sales transaction:

PSP Purchaser: Do you have any PSPs left?
EB Games Employee: Yep. $349.99.
PSP Purchaser: How much would I get for trading in my Nintendo DS?
EB Games Employee: $93, but $150 if you have a game.
PSP Purchaser: No...no...I don't have any games. They didn't really release any.
EB Games Employee: Yeah, I know, that sucks. So, I guess you don't want to do it...
PSP Purchaser: Are you kidding? Of course I want to do it.

That, nearly word-for-word, is how a typical transaction goes. But why? Why is everyone suddenly trading in their $200 systems for not quite half of what they paid.

Here's why:

	Nintendo DS	Sony PSP	Advantage
Launch Date	November 21	March 24	Push
Price	$199.99	$299.99-$349.99	DS
Bundles	Um...Metroid Prime Hunters Demo	$50 value pack, Spider-man 2 Movie, Gretzky Hockey game	PSP
Launch Titles	Super Mario DS...and Metroid demo	Tony Hawk Underground 2, NFL Street 2, Lumines, Dark Stalkers, Untold Legends...	PSP
System Performance	Essentially, a handheld N64 (thumbs up)	Essentially, a handheld PS2 (everything up)	Gimme a P!
Backwards Compatibility	Gameboy Advance games	Ain't none	DS
Future Outlook	Pokémon!!! Mario!!!	Gobs of games. Weekly new release movies	Gimme an S!
Overall	Nice little system, but please, please release some games	Gabba gabba hey	Gimme a P!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we have been taking Nintendo DS's in like mad. The system's been out for four months, and the PSP alreadyhas more games and accessories. I love you Nintendo, so why do you hurt me so?

Stupid Server

A few weeks ago, the geniuses in IT at Georgian decided that the firewall protection on the school's computer system was not nearly adequate; they'd been experiencing some slow load times, due directly to spyware, adware, viruses, and Web Messenger (the horror!).

To correct the problem, they upgraded, and now the school's system is safe again! Hurrah!

Except for the fact that all Messenger programs are disabled (not that I used them a lot anyway, but it helps when you can't find someone in the library), many of Georgian's sites (Blackboard, NIMSEmail) don't work on an increasingly regular basis, and you can't download from Hotmail or other non-school e-mail addresses (which, coupled with the NIMS's unreliability is super when you've e-mailed yourself an assignment).

Then there's the problem of load times - now exponentially slower than before, in the Dark Ages, the Pre-Firewall Ages, the Age of Messenger.

For example, I am posting this at about 12:20 on March 21. I expect it to appear on this site around 5:00 tonight, as I will most likely not be able to republish my blog due to the extended waiting times. It'd be faster to do it on my bloody XBox. Hell, my Gamecube (little trooper that he is) could kick their asses.

Bah.

Op-ed Wackiness

I don't usually read the Banner (I used to read the Citizen, but I don't really read that much anymore), but with the upcoming election, I've been following the op-ed pages, to see if I know anyone who's saying completely irrational things.

The Banner is a fairly right-wing paper, but they've been fairly even-handed when presenting their letters - a fair mix of pro-Conservative and pro-Liberal opinions (I use capitals because no one's talked about the Greens, the NDP, the Family Coalition party, just Tories and Liberals). And, for the most part, they've actually been fairly coherent. Until this, from The Banner, March 15:

"Jim Metson's letter to the editor (Riding used again for Conservative shuffle, Feb. 22) raises some interesting issues regarding another costly byelection in Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey.

"What happens if John Tory fails to get elected on March 17? Will the taxpayers of Ontario pay for another byelection until he gets a seat in Toronto? If that should occur, it will of course be somewhere else in the province.

"In the riding of Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey, voters now have the choice of breaking the local byelection cycle or moving it to another riding. -- Don Johnston, Orangeville"

What? What? WHAT?!?

First, we should vote for Tory because if he loses it will result in another byelection somewhere else in the province? So...because the Conservatives chose a candidate that can't win a seat in Parliament because no one trusts him...we should vote for him?

Secondly, break the cycle? The last two Conservatives that got elected caused the cycle!

My eyes feel dirty just reading that letter.

Fix the school system!

I'm doing an assignment in the library at school, and sitting next to three very stupid girls. So far, I have caught the following tidbits:

"London's a country. I'm sure of it."
"He was born in Italy. That means he's Italian?"
"Yes the FBI is in Canada! It's international! That's what the 'I' means!"

Ooooh, oooh, now they're taking an IQ test!

By-Election Wackiness

So, the (latest) provincial by-election is upon us in a few more days, and, judging by the letters to the editor in the newspapers, you'd think the Liberals actually had a chance, wouldn't you?

Well, you'd be wrong. This is the great blue whale of a riding of Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey, where, regardless of previous blunders or complete disregard for the riding, we will elect a Conservative candidate. Even during the last federal election, Murray Calder, our incumbent for three elections was beaten when David "Spin City" Tilson ran against him. And, sadly, Calder was destroyed.

Now, here we are again, with another Tory leader lacking a seat at Queen's Park, we are expected to roll over and vote PC once again. Which, like I said, people will do. Why? Because even though people bitch and moan about how the Liberals aren't focused on rural communities, and do this and that to harm small towns, they seem to forget that those problems weren't solved during the Harris/Eves years. But they were probably going to do something.

So, in parachutes John Tory - who, by the way, has made no qualms about the fact that come the next election in 2007, he'll run in his hometown of Toronto, leaving us lacking again (which might then finally result in a Liberal win).

Hopefully, though, people will wake up this time and realize that the Tories are not right for Ontario, and we won't just be their doormat when the latest leader quits in disgrace. Why? Here are a few excerpts Tory's "Send a Message to Dalton McGuinty" pamphlet that's been sent around to homes:

• Right under the section about the Liberals' inactivity on issues such as hospital waiting lists and a lack of doctors, the first line in the next section is "I have committed to repealing the healthcare premium if elected Premier in 2007." Let's get this out of the way right away: You can not spend money you do not have. This is not America.
• "We need action of highways 427 and 410. Let's do it right environmentally, but let's do it (sic)." Sorry, but the 427 and 410 aren't really huge deals to too many DPWG constituents, and, personally, I like the off-handed "Let's do it right environmentally." Well...at least we can try...we might have to pave over a few species, but them's the breaks.
• "Once elected, I..." Not a sure thing yet, Johnny.

Now, how do we combat this knob getting into office? Unfortunately, in this election, I am torn. In the federal election, I voted NDP, confident in the fact that the rest of the voters wouldn't be short-sighted enough to take the seat from Calder. I was wrong. In this election, I would vote NDP again, but I feel it could be black-balling the Liberals, as their support may not be terribly high. I have not yet decided, and may not decide until the day of.

It's going to be a close election, I just really hope people wake up and realize that this riding and the people in it are taken completely for granted and are seen as people who will vote for the first person to wave a shiny thing in their faces.

Cool

A friend from high school, Jeanette, was just on MuchNews. Jen Hollett was doing a little fluff-piece for International Women's Day and went to Steve's Music on Queen, where she interviewed Jeanette about the lack of prominent female guitarists.

So, yeah, very cool. It's the most I've seen of Jeanette in about four years.

It's Georgian for the summer

I got the job at Georgian.

What a day!

Carley and I walked into Blockbuster today to check her schedule and grab the new movies that are coming out. After we'd walked around for a while, we came to the front, only to see Kris Wood with a big grin on his face.

"Guess who got canned," said he.
"Who?" said we.
"Matt!" said he.
"Har!" said we.

That's right, Matt was fired for fudging inventory results at 95513. Apparently he received a bunch of movies as both rental and retail to make the numbers look better. When confronted about it (he's actually working in Barrie now, he left my store a few weeks ago, but LP investigations take a loooooong time), he tried to blame DJ and Lisa. Jim from LP apparently responded with a hearty, "Yeah. Right."

So, Matt, who chose to ignore every piece of advice I gave him about inventory and had Kelly guide him through every stage of it after I left, was terminated for lying about his results. And not only did he try to cover up the crappy results, he tried to cover up the cover up! Classy!

Boo-yeah

On a test I was late for, didn't study nearly enough for, and didn't answer parts of two questions, I got an 81.

Average test mark - 82.5
Notes taken - 0

Job Interview!

Actually, scratch that exclamation point. I had a job interview at the Athletic Center at Georgian on Tuesday. I hate job interviews. I really, really do. It's not like I'm bad at them or anything, I just get overly worked up beforehand and make myself so nervous I feel sick to my stomach. Then I walk in, and I'm fine. It's really stupid, actually.

Anyway, the interview was for a position managing the Athletic Center for the summer (mid-Aprilish until the end of August). Happily, it pays between $10.15 and $10.45 an hour, depending on how the minimum wage increase changes things. Unhappily, during the summer, they're open from 5:45 a.m. until 11 p.m. 5:45 a.m. That would basically mean a 3:30 (give or take) wake-up time if I wanted to eat, shower and be there to open.

I heard back from them today, and apparently they couldn't get ahold of my references at the Citizen or at Ballbuster. I gave them HR's phone number for Blockbuster, and Scott's out for the day, so I just told them to try and call Kelly (who, being the way she is, will most likely just redirect them to HR). As for the Citizen, I don't really know what the guy wanted me to tell him. Apparently the GM and the sports editor I worked under were both out on assignment. Well, terribly sorry, I'll get them to stop doing journalism and get back to the office.

They said they'd call sometime next week, so I hope that means they'll keep trying the references.

Although, I should point out, as someone that has done hiring, reference checks are crap. Think about it. Would you put someone down as a reference who will basically say that you're only a slightly better employee than the carpeting?