Riverwalk?

Yesterday was a bit uncharacteristically cosmopolitan day for the two of us. We live in a fairly small (but vibrant and interesting) town, with two major cities an hour away. It's pretty nice, actually, because even though Stillwater isn't a bustling hub of urban activity, we prefer a more, shall we say, peaceful existence. It's nice living in a place where a five-minute drive can take you pretty much anywhere in town, but there are times when the big city amenities are nice to have. And that's when a short drive is in order to Tulsa or Oklahoma City. Yesterday one of my friends was in Tulsa to see some of his family, so my wife and I drove out to meet them all for lunch at a local Oklahoma chain called The Hideaway (basically some of the best pizza you can get around here). We had an outstanding time at lunch catching up on things, getting to know my friend's family members a little more, and talking a lot about movies. And yes, the food was delicious, especially the cheesey bread. Oh yeah. :)

After that we figured we would take a stroll down at the Riverwalk, an area down south of town that's kind of a combination of a small outdoor mall, some apartments, and a bike path. We ended up on the wrong side of the river on a separate path that kind of went away from the waterfront, and it was also a tad chilly and windy, but the three-mile walk ended up being a nice way to burn off some of the pizza from lunch. So in the end I'd call it a win. :) We met up with some other friends for coffee and dinner later on, and caught the Hull/Arsenal soccer game on TV too. I don't follow soccer at all, but one of the guys we were with sure does, so it was nice having him around to explain everything and help us know who to cheer for.

My brother Phil let me borrow The Orange Box a few months ago when I bought my 360, and it didn't take me long to join the legions of gamers enthralled with Valve's concept/tech demo/DigiPen Student Project/game Portal. I beat it and unlocked the Developer Commentary version, and I am currently about five minutes away from beating it again before giving the game back to my brother this coming weekend. All in all, one of the most clever and ingenious games I have ever played, and the only game I have ever played with commentary, which is an incredible bonus for anyone interested in peeling back the layers behind a project like this.

It's time to take one final sip of my strawberry milk, wrap this up, and head out for a walk to enjoy the extra hour that was given to us last night. Aw yeah. :)

Nine O'Clock and All's Well

What a week it's been.

Actually, what a week and a few days it's been.

Last Sunday at this time I was driving back from Lincoln, having gone down for my friend Rachel's wedding, and listening to some tunes and podcasts while tooling across the midwest on Highway 169. It was a great drive, and the perfect way to top off a good weekend. I got to town late Friday, spent Saturday working on my car in my dad's garage, going to Amigo's with friends and family, and then seeing lots of people at the wedding and reception. My brother Phil had the highlight of the evening, with a flawless recitation of White and Nerdy on the dance floor. Actually, Phil even let me be a guest on his weekly video game podcast, Inside the Console, and we discussed our Christmas Wish Lists and lots of other video game goodness. Good friends, good times...great weekend.

Last week I was at work for almost 80 hours, which kind of explains the lack of any new blog posts recently, but things are settling down this week and coming back to more of an equilibrium, which is always nice. In fact, this afternoon my wife and I went to church for an afternoon of board games, which was pretty fun. We started off by playing The Allowance Game with a little girl, her mom, and a few other ladies. Each player starts with $3.50 and the goal is to be the first person to reach $20, which is a lot harder than it seems. I challenged our pastor to several rounds of three-dimensional tic-tac-toe, most of which were won by him, and we finished off the afternoon with a game of Yahtzee. There were even door prizes, and my wife walked away with a box of Chex-Mix Snack Bars, and I got a box of chocolate Turtles.

Time to check the ol' Facebook account and head for bed.

On one wheel

Two nights ago I took the advice my brother Tom has been giving me, and rode our unicycle around for a while. It has been a while since I've been one one, except for a teensy bit at my parents' house a week ago, and lemme tell you (because I am right now) that it was a great way to spend part of an evening. I rode around on the bike trails that wind through a park near our home, and got some nice looks and Hellos from people I met, which is always nice. I didn't practice any tricks, but it was really nice to get out and ride for a while.

Thanks, Tom. :)

The other day I was at Costco and decided against a slice of pizza for dinner. Instead I came home and made Macaroni and Cheese. I'm not one for living with regrets, but wow...if I am ever made to choose between Costco pizza and Mac and Cheese, well, let's just say we live and learn. Wow.

Now on to play some Mario Kart on the ol' Wii for a little while. Ah, this is the life...

Renewal

I just got off the phone with a nice guy from GameInformer magazine. I forget his name (I always try to get the names of people whenever I call Customer Service) but he helped me renew my subscription for two more years (one year less than what John Hammond would have preferred, no doubt). I was tempted to let him know how good his magazine was, especially when compared to its peers, but I'm guessing he would have thought me kind of odd for doing so. Not that I would have minded, but I guess I just figured there wasn't a whole lot of a point to it. But anyway, if you are at all interested in video games, you really should check out GI. I don't know why I felt the need to plug their mag on my blog, but, well, why not?

It rained again last night, and though the precipitation is a tad overdue (could'a used it two months ago) it's still good to see the earth being replenished as often as it has been lately. Apparently we're not done with autumn yet, and even though many Minnesotans are itching to get out their skis and snowmobiles, I'm perfectly happy without snow, probably because I mostly grew up in Lincoln, where any amount of the dusty white powder meant a possible school closing. Not that it happened all too often, but every now and then...

Ok, time to bust outta here.

Speed Run

I was literally one of the first people in Lincoln to have a Nintendo 64. I got one from a Toys'R'Us three days before the release date. I would not let my brothers (or sister, for that matter) get farther in Mario 64 than I was. It might have been a jerk thing to do, but I paid good money for that N64, so why not? :)

Good thing I didn't know this guy...

200

As I write this I'm listening to the song "Say the Words," by DC Talk. When I was a kid I had a game for our Mac LCII called "Hellcats Over the Pacific," which I used to play endlessly. It was one of the most simplistic flight sims around, but I enjoyed it immensely. I used to listen to the album this song is from, Free At Last, on my GE portable tape player, while playing the game, and to this day every time I hear any song from it (particularly the one I'm listening to now) I am bombarded by images of blue seas, green fields, a grey cockpit, and Zeros honing in on my position.

You ever have that happen? It's cool when it does, man. Like, this other album, Flood, by They Might Be Giants, was the soundtrack to my paper route when I was in ninth grade. I would blast it through my tiny little Sony earbuds (from the same old tape player) while delivering papers through rain, snow, and the gloom of afternoon, pausing it only long enough to refill my 52-ounce mug with Pepsi, and get a pack of Sugar Daddies, from the Kwik Shop on Fremont and Touzalin. Now, every time I hear any song from that album I can immediately picture all manner of images from that route I traced every day after school with my bike rack stuffed full of newspapers.

Kind of neat when memories sneak up on you and smack you straight across the face, eh? Nice.

I'm on my third cup of hot chocolate today, mostly because it's delicious but also because the bitter chill of winter shot an early warning volley across our bow last night. In fact, we went to look for one of those oil-based space heaters at Target today, and they only have one heater in stock. It's coming, folks, and we want to be ready. But forecasts say we'll hit 70 again this coming week, so maybe we can stave it off a bit longer.

Ok now, back to work. And then to Metroid Prime 3, which continues to be one of the most outstanding video games I have ever played.

By the by, this is my 200th post here on The Brighter Side. It is also the debut post of my new title bar icon, which I drew myself (all 256 pixels of it!) using GraphicConverter. Thanks for reading, everyone! *lifts mug* Here's to many more!

(R)etry

Well, I sold my GameCube on eBay a few weeks ago, and technically I sold my GameBoy Player as well. Trouble is, the guy who bought the latter never paid me. It's no big deal, really, because on eBay one never ships an item until one is paid for it. Thankfully eBay lets you relist items for free when that sort of thing happens. So I did, and the auction ends next Friday night. I'm hoping for $25-30 for it, but we'll see.

My cousin Beth was over last night, as with the previous Friday, because she has class on Saturday morning at a university near our house, and lives about an hour away. The three of us had homemade tacos for dinner, went to a Coffee Shop, watched a movie called On A Clear Day, and made some yummy popcorn too. It was a great way to spend the evening.

Oh, and on said Tacos I used the delicious Amigo's Taco Sauce that my brother and his girlfriend sent to me. Wow, you two. Thanks for sending those! It was like paradise in a corn shell.