Detroit Lions Preseason Recap

Alright, I feel behind in my analysis of the game facts for the Lions. This all is of course leading to my predictions on the year for my beloved team.

Cleveland vs Detroit

Pros

• 101 rushing yards
• 0 sacks
• 2 INTs
• 2 Sacks

Cons

• Still can't get it in the end zone.

Indianapolis vs Detroit

Pros

• 3 sacks
• Gave up 1 sack

Cons

• 32 yards on the ground
• 2 Fumbles
• 2 INTs

Buffalo vs Detroit

Pros

• Hanson hit a 51 yarder

Cons

• 73 Rushing yards
• Gave up 2 sacks
• Got 0 sacks
• 27% 3rd down
• 30% 3rd down

Overall it just looks like it is going to be a rough year (like every year) to be a Lions fan. The team can't find the end zone, can't convert on 3rd down, and can't stop a balanced offensive attack. There are flashes of brilliance, but Kitna prediction of double digit wins in laughable.

However, these are not the starters, but at the same point, they are likely to be the starters due to injury issues. I don't know. It is hard to constantly bad mouth a team you hope, so desperately, will get close to .500 in a given year. I just don't see this as the year.

PAX07

Wow.

Another fun year. I really wish it was not over. So I guess I can put down how it went. The first day Ben, Jason, and I spent a great deal of time hanging out in the main theater area. But we started out in a smaller room where we caught the end of handheld gaming. Really it seems that the focus is how do the small developer shops survive in relationship to the large publishers. Seems like a pretty scary industry to be in, but if you really love all things games, then maybe it is for you. I will stick with playing.

Next we moved to the main room and watched the keynote address as given by Wil Wheaton aka Wesley Crusher of Star Trek: TNG fame. We followed that up by watching the Q&A session with Mike and Jerry (Gabe and Tycho). Both of these session were super entertaining. Wil gave very passionate address on gaming is about socializing, about coming together with others just to have fun and compete. That those who say that it is an anti-social behavior are just plain wrong. If you want to listen to it, there is a link from Wil's page.

Mike and Jerry were great as well. I have been reading Penny Arcade for many years and this is the 3rd PAX I have been to, but this was the first time I got to listen to them. They were pretty much up to answering any question (which there were very, very diverse questions). They kept it moving pretty good and only harassed a few of the questioners.

Then they brought on their super secret guest speaker, Uwe Boll. This is where I felt totally ashamed of the behavior of the games, especially after Wil pleaded his case to "not be a dick". Uwe has made a number of movies that were based on games. Very, very loosely based on games and generally not the best of movies. This has left a number of gamers with a bad taste in their mouth and after watching clips of his next movie Postal, they proceeded to spit on him (figuratively). I want to first give him credit for coming in front of a hostile crowd and presenting what he works on and why. I however could not stay for all of it as I couldn't take the way people were behaving. All I can say is that it is a good thing that Jack Thompson didn't come. That would have been worse.

We grabbed a little dinner and tried to listen to Girls and Games. That session was super packed as they tried to talk about what games would appeal more to woman gamers and how to increase the number of them that would play games. What was more interesting was actually the Pictochat session going on at the same time. (Pictochat is a chat program for the Nintendo DS allowing 16 people to chat wireless via text and pictures). Alot of the people were bringing up some very relevant discussion points and a little snide commentary. It would be awesome if this were some how projected on the wall to show others what is going on. If only we could filter all the drawings of penises...

We next played a rousing game of Pink Godzilla Dev Kit where Ben won again. He is super cutthroat. Then we had to run to catch the last half of the session on Episodic Gaming with talks given buy Valve/Steam as well as the Sam and Max serial currently going on. I personally see this as the way things will end up going, just from the fact that development tends to have higher success rates with smaller scoped projects. Plus publishers will make MORE MONEY in episodic content than they will in traditional one shot deals. Overall this was an excellent session with good questions and points about developer pain, project timelines and return on investment. As a note, if you quit playing half life content cause it is too hard, Valve knows this (via Steam) and keeps metrics as to how many people are quitting at certain points and how many times they die. Would love to see this info...

With that we wrapped up day one.

Day two saw us getting to the Washington State Convention center super early so that a) we could get parking and b) we could get the wrist bands to get into the concert that night. First thing we did upon getting through the 3/4 mile long line was go hang out in the exhibition hall for a few hours. I ended up buying some Merch and playing some cool demos. Most of the big players were they talking about upcoming games as well as some companies showing off their game engines. I got a chance to try out Geometry Wars on the Wii as well as a ton of other games. I don't think I could really do justice to all I got to see and do and will let the other game blogs talk about the exhibition hall. Although I do have to say that the new Midnight Club due out next year looked absolutely fantastic. Probably one of the most gorgeous games I saw there.

Jason and Ben went and watched the Red vs. Blue panel (which I caught the end of) while I went in to stand in line to get a signed copy of Jonathan Coulton Thing a week project CD set. The dude was super cool and nice. If you are in to the acoustic guitar folk, then this is definitely your type of CD. He really has a fantastic voice and really interesting lyrics covering a series of geek and non-geek topics.

After catching the end of the Red vs. Blue panel, we stayed on for the real reason for being at the main theater again. We got to see live game footage of Assassin's Creed video game. Luckily we had a game developer with us (Ben) to damper our enthusiasm over wonderfully scripted fighting sequences and absolutely gorgeous environments. This could be a fantastic game. Or it could flop. I am leaning toward fantastic.

We then grabbed some lunch, played some Ninja Burger (I won!) and Citadels (Ben won and then I won). Grabbed some dinner and then played Mario Kart DS while we waited to get into the evening concert.

So we find out that the stupid wristbands didn't actually mean a thing. The convention center really wasn't setup to handle the traffic movement so it was moot. I am really totally ok with that. So we got to watch a round of the Omegathon (gaming competition). First Mike, Jerry, and company came out and rocked out with Rock Band to Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi. Was super awesome and they totally nailed the song. Of course this was a precursor to the Omeganauts have to compete as two teams playing Creep. One team really dominated the other team. Impressed by the game overall, but still suffering from a little sticker shock.

Finally we get to the concert where Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot, and the Minibosses are playing. Jonathan totally rocked the place. A ton of folks around me were commenting about how much they loved it (and kept asking who it was). To be honest, it was why I was there. Next they had MC Frontalot, nerdcore rapper. It took a while for him to warm up the crowd as the music was drastically different in feel. Overall not my cup of tea, but there was some interesting music there. I have to say his bass player really impressed me. Finally, we got to the minibosses which is what Jason was waiting for. We made it through song 3 (Castlevania) when we decided to head home being tired and thoroughly deaf. They had the music a tad too loud as the speakers were distorting heavily.

Overall, I will be going back again next year, so no one make plans with me for the last weekend of August, unless you are planning on hanging out a big gaming geek party with me.

PAX07: a quickie

Well, thought I would get in a quick post before I head out again on another expedition into Seattle. Thought I would share a couple of things:



And:

I guess I drink swill

I just want coffee when I get in, but others seem to have higher standards.

Little bit of a picture fix

We have house guests, so updates are a little sparse. But figured I would toss on some Miranda photos.

CSS and Divs...

Well I started playing around with my blog design again... and about all I ended up changing was the colors. I really tried to change all my tables into Div block elements, but I just have a natural tendency to rely on tables. I have spent 2 hours today playing with using Divs but am tired of trying to figure out why there is a space between my title div and my entry div.

--------------------
| Title |
--------------------
REMOVE ME!!!
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| blah blah blah |
| blah blah blah |
| blah blah blah |
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This color scheme was based on two things. One, I did not want to recreate all my images for the header and footer bars. Two, I used Colorjack Sphere to help pick out my colors. Color deficiencies are not just for the people using the site, but for the designer too. I couldn't be sure that the colors I picked would look good (without constant badgering my wife). Using this I was able to pick a starting color (my images) and then get up to 5 other colors that could work with it in a pleasing manner.

Around the house

Figured I haven't done my normal family type update in a while. Miranda is 16 months today. Eating and sleeping are still fighting points. We are still waiting for Miranda to start talking to reduce the amount of "point and grunt" (tm) that goes on. As for motor skills, she is doing great. She runs like a pro and is really starting to bring her knees up higher when she moves. She has been doing some puzzles with shaped animal blocks on a wooden board. Really the main sticking point is the sleeping and eating.

For our standard nutrition right now it is 20-30 oz. of Pediasure and whole milk. We add in some fruit (handful of blueberries or dried pineapple/strawberry/whatever) and some crackers which makes up for the whole day. We, of course, offer a very wide variety of food (last night she took a couple bites of pizza and she also ate a couple handfuls of mac and cheese) but most of the time she is not interested. Same goes for non-Pediasured liquids.

Sleep-wise she has gotten in habit of waking up twice in the night and the second time she really refuses to go back down so Michelle has gotten in the habit of letting her sleep in bed with her, just to get a couple more hours. It's a fight. It took me 2 hours last night to get her to sleep. And leaving her in the crib just doesn't work. After all the work to get food in the stomach, she gets super upset and throws up all over me.



But she is growing and developing so... it's ok. Who knows, this might just be teething.

Lions first preseason game...

First off a link to the Box Score. Unfortunately, I did not get to see this, but I do have some opinions on what I see in the stats.

Pros

• O-line only let up one sack (although it was the starters)
• 497 passing yards
• 4 sacks and an interception for the Defense

Cons

• 2 picks given away
• Duckett gives up the fumble
• 59 rushing yards

We shall see how this turns out.

Martz says the darnedest things

From the article Johnson will get plenty of playing time against Bengals:

"We're going to see him a lot in this game," Martz said Tuesday. "We're going to see him a lot in the preseason -- he's got to learn how to play in this league. We're going to wear his little froggy rear-end out."

Froggy rear-end?

Upcoming Xbox Live Arcade games...

Xbox Live Arcade is increasing it's available games, which is definitely a good thing. I have been very impressed so far with the games to date and always looking for new ones to try and buy.

Of particular note is Hexic 2 and Puzzle Quest, while I tried Marathon: Durandal and Spyglass Board Games both of which I was not impressed by.

I don't get Facebook

Andrej recently posted on how young people are using social networks which really helps articulate some of my experience with them. I totally understand personal webpages, but we you start talking all these friends and friend invites, it just didn't make sense. I don't get the Wall idea. I can see what someone wrote on my friend's wall but I can't see their response. I may have the same question, does that mean they have to do the same for me? It is just confusing. Give me a bunch of close friends, real blogs with comments, and a tool to aggregate RSS and I am a happy camper.

Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions

Well the deal finally got done (after missing a number of days of training camp) and now all the Lions draft picks are signed. As much fun as the NFL has made the draft, the contract negotiations following the draft have been a point of pain for me. First off, the draft still is and always will be a sort of gambling. You are playing your odds with the number of picks you have on the available talent. You are guaranteed to have busts, but you hope that they are lower down the draft board, because if you bust on a first rounder, you have lost approximately $15 million in cap room for the next year or possible $12 million the following year for releasing a player.

These rookies are all gambles. Anyone of the players in the draft could turn out to not be able to make the transition to the pros. At the same point, some who you would not expect to flourish, will. So why are the teams paying early rounders millions in guaranteed money when they have not played a down? Why not just set a salary cap on each pick in the draft set by the NFL. Make it flexible enough that the agents and teams can still work out deals in there using incentives and what not, but make the guarantees not be so terminally high. This is what destroys parity in the NFL. (I also know bad GMs and coaches destroy parity as well)

Right now, I really feel bad for the Cleveland Browns. They moved up on draft day to pick up Brady Quinn (so they lost some draft picks) at pick 22. But Quinn is now refusing to come under contract for anything less that top 10 money essentially missing all of training camp. At this rate, he is likely to miss all of preseason and is therefore a bust this year, although you really aren't paying him yet. But come on, do you really expect to be paid the same as pick 21? Ridiculous.

So my message to the NFL is put some sort of system in place for signing rookies that actually is able to make preseason fun again, instead of the pain of watching these highly touted players feel like pampered babies.

Congratulations Cat and A.J.

Well now I am an uncle. So congratulations to my sis-in-law Cat and her hubbie, AJ, on the birth of their little one Daniel Paul.

Woo hoo!

Comic-Con: Futurama panel report

But the main thing is that Futurama is coming back. Yeah!

Review: Campus Legend mode in NCAA Football 08

So I recently picked up NCAA Football 08 for the Xbox 360. Normally I just dig right into the dynasty mode expecting to lose a few games learning the particulars of the game engine, but this time I started by trying out some of the other features. First I tried the minigames of Tug of War (you get 1 play to move the ball and then the opponent gets the same, first to touchdown wins) and also Bowling (10 yards to goal, each yard is a pin with two shots at the end zone).

Next I moved on to Campus Legend Mode. And to be honest it is good enough that I have not left it. First you start out by designing a player and picking a position for them. Next you select your home school and state (high school that is) and you get put right into the high school state playoffs. I picked ROLB to start with figuring that defense is a good place for me. So first off, the only person you can control is the player you have created, so many plays are just not going to involve you. Although there is a lot more pressure because when you blow a coverage or tackle you can't switch to another nearby player to make the tackle. Once you have completed the high school playoffs, you have to select the college that you want to go to. In my case I picked Penn State because I would not be a starter, but I also wouldn't be 3rd string.

Your college career consists of 2 things per day. First is practice where you get 10 reps at various plays (coach calls all plays in both practices and real games). When you make a play it is worth points. These points eventually will earn you a spot on the starting line. For me, I earned my starting spot right before the 3rd game in the season. The different strings make it interesting in the game as well. When you are second string, you are hoping for a blow out so that you can get some field time other than on special teams, where as you hope for a close one during regular play.

One of the nice things in this mode, and frustrating is that the games tend to be really short. This gets a tad annoying as the load times in this game are incredibly long. Another drawback to this mode is that you may play your heart out and do an incredible job, but the team could still lose because the other half of the team is unable to get the job done. Besides the long load times, I have also seen a lot of very screen stutters and lots of xbox 360 fan and drive noise. Just seems to be slightly too intensive.

Graphics wise, this game is good, but not really something you are going to shout from the mountain tops about. Sounds are incredible and after 9 games, I can't complain about the announcers yet. So with all the problems, I still give this game a must buy for Football fans. It is just as fun as it's previous versions (I have played NCAA 01, 04, and 05).

Review: Harry Potter 7

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) yesterday and have been mulling over how I was going to give this review without giving anything away. I am pretty sure I can do, but really don't know if this will be at all useful.

I found this book to be on par with the most recent set of books in the series written by J. K. Rowling. As I read through we went through slow portions (about 150 pages in the front half of the book) as well as areas completed chocked full of action and critical events. Reading through, I found there were many times that I could not stand any of the characters and other times where the characters would do endearing things things and I really appreciate that as it gives the main characters some depth of making their own mind instead of being the saints that everyone thinks they are. If I had to fault any of the time spent on the characters, it is the lack of Draco Malfoy. His character is missed in much of the book as the previous antagonist, playing completely second fiddle to the unadulterated evil of Voldemort. In fact you spend so much time with the main three that you might even get a little tired of them.

So in the end, this is a fitting conclusion to a series that bordered on serious and silly, but created a rich world that you could almost believe in.

Google Tech Talk: Inbox Zero

Basically a method of not living your life out of your email inbox and instead start creating systems to run your life (less detraction...)

Die Hard Music Video

Warning contains profanity.

Harry Potter 7

Unlike the majority of folks who have purchased Harry Potter 7, I have not completed it yet. But so far it has been an enjoyable read, but I do have some criticisms. So far, I have noticed some pretty wild fluctuations in the intelligence of the characters and/or assumptions by the author of the intelligence of the readers. To be honest, I think J. K. Rowling did better with the younger books as they were tight and focused.

That being said, it isn't a bad book. Just I have recently read a bunch of books that have been written better, so I think my bar has raised a bit.

PAX here I come

Yesterday, my tickets to the Penny Arcade Expo arrived with there usual set of game advertisements. Heading into my third visit to the Expo I am pretty excited. I will miss their previous location at Meydenbauer hall but I think the bigger venue is also a good thing.

Yeah!

Lions ranked above Cowboys

And it could be the biggest insult around, according to one blogger. I love the parity of the NFL but there seems to be a rather large range of parity.

See ya Parents...

Well two weeks with my parents is at a close. Even thought the title of the post may not seem like I enjoyed it, I really did. We went out and did things. Ate well. Just spent time talking. There were a couple of extra hands to handle Miranda. Overall it was pretty cool and I can't wait for more family to visit.

They also went out and spent a couple of days on the Olympic Peninsula. They took some gorgeous photos while out there. Definitely looks like I will take a trip out there to stay the night some time. Just would be nice to do.

Detroit Lions 3-13 again

I saw a blogger wrote about the Lions upcoming season and I really can't flaw the logic. Somehow I wish the Lions would pull their record up above .500 but like a child punished for exuberance, I just can't seriously think they will ever top 6 wins.

1 hour with Forza 2 for Xbox 360

So far, I have put about an hour into playing Forza 2 on the recommendation of JOT3. I tried the demo and really, really didn't like it, but Jim was very persistent that it really was a good game. I found the demo to be very heavy on the simulation side and lacked the learning progression of dealing with a games physics engine. However this is not the case in the real game. The real game has enjoyment built in from the get go. The physics are heavy simulation but you are eased into the game with easier AI drivers and with slower cars. Plus at some level you can tweak the tuning of the car to more fit your driving style.

The car and driver level progression is pretty neat. Access to better parts and cars is always fun. So right now, I give this a definite must play, as I really want to take the day off of work and play.

Though this should be a note to the developers, don't create a demo that could potentially turn off a segment of the buying population unless you are accurately representing the game...

Long time in posting

We've been a tad busy of late. My parents arrived in town last Saturday and we bummed around the first day. To be honest, I don't remember what we did on Saturday. Probably bummed around some more. Although Saturday night, we had our first real boo-boo for Miranda. She was running around and tripped on her feet and fell into the magazine rack. Split her lip open, but a little soap and water with a dose of a Popsicle and everything was all right.



I had to work on Monday and Tuesday but everyone else headed out to Saltwater park and also the Weyerhaeuser Botanical Garden. Don't have any pictures loaded of this yet.

Wednesday, we sat and enjoyed the fabulous weather we have been having playing with Miranda outside and in the water. I grilled some salmon along with green beens and asparagus. Unfortunately I took off a good portion of my arm hair in the process. I think sometimes I just have bad luck with fire.



And finally yesterday we made out way down to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. Miranda seemed to have a great time, although I think she spent more time staring at the other kids than looking at the animals. We got a couple of shots of the zoo. I really do recommend it. It is small but really the perfect size for anyone with kids. Later one we headed to the Supermall in Auburn and then called it a night.

Whoa! Reubens Tube

As seen on Hack-a-day.



Rubens Tube - video powered by Metacafe

Centralpark? LCD/Radio/Anything on a Side by side Fridge?

I am not sure if I can credit this to my friend, John. Either way, a dockable refrigerator is something I have been a proponent of. If this is yours, John, congratulations.

Facebook

Seems facebook got a ton of publicity with their recent addition of an external api as well as offering to those outside of college. Some other's think that face book could fall flat.

You'd think I have a ton to write about...

Not much really has been happening. I did the deck project last weekend. This weekend I was going to do some pruning and then paint the picnic table. Well, I started to paint the picnic table and realized that I had not bought paint. Or least one with very little pigment. Turns out that I had bought polyurethane. This isn't bad, but not something I had planned for. So now, I need to run to Lowes and pick up white paint when then leads to a couple of future projects around the house as well. If I run to Lowes today, I should pick up a couple of ceiling vents for the bathrooms as well as pick up some PVC pipe to create a sensory table for Miranda.

So once I have the white paint, then I can apply the polyurethane so my table can last forever. In fact, I think that I need to sand the table again so that the surface is rough enough to pick up a paint coat.

Miranda is still Miranda. Eating is getting better. Sleeping is getting better. I am pretty sure it will never reach "perfect". Just have to keep stimulating her. Yesterday I flipped on the radio which didn't exactly make her happy. I am not sure what she was looking for but... that was not it. I guess she doesn't like U2.

As for reading, I have finished 3 John Scalzi books, Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony. These books are definitely in the fun range of Science Fiction reading. They tended toward a slightly light form of science, with a smattering of politics. I think Andy would enjoy them. I might even be tempted to call it Heinlein light. Except it really isn't watered downed like light beer. Just light and airy.

Otherwise, I have recently picked up Accelerando by Charles Stross. I am just starting so I really don't have much to say yet.

Welcome Summer

Well the first day of summer was absolutely gorgeous. Here are to many more.

iPhone ... heh.

Somehow this strikes me as funny. I am not certain I know anyone who is that violently pro-Apple. But anytime you can distill down the world of Apple from the view of someone who could give a rat's ass about Apple... I appreciate that.

Here's to the iPhone sucking!

Father's Day

Well, my second Father's Day, and I can definitely say I am exhausted. Miranda has been going like crazy today (with some downtime for crying...). I was also able install some safety lattice work on the back deck rail to keep Miranda from falling through. Overall, I am pretty happy. Just finished talking to my Dad to wish him a happy Father's Day. It sounded like he had a good day as well (my brother stopped into town to visit).

Michelle made me Irish stew, which was awesome. I had made some cappuccino scones the night before which were really good (not as good as specialty bakery, but I try).

May happy wishes go out to Jeff, Jay, and Dan who are all celebrating 1st and 2nd father's days.

Free game...

So last night I tried out Aegis Wing, which was developed by a bunch of interns at Microsoft. I should say that I tried it out for the second time. The first time I tried it, I was not impressed. It seemed quite difficult and not really compelling. Last night though, I got to team of with AlphaCog and wife, as well as JOT3 and it suddenly got much more compelling. This is a game that is utterly dependent on the multi player, for one to make it even feasible and two that it can be a very social game where you can team up to form your own version of Voltron.

So if you don't have it, get it, if you have an Xbox 360. And send me a message, it will be fun.

Another rainy weekend

Yesterday, was just another rainy day in the Pacific Northwest. That's fine. It helps things stay green out this way considering we haven't really had that much rain this spring. It seems like the start of winter got a lot of rain, but it really has just been gray since.

Miranda seems to be getting her second top front tooth. It is slow going and has caused her irritation since Thursday night. So she has been a tad whiny and sometimes outright upset. Feeding during these times is in serious not cool.

Oh yeah, a big congratulations go out to Jaimee and Dan the Man on the birth of their child, Madison Elizabeth. She was born Thursday, June 7th at 3:53 pm weighing in at 6 lb, 11 oz and 20 inches in length. And that folks is the tale of the tape... Of course this is all from the person in high school that swore that it would be a cold day in hell before she had a kid :).

Amanda started it...

You Are Apple Red

You're never one to take life too seriously, and because of it, you're a ton of fun. And although you have a great sense of humor, you are never superficial. Deep and caring, you do like to get to the core of people - to understand them well. However, any probing you do is light hearted and fun, sometimes causing people to misjudge you.

What Color Red Are You?

And...

You Are 20% Evil

You are good. So good, that you make evil people squirm. Just remember, you may need to turn to the dark side to get what you want!

How Evil Are You?

All as seen on Amanda's blog.

Misc Miranda post

Argh, I hate teething. I wish that there was some magic cure to teething, but right now with one tooth coming in every two months, it is going slowly and she is not enjoying it. Overall, she is vocalizing a bit more and moving like a pro. This week saw the addition of climbing to her set of tools, which has completely destroyed any hope of my turning my xbox on again.

Unless she is asleep.

And then I am usually asleep.

So how do they have so much energy especially when they should be using it to grow and all those other amazing early things? I think they had it right in the Matrix when they harnessed humans to create energy. I mean stare at a 15 month old and tell me that is not a completely renewable source of power.

So as a video, here is one of Miranda reading her book to me...

Backyard landscaping...

Well, we knew that we wanted to get some landscaping done in the backyard prior to the cookout we had recently. I managed to find all the pictures that I had created in regards to this project. It is not perfect, but should give you an idea of the progression.

June 20th, 2006


May 24th, 2007


May 25th, 2007


May 28th, 2007


And there we have it. Currently love it and enjoy our backyard much more, although I am still looking for some extra muscle to help me move the bench swing to the round patio.

Dave visit + random

Well, one of my fellow troupers from MTU, Dave. Found out he was out here in Seattle and we finally worked out a time to hang out and chat. We went to Pizzeria Fondi and had the excellent Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza, Margherita Pizza and a pitcher of the Fondi Lager. Delicious all around!!! Dave seemed to have fun and he had Miranda laughing hysterically.

Thanks for everything Dave!

Also, I saw on George R. R. Martin's blog that he did a book talk in second life. Much more interesting is that he went as Tyrion the Imp. I like the "slip" that Tyrion would fly. Does he end up riding a dragon?

Heatwave '07, kinda

I don't really think it was a heatwave. It was more of an unusual spike in temperature that caused everyone to be a tad uncomfortable in the Pacific Northwest. For a single day, that is.

So Miranda got to try out her new Dora the explorer sprinkler and she was not at all happy about it. I don't know if Michelle got any pictures but she might have. If she did, I will post them up for all to see. Also decided that I would bring up our Whirlpool Portable Air Conditioner and try it out. Installation was a bear and the instructions were pretty horrible. But once installed, it worked like a charm. A 90lb charm that I had to lug up the stairs.

An attempt on large scale entertainment

How can people do entertaining? If you know, could you tell me? That being said, I think it turned out well. We had (including us) 9 adults and 2 children. I think I made enough food for 30 people though. Food turned out good. I think I was being a little to over critical of my pork tenderloin and ribs. The ribs I had were good, but a little on the chewy side. The sides were mostly store bought and what others could bring along.

So in the past, when we would go to summer family gatherings, I would be stationed at the grill doing the cooking letting who ever wanted to chat with me, swing over. Not to mention it was usually burgers, brats, and dogs so if you wanted it piping hot, or specially cooked, you had to come see me. This time, I was doing much slower cook items. In the smoker, I started 2 3lb pork loins at about 11am which I pulled off the smoker around 3pm. At about noon, I added 2 3lb pork spare ribs. For some reason the ribs caused the smoking process to be inhibited slightly. In the grill, I had 3 additional 3-4lb racks of ribs. These sat on the grill from about 1:30 to 2:30. Side wise, Michelle had me covered since I felt near wits end just trying to balance these large, slow cooking items.

During this time, though I felt less able to talk. I am thinking next time that we try this to go with the old standby of burgers, brats, and dogs (we will include some vegetarian options for those of that inclination). Otherwise, between cleaning, cooking, and tracking a very speedy 1 year old, I felt a tad hurried. I really hope all that could attend, had a good time. I know I really did enjoy the company.

As for Miranda, she was a complete doll. Started a little shy, but slowly opened up and had some fun. Landscaping was done about 3:30pm and looks great. As with all functions, I forgot to take pictures. Sigh.

You think you got it bad. Feel bad for Finland.

Heh!

First of the link to The Great Pyramid of Agile. This article was fairly amusing. Covers many of the issues of good platforms/architectures. Also takes into account that agile allows for many deviations from the original plan (basically an allowable form of scope-creep if you ask me).

As for the cases of failure, the answer is overwhelmingly, "of course it didn’t work; the project didn’t have enough good people."

This is of course followed with:

Good people can build good software no matter what methodology they use.

I think though that one of the things they miss that agile gives you the opportunity to do is fail fast. This is a tremendous advantage in helping predict paths features that customers won't find useful and to also determine when a particular technical path is the wrong way. But knowing this, if you decided you need to scale or need a platform, you are talking now of a major undertaking that won't really fit in the "Agile" world.

So if I were to say what the best software development process would be, I have to say that it has to be something that results in quick iterations for the design and experiment phase which would be followed by a planning process to convert this prototype into something becomes maintainable and meets more rigorous production requirements. Maintainability is key. Along with good documentation.

Halo 3 beta redux

Since I didn't sign an NDA on this I assume we are good talk. Although, I am not one to tempt fate, so I will not be talking in any specifics. Overall, I am having fun. There is little difference between Halo 2 and Halo 3. That is a pretty bad sticking point for someone the folks in my clan that think the graphics are so first gen Microsoft console... Not really a sticking point for me. It is fun and that is what matters.

I would like a better lobby though. It feels not friendly... Not sure how else to describe it. We all show up, and pray that they don't start matchmaking because once the party leader does, then those outside the party have to wait. Not very good. To be honest, I would be willing to wait or better yet just be a spectator on a match. Well, here's to future improvements!

That is what friends are for

It looks like some pictures of me from one of my college plays has surfaced again on the web. In particular, Princess Blogonoke's site is not holding pictures of me playing Virgil from Bus Stop. Although, I never did know that people questioned the moustache.

Most of those pictures bring back excellent memories. Of all that though, I always feel a tad down that I did not take all the plays that I worked with seriously. Whenever I was given leeway with the dialog, I tended to foul it up and move it out of character. So in that sense, it is bittersweet. But there are so many more good memories and thoroughly fun times that I can sometimes forget I said, "I am too busy scratching myself."

Loading Halo 3 Beta

Thank you Bungie.

love, Reverend0

Miranda chilling with Dad

Miranda finally cut a top tooth which puts at a grand total of 3 teeth. She is still whining a bit, so I am wondering if she is cutting another one.

Wil "Freakin'" Wheaton

It looks like Wil Wheaton will be speaking at the Penny Arcade Expo. Maybe I should get him to sign my Wesley Crusher picture a second time. Maybe he will sign it as the evil Wil Wheaton?

Picture of Miranda

Noticed it had been a while since I posted a picture of Miranda...




Basically she has decided that she wants to have her own seat. We were down in the family room, she saw her old bouncy seat and just climbed and sat for a while. We really never put her in it when she was a baby, but now she is interested in it.

Lakeshore takes first in regional Botball competition!!!

I got the call from Jason and John on Saturday telling mention of their win. (I can't link directly to his May 5th post because his site is broken...)

<snip>
Lakeshore BotBall Team Takes Home First Place in Midwest Regionals

First Place in Documentation
First Place in Double-Elimination Competition
Third Place in Seed Round
First Place OVERALL for Midwest Region!!!!!!
</snip>

So it looks like they are headed to nationals!!! Good job Lakeshore.

Pardon the last depressing post

Sometimes things don't go well. Sometimes you get a little run down. I am pretty run down today, but spirits are good. Miranda slept all night long (9 to 4:30) so that is good. Yesterday we stopped by the used bookstore in Kent and I was able to pick up my second out of print book there. The first one I picked up (about 2 months ago) was Destination Void by Frank Herbert which takes an interesting look at the creation of synthetic intelligence. The one I picked up yesterday is more of the pulp variety in The Lost King by Margaret Weis (of Dragonlance series fame). I read it years ago and enjoyed it immensely. It tells the tale of young boy and his hidden kingly heritage. It definitely falls in the Fantasy Science Fiction sub-genre as it is more like Star Wars than anything else.

So besides that Miranda spent some time playing with blocks and flipping through pages of a book. So yesterday was a good day.

I am a bad father...

I let my child cry too long. She threw up. It is all my fault.

Good vs. Dumb

Been thinking of making this a series. But saw two links that I felt fit those categories fairly well. But I will let you be the judge.

Good vs. Dumb

Zero is lonelier than One

I will eventually get around to talking about day 2 of the NFL draft, but I just saw a good article on signal vs. noise about how Trent Reznor is marketing his new album. In general, there has been lots of talk about viral marketing as a good way to cheaply get interest drummed up about a product. To be honest, I really don't think it works. At best, it takes the folks that were already interested in your product and whips them into a fervor. At worst, you get arrested. I think in most cases it just doesn't connect with those that are unfamiliar with your product, to your product. The examples used for NIN about the two websites really show little connection with the product or NIN. This to me is confusing. How can you call that marketing? What that is to me is an extension of the entertainment value of the product.

That said, I will likely pick up the new album. I have listened to it completely on the Year Zero website (for free) and was very happy with what I heard. I would be even happier if I could directly buy the mp3's on the web, which I might, I just have checked.

The other things that Trent is doing in terms of offering of the tracks via GarageBand and no DRM, I think are so pro-consumer that the even those that are not fans should buy in. This feeling for me is only made worse by the fact that the RIAA collects royalties for songs that it doesn't even own that are played on the internet.

Start of the second half

Well, looking back over day 1, my biggest Lions disappointment comes from picking Stanton over getting any other of a myriad of Defense and Offense players.

1. Calvin Johnson: Can't say I am excited to spend another draft pick on WR but he is an incredible player. (1st round)
2. Drew Stanton: I am leaning two directions on the Lions drafting a QB, they should have got one in the first round or one in the third round. He is seen as a project and I am inclined to agree with that assessment. I don't know if I like high 2nd round projects... (2nd round)
3. Ikaika Alama-Francis: DE that was injured in a late game. Fast, strong but had a poor showing in the individual workouts. Yeah, maybe a replacement of James Hall. (2nd round)
4. Gerald Alexander: A SS that is likely to add some depth in either the nickelback position or could pan out to be a decent SS with some coaching. (2nd round)

The thing with the late second round picks, I am not sure if those would have been available for the 3rd round where Lions had picks before trading up.

NFL draft day

Well, it is that time of the year again. Time for my Lions to make another selection that will make low impact. There have been exceptions to the case, but they have been rare. So now what.

Also watching this morning on ESPN, they have been highlighting the higher standard of conduct that is going to be required by the NFL. No other career path (speaking of all of sports) puts such young individuals in the possession of so much money and media focus. I am think they will have some luck in curbing this behavior just based on what they have done in the past with their drug policy. They will still have incidents but hopefully these kids can really learn the lessons of responsibility at such a young age.

So how am I going to blog this draft. In the past I have just watched it and ranted about it later. This time, I will likely just leave comments on this post talking about surprises only. Otherwise, it is just kinda ridiculous.

Running out of storage space?

Saw this staircase storage idea on Jana's blog. This is a great idea. I worry about it structurally but other wise there is a ton of wasted space with staircases. Makes me think we should just have lots of ladders or maybe elevators in our houses.

Cubicles and Accountants, the new D&D

This will be short one covering mostly a complaint I have about some implementations of Agile software development processes. The number 1 thing that people should remember when using these is that Agile is about people and relationships (stolen from the words of Scrum) as opposed to that of the process itself. What all the Agile processes have done is create a framework to start from. Not saying that I have hit where this is the bad case. Every case I have had the opportunity to be a part of focuses in the right directions, but I have seen where the Scrum bible is consulted, or things are rigidly adhered to, with no benefit to the team. A happy team is a productive team.

I guess I can finish this off with a second side rant, that Agile should mean just that. Priorities change and you can flow with them. I have seen this work well enough. The problem is when other teams or other customers come in with requests, most agile methodologies have no way of dealing with these. Or they do, and that is to let the single main customer (aka boss) dictates the priorities. The secondary customers get screwed. This is very intuitive. However when the secondary customer has a very valuable proposition, it might behoove the teams to internalize this sort of work.

Miranda goofing...

Don't really know what to say about this one...

NFL draft thoughts and how the wii kicks butt

Well thanks to Cory, I was able to nab a Nintendo Wii. I don't think Michelle is yet too keen on it, but she does laugh when I try boxing. Out of the box, I have not complaints. The device is nice and small. It takes minimum setup although the sensor bar took a little bit of reading to figure out positioning and whatnot. But once in, creating a me and navigating the menus are a breeze.

I have a couple of usability complaints. You can't swap controllers around (haven't read the manual so not completely certain of that) so if one fails or accidentally hits the wall... not real sure. Second, if you are playing two player and player two quits and turns off their wiimote, it shuts off the machine. Ug. Also the whole friend code stuff is super not intuitive. Maybe I have spent the last 5 years with xbox live and that has corrupted me, but entering a 16 digit code for a friend and waiting for them to do the same is a tad weird. I would rather send an invite to a meaningful name. Your know.

As for the NFL draft, I am still debating if I want to spend the hours it would take to actually put together my predictions. On top of that, I see both the Raiders and the Lions looking to dump the first and second pick which makes the whole thing up for grabs. Problem is that no one wants to pay the compensation for a number one pick. But at the same point your have a 12 year OT waiting up there as well as a multi-year pro-bowl WR. I am not sold on the QBs this year, but there is quite a bit of talent in all positions to make trading up not worth it, unless you really need a QB or a great WR. So maybe I will throw together a last minute one... depends on how much temptation I suffer.

Definition of crave

I saw today that UBIsoft is going to release another rhythm game but this time for the Nintendo DS along the lines of guitar hero. The only difference is it isn't about the rhythm as much as it is about the actual playing of music on this small handheld "guitar". Jam Sessions seems to create some sort of weird desire deep in my music creation center of my brain.

What the hey?

Well, I have a bunch more photos to upload to flickr and wouldn't you know it, it's down. Sigh. I guess at some point we begin to become dependent on our technology even in little ways (like loading pictures for family). Although I have had some other wonky network related problems that maybe this is actually comcast and their packet shaping in full effect?

So I guess no pics tonight. Maybe I will just photo edit them so they look a tad better.

By the way Miranda had her 1 year checkup. 18lb 10oz and 31 inches.

Downfall of man

Maybe it is just Western Civilization... maybe it is just United States... in the end, all I know is that compassion and community are surely dying. Common decency is no longer common. Mr. Virginia Tech shooter, why did you first shoot 50+ other people before killing yourself. Surely it would be much kinder to have just gone someplace quiet and ended your life, instead of taking so many with you. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by this horrendous act.

Seems many times my reading always get related to what is going on in the real world. The latest example is Friday by R.A.H. The plot of the story is not important, but at one point in the book, it creates a world of anarchy created by a group of terrorist who seek to remove the world's corrupt which happen to be in power. One of the rotating main characters states they built their bomb shelter not for fear of an atomic bomb, but in fear of the day when social disorder occurs, based on the logic that there was a time when people could go outside and walk at night without fear of mugging or rape and that you could leave your door unlocked without having your life stolen away. Slowly society got worse and worse and that the inevitable conclusion would be mob rule. It seems that this self first attitude of the solution, could be a part of the problem as well. Sigh.

One other thing to mention on a related note is that we don't seem to care about how we interact with those around us as much as how it impacts us. Yesterday on my train ride home someone on the train took a cell phone call. Now the immediate portion of this you can probably already see is that this individual talked very loudly on the train without care for anyone else. He was so involved in his discussion of how he was created a RPG character with shapeshifting, regenerative properties over a crappy cell signal (he repeated regenerative over 15 times) that he failed to realize that the entire ... ENTIRE train car could care less about this conversation (don't get me started on the lady who once sat across from me taking to her lover about what he was wearing at that time). This only got worse because of the passive aggressive nature of our society. I was slightly annoyed but in the end, I blocked it out and continued to read my book. Others were not so tolerant of this anti-social behavior and mocked this individual for "being a nerd and that is just how 'those' people are". As a nerd/geek/etc, I am offended by how intolerant the other people are with they way they are applying this label. The proper way would have been to ask this individual to not shout at the top of his lungs or to save his RPG character discussion to place where it would not be subject to poor cell reception. Instead, we ignore this behavior and instead retaliate with equally bad behavior.

Happy Birthday Miranda!

Scalzi on Blogger code of ethics

Scalzi has made some excellent points about this blog about A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs. I agree with all of John Scalzi's points infact, but I do have concerns about how nasty humans can be. It seems to only get worse with the level of anonymity that the web provides. What in a person to person level interaction where one individual is irritated or dislikes the other person, on the net it becomes full out hatred with scathing things said.

I personally feel that treat others how you want to be treated. And it is my blog, I can remove comments, but since you are all my friends and family, that is highly unlikely.

Saturday...tired...kids...frosting

Well, we threw Miranda's birthday party on Saturday (a couple days early) and things went pretty well. Leading up to the party we were not sure if we would get everything ready, but we made it and had plenty of food. Easter sausage, quiche, stuffed mushrooms, veggies, smoked pork loin were all well received. I must note it that I definitely ate way to well. So then we had an easter egg hunt out back. Miranda walked around the grass a bit and watched the other kids run around. Then back inside for some cake and sugar bombing.



Miranda wasn't really interested in the cake but managed to not cry and just watch everyone. She had missed a couple of naps so, this was pretty much expected. The kids played and burned some energy off.

Ummm... yep.

Teh Intarweeb creeps me out sometimes

I have a flickr account. Flickr accounts let you mark photos that are your personal favorites. As such you can see which photos of yours, that others have marked as a favorite. Below is a list of my photos and the people that marked them as favorites.

	AEA (mundoacuariofilo.or g)
	I'm not Jom
	AEA (mundoacuariofilo.or g)
	leapleg
	trixiebedlam
	(^_~) [Markus Masataka] (~_^)
	Mike A.

Partly this post was to pimp my photos but the other is to highlight how 1 good link deserves another.

Recipe: Buffalo Chicken Chili

First off, credit where credit is due, Rachel Ray was the base for this recipe. I however went slightly different because, I am lazy and also did not have all the ingredients.

New Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 2 lbs chicken breast (chunked)
• 1 large carrot (sliced)
• 2 medium onion (sliced)
• 1 bunch celery (sliced) - roughly 6 stalks
• 1 bunch of green onions (sliced)
• 2 jalapeños (diced)
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp cumin
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup of Frank's hot sauce
• 28 oz Diced tomato
• 1 cup Chicken broth
• 1 cup of Guinness
• 1 handful of fresh parsley (shredded)
• (Optional) Corn chips
• (Optional) Blue cheese

Directions:
Thoroughly cook the chicken in olive oil over medium heat in a good soup/chili pot. I seasoned the chicken at this time with some salt, pepper, cumin and garlic. Next add the celery, onions (green and white), and carrot. Cook for about 4 to 5 minutes till the veggies start to soften. Next add the broth, Guinness, bay leaf, and parsley and let that simmer till the onions turn clear. Next add the tomatoes, hot sauce and jalapeños and let that simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes.

To serve, I put the slightly crushed corn chips in the bottom of a bowl, covered in chili and crumbled blue cheese.

Looking for a restaurant in Federal Way?

Thought I would pimp my friend's widget and site again...




Evidentally it doesn't like spaces, so I linked in kent....

Recipe: Goat Stuffed Peppers

Ok, I really don't have a good name for this yet, but this weekend I did a little experiment as I had some Goat cheese and have no idea what to use if for. First off the ingredients:

• 8 small green peppers
• 1 cup couscous (prepared)
• 6 oz. goat cheese
• 15 pepperoni (sliced into strips)
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
• Salt, pepper, various spices (think middle eastern)

Mix the couscous, goat cheese, pepperoni, onion and spices together. Core the green peppers and remove all the seeds. Fill each pepper completely with the mixture, but do not pack. Place in a grill on tin foil at medium/medium-high for 12 minutes and then place on the grill directly for 2-3 minutes. Done.

About the only I would change, would be to add a nice smoky cheese (like provolone) to the top to melt over.

One of those days

I guess I should have stayed in bed this morning (besides laying in bed from 4:00am to 7:00am not being able to sleep). Got out of bed, fell down the stairs cause I tend toward the klutzy. Ugg. That really hurt. Seriously. Nothing broken.

Plus Miranda is running a slight fever (100.3) and has a super runny nose. See how it goes tomorrow and may call the doc to get her in if need be. Would be nice to have a baby decongestant.

I hate baseball

Well the season is almost upon me again. Good excuse to go outside and turn off the TV. But I do know people that love baseball and have been waiting to hear that FSN Northwest will have all Mariner games in HD. Yeah 4 hours of 720p boring stuff. Sigh.

Videos of Miranda

Well I have been holding out on all the videos that I have been uploading to the web of Miranda. First off I ran into trouble with my uploads on Monday last week. Seems Google Video has trouble processing more than one video at a time. I uploaded 5 videos that day and all 5 didn't come out (got cut off at 2 to 3 seconds). So I have spent the rest of the week renaming them and re-uploading them at a rate of 1 per day. So they are now all there.

To see them, try going to Modilabs and searching for Miranda and you should be able to find them. Of course you can just click on Miranda's name and go their quicker.

YML: on going mediocrity

So Yet More Lions moves, we see them sign Shaun McDonald to a 2 year contract and added yet another wide receiver. He had an astounding 136 yards last season with the Rams. I seem to remember that the Rams had some injuries at that position so I am a little confused as to why he doesn't have more....

Also the Lions resigned Aveion Cason and Cleveland Pinkney for a year. Not much production but adds depth. I am sure they will use it.

And finally, the Lions sign T.J. Duckett for a year to hopefully add some potency in the red zone this year.

Being a Lions fan is not easy. It is easy though to look and see potential, but end up being let down when the season rolls in. But at the same point, this negativity on the bizarre offseason moves could be just as wrong. I just seriously doubt it.

Belated Birthday Wishes + Bubba Hotep

First off, I wanted to send out three birthday wishes. Carol, James, and Kedar... HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Gotta say that March is a good month for birthdays.

In other notes, I watch Bubba Hotep this weekend. It stars Bruce Campbell, although it does not feel like the Evil Dead movies of before. That said, I still enjoyed the movie for many obscure reasons. There was something right about the pacing of the movie and the delivery of lines. The characters were vibrant. The story is bizzarre. It was just a plain good movie. I have heard other's did not like it. It is not a "normal Bruce Campbell" movie. What it is, is pessimistic portal of life in a "retirement home" where the only thing to look forward to is your next meal, which you probably won't like anyway.

For goodness sake's people, if you know someone in a home, go visit them. A lot.

Yet more Lions

Saw a couple of Detroit Lions moves come across the wire recently and in keeping with my love of football, thought I would give my thoughts on it.

Lions re-sign reserve DE Smith. This is one of those "Marinelli guys" moves. Can't really say for or against. Started one game last year and did well.

Curtis' situation in limbo after he fires agent; Lions looking at Duckett. I think the Kevin Curtis deal is done, just have to wait 5 days to hear about it. Again, hard to know how good he is sitting behind two superb WR on his depth chart. He has some numbers, but I don't know how indicative they are to what his new situation will be. I honestly think he will do very well in Martz's system in Detroit. Duckett however is weird. I really liked Duckett when he played for Michigan State, but then he left early and has not really shown the strong work effort needed so I question if Marinelli will want such a player. He suffered some early turf toe when he came into the league but has otherwise been injury free, which means very little considering his lack of playing time.

Sigh

Isn't it time for bed yet?

Miranda and sleep problems

Overall Miranda is doing great. But sleep has always been a point of contention. She doesn't like sleeping unless she naturally just falls over tired. A lot of times we will do certain repetitive things that tend to lead to sleep, but most of the time it just doesn't work. That said, she slept in on Saturday (which gave me some time to place some crackdown which is super addictive) and had 2 long naps in the day, so needless to say she didn't go to bed till midnight and then didn't sleep very much. So today she had one long nap with little sleep last night so we are hoping that that is enough to have her sleep long and well tonight.

Congrats to Dr. Bucko and Mrs. Bucko (although I am not sure how she can stand him :) ) on the birth of the first child. Another xbox live user that will find it is sometimes hard to get some time at the machine. But it is worth it.

First Impression of Crackdown for Xbox 360

Mmmmmm.... tasty explosions. I just got my copy of Crackdown in the mail today and that lead to me taking out some aggression on some violent criminals violent like. The premise is you are a genetically engineered cop trying to clean up the streets from a number of games. Kinda like reverse Grand Theft Auto. You have to be careful about going rogue or maybe you want to. You do gain abilities as you play which makes this extremely addicting. The agility skill puts the crack in Crackdown. Leaping between buildings has to be one of my favorite things to do.

Overall, I bought the game for the Halo3 beta, but I am definitely sticking around to play this one.

Sinus infection

Well, Miranda and Michelle both got sick and I managed to follow them by a couple of days. Oh well. Sometimes, there is no helping it. I have managed to make it so far with no football. Well no games, as I am able to to follow the off season news. We have watched a couple of movies which were not to bad. Underworld: Evolutions although mostly seen as crap and as a typical popcorn flick, I kinda liked. I thought they took the mythos they had created and moved it forward quite a bit. Special effects were special so a good flick. Cars was another one that I found more than acceptable. The story was typical Disney and Owen Wilson played the same part he always does, but it was still a fun movie and just plain beautiful to watch.

I watched Unleashed (or Danny the Dog) and was pleasantly surprised that I liked it. I like hong kong action flicks but a lot of the recent forays into the genre have been hokey and just not fun. This however used fighting to help with character development as well as moving the story along. Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, Jet Li and cast did a great job as well.

I bought Michelle Viva Pinata for the xbox 360 so that I wouldn't hog the magic white box. She loves it and I have to say that I find it strangely addicting to watch. There is a absolutely huge amount of variation in the game which makes it have lots of playability and sometimes the complexity (and the horrible Pinata AI) can overwhelm and irritate, it still redeems itself in colorful, musical cuteness. I recommend for those with this to pick it up as it is just weird enough to make it fun, however I won't call it exciting, but it is very relaxing.

Miranda attacks!

M: I see you have a camera.
A: Please be cute.
M: But look what I am wearing. I mean, I am still in my PJ's.
A: They are cute, though.
M: Get it out of my way!
A: Just one cute smile.
M: NO! ATTACK!!!

Go Michigan Tech!!!

Evidentally they are allowing more than just snow and ice in their ice sculptures... Enter the ice speaker cabinet. Ah them Michigan Tech students, crazy I tell ya.

She found the power button

So, this morning I was playing a game of NHL 07 on the 360 and Michelle was reading. Miranda was playing with some of her toys on the floor and dancing to music in the background of the game. Now I get up 6-0 in the 3rd period (which I haven't done before on Pro level) and just generally doing a good job when Miranda walked up to the 360 and hit the power button.


ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!


For that Miranda, I am posting this picture:

Video: Windows/386

Ok I am starting to feel like a link farm, or a video farm, but I couldn't resist posting this 80's video about Microsoft...




As a bonus, after the link is Mario Theme played on 15 different instruments

Nintendo is the king of Nostalgia?

Nintendo seems to be the best platform for older gamers as they pull our heart strings by releasing many classics from the early 80's and also releasing games that maintain that original feel. Substance over graphics? Fun versus wow? Either way, I like it.

New router

Well my new router has shown up. I decided to go with the Linux friendly version of my previous one. Even though I was able to install it on the 54G, it was not optimal as it didn't have enough memory. My new router is the WRT54GL. L is for linux :)


So right now I am killing time as the flash program is installing the new ROM for it. Of course I spent about an hour on it, but most was troubleshooting why my stupid laptop would not connect to teh schminternet via wire or wireless. So hopefully I will be done in the next 5 minutes or so.

Finito: The Superbowl

Well it is all over and Andy had a much closer prediction than I did. Lots of turnovers which are fun to watch but as for game execution, I am disappointed. The Bears defense were definitely caught on their heels after having what I thought was a great start with some great blitzing. As for the Colts, there were a lot of initial mistakes but when they settled in, they did play some very straight-forward football.

Sigh.

Only 3 months to the draft.

R.I.P. Linksys WRT-54G

Well my linux installed router took the fatal plunge today. All lights were on and it was not responding after several resuscitation attempts. What it all really means is that I can't play xbox live until it is replaced. Nor can I watch my videos on my TV. Well it's service was short but it did well. I am replacing with the same.

D'arrr

Ok. Why did I post this? I posted this because the songs are hilarious. If nothing else, go in and listen to the samples.

Why do you keep crying?

Well Miranda has been very vocal lately with loud babbling interspersed with some crying and general frustration. I assumed she was teething and for once, I was right. So she now has a tooth breaking through on the bottom front. Poor girl.

Also here is a link to my small video channel for Miranda...

Miranda can walk...sort of

Proof positive.

One more Sunday

Well next week is the last day of football. I am sad. My predictions though?

Well there are always if's. If the Indianapolis D can play like they have played throughout the playoffs, it is theirs. However, if they don't then the Bears D will control the game. Mr. Manning will pull off an unextraordinary performance, but will carefully not make the major mistakes and generally play it safe. Rex on the other-hand will completely try to give the game away, and they will be relying on the two running backs that the Colts can then tee off on.

Prediction: Colts 13, Bears 9

Media Center and XBOX 360...

Well, we hooked up the media center PC about a week ago to the xbox last week to see if we could do a couple more things with the 360 that we couldn't do before. First was we wanted to record shows and play those recording back. Second off, we occasionally buy Amazon Unbox videos and those would not play. Well on hooking it up, we didn't have much luck. The PC and the 360 both run on wireless and also don't have the greatest reception. The video was choppy, control was slow and clunky. However, I really didn't want to run catV all over the house just so that I could get the functionality. Instead I moved one of my two wireless routers to the other side of the house and set the PC to run on the one below it, and the 360 to run on the one below it. Now I have quick speedy controls of a remote playing DVR. Slick. And the Amazon Unbox videos run like a charm. However, I am still pissed that I needed the Media Center edition in order to run them.

Excitement of the evening...

Not something I am used to seeing, but tonight there were about 8 police officers, multiple squad cars, a K-9 unit, and a fire truck parked outside our cul-de-sac for about 3 hours tonight. Not sure what the heck was going on, since I am not up on this. No word... Maybe I will hit the neighborhood gossip mill... Maybe Michelle will.

Trying to walk

Well I was able to get a bit of video of Miranda trying to walk. She has done better, but it is all I was able to capture...

Online predators

Today I saw the best quote when it comes to protecting your kids from online predators:

On the other hand, whatever happened to responsible parenting? Whatever happened to watching over your own children, and teaching them about these sorts of things? Parents too busy? There was a time when parents told their kids not ever to get into a stranger’s car, even if he offered you some shiny lollipops. Why is it so hard to tell your kids never to trust an online stranger?

This was done by David Ponce on the article MySpace Sued By Angry Parents

Way to go David.

Why should I pay for this?

Sonics need $300m in tax dollars

Maybe I should get HBO

A Song of Ice and Fire optioned by HBO

Brutal but good fantasy series heading to the small screen perchance...

Miranda is 9 months today

She is doing well. 9 Month checkup and shots are about 2 weeks away. Here is a video of her from about a week ago playing with a walking aid toy.

Spicy and Cancer Free

Woot!

How spicy foods can kill cancers

And here is the ultimate way to kill it.

Big Ten not so big?

I watched number 1 and 2 of the big ten this year. Normally I avoid the bowl games as I feel that a playoff or tournament would work better at determining WHO IS NUMBER 1(tm). But then again, if they actually determined who was number 1 in a better way, people would talk less and then we would either have more war or have to face some sort of real issues that our country has to deal with...

Either way, I digress. I come from Big Ten country (but from a MAC family) and I fully did not expect the Schooling and Wanton Destruction that happened upon a typically strong conference. Ohio State and Michigan should be ashamed of truly horrid effort. They looked underprepared and like the were suffering from spotlight hangover while the underdogs look more like junkyard dogs, hungry and ferocious.

Here's to next year, and a new batch of Collegiate Football.