Buying Nerd Dice Is A Pain

I need some dice for the Superhero board game I'm working on. Not regular dice, but RPG dice, like D10's and such. Apparently that's a lot to ask. The only comic book store I could find on Google anywhere near my house is now a hair salon. I went down to Barnes and Nobles, and sure, they had some, but they ended up being about a dollar a piece, probably because they were in a box labeled "Dungeons And Dragons." I had really hoped to just buy some, but in the end I just ordered them from Amazon.

What happened? I thought we nerds and geeks were taking over the world? How can we do that without supplies at the ready?!

Someday I'll Get This Many Views On My Videos

A Little Housekeeping

I have combined this blog with what used to be at http://micsideas.blogspot.com/, and imported all of the old posts into this one.

The Illusionext blog is still up and running.

Most of my personal stuff can be found on my Facebook page. I'll continue to post on here, but it'll actually be more about any ideas that I have.

And just in case you were wondering, I'm open to discussion on any of the crazy ideas I throw out. Personally, I believe that Star Wars was as good as it was because people were willing to point out flaws in the plan. I'll take all the suggestions I can get.

How To Make A Superman Game

I'm going to cover a couple games here that have been out for a while, but bear with me. I'll get to the point.

When I first heard about Justice League Heroes, I was pretty excited. When I actually played the game, I was actually a bit disappointed. I did enjoy some of the game, but I think I can sum up my thoughts with one little tidbit about the game. It seriously has an escort mission, in which you have to keep Superman alive. Yeah, you heard me right.

I haven't actually played it, but from what I've heard the Superman Returns game was pretty bad as well.

There's been a bunch of other Superman games, but you get the idea.

So why do Superman games suck? I can't seem to find the article, but I read somewhere a while back that the problem with Superman games is that in order for them to be accurate to the character, you would have a single button. It would be labeled "Win." In order to present a challenge to the player, Superman has to be dumbed down and weakened. In the case of Justice League Heroes and Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe, it also means making mortals like Batman even stronger than they would be otherwise.

So how do you get around this? Well, I see two solutions. The first would be to go ahead and give the player their God Mode. Let them feel what it would be like to actually be Superman fighting against mortals. If more game designers put fun as a priority instead of challenge, this would be a no-brainer. Obviously the whole game can't be like that, but it should be part of it.

The other solution would be to not make the game about Superman. Make a game about Lois Lane. Superman would be an NPC. It would actually create a lot of suspense in the game if the player had no idea when or even if Superman would come rescue their character. It would make a great game if the story were about Lois finding out Superman's secret identity right at the beginning of the game (so the player and the character both have the same information), and then trying to figure out what to do about that knowledge.

Come to think of it, that's a game that I may even be able to make. :-)

A Proposal

I would like to propose a new emoticon, in honor of the high amounts of traffic on my site.

...@

It's a tumbleweed.

This is Good Stuff!

There's a free game design course online right now. There's apparently about a thousand of us already signed up, with a waiting list for more, so if you go to sign up, it might take a bit. But if you are at all interested in making games, I would highly suggest taking a look. He does require a book, but it's pretty inexpensive. All the requirements are listed on his blog. So check it out. You can't beat free, right?

My Kids Are So Spoiled

This is the new bed I built for my son. I think he likes it.

Watching a Friend Chase Her Dreams

This is a friend of mine from work, Mysti. For those of you who don't know, we do tech support. She looks a bit out of place there with the rest of us nerds and geeks in our strange t-shirts, but she's pretty good at what she does. The problem is, she doesn't want to do it forever. She wants to be a model. Not too long ago, she decided to stop thinking about it and start doing it. She's been taking classes after work and doing whatever it takes to bring her dreams to life. (There are a bunch more photos if you're curious.)

That's the way to do it. Stop dreaming. Start doing. That's why I bought my cheap little camera and started figuring out how to film things.

So to Mysti, I say congratulations. You're on your way.

To everyone else, I say this: Stop making excuses and start making things happen.

Because I'm Bored Too Often

I've found this silly little game that I've been playing, and I thought you guys (if it's still plural!) might want to join in. Head on over to http://eltriant.mybrute.com and create a character. Your little dude will do all the fighting for you. It's simple and addictive, but really doesn't take that much time.

Okay, okay. The real reason I'm blogging this is because if you sign up under me I get experience points.

My New Project

I know, I know, another blog. And I swore I would never get on this blogging bandwagon... I'm actually starting a blog as a way to make announcements and keep track of our goals in my latest project. I'm calling it Illusionext. That's the name we used for our little dragon film about a year ago, and I think it's time that Illusionext got a bit more recognition.

I'm a storyteller and an entertainer. While I may not yet be the best one ever, that's where my passion is. I intend to pursue it as fervently as I can. Right now I'm armed with just a little Flip camera and a copy of Adobe Premiere Elements, but it's enough.

Star Wars Episode III That Could Have Been

I've been toying with this idea for a while. I don't know if I'll ever actually do any more with it, but I wanted to at least post the outline that I came up with. In the interest of full disclosure, the initial idea actually came from my brother, and the outline is based on the Feminine Hero's Journey (the same as The Wizard of Oz, Titanic, and The Matrix). I actually thought that Star Wars: Episode III was pretty good, but it could have been a lot better. So here's my take on it.

Star Wars Episode III Rewrite

Act 1
Stage 1: The Illusion Of A Perfect World
Anakin is fighting in the Clone Wars. He is hiding his marriage to Padme. Palpatine declares himself Emperor.

Stage 2: The Betrayal or Realization
Obi-Wan discovers that Padme is pregnant, and reluctantly decides to tell the council. Padme is taken away, and Anakin is told that the child will learn the ways of the force in anonymity. Palpatine offers an alternative through the Dark Side, and Anakin realizes that he is Darth Sidius.

Stage 3: The Awakening - Preparing for the Journey
Anakin dreams of his mother's death, and sees a vision of Padme dying. He decides that he can not lose Padme. The council sends Obi-Wan after General Grevious to keep him away from Anakin. After being rejected again by the council, Anakin accepts Palpatine's help, who renames him Darth Vader.


Act 2
Stage 4: The Descent - Passing the Gates of Judgment
Vader storms the Jedi Temple to find Padme. Palpatine has convinced him that all Jedi must die, and executes the order for the clone troopers to destroy the Jedi as well. Yoda escapes death and then sends Obi-Wan away with Padme. Vader returns to Palpatine as Mace Windu comes to arrest him. Vader kills Mace Windu. Palpatine tells Vader where Padme is.

Stage 5: The Eye of the Storm
Vader finds Padme, who says she barely recognizes him. He promises to change for her.

Stage 6: All Is Lost
Yoda faces Palpatine and loses. Obi-Wan comes to stop Vader. Vader blames Obi-Wan for everything, and they start fighting. Padme is hurt in the crossfire. Vader loses, but Obi-Wan is unable to kill him.


Act 3
Stage 7: Support
Palpatine rescues Vader. Padme is taken to a hospital.

Stage 8: Rebirth - The Moment of Truth
Vader's cybernetics are attached. Padme gives birth to twins.

Stage 9: Full Circle - Return to a Perfect World.
Vader begins his reign with Emporer Palpatine, and hunts the Jedi. Padme lives on Alderaan with Leia. Yoda retreats to Dagobah. Obi-Wan takes Luke to Tattooine.

Time Travel Is Not Good For My Wife's Brain

If any of you aren't watching this little show called Terminator, you're seriously missing out. Hulu has the most recent episodes, but if you're really behind, I suggest you go rent the first season. Or buy it. You won't regret it.

Anyway, last night was the season finale (Let's hope it's not the series finale). I won't get too spoilerific here, but there was a bit of time travel at the end. My wife absolutely hates it when they do that. Add to that the episode of Dollhouse that was on after it, which was not in chronological order, and she was lost. It quickly reminded me why she never watched Journeyman with me. At first I was confused, because she liked Quantum Leap (Isn't Hulu awesome?!), and Journeyman was similar, but she said it gave her a headache.

Here I think is the difference between the old time travel stuff we've seen, like Quantum Leap and even the first Terminator movie, and the new crazy stuff like Journeyman and the new Terminator series. Quantum leap generally had standalone stories. For forty some minutes you were transported to a seemingly random place and time, and at the end of it, you left. The next time you came, it started all over. In the original Terminator movie, we followed Sarah Connor's timeline, which was affected quite a lot by two people who came into her life out of no where. In all honesty, when they were from didn't really matter to her at the time. You could easily enjoy the movie without trying to understand the time travel aspects of it.

Before I get to Journeyman and the new Terminator series, I should mention Terminator 2, as well as Back to the Future. Both of these movies (and I know there are a lot more, but these are my examples) had two timelines each. They both had a time that wasn't quite so pleasant, then the hero went back in time and changed it. Somewhat more complicated, but still not too crazy.

Unless you want to count the paradox that is the end of Terminator 2 (this is the part where my wife's head explodes). The Terminator was destroyed so that Skynet wouldn't be created. But if Skynet wasn't created, then the Terminator wouldn't even be built, let alone sent back in time to stop Skynet. Which would mean that Skynet would be created, and he would be sent back. Yeah, spin-dee-go-whirly with the gray matter. There are two ways to deal with this problem. First, you can say that the universe explodes. Hate when that happens. Second, you can say that the timeline splits, creating a multiverse. You then have alternate realities. For Terminator 2, we had 2. If you count the entire Back to the Future trilogy, there were a few more than that, but not much.

Okay, now we get to my point. Finally. There was at least one different reality for each episode of Journeyman. Every time he went back in the past, he changed his present. He even came back once to find out that he no longer had a son, but a daughter. For Terminator, someone over at io9 did some work and found 10 different timelines, and I'm sure after last night's episode they're going to have to modify that list. I find every one of them fascinating. My wife, on the other hand, would rather not read that article.

So, all of this ridiculously long post brings me to two questions. First, is this the reason that they aren't advertising the time travel aspects of the new Star Trek movie? The movie doesn't even make sense to me without them, and Trekkies (or whatever they call us today) are already familiar with the idea, but are they trying to make sure my wife is still willing to watch the movie? Second, how is this so different from any mystery movie that gives you clues in a seemingly random order?

All right guys, I know I have at least three readers for my blog. :-) Tell me what you think.

UPDATE: Now That's Just Wrong

NASA needs a name for a piece of the International Space Station, and they've decided to put it to a vote. The choices they offered are Earthrise, Legacy, Serenity, and Venture. Now, anyone who knows me knows what I voted for (and they'll let you vote once a day, so I keep going back). Apparently there's a lot of people who agree with me too, because Serenity was up to 89% of the votes.

Until Stephen Colbert decided to butt in. Yeah, Colbert. The Comedy Central guy. (I'll warn you, the site makes the unpardonable sin of making the video play immediately.) This is just sick and wrong. I don't watch much tv, so I apparently don't even know how to pronounce the guy's name, but I still highly doubt that he has much of anything to do with space, and I'd be very surprised if he's done anything worthy of getting even a small rock named after him, let alone a space station. He's a comedian. And he seems to think we should vote for him. Uh, no. Sorry.

But he's winning. (The numbers on the site don't reflect the suggestions.)

Gratefully, NASA doesn't have to listen. From their rules:

NASA will take into consideration the results of the voting. However, the results are not binding on NASA and NASA reserves the right to ultimately select a name in accordance with the best interests of the agency, its needs, and other considerations. Such name may not necessarily be one which is on the list of voted-on candidate names. NASA’s decision shall be deemed final.

So basically, we need two things. We need people who actually care what the thing might be called to vote, and we need to pray that NASA isn't so stupid as to take a suggestion like this seriously.

Go vote. And go back tomorrow and vote too.

UPDATE: While Colbert didn't win, NASA didn't take it's own poll very seriously anyway. It has been named Tranquility.

What is With People Anyway?

"If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all."

I've been noticing this for a while now, but I finally found some examples that aren't full of profanity. The internet seems to be overflowing with people who insist on making extremely negative comments. Why they feel this need is beyond me. It seems like they could find something productive to do, but then again, that would defeat the purpose of the internet.

First example. Take a look at Wired Magazine's gallery for the new Tesla Roadster. Gorgeous car, ridiculously expensive, insanely fast, and all electric. Now, I have to applaud the fact that there's no "First post!" on this (I'd bet that Wired would just delete it anyway), but if you look at the second post, it starts with "B O R I N G !" Yeah, it's so terribly boring that you decided to not only read it, but take the time to comment on it.

Another example. The Sci-Fi Wire recently changed their format completely, and they've been getting all kinds of complaints ever since then. There was a recent article about a Harry Potter actor getting murdered, and some genius decided to put "Why state the obvious? And why is this story, tragic though it is, deemed suitable for inclusion on this site?"

I think you get the point. I'm in some ways glad that I don't have a blog popular enough to have to worry about these things.

So Apparently My Idea's Been Done

I've been gathering research material for the board game I'm working on, and making some progress. Then I bought this Transformers board game from Wal-Mart, and it has almost exactly the game mechanic I was planning on using. Now, this doesn't mean that I'm going to quit working on the game, because mine will have a bit more depth than the Transformers one, and mine has freakin' Superman (no offense to Optimus Prime or anything), so it just has to be done. Stay tuned. If you're still reading, that is. :-)

My Prediction For Sarah Connor

I have a prediction on how Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will end. At least, this is how I would end it.

We'll jump back for a moment to Terminator 2.

John Connor: Can you learn stuff you haven't been programmed with so you could be... you know, more human? And not such a dork all the time?

The Terminator: My CPU is a neural net processor; a learning computer. But Skynet pre-sets the switch to read-only when we're sent out alone.

Sarah Connor: Doesn't want you doing too much thinking, huh?

The Terminator: No.

Skynet controlled him completely, which logically means that Skynet has direct control over every single terminator and machine that works under it. Skynet is a single computer that has become a single consciousness. In effect, a single person.

Now, Sarah Connor's strategy for keeping Skynet from taking over is to make sure that no computer ever becomes that powerful. This seems a little extreme to me. One computer tries to take over the world, so all computers are evil? Wait, uh... No. I don't think so. Call me ridiculously geeky since we're talking about computers, but that sounds like racism to me.

We've seen a few terminators that have been perfectly capable of not only protecting humans, but getting right close to loving them. There's even a small group of people in the series that are trying to keep John Connor from falling in love with Cameron. If he's in love with a machine, how can he fight them?

Well, there's the problem. There is no "them." There is only one machine that they have to fight.

And here's my solution. If I were fighting a big powerful machine, you know what I would want? My own big powerful machine. And I believe that's what John Connor will want to do. We've already seen him embrace technology. We've seen him trust machines. I personally would like to see the series end with an army of terminators marching on Skynet.

How awesome would that be? Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about... :-D

I Don't Think Anyone Understands Autism

Jenny was just diagnosed autistic last week. Honestly, it doesn't mean a whole lot to us, except that she gets to go to preschool now. She barely meets the qualifications for autism.

I have been reading up a bit on autism lately, and a news article just happened to pop up that I found rather interesting. There's a belief out there that autism is being caused by vaccines (there's also some that believe it's caused by the way our food is processed).

Now, I'm not the only person who thinks that autism is pretty closely related to ADHD (I was diagnosed with adult ADHD about 6 months ago). They seem pretty similar to me.

Anyway, I have a theory on why we're seeing it more than we used to. I think it's just that. We're seeing it more. It's not that it is happening more, it's just that it's diagnosed more. No one said I was ADHD when I was a kid, they just said I was really active. It wasn't until recently (after a head injury that seems to have made it worse) that I even worried about it. I tend to think that a lot of people I knew growing up would have been diagnosed autistic if they were kids now.

I also have a problem with calling anything of the sort a disorder, but that's another rant for another day perhaps.

Five Ways to Fix Broken MMOs

This is in direct response to the Fidgit article "Five reasons MMOs are Broken," and since no one ever reads this blog, I'll probably post this in the comments for the original article as well.

Let me start by saying that I don't play MMOs. I tried Guild Wars, and hated the grind. I'm too cheap for WoW. I'm looking forward to seeing what some of the up and coming MMOs have to offer, especially Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I'm not holding my breath.

5) The problem: subscription fees

The solution: A one time fee, or a subscription. Not both. It is ridiculous to think that for me to get into WoW now, I would have to pay almost $100 for the games, and then have to pay $15 a month to play the game that I already payed for.

4) The problem: aggro

The solution: Don't make the enemy AI so obviously stupid. There is a real world precedent for the strongest one in the team to be a distraction, but at some point the enemy should figure out that they're being played.

3) The problem: button lock

The solution: Get rid of all the freakin' numbers already! You don't hear people in the military referring to anyone as an "E5 Soldier," they say "Sergeant." No one (well, outside of the geek community) says their health is down to 50%, they actually describe how they feel. And is it so much to ask for a minimalist approach to the HUD?

2) The problem: static worlds

The solution: Start with user generated content. I don't necessarily mean importing 3d models and textures, I just mean let the player actually build something. As far as the quests go, don't make them so easy. If it's something that people will have to team up to do, and takes them a very long time, then it's something they can be proud of. Especially if there was another group racing to do the same thing.

1) The problem: you can't play with the people you want to play with

The solution: Is this really a problem? Everyone I know that plays WoW is usually talking to their friends at work about the raid that they're going to do that night. In any case, the best way to make more advanced players want to group with new players is to have some sort of reward for it that can't be achieved any other way, just as teachers do in the real world.

My MMORPG Idea

MMO ideas are like (insert your own analogy here) - everybody's got one, and they all... whatever. But anyway, here's mine. Just so my reader (if I have such a thing) is aware, I don't really play MMOs. World of Warcraft is not my thing. There are a few MMOs coming out that look promising, but as of right now, I don't play.

So far I'm calling my idea "Sovereign." Honestly, it wouldn't matter whether it was sci-fi or fantasy. I would like to see a game that encourages people to really group together. None of this "Yeah, well, so-and-so is in my guild, so you don't want to mess with me!" garbage. I mean get together and make a city.

The player would start in an existing city where there is no PvP. There would be NPCs that could do pretty much anything you need - sell, trade, train, whatever. This stuff is pretty normal.

In that city your home would be in a sort of apartment complex. You might give the player an instance of their own sort of home that they could play with a bit, kind of like Playstation Home has now.

What would set this apart though would be the ability to leave the city, go to the PvP area, and build a home. This would be a persistent addition to the game, meaning that even after you log off, the house is still there. Here's where the problem with a persistent world becomes the strength of this game. So, you're not online. Your house is just sitting there, and you're hoping no one attacks it. What's the best plan? Some security would help, and that would definitely be in the game, but the best way is to find someone who can defend it. And it would take more than one guy to have it always defended, so you'd end up with this small community of people all helping each other out.

It would of course be best for that community if each member had something more to contribute than just a sword (or whatever weapon they have). The community should be self-sustaining. Forget the NPC's. Let the players have professions that help each other. Soon those communities would become cities and maybe even countries. Alliances would be formed, wars would start. I'm sure you see where I'm going with this.

I would also allow for players to become some sort of gypsy, nomad, mercenary, traveling salesman, or other type of character that doesn't necessarily have a home. Maybe a vehicle for a home. Not everyone feels like being friendly.

Okay, so now the weakness in my plan. It would only work if there were a LOT of people in the game. No, we don't need 11 million like WoW, but there would have to be quite a few, and it would probably have to be worldwide so someone can watch your house at night.

The technical requirements might be a bit of a pain, but not impossible. We already have games where we can build our own stuff, and we already have vehicles. It would also require a lot of professions. A bunch of mini-games would have to be thrown in for those professions, like raising livestock, mining, that sort of thing.

Anyway, the benefits of this kind of game would mostly be the sense of community that would develop. The other would be that players would have a sense of obligation to continue playing on a regular basis, because other players depend on them.

So there's the overall plan for an MMO. I have plenty of ideas for some of the little details, but they're things that I'd like to see in any MMO, so I'll save them for another post.

Technically, I'm Overweight

Yeah, that's me. The fat guy. Oh, wait. No I'm not! Anyone who's ever seen me would describe me as the tall skinny guy, but according to my BMI, I'm overweight. 6' 2" and 200 lbs is a BMI of 25.68. And anything over 25.00 is overweight.

Now, I did notice the little disclaimer after my results, "BMI can not determine between the overweight and the more muscular." But here's the thing. I'm not that muscular either.

So, to use what is probably an outdated phrase, what gives? Honestly, I have no idea.

I'm not going to get into all of my opinions on the types of models and actresses out there. That's been argued way too many times already. It's one thing for a couple of industries to tell us that we need to be super thin, but it's another entirely for this calculator to be used on every last one of us. I had never even considered it until I found out that my life insurance would be higher because of it. It just seems to me that something so fundamentally flawed shouldn't be so commonly used.

Narnia Lives On!

Okay, I know my posts are totally random, but whatever.

I love the Narnia books. They are probably some of the best I have ever read. Sure, they're written for a younger audience, but they don't insult your intelligence, and they manage to make you think of things that don't even seem to be in the writing. C.S. Lewis was probably one of the smartest people to ever walk this earth. His religious writings are definitely worth a read as well.

So I was not happy when Disney dropped the Narnia franchise. I didn't really care about Prince Caspian. The book wasn't that great. It was mostly just to bridge The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. For some reason, Disney decided that Caspian didn't make nearly enough money (It grossed about twice what it cost), and they wouldn't do The Dawn Treader.

Wait, what? No, bad! Bad! The Dawn Treader was the best book of all of them! This is bad!

But, apparently Fox has decided to pick it up. This makes me very happy.

By the way, for those of you who are wondering how I could be happy about Fox taking over something after what they did to Firefly, the Fox 2000 movie company is not the same as Fox TV. And Fox TV has been kind enough to bring us Terminator and Dollhouse anyway.

Why I haven't even played the new Tomb Raider game

I'm seeing all over the place how one of the most famous names in video games is having a lot of trouble lately. There's a rather good article at gamesetwatch about making Lara Croft more female friendly, and another (from the other end of the spectrum) about making it an M rated game.

Well, I can tell you three very specific reasons that my wife and I didn't buy the last game. They're the same reasons we still haven't finished the one before that.

One - Give me the freakin' camera already! I can't stand having the camera yanked around with the excuse of "cinematography". I'm all for making things as pretty as possible, but I don't know how many times I've been lining up a jump and the camera moved. And in case the developers haven't noticed, that makes the controls a little difficult.

Two - There's only one solution for the puzzles. The player's not allowed to come up with a solution, just to figure out what solution the designer wanted.

Three - the difficulty is not consistent. This is why my wife gets frustrated. She makes it through most of the game without having to stress much of anything, and then she gets to a boss fight, and suddenly she can't get past it because she doesn't know some combo move or another.

I'm sure you've noticed that I've linked to the same list repeatedly. None of these complaints are new. They're all at “Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie!” This isn't some obscure list, it's published annually at Gamasutra (the site for the game industry, for those who don't know). All the designers need to do is read what their peers have said.

Personally, I like the Tomb Raider games, there's just a few things that make the game almost unplayable. It's not that we don't like the story, or the look of the game, or any of that. It's just a few design tweaks. I hope to see the Tomb Raider games keep going for a long time.

I am Superman!

Apparently I'm Superman. Or, well, a rip off of him... Wait a second. Uh, anyway, see for yourself.

Noble and true, you are the hero other heroes aspire to be. You are a natural leader, selfless and kind, who will put the lives of others above your own, and are steadfast in your pursuit of justice.

Take the quiz!

And There It Was

One of my ideas from my last post actually showed up right after I posted it. Yes, I know that means someone has worked on it for years already, but it was nice to see it. The characters in the new Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe game actually take damage, specifically tearing their clothing when they get hit. It's not much of an indicator of your health - you still have to watch the health bar at the top of the screen, but it's an improvement. I like it.

Bye bye Linux. You'll be missed.

VS


This is really going to tick off one of my old mission friends, since he's a huge Ubuntu supporter, but I no longer run it. I have been using it for more than five years on a couple different machines, and it's even saved me a lot of headaches at times.

But here's the problem - If something goes wrong, I don't have a clue what to do. Yeah, I know, I can do a quick Google search and find the solution most times (most anyway), and the Linux community is always really helpful, but I really don't have time to fight with it. If something happens in Windows, I just fix it. It's pretty rare that I can't find the solution on my own. Linux assumes that you love the command line. Sure, Ubuntu does a really good job of putting the GUI right out there and making it easy, but like I said, if something goes wrong, I'm up a creek without a paddle.

So when Windows 7 showed up, I decided to give it a try. It was a testament to how little I used Ubuntu when I found that I only had one file on the computer, and I didn't even need it. Now, just to be clear, Windows 7 isn't the reason I dropped Linux, it just happened to come at the right time. I was ready to put XP back on that machine (we won't even get into why I'm not using the Vista cd that came with the laptop).

I'm still a big supporter of open source software. I love OpenOffice.org, and GIMP is freakin' awesome. If you're not using Firefox, you're really missing out (all though IE8 that came with Windows 7 is pretty impressive). But I need an OS that I understand, and that I know how to fix quickly when something weird happens.

And just in case you're wondering, Windows 7 is pretty sweet.

Crazy Kids!

I just uploaded a huge Flickr set of pictures of the kids. These were included in the "Monster Book of Monsters" that we made for Genae for Christmas.