I almost forgot to blog that I went to the dentist a few weeks ago. Since I hadn't been in like, 2 years, Violet thought she would make an appointment for me. How nice of her! (/Sarcasm)

I didn't have any cavities, which is great. However I did need what they call a "deep cleaning", which is where they numb my mouth and really dig deep under the gums. I've always had good teeth and bad gums, mostly because I don't floss. Except for my front right tooth. It's a bit yellow, but that's not due to negligence or lack of hygiene.. apparently I had some kinda trauma to it as a kid and it was damaged or died. I don't remember what this could've been... I've hit my head on so many things its hard to keep track of what happened when.

I've been using the Oral B Cross Action Plus brush for about 9 months now, and I like it a lot. Violet uses a sonic care brush, but I don't care for it. Anyway the dentist office we use is fantastic. Very up-scale, courteous, and professional. I watched the DVD of Transformers on an overhead LCD screen while they did their work on me. Pretty awesome. They also prescribed me an oral rinse. I've been mostly good since the appointment... They want me to brush twice a day, and I've been doing it at least once a day. They want me to floss at least once a day, and I've been flossing about 4 or 5 times a week. Hey, its better than before. I have an appointment in Feb. We'll see if my new oral habits work out.

On Christmas Day, we all went to Mount Vernon (George Washington's House). The weather was good (mid 50s, mostly clear). considering winter in Metro DC. This is the only time of the year when they open up the upper floor to the public. It was a lot less crowded than our previous visit. The shops and food court were closed though, which we didn't think about... so we ended up snacking the whole time on the pretzels I had brought. We visited the main house, then strolled down to the docks, and then hiked back up through the trails to the Upper Garden. Now, for the obligatory pics:

Violet and I started a tradition a few years ago that she really enjoys... Driving around Xmas eve and looking at Xmas Lights. We usually just randomly drive around places where I think there might be some good, festive, neighborhoods. King's Corner in Plano, Texas was awesome. Madison, WI people don't seem to like lights... This may be due to everyone preferring to pay for heat instead of lights, but who knows. Anyway, there's usually some sponsored lights, often in a park.

This year, we went to the Festival of Lights at Bull Run Park.

It wasn't cheap. 15 bucks a car Mon-Thu. Unfortunately, we went on a Friday, which cost $20 bucks. Ouch. Our internet coupon for $3.00 off was better than nothing.


This Portal Wreath Arch greeted us at the entrance.

And this Old Mill piece.












Minimum posted speed is 10mph, so you're not supposed to stop... I did most of the time anyway.. no one seemed to mind.. but some of my pictures are a little bit blurred (I bought the Sony Cybershot 7.2. a bit before image stabilization became the norm) There might be some setting on it to make it better, but I dunno what it is.




Santa was near the end.



All in all, most of the lights were repetitive (Lots of spheres) and really spaced out. There were a few good pieces, as shown here, but by and large the entire drive wasn't quite worth the high cost of admission, in my opinion. The run is divided up into 6 sections: Winter Wonderland, Candy Land & Fairy Tale lane, Twelve Days of Christmas (this section was very well done), Toyland, and Santa's Workshop. At the end of the drive was a small carnival called the Holiday Village. Admission to the village was included with the light show. It was kinda cold but we bought some Funnel Cake, which was excellent, and I bought Violet a wooden rose. We didn't ride any of the 3 or 4 rides or play any of the 5 or 6 carnival games they had.

Some stats:

• Length of run from Start to Finish: 2.5 miles
• Number of LED lights in show and village > 75,000
• Minimum time to setup: 3 weeks

This is weird, but somewhat amusing at the same time. I personally think I can take on more than this, but that's just me...

26

Looking for payday loans?

I almost forgot to post that Sat I went to the IGDA (Its website sucks) meeting here at EA Mythic. I was a judge for an exercise in which several groups of 3-5 (non game industry ) folk had 2 hours to present a game concept based on some random words they were given. Sounds kinda silly, I know. Anyways, it was good to be on the other side of the security door, so to speak.. with students and such asking ME questions about the industry instead of 4 years ago when I was asking the same questions to industry vets.

My company Xmas party was last night.

I went with my friend Gary, but our wives had to stay home with the kids. The company provided daycare, but only for kids over the age of 1 year(or was it 2?). Violet had a book club meeting anyway and a book gift exchange, but she's bummed she missed it. Me too, since she can gamble better than I can... but more on gambling later...

Enter the main ballroom of the Marriott Hotel, several things were clear:

• EA is a big-ass corporate company
• I was under dressed

I should have wore a suit and the Tigger Xmas hat.. but instead I wore business casual (khaki's and a polo shirt). And a ball cap. Ah well.

It was a bit better than the company Xmas party I experienced at Raven (Owned by Activision).
There was probably about 200 or 250 people at the EA Mythic party, overall.

In the middle of the room was a refreshment table of fancy drinks and appetizers, and an EA Mythic ice sculpture. I dared Gary to lick it, but he's a coward and didn't do it. The main course was a buffet of fancy French foods that I didn't like, couldn't pronounce, and don't really remember. I skipped most of it and just had some turkey, which was good. Desert was fancy chocolate mousse with cream. Half way through I bite into something nasty, and later discover there were a few blueberries at the bottom. WHY THE FRICK do people hide fruit in desserts?

There was an open bar, but all I had was Diet Pepsi. There was a dance floor, but I didn't get on it. There were 2 Rock Band units, each with a projector and a huge screen. Although I can achieve around a 90% on drums on easy, these people were playing on a hard difficulty level that I would have quickly failed. So I passed on that too.

My main salvation was the fact that it was also a casino night. We each got a voucher good for 300 credits. At the end of the evening the top 10 winners would get various prizes like Xbox 360s, Wiis, Rock Band, stuff like that. Losers were given an entry into a raffle. I started off light with some blackjack and was doing OK, but the pace was slow and I wasn't earning very much very quickly. Some people had already won over a thousand credits.

So I decided that the big money was in roulette. I was wrong. I did OK at first, but then lost it all as quickly as I had won it. I had lasted about an hour or so though, so I was content.

I found a 5-credit chip on the floor. My big comeback lasted 3 seconds. I put it on Roulette 9 and didn't win. I don't think roulette is my game...

Later on I was watching some friends play and Chris' wife had a voucher and didn't care to gamble, so she gave her voucher to Chris. Since Chris was doing OK, he gave it to me. So I went and hit the poker tables. It was Texas Hold 'em, of course.

I stayed at the table and was holding my own for quite a while, but then I was whittled down to a mere 100 credits. So on a whim (and a Queen + King on the deal), I went all in. Howard decided that he could easily grab my chips, so he called. Several other people decided to go all in as well, since they had less than 100 credits left anyway. So we all turned up our cards. Someone else who had went all in with her 20 credits matched me with her own King and Queen. Howard had hockey sticks (pocket 7's, that is.. a pair of seven's), and so was the favorite going in. The flop (3 cards) went face up, and they were all nothing but suck. Not good for our hero. Then came the turn.. another nuthin... It appeared the pair of 7's would win it. But then the river came and went, and I ended up winning with a pair of Queens. I got most of the pot, the other person who matched my cards got some, but not all, and the remaining people got a little bit too. You see, when someone bets more than you have, the pot splits. Our pot was split into 3 piles. Confusing, I know, but the dealer did a good job of figuring it all out (Unlike my blackjack dealer who had trouble with adding cards on numerous deals). Now I was top chip count at the table, but the table was thinning. Soon a 5-minute warning came and with only 1 more person at the table, and her chip count fairly low, I went to go bet my 550 or so credits on roulette.

With only 1 spin remaining, I tried to put all my money on 9, since that's my lucky number, but the operator wouldn't let me for some reason.. she said I needed to split my chips. Since I had five 100 credit chips, I put one chip on 15 (Drake's birthday), one on 7 (Violet's Birthday), one on 16 (My birthday), and one on 9 (my lucky number). I put the remaining 100 chip on the MC, which is the column of numbers in the middle (it pays 3-1). I then put my last few chips on 0 and 00, just because no one else had.

The spin....

The Result....

Red 32 or some such nonsense. Total BS. Roulette sucks. I lost everything except my middle bet, so I ended up at the end of the night with 300 credits, the same I had started with. Bah. Roulette definitely isn't my game.

Overall I had fun, but I didn't socialize and make new acquaintances like I would have preferred. I don't know who the top 10 winners were, but it certainly wasn't me. I didn't win the loser's raffle either.

I may not have won any prizes, but I did win a good night out. Thanks, Violet, for watching baby Drake that whole time!

I should really update this blog more often.
Anyway, I finished Rock Band, with a usual drum percentage of 88-92% for most songs. Not great, not bad though. The kick drum kicks my ass for some reason.

Other than that I have no updates. I come home, take care of drake and provide/cook dinner, and then goto sleep. No games, no blogs, not really a whole lot going on right now.

Drake's been pretty fussy lately.. Violet has all the details so there's no need for me to repost them here.

Violet has graciously given me thurs nights off so I can game. I'll be in Dark Heresy (warhammer 40k rpg) every odd thurs, and I just recruited players to play in my evil rises campaign on even thursdays. I hope this game last longer than the last one.

I finally got a chance to winterize the house. Basically I buy the cheap window insulation kits at home depot and keep them on all summer. for 4 bucks I get 3 window sized sheets of plastic and some adhesive. I outline the window frame with the double sided adhesive, then I put the plastic on, and then I hot air blow dry it to make it tight and remove wrinkles. There's some minor glare, but mostly you don't notice its there. This provides a layer of air between the glass and the plastic. It works pretty well, and is easily removed once winter is over, though I suppose you could keep it for summer use too. I did 3 windows in the bedroom and it made a noticeable difference. I also did the kitchen but since I didnt do the sliding glass door their effectiveness is somewhat questionable. I've been doing this for a few years now and I think its well worth the minor cost and effort. I couldn't find a link on home depots website to the product, but they have lots of other window insulation kits available, including film that gets applied directly to the glass.

Now I just need to find my receipt so I can have warranty service done on my seized snow thrower.

Well its time to do yet another weekly update I suppose. I don't know where the time goes. It isn't sleep, that's for sure.

First and foremost, my heartfelt condolences to those that have suffered the loss of Taarna Renee Wiltsie. I have no words to help ease such pain.

Drake is getting medicine for what appears to be acid reflux/heartburn. I don't know if it's helping or not, but we'll see. He's due for some sorta test thing to ensure his stomach and stuff is OK.

Our major milestone at work ended Wed, so these past few days I'm a bit less busy than usual (which means I'm busy but not overly so). I'm happy a majority of my work will finally be enjoyed during the guild open beta scheduled in December.

Our house sucks, temperature wise. (It sucks for many reasons, this being yet another one).
Some rooms are cold, like 60 or 65, while others are comfortable, around 70. Thankfully, the nursery is one of the warm rooms. And since that's where I've been sleeping most of the time, I've been OK. Violet sleeps in the bedroom and thats one of the coldest rooms, but she prefers sleeping in the cold. Craziness I say.

Speaking of Crazy.... Rock band. Yeah. That's crazy like a fox cool. I wish we had the money for such things, but I just spent 150 bucks on rechargeable batteries and charger for all the baby stuff. Swing, Chair, Mobile, etc. ACK! I say.

(PS, I'm getting Rock Band anyway, via work, at slightly reduced cost.. Still can't afford it, but meh, whatta gonna do.. car payments are for suckers, anyway.. am I right? )

Umm, its hard to recall the events of the past week.... its all kinda a blur due to sleep deprivation, constant baby interruptions, and working hard to get the game done.

Lets see... where to begin?? Watched Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
It's been on the shelf for a month or so (via netflix). I liked the movie, though the baby interupted every 20 mins or so. I realize Galactus as a cloud seemed dumb, but I thought it was a good effect and concept for a world-devouring entity. Some good funny moments too. Overall, I didn't have too many things I didn't like about this movie. Better than the original? Maybe, maybe not.. I'd say about the same.

I went to a Halloween party on Oct 27th. I didn't have time or money to make a costume, so I just wore jeans and a T-Shirt like always. It was fun. I don't get invited to parties very often, if at all.. so I was happy to have attended. Oct 31 was work-day dress up, but I didn't dress up for that either. Maybe next year I'll have the time and resources for an actual costume. We'll see.

I haven't been able to play UT3 demo much lately (baby interference) but I was able to get through a few puzzle levels of Portal. I look forward to playing HL2 Episode 2. I also played two of the songs on he Guitar Hero 3 demo( Hit me with your best shot, Rock you like a hurricane). I wish I had the money (and some time) to buy this game. And Rock Band. (sigh)

Work is going good, and I am very happy and thankful for that.

On Sat Oct 20, 2007, Violet, Drake, and I drove to and then on Skyline Drive. Yes, its taken me more than a week to make a blog post about it.

Located within the Shenandoah National Park, Skyline Drive is a 105 mile scenic drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northern Virginia. It's only about an hour away, and only cost like 15 bucks to get in (which is good for a week's worth of re-entry), and was a splendid way to spend an afternoon. The drive also features lodging, restaurants with a cabin feel, bed and breakfasts, camping, and stuff like that there. We just drove up and down Skyline drive though and stopped at one of the few gift shops in the middle. It was a great drive, we stopped at a dozen or so overlooks (out of the 75 or so they have) and took about 30 pictures. Drake slept pretty much the entire time. Violet loves scenic drives, and she loves Fall Colors, so this was a great trip for her.

And now, for some of the pics...

I really like the new UT3 Demo. It's full of awesomeness. It'll be out in stores next month.
I particularly favor the flying vehicle in vehicle CTF. The map is pretty awesome too. I've been playing during lunch at work.

I bought The Orange Box. I haven't played anything except a little Team Fortress 2 thus far (Also at lunchtime). but I look forward to playing Half LIfe 2 Episode 3. And maybe Portal.

As it is this post has taken 20 mins to type up because the baby keeps interupting. He's a stinker that way. Maybe he's upset because I havent had a chance to update his blog...

If that wasn't enough, I also have the Crysis Beta to play.

In other news, my mom sent her first ever text message via her cell phone to mine yesterday. Quite the accomplishment.

I dont even remember whats happened in the last week or two... excessive fatigue, lack of sleep, full work load, and taking care of wife and newborn have all contributed towards my lack of updates. I'm not even on my computer much anymore (I type this on a laptop in the nursery, in fact). I havent played a game in I dunno how long. I'd like to check out Half Life 2 and Team Fortress 2, but with Violet not working I cant justify the cost right now since I wouldn't have time to play them anyway. LOTS of people at work have been playing TF2.. I hope to join them at some point. In other news, EA bought Bioware / Pandemic. I think this is pretty awesome, myself. Well, Drake's starting to fuss (no surprise there) so that's it for this update.

Yes, I'm posting this at 530 in the morning. After having just changed the boy's diaper (it was soiled) and his clothes (and using socks as mittens to keep his little fingers warm), I've set the boy within his gym since he's still awake but so so fidgety. yet. he will be. He's fussy. but I think he's starting to sleep better. maybe.

Yesterday the three of us and Violets' folks drove through DC. We had McDs, Krispy Kreme, and saw the Washington Monument. Violet & Drake stayed in the car because the baby isnt allowed in public yet. His immune system is too immature to risk exposure.

It was closed when we got there, so we just walked around it. whoo hoo?
Once I get pics from Grandpa B's camera, I'll post them.

As the sun eases its tired smile upon the world,
As the day no longer competes with the night,
As leaves begin to show off their new Autumn colors,
As stars dance around Violet Twilight,

A sense of meaning fills the land,
A sense of belonging envelops the air,
A sense of purpose colors nature,
A sense of love surrounds Drake's Lair.

Avast me buckos, tis another fine day indeed. Since many of you land lubbers don't have a pirate name, I've taken the liberty to help ye out. Ye owe me a rum. ARRRRRRRR!

I've added a few web comics to my usualy reading. I only remember the address for one, so here it is.

The Secret Life of Mobs

Its great in that it a web comic about Warhammer, mostly Warhammer Online, the game I'm working on. Its pretty amusing.

So like, I've been pretty busy having a baby. I mean, *I* didn't have him myself, but I helped. Anyway, check out Drake's Blog for what been happening the last week or two, since I havent had time to update mine too much :)
Here's a quick list

• Worked a lot
• Celebrated Violet's bithday
• Violet went into labor
• Started paternity leave
• Tried (and failed) to find time to get enough sleep.

Lily is the name of Violet's 2000 Nissan XTerra. (She's blue). Yesterday Lily wouldn't start. This is not good for a 39 week pregnant woman with no real food at home and a hospital that is farther away than the front door. It seemed to be due to the battery not having enough power. Some lights flickered dimly, but not enough to start the car.

Not ever having got around to buying any kind of jumper cable kit, I stopped at Sears on my way home from work, but I didnt care for their choices. I went to Home Depot and picked up one of those units that uses the 12v DC adapter in your car instead of needing to use cables connected to the battery. Unfortunately it wasn't portable like I thought. It plugged into the DC adapter all right, but I then had to plug the other end into a 120v wall outlet, and THEN it still took 5+ mins to charge the battery enough to attempt a start. Bleh.

After going online I decided I wanted the Simple Start™ Vehicle Battery Booster, from Black & Decker. Pretty slick little device, small enough to fit in my glove box or rear compartment, starts the car via in-car DC adapter in a few mins, built in LED, DC accessory outlet, etc.. Nice feature list. Although Home Depot lists in on their website though, my local store didn't have any. It was close to 10pm, closing time, so my choices were looking bleak.

I did some searching online and discovered that Wal-mart also carries it. Most stores close at 9 or 10, but I called by local store just in case, and lo and behold, they're open till midnight every day of the week. Score! I ask if they have any in stock, and they do! and at 8 cents below MSRP. SCORE AGAIN! I race down there, buy it, and discover that it has to charge for 15 hours before I can try to use it. Bah!

So Lily didn't get fixed last night.
Today I got home and tried the device, and after 15 mins or so of trying to boost charge, and the car not starting still, it just wasn't working out. I kept getting beeping noises and LEDs indicating some kinda warning. I followed the instructions to the letter. I was about to go buy a new battery when I decided to unplug the device and yet again and try the headlights. They came on for a second. So I tried starting the car (without the device attached) and it started fine. Maybe the device boosted it and I need to disconnect it before I tried starting the car.. I dunno. We drove to DQ and back in order to ensure the alternator was charging the battery OK. We just got back and it seems OK right now.

I suspect that the very short distances Violet travels (< 2 miles once a day or two) isn't enough to charge the battery with the AC, radio, lights, or whatever else on. I hope the car starts tomorrow morning.

This week was busier than even most of my busy weeks.

I worked around 55 or so hours this week at work. Not because I had to or because we're in "crunch" mode. I'm just passionate about what I do and I want to ensure I get it done on time and with a very high amount of quality. I'm pretty much done, and my stuff isn't due until Tuesday, but this gives me more time to tweek, test, bug fix, and otherwise polish my work. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on "what" I've been doing, only that it's great :)

Violet's Birthday was yesterday. We didn't do much, her being 9 months pregnant and all.. (She's due Sep 19th, which is National Talk Like A Pirate Day). Besides, I'm not sure I can top previous years... last year we went to the Godsmack / Rob Zombie concert in Boston (Sully's home town) and to Wicked, the musical, in Chicago the year before. Maybe we can do something nice next year, like visit San Diego. I'm glad Drake wasn't born on Violet's birthday. It would have made the occasion less special for them both, me thinks. We had Wendy's for dinner on her birthday. I need to try one of their new Oreo frosty's.

Violet went to a Baby Shower yesterday, so I went to work :). I wasn't there long though before some friends of mine called for my help. The furniture people they got delivered their couch, but just left it at the front door. Apparently these guys didn't get any games as kids that involved putting the round cylinder in the round opening and the square peg in the square hole. I arrived shortly after the movers had left (given up and were dismissed). The couch had been removed from its protective packaging and several scraps and rubs were all over the walls and some on the couch. Sure the couch was longer than the doorway was high, and entering the front door leads to an immediate right hand turn. Seemed hopeless to the movers, I suppose. Fortunately, I got lucky and was able to help them put the couch in the apartment without any scraping or scuffs. We tilted the couch straight up, then tilted it under the doorway and slid it in and up. The doorway was too short for the length of the couch, but the ceiling certainly wasn't. It didn't take too long. It's a pretty nice couch, IMO.

As I was leaving the friend's apartment Violet called me saying she was done with the baby shower (I had driven her so she didn't have to find parking and besides, it was close to work) so I went and picked her up. So I didn't really get any work done, but that's OK. We had dinner plans at 6, and it was around 430ish. So not wanting to drive 30 mins home and then 30 mins back to the same friend's apartment I was just at, we went over there early. Violet wanted P.F. Chang's for dinner, so we decided to do it Sat night instead of Friday night. Friday was book club, which Violet and I made a cameo appearance at. The place was near the friend's apartment too.

Important Tip: If you plan to go out to a fancy place on Saturday night in ritzy Fairfax, VA. make a reservation.

I didn't even think of doing so, and so we waited over an hour to get a table. Our friends had 2 kids (a toddler and a baby), so the wait was somewhat difficult for everyone. I ordered the only thing I like at a Chinese restaurant: Chicken Fried Rice, no veggies, no soy sauce, and no scallions. Chicken, Rice, Egg. That's it. It was pretty decent, better tasting than the PF Chang's in Madison, Wisconsin (Though WI has MUCH better service). I still prefer Pick up Stix.

Today I trimmed the hedges near the community mailbox, because no one else has. I also applied a primer coat of paint to a glider bench I acquired from the side of the road. It's in good condition, but the wood is a little worn. Works well. I cleaned and sanded it last week. Next week I'll paint it and be done with it. It'll work out well in the backyard, I hope.

In gaming news, I created a website for my new D&D group. It only took like 2 hours to make. I'm quite proud of it though.

I guess that's all for now. Leave a comment sometime, eh?

Happy Birthday to Violet. May your special day have more fun than candles.

Since its been so long since Ive last posted I'll just summarize as much as I can remember.

Lots of work.
Great relaxing weekend with the wife. She working fewer hours. Mmm Clifton Ice Cream was good. Saw Stardust last weekend, it was really good. Cleaned and sanded a bench. I was gonna paint it, but got lazy. I've been putting in a lot of overtime at work so I've just been sleeping and working mainly, and just got caught up on all my TiVo'd shows. At some point I should probably list what those are. I bought and played BioShock for a little while last week, but havn't got around to continuing it. ALso been trying to put in some Brain 2 whatever ya call it on the DS. I have the brain age of a 50 year old. I guess that makes me wise at least. I got the A Team theme as a ring tone on my cell phone. Took the dog to the vet and Gwynn is fine, just needs to heal a bit more from her apparent neck injury or whatever it was that was causing her to squeak. I started a new D&D game with some co-workers. I'm actually a player for a change. I'm, playing an Elven Cleric of Corellon. SO far so good, we've only had 1 game. I tossed together a quick website for it too. Once its DM approved and I get more info on it I may post a link.

Thats all I can think of for now.

If you thought my post on dangerous beavers was amusing, you should check this link.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/swedenanimalsoffbeat

I got a ticket about a month ago (41 in a 25) and appeared in court Thursday. I could have paid it online or via telephone or via snail mail, $145 bucks or so I think, but I never got around to it so I had to appear in court. Parking wasn't great near the courthouse and I ended up parking several blocks away. But it was free.

While walking towards the courthouse I passed an old building that used to be a school. Apparently when they were building it "way back when" they discovered civil war soldiers buried on the hill. Well, instead of making a big deal of it they built the school on top of the hill anyway and declared it a memorial to those unknown soldiers.

There was a line outside of probably 50 people trying to get into the court building. Two metal detectors and a half a dozen armed police guarded the entrance. I stood in line for about 5 mins or so and got about half way through when a cop came out and told everyone in the line that recording devices were not allowed in the court building. This included cell phones with built in cameras. Seeing how I recently got a phone with a camera on it, I was forced to go back to my car and leave my phone in it. Then I returned to the end of the line which had somehow gotten longer.

About 10 mins later I'm in the building and there's 5 court rooms. I have no idea which one is me since there's no signs indicating who goes where. I walked around a while and talked to a clerk who said an information desk back at the elevator was where I needed to go. I went there, saw my name on the docket for courtroom# 3, and off I went.

The courtroom wasn't too large, probably 100 or 150 seat capacity. It reminded me of a small church. Bench seats were arranged facing a large altar, err I mean desk, and a man in robes behind it preached the law. The room was about 75% full. The judge (not a commissioner like in San Marcos, CA) went through all the name to find out who pleased guilty, not guilty, no contest, or weren't present. The docket contained all kinds of offenses, not just minor traffic violations. A prosecuting attorney was sitting in the room taking notes. Several people with "fix it" tickets, like expired tags or forgot their license, were instructed to show the cop evidence of the violation being fixed and were immediately dismissed. One lucky gal got off because her officer was not present. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky. My cop had about a dozen cases. I figured he would be there though, it was a total speed trap scenario (Of which there are MANY in VA).

After having contemplated pleading no contest, not guilty, or asking for a continuance, when my name was finally called I simply pleased guilty. I sat back down and waited for the rest of the names to be called. Afterwards the attorney went out into the hall to consider plea bargains. I waited out in the hallway and finally spoke to the attorney. I had no real recourse or excuse. The cop had a laser device, did his due diligence, and I wasn't especially paying attention to my speed since the flashing school zone 25 sign ws NOT blinking. If it had been, I would have set the cruise control at 25 and not sped. I see cops in this stretch of road all the time.

I was adjacent a large white truck and when the cop stepped out into the road, I swore he was motioning for him, not me. I was a little surprised. Anyway seeing how I have a clean driving record and I wasn't reckless driving, the attorney offered 50 dollar fine (plus court costs) and traffic school (which I could do online). He suggested I get a VA license instead of the Wisconsin license I still held since the law says I should have done that within 30 days of being here.
I agreed and went back into the court room. After a time the court got back into session, my name was eventually called, I agreed to the attorney's terms, and the case was dismissed pending proof of traffic school. I paid 64 bucks and got a list of approved traffic schools.

Overall, fairly easy and efficient. I was there around 70 mins or so, and it took another 25 to wait in line, walk to and from my car several times, and find the courtroom. I was fairly angry after I got the ticket but I calmed down after a few days and simply accepted my wrong-doing. It wasn't so bad after that.

This is assuming you are part fey, otherwise it's kinda random.
I happen to be:



What type of Fae are you?

Last weekend I decided I needed to organize all the loose gaming papers I've accumulated over the last 20+ years. Dozens of folders, piles of unsorted papers, character sheets, and a few boxes filled to the brim (Gaming, School, Work, etc) have been littering our front room for months. Violet offered to help me, being the Virgo type she is. She also loves going to Staples. She didn't really want to work anyway, heh. (Organizing isn't work, sitting at a computer for 8 hours a day doing data entry is) I think her prime motivation was trying to find her old Star Wars character. Anyway, I grabbed an empty 2-drawer metal filing cabinet from the garage and used the top drawer for gaming files and the bottom drawer for everything else (old school stuff mostly, but also some work related files).

After several hours we got most of the loose stuff organized within hanging folders by game genre (Car Wars, DnD 2.0, DnD 3.x, Changeling, GURPS, Marvel Super Heroes, Star Wars, just to name a few) and then smaller manilla envelopes within them were sub-sorted, usually by player name (if there were a lot of files) or by GM (if they were NPCs or if a PC didn't warrant their own sub-folder).

It was a worthy effort and I FINALLY found the Super Hero HQ I made. It's a large foldout hex map of the HQ done in colored pencils.

Spoilers below.

I'd use the title of Transformers: The Movie, but the cartoon version took that title, thus the movie is simply named Transformers. Some people call it Transformers: The Movie 2, which is silly. I'm shocked they didn't call it something stupid, like "Michael Bay's Transformers". Whew. Spielberg was a rather un-hyped executive producer.

Violet and I actually saw this a few weekends ago, but I've been a slacker and haven't posted about it until now. So here's my review: 7/10.

• Great acting by many (but certainly not all) of the "human" cast.
• Decent story, sorta.
• Really good sound track, even without Soundwave :( Seriously, that little radio dude could have totally been Soundwave. We were jilted. I guess they're saving SW for the sequel...
• Special effects were really good most of the time, but the camera was so close you couldn't really tell what was going on. I guess that's "war-like" though.

Transformers: I liked the vehicles, for the most part. I'm bummed VW didn't give them permission to use the new beetle, but cest le vie, what can ya do. The camero was OK. I didn't care for most of the Decepticons. The tank, Devastator, was a good name for a tank, even though Devastator is supposed to be the combination of the constructicons. Meh. I also really didn't like how the tank and skip loader could travel across the vast distances as fast as Star Scream, the Jet Fighter. I really didn't like how the cube only produced crazy destructive robots. Bleh.
Oh. And my MAIN issue? The robots look dumb. Can't see or tell anything that they do. I hated the CGI robots.

I liked how the humans dealt with the aliens, although I couldn't decide if the agent dude was there for comic relief (and failed) or was just annoying. The techie cast were kinda stupid, and the hot blonde chick seemed outta place and underused. I really liked the military guys. Next movie: G.I.Joe!

My main issue is that I didn't care for the retreat to the city while being chased by the bad guys. BAD idea. Lots of innocent people were hurt and killed, not to mention the massive amounts of destruction. Hey! We're being chased by Decepticons! Let's drive from Hover dam all the way to LA and THEN evac the human with the cube. Smart!! Couldn't the choppers just evac them from the middle of the desert, or just outside Hoover dam? And didn't they realize the choppers were a bad idea cuz Starscream would blow them up? Oh, Jazz's death was kinda gratuitous. I didn't care for it. Optimus Prime having lips really disturbs me. I was happy a lot of the original voices were used. Neat!

Lastly, Megan Fox needs a shrine or sumthin. I have two words for her. D and AMN.

I finished the nursery this morning. All the furniture is in and the shelves are up. Violet still has some stickers to put up, but my job is finished. I even added a shelf to the closet for more storage. I'm pretty happy with the results, though there are several imperfections that glare out at me, like scrap marks or extra holes in the wall or something. But oh well. I know it can't *BE* perfect.




The Cherry Wood Crib with the pooh themed crib set. It doesn't have the mattress protector or pad on it it, but those can't be seen anyway.






Violet's Glider chair. The footstool was too expensive, so we didn't get it.






A pic I got for 2 bucks at a yard sale, and the painted shelves from my previous blog post. On the left is the Cherry Wood changing table, ready for some poop-inspired diaper changing goodness.








The most expensive piece in the set, this Cherry Wood Armoire is where we will keep his Diaper shirts (The term Onesie is a TM of Gerber), diapers, wipes, current wearable fashions, blankets, and large stuft animals that don't fit on the shelves, such as Tigger there.

Well over a month ago, probably 2 months ago, I bought some shelves from a yard sale. They were cheap and looked pretty cool, and I thought they'd look good in the nursery. Unfortunately, Violet didn't agree. Their coloring scheme was green and natural wood brown, which doesn't match our nursery's color scheme.

Apparently Home Depot has specific Disney color swatches. So I bought a gallon of paint for each of the two colors we're using and a quart of white primer.




Disney Link to colors

I spent a few WEEKS prepping and painting these shelves. What a pain. Anyway, I didn't get around to taking pictures of the shelves before I painted them, unfortunately. Hey, there was a rogue beaver in my garage, gimme a break. Here are pics of the finished products though:

I was thinking of selling my transformers on Ebay to make some money, clear out my old crap, and help pay some bills. Nearly all of them are in poor to fair condition, and I probably wouldn't get much for them. (sigh). So instead I dusted them off (see previous blog post) and put them on a shelf. It would take a long time to list them all out, and several are not Transformers at all. Some are Go-Bots or Japanese imports. For the record, I've been wanting to do this well before the movie was announced. Now that its out though, they may fetch some mediocre prices, but I doubt it.

The ones I recall the names of from the top of my head are:
(top) Metroplex, Perceptor, Omega Surpreme.
(shelf 1) Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus.
(shelf 2) Shockwave
(shelf 3) All the Predacons (They form Predaking), All the dinobots (Grimlock is a japanese import, not the real thing, but I think he looks cooler) [Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, Swoop], Blaster, Soundwave, all their cassettes
(shelf 4) The combaticons (They form Bruticus, I think), a pair of rock transformers, and some weird water transformers that I dont remember the names of. Turtle, shark, piranha, and a manta ray.

Contrary to popular belief, I am not immune to disease.
Last week I had a bit of a cold.

Now, I realize the cold that's been going around has made people sick for over a week, and that their symptoms are more sever that what I experienced. Maybe I didn't get that cold. I've been digging around my old transformers and setting them up on a display shelf. Since they've been caked on with dust and dirt and grime over the last 20 years, I'm not too shocked I got sick. I wiped them all down with one of those disinfecting wipes, and I washed my hands often. Apparently not often enough.

However, it's possible I contracted the disease while playing with our friend's kid in their apartment complex's kid play area. I knew that touching any of that playground stuff (slide, ladder, teeter totter, swings) spelled doom. I totally think it was the kid play area.

I had a bit of a sore throat last Saturday, and then some congestion on Sunday and most of Monday. Tuesday was more or less recovery with a few coughs.

Most of the time the Nightquil / Dayquil saw me through it. I also had some honey based cough drops. Cough drops are actually great for sore throats. Much to my chagrin however, I ended up taking Monday off of work. I made it up by working late Tuesday and Thursday though.

During my sick time I mostly took it easy and read A LOT.

In order to not get Violet sick, I found a free full sized mattress a few miles away via Craigslist, and so I used that to sleep on in the other room. The mattress is good, but a little too firm for my tastes. It'll come in handy when we have guests though.

Today, 07/07/07, marks the 7th anniversary of Violet and I's first date.

On our first date, I picked Violet up in my mom's Mercedes. We went to Claim Jumper and had a really nice meal. We then drove to a spot that overlooked the Flower fields of Carlsbad. On the way home we stopped at AM/PM (a mini-market+Gas Station). Very romantic, I know. When we got back to her place we didn't even shake hands. I'm an old fashioned kinda guy, and besides, I had a cold and didn't want to have her catch it. This was easily one of my favorite dates ever though.

We were going to get married on 7/7 for one of several reasons. First, her birthday is on a 7th (Not July). Second, having our wedding on the anniversary of our first date seemed appropriate. Third, and probably most important, having everything fall on the 7th would make it easy for me to remember. :)

We did end up getting married on the 7th, but not of July. Because of our honeymoon plans in Florida and the Bahamas, we decided it would probably be too hot around July 7th. Since we wanted it on a weekend, we choose April 7th instead, which although on a Sunday, was much better for us. So that's the date we set. Oh, and just for the record... no... we did not get married at AM/PM.

I suppose somehow on the cosmic scale, the 7th works for us. Violet is also on her 7th month of pregnancy. Time's have changed a lot these 7 years. They'll change even more in the next 7. I'm overjoyed and thankful at how much happiness my life contains.

In random order, I spent Independence day:

• Played Command & Conquer 3
• Watching a TiVo'd movie with Violet (You, me, And Dupree.. it was meh)
• Finished painting the nursery shelves (Pictures coming eventually)
• Cleaned the house and especially the Garage a lot
• Fixed the lawnmower. (I haven't testing it yet tho.. heh)
• Watched fireworks for a few mins from our backyard
• Went out to eat at a Mexican food place (We tried good 'ol American Dairy Queen, but they were closed).

Overall a fairly relaxing and productive day.

Plans for July 4th include napping, watching TiVo, cleaning the garage, and maybe watching fireworks on TV. You would think that being so close to the capitol of our country there'd be a lot of fireworks around here. Well, there are. There's more firework "Buy One Get One FREE!" vendors than there are Dunkin Donut stores.

My fried Derek created an artistic interpretation of my beaver hiding behind a dishwasher in my garage story. Since I thought it was neat, and with his permission, here it is.

In other news, I repaired the chewed through wires of the lawn mower this morning. Hopefully it won't blow up or set the lawn on fire.

I don't read that much. At least, I stopped reading novels and the like somewhere around high school. I guess reading textbooks substituted for reading books. Besides, reading makes me very sleepy. Over the last decade I've barely read a handful of novels. But the last year or three, thanks to Violet who reads a lot, I've gotten back into the reading habit, sorta. I read when I'm able to goto bed early and I'm not quite tired yet. As a result I've read, albeit slowly, a few books this past year or so. My most recently read, currently reading, and soon to read lists are now located on the right column. Start of Darkness counts, even though it's book full of comic strips. I love Order of the Stick :)

I've somehow managed to snag myself on some bad luck.

A few nights ago I heard a mouse and saw some rodent droppings in the garage. I bought a mousetrap and set it up with peanut butter. The next day the trap was sprung but only bits of fur, and the peanut butter, remained.

Since I've been painting in the garage this concerned me. (More on that later, when I actually finish the project) Also, some items had been knocked off the shelves and several cardboard boxes had been ripped up, nearly through to the containing artwork.

Last night I decided to further investigate and used a push broom to move a bunch of stuff outta the way when I heard rustling coming from behind some boxes. I see something large and furry crawling back behind more stuff. (My garage is quite full of stuff). It didn't look like a mouse. Or even a big rat. It was certainly bigger, and faster, than a rat. I kept moving stuff outta the way, keep at broom handle length, when suddenly out jumps a Beaver, easily the size of a small 15 or 20lb dog or cat. I wasn't startled or scared or anything... I just watched it crawl behind a dishwasher that I had in the garage (I told you it was full of stuff). At this point I ID'd it as a beaver and went back inside the house to hit the Internet. My local Humane Society was closed at 8pm at night, but the site said to call the local police, which I did. 5 minutes later 3 cop cars show up. They can't trap him, only scare him out of the garage. I considered keeping him in the garage until the next morning so the HS could trap him, but then I noticed, to my financial horror, that the little bastage had chewed through the power cable of my electric lawn mower. This did not make me a happy camper. The police offered to either scare it outta the garage so not wanting anything else to be destroyed, I accepted their offer. I really didn't want the sucker to get caught in someone else's garage, or run over by a car, but I couldn't afford any more damage. Heck, I can't afford the current damage done. As they scared him outta the garage he came straight at me. I calmly but quickly braced myself between the 2 cars I was standing between and lifted my legs to let the dude pass right under me. Wish I had taken a picture of him at some point. It woulda made a nice blog entry.

The other major suckage is that Violet's Xterra's AC is out. I bought some refrigerant and filled it just fine, but it only lasted a few days. Figuring I may have done it wrong (Getting pressure was difficult in 95 deg weather) I checked the Internet and found some Nissan forums. The compressor wasn't kicking in, and I read that after 400 bucks of hose replacement repairs and diagnosis by several people, the Thermal Control Amplifier is what ended up needing replaced. 40 bucks. SO I went and bought one and tried to replace it myself. The Thermal Amp, or AC Thermistor as some call it, is a temperature gauge that overrides the AC compressor switch to make it kick on. Something like that. Anyway, The part I got wasn't even close to the original so I took it to the dealer this morning and had them troubleshoot it. They're results were... unfortunate. The compressor and hose line both had a large leak in them and needed completely replaced. Parts were due in on Wed. This isn't something I could do myself since I don't have the tools and vacuum equipment required for this sort of repair. Total cost estimate at this time is about 850 bucks. Le Ouch. So much for that new mattress I promised to buy Violet. ;(

This movie stars Jennifer Garner as a woman trying to pick up her life after her fiancee dies unexpectedly. The movie is full of assumed and subtle back story that I found to be very distracting. I didn't "believe" anything that was happening plot-wise. The dialog wants to be good, especially for Kevin Smith, but isn't. The scenes want to flow but instead they crash. Acting was OK, but I never cared much for Juliet Lewis. This might be a decent date movie via Netflix (it was for us) (Who JUST Lowered their Price. Hurray!) but I definitely wouldn't have wanted to see it in the theatre, and I wouldn't buy the DVD.

Overall, I didn't think it was terrible, but it certainly wasn't 'good' either. Bottom line is that I found myself asking "What?!?!" and "Why??" and "How??" so often that I was distracted from enjoying the film. I give it a 5 / 10.

Craigslist.org is awesome. Low cost and free stuff appears there all the time. Weird stuff too. How weird? I saw a free skeeball machine once. Looked like it was in good condition too. Washers, dryers, weight equipment, shelves, couches, chairs, pianos.. its crazy. I didn't have a way to haul the skeeball at the time, but since I bought my trailer, I can pick up all kinds of things. Including my latest acquisition, The Catapult. Of course, it uses a spring, not a weight, and it uses a sling head for more distance like a trebuchet. Doesn't matter. It was free.
If he who dies with the most toys wins, then craigslist will help a lot.

Is it me, or is anyone else really irritated that everyone in the world who tries to explain something starts their sentences with "Basically"? I've heard some people who didn't know what they were trying to say use the word like 8 times during the explanation. Wow.

I'm also noticing more and more that people are ending their sentences with "so...." and then trail off, not finishing it.

Basically, I just find the whole thing a bit distracting and a little irritating, so....

An old friend of mine was recently hired at the place I work. It's great to see him and I really look forward to having him and his family move out here. It's been busy trying to find him a place to live but today he finally settled on a place. Cool beans.

I've been trying to diet again but thus far that's only last like, 2 days in a row before I quit it again. Being the husband of a pregnant lady isn't good for the waistline. Yes, I totally blame her :)

I've been trying to figure out retirement and financial stuff for the past week or so. I'm terrible at this stuff. Besides, I have a lot of TiVo to catch up on. I like the new tv show Army Wives. I'm watching a few others, like episodes of Two and a Half Men that I've missed. I like that show too. I'm only watching Celebrity Fit Club because Tiffany is on it. Dustin Diamond is a pure jerk and doesn't deserve the camera time. He may have a split personality.

City of Heroes just had a double XP bouns weekend so I played as much of that as I could. Which wasn't too much. I only gained a level and a half. I'm a sad, sad gamer. DDO had a double XP weekend too, with bonus loot, but well, I didn't get a chance to play that at all. Sad Panda.


I'm sure I've done / accomplished / attempted other stuff in the past week or two, but I don't recall any of it right now. sigh.

Wow look what a slacker Ive been.. no updates in a while.
Ive been busy with the baby blog, work, and my mom visiting. And playing games.
Alrighty then....

My mom came and visited last weekend. She was in the area (North Carolina is considered "In The Area") and so drove the extra 5 hours and stayed the weekend. I haven't seen her since Guildhall graduation, so like, just over 2 years. We got lots of great baby stuff, so that's really exciting. As a result, I cleared the baby room, umm I mean nursery, and am about ready to populate it with cool nursery stuff. Violet's really excited too, this being both mine and her first child.

Work's been going pretty good. I've finished my tasks early again so I'm fixing bugs and adding new cool stuff. I haven't had any overtime in quite a while so that's good.

Today on the way home a Shetland Collie was out walking along a fairly busy two-way-traffic road in a residential neighborhood. I turned the car around and drove back down the road towards the direction he was running to try and grab him to safety. Unfortunately, the car ahead of me didn't seem to notice him and when the dog ran out into the road, which I knew he would eventually, the car in front of me slammed on his brakes.. ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Whew. The dog didn't get hit. Yet. He decided to run across the rest of the road, and oncoming traffic had to go up a small hill and then down a small hill. We were at the bottom of the hill, so it was unlikely oncoming traffic would have seen him. So I started driving on the left hand side of the road. That seemed to work because oncoming traffic stopped. Good thing too because the dog might have been hit a 2nd time. He ran into a small grass clearing and started running in circles. He seemed pretty happy with his daredevil antics. Anyway, I pulled up and over into a side road and tried to convince him to come to me. Surprisingly he did, and I grabbed him and put him in my car. He was a very nice, healthy looking collie. I checked his collar. DOh. Flea collar only. No tags, no phone number. Well I guess I'll take him home and wait for a lost poster. As I was about to close the door a man walked up and claimed that was his dog and thanked me a lot. He looked like a military man. Anyway, Apparently the dog's name was Andy and lived a few blocks down the road. They had just moved here and Andy had accidentally escaped from the garage. He had been calling the dog when he heard the car screeching and ran towards our area. He thanked me and I gave him the dog and he carried it back down the road towards his house. I drove away content that I had done what I could to help. In Wisconsin our dog escaped (from a fenced in yard.. still not sure how she did it, probably went under the fence) and I was relieved when our neighbor was keeping her safe. I'm happy both instances turned out OK.

Mmm I retook the test again, and got a halberd instead. I scored higher than 99% on both power and speed. I never thought of myself as much of a polearm kinda guy.. I tend to prefer the sword in one hand and a morningstar in the other. Or duel pistols. Or both depending on the circumstance. Ah well.

Link: The What's Your Signature Weapon Test written by inurashii

Your Score: Desert Eagle

Link: The What's Your Signature Weapon Test written by inurashii

A while ago Violet bought some cheap movie tickets from a solicitor that came to our door. I know, bad idea. But anyway, we went tonight. Normal movie price was $7.75.

It has 4 screens and is in terrible condition. Many of the ceiling tiles showed heavy water damage, the general decor was old and dirty, random plumbing parts were missing from the bathroom stalls, boxes and junk were strewn about, and overly large movie cut-outs were used as walls. They also feature a "dinner theater" where you can watch the movie while eating dinner. I'm not sure I'd care to try that though... I doubt they have an "A" rating for food prep. I did however get a free pinball game because the 50cent machine apparently was already paid for or a bonus game was awarded that no one continued. Instead of "Theater Seating", this theater featured "Dip" seating. The middle rows are lower than the front or rear rows, and the screen is higher up. its an interesting, if very old, way to seat people. No stairs involved too. I kinda liked the concept. The drink holders were attached to the rear of the seats that were in front of you instead of on the armrest like I'm used to. The parking lot was small and part of a small strip mall but there was amble parking since it was Wed evening.

We were the only 2 people in the movie. The popcorn was good but since I'm semi-dieting I didn't order any other junk food. The seats were comfortable enough but I noticed some of the seats weree ripped out or in dire need of repair/replacement. Its kinda like the place you'd see a Live Rocky Horror Picture Show being played, but alas, all they offered was a poster for that event.

Shrek The Third was pretty decent, I laughed out loud a few times. I liked the general story. The animations and voice acting were fantastic. It was a little predictable in places, but I liked how things generally wound up. I don't think I liked 3 as much as 1 or probably 2, but it was worth seeing. I recommend it.

The company took us all to go see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Friday. I thought it was a good movie, but not "great". It had a lot of stuff in it and was a pretty long movie. Definitely worth seeing. I thought it was a little too much stretching on the weird myth stuff and a little light on the actual piracy side. Oh, there were some good piracy-type scenes, but they were forced and short while not blending in too well with what was going on. I did like how they spotlighted so many characters throughout the movie, giving them their chance to shine. I didn't care for the ending. Perhaps the DVD will feature an alternative that better suits my non-tragic romantic side. The movie featured lots of gross stuff and violence, but the only bare skin was 5 seconds of Keira Knightly's knee. Oh, also, it's a Disney movie, so the previews were somewhat questionable. Even Underdog. That's not the kind of thing I would make up.

Since Ive been working late a lotta night this past week (66 hours) and the one before that, I haven't had too much time to do much else.

Company Softball game was Sat. I thought there'd be a lot of people (30 or so signed up) but like a 1/3 of them dropped so we were short 2 full teams. I did prtty good as first base and pitcher, hit a triple, home run, and left-handed batted a single. We didnt keep track of points though since we were all there to just have fun.

I FINALLY fulfilled my goal of having a pool table with a ping pong table on top Sunday. Craigs list had one for sale (2002 Old Chicagoan drop pocket billiard, 3/4" slate, really good condition with table tennis table that goes on top. Included all balls, paddles, cues, etc. ) New this stuff would be like 2k or so, but I bargained his asking price of 850 down to only 750. Sweet!
Best of all, I finally was able to use my trailer.

Moving it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I had three friends from work that I game with help out and the four of us carried it out the owners backyard without an issue. The fence and gate presented a problem, and we tilted it sideways and slid it on some carpet covered grass to get it past the fence part. Unfortunately, some of the varnish on the side rubbed off. doh.
Then we carried it to the trailer and hauled it back home (the previous owners lives about 15 miles south of my house) without issue. We didn't want to try and truck it through the garage or front door, so for now the table lives in the garage. I'm going to try VERY hard to not use it as a shelf.

Lastly, I reactivated our City of Heroes/Villains accounts. Violet and I are playing at random times when she can stomach it. I miss CoH/V. Its my favorite MMO (for now).

Sat was our company picnic. Violet and I had a pretty good time. Since we dont really have any friends yet we kinda wandered around talking with different people. She usually hung around the many other pregnant woman and new mothers. For myself, I pretty much stayed near the giant air-arena thing. Kinda like those things the kids jump in, but there were three. A huge maze for little kids, which I though was cool, and the normal party jump thingy. But between them was a open square jumper with 2 pylons in the middle. With it came two 6' tall cushioned battle arena jousting gladiatorial combat staffs of honor. Or whatever you call it. But it was fun. Unfortunately they 10yr old kids thought so too and took up most of its time. The adults didn't get to play very much :(

There was pretty good burgers, hot dogs, and bbq chicken there, as well as chips, beans, and trays and trays of cookies. They had ice cream too but i didnt have any :( It was kinda warm, around 75 ish, and mostly overcast, so it was a pretty nice day overall.

I also got a pretty cool bag-thing that had an inner lining for keeping ice and cold drinks like a cooler, but also had several more pockets and compartments for stuff too. Nice coloring and design, its a cool bag.

I would like to take this opportunity to direct you to my wife's site for Sonogram pics. That is all.

My company took us (and our signigicant others) to see Spider Man 3 last friday (release day). We had the whole movie screen room to ourselves. K-nifty.

I liked the movie. I though the acting was very good and the special effects were great. The storyline was OK, could've been better in some areas. My main dislike was the theme.. it was kinda forced and didnt flow very well. "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" worked really well for the first film, but this "friends and forgiveness" or whatever they were doing didnt work well. A few people clapped when Bruce Campbell graced the screen. I guess only a geek would know why. I didnt know he could do a french accent. it was ok.. not great. Too much drama between MJ and Peter. Just say what you mean and mean what you say. Geeez. BTW, What Peter did.. totally stupid. I was happy to see Bryce Dallas Howard, even though she had blonde hair.

It wasn't as good as 1 or 2, but it was still good. I reccommend it.

I've been reading this for a while now. When I first learned about it I read a few strips somewhere in the middle and was kinda lost. Its like a soap opera I guess. But since I started from the beginning I've enjoyed Too Much Information a lot more. I've added it to my Web Comics favorite links on the right. Enjoy!

Mainly because of my job, I decided to become more familiar with MMOs. To accomplish this great feat, I figured I should play some of them. To do that for any reasonable amount of time, I gotta buy and or pay a monthly fee. I let all my subscriptions expire last year, and new stuff came out recently.. so I bit the bullet and took the hit.

WoW: Burning Crusade. I made a blood elf warlock. Red hair, (a free) Nightmare mount, and a Succubus pet. What else could I ask for? I subscribed for 3 months. This should make Violet very happy. Playing WoW with her counts as a date night! If you have WoW but not burning crusade and want it, let me know. I'll email you a free 10 day trial code and if you subscribe to it, I get a free 30 days. hurray!

LOTRO: Would people please start calling this RO (Rings Online). The Lord of the Rings Online is too long a name. And an acronym. Its quite the "bargain" to sign up for lifetime membership for 199 (or pay 9.99 a month, or even less a month if paying for more than 1 month at a time). This is the "founders" fee which is anyone who pre-ordered the game. Nice deal, and some cool loot in game. Unlike WoW, Violet and I are sharing the one copy.

CoX: I'd like to reestablish my City of Heroes / Villains account. I really would. And play it. But with costs and time so limited, I can't justify it.

GW: I have Guild Wars (not the expansion though). I really like this game and should play it more. Especially since there's no monthly fee. I've been saying this for well over a year.

Warhammer Online: This highly anticipated MMO was just announced as being postponed. Awwww. Early 2008 now I guess. That's OK.. I can wait :)