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.