Hunting Wabbits

This is just a quick post to say I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. We certainly did. I'll post later about the massive amount of toys Jack received from Santa Claus as well as from his parents, grandparents, etc. Among all the toys, he did get some clothes, like this Elmer Fudd-style coat and hat as well as the boots that light up when he stomps his feet. Good times. Oh, and in case I don't get a chance to post again before the weekend, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hole In One!

A little over a week ago, our builder finally broke ground for our new house. They did this the day after a fairly big snow, and within the course of the following week the hole had partially filled with ice, as you can see in the picture. It's pretty exciting to see something physical happening after all this time. After all, it's been about three months since we picked our lot. They continue to assure us that we are on track for a move in April or May, so I hope any additional winter weather we get won't slow down the process too much.

In other news, the semester for me is finally over, so hopefully that will mean time for more blog posts and other fun things. I'm taking the coming spring semester off; I have enough on my plate with the new baby and the new house coming back to back in a few short months!

Snow Day

I've been fortunate over the years to work at facilities that seem to close for snow almost as often as the local school systems. Therefore, I'm enjoying a nice unplanned day at home with the family. I desparately needed an extra day at home anyway since the semester ends on Tuesday for me and all our group work is due along with the take-home final. I got to spend a few minutes outside enjoying the snow. Now I need to put my nose to the grindstone.

thirtysomething

While tonight I will go to sleep as a twentysomething, I will wake up tomorrow as a thirtysomething. It is unfortunate only in that I don't feel like I could possibly be thirty years old. Where has the time gone? While some times past seem as though they occurred a lifetime ago, others feel as though they only happened yesterday. If I have to have the label of "30" placed on me, I'm not complaining. My life continues to get better every day. I would be foolish to say I couldn't be happier because for the longest time each new day has been a little sweeter than the one before.

A friend at work the other day said, "Your thirties is when everything falls into place." This is the time when most people become secure in their careers, their marriages, their finances, etc., and can sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor. For me, that means watching my children grow, teaching them, learning from them, and enjoying every moment spent with them. Indeed, I feel as though I have more in common with the average 39-year-old than the average 20-year-old. And, that suits me just fine.

Legends of the Fall

It's been a while since my last post, so this will be a nice long one to catch everyone up on all the things that have been going on this fall. Autumn is my favorite season, but it also tends to be the busiest. This is partly due to the many fall birthdays in our family that lead into the holidays. In year's past, we've rarely had a free weekend to ourselves between Halloween and New Year's Day. This year things are a little extra busy for many reasons, like keeping up with Jack, preparing to put our house on the market, getting ready for the new baby, and finishing up my schoolwork for the semester. We did manage to find some time to get Jack's fall pictures taken, and, as you can see, they turned out great!

Now speaking of getting ready for the new baby, we had another sonogram a couple weeks ago. Although it's not 100%, we were told that this time it looks like a girl! We had both been thinking for no reason in particular that this one would turn out to be another boy, but we were pleasantly surprised to see it go the other way. I sure hope Jack will enjoy having a little sister around. Here, in one of the sonogram pictures, is a profile of her face. The top of the head is to the right, and you can see the little nose and lips. Pretty exciting stuff! So, we're busy finalizing girl names and browsing through all the cute baby girl clothing. I think it's going to be great having a girl. If anything, she should at least be less rambunctious than Jack!

As I was saying earlier, fall is my favorite time of year. I like the weather the best, the colors, the foods, etc. It's the best time for camping and other fun outdoor activities. Although spring is known as the season of rebirth, I always feel like each fall is a new beginning. I think that comes from school starting in the fall. Starting a new school year, from kindergarten all the way through college, was always new and exciting.

One of my most favorite things about autumn is Mummers Parade weekend. We get to spend the entire weekend in my hometown of Hagerstown, MD, in order to partake of the city's biggest annual event. I like the parade much better now as an adult because it means I don't have to march in it from one end of town to the other. Besides the parade, we managed to squeeze in a nice double date with Ben and Michelle (and without the babies) to our favorite German place, the Schmankerl Stube. We also made it over to City Park on Sunday to take some nice fall outdoor family photos. Here's a picture of Jack and his grandfather all bundled up watching the parade.

The last piece of news for today is that my lovely wife has started her own blog. You'll likely find more Jack pictures there as it gets underway, and plenty of fun stories about Jack tearing the house apart while I'm at work. Please take a second to check out the Mother Bunny blog! There's a great picture or two of Jack in his Tigger costume for Halloween. And, since that's about all I have for now, I'll sign off as Tigger himself would, TTFN: Ta Ta For Now!

Setting a Trend

We've been very excited about our upcoming move to New Market, and of course we've been telling everyone about it. Now, it looks like we're not the only ones lined up as future residents of that quaint little town. We were first excited to find out last week that our friends Angie and Aaron put a deposit down on a lot in a new neighborhood just across the road from our development. (Aaron will make a great commuting buddy as we currently work in the same building.) Then, we learned yesterday that another one of our favorite couples, Steve and Beth, also staked their claim on a lot there too! Their homes unfortunately won't be ready until about a year or so after ours, but we are thrilled to know that we'll have great friends so close by. With Steve and Beth expecting their first child a mere two months before our second is due, it looks like someday in the not-so-distant future the babies-to-be will be classmates at New Market Elementary School!

Now we just have one more couple to convince to move to New Market with the rest of us, and they know who they are. If they are able to pull it off, I predict New Market will someday have to change its nickname from the "Antiques Capital of Maryland" to the "Scrapbooking Capital of Maryland."

Beach Trip 2

Just before Labor Day, we made our second trip to Ocean City, MD. This time we went with my family instead of my wife's. Once again, we had a fun and relaxing vacation. We were a much larger group this time, as our friends Ben and Michelle (and extended families) came along too. At the beginning of the week we numbered, by my count, 17 people in three condos! That group included two babies, two moms, two dads, two grandfathers, three grandmothers, a great-grandfather, two great-grandmothers, an aunt, and a couple of friends. Despite sounding like a three-ring circus, we all had a great time together. Jack absolutely loved the beach again this time and became quite skilled at sandcastle destruction. The hardest part, as always, was coming home.

We're In The Place!

Just a quick update to say it looks like everything is now official with our plans to move to New Market next spring. We signed a contract with the builder this past Sunday and will be giving them a deposit this weekend. If everything goes smoothly, we'll be moving next April or May, just after the new baby arrives. I'll post more details soon. Obviously the bulk of my free time has been consumed with many house-related decisions lately, but now that it's a go, we are thrilled beyond words!

A Busy End to Summer

Despite the unwelcome bout of late-season humidity we've experienced this week, summer is about to officially give way to fall in a few short days. This has been a busy time for us, as reflected in my lack of new posts in almost a month. This will be a quick update on our recent adventures, most of which I hope to talk about in greater detail in subsequent posts.

First, we spent a second week in Ocean City at the end of August. A great time was had by all, and we were, as always, sad to have to come back home. The trip was relaxing and the weather, despite forecasts to the contrary, was wonderful.

Second, things are progressing nicely with the new baby as my lovely wife enters the second trimester of pregnancy. Everything is pretty routine at this point. Another eight or so weeks and we should be able to learn the sex. It is no secret that I wanted a boy first, and we got lucky there, so this time I'm not as opinionated. However, another boy would be easier financially speaking, since we already have all the boy clothes and other boy stuff, which wouldn't be an issue except that...

We are officially house hunting. Actually, I wouldn't call it "hunting," because we have already found our dream home. The big issue now is figuring out if we can afford it. We found a new development in historic New Market, Maryland, and it has pretty much everything we are looking for in a home. It is definitely above the price range we were looking at, but this is exactly what we want. The consensus I have gotten from talking to friends and family is that we should go for it, even if it is a stretch. So, we're continuing to work with our real estate agent and mortgage broker to see if we can make it happen. If we can, it looks like the house would be ready for us sometime around June of next year. Expect future posts to focus on this saga, as we are so excited (and nervous) that we can barely sleep at night!

Our Little Chicken Nugget

We went to the doctor's office yesterday for our first sonogram of the new baby. Since we are so early in the pregnancy, the purpose of this particular sonogram was to estimate the baby's size to pinpoint a due date and to check for a heartbeat. The little one, which I think looks like a chicken nugget at this stage, measured a whopping two centimeters long and clocked a heart rate of 190 beats per minute (within normal range). Although the resulting pictures are grainy, watching the live video during the sonogram you could see the little heart beating, and you could just barely make out the spinal cord and tiny little arms. I don't think I was expecting to see such development only eight weeks in. Anyway, I am happy to report that mother and baby are perfectly healthy at this point, and our due date stands at March 22, 2006. And in case you can't figure out the chicken nugget picture, the head is in the lower right of the shot, extending to the rump, as they call it, in the upper left.

A Carload of Burritos

If you were to look at my most recent credit card statement, you would think I had tried to recreate that old Tom Green sketch where he goes to a Taco Bell drive-thru and orders enough burritos to fill the convertible he's driving. I was shocked to find an erroneous charge of $96.30 from my local Taco Bell. Now that's a lot of tacos! There was a second (and accurate) charge on the date in question for $9.30, so I'm guessing the cashier punched in the incorrect total first, tried to cancel the transaction, but pressed the wrong key. I've already called the store and it looks like they will be posting a credit to my account tomorrow.

I've been a big supporter of all the places that let you pay by credit card these days. It's a lot more convenient than carrying cash around and fumbling for pocket change at the register. However, I've never accidentally forked over an extra hundred bucks when paying with cash. But, not to worry...I won't change my preferred payment method over this. I've been using credit cards for a long time, and I can't recall any other time I've had something like this happen. I'll just be a little extra vigilant in reading over my statements each month in the future.

Anyone else have a similar experience in the past?

No more LAN parties for me...

MSNBC headline: Man dies after 50 hours of computer games. (Feel free to insert a relevant World of Warcraft or general LAN party joke here.) Anyway, I feel a little better after reading this article about the comparative amount of time I spend playing computer games, and a little worse knowing that a guy younger than me actually dropped dead from said activity!

One of the big stories today is that Peter Jennings' death from lung cancer has inspired a number of people to quit smoking. Perhaps the passing of this obsessive gamer guy will shed some light on the epidemic of computer gaming addiction! :-)

Liquid Goodness

So today the Starbucks in the lobby of my office building finally opened. It's been looking like it could open any day for the past few weeks. In fact, one day last week they were calibrating the machines and a pleasing aroma of freshly-ground coffee filled the air. It was torture because the smell hit me as soon as I walked through the front door, and I thought they had opened. Anyway, I think having such a conveniently-located Starbucks could be dangerous. First off, you can't get by there without spending at least two dollars. Secondly, I really don't need all that extra caffeine. In fact, I've been cutting back on caffeine and soda in general lately, so after a half a cup I'm already feeling euphoric yet slightly anxious. It's just a matter of time before the vein in my neck starts throbbing...oooh, there it goes! I'm also a big fan of their crumb cake, which, thankfully for my waistline and wallet, they did not have this morning.

Has anyone noticed that they seem to be able to squeeze a Starbucks into just about any place? Every Target and Safeway around here has one. I used to tell people that we had a Starbucks in the basement of our house. At the rate they're going, maybe someday we will!

Beach Trip

Last month we spent a week with my wife's family in Ocean City, MD. Although we went to the beach last summer just a couple of months after Jack's birth, this year he was old enough to really start taking everything in. He thoroughly enjoyed the sand and surf, preferring to play just at the water's edge. His proud grandfather spent a good portion of our days on the beach capturing Jack's every move in both still and video imagery. The only problem we had was getting Jack to take his afternoon nap on the beach. There simply were always too many things going on for him to settle down in his Pack 'n Play SPORT and go to sleep, so we had to start taking him up to the condo for a few hours after lunch each day. However, nobody seemed to mind taking turns staying up there with him while he slept.

One of the evenings during our trip, we ventured out, just the three of us, for a night on the boardwalk. Jack loved walking around, taking in all the sights, sounds, and people. We had dinner at our favorite boardwalk pizza joint, Tony's. Afterward, we took Jack down to Trimper's Rides, a place near and dear to my heart. Things have changed very little there, especially the indoor rides for the younger children, since I used to be taken there by my parents almost thirty years ago. Jack and I rode the antique carousel and then he rode several of the kiddie rides. We finished off this perfect evening with a stop at Thrasher's Fries. The thing that always amazes me about Ocean City is that as much as it is constantly changing, so many things remain the same. My parents, sister, and I likely carried out the same itinerary one evening a quarter century ago. Perhaps a few decades from now, Jack will do the same with his children. I must admit, being able to share some of my favorite childhood memories with my own kids is one of the best things about being a dad.

Baby Mozart

I am very pleased to see Jack's musical abilities developing at such a young age. He is rather fascinated by the piano, and he loves to run his little fingers over the strings of my guitar. He's also becoming quite the dancer. Anytime music is playing on the radio or television (especially during the opening of one of his mother's favorite daytime programs, the Ellen DeGeneres Show), he bops up and down and waves his arms around. It is clear that he loves music. I believe that a lot of my musical ability stems from having started piano lessons at a rather young age (first grade). By the time we could start learning musical instruments in school, around fourth grade, I had already had years of experience reading and performing music. I hope I can pass my gift, talent, ability, or whatever you want to call it on to Jack, and I plan to start him out on the piano as soon as he shows signs of being ready (which at this point would be learning to sit still for more than two seconds). I have no doubt that, like me, he will harbor a lifetime love of music.

The End of the Innocence

I've never been a big professional sports fan. I have nothing against them or their multitude of fans; I just prefer to do other things with my time than watch other people play a game. Maybe had I been active in a particular sport growing up instead of being a band nerd I would feel differently, but that's another story... Today's big news in the world of sports was Rafael Palmeiro being suspended for alleged steroid use. I only use the word "alleged" here because that's the courteous thing to do--I'm convinced that there is no question as to whether he did, indeed, use steroids. It saddens me that this is the same person whose 3,000th hit was just celebrated as a major milestone. It saddens me that this is the same person who testified before a congressional panel earlier this year that he had never used steroids. It even saddens me that Raffy happens to be the Oriole that my wife's grandmother thinks is "very handsome."

It is irrefutable that steroids are not only unhealthy but downright dangerous. It is also clear that millions of children admire professional athletes. As a role model, Raffy has clearly failed his fans of all ages. As a father, he should be downright ashamed of himself. Would he want his own kids to fall for the lure of performance-enhancing drugs? I think not.

On another note, the other thing that cracks me up about the wild world of sports is the insane amount of money professional athletes are paid and the wrist slaps they are given for breaking the rules. I can guarantee you that if I were to fail a drug test, my employer would not suspend me for ten days. No, mine would be undoubtedly a permanent suspension...an early retirement, if you will. Would anyone else's employer handle the drug issue the same way as pro sports leagues? My lovely wife has a wonderful suggestion for Major League Baseball in light of the Raffy scandal: test every player in the league tomorrow for steroid use and ban for life all those that test positive. I'd support that plan, but then I wonder, would enough players remain to even keep the sport alive?

Mood Swings

This is a story from several months back, but an amusing one nonetheless. It serves to show how moody little ones can be. Jack is often happy as can be one moment only to break down in tears the next. This is one of those stories. You see, Jack loves to play in the kitchen. His mother always seems to be in there cooking or cleaning, so he spends a lot of time in there with her. In fact, one of his favorite activities of all time is to help her unload the dishwasher. Actually, his real desire is to climb into the dishwasher, which brings us to this story. On the day in question, he figured out how to open the storage drawer located under the oven. After banging around some of the cookie sheets and other shiny metal things stored there, he decided to actually climb into the drawer. He was extremely proud of this feat, and he sat there and smiled for quite a while.

However, once the excitement wore off, the time came when he wanted to move on to something else. This is about the time he realized that he couldn't figure out how to get out of the drawer! Instant mood change. Tears of frustration overcame him. Instead of immediately rescuing the poor boy, his mother continued to take pictures of him, presumably so we could have shots like the one to the left that we'll be able to use to make fun of him for years to come.

Coming Attraction

In an effort to jump back into the land of blogging with a punch, I am pleased to announce that we are expecting another baby! Our little zygote will continue to grow and grow until he or she is ready to greet the world sometime toward the end of next March, about a month before Jack's second birthday. When asked his thoughts on becoming a big brother, he gleefully pointed to his mother's toes and said, "Piggies!" Obviously, he cannot express in words how excited he is. His mother and I couldn't be more thrilled either!

Keep In Touch

I am ashamed to say that this has been the longest break between postings here since the inception of this blog. The biggest reason is related to the previous post--my average time on the internet has gone from a good ten hours per day down to maybe one if I'm lucky. Another reason that accounts for one week of no updates was our recent summer vacation to Ocean City, MD (more on this in the next post).

There are two observations I'd like to make here. First, I know firsthand how frustrating it can be when you check someone's blog on a somewhat-daily basis, expecting quasi-regular updates and feeling let down when weeks go by with no change. Second, I am aware that the people that do read my blog, few as they are, are still checking here for updates on a regular basis. (According to the Site Meter, the site is averaging three hits per day.)

I shall now propose a couple solutions for enhancing the experience that is this blog. First is a promise I must make to myself, to update on a more regular basis. This goes back to the original intent of why many of us talked about creating blogs in the first place: to keep in touch with one another now that we are all in different cities and, in most cases, states. To quantify "more regular basis," I will make it a point to update at least once a week. To pull this off, I will take the approach of smaller updates and more pictures. I've been pretty happy with what I've seen of flickr so far, so I intend to use it more in conjunction with the basic Blogger setup.

The final solutions are the responsibility of you, the reader. First, I'm sure all of us who are writing blogs get some small satisfaction in knowing that what we are writing is actually being read by someone else. So please, PLEASE comment liberally on any and all posts. I will try, as I have in the past, to reciprocate on other's blogs too. Second, I suggest making it easy on yourself in terms of checking for updates. Don't just come to this page, see that it hasn't changed, and get all upset with me and click on to the next site. Take advantage of the wonderful world of syndication. I tried to make it easier for folks with the creation of the H-Blog, but I've found something that's much, much better than my ad hoc solution: Bloglines. This site allows you to create a feed for any site that provides for syndication. Blogger sites do this automatically. Same with LiveJournal. I have all your blogs set up as well as some commercially-syndicated sites like Wired News (see my current subscriptions here). I visit Bloglines once a day and it aggregates everything that has updated since my last visit. If you update your blog, the new posting shows up there. If you haven't updated, I don't have to go to your site to find that out. I get everyone's updates on one page. It's a pretty slick tool, well worth checking out, and should eliminate some amount of frustration. I even have Ross' blog in there, even though it looks like his blog will never be updated again. But, if it is, I'll be the first to know about it!

Anyway, thanks to everyone for bearing with me. I know that Ben will leave comments here to keep me to my promise of more regular updates, so you need not worry that I won't follow through. So, keep checking often, preferably through a tool like Bloglines, continue commenting here, and continue writing posts on your own blog. With that, I'm sure we can keep this thing going...

Death of Blog?

Someone felt the need to harass me for not updating my blog over the last couple weeks. So, I feel I owe my faithful readers (or is that reader, singular?) an explanation. Sometime during the next few days I will be entering a data black hole at work. No information in, no information out. No email, no World Wide Web, no cell phone...nothing. Sure, in an emergency, I can be contacted via landline phone, but that's it. Of course, I could always update my blog from home, which I will try to do from time to time, but I have two things working against me there: class and WoW. The summer semester started a few weeks ago, and this class is going to be a lot of work. For the reasons mentioned above, I won't be able to do much schoolwork during the day. That leaves evenings and weekends, which as most of you know, have been consumed by WoW in recent weeks. And, I still need some time for my husband- and fatherly duties. As a result, my blog will suffer, and for that I apologize in advance. So, hopefully that certain someone will stop leaving negative comments here and you will all bear with me as I transition into my new workday lifestyle. This has been almost a year and a half in the making, so I'm pretty excited. It's about time!

WoW = Weekend of Warcraft

Our activities this past weekend just go to prove our previously-mentioned addiction to World of Warcraft. On Friday, we finally moved the bulk of our computer equipment down to the basement den from the spare bedroom we had been using as an office. I had been planning to do this for months now, but never had any real incentive to do so until it came to preparing for our Weekend of Warcraft. Ben and Michelle arrived early Saturday afternoon, along with my work buddy Jeff. After a minor amount of setup, we had five computers going strong, and soon enough we were all sucked into the World. We played all day and all night. Eventually Jeff left and the rest of us went to sleep. But, early the next morning, we were all back at it again (minus Jeff, who had to drive to Philadelphia), and we spent another full day playing Warcraft (except for a brief visit to the swimming pool to pay some attention to the babies for a change). I can't believe I was initially worried about getting my money's worth out of the game (based on the $15/month fee). I'll admit that I'm completely addicted at this point, so now my enjoyment comes from watching my friends go through the same four stages I did concerning WoW: curiosity, resistance, giving in, and total addiction!

Our New Addiction

The wife and I have become quite addicted to a new computer game called World of Warcraft. This thing is spreading like wildfire. It started with my friends at work. All of them have been playing for a while and it is a frequent topic of conversation at the office. Instead of continuing to sit through endless conversations about something I had no understanding of, I decided to join them. I knew it would be a great game, considering its heritage (it's based on a series of games I enjoyed in the past) and the company that makes it. I was hesitant at first to get involved with a game that charges a monthly fee (as a result of it being a completely online game), but after using a friend's free 10-day trial, I was hooked. Now, as long as we're not out of town, we play every single night after putting the baby to bed. I've managed to rope some of my non-work friends into playing too, and it seems to be spreading from there. Anyway, if you want to know why I haven't been updating my blog much, this is a big reason. So, if you want to reach me these days, you'll have to go out and buy a copy of the game, create a new character on the Eonar realm, and look for a dwarven paladin named Jossamer!

Government Efficiency: An Oxymoron?

I'm usually not one to complain about the government like some people I know. However, I have been directly involved in a situation that can, at this point, best be described as comical (as well as rather annoying). I won't describe the specifics here, for numerous reasons, but let's just say that for work-related purposes, I needed one government agency to send some paperwork to another. Let's call them Agency A and Agency B. Now, Agency A completed said paperwork back in December. At that point, all they needed to do was send the completed paperwork to Agency B. I'm not sure if this is done electronically, but that's what I suspect. Fast forward to the end of the story, and I can tell you that it took Agency A exactly five months to send the completed paperwork over to Agency B. I can't stress enough the fact that the paperwork was complete in December; all they had to do was send it along and it took five months. During this time, I was told that, after a few months of waiting, Agency B actually requested that Agency A send them the paperwork. I checked back on that a few weeks later and found out that Agency B had only "requested to request" the paperwork and did not really "officially request" it. That took another month. Now, I know things take time, but in five months my son could have crawled from our house to Agency A, had someone strap the paperwork to his back, and crawled it down to Agency B! There must be a better way...

Cinco de Mayo!

Tonight I won't be celebrating Mexico's victory over the French, but I will be celebrating the end of the spring semester! Sure, I'll only have about four weeks off until the summer semester begins, but I have decided to cut back to one class per semester from now on. Taking two classes wasn't too bad, but I've been getting busier at work, so things got pretty hectic toward the end. Plus, with all the running we do, it will be nice to have a few extra hours at home each week. Anyway, two classes down, eight to go, and I'll have degree number three under my belt. Will I be smart enough to take a permanent break from school afterward? Probably not. But, only time will tell.

A Year of Fatherhood

My little man is celebrating his first birthday today! It's hard to believe that an entire year has passed since his birth. They say parenthood has its ups and downs, but so far it's been one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. For every minute of lost sleep, there's been an hour of laughter. For every pound of dirty diapers, a ton of joy. And for every tear drop, a deluge of smiles. I think I've always wanted to be a father, and when I used to daydream about it I always pictured having a son. I'm anxious to do all of those father-son things from teaching him to ride a bike to teaching him to drive a car. But, there will be plenty of time for those things some other day. For now, I'm content to savor every moment, live every day, and hope that this next year passes a little more slowly than the last. There might be a few things I'd change about my life if I could. It would be nice to have a bigger house, maybe a new car, and certainly a lot more free time. But, I am blessed to have a good job, a wonderful wife, and the best son a father could hope for. Indeed, I am truly blessed, filled with a great sense of hope and excitement for all the wonderful moments yet to come. Happy birthday, son!

Celebrity Sighting

On Saturday, we went to breakfast with Ben and family to Bob Evans, located just off of I-95 in Columbia, MD. As we were waiting for our table, a man walked by that looked familiar to me. I couldn't place where I knew him from, but I thought it must be through college or work. Then, a second, more familiar-looking man walked by who I knew right away was one of the cast members of the show Whose Line Is It Anyway? It turns out the first man was Brad Sherwood, and the second guy was Colin Mochrie.

As they waited for their table while we waited for ours, Colin kept looking over at us from time to time, as we were very obviously staring at Brad and him. It turns out the two comics are touring together and had just finished a show in Bethesda, MD the night before. They were scheduled to perform at the Meyerhoff in Baltimore the next day. We contemplated talking to them but realized that would just be silly. I'm sure our NYC friends see famous people of varying degree rather often, but it was pretty exciting to see a couple of celebrities having brunch at our local Bob Evans, just a few short blocks away from our home.

Mabel O. Weaver: 1910 - 2005

My great-grandmother passed away last week at the age of 95. She had been the last living relative who I'd always known my entire life as being "old." Even when I was a child, she and my great-grandfather were already living in a retirement community. Back then she already had white hair and always wore one of those clear plastic things on her head that old ladies where when it rains. I remember my father putting up a railing on the steps of our old front porch for when she came to visit--we moved out of that house in 1985! I never knew if she had ever had a job, and I never saw her drive a car. In my lifetime I knew her as a kind old lady who loved playing pinochle with my grandparents and parents for hours on end. Unlike my grandfather, who passed away after battling Alzheimer's disease, my great-grandmother's mind was still sharp until the end. It was her body that finally failed, but it is a wonderful blessing that she was able to enjoy her many years as a senior citizen for longer than I have been alive. Below is her obituary, as printed in the Chambersburg Public Opinion:

CHAMBERSBURG — Mabel O. Weaver, 95, of Chambersburg, died Wednesday, April 6, 2005, in The Shook Home, Chambersburg.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Eber S. Weaver.

Surviving are two daughters, Patricia Finkenbinder of Fort Ashby, W.Va., and Deborah Haverstock of Chambersburg; and a son, E. Richard of Chambersburg.

Graveside service will be at 2 p.m. Friday in Lincoln Cemetery, Chambersburg. The Rev. Lester F. Stine will officiate. Viewing will be private.

The family requests the omission of flowers. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of the Good Shepherd, 2700 Luther Drive, Chambersburg 17201.

Arrangements are by Thomas L. Geisel Funeral Home Inc., Chambersburg.

Originally published April 7, 2005

[UPDATE: A second obituary was published in the Herald-Mail...]

Mabel O. Weaver, 95

JAN. 17, 1910-APRIL 6, 2005

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Mabel O. Weaver, 95, of Chambersburg died Wednesday, April 6, 2005, at the Shook Home.

Born Jan. 17, 1910, in Chambersburg, she was the daughter of the late John C. and Margaret Rockwell Mackling.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Eber S. Weaver.

She was a seamstress at Stanley Clothing Co., and with her husband, managed the former Greyhound Bus Station on Third Street in Chambersburg.

She attended King Street United Brethren Church.

She is survived by two daughters, Patricia Finkenbinder of Fort Ashby, W.Va., and Deborah Haverstock of Chambersburg; one son, E. Richard Weaver of Chambersburg; one sister, Sophia Fowler of Pikesville, Md.; five grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

Graveside services will be Friday at 2 p.m. at Lincoln Cemetery. The Rev. Lester F. Stine will officiate.

The viewing will be private.

The family requests the omission of flowers.

Memorial donations may be made to Hospice of the Good Shepherd, 2700 Luther Drive, Chambersburg, PA 17201.

Arrangements are by Thomas L. Geisel Funeral Home in Chambersburg.

<--W--A--I--S--T--L--I--N--E--S-->

We have a fair number of friends and family who live in the commonwealth of Virginia. So, I was a little surprised and dismayed to find out today that almost a quarter of them are fat! Although not the fattest state in the nation, apparently it is the fastest growing. I've always resisted the urge to move to northern Virginia for a variety of reasons, despite the wealth of good jobs located there. This give me one more good reason to add to my list! :-)

Here We Go Again...

Just what the Boy Scouts of America need again is another black eye. Today, it was announced that the director or programs for the national organization has been charged with receiving and distributing child pornography, and he is expected to plead guilty. This is a 61-year-old leader who has been involved with the organization for 39 years. And, he is an Eagle Scout. I am outraged, appalled, and frankly sick and tired of hearing story after story of crime and corruption coming from an organization I have held in such high esteem for many years. I'm not sure how to solve this recurring problem, but it seems that a more rigorous process for becoming an adult leader should be put in place. I have no doubt that the vast majority of adult leaders are good people with good intentions and deserve a great deal of respect. That their reputations are continually tarnished by the actions of a few corrupt and devious individuals is extremely unfortunate and unfair. The survival of the organization rests on the shoulders of these people. Let's continue to support them and not let the actions of a few common criminals reflect poorly on them.

Biker Baby

We paid a visit a couple weekends ago to REI, one of our favorite outdoor gear stores, and picked up a bike trailer for the baby. After all, they were having a pretty good sale! Specifically, we bought the Burley d'Lite, a trailer that can accommodate two children and comes with an adjustable sun/wind screen and what can be best described as a small trunk. We took our maiden voyage last Friday, and the little one seemed to really enjoy himself. He was at least comfortable enough in the trailer to sleep through the second half of the ride. The next day, we decided to take a longer ride, so we headed out to the BWI Trail. We took a short ride on the trail over to the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail, which we rode south for four or five miles into downtown Glen Burnie. There, we stopped to see a sculpture that my father's company had built last year and was installed on the trail at the first site in a series of stops along the new Planet Walk exhibit. On the way back, the baby fell asleep in the trailer again!

Old Habits Die Hard

Last Sunday, I was left home alone for the day, something that hasn't happened in a very long time. The reason was that I had a take-home midterm exam due the next day, and I needed some quiet time to work on it. So, what did I do instead? I reverted back to my college days. It was a typical lazy Sunday from days past. I stayed in bed until one o'clock in the afternoon. I microwaved a frozen burrito for lunch and ate it standing at the kitchen counter. I didn't shower. At one point, I felt a minor twinge of motivation, so I laid my schoolwork out on the coffee table. But, the moment passed, and I threw Office Space in the DVD player, curled up on the couch, and laughed my butt off! By the time my wife got home around 5:30 or so, I was a third of the way through Swingers and had spent a total of about twelve minutes working on my midterm throughout the day! I don't really want to spend every Sunday this way, like I did in college, but it sure is nice to have a lazy Sunday every now and then.

Partying Like It's 1999

I attended my first-ever LAN Party on Saturday. This was a grown-up version of what I suspect the real thing would be like: the guys were downstairs with the computers while the girls were upstairs scrapbooking and the babies were constantly shifted between the two groups. Our gracious hosts kept us well fed and we had a great time.

Our game of choice was StarCraft. Originally released in 1998, it was partly chosen because it was pretty much guaranteed to run on everyone's machine. Having not played StarCraft in the 21st Century, it was nice to return to the familiarity of a well-designed game that I spent countless hours playing in grad school. I was surprised considering its age that StarCraft doesn't feel the least bit outdated; it's still as much fun to play now as it ever was. Plus, there's something to be said for the simplicity of older games compared to those of today. I, for one, especially with a baby at home, don't have a lot of time to devote to computer games anymore, so it's refreshing to play a game that you don't have to devote hours upon hours to in order to master it. I certainly hope that if and when StarCraft II is released, they don't overly complicate things, or I'll gladly stick with the original, thank you very much.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

I've been pretty busy lately. I'm ashamed to say that after posting to this site 22 times in January, the month of February saw a mere three posts! Even accounting for the fact that February was three days shorter than January this year, that's still pretty sad. Why have I been too busy to post? One word: school. I mentioned in an earlier post that I am now working towards another Master's degree. I'm taking two classes this semester, and with working full time and having a little one at home, that's a lot. The last time I took more than one class in a semester was way back in the spring of 99, when I was still considered a full-time student, had only a part-time job, and was not married with child. Granted, six more years of maturity and the lack of free time have actually helped me to focus on my studies in a way I never have before. Plus, having six years of my career under my belt has helped me to see the true value of a good education and where it can take you. I can clearly see that the sacrifice will be worth it in years to come.

That said, I'm happy to report that Spring Break came a little early this semester thanks to the batch of late-winter storms we've had recently. I have classes on Monday and Thursday nights, and it was a welcome break when last Thursday's and this Monday's classes were cancelled due to the snow. And, with everyone at the office freaking out about the snow, as is the case in any workplace south of the Mason-Dixon line, I was able to leave the office a little early last Thursday and enjoy some special father-and-son time out in the snow! It's times like these that remind me why I'm really taking classes and investing so much in my career in the first place.

Don't Get Dooced!

A recent article in The Washington Post talks about a new phenomenon in the world of blogging: getting "dooced." This phrase means getting fired for blogging about your job. From criticizing coworkers and company policies to discussing a corporation's financial performance and upcoming products, it has happened to quite a few folks recently. Even a Google employee, the company whose motto is "Do No Evil," got dooced for doing the latter. On the bright side, at least he has more time to devote to his blog! Some of these people thought they were being clever by using fake names and the like, but it's usually pretty obvious for friends and coworkers to figure out who you're talking about.

I've been pretty careful about not mentioning my day job here. Don't get me wrong, I love my company, enjoy my job, and really like the vast majority of my coworkers. But, I think it is an inappropriate forum for such comment. After all, you can't control who reads these things. Plus, there is a certain permanence to blogging: everything is archived. In the real world, you might hate your job one day and love it the next. But, those nasty comments you made months ago can still be accessed as if they were written today. My other thought is that, especially in a public-type setting like this, you should never bite the hand that feeds you. It's pretty well known among my friends that I thought my previous employer was run by the greediest bunch of bastards on the planet (I swear they were all ex-used car salesmen), but I would never have said that here while still accepting a paycheck from those jerks every other week. That would've been a bit hypocritical. Anyway, my advice is, as always, be safe my friends...and don't. get. dooced.

Valentine's Day for Geeks!

So the wife and I exchanged Valentine's Day presents a little early this year. I got her an iPod Shuffle and she got me a Magellan eXplorist handheld GPS device. It's obvious that with all this technologically geeky splendor that I married the right woman! We've never gone for the traditional gifts like His and Hers hand towels, but we now have His and Hers iPods along with His and Hers computers, GameBoy Advances, mountain bikes, SUVs, and even baby strollers! Who could ask for anything more? Besides the exchanging of gifts, we have planned a rare night out without the baby. We'll be heading to the Melting Pot Saturday night with Ben and Michelle while a set of eager grandparents keep an eye on the little ones.

A Life Remembered

Each week, the Herald-Mail runs a feature article on a member of the Hagerstown community who died recently. This past Sunday, the article was about my grandfather, who was indeed very active in his community. He was a pharmacist and, although pharmacy is much different than it is today, he was your friendly neighborhood pharmacist--the type you actually used to have a conversation with. Besides his day job, he was active in the local theater community, the Exchange Club, and his lifelong hobby of ham radio.

The best compliment I could pay the man I called Poppop is that if he were my age, I believe he would be among my closest friends. He was smart and funny, always helped others, and really enjoyed tinkering with computers and other electronic stuff. After all, he was the person who took me to my first computer show (which grew out of ham radio swaps). I bought my first computer mouse, my first modem, and my AdLib sound card at computer shows he took me to.

This is about all I have to say about the passing of my grandfather. I have some thoughts on Alzheimer's disease that perhaps I'll share at a later time. For now, I prefer to reflect on the man he was before he was stricken with the disease. He lived a long life and, more importantly, he lived a good life, and I am a better person for having known him. Below, I leave you with the newspaper article:

When they were youngsters growing up in Baltimore, Kenneth Jones said that his older brother, Cyrus, became fascinated with amateur ham radio operation and set up a station in their home.

"One day, I came home to find that lightning had struck the antenna on our roof and set the house on fire," Kenneth recalled.

That incident failed to discourage Cyrus from what would become a lifelong avocation. And throughout his 88 years, he would show equal loyalty to all of the activities and the people in his life.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Cyrus was raised in Baltimore, graduating from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in 1939.

Kenneth, now a minister who lives in Gaithersburg, Md., with his wife, Larocca, said he used to help Cyrus with his studies when he was training to be a pharmacist.

"I would hold leaves in my hands and he would identify them by smelling or tasting them," Kenneth said. "Now, all pharmacists do is count pills."

Another strong memory of his brother was Cyrus' trait of never having a nasty word to say about anyone.

"And he never turned anyone down when they asked for his help," Kenneth said.

During World War II, Cyrus served with the U.S. Army Air Corps. Because of his knowledge of ham radio and electronics, he was assigned to teach radar and communications to pilots and navigators, said Joanne Jones, his wife of 37 years.

His military service completed, Cy moved to Hagerstown, where he worked for a time as a pharmacist at Washington County Hospital, Joanne said. Later, he was employed at Eakles Drug Store on Washington Avenue before buying Schindel's Pharmacy in 1968, one year after he and Joanne were married.

"When we bought Schindel's, we decided to close up at 7 p.m., and then we started closing at 6 p.m.," Joanne said. "We had time to do things then."

It was around that time that Joanne, who had been active in the Potomac Playmakers for some time, decided that two performers in the family were better than one.

"I pulled him right into it," she said.

Over the years, Joanne and Cyrus performed in numerous Potomac Playmakers productions, many together. In 1979, the couple was cast in "Kiss Me Kate," a musical based on Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew."

"I was Kate, the star of the show," Joanne said, showing off newspaper clippings of the performance. Cyrus took on two parts in the play-within-a-play presentation.

"Look at these pictures of Cy - he had great legs," Joanne said.

Once his Playmaker performance days were over, Cy and Joanne both were active behind the scenes, often taking ticket orders in their home, she said.

Cy also was a founding member and lifetime member of the Antietam Radio Relay Association with the radio call numbers W3EHA. He spent a fair amount of time involved in the hobby that he had enjoyed since childhood.

Cyrus Francis Jones died Jan. 27 at the age of 88. For a number of years, he had been struggling with Alzheimer's disease, which first showed up about seven years ago, his wife said.

"I was holding Cy's hand," Joanne said. "He died quietly while I was with him."

Cyrus F. Jones: 1916 - 2005

My grandfather passed away on Thursday, so I expect I will not be able to update the blog much over the next week or so. There will be a few things we'll need to take care of before the service on Saturday. His death was a blessing in some respects, as the great man he once was had slipped away almost completely over the past few years through Alzheimer's. I'll post some of my thoughts on the man he was and the disease he struggled with sometime over the next few days. For now, I leave you with his obituary, as printed in today's Herald-Mail:

Cyrus Francis Jones, age 88, of 254 Potomac Heights, Hagerstown, Md., died Jan. 27, 2005, at Avalon Manor Health Care Center following an illness of Alzheimer's disease.

Mr. Jones was born Dec. 12, 1916, in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of the late Howard and Bessie Applegate Jones.

He was raised in Baltimore, Md., and graduated from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in 1939.

He is the former owner and pharmacist of Schindel's Pharmacy, retiring in December 1981.

He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a first lieutenant during WWII.

He was a founding member and lifetime member of Antietam Radio Relay Association (W3EHA). He was a member of Fountain Head Country Club, Exchange Club, Potomac Playmakers, Morris Frock American Legion Post 42 and Hagerstown Community Concert Association.

Survivors include his wife of 37 years, Joanne W. Jones; two daughters, Nancy Mayfield and husband, Richard, of Elkton, Md., and Priscilla Bernhold and husband, Terry, of London, Ky; one brother, the Rev. Kenneth S. Jones, and wife, Larocca, of Gaithersburg, Md. Other survivors are three stepsons, John "Buck" McCoy and wife, Cynthia, Donald McCoy and wife, Gina, and Timothy McCoy and wife, Anne-Marie, all of Hagerstown; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

There will be a memorial service at Douglas A. Fiery Funeral Home, 1331 Eastern Blvd. N. Hagerstown, on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2005, at 2 p.m. Family will receive friends following the service at the funeral home.

Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Association of Western Maryland.

Classic NES Game 3: Kid Icarus

Kid Icarus (1986), like Metroid, was a game that I never owned but instead borrowed from Robert. Although I am a bigger fan of Metroid, I believe I liked Kid Icarus so much because of its similarities to Metroid. Sure, Kid Icarus has a Greek mythology-based theme vs. a futuristic space theme, but both games were created by the same man (also creator of the original Game Boy and ill-fated Virtual Boy), and Kid Icarus was built on the Metroid engine. Plus, both had excellent soundtracks for their time, both scored by the same composer. So, both games had similar gameplay, and look and feel. It also shared a trait with The Legend of Zelda: you could buy items from little shops throughout the game.

One of the things I always liked about this game is that it has one of the most comical bosses I can think of, the Eggplant Wizard! These bosses, depicted in the above screenshot, hurled eggplants at Pit (the game's hero). If you were to be struck by one of their eggplants, you would be turned into an eggplant yourself--a giant eggplant with legs! And, the fun doesn't stop there. How does one free himself from the curse of the egglant? By visiting the hospital, of course! Yes, this game actually had a hospital room inhabited by a lone nurse whose sole purpose was to remove the eggplant curse. Comical, indeed!

"A scout is trustworthy..."

These are the first four words of the Scout Law, so I was naturally disturbed to see this article on the front page of cnn.com this morning. According to the story, the FBI is investigating the Greater Alabama Boy Scout Council for padding its membership rolls in a possible effort to bring in more funding from organizations like the United Way. And, they were pretty blatant about it, apparently making frequent use of the surname "Doe." Although this seems to be an isolated incident, and the Boy Scouts of America has certainly seen its fair share of controversies in the past, I am still a firm believer in its mission to help young people build the values of character and leadership.

I have a lot of fond memories from my own scouting experience. Sure, there were some jerks we had to put up with, as was always the case in group settings growing up, but overall I gained a lot from scouting. I learned many skills that are still useful today and through that process I "learned" many values along the way, some without my conscious knowledge at the time. To this day, I still find myself blindly following the part of the Scout Oath that talks about "help[ing] other people at all times." In recent years I've jumped in to help out in several medical emergencies, car accidents, and the like. And, if the situation presented itself, I'm sure I'd gladly help an old lady cross the street! (I also partly blame the Boy Scouts for my habit of overpacking for trips, but, as they say, "Be Prepared.")

My only regret is that I did not stick with it longer. My heavy involvement in high school band took me away from scouting, and although I have many fond memories from the band years, I wish I would have made the time to stay involved with scouting as well. So, to make up for the time lost, I long for the day when I can pick up this book again and share the experience of scouting with my son. The values listed so matter-of-factly in the Scout Law are many of those that I wish to instill in him.

George W. Bush: Satan Worshiper?

According to this article, the people of Norway are under the impression that our president and his family are Satan worshipers! Sadly, some Americans may be under the same impression. This, of course, is all a big misunderstanding. Apparently the "Hook 'em 'horns" gesture, a sign of affection towards the University of Texas Longhorns, has a different meaning in Norway, where it represents a salute to Satan popularized by heavy metal bands there. Those crazy devil-loving Nordics!

French Fry, I am your father!

Hasbro has announced the release of the "Playskool Mr. Potato Head Darth Tater" and I must have one! Being that I am now a father, I can use that as an excuse to get one, too. (I won't tell anyone that the suggested age range for Darth Tater is 2+, considering my little one is just shy of nine months old.) The toy will retail for $7.99 and be available ahead of the release of Episode III. Have you ever seen something that looks so cute and menacing at the same time? It reminds me a little of the Darth Vader character from the old LucasArts game Night Shift (1990), which, incidentally, is the only title to feature both Star Wars and Indiana Jones characters in the same game!

Classic PC Game 3: Silpheed

Silpheed (1988) was a great arcade-style game distributed by Sierra On-Line. It was actually developed by the same Japanese company that made Thexder, the platform game whose hero could transform from a robot into a fighter jet. Silpheed was a vertically-scrolling shooter in which you pilot a spaceship with upgradeable weapon capabilities. It was fun to play, and the graphics were decent (especially the intro), but what made this game memorable was its sound. You see, at the time this game was released, most IBM-compatible computers were only capable of producing single-voice sound at a static volume through the much-despised PC speaker. Only Tandy computers (and the PCjr) were capable of better sound (3-voice with volume control). Game developers did experiment with digitized sound on the PC speaker (remember the "RealSound" technology on such Access titles as Mean Streets?), but it never quite sounded right.

Enter the Game Blaster. This was the first sound card I purchased. It was made by Creative Labs, who later went on to make the popular Sound Blaster series of cards. The Game Blaster was a Radio Shack exclusive, and came bundled with, you guessed it, Silpheed! So, it became the first PC game I experienced in breathtaking 12-voice sound. The Game Blaster was no match for the mighty Roland MT-32, but it did fit within my meager budget. I later upgraded to an AdLib card, which was supported by more games and had better specs (although still not as good as the MT-32).

While doing a little research for this post, I came across an interesting page that talks about the history of sound and music on the PC. It includes some audio samples, and you can even listen to a short sound clip from Silpheed as it sounded on the PC speaker, the Tandy, the AdLib, and the MT-32. There are a few samples from "RealSound" games there, too!

"Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball."

Next Monday, I'm going back to school. A lot of my friends at work are spending their 'waiting' time wisely by attending school part-time, so I decided to join them and do something productive with my free time. I'll be working towards a second Master's degree, this time in Technical Management at the Johns Hopkins University.

In the mail the other day, Hopkins sent me a J-Card--their version of the ubiquitous student ID card. Anyway, I really got a kick out of the ridiculous letter they sent with the J-Card that included the following:

Take good care of your J-Card! Do not unnecessarily handle it. Do not trim the edges, punch holes in it, bend it, or alter the shape in any way. Do not affix stickers or bar codes of any kind to the card's surface. Be careful not to let it near magnets (including magnetized purse clasps)--this will erase the encoded information on your card and it will have to be replaced...

In other words, "Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball." This reminds me of all the over-the-top consumer warning labels out there, which collectively have inspired an annual award. So remember, kids, if your "Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head."

"so my dad found my porn folder..."

I thought that title might get your attention! :-) Some of my co-workers who are usually just as bored as I am introduced me to a site I hadn't seen before: bash.org. It's basically a repository of reader-submitted IRC logs that are rated by the site's moderators. Some of the quotes are pretty hysterical, and I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion today. Here's one of the best quotes:

<LordChewy> so my dad found my porn folder
<LordChewy> and he was getting all pissed
<LordChewy> so its all like "does this surprise you? i'm not stupid you know"
<LordChewy> "i know dad"
<LordChewy> "what do you have to say for yourself?"
<LordChewy> at this point i stare at him straight in the eyes and say "C:Documents and SettingsRickyMy Documentsfaxessent faxes"
<LordChewy> and he just shut up
<kingKahn> what is it?
<LordChewy> its his porn folder

I also particularly liked this one for some reason, although it's only funny if you've played chess before:

<jeebus> the "bishop" came to our church today
<jeebus> he was a fucken impostor
<jeebus> never once moved diagonally

Looks like they have an XML feed too, so I may add a bash.org section to the H-Blog at some point. Anyway, leave a link or two to some of your favorite quotes in the comments!

Today's Project

This morning we found ourselves with an extremely rare weekend day with no plans. No places to go, no people to see (and no people coming to see us). So, I actually had a chance to work on a few computer projects. This all started the other day when I 'refreshed' my PC. After three years, this thing has slowed to a crawl and has started to act a little buggy. So, I formatted the hard drive, reinstalled Windows XP, and now I have what feels like a brand new machine. Well, maybe not brand new, but it doesn't take five minutes to boot anymore!

So, wanting to do something fun on my 'new' machine, I decided to tinker around with creating a site that could show all of our most recent blog postings on one page--sort of a 'one-stop shop' of new posts. My tinkering paid off, and I am proud to present the results: version one of the H-Blog! The whole thing is based on a nice little PHP script that pulls everyone's most recent posting from their Atom syndication feed, parses the data, and builds my little web page. I also set up a companion blog for this page so I could easily post relevant news at the top of the page. Anyway, I hope you find it useful when you just want to check to see if anyone has posted recently and don't want to go to each individual blog. I know I will!

Classic NES Game 2: Ice Hockey

I'm not a very big fan of sports games. I'm not afraid to admit it, either...I just generally don't like them. I'd much rather be shooting or driving. About the only sports game I find entertaining now is Mario Power Tennis. That being said, one sports game I did enjoy playing back in the day was Nintendo's Ice Hockey (1988). Part of what I enjoy about this game (and a lot of other classic games) is it's simplicity. You begin the game by building your team of four players, and you only have three player types to choose from: skinny guy, regular-size guy, and fat guy. I always liked a combination of skinny guys and fat guys because they look more comical than regular-size guy. The same holds true in today's games. You could actually cause your players to fight in Ice Hockey, although it's pretty lame compared to the fighting in later hockey games like NHLPA Hockey 93, which was immortalized in one of my favorite movies.

One of the best things about 80s team sports games is that you could pit the United States against the Soviet Union. It almost seems silly now, but growing up in the Reagan era you felt a real sense of fear towards the Russians, what with their communism and their nukes and their Berlin Wall. Remember movies like this one? Anyway, with Ice Hockey you could re-enact the United States' famous 1980 Winter Olympics victory over the Soviets. Good times, indeed!

Elegant Design

Ben was the first to comment on the new Mac mini, but I have a few thoughts of my own to share. Some of you my be surprised by this statement, or even outraged, but I have been secretly wanting to purchase a Mac for the past several months. In fact, I seriously considered purchasing an iMac G5 for Christmas. I don't expect to become a Mac fanatic (Wired refers to these people as members of the 'Cult of Mac'), nor do I look at the Mac to replace my PC, but it's something I'd like to have to play around with.

I've thought a lot about what I've come to refer to as 'Elegant Design' over the past couple years. My criteria for something that would fall into that category would be a product that does what it does well, doesn't suffer from feature bloat, and 'looks cool.' If I find something like that, I tend to evangelize said product.

Case in point: the TiVo. I'm sure you've all heard me talking about it ad nauseum. It handles the 'time-shifting' of television programs flawlessly. It does not suffer from superfluous features. And, it has the coolness factor. The well-designed and often-praised remote control actually feels good in your hand and after a day or two of initial use, you don't have to look at it to use it. The screens with their animated backgrounds are fun. Text is easily readable and navigation is intuitive. And, unlike my PC, it has never crashed!

Another product I own that I'm also in love with is the iPod. Like the TiVo, it does what it does well, and doesn't do anything it doesn't need to do. (Why would you want a flashlight that has a built-in black-and-white TV, siren, radio, and mosquito repeller, for Pete's sake, that probably sucks as a flashlight when you'd be a hundred times better off with a simple Maglite!) The iPod Click Wheel makes it easy to navigate through your music collection, the screen is readable, the menu system is simple to follow, and it looks cool. I am anxious to get an up-close look at the new iPod shuffle to see how it compares to the original and if it's navigation is intuitive since it has no screen.

This brings me back to the Mac mini. They've packed a lot of computer into a very small package. I figure I can tuck this thing under my desk and hook it up to my existing keyboard, monitor, mouse, and speakers with a nice KVM switch. At $500, I feel like this would be a better investment than the $1300 iMac, especially since I won't know how much use I'll actually get out of the thing until I have it. Although, I've found over time that things I originally thought were overpriced now seem like a bargain if they fit my criteria for 'Elegant Design.'

[UPDATE: Here's a nice chart that sums up Apple's latest business strategy of trying to penetrate the mass market.]

Classic PC Game 2: Leisure Suit Larry

Leisure Suit Larry (1987) was one of the first of many Sierra adventure games I fell in love with in my youth. It created quite a stir when it was first released as an "adult" game. Although by today's standards, I believe the game would only receive a 'PG' rating as a movie. In one of the earlier scenes where Larry has sex with a prostitute, the viewer sees a black box marked 'CENSORED' that bounces up and down. Hilarious! However, in 1987, it seemed a little taboo for us to be playing this game, and I think that was part of its draw. In a failed effort to keep us youngsters from playing such a provocative game, you first had to correctly answer a series of random questions that would prove you were old enough to play the game. Here's an example:

Richard Nixon was the _____ President of the United States.
a. last
b. funniest
c. thirty-seventh
d. first Negro

The best way to die in this game is to go down the alley next to Lefty's Bar. After getting roughed up by some thugs, your body is taken to an underground Sierra Online laboratory where you are rebuilt on an assembly line and reinserted into the game. I believe Ken Williams himself (co-founder of Sierra Online with his wife) even makes an appearance in this scene.

Overall, this game was a lot of fun to play. It led to many entertaining sequels and even a VGA remake. Plus, I'm sure anyone who played this game can hum the catchy theme song!

Seen Any Good Movies Lately?

I haven't seen any good movies lately...at least, not many. I'm not saying that today's movies suck, although to some degree they do compared to the movies we grew up with (Star Wars saga, anyone?), but that I have not been to a lot of movies over the past year. When our son was born in April, that pretty much killed our chances to go to the movies on a somewhat regular basis. And, leading up to that, we were busy doing all the things you have to do to get ready for a new baby. So, we saw only a few movies in 2004. By my count, we've only been to the movies four times since our son was born, thanks to his grandparents who are always more than willing to babysit. Here's what we saw from June through December in '04:

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
• The Terminal
• Meet the Fockers

It's quite a change from the summers growing up when I'd go to the movies about twice a week. "My mom will take us to the movies if your mom can pick us up!" Does that sound familiar? One of the best times I remember having at the movies was way back in the summer of '87. If I recall correctly, Ryan, Ben, and I went to see Throw Momma from the Train at the R/C Theatres on Leitersburg Pike in Hagerstown, and we were the only three people in the theater! So, we ran around the theater for a little bit, and at one point we decided to lay down in the front of the theater and stare up at the screen. It only lasted until one of the employees came in and said we were creating a fire hazard. I can't see why it was much of a hazard since we were the only three people there. Surely if a fire had broken out, we could have figured out how to escape without tripping over each other.

Anyway, what good movies did you see in 2004? My only hope now is to catch them on video, although one movie that I'd really like to see is still in a few theaters...Calling All Grandparents!

[UPDATE: We did make it out to see In Good Company tonight (1/14) thanks to an aforementioned pair of grandparents. We both thought it was very cute. Definitely worth a rental if you don't get a chance to see it on the big screen!]

Classic Game Boy Game 1: Super Mario Land

Super Mario Land (1989) was one of the first games I got for the original Game Boy system and possibly my all-time favorite for that platform (at least my favorite single player game). I've always been a big fan of the Mario games since I first played the original Super Mario Bros. game on the NES. The Mario character actually first appeared in the Donkey Kong arcade game in 1981 and has been in an impressive number of games ever since. I've enjoyed most of the platform games Mario has appeared in over the years (with the exception of Super Mario Sunshine), and I love a lot of the non-platforms as well (Dr. Mario, Super Mario Kart, Mario Tennis). In fact, Mario, Zelda, and the Metroid character franchises are one of the main reasons I decided to get a Gamecube instead of a PS2 or Xbox.

I liked Super Mario Land because it was a relatively short game and could be won in a reasonable amount of time. This was very important back in the day, as there was no way to save your game. What I really loved about this game were the two levels where you were in a vehicle: first a submarine and then an airplane. It also had a funky Easter Island-themed world that was pretty cool. Anyway, I'll have to see if I can dig this game up one of these days to play on the Game Boy Player.

I Love The 90s, Too!

It's obvious given the past several postings that I'm a big 80s fan, but I also love the 90s, and apparently, so does VH1. In one week, they are premiering I Love The 90s: Part Deux. It seems like the 90s are turning into the new 80s when it comes to nostalgia. In fact, I got the 90s version of Trivial Pursuit for Christmas. We played this on New Year's Eve at Ben's house, and it was pretty fun, but certainly as difficult as all the other Trivial Pursuit games out there. One of the questions I answered incorrectly pertained to Biosphere 2, which was in today's news. I answered 'Biosphere' instead of 'Biosphere 2' during the game--I don't remember what the exact question was--but Rulemaster Tony wouldn't let it slide!

Anyway, be sure to set your TiVos for next week's shows!

Classic Arcade Game 1: Golden Axe

Golden Axe (1989) was one of the first arcade games I remember pumping quarters into until I either won the game or ran out of said quarters. On a handful of occasions during those lazy pre-driver's-license Hagerstown summers, Ryan and I had been known to ride our bikes clear across town and out to the Valley Mall. Keep in mind, this was before there was a Wesel Boulevard, so we'd ride through the alleys of downtown, past City Park, and all the way out Virginia Avenue to Halfway Boulevard. I think once we may have even taken the County Commuter bus to get out to the mall. Anyway, I believe it was during one of these treks to the mall that we discovered Golden Axe at Time Out, the mall arcade.

In this game, you could pick from one of three characters: a dude with a sword, a hot chick with a sword, or a hairy dwarf with an axe. I always liked to play the dwarf because I thought his battle axe was pretty cool. One of the best parts of the game was that you could mount different animals that you could then use as weapons by whipping their tails, etc. Also, you were able to collect potion bottles throughout the game that you could use to dispense a killer bolt of lightening affecting all enemies on the screen if you were in a pinch.

When I first discovered MAME and the joys of playing old arcade games on my PC, this was the first ROM I searched for. It's not quite the same when you can just press '5' instead of dropping a quarter into the machine, and it doesn't feel like as great of an accomplishment to win the game when you didn't have to pedal 10 miles on your bike just to play the game, but it sure is a lot of fun.

Classic NES Game 1: Metroid

One of my favorite all-time NES games is the original Metroid (1986). I'm pretty sure I never owned the game cartridge myself, but I did borrow it from Robert for a while. In recent years, I've played through it again on the PC using the Jnes emulator. And, thanks to a Christmas gift from a generous friend, I now have the GBA version to play. Having never owned a Super NES, I never got the chance to play Super Metroid, although perhaps I'll check out an emulator version someday or they'll release it for Game Boy. I own Metroid Prime for Gamecube, but I'm partial to playing Metroid games in a 2D sidescrolling format. That leads me to the couple of other Metroid games they have for GBA...

Metroid Fusion is an original adventure that takes place after the events of Super Metroid. It has some incredibly challenging bosses, and, getting stuck on one, I've thrown the game back in the drawer where it's been sitting for a few months now.

Metroid Zero Mission is a remake of the original Metroid game with updated graphics, and it is AWESOME! If you are a fan at all of the very first Metroid, you will LOVE THIS GAME. It has the nostalgia factor but is updated to be on par with modern GBA games. It's sort of like when Sierra remade some of their original adventure games (SQ1, PQ1, LSL1, etc.). I hate to spoil things if you haven't played it, but the biggest shocker is that the game doesn't end when you defeat Mother Brain like it does in the original. Very cool. Plus, it's not as frustratingly difficult as Metroid Fusion, and, assuming you've played the original, it's much easier to find your way around.

Anyway, I'm quite happy that Nintendo is still coming out with Metroid games after almost 20 years...especially the 2D sidescrollers. Even though I'm partial to the 2D games, I'm anxious to hear, if anyone has the new Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for Gamecube, how the multiplayer deathmatch is. That could be very interesting.

Finally, while searching for Metroid stuff today, I found a cute little Flash game that combines Metroid with one of my other favorite characters from the land of Nintendo. So, I present for your enjoyment, Megaman vs Metroid!