Advance Wars Play-by-email

When I first met Collin, he was participating in a play-by-mail game. It sounded like lots of fun.

Now, I am really a fan of play-by-email/mail/when-you-can games on the internet. I just found a very cool one based on the Nintendo game ADVANCE WARS. You may have seen an earlier post about some paper-tanks... same game.

www.amarriner.com

If you're a fan of the game then please join. I'm on as (what else) 'noriaki_kakyouin'.

Surprise!!!!

Collin's not the only red-head in town! OOH! AH!

Super Mario: The Opera

Thanks Collin. This is too cool... and decent music... very They Might Be Giants-esque. I like all the songs so far.

Friday FUN!

LET'S MOSH!!!

Leave It To Bush

Bush's linguistics

Running up walls!

A little ninja

SOCK BABY! HELLO!

And FINALLY there's a NEW STRATEGY GUIDE!!!

And (from Needle's site) The X-Box 3-shtiii...60 selling scammmidea. I pretty much agree with everything here.

Xbox 360 Core System - $299
•Xbox 360 console
•Wired controller
•Detachable faceplate
•Xbox Live Silver membership
•Standard AV cables

Xbox 360 - $399
•Xbox 360 console
•20GB detachable hard drive
•Wireless controller
•Wireless Xbox Live headset
•High-definition AV cables
•Ethernet cable
•Xbox 360 Media Remote Control (limited time)
•Detachable faceplate
•Xbox Live Silver membership
Three things immediately jump to mind from this:

A) How is the $299 package a feasible deal at all? First off, with no hard drive you have no way to save your games. This basically forces you to buy a $39 memory unit with the system. If you are going to spend $339 then, might as well go the whole hog. The deluxe kit has a lot of nice features that Microsoft promised would be part of the experience anyway. Things like a wireless controller, the hard drive, an Xbox Live headset, high-def AV cables (for the "HD-Era") are all things which really have to be in the system.

So, if it's a given that the $399 is really the only way to play, then think about your cost on launch day. $399 + $59 (one game) + whatever your state's sales tax is. I figure it's a safe assumption that you are looking at $500 easy, without considerng a second controller or even a second game!

$500+ for a system that looks marginally better then the Xbox you have now? Ehhhh...

B) Microsoft has now gone ahead and told Sony that it's ok to release the PS3 at $399. There's no hiding the fact that Sony's new system is going to be an expensive beast to make. Basically, MS has now let them off the hook and made public perception of their price point better. Had Microsoft instead gone with a HD-included $349, or really a $299 price point... then Sony would have been in a ton of consumer pressure to release their system at a cheaper price and take a bigger loss on selling the system.

As it stands though, it looks like $400 is the new standard price point for systems. Blame Microsoft for that one.

C) Microsoft is fracturing the user base around the Hard Drive. By releasing two different packages, it is now not guaranteed that the user will have one. This means that developers can no longer go about putting in features such as streaming (a method of storing and reading data off the hard drive, which drastically reduced load times in a lot of Xbox games), without having a secondary method of handling the situation if the gamer doesn't have the hard drive. This is a bad situation which will unfortunately result in developers all but ignoring the hard drive.

It also (again) opens the door for Sony to make a hard drive standard in the PS3. This would entice developers of larger, more detailed games that wanted to utilize the features of a hard drive over to their camp. Bottom line though is, the hard drive is one of the things that made the Xbox has (relatively) big as it is today. It's really strange that they would turn their back on that.

All in all... not sure what Microsoft is thinking. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out with the consumers, but on paper it doesn't look good. For me, personally, they haven't shown me $500 worth of potential.

Baby Bird Update

Well, the little trooper made it to the morning of 9/21/05, but didn't have enough strength to last the day. The nice lady at the shelter said that he passed away pretty quietly around 3:30pm. His head wound was just too much for his small body to take.

Come to find out he was a worbler. I have a few pictures I took of him before we took him to the vet's. The lady asked if we wanted him or if she could bury him in her backyard. She said that she did that for the ones that didn't make it. I said it would be great if she would bury him.

Jen's a bit upset as am I. I have conflicted emotions on whether it was good to save him... if he suffered? It's tough to dwell on such matters.

"Man, I really need a cherry coke."
--Kevin Matchstick

Rock/scissors/paper/...sponge?

MUST PLAY!!!

Baby Bird

Last night I was coming out of work and saw a baby bird. I thought to myself, "Oh! A baby bird on the road... I hope it'll be ok." and drove off. About 10 seconds later I stopped the car and spun around thinking to myself, "I'm such a sucker."

So I get there and the poor bird isn't trying to avoid the cars (and the tires were missing it by centimeters!) but I scooped him up and took him inside to get a box to carry him home in. I picked up Jen from work (we're carpooling in this day of gas prices) and we went to Petsmart for a birdcage.



She has wanted a bird for a very long time but I think they need to be in the wild... so I don't want one... but I was willing to take care of this little guy.



We got home and he slept all night long. When he was awake his left eye remained closed. This morning he woke up and chirped when we opened the curtains to the living room. He has a bit of drainige from his nostrils, but nothing too bad.

So I get to work and call the WILD FOREVER FOUNDATION and they let me know of a vet who takes care of wild animals for free. I asked if the baby could not be released if we could take care of it.

"You got attatched, didn't you?" she asked. I could tell she was smiling. "Well, Colorado state law unfortunately says that if an animal cannot be released back into the wild it must be euthanised... but this vet i'm sending you to has a large plot of land and she will do almost anything to avoid that. It just sounds like a head injury. Sometimes magpies and Falcons steal birds and drop them. Your bird probably has a head injury. It sounds like it will do ok as long as it gets the right medicine and treatment."

So my boss is graciously letting me go early from work to take the bird to the vet (HIGH COUNTRY VET on Drennan). I hope it gets better. Jen's going to be a bit saddened, but perhaps we can get her a new feathery friend sometime soon.

***UPDATE***
Looks like the bird-vets at the High Country Vet are on vacation so I was referred to take the little guy to Dr. Leroy E. Eggleston who is just off of 18th and Uintah (west). Hopin' for the best.

New Nintendo Revolution Controller

Opinions?

More information here

League of Exceptional Gentlemen

November 16th 1898

Welcome to another edition of 'Bizarre Adventures'! This previous week on 'the League of Exceptional Gentlemen' we saw The Doctor (played by Stephan Hillman/Tom Baker), one day after solving the case of Weng Chiang, at the British Secret Service office where he was directed by Campion Bond to assemble a new League to solve a dire case for Britannia!

The Doctor's new assistant, a very young Secret Service Assistant Coordinator Alfred Pennyworth, escorted him to a seedy shack near the London docks where the met up with a sailor by the name of Wolf Larson (played by Michael Ruch), whose rumors of him being deceased were clearly underrated.

The trio then ventured out into the countryside to meet up with a scientist of highest repose named Professor Edward Challenger (acting provided by the austere Carlton Quick). The rotund Professor gladly joined the troupe to research for Queen and Country!

Rushing back to London they meet their newest, and most reluctant, member named Adrian Montague (who is really a Mr. Connor Macleod incognito/portrayed by Mr. Forrest Oates). Mr. Montague agrees to participate only after Mr. Pennyworth produces a strange folder with information about his past... all the way to the 1500's! And what is that symbol on the folder... and is that a similar symbol on Mr. Pennyworth's arm?

Returning to H.Q. the team meet their final member, a haughty Mary Poppins (acted by the gentle Mrs. Nancy Oates) was speaking to Mr. Bond.

Bond then, the League being complete, escorted the lot down to the museum proper where 10 gurneys were aligned with bodies. The figures were murdered faerie folk (leprechauns, centaurs, mermaids, and the like) all stabbed fatally and found, one a day, all about London. Even more mysterious was a single gold key found on each of the bodies.

After investigating these murders, the League found that near each of the murders there was a patch of earth that seemed to be enchanted! Such mystery in only their first hour of being formed! Upon returning to the MI5 H.Q. what was there to greet them but a NEW MURDER? This murder, a satyr, was even more brutal than the rest. His golden key smelled of sea-salt. A London Bobby, wounded when called to duty by our culprit, stated that this character fled down a corridor and... up.

The next morning, Miss. Poppins took hold of her key and detected that it felt a 'drawing sensation' towards the docks. The group followed on foot and stopped at a small cabin that was surrounded by a patch of land that was curiously in the shape of a sailing vessel! Mr. Pennyworth tried to divert their advance, but was ignored.

Announcing their arrival, a dark figure invited them into his cabin. Looking like a down-on-his-luck one-armed shanty sailor this mysterious figure was quite the proper British gentleman. He stated that he was expecting the group after hearing of the murders. "We have been planning to set a trap for the culprit ourselves," he stated plainly, "but now that you lot are here we can have your aid."

"Whom do you speak of?" Mr. Montague asked quizzically.

The gentleman motioned and was joined by mystical creatures emerging from the shadows. "Do not be afraid, they are my friends. I am their protector, but I have not been doing so good a job."

"And, whom might you be, good sir?" asked Mr. Challenger.

After a draw upon his long pipe the chap answered, "Nelson. Horatio Nelson of her Majesty's service."

"A-Admiral Nelson?" Mr. Larson stuttered.

"The same." was his reply.

Stay tuned for partial excitement!

Reunions with dear friends

BIG BROTHER

While growing up in Boulder I had got a Big Brother from the Big Brother's Club of America. His name was (well, still is) Stan Owocki and he really influenced my life... and I his. Stan worked at NCAR in Boulder and, at the time, I was crazy-into astronomy. Having a Big Brother who was studying astrophysics didn't hurt either. He met his future-wife (a Big Sister) at a Halloween party for the Big Brothers/Sisters Club we went to. They fell in love and got married... and he moved away. Well, I have been thinking about him for many many years and always wondered what happened to him. Happy to say that he lives in Delaware and is a highly accredited astrophysicist and Prof. at the University there! He has a beautiful daughter named Sarah and two good-looking boys named Kevin and David. It's exciting to know that I can keep in tough now with someone who really influenced my life for the better.

**********

POKEMON CLUB

When I worked at Compleat Games & Hobbies in 1998/1999 I started the "Pokemon Club" for the kids to come and play the Pokemon Card game. My store was the only one in the State to have such a club and the only one that I know of in the Nation that offered 'badges' (that I made) for winning games. Well, there are about three boys that I really called my 'Pokemon Kids'. I have lost touch with them, but they were good kids and really helped me out when the club meetings got busy and took initiative to help the younger kids out.

Eric was one of these boys, and we kept in touch throughout the years, but work and other projects kept us apart. I got an email from him the other day from a message board I joined just last week. I invited him to my CHEET museum night gathering this Saturday and it will be really great to have him attend.

********

This past week has really been a blessing to me. You can NEVER have too many friends.

Advance Wars Paperwork

I love paper creations. You will notice that one of the blogs I like is "Paper Forest" where they show things people made from paper. Here's a cute link that makes Advance Wars items out of paper.

And now... the BIG NEWS

Ok. I have been given permission to spill the beans as to what the big news is.

My wife Jennifer is going to be a published poet!

It has been tough finding someone who wants to publish a book of poetry, but we have a reputable publisher who said 'yes'. She's going to get the contract soon and then... it'll be 6 months to a year to get it out, but out it will come!

I'll let you know more as it happens, but I am very excited for her and I hope you all wish her the very best. I couldn't be prouder.

Here-a we goooo!

And here's a pretty good article about Nintendo's history from Wikipedia. Can you believe that Nintendo was started in 1889?!?!

J-Pop hits the DS

So i got the game Daigasso! Band Brothers this Tuesday and have been playing the heck out of it. The game is another rhythm game much like DDR but for your fingertips. After you master the game there are many hidden additions like a music making shoppe where you can take actual music and make it another rhythm song. It also allows up to 8 other players to play on one cartridge. Each person plays one instrument and together you make beautiful rockin' music.

Anyways, I know only a few songs off of the main playlist and thought it might be nice to download the actual songs and put them on a CD to listen to so I can get more familiar with them. So I found that someone beat me to it... but they have the actual songs to download for free!

So here's the website. Enjoy. These songs are pretty fun to listen to. J-pop is so eclectic, it's always new. My favorites are 'Mr. Children', 'Glay', and 'Spitz'. Mr. Children and Glay are a bit more modern and Spitz is more indy-rock-ish.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARIO!!!

Yup. September 13th is Mario's 20th birthday! Let's all wish him a happy one!

Rest in Peace, Lil' buddy

GIVE BLOOD!!

Gave blood today at the company blood drive. Saw two people pass out afterwards. I feel fine, though. TYPE O- REPRESENT!

Graffiti Warrior

http://www.banksy.co.uk/menu.html

Brilliant. Looks like he makes stensils, beforehand then runs out, paints, and then runs. Or, with his indoor stuff, makes it and places it when nobody is looking.

I like it.

Quiz from Heather

ANCIENT CHINA
Famous Ruler: Emporer Zhengzong
Living Quarters: Brick or wood posts, with plaster
floor; partly underground
Hardship: Invasion of the Mongols
The Chinese Empire was one of the strongest
empire's ever. Feng shui rocks!


What Time Period Do You Belong In?
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My Gawd... it's... full of stars...

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2003/09/rpg_life.html

You vote: real or not real?