R.I.P Henry “Hank” Stolar October 30, 2008
Posted by crusher524 in Sad news.Tags: Hank Stolar, Salvatores
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I don’t enjoy writing blog posts that deal with sadness, unfortanetly I feel like I must write one here. It’s been a while since I knew anyone who died, the last person was Matt Stock, my former TA from Pitt. I didn’t get to write a goodbye to Matt because I didn’t have a blog at the time, but now I must say goodbye to a man I saw practically every weekend for the past 6 years.
Hank Stolar was my first boss, heck, he still is my boss, seeing how I still work at Salvatore’s. Hank was like a second father to many who worked at Salvatore’s, he would tell you crazy stories, he would become a part of some awesome stories, he told great jokes, and he did so much more for people. Examples of this would be a couple of my friends went on a senior trip, Hank stayed up until 3 am to make them some chicken and potatoes for their trip. He didn’t have to do that, they could have bought food, but he stayed up to help them. Hank would go golfing with a couple people from Salvatore’s, and after one of his more recent surgeries he invited a couple people over for a game of poker, myself included.
Many people have worked for Salvatore’s and many people knew Hank. Some people hated Hank because he pushed them too much, some people quit because of Hank, and some people were fired by Hank, but everyone else loved this man. With Hank it was a love-hate relationship, there were days were you couldn’t stand him, and there were other days that you couldn’t work without him. What makes me really upset is that the people who just started working at Salvatore’s within the past two years, really didn’t know Hank. They knew he was the boss, but they didn’t know the stories, they didn’t know his personality, and they didn’t get to fully enjoy the Salvatore’s experience.
All I know is this, walking into Salvatore’s on any given weekend will not be the same with out Hank being there. You would walk in and he would more then likely being on the slicer cutting some meat or fixing some kid’s tie and he would always say hi. It won’t be the same working a wedding and him not coming up behind you and saying, “Son, these glasses aren’t clean son, take em to the dishroom and tell that dishroom to get humping and bumping.”
Hank died due to complications after his open heart surgery on Saturday October 25, 2008. Hank was a boss to everyone a Salvatore’s, a mentor to the guys, and most importantly, a friend to everyone.
I may start posting short stories that I got from Hank or inspired by Hank as part of a tribute.
Hank, I’m going to miss seeing you every weekend at Salvatore’s and I’m going to miss just being able to talk to you about whatever.
Rest in Peace Hank.
Future Plans October 14, 2008
Posted by crusher524 in Uncategorized.Tags: Computer Science, Future, Pitt
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So I have been thinking a lot lately with this being my last year of college and everything. I have been thinking about where am I going to go from here, will I stay in Pittsburgh, will I find a good paying job, will I miss college, and just so many other things.
I want to start with the college life. I have been thinking a lot about this, this thought actually went back all the way to last year. I have been thinking more and more about will I miss college. Anyone who knew me in High School and read my old blog knew how much I missed High School after graduation and I started college. I knew I would have that feeling in the closing days, but with college I’m not sure. I hear everyone say you will miss college and you will wish you could go back, but really, I’m not too sure if I will. Maybe that is because I commute and never really got to experience the college life. Maybe its because while I have made a lot of close friends and people I am glad I have got to meet, I think a part of this reason on why I will not miss college is because of the CS department. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy what I plan on doing with what I learned in Pitt’s CS department, it’s just that I don’t believe I have had the best experience with the professors. I can count on one hand the professors that I have really enjoyed class with and have learned from. I honestly believe to be one of the reason I want to be done with college.
I also think I won’t miss college after having two internships with Del Monte Foods and pretty much just having a good time with the people that worked there and realizing why I want to make this my career and not just having a job with computers every day. It is what really makes me know I picked the right major, I went to Del Monte every day ready to go in and loved it everyday. Had it not been for that, I may have changed my major and who knows what would have happened.
It may be to early to tell if I will miss college or not, but I need to start thinking about the future.
Naturally, first thing that comes to mind is getting a job. Would I like to stay in Pittsburgh, of course, I was born and raised here, I feel in love with this city and the sports teams, but I know what the job market is like. So with that, if I have to move, then so be it, would I want to, not really, but if the opportunity was right and the money was good, then anything is possible.
After I get that job, my number 1 priority is getting rid of any college loans I may have, once those are gone, I would like to place a down payment on a house, I’ve been wanting to get away from my house since I started college, and now I get that chance. As for a car, I can always get some junker to start, just need something to get me around.
Is it too early to start thinking about all of this? Maybe, but really its less then a year away, and soon I’ll be graduating from Pitt and hello Real World. Until then, I’m going to try and have the best year of my life.
What you talking bout EA? October 10, 2008
Posted by crusher524 in Gaming.Tags: EA Sports, Games, Microsoft
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So lately on ESPN, FSN, and all the other major networks, there have been a lot of ads for EA Sports new basketball game NBA Live 09. The main selling point they have been using in these ads are the whole DNA programming where your game will track the players in real life to see if they are on a hot streak or cold streak, if they are hurt, riding the bench, etc. With this it will also affect the stats of the player in the game so if Kevin Garnett is on an absolute tear his stats will go up, but if A.I is can’t sink a bucket if the basket was the court his stats will go down.
This sounds incredible and can really pave the way for the future of sports games much like EA Sports Be a Pro modes in NHL 09 and FIFA 09 where the player can create themselves in the game and use that player to go through a career and play online. There is however what appears to be one downfall to this DNA feature they are advertising like crazy in NBA Live 09, and that is you have to buy the feature first.
That’s right, the feature that EA is making their giant sellling point, you have to buy first for it to work.
Don’t believe me, the following comes from Major Nelson’s website, www.majornelson.com. For those who may not know who Major is, he is one of the leads in Microsoft and has short 1 minute videos on XBox Live saying what came out this past week and keeps players up to date with game conferences, releases on Live, and any downtime.
Title: NBA LIVE 09
Content: NBA Live 365 Subscription
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: [ESRB: E (Everyone)] Get NBA LIVE 365 for daily updates to Dynamic DNA all season long. Dynamic DNA brings unprecedented realism to NBA LIVE 09 with real world results driving Player DNA that drives how a player scores, Team DNA rating how players play together and Player Tendencies from each spot on the floor. Replay any NBA game all season with actual streaks, tendencies and DNA from that day in NBA LIVE Rewind. Basketball made fresh daily all season long! There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
For those who may not understand the idea of Microsoft points, it allows gamers to go to their favorite game store to buy points instead of putting their credit cards onto their XBox’s. 1600 Microsoft points are 20 dollars, so in this case the feature costs 800 points or 5 dollars.
So let me get this straight EA. First you are making the gamer pay 60 dollars, plus tax for your game for what is essentially just a roster update and possibly some updated graphics. Then you are making the gamer pay an extra 5 dollars for the feature that is your main selling point in your ads. Really EA? You have done some shady things in the past, but come on this may be a new low.
Granted I could care less about pro basketball, but I am still a gamer and this is just ridiculous.
So EA, What you talking bout?
