Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Zuma Blitz - Tips and Tricks

Today is a new week and so the Zuma Blitz board has been changed.  Every Tuesday the board changes and this week it's pretty challenging.  I figured since I have been playing a lot lately and I'm up to level 42 that I would share with you all some tips and tricks I have learned along the way.

Zuma Blitz
Shot of the new rollout
As I said in my previous Zuma post when you level up you get new things, more mojo, and more golden idols.  Not only do you get new power ups when you level up, but you also get stronger power ups when you level up as well.  For example if you look above I am using a power up called Mega Hurrah.  It used to be just a Last Hurrah, but now it's a Mega Hurrah and at the end of the game you get double the amount of points for special balls left on the rollout at the end of the game.  The only downside is that it cost 1,000 Mojo to use the Mega Hurrah as opposed to the 500 Mojo it used to cost.

Zuma Blitz
New Fruits
As you level up you also get new fruits.  As you can see in the upper left hand corner the new fruit looks like a miniature pineapple as opposed to when you start off with what looks like a green apple.  The new fruits have a higher amount of points.

Zuma Blitz
Large Chains
Tip #1: Try to get large chains for more points by never missing a combo.  Above I have a Chain of x63.  I hit a combo with every ball for the entire game.

Tip #2: Always keep in mind the coloured ball you have coming up next.  You can swap the ball you are about to shoot with the one that comes after it by either right clicking with your mouse or by using the spacebar on your keyboard.

Tip #3: Try to shoot between the gaps.  You get more points for hitting balls between the gaps.  Also the smaller the gap the higher the points will be.

That is all, but keep checking back for new Zuma Blitz tips and tricks.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Snow Out East

As many of you know it is snowing like crazy in the northeast.  Well I decided to venture out into the storm and check it out.  The wind was ridiculous!!!  I live on the water so I walked into my backyard to see that the tide was so high!!  In fact as I stood out there the tide probably rose an entire 12 inches after only 15-20 minutes of being out there.  The waves were nuts.  I tried to snap some photos, but they are hard to make out, because of the huge amount of snow that was falling.

Snow Out East

It's hard to tell in the picture above, but that is actually a shot of the creek.  The two little orange lights in the background are houses across the water.  The image below is a shot of the snow on top of the water.

Snow Out East

The image below is of a part of the dock covered in snow.  The snow was everywhere... I mean is everywhere.

Snow Out East

Below is another image where I was trying to capture the water, but the snow was just falling way too hard to even make out anything besides the reeds and the pole of the dock I was standing on.

Snow Out East

Here is a picture of one of our boats completely covered in snow.

Snow Out East

The three pictures below of the bamboo I thought were really nice.

Snow Out East

Snow Out East

Snow Out East

Let's see how crazy it is tomorrow.  It's still snowing as I write now and the I can hear the wind roaring outside my window.  Hopefully I will get some time to play in the snow tomorrow!!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Zuma Blitz

So... I have a new obsession.  Yes, I'm still pretty obsessed with Bejeweled Blitz, but my new obsession is Zuma Blitz.  It is absolutely addicting and is made by the same company PopCap Games.  You get one minute to get as big a score as possible.  You play as the frog in the center and have to try and shoot the coloured balls at groups of the same coloured balls to make matches.  The larger the chain of same colours the more points.

Zuma Blitz Screen Shot
Cannon Powered Frog Shot
After every game you collect Mojo and XP.  You can use the Mojo you collect to buy power ups and the XP you collect goes towards gaining levels.  The hearts at the top of the screen represent how many lives you have.  If you run out of lives you have to wait to get another.  As you gain levels, there is less time you have to wait for a new heart and as you gain higher levels you are given more hearts.  After every level you are rewarded with a full life refill and a bonus amount of Mojo and Idols (these are used to buy items in the Zuma store).  You also open up new power ups as you gain levels.  For example above is a screen shot of me using the Cannon power up in which you are given three balls to shoot anywhere you choose.

Zuma Blitz Screen Shot
Collect Fruits
During the game you also try to collect fruits.  The more fruits you get the higher your score will be and for every fruit you collect you get 50% more points than the one before it.  Collecting fruit can be hard, especially when layers of balls are covering it.  The best way to collect fruit is to shoot quickly at a matching colour in front of the fruit and immediately shoot again to get the fruit before the chain either catches up to itself or snaps shut because of same coloured ends.  Another good way to get fruit is if you have the canon power up.  Quickly obtain the power up from the rollout and then use the three balls to aim at the fruit.  Also if you have bombs on your rollout and one of them explodes close to the fruit, you can obtain the fruit that way as well.

There are also time balls and multiplier balls that you try to aim for during the game.  Those are pretty self explanatory, the higher the multiplier the more points you will get and for every time ball you hit you get 5 extra seconds during game play.

Zuma Blitz Screen Shot
Great Explosions
The game is full of explosions and excitement and the really cool thing is that every week there is a new board and every week the scores reset and the first, second, and third ranked scorers receive medals for gold, silver, and bronze.  Another awesome thing about the game is that the faster you make matches without slowing down, the higher your score will be and if you shoot and match extremely fast you will get the hot frog.  This is when the frog turns orange and you get 3 explosive shots.

There is so much more to this game that I haven't even mentioned, which explains why it's so much fun.  It's definitely hard to get the hang of right away and there is a lot to remember and learn.  It's a great game, so if you haven't tried it out yet check it out on Facebook: Zuma Blitz on Facebook and definitely like the Facebook page if you enjoy the game: Zuma Blitz Fan Page.  This week's board is holiday themed and actually very difficult and frustrating, but still fun none the less.

Monday, December 20, 2010

More Knitting

How exciting, I recently knitted a new scarf.  It only took me about 6 hours I would say and I knitted it all using a loom.  It came out really nice.  Here are some pics to drool over :)

Maroon and Cream Scarf
Maroon and Cream Scarf

Maroon and Cream Scarf Details
Detail of Maroon and Cream Scarf

Maroon and Cream Scarf Details
Detail of Maroon and Cream Scarf
Hope you guys liked it and it was finished just in time for the holiday season.  I decided I didn't want to put tassels on it... thought it looked bad when I tried.  Hopefully I will be getting some more knitting done over break.

Also there is a lunar eclipse tonight so everyone should check it out, especially because it is the first one in 372 years!!! That's nuts.  Anyway it goes from 1:33 AM Eastern and then is followed by the onset of totality at 2:41 AM.  Enjoy the night! :)

Saturday, December 18, 2010

PTV69.com

Happy Holidays!!
Haven't updated in a while.  I was pretty busy during finals week, trying to focus only on my senior project paper.  Any way if you haven't seen PTV69.com yet over break you should check it out.  It's winter and holiday themed since we are off for any entire month.


Well check it out and enjoy your break! :)

Monday, December 6, 2010

Lots and Lots of Yarn

So I haven't updated since Thanksgiving :o!  I have been extremely busy, but one thing that has been consuming my time is knitting and indeed that means I have been procrastinating on my senior seminar paper.  I just finished two scarfs and of course I don't have images of either of them.  One of them was a present for my boyfriend and the other... well I lost it... :(  I'll describe it in hopes that it may at some point be returned to me, otherwise I feel like I wasted about 6 hours of my life that I could have been using for my paper.

The scarf had a main colour of light grey with colours that transistioned from orange to yellow to green to blue to pink.  Although the picture below does not give it much justice, that's the type of yarn it was made out of:

(Borrowed from http://www.caron.com/color_cards/cc_ssshadows.html)
Also I would like to note that the scarf wasn't very long compared to an average scarf and it didn't have any tassels on the ends or anything of that sort...  Well hopefully someone finds it and returns it to me.

Anyway I thought I would share with you some documentation of two scarves I am working on right now.
Cream, Pink, Blue, and Brown Scarf
The scarf I'm currently working on for myself
This scarf is made up of four different colours; cream, pink, blue, and brown.
Cream, Pink, Blue, and Brown Scarf Detail
Close up on details
Cream, Pink, Blue, and Brown Scarf on Loom
Close up of loom
I'm also working on a scarf for my mom.  I'm trying to finish it as soon as possible.  I actually started it last year, but never had a chance to work on it.  I finally got a lot finished while sitting on the train a few weekends back.

Green and Purple Combined Knitted Scarf

I still have a lot to do, but I'm so much closer to being finished. Here is a close up of what it looks like:

Green and Purple Scarf Details
Closeup of green and purple scarf details
Green and Purple Yarn
Green and purple yarn
To create the pattern of the scarf I use two different coloured balls of yarn.

I have some more things that I am working on or have finished that I will put up here on a later date, but for now it's getting late and I really should write some more of my paper.  I had a miniature break through last night and actually began the introduction.  The intro is always the hardest part for me.  Once I set up what I wanna say everything else usually falls in place pretty quickly.  Well wish me luck!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I haven't updated my blog in over a week.  THAT'S NUTS!  Anyway, I have been working a lot on my Senior Project.  Mostly brainstorming ideas and such, but today I'm not going to talk about that.  I had a little fun and created a Thanksgiving theme for the PTV website.  It's pretty cute.  I changed the logo to look like this:
PTV Thanksgiving Logo
I also change the now playing application for the week to only display an array of turkey and pilgrim pictures.  Now every time you reload the the PTV website a different turkey or pilgrim picture will show up.  I think it's pretty funny.  So... at least I'm amused.  Hopefully you will be too! :)

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Senior Project Update

And so it is another Senior Project update.  This past week I made a lot of progress on my project.  I got the microphones to recognize sound, but I couldn't have done it without the amazing help of my professor Joe Mckay.

I'm debating two things right now.  Do I use microphones I find out of old cellphones, headphones, and speakers or do I buy a bunch of electret microphones that are already wired with a preamp from SparkFun.com.

Advantages

Repurposed Microphones


Breakout Board for Electret Microphone

  • Keeping with the idea of repurposing materials
  • Could be more interesting
  • Could cause surprising outputs

  • The wiring will be much simpler, meaning less soldering and work
  • Wiring will be cleaner and less tinkering
  • All microphones will have the same preamp settings
Disadvantages

  • More work and tinkering
  • Wiring could get extremely messy and hard to follow
  • Would have to make a ton of different preamps
  • Chances of shorting out a speaker are a lot higher

  • The idea of repurposing the mics will be lost
  • Having something predictable could take away from fascinating unpredictable things that could happen
  • Could be losing a very important aesthetic to my project

I think it is extremely important to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each method before committing to a decision.  I am currently trying to use repurposed microphones to follow the aesthetic of my project.  I was tinkering with an old speaker Joe gave me.

Old Speaker
Old Speaker

I actually got some pretty good results.  I have been using a preamp circuit from http://reconnsworld.com/forum/read.php?9,10.

Audio Preamp
*Borrowed from a post by user Andrew on Reconnsworld.com
Here is a few examples of the wiring I did with the microphone and the motor:

Side View of Wiring
Side view of wiring for microphone and motor

Wiring with Arduino
Above view of wiring, breadboard, and Arduino

Microphone and Motor Wiring
Above view of wiring for motor and microphone

I have been experimenting on getting the sound to control the speed of the motor.  I have been using an old computer fan.

Motor and Potentiometer
Old computer fan

The only difference between my wiring and the wiring in the simple preamp diagram is that instead of using 10K resistors I switched them out for two 500K potentiometers.  Then I could manually adjust the resistance until I found a resistance that worked well with the microphone I was using.

Well that is pretty much it for now.  Soon I will show you a preview of the code that I am working on in processing, but I didn't want to bombard you all with too much nerdyness in one day.  Thanks for checking it out!

Monday, November 8, 2010

PTV Pie Eatin' Contest

As many of you know and as many of you might not know this past Friday was Fall Fest.  It was a full day of great bands and festivities.  Among these festivities was the PTV Pie Eatin' Contest!

Table of Pies
Table of pies

Eating Pie
Contestants chowing down

Pie Fest
More pie chowing

Devouring Pie
Even more pie chowing

As you can see there was a lot of pie and a whole lot of mess.  It was a ton of fun... to watch that is.  I'm sure the contestants wanted to or probably did puke after wards.  Oh the gluttony... So if the pictures weren't enough to make you sick to your stomach, I also took a short video clip of the excitement.

 

Enjoy!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Senior Project Update

Hey guys!  So I have been trying to work on my senior project.  I am working on getting the microphone to pick up sound and having a lot of trouble doing so.  In an effort to get this thing off the ground I have been searching all over the internet for answers on how to get this to work.  I know it's possible and I know I will be able to do it, but it's going to take some time.  I found an article on NerdKits on creating a sound meter.  Hopefully this will help me get closer to what I want to do.

asdasd
Arduino and Breadboard
Arduino & Breadboard


Electret Microphone
The Electret Microphone that I am hoping will work
Well I will be sure to keep you all updated.  Especially if I get this to work soon.  I'm going to head over to the dirty lab right now and pick up some extra resistors and capacitors!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Recovery

Hello everyone.  Guess what?  I literally am just getting over a two week sickness.  Seriously... what a waste of time.  I literally had to spend all of Thursday inside sleeping.  The entire day... literally.  Thank goodness for things like antibiotics.  So... I'm actually getting better.  Still a little sniffly and my throat still bothers me a tad, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

So what else can I say?  I apologize for my lack of content in the last two weeks.  I swear I will get back on track... I think... haha.  Anyway here's some eye candy for you guys in the mean time.


A character I came up with


This drawing was done entirely with my left hand

I call this The Number 4

Well thanks again guys.  I hope you enjoy and leave some comments if you like what you see! :)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Slacker

I haven't updated in almost a week.   I guess I'm a slacker, but it's really because I have been awfully sick for almost a full 2 weeks now :(.  Also I have been working my ass off at PTV.  I have been there every night for live shows for the past week.  We currently don't have a computer that can handle streaming live with Ustream so we have been using my laptop, which means I'm there every time we stream.  So if you look at the schedule that's quite a bit.

PTV69 Live Streaming Logo
PTV Live Logo
So for now that's what's up.  Check back soon!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Wednesday Night @ PTV - Live Streaming

Last night we live streamed at PTV for the second day. The first night went very well.  Purchase Late Night got around 35 viewers.  That's pretty good for our first ever live web stream.  Well last night we broadcasted two shows, The Beard and Brick TV.  We were expecting a few people to watch The Beard, but we did not expect 84 people to be watching!!  It was madness.  We have a chat room attached to the video stream, so that viewers can chat along with the show.  It got out of hand.  In fact Zack became a short lived internet meme:

The Beard
A screen shot "anonymously" captured of Zack during his show

The Beard
From another "anonymous" post

The Beard
They even got Arthur
None of these images I captured or manipulated.  They were all "anonymous" postings.

Oh and the Brick came out with 20 total viewers.  Also good.  I always appreciate the comments and love.  Thanks everyone!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

PTV69 - Streaming Live Over the Web!

That is correct everyone.  PTV69 will be STREAMING LIVE TONIGHT over the internet for the first time ever!  Now people from all over can enjoy PTV's weekly live shows!

PTV Live Streaming
TUNE IN @ 11:30!!! DON'T MISS IT!!!

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Can Tab Rings & Repurposing Dead Glow Sticks

One of my odd obsessions is collecting can tabs.  I might sell them one day, but the more and more I collect the more I lose the drive to sell them.

Can Tab Ring
That's a ton of tabs!!

Can Tab Ring
I should count these
You may notice the dead glow sticks I used to hold all the tabs.  Yes... I also hoard dead glow sticks...  See the thing is I love glow in the dark things (especially glow sticks).  I have 6 gauge holes in my ears which just so happens to be about the same thickness of a glow stick.  So that is correct, I wear glow sticks in my ears.  Now what am I supposed to do with all of those dead glow sticks...? well I haven't completely figured that out yet, but I sure as hell don't want to throw them out!  What a waste.  I do however use them for quite a few things though.  I use them as a hair band holder,  If you have a bunch of them u can use them to hold ping pong balls,  I use them to hold my bracelets or necklaces, and as you saw I use them as tab holders as well... hmmm.

If you have any cool ways you use dead glow sticks I would love to hear about them!

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