Kev

Today fell into the “good” category. I actually managed to get some things accomplished at work and, it being U.S. Thanksgiving, I took the afternoon off to watch football.

I met up with a bunch of the folks I worked with at Public Works Canada (now PWGSC) back when I had my own little consulting company in the late eighties and early nineties. There’s a lot of history with this group and the James Street Feed Company (which appears to be on it’s last legs and will be torn down and replaced with condos in the not-too-distant future), so that was the convergence point.

The Colts were playing beating the piss out of the Detroit Lions, so the focus was on conversation and cathing up with what everyone had been up to. I hadn’t seen some of the people there in over a decade, and it was really nice to see everyone (except Dean and Panich, who were “busy”).

A lot of memories were relived, and it was nice to see that beyond a little grey or lost hair, no one’s changed much. Daler is still a slacker, Greg is still a Cowboy’s fan, Roy still hasn’t figured out if I actually did any work while I was at PW(GS)C for five years (I did), Lewis is still an all-around nice guy, and Guy is getting out of the empty datacentre which we all know and love.

The only disappointment to Stokley’s 3 TD catches was that Harrison got the next 3. Matt, who I’m playing this week, has Harrison, so any advantage I get has been negated. Ah well, been that kinda FFL season.

The day was topped off with hockey, and I witnessed a very ugly meltdown on ice. The meltdown was strictly in teamplay, and reminded me of team yellow. We were down 3-0 with 5 minutes to go in the game. We hadn’t been able to buy a goal all night, and in one shift we turned it around and tied the game up at 3-3. Neither team could score in the last 3 minutes, and it was a satisfying end to the game. It’s the second week in a row I felt good about my play, so things are looking up.

MSN is carrying a little ditty on Holiday disasters. Most of them are annoying as hell, but one made me think of Lee. I won’t link to the page, because the stories really are lame, but this person seems to have the right idea on how to make any dinner a success:

Recipe for Success

“Thanksgiving horror stories? I have none. My turkeys always turn out perfectly. I find the key to family holiday success is buying as much wine as you think you need, and then doubling it.”
— Ann, 36, Miami, Ohio

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends down South!

ok, continuing along the “let’s play videogames” mantra of this past weekend, I just finished a 90-minute Amplitude (still the best $20 you’ll spend on a PS2 game – trust me) session. My eyeballs feel something like glass rubbed with sandpaper and then blow-dried.

The game forces you to pay attention, which means you don’t blink. This is not a recommended course of action. Still, it was fun, but I am done with computers and videogames for the evening.

*bip*

…made me laugh:

Q: What is the difference between Texas and yogurt?
A: Yogurt has culture.

Just ask z, he’ll tell you.

Yesterday was one of those days, again. There was nothing in particular, it was just another frustrating, grinding, annoying days where people got under my skin. I’m so sick of bitching, anyone have any tried and true methods beyond counting to ten and going to your Happy (Gilmore) Place?

I got home, played some HL2 until the stuttering started to get annoying, and read a little Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (I’m halfway through “Mostly Harmless”). Then I said to hell with it, and went to sleep. That was sometime around 7:30. I guess I was over-tired from something, although for the life of me I can’t figure out what that is.

Today’s starting out better, mainly because I went to the gym at 06:30 and worked my muscles to exhaustion. I feel good, but I wouldn’t mind a nap right now. Onward!

The Grey Cup was pretty cool. I’m not sure it was worth the bucks, but it was an enjoyable time and a decent game. The stadium was full, which made seating a little uncomfortable, but it was such a novel experience (the last time the stadium was full was in 1988 when the Blue Bombers won with Bob Cameron running for his life out of the endzone) that no one seemed to mind. The weather held, the people partied, and the organisation behind the events was excellent. People moved in and out with ease, and I think it’s fair to say a good time was had by all.

Some things I noticed:

• No ticket required! At no point were we asked for our tickets. We walked in, got a half-hearted patdown attempt from security, and away we went. I guess they figured if people were in our seats, we’d deal with them. Huge points for focusing on making it easy to get in.
• The big fat guy in the blue ball cap and the “Ottawa AAA Canadians” jacket with the moose logo yammering on his cel phone during the national anthem. Take off the hat, shut the fuck up, and respect the flag and everyone around you. Moron.
• Kickers who were so afraid to actually hoof it to the return teams that they, by and large, fucked up their kicks and gave the other team awesome field position every time. It was a very poor display, especially because once they actually kicked away, the coverage teams were excellent and held the returns to minimal yardage.
• Happy, drunk people everywhere. Waaaaaay different from drunk people at other sporting events I’ve been to, where they tend to be assholes more than anything else. It was cool, and no one bugged anyone who was drinking liquor that came from outside. How totally Canadian.
• BC’s complete inability to adjust to Toronto’s passing game. I’ve never seen the same play work so many times with a team other than the Renegades. I think the Argo’s ran a 10-yard sideline sit-and-hit eight or nine times in the last three drives, and each time it resulted in huge gains.
• Little brown Bailey’s bottles littering the ground. Who needs hot pockets when you’ve got booze?
• Damon Allen playing like he did a decade ago. I’m not his biggest fan, but he deserved the MVP at the end of the game, and he sure looked happy at the end. Oh, and he’s a grandfather playing a professional sport.
• Fans dressed in their team colours, regardless of who was actually playing on the field
• Weather that decided to wait until the game was over to turn really chilly
• Stuntman Stu. He’s actually really good at announcing/MC’ing.

Oh and, despite the provocation, I didn’t kill Beaudette.

The last few years has been relatively game-free for me. I used to buy pretty much every major title for the four game systems I owned, and freely admit I hardly ever played them. I’ve finished about 10% of the games I own, but wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the norm rather than the exception. I have all three of the “big” consoles, and have a decent gaming PC, too.

This year is a treat in the big-name game category.

Halo 2 is a lot of fun, and you have to remember to blink from time-to-time. Great story, great visuals, and not nearly as repetitive as the first iteration. Love the sword, I just wish it had the slice-and-dice visuals that Jedi Knight had. I’m about two-thirds through, and have yet to enjoy multi-player. Coop is already a level 5 mofo, so I am guessing he’s been taking in some melees.

Half-Life 2 is currently downloading from Steam, and a big thank you to ATI for including it with their Radeon XT products last year. I’m looking forward to taking it in, and I know I’ll be finishing it.

Unreal Tournament 2k4 is a tonne of fun, but I cannot admit I am as enamoured by DeathBall as Prii is. In a word, the Deathball crowd is rife with grade-A assholes, and he’s right, it makes the day-to-day nonsense of the old Coli clans look like civil discourse. I play the other mods, because they’re fun and you know all the twits are 14-year olds, which doesn’t appear to be the case with DB. Too bad, because it could be a lot of fun if the community was a little more sane.

Finally, X-Men Legends is the first level-up/beat-em-up that I’ve actually enjoyed. Good story line, good character development, and a lot of ass-kicking. Wolverine’s my fave character, but Jean Grey is a pretty cool character as well.

A big change, because I know I’ll finish all these games in the next month or so, which will be more games finished than in the last two years. That means I’m either falling back in love with gaming, or the dating scene really sucks.

Oh, and I’m building a MAME cabinet. Yay old skule!

Ok, I’ve re-read this whole post. I am a geek. It’s hopeless.