Matthew 20:16
Three Things
Things that are today’s goals:
- Spend time with my family
- Don’t forget lunch
- Get a head start on tomorrow
Things that are long term goals:
- Pull stone posts from the yard
- Save for a house
- Lose 10 pounds
Things I want:
- Vectrex
- Quality Microphone
- Pickup Truck
Things I remember:
- Video Chairs
- Bill Elliott Telephone
- Top Loading VCRs
Things I appreciate:
- Everything Andrea Does
- Broadband Internet
- Job Security
Things I miss:
- Getting Summer Off
- Cruise Control
- Mowing
Things I DON’T miss:
- Only having one Production Room at work
- Tile falling off bathroom walls
- Hoodlum Neighbors
Weekend Concluded
Today was much more laid back than yesterday, and that is always a good thing. Even when things are laid back… they could always stand to be more laid back. Part of having a good day is making sure you get a good start. Pancakes and bacon is a good start all right!
My day was mostly highlighted by playing Skyward Sword in between keeping Luke entertained. He’s really starting to develop his personality and become inquisitive. Andrea had a scary moment when we were in the computer room when she looked over at his blanket and he was GONE! Only took a couple seconds to realize that he had rolled his way over to the door. Guess he was trying to make a break for it!
The new Zelda game is pretty darn amazing. I’m about 15 hours in now and I’m still impressed by how well the combat works. There’s puzzles everywhere. You almost never just go from point A to point B anywhere in the game without having to untangle some kind of brain buster. And the story so far is fairly engaging. This is no Final Fantasy here, but the few cutscenes there are tend to be quite powerful. I think the part that ties it all together is the amazing soundtrack. I really think this game has it all. As good as Ocarina of Time? I’ll reserve that judgement for later.
01.7.12Lots of work on a day off
I don’t want to come across as complaining, but rather just reflect on a day that didn’t turn out anything like I had expected.
I really only had one thing to get done today which was get the oil changed on both cars.
I woke up about 8:30 and noticed I’d missed a text on my phone. It was one of our part timers informing me that they forgot to inform me that they were out of town and were scheduled to work today… well that’s nice. So I’m filling in for that now today.
As I’m checking that message (I haven’t even got out of bed yet) I get another message from another co-worker saying we’re having issues with one of our Saturday morning shows. So the next 45 minutes are spent getting that around. After fixing that I suddenly realize I haven’t made any coffee yet! Better get on that before this day becomes a complete disaster!
I grab a cup of coffee and head down to the computer to make the morning internet rounds. Figure I’ve got quite a bit of time since I don’t have to be to work until 5PM so I decide to fire up some Minecraft and played for a good hour or so.
I embark on the oil change of both cars which goes pretty un-eventful until I realize… I got the wrong filter for my car. I dunno how I did… I’ve been changing the oil on that car for 5 years now. So even an oil change can’t go flawless today!
The good news is, since I went to work, the rest of the day has been pretty smooth! It’s almost over now and the good news is I only have one thing planned to get done tomorrow… oh no.
01.4.12An unlikely sight
You can feel the tension in the photo above. The Nintendo 64 looking down on the PlayStation with much distain. Back in the late 1990’s I was more likely to buy a PlayStation to crush before Sony fanboys than to add it to my own collection. Now, 15 years later, their stories having been written and their rivaly irrelevant I can safely add this console to my collection.
Much like the GameCube is now, this console is really an unnecessary machine thanks to backwards compatibility in the PlayStation 2. So even though this doesn’t enable us to play any games that we couldn’t already play before, there’s just something about using the hardware of the era to complete the retro experience.
The PlayStation was really more a part of Andrea’s history than my own. She had one as a kid and still has a small collection of games to go with it that have outlived the consoles that met their end either through the rigors of play or the unsuccessful “modifications” performed by her Dad. She was as excited, if not more than I was to get this in. Infact she ordered it as my Christmas present. Which I’m totally cool with.
I don’t have a whole lot of personal recollection of the original PlayStation. I remember my first impression was in a Toys R Us which had one on display. I remember seeing the controller and thinking it was a pretty blatant ripoff of the Super Nintendo controller, thinking that they just changed the lettered buttons to symbols and added handles to be “different”. But while I didn’t express it I remember thinking that the thing was pretty damn cutting edge just because it played CDs.
It was in pretty good condition when it showed up. Just a few smudges and finger prints, but it cleaned up pretty well with just some soap and water. And the good news is, it works flawlessly. We played each other in a game of Madden 98. Tell ya what, football games have come a long way since 1997. I honestly couldn’t figure out how you run the ball in that game because as soon as you come within reaching distance of a defender the ball carrier simply falls flat on his face tackled.
Holding the controller was a very foreign experience. It’s similar to the PS2/PS3 controller, but just different enough to feel very strange. Most obviously there’s no analog sticks on the controllers, but overall the controllers felt smaller than the later controllers. Just different enough to be awkward.
It’s not a system that will see a ton of play from here forth, but when I get around to playing some of the Final Fantasy games of the PlayStation era this will be how I play them! Thanks, Andrea for adding to the collection!
Holidays are over, it’s 2012.
Well I’m finishing up my last day off before getting back into the regular world. This time of year is always crazy with all the people there are to see, so there’s just not much of a routine. It will be nice to get back into something consistant and being able to spread out all my work over a whole week. It just doesn’t pay to take time off because I have to do all the work either before or after I leave anyway. But anywho.
It was a really nice holiday season as far as I can ascertain. Doesn’t seem like as stressful as those of the past few years. Even with Luke here, it just felt like everything kinda fell into place. We made it out to Cimarron, Wichita, Kansas City… all in less than a month. It kinda blew our gas budget, but we made a little extra money with side jobs to come up with the difference. Seems like the Lord still finds ways to provide!
This last quarter of 2011 has really rekindled my excitement for gaming. I got Zelda around Thanksgiving and the new Mario Kart for Christmas. On top of that I got back into Guild Wars for the Wintersday, getting hundreds of holiday items that I need to consume now. Let’s just say I’m not too worried about Death Penalty for a while! I still need to get Super Mario 3D land, but I think that can wait while I work my way though Zelda and Mario Kart.
I’ve been having more fun with Mario Kart 7 than I’ve had with any game for a real long time. Honestly after the Wii and GameCube versions being so similar, I really didn’t expect this to be so compelling. But I’ve really been enjoying the new courses.. a lot. Online mode has been pretty fun too. There’s no communication between you and the other players, but it’s clear that you’re not just racing the computer. Mostly because there’s so many more cheap shots in Muliplayer. In the context of Mario Kart though that’s a good thing. For everytime you get screwed at the finish line, there’s an equal chance that you’ll be able to screw over somebody on the next race, and really that’s what Mario Kart is all about. Haha. I haven’t played a whole lot of Time Trials yet… but the couple ghosts I raced were very fun. I’m not quite ready to give a final review of the game yet, but initial impressions are very good and I’d already recommend it if you have a 3DS.
I’ve been getting into retro gaming more too. I’d like to bolster my collection some dating back to the Super Nintendo and before. I have the N64 pretty extensively covered, and besides a few more brand new controllers, there’s really not a whole lot else I’m looking for right now. I want to go real old skool. In fact at the top of my “retro list” right now is an old “Vectrex” console from the early 80’s. I never had one. And until a few months ago I didn’t even know one existed until I started watching some reviews from Classic Game Room on Youtube. I think I like it because it’s so far and different from anything that is still around today. It really hearkens back to the day when the real games were in the arcades, and if you had something at home that could approximate that experience… man you were living.
Well, happy new year. Hope yours is a good as mine is going to be. I’ve pretty much made up my mind it’s going to be awesome.