More Pictures!

Ok, so I finally have access to more pictures from my niece.

http://community.webshots.com/album/511374130HpXjTt

Personally I think she makes a very cute pumpkin.

And so it begins.... again

Tomorrow I start work again at my new job. I'm moved into my new place in Champaign and finding my way around here. My new apartment is pretty sweet, certainly bigger than anything I've ever had, it's weird having all this much space for just myself. I'm not 100% unpacked yet, but I'm close, thanks in large part to my mom coming out and helping me unpack on Thursday and Friday. I've also got a washer&dryer coming for installation on this coming Saturday, so hopefully I don't need to wash anything before then :-)

Oh, I'd also like to point out that Insight cable are a bunch of douchebags. Since I had my sweet new HDTV I bought just before leaving California, I decided to get the HD cable to go along with it. First, you they won't let you get *just* HD cable, you need to get DVR as well. Don't get me wrong, DVR is sweet, and I'm having fun with it, but it's a larger upgrade than I really wanted. Second, their basic HD/DVR package even though it's $15/mo, doesn't come with ESPNHD, which is really one of the few reasons to get HD in the first place, I mean HD friends is still friends, but a game in HD is really better. So I got the extra package that includes that for a few extra$ a month, cuz I'm a sucker. I'll probably drop that after the basketball season, as I'm not really into baseball. Maybe I'll pick it up for football again next year. Here's the kicker though, when the guy came to install it, I was informed that they won't provide the wires(either component or HDMI) needed to carry the HD signal to the TV. I have to go out and buy them... which I haven't done yet cuz... DAMN are they expensive, HDMI = $40+ for a 3ft cable. Comcast was way better... they gave me the componet wires(well I had to return them when I left) and their basic HD package was only $5/mo w/o DVR, AND it included ESPN. *sigh*

Oh and to top it off, my cable internet wouldn't work when the guy left, and he said to call the customer service center and they'd get it working. I call and they said their people were busy and they'd call me back. I called every hour for 3 hours and they said I was on the list and they'd call me back.. fuckers. Eventually after nearly 4 hours I called and got put through immediately to a support guy instead of the 'we'll callback bitch' and he transferred me to level 2 support where the guy fixed the problem in <2mins.... was it really that hard? No, i never recieved a callback.

On another note, i'm totally picking up a cold. It's mostly a sore throat, but a bit of stuffiness as well... not exactly ideal for starting a new job, but it doesn't seem to be too horrible and i'm doing everything i can to fight it, so maybe it won't cripple me for the first week of work. Speaking of colds, it'd friggin cold here. Ok, so it's not really that unseasonably cold(a bit, but nothing dramatic), but apparently living in california has had its effects. I'm not exactly bundling up in multiple layers and my heavy parka to go out, but i'm also colder than i remember being. I'm sure i'll get used to it about the time it starts to warm up.

Homeless no longer

Well, i won't be in a few weeks. I went to Champaign this weekend after attending the Notre Dame - Navy game. I've got an appartment on the outside of town that I think is pretty nice. I was suprised how many places were full this time of year, I figured they'd be itching for new tennants in the winter. Anyway, I upgraded to a two bedroom from my old one bedroom places. Thanks to the fact that housing prices aren't completely retarded in champaign, the two bedroom place costs < 2/3 of what my 1 bedroom place cost in cali. I'll be moving in there the first of December, so i've got a few days to get setup before going to work on the 5th.

Otherwise, not too much going on here, the job search has stopped, so i've really got nothing to do. As I said, i did make it up to ND last weekend for the game. Stayed with Tim&Pam at their new place. I even helped them setup the Tivo that the other groomsmen and I bought them. I actually didn't venture to campus at all outside of the game... odd, but i had fun haning with the new couple, so no real loss.

Pikachu I choose you!

Ok, sorry for the lame pokemon reference, but it was all i could think of at the moment.

Anyway, i made my decision and I let everyone know today. I'm taking the position with Volition in Champaign, IL. Looks like my start date will be Dec 5th, so I've got a month to plan the move and do everything. I think a lot of the decision was based on that I spent more time there and I felt like they really got to know me and wanted me there. The offices seemed like a nicer working environment with rooms with 4-8desks along the walls instead of a grid of cubes. Also, they seem to want to put me working on gameplay/AI stuff right away but raven wanted me to work on tools for a while first. While Raven seemed like a cool place and made a lot of top-notch games, I think this is the right choice based on the information I have. I'd heard a lot of good things about Volition before i left california and hadn't even heard of Raven, so thats something.

So i'm heading up to Notre Dame this comming weekend to take in the Navy game, and i'm going to head to Champaign while i'm there and check out appartments to try and find a place to live there.

I'll try and keep you updated.

Jobs Jobs Jobs

So as I said in my last post, i've been very busy looking for jobs. Eventually I've gotten 3 places to fly me out to have an in person interview.

A few weeks ago I went to Midway in Chicago. Honestly I wasn't really impressed with them, It seemed a lot like my old job and they wanted me to make another sports game, which i pretty much want to stay away from. They decided not to make me an offer and thats alright with me because I didn't expect to take it anyway had they made one.

About 10 days ago Raven Software flew me out to visit them in Madison WI. My dumbass however missed my flight. I had just gotten back from Tims wedding and had been flying a lot lately, so i was tired of sitting in the airport and decided to cut my time to show up about 45mins before my flight... except i got caught in traffic. Awesome. Thankfully there were lots of flights and I caught one about an hr later and showed up only about an hour late. Obviously this isn't the best way to make a good impression on an interview, but they seemed to shrug it off pretty well. The bad thing was that I was only scheduled to be in madison for about 3.5hrs and interview for 2.5 of that, so minus an hr, i only interviewd for an hr and a half. The interview went really well and it seems they make some pretty sweet games.

On tuesday i flew to champaign IL to interview with Volition. I had already taken a programming test for them about 2 weeks before that, apparently I passed and they wanted to bring me out. This interview was just about the oppositie of what I had with Raven. I flew out tuesday night, they took me out to dinner and put me up in a hotel. I went to their office early on wednesday and interviewd ALL DAY with about 15 different people doing coding problems and talking with everyone... a very stressful day for sure. Afterwards I went out to dinner with some more employees and ended up being invited back to the office after dinner to play some poker, which was a lot of fun. I flew back this morning(6am flight, damn 4am wakeup calls). The interviews went really well and they seem like a great place as well.

What I didn't mention earlier is that on monday I got an offer for a job from Raven. Apparently the short interview and me missing the flight wasn't a major drawback for them. Then just this afternoon, a few hours after i got back in town, I got a call from Volition with an offer from them as well.

So yeah I've got a lot to think about. I'm almost certainly going to take one of these offers, but I don't want to rush into anything either.

Exhausted

Yeah, i've been slacking on the updates, but man have I been busy. I guess thats when i should be updating more huh? Oh well, you'll take what i give ya and you'll likes it that way.

So... what HAVE i been doing? Lots of job searching to be sure, but thats not all. I don't think i've been in the same state for longer than 3 days in the last 3 weeks, but I guess thats what happens when you live a world away for just over a year.

The biggest event was Tim's Wedding. Tim got married to his girlfriend/fiance of 2 years Pam, and showed what a horrible judge of character he is by asking me to be in the wedding party. The wedding went off wonderfully, Pam looked beautiful(what she sees in that goof i'll never know) and they're happily chilling in Hawaii. Congratulations to the both of them. It was great to be there for them, but also to see a bunch of old ND buddies that I haven't seen in far too long. There was much beer drinking and celebrating. Good times for sure.

Also, I made it up to Michigan for Halloween weekend. Got to hang out with Matt and Meg a lot, stayed at Matt's place the first two nights I was there. Josh threw a killer halloween party that I went to, dressed as a Beer Ref(tm) of course. I was loud and annoying, i guess thats normal, but this time I had a whistle and a flag. Got to see all kinds of old friends which was great. I even got to meet the new people who have taken my place in martha's lab after my absence. It appears I left the place in good hands. Finally we kicked the keg and Josh coerced me into drinking some of his tequilla. It went something like "hey, do you want some tequilla, i've got some".... that bastard. How was I supposed to resist that? Well I didn't which was probably a mistake and I spent sunday very hungover for most of the day. I spent sunday night with pshea and crashed at his place. I'm disapointed we didnt' get to hang out a bit more, but he was busy with school and all, and i'm unemployed... i guess he wins that battle.

Also, I've gotten to see a ton more of my niece Cara. She's much better in person than in a photo, but those would be nice too. Sadly her father is a doofus and hasn't been taking pictures like he promised. I plan on going over there sometime soon with a camera and hijacking the house for a bit. Maybe i'll get more pictures for everyone then.

Home again

Well I've made it back to ohio and the parents house safe and sound. Before the trip, i decided that if i made it back with no tickets or accidents that it was a success, and by that definition, success was acheived. I also got to see some pretty cool shit and had a nice trip. I wasn't initially planning on seeing yellowstone and the grand tetons, and almost even skipped the tetons the day of, but ended up going, and i'm very glad i did. The views were breathtaking, i'm sure the pictures don't do it justice, but here they are anyway.

http://community.webshots.com/album/466836913bfTrPm

So now i'm looking for a job. Doing exactly what, I don't know, but I've got a bunch of leads for new stuff in the video game industry. I need to start looking at other computer industry jobs as well, not quite sure where to start.

Next step: The Future!

hmmm seems I haven't updated this since the night after I lost my job. Well, to be honest, i've been busy. I decided that I'm heading back to the midwest. I don't know exactly where yet, but within a few hours driving distance from home for sure. Toward that end i'm moving back in with the parents while I look for my next job.

The movers came on friday morning and picked up all my stuff and now i'm sitting here in a folding chair with a keyboard on my lap typing this. I'm heading out tomorrow morning early to start my cross-country drive. I'm not taking the most direct route... it's a pretty small detour(on the scale of the trip at least) to go check out a few cool places i've always wanted to see. So i'm going to check out yellowstone, the Badlands, and Mt Rushmore, and possibly Devils tower. I'll also probably stop to check out the arch in st louis while i'm driving through. I'm leaving early tomorrow and I plan on being at the parents house sometime friday.

As for jobs i'm not really worried. I know i can find something. I've had a few phone interviews, one company is already going to be flying me to chicago on October 4th... i don't think i actually want that job, sounds really similar to the one i just left(basketball video game, possibly more AI related though), but it'll be good to put the interview shoes back on again if only for practice. My boss refered a recuriter to me, and an ex-coworker sent me another one, so i've got two recruiters who were flooding me with so many job openings that I told them to back off and wait until i moved, even with that, i still have this chicago thing, and a few other phone interviews lined up.

Rather than being worried about getting a job, i'm still majorly worried/confused about what job I actually want. I know my next job doesn't have to be what i'm going to do for the rest of my life, but i'd sure like to stay somewhere longer than a year, and be happy while doing it. I don't know if i want to stay in the games industry or go elsewhere, i'm certainly going to look at both.

One thing to note, leaving here isn't like leaving anywhere else so far. When i left for ND, Michigan, and to come here, my last night was spent out with friends doing something together. Here, i'm sitting at home, after going to watch the ND game in a bar with the local alumni club, people i didn't really know that well. I can honestly say I don't think i'll miss anyone here, at least not much. I had co-workers that I liked for sure, but no one that i'm really going to keep in contact with. I'm sure thats mostly my own fault as much as anyone else's... but it's something to think about for the future.

The end

Well, thats it. I just got fired today. Apparently the 100hr+ weeks and the living and breething the job wasn't enough for them to contiune to under pay me for my work. I'm freelance baby and i'm outa here.

In all honesty it just wasn't working out. I had pretty much decided i was going to quit soon, just kinda sucks they got me before I got them. I had no problems with the people I was working with, they were great. However, I just wasn't meshing with the management. They continually put me in bad situations with really high expectations, that I honestly don't think anyone but the most experienced veteran could have achieved. My objectives were generally unclear, and their biggest complaint was that i didn't do enough to go 'above and beyond' I didn't 'thrive'. But I don't know how I can go above and beyond when i've got to spend 60+hrs in a normal week on fixing errors and adding requested stuff, let alone 100+ during crunch time.

Whatever, i'm sure i'll write more later. Honestly I don't know exactly whats next for me, but i'm probably going to be moving back to ohio at least for a little while... try to find a job, maybe still in the industry, maybe not.

Cara Maryann Taylor

http://community.webshots.com/album/421077408rZABXl

8lbs 6oz, 21"

Born early Friday August 12, 2005

Momma and baby are doing fine.

I'm an Uncle :-)

GTA and Hot Coffee

This issue has been all over the place so I figured i'd add my $0.02.

For those of you living under a rock i'll go over the basics:

The video game Grand Theft Auto 3: San Andreas was released in October of last year and has been one of the best selling games in the world since that time, millions and millons of copies have sold. When this game came out it (rightfully) recieved an M rating or equivilent anywhere it was released. This game is definately not for children. It contains gang violence, drug use, sexual content and pretty much anything else negative you can say about it. However it's a GREAT game. I've played it through completely, and while i haven't unlocked everything, i would like to go back and do so sometime soon. As much as I liked it though, theres no way i would think about giving this to play to anyone under at LEAST 15, probalby older, and i consider myself pretty liberal about it. Theres a reason we have these M ratings and this game is all of those reasons. On the box it lists the reasons for the M rating: 1. Blood and Gore 2. Intense violence 3. Strong Language 4. Strong Sexual Content 5. Use of drugs. Yes, thats right, it was already rated as having Strong sexual content.

Now for Hot Coffee. This is a hack which is pretty easy to aquire on the internet. It allows you to access content on the game that is not available through regular play. The only way to get this to work on your PS2(and maybe xbox, i'm not sure) is to install a mod chip which is already illegal. Obviously easier on your PC. By installing this software you are breaking your EULA(end user licence agreement). Sure people do both of these all the time, but that dosen't make them legal. Through this mod you can access a sex mini-game in the game. I have seen a video of this game on the net, though i've not tried it on my copy(i'm not modding my ps2). This game is VERY poorly rendered, likely because it was never finished. The woman is skin toned but has no discernable features below the neck, she could very well be wearing a tight skin-colored leotard for all you can see. The man is fully clothed. They are very obviously supposed to be having sex, in multiple positions. This scene is completely consentual sex as the person you're doing this with is your girlfriend in the game and theres no signs of anything else non-consentual.

Well once this mod was found out, crap hit the proverbial fan. 1) ESRB(entertainment software raitings board) changed the raiting to AO(adults only). 2) Senator Clinton has started senate hearings and pushing for laws regulating video games. 3) Some grandmother in flordia who bought the game for her 14yr old grandson is suing rockstar. 4) The game was just banned in Austrailia.

1. ESRB. While I question the choice not to give the game an AO rating from the start, I can hardly see how this puts it over the line when the game was already listed as having strong sexual content and included things like pimping out hookers, having sex with hookers in your car with the car moving and moaning sounds, having sex off camera(with the camera shaking) with this same girlfriend and highly suggestive lines/moaning going on, along with the ability to beat down cops with a huge purple dildo. I want to stress that this content is NOT accessable in the game without hacks. you can hack 'the sims' to show all of the characters naked and it dosen't get an AO rating. However, perhaps this game deserved an AO rating from the start, but i tend to think it was caving to pressure, but whatever.

Because of this rockstar is recalling all the unsold games and is working on releasing a new version where the content is totally removed. Probably what they should have done in the firt place. I assume this was a feature that was supposed to be part of the game, but they thought better of it close to the end of production and rather than taking the time to completely remove it, they just cut out the ability to get there and never finished it. This was most likely way easier to do than completely removing it and i'm sure they were pushing to get the game out as fast as possible.

2 Legislation against video games. There has been a lot of hatrid for video games comming from lawmakers for no other reason than they're new. Most people over 40, or even more so, over 50 don't play video games, and see them as something that only children do. The problem is, a very large(possibly majority) of gamers are over 20 and many over 30. This is not just entertainment for kids anymore. Just as there are R rated movies that you shouldn't let your 8 yr old see, but are still very good movies(the Godfather for example), there are video games like this too. They're made for adults not children.

As far as i know there are absolutely no laws in this country about selling R rated movies to minors or even allowing children into R rated movies in the theater. Theaters/stores do this voluntarialy. Besides very few kids are going to have the $50 needed to buy this game themselves, rather in most cases the parents are buying them for their kids. The parents are either woefully uninformed or don't care. If they don't care, then thats their problem, but how can someone be so uninformed and stupid that they would buy a game named after a felony, which has gotten tons of publicity, clearly rated on the box with warnings about violence and sexual content, and not know it could be objectionable.

Basically this is a pollitical move to appear more 'family values' oriented to the older population who are much more likely to vote than those of us who are younger. "won't someone save the children" A law against selling them to children really wont change much because in almost all cases, the parents are buying it for their kids. To me this is the equivilent of a parent buying Basic Instinct or Eyes Wide Shut for their kids. If they want to, thats their problem, but you can't blame the video store or even the producers of the movie for it. Yeah, they shouldnt' be sold to children, but why aren't there people pushing for laws about R rated movies?

3) The grandmother suing. I pretty much coverd this above. This woman bought the game for her 14yr old grandson and had no problems with all the violence and sex already in the game, but as soon as the game was able to be hacked to show more sex, well that was too much. Because you know, her grandson didn't do the hacking, rockstar came and did that for him and forced him to watch. Either she's a total moron(i doubt, at least totally) or she's trying to make a quick buck off the contriversy. I like how she's suing on behalf of everyone who bought the game... because I know I want her voicing my opinion.

4)This is just stupid. you can still buy hardcore pornography in Austrailia yet not this game?!?! My brain can't even get around this point.

SO... in conclusion, yes rockstar made a mistake by not deleting this content from their game immediately, this shit is always found. But people lets be reasonable, this wasn't "Carebear hugs 5" it was "Grand theft auto" People need to lay off games as the scapegoat for all their problems. Video games are better than a lot of other passive enterainment.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-johnson27jul27,0,1432940.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Sure, kids would be better off ouside exercizing or doing their homework, but its a lot better than sitting motionless infront of sitcom after sitcom for hours. Games at least require you to use your brain.

Telemarketers Rule

So since my most recent move, i've never put my new phone# on the do not call list. Yeah it's my fault, maybe i'll do it soon, maybe not. If I had I wouldn't get entertainment like this.

So last night as I went to bed I noticed I had a message on my answering machine. Of course it was from a telemarketing thing. I've been getting more of these since they've started using a lot of computers to make the calls. Automated messages etc. Though i still get some real people selling me things on occasion.

Occasionally I get once of these calls that's automated but instantly wants to transfer me to someone real. I guess that makes sense, no need to have humans deal with non-answers and instant hangups. I think my answering machine has been transfered as real a few times, but cuts out before it gets anywhere.

Last night An automated message decided to transfer my answering machine and to 'please hold for an agent' It rang and clicked a few times, then I got elevator music, at this point i started to realize what i had. A few seconds later, I got "We're sorry, all of our agents are currently with other customers, we appologize for this inconvience, please stay on the line for the next available agent" and then more lobby music and my machine cut out.

I just sat there shaking my head. My answering machine got put on hold... my ANSWERING MACHINE... seriously wtf. First 99% of the world is going to hang up at the computer message, but then putting them on hold?!? who's gonna actually sit through that? You don't call me up and put me on hold... wtf. If I was going to buy whatever the fuck you're selling I am sure as hell not gonna do it now.

I don't know.. maybe i'm just tired and overworked but thats about the funniest thing that's happened to me in quite some time.

COOKIES!!!!

I would just like to point out that Meg rules. She sent me cookies. Not just cookies, but TWO kinds of cookies, both delicious. PeanutButter&Chocolate chip and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip.

I would just like to take this moment to discuss raisins, since meg was smart and beautiful enough to avoid the folly of adding raisins to her oatmeal cookies. Raisns have been causing troubles for a while and it's damn well time they stopped. Now don't get me wrong, I love raisins, when they're in the proper place. By themselves, in trailmix, granola bars, or even chocolate covered at the movie theater(though this is questionable).

However, raisins do not belong in anything that goes in or comes out of the oven. Its that simple. Get your ass out of my oatmeal cookies, and stay the fuck away from my cinnimon bagels, and don't even get me started about breads.

Keep the raisins in their place and we'll all get along.

Thank you.

Parents!

So like a whrilwind of free goodies and sighseeing, my parents came to visit memorial weekend.

They flew in thursday evening and out on monday morning. Very good times. As much as I like california and my job, I miss my family. The more I get around and the more people I meet, the more I know that I'm lucky to have parents that don't suck. Oh sure we have our fights, and had troubles in the past, but they're honestly good people and they care about me. Sure they can be losers at times, esp my Dad who I think is in the dictonary next to Dork, but they mean well and are lots of fun.

We went to Muir woods, walked Pier 39 and that whole area, saw Alkatraz or "The Rock" as I prefer to call it, went to Sonoma and Napa valleys, and saw a Giants game. Also I gave the parents their first In&Out experience. They agreed they were the best fast food burgers around, which is good or I would have had to defend their honor.

My parents are just nuts... they wore me out completely, and it didn't even phase them. After friday where we did Muir Woods, Alkatraz, Pier 39 and more i was dead tired... I got up Saturday morning for wine country and i was sore and still tired. When I met my parents, they had gotten up early and ran on the treadmill and did the stairclimber for half an hr. This pattern kept up all weekend. Freaks I tells ya.

The highlight/lowlight of the trip was getting drunk with my dad off wine tastings in Napa/Sonoma. My mom was DD and my dad got quite drunk and silly, i was tipsy, but nothing like my dad. It was amusing until he decided that we needed to moon another car that was tailgaing us then cut us off. Yes my dad mooned people.. thankfully he was in the back seat and I didn't have to see it. Of course in my half drunken state I may have slightly encouraged it :-)

Overall the weekend was great. I got to see a lot of things I just haven't gotten up the will to go to by myself and I got to see my parents which was great. I don't think i'll be home again until thanksgiving, but i'm going to really try to make that this year. Also i got a bunch of free meals and a pantry cabinet in my kitchen out of it, so thats a bonus.

E3 and LA

So I cut out a bit early from work on Wednesday hoping to beat some of the rushhour traffic, which I did for the most part. I got out of Oakland without any troubles but I did sit in some traffic on 580 after that. The drive was a bit longer than I expected, but I got through without a problem. I wasn't really happy about driving through the mountains in the dark though.

E3 stuff:
E3 was pretty damn sweet. Certainly bigger than I expected. I had no idea you could construct such huge and elaborate booths indoors just for a conference... Man they go all out. I saw previews of the Xbox-360 and PS3. They were mostly pre-rendered crap and very little gameplay, so that kinda sucked, but the pre-rendered stuff looked really good. I was disappointed to not see anything about the Nintendo revolution.

I got to play the godfather, which was pretty cool. Honestly it didn't seem all that original, more of a GTA clone with some new features and set to the mafia. Starcraft Ghost looked like it actually had potential as an FPS, though I didn't' get to play it. I'm looking forward to Civ IV, but all they had was a video and no demo. The video was really funny though. I screwed around for a couple hours at the Nintendo section, but there wasn't really much new there... Donkey konga 2, more Mario party. The only new thing I saw was the gameboy micro. I wasn't impressed. It was just too small. It looks like an old school NES controller, but significantly smaller, and the screen only takes up a very small part of the object. Yes, it'll be portable, and it'll play all the GBA games, but the screen is just too small for anything but holding it 6" from your face, and even then it sucks. I played a bunch of other games including a new Castlevania game which was a lot of fun, the new dragonball fighting game, a new ratchet &clank, new katamari damacy. There were tons of other ones I'm sure.. but really there weren't many PC games in the set which was kinda disappointing, as really the PC is my favorite gaming system.

Otherwise the show was a huge production and quite an experience. Lots of booth babes, I got a decent amount of pictures. I got to play, and beat Phil Laak(current world poker champion) at poker. Yahoo had set up a table where 10 people would play at a time, well 9 and Phil. I got in and lost in 4th place at the table, Phil went out early by going all in and I folded my 2,3 offsuit. So yeah, I technically didn't beat him, but I did place higher at the table :-) The top two people at every table he played(which was a lot) got to come back to play heads up against him later, I was hoping to make it to that, but no dice. The conference totally wore me out, I don't think I could have done 3 days, or they would have at least been short days for sure. 2 days was good though, I saw pretty much everything I could handle, and there's no way I saw enough in one day. I'd love to go back next year.

Matt, Joe, Vicki:
I got to hang out with these three crazy people on Thursday and Friday nights. We went out for dinner both nights which were both good... The pizza was excellent on Thursday. Thursday night we headed to see the new star wars movie. Definitely the best of the 3 prequles. There were parts that still sucked, the dialog between anikin and padme still made me want to gouge out my ears. I didn't like how quickly anikin subverted himself to the emperor when he decided to join him. But nothing nearly as bad as the first two.

Friday night we went out just to 'see the sights'. Tried to go look at the Hollywood sign, but it was dark and we were far away because somehow the people living in Hollywood have no idea how to actually get CLOSE to the sign. Then we went to the whole walk of fame and saw a bunch of peoples stars. I looked upon Ryan secrest's star with contempt and was going to spit on it, but a bunch of people were busy walking on it at the time. We saw the hand and footprints infront of the Chinese theater. That was awesome... Adam Sandler just had his made and it was still roped off. We went into the Kodak theater and saw all the Oscar winners on the wall, that was cool. Otherwise we just sat around and shot the shit as it were.

Everyone seemed to be doing find and I was extatic to see them all again. I did get into an argument with Joe about which Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles movie was better. I say the second one is better on the merrit of humor, he's very strongly opinionated about the first one being better. While I agree it's still a good movie, I'm more entertained every time I watch the second one.... I'd love to hear everyone's opinions of that in the comments :-) Personally I just think Joe is a ass ranger monkeyfuck to steal a phrase :-)

LA traffic:
LA traffic is a thing to behold. It doesn't behave like traffic anywhere else I've been, and it's not like I'm not traveled. The thing about it is that the cars never actually stop, they just slowly move along at 2 or 3 mph. Also, with the retarded confusing spiderwebs of freeways they have, often times you need to merge across 5 or more lanes of traffic in a matter of much less than a mile.. normally this would be a problem, but not in LA. Everyone just lets you though... its great. I think they know that the freeways suck and they're going to have to do it later too, things do just work out better when everyone is nice.

After E3:
Once I got back to work from E3 I've gotten a TON of work dumped on me, so I'm going to be quite busy for a while. Hopefully I'll update more on this later, but I think I've put out enough for one day.

Whirlwind of work: The pre-E3 crunch

So yeah. I haven't been writing much i know. Turns out i was just really busy. And by really busy, i mean "damn gina".

First, the conclusion to the dentist series. Joe vs The Dentist IV: The Final Cavity. not much of a saga here. Pretty much the same as always. got the last cavity filled and i'm all healthy dental wise now. Apparently he just finished reading a book about the MIT blackjack team and was facinated, so spent the whole visit talking about that.

Why was I so busy? In 2 letters: E3. Well a letter and a number. There was a bunch of things we had to get right so we could present at E3. Everything from adding new things to fixing bugs that came back from the testers. I spent two full weekends in a row there and during the week between i put in at least 11-12 hrs every day, some days over 16. Yeah, it sucked. But everything got done and the game made a pretty solid leap forward. Not that there's no work to do now... yeah, got plenty of that to do.

Overall, the extra hours don't bother me. I knew it was comming and it was only for just over a week. There are other times during the year, and well the two days before I left for E3, where i did almost no work and just hung out all day. I can leave work early if I need to, or come in late. I think it's a pretty fair tradeoff, and still a fun job. During work on tuesday afternoon we ended up playing a game of settlers of catan in the confrence room, because reallly... why work :-) Sadly people had to leave before it was over, but it was fun anyway. Also on wednesday, Khoi brought in the DVD for TMNT2: the secret of the ooze. One of my classic childhood favorites, so we grabed lunch and brought it back to the office and watched it with lunch. Good times.

Keep your internet tuned here for the next update gentle blog readers... E3 and LA post to follow soon.