Of course, at the last minute, some licensing changes by Microsoft makes it so much more difficult to upgrade. Apparently they’re really enforcing the one-computer-per-serial thing, down to activation. This never made a difference with XP. However, if I want my brother to have Vista (which I do, because he’s helping to pay for it), I need to buy multiple sets of it.

Luckily, Microsoft released a “family pack,” in which you can get Home Premium for $50 a copy for two copies after buying Ultimate (my version). This stroke of luck is not so lucky, however, as it costs so much more. Needless to say, I’ve gotten in another fight with my mom, and needless to say, my not-so-wonderful grades have been brought into the argument without warrent. This computer deactivates in about two weeks.

We want to order a $100 Staples gift certificate with American Express points, however we’re unsure of how much Staples will accept before cutting us off. Usually it’s $100, but Amex discontinued the $100 gift certificate, narrowing the selection down to just $50 and $25. Now we think Staples might only take $50 in gift certificates. Bad timing, if true.

So, factor in ten or more business days until we get the certificate, and then a day or so to get Vista, install it, get it up and running etc. That’s really the jist of what I have to say.

In the meantime, I will be restarting the projects from this computer, albeit slowly. First I must finish up an honors project  for A Capella, then back to work.

…on Wednesday. After getting that working and having most of my stuff installed, I’ll resume working on the soundtracks and projects again. Thanks for being so patient, everyone.

(And hey, I get a free 1 gig flash drive with the purchase, too. Sweet.)

So, I tried to extract the files out of a Wii dump this afternoon. No go! In short, it seems like the mysteries of extracting from a Wii disc are as of yet unknown, or if they are known, are not well-known. There is most likely a way to extract it from the Gamecube disc, but I don’t want to bother downloading it. It was either extract it today or don’t extract – I have midterms to take and study for. So, until further notice (ie: never, because Nintendo will come out with one anyway), no TP soundtrack. Sorry!

;)

Why yes, it is! I know I’ve been lacking in the soundtracks department lately (I stated that I would have the updated Maple Story OST ready for Christmas), but that’s all because of computer failure. Now that the computer is up and running, I can do something until I get it fully running again. By this I mean, “When I buy Vista.” Yes, I am not resuming these projects until I have finalized repairing my computer – and the last step is buying and installing Vista. I am not copying any files to the OS drive from the old OS drive until then. Guess what was in the old OS drive?

The soundtracks. ;)

However! I have decided – and have been pondering this for a good month or so – to do what I did with Maple Story, but with Twilight Princess. yes, Twilight Princess as in the newest Zelda game, which I love very much. So much so that I was disappointed there was no full soundtrack for it. When I got the Nintendo promotional soundtrack, it just wasn’t enough. I assume it’s not enough for many people.

So, to those who want every song from the game, tagged and labeled neatly, and listed for download, I will be ripping the game disc and extracting the songs! It’s a daunting task, but I can’t wait to do it. I just hope the songs can be extracted ;)… I bet something will come up and it won’t be so simple. But we’ll see when we get there! From then on, the hard part will be naming the tracks. But I plan to give them a good order and a rightful name. Hopefully, when released, this project will be known for the high quality of the soundtrack. For a Zelda game that has really made me smile again, I can only pray I can do this project with such great quality.

Look for that coming in the future.

It’s been a while, but I never posted the finished product of my 3/4 view self portrait. I stayed up for hours several nights to finally finish it. I was sick at the time, too, with headaches and stomach aches and vomiting, yet I still got it done. And guess what? I got a 100% on it – my first 100 in art class. Up until now I’ve been stuck at 97′s, 98′s, and 99′s. But I finally achieved the 100. So, click the image on the right to see the larger version. And yes, as per the usual, the photos aren’t as nearly as impressive as the real thing.

This was created from photos, all taken by myself. Some are from Europe, some from Cape May, NJ. I Photoshopped it together and then drew it. Ain’t I beautiful?

I – Jason Rappaport – am the #1 Jason Rappaport on Google. Yes, I’m the real Jason Rappaport! All you other Jason Rappaports are just imitating. Will the real Jason Rappaport please stand up?

Oh, he will? With picture proof of this monumental accomplishment? Amazing!

Here I am at the top of Google search.

Here I am at the top of the image search.

Hurrah for me! This is truly a day to be remembered. And now I have grounds to edit my About Page.

Thanks to some software recommended to me, the final hard drive has been scanned. What was “corrupt” is now entirely readable (by this software, at least), so that I can at least copy the valuable files from it. I don’t have enough hard drive space to properly back up the whole disc. However, as long as I have this software and the drive remains intact, I can grab more stuff from it anytime. Which I will probably do.

The cost of buying new hard drives comes out to about $350. So, that’s how much I need to earn. That can easily come from the advertisements on ZW.org in a few months’ time. Actually, that place is making a good bit of money. If the numbers go up, and people keep clicking, it might end sooner. However, I can’t make it a job to earn money from that place. I should get a proper job…

Nah, maybe later.

~ Jase

Recovered the most important hard drive. It is currently about 3/4 backed up. It has all of my very important data – which is why the drive is labeled “Data.” Unfortunately, this is not the drive that houses my work-in-progresses (such as the soundtracks and MIDIs), which is the drive labeled “OS.” That hard drive is still corrupted, says the computer I stuck it in. After the Data drive is done backing up, I’m going to try and diagnose the OS drive with some software I downloaded. It was recommended to me, and it claims that it’s non-intrusive, so it shouldn’t damage my files. If the hard drive does not have physical damage, then it should be successful in recovering the data. If there IS physical damage… well, I’ll have to ship it off to one of the many data recovery places I found.

Oh, and now I’ve made $5.46. I didn’t think I could ever be so rich, but the dream is a reality. I think I might cry! Bill Gates better watch out.

I saw the ball drop, yes, but today I saw something more incredible. I have made four cents in revenue from the new ad on Zelda Wiki.org so far. I can smell those recovered hard drives already, and they smell like… most of my literature, which smells like digital text. But I can see a number even as high as ten cents on the horizon. It’s a big goal, yes, but I’m a big goal kind of guy.

Check it out. Here’s proof:

And one day, I’ll be the next captain of the internet. With this much coming in, it seems as though it would be destiny. Onward to domination! Onward to recovered hard drives! Onward to a fancy mansion thereafter!