As if the next couple weeks aren't going to be bad enough...

So Ken and I went to the batting cages on Friday. We have to go to Boomers because the other place closed down (after we went once). Boomers is a miniature golf course, bumper boats, batting cage, laser tag type place.

Anyway...

So after hitting the john, I'm walking back through the lobby area out towards the batting cages and I hear, from some teeny bopper behind me

"Well, we'd be out there already if this old guy in front of us would move quicker"

...

I should have said something, but I just continued to walk...almost numb. She was over half my age, but well, yea, I'm going to be 30 on April 4th. :( Where did time go?

I miss my sister

This is my sister Heather, her husband Christopher, and my niece Chloe (not sure if there is an accent mark or not). This was us at the first Star Wars Celebration (held in Denver, can't remember the year). I think this was the first time that my sister was exposed to what would eventually end up being my career. I was demoing Young Jedi at the convention. She was bright eyed and had a big smile on her face. She is probably the second most important person when it comes to my career (the first being Marnie, because well, she has put up with everything). My sister was the first to teach me how to play Magic:the Gathering all those years ago. I remember losing to her the first few times, but being ultra competitive I had to get better at the game (because, well you know, I couldn't let my sister beat me at anything). I did get better, but I always enjoyed playing her. She enjoys the game on a very innocent level. She's not competitive (I mean, I'm sure she likes to win, but it's not the be all end all for her), she loves to play the game honest, and most of all, she like to play for fun. If only every player in the industry was more like my sister.

I also have to say that out of all my family members, I think she is the one that has stuck by me the most. I know that I wasn't the best brother growing up, but everytime I talk to her she always tells me that she is proud of me. That always brings a smile to my face. She is the one that most supported me (out of my family) when it came to my career choice and she always seems excited to hear about my job. I love my sister and I really need to go visit her.

N er gee

So they are trying to balance out my new meds (from the incident back in November). I'm back on anti-ADD medication, a mood stabilzer, and an anti-depressant. The mood stabilizer is new and my shrink said that he has had great success with it and eventually I won't need the anti-depressant (which is awesome because it has a side effect that most men won't consider a bad side effect, but I do).

Anyway...

So I am finding myself with a ton more energy. They are gradually increasing my dosage of the mood stabilizer (a side effect is a really really bad rash if you start at a high dosage). I'm up to about 200mg a day of it and for the past week and a half my energy level has been pretty high. I am either hitting the batting cages or playing basketball every day it seems like. I'm in a work league for basketball. I am playing sundays at the local rec center. They run full-short courts (side to side rather than up and down the main court). I'm still having trouble getting up and down the court for the whole 12 minutes, but I am breathing less hard and am not completely exhausted afterwards. Another problem has cropped up though. My body hasn't caught up to the new energy level. A week ago I hyper-extended my right elbow and yesterday I had massive shin-splints and could only go 2 games (rather than the usual 4 games). I did go help some coworkers move into their new house later in the day and wasn't short of energy then.

I think the big thing for me is I'm not making excuses for doing stuff. Before I would say stuff like "that's too much effort" or "it's so far away". Not so much anymore. It's time to get the bike out and get the tires re-inflated. I'm pretty excited. As a side note, I'm eating less now too.

One of my best friends

me and jay webb at Gamer's Edge.

For reference, that suave broski on the left is frenchie and the chick is steph.

You bunch of buffers

Marnie has recently started watching this show on iTunes. She said it's probably one of the funniest shows she has seen in awhile and has nothing but praise for it. She convinced me to start watching it (after we bought the DVDs for Season 1 and she sat through Resident Evil: Extinction with me).

I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying this show. I think the acting is very well done. I like the people I'm supposed to like and I hate the people I'm supposed to hate. The show has some very geniune funny moments and there are also a fair share of heart tugging moments. I haven't cared for Minnie Driver in the past, but I think she's pretty hot and does a good job in this show. Eddie Izzard has always been funny and he brings great comedy to the table in this show.

I'm also very intrigued by the whole traveler philosophy/lifestyle. They have their own set of rules and often break the law. It is interesting to watch how they interact with the buffer lifestyle on a daily basis, especially when the morals conflict with their own beliefs.

Anyway, I think the show is funny and entertaining. I can't wait to finish watching Season 1 (we are heading into the last disk) and Season 2 starts on March 14. It's also nice to see Marnie watching something other than reality crap (Rock of Skank 2 and Flav needs a hootchie 3).

Da Big Shaq Daddy

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this. I'm freaking estatic about the Big Shaq Daddy landing in the valley of the sun. If Kobe hadn't been lights out tonite (sure, the Lakers big three shot 65% from the field), Shaq would have had a great debut. Watching Shaq clog up the lane and Stoudamire scooping up the offensive rebound was pretty. They are still getting used to each other, but I must say, I liked what I saw.

Random Memories

So I was watching VH-1 today (we have it set up for the TV to turn on as a backup alarm) and a video came on. It was a couple that sang the song from the movie Once. I don't know who they are, however, one thing stuck with me.

The dude playing his guitar has the freaking guitar strings not cut at the end of his guitar. They are just dangling there, looking totally unkept. I remember when my sister, Heather, told me that this sort of thing pissed her off and I tend to agree. It pissed me off this morning to no end.

I can die a happy man now

Well, it finally dropped. I lost count around 32 or so successful attempts at Chess, but the damned King's Defender finally dropped. My WoW career is complete in my eyes. This is the single most sought after piece that I have been coveting since the expansion came out. It was within reach and easily obtainable, but I just never got it. That is all in the past now, for today I am a real tank.

I'm excited

Watch the Trailer on Yahoo! Movies

In case you missed the announcement

We are doing a new product

WoW Minis

I originally thought that we were going to be hurt by Figureprints coming out, but they are so swamped and slow in getting out their figures, that I think this product won't be hurt by that when it comes to the casual consumer.

Snore Bowl

The commercials were kinda meh. I liked the Victoria's Secret, Bridgestone, Pepsi...i think that was about it.

The game was pretty fun to watch. It was a well played game by both teams and very low penalties. It would have been some heroics for Brady to pull it out, but he didn't.

GG 72 Dolphins.

Sometimes they have quotas to fill

Marnie and I were out and about today, feeling kinda bummed because our internet signal at the new house is pretty weak. They are installing an amplifier this next week, so until then we have to unplug it from the splitter and plug it directly into the wall.

Anyway....

I turn right onto Vista Way as we head to Bed, Bath and Beyond. The jeep is a little sluggish so I give it some gas and as we crest the hill I look in my rearview, guess what I see? Yea, a boy in blue on his bike, giving me the flashers. I pull over, he saunters up on Marnie's side. He's like "Do you know why I pulled you over?" Of course I don't, and well Marnie was a little beside herself. He proceeded to then ask me what the speed limit was. I replied that it was 45 mph. He said it is now, but back by the light it was 40 mph. I apologize and said I thought all of Vista Way was 45 mph (which, I believe the rest of it is, even by the residential portion). He said he clocked me at 55 mph. Marnie about fell out of the jeep. She said that she was pretty sure I wasn't going that fast because she would have yelled at me for going that fast. He then tried to get me for not wearing a seatbelt either.

I explained that I was a large man and that I had to take it off the get the registration out of the glove box. He said he was sure that he didn't see me wearing a seatbelt. He came back with a ticket for the speeding and said that he would let me off with a warning for the seatbelt. Well, Marnie and I were pretty upset at that point, but I just took the ticket and said I would drive safer.

The ticket is $160. I can spend an extra $28 on top of that and go to traffic school to make sure it doesn't go on my insurance. I guess the increase in insurance will be more than $28 so I will go to traffic school.

What was more interesting is that we went back that way after coming back from the store and he had pulled over someone else as well. Interesting...

Relocation

No...I haven't moved to Colorado.

The Mrs. and I relocated to a new abode two days ago. We are still in Oceanside, but we are in a house with a yard now. We are in a semi-duplex with a nice older couple. We share a kitchen, but other than that, we have one whole side of the house to ourselves. The dogs have a front yard and they love it.

If you need to get the address from me, go ahead and send an email to my yahoo account.

Just like Gallagher

Went and saw this saturday night and lemme tell you, it was everything I expected it to be and more. This movie has feeling and it envokes you to care about stuff. Rambo III didn't really make me care about something, this one does.

Now that the mushy stuff is done, holy crap. He fishes with a freaking compound bow. He gives you the thousand yard stare if you try to agitate him. From the opening sequence of a mine blowing body parts everywhere (would have been awesome in 3-D) to the ending shots of them picking through the body parts, there is a lot of action and a lot of carnage. Not for the feint of heart or the usual movie critic. It's a blood and guts action movie, straight from the 80s. You love the good guys and you hate the bad guys. There is no redeeming quality at all about them, you just straight out hate the bad guys and you cheer when they die. It's awesome.

Things I wish would have happened -
I wish they would have played up his crafting the knife a bit more (hopefully in the extended edition).
I had hoped they would have shown more of the "give him to the pigs" action.
I had hoped that they would have blew up the stage area in the baddies camp.

Overall, I thought it was awesome and got me reinvigored to see the rest of the Rambos again. This might make my top 100, I'll have to re-evaluate it. If you are easily sickened by body parts/blood, etc don't go see the movie. It was a shame that it lost to a spoof the opening weekend.

I get goose bumps

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MsMoonlight

Marnie's FigurePrint came in yesterday. I must say, I think it's cool, but up close, I was disappointed with the grainyness of it. Her hair isn't completely black (it's dark grey and purple in spots). With all that aside, I think it still looks pretty cool.







And for reference (her figure print outfit is different)

Killing my neighbors...softly

So back when my sister, Heather and her family, visited in Arizona, they brought a playstation game with them. It was called Singstar (don't remember which version it was). I had a blast playing it, despite the fact that I'm a horrible singer.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. Marnie and I are in a Gamestop checking out the new stuff (we haven't bought a new game since WoW) and I noticed a Singstar game on the shelf. I convinced her that it was awesome, so we got it and a used microphone. The Gamestop staff wasn't very friendly and they weren't very convincing that the microphone would work. But alas, I have a compulsive personality so I had to have it. We took it home and it didn't work, so we returned the game and the microphone the next day. A couple days later we went to Toys R Us and was looking around there for what was new and hip. We checked out the video game section and lo and behold, there was a packaged Singstar game with two microphones. We couldn't buy it fast enough.

We took it home and played for multiple hours. There was one major issue though, it was Singstar 80s. Marnie crushed me. And it only got worse on Madonna songs. Luckily a day or two later we found the Singstar Pop version. Well, new game, same results. There are only two songs that she can't seem to beat me at and those are Tricky and I Write Sins, Not Tragedies. Everything else, I get slaughtered. Our House? Nope. How about Take on Me? Not a chance. We are still having fun with it. This just makes my hatred for REM grow.

Oh yea...that's the stuff

So I dragged my almost 30, overweight ass to the movie theatre at around 10pm last night because I thought that with all the hype there might be lines and the whole nine yards. I was the only one in that particular movie theatre screen room thing until about 20 minutes before the show started (11:59). It filled up pretty quickly, but wasn't completely full. I had the middle seat in the front row of the second tier (where the bars are to rest my feet).

The Star Trek Teaser was great. It didn't reveal any of the plot points, it showed some dudes building the enterprise. And it had a Leonard Nimoy voice over with a flash of the Starfleet symbol to cap it off. I was significantly teased.

As for the movie itself...I was very satisified with my experience. I had expectations going into it and those expectations were met. I didn't mind the motion blur or the camera angles. There were several times where I actually felt that I was there running with them. They did a great job of not running the monster out on the screen to start the movie. I think it was a brilliant job of releasing little bits here and there and then showing some great shots of it in the middle and last half of the movie.

The actors/actresses didn't ruin it. They didn't over or under act IMO. They felt like they had development and there was just enough comedy in it to get a laugh here and there, but it wasn't overly goofy. I think almost all of the "decisions" were real enough for me (in terms of deciding what to do in a panic situation, etc).

I think the thing that really put it over the top for me was the fact that they did a couple scenes that, before the scene concluded I thought to myself "it would be cool if they went this route, but of course they won't". Well they ended up going that route several times and I was pretty impressed. They pulled it off with class as well. The other great aspect about this movie is that the sound is just as important as the visuals. There were times where I could shut my eyes and listen to what was happening and still be able to picture what was going on. I think that is a great tool to use every once in awhile for a movie. Also, the overture at the end was pretty epic (done by Skywalker sound)

I don't have any beefs with this movie. I know that not everybody will like it, there were even some "geeks" that were there that seemed to scoff at it. It is pretty artistic, especially with the start of the movie and the end of it. I didn't leave feeling unsatisified with the ending.

Overall, this movie will make it into my top 100 and I will probably see it more than once this weekend (I feel there were a bunch of background things that I missed).

PS - in the First Look portion in the beginning (before the previews) they showed clips of the new Knight Rider. It too looks watchable.

Believe the Hype!

I am thoroughly engrossed in the hype for this movie. There is so much viral marketing for this movie right now, it's ridiculous. There was even a Rickroll'ed trailer for it.

I have heard everything from it's the Deep Ones from Lovecraft, to it's a reboot of an American Power Rangers, to it's Voltron.

I'm so excited for this movie that I'm going to see it tonite at midnight. Also check out 1-18-08. I don't think I could be disappointed at this point. I love apolocylptic movies and the only way that this could fail is if all the action is in the trailers, they never show the monster ever, and if it turns out that I was "jerry maguired".

Only 35 days...

until you know what happens.

Tom should get this.

Mag is coming for you!

This past Tuesday, Magtheridon's Lair released for the World of Warcraft TCG. Why is this significant? This was the first product that I was Lead Design on for the World of Warcraft TCG. It was fun to design, but stressful as well. Each Raid has a new game engine and it's a challenge to find the right balance between enough "newness" without too much of a departure from the regular game mechanics so that players can still learn/play it relatively easily.

There are some very cool card designs that I'm particularly proud of in this set. Fiery Pits deals 15 damage for just 2 cost, but the way that we could get away with that much damage for such a small cost was that the raiding players got to choose where the 15 damage went. They could spread it out amongst their heroes and allies. Giving players the choice of how they take the punishment is a common theme throughout the raid deck. This type of design usually doesn't work in a 1 on 1 match because there aren't that many decision points, but in multiplayer, it's interesting to see the raiding players work out what the best case is for the damage. Another card in that vein is Swath of Destruction. The boss player just wants to get an ally threat off the table. He doesn't care much about getting the bonus from the rest of the card, but the raiding players have to decide which player can afford to give up the correct resources without being hamstrung to much by the outcome.

Another thing that I'm proud of is the design/look of the channelers.
Summoner Channeler x2
Dark Mending Channeler
Shadow Channeler x2
If you notice, they don't have borders on some of the cards, that's because when you have all 5 out at the start of the game, they form -

I had this vision from the very start and I was glad that everyone could pull it off so well.
So that's it, I'm neck deep in Set 8 design, but it's nice to see something that I was lead on made it to print and it's good to see the reactions of players. Also, thanks again to those that helped me during design, you weren't forgotten (I suggest picking up a rulebook).

My Daily Comic Rotation

Being a creature of habit, I like to come into work early so that I can get my daily webcomic viewing out of the way and actually start my day. I do this so it doesn't distract me throughout the day. Yea, I'm working on my OCD tendencies a bit. Anyway, here is my rotation -

Questionable Content - This is about a bunch of 20somethings and their daily lives. It has some musical references that I don't get. They were touching on some emotional issues for awhile that I took an interest in. It is a pretty funny comic.

Penny Arcade - This is a pretty common webcomic among my age group. They have plenty of game references and are funny. They poke fun at the computer gaming industry a lot, especially when corporations make questionable decisions.

Least I Could Do - This comic can get lewd sometimes, but the main character is funny and sometimes I wish I could be as brash and uninhibited as he is. There is a lot of pop culture references, especially to 80s toys/cartoons. Sometimes reading this makes me feel like I was hanging out with the boys back in AZ.

PVP - This is about employees of a gaming magazine and their exploits. This is another one that is chocked full of pop culture references and jokes. It tends to go on long story arcs which can get boring sometimes.

Looking For Group - A Dungeons and Dragons/Roleplaying comic. This is the newest in my rotation. It has some good comedic relief coming from the warlock. It really makes me miss DnD'ing with the boys from AZ.

Dilbert - This is probably my only mainstream comic. I have worked in an office setting before (game company withstanding) and this continues to be fairly accurate as to how things go down.

Non Sequitur - This is a funny comic from the point of view of a young girl. She has adult thoughts about politics and mannerisms of adults often talking to her stuffed horse that she thinks comes alive. It's a nice dose of high-brow humor.

Sinfest - This is probably my 'guilty pleasure'. It has a lot of lewd humor and pokes fun at organized religion.

XKCD - I don't know how to explain this comic. It's tagline is "A webcomic about romance, sarcasm, math, and language." I don't think I could explain it further. I know a lot of people won't get the jokes/humor coming from this comic.

That's it. I've dabbled in other ones, but this is my daily rotation. They are all pretty funny to me and I enjoy them. Do you have one that you would like to suggest to me?

A couple of casting calls

In the news, two of the biggest movies that I'm looking forward to have made some more casting.

Joining Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow has also been cast for the new G.I.Joe movie. I have a good feeling about this movie, despite it being made more of an international flair (with GIJoe standing for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity).

Also, Tyler Perry has been cast in Star Trek as the superintendent of Starfleet Academy. This is a small role, but evidently it is a crucial role because Tyler will be speaking to Kirk about a cheating scandal. There was foreshadowing in The Wrath of Kahn about the incident. I still think Syler as Spock was the best choice so far.

And we're back

to the grindstone. Went into work today and found that all the cubicle moves had been done. It truly looks like a cubicle farm now in the main Entertainment area. Luckily we have our own room for WoW R/D. It's funny to hear some people express concerns because they lost space and yet they still have more space than we do for each of our desks.

My set is about halfway done in terms of raw completed design. I still have a lot of concepts up in the air though. Need to nail them down as soon as possible.

Petting the StingRay

at the Zoo

2007 Girard Year in Review

Well, it's at the end of 2007 and these are my collected thoughts on my experiences in the past year.

CAREER

Back when I got my first job, working at Wendy's back in Great Falls, Mt, I made myself a promise. I promised myself that I would make a certain amount of money at a job by the time I reached 30 years of age. I have reached that mark and there are no signs that I have leveled off. I was given my first lead. Magtheridon's Lair is set to release in a week. It is difficult to measure success in this industry. If your product sells out, it could mean it was popular. It could also mean that the print run was small or that there was an additional bonus included in the product and that's why it sold, not based on gameplay? Is the product considered a success at that point? I would think so. I am lucky to have my designs published, there are many designer who aren't as lucky.

I am also Lead Designing my first full set for the World of Warcraft TCG. It will be Set 8 (not yet named). It will be out Spring of 09. I promise that it will chocked full of goodness. No spoilers yet.

I am on a very good R/D team. I get along with everyone on the team and I think they are all excellent at what they do. I hope our product continues to flourish.

Family

Marnie and I are enjoying California. We are moving away from our crappy apartment complex at the end of January. We are moving into a house that was made into a duplex. We will be sharing a kitchen with the other tenants. They are dog lovers so we think it's going to be amazing living there. We are paying the exact same in rent, going down a bathroom and a bedroom, but we are gaining a front yard. We can let the dogs out without having to leash them. We haven't been to Disneyland yet, which I know is a shame. We have been to the beach several times though. Both Melli and Grizzli are doing great and are healthy.

Health

I had a brief stint in a behavioral health facility back in November. This was part of the reason why I haven't been updating my blog regularly. I had some mental issues that I needed taking care of. It has been a long and painful process but I am back on the right road. Getting in to see a shrink has been a pain in my ass. I am on some medication now to help with some old problems and some new ones. Things are going better. As for the weight thing, my new medication is supposed to give me more energy as well as help me to keep focused. I plan on re-embarking on this venture.

WoW

Earnheart has been moved to Icecrown and is helping Dungeon Crawl progress. I changed his name because the joke wasn't as funny as it used to be and this mofo is clearly a force to be reckoned with. I also have Kaniya, who used to be Callyleia, and is now going to be a pvp player. Marnie got her paladin, Addisyn, up to 70 and she went from 800 to over 1200 healing a couple of nights ago in Kara. We still have multiple 70s on the Alliance side of Icecrown as well. WoW is still fun and we haven't grown tired of it yet.

Not much else went on in 2007. Another year gone. None of my sports teams did particularly well. I don't think there was anything really defining about the year that would make it stand out from any other year.

Goals for 2008

Continue to grow as a Game Designer and be more confident in my ability to design. Not have a nervous breakdown when I turn 30 years old. Marnie and I are looking forward to celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary (we are talking about renewing our vows). Lose a ton of weight and meet my goal. Just basically keep on, keeping on.

Page 92

For those of you in the know, you know what is on page 92. This was a very fun weekend and the first time that I was able to meet these guys face to face (I know, how unfortunate for them).

It's a shame they weren't smiling as much on Sunday.

Captain's Log

So it's a couple days late, but here are my thoughts about Captain's Log. However, before I do this, I forgot to mention another important person that helped me out during that time. Justin Beal was an integral part of this time period in Trek and a good friend.

One of the big things that I loved to do to get inspiration was just watch episodes. Just random episodes, during work, at home, anytime I could. I would write down what I thought was a good scene to do a screen pull from and go back and get that as an image. This is some of my favorite images from Captain's Log (For Reference - see this link for all the cards.

A Pattern of Lies - Another great face to face shot from the Trek universe.
Chameloid Chicanery - that's how she got out of the shackles (this was more about the title I think).
Nose to Nose - YEA!!! another cool face to face shot and an homage to other dilemmas that were similar.
Warp-Speed Transfer - it's cool for what it is, but could have been much better if we could show Tucker between them.
Larson - You may think that this is just a relatively lame personnel shot, but you have no idea how many hours went into getting this screen capture and then having art clean it up the best they can. This guy was on screen for a split second and there was just a split second when he wasn't moving. There was a lot of effort put into this one shot.
Worf/Jadzia in Red - This was orginally supposed to be promo cards (not sure if they were the sales incentive or not). This was a great pairing of images and worked really well on cardboard as well. I hope to explore these image pairings more in my current job, i think they look really well and players/collectors are pleasantly surprised when they notice them.
Quark's Treasure - It is really hard to get an action shot with some blur in it. I think this was an exceptional pull and if I remember right, suggested this design back during Necessary Evil or maybe Strange New Worlds. It wasn't the right time for it, but with Quark being the captain, it seemed to fit better in this set.


And of course, images that I wish could have been better, but the Decipher art department did a great job cleaning up nonetheless.

Compassionate Interference - jeez, blurry and was pulled in too far.
Krayton - another horrible image, but this was zoomed in and unblurred as much as possible.


As for the design of the set, the players loved Captains and Ships, so it was easy to give players more of what they loved, including some that they thought they might never see (Enterprise-C). I'm going to be honest here in that I felt that I did a better job on the previous set than I did with Captain's Log.

Next time, I'll talk a bit about boutique sets that were done under my watch.

All Good Things...

must come to an end.

I'm not going to talk about why they did this or how long this has been coming because..well, I don't know. Outside of chatting it up with one of my BFF, I don't really know what's going on there anymore. They still owe me money, but it's been a couple years and I don't think they are going to make good on it.

What I will talk about is the game. During the Black Year (2005), I was left with the task of being Lead Designer for both of Decipher's flagship products, LOTR:TCG and StarTrek2E. I couldn't have done it without the help I received (especially from Plaine, Kirk, Keller). I remember when I was sitting down to continue to design To Boldly Go (it was already partially done). I was thinking to myself, "how was I going to be able to do this without the grandfathers of trek?" It was going to be difficult, especially since I wasn't as experienced as my predecessors. I mean c'mon, my first trek design was this stainer card and we all know how much play that saw. I think my favorite cards based on gameplay from To Boldly Go were -
Go Big or Go Home
I have a soft spot for mini games
They aren't that bad...no really, they aren't
How about my favorite cards from an art/thematic/Girard point -
I love it when the picture tells the story
prettyblatent although, I don't know why I penciled myself in as the dead guy.
homage to Corbin
Wife's maiden name
Mikey makes an appearance
Kicked in the Knee!!!
and the Shoehorn card of the set - Data Chip this was not my finest hour.

I will talk about other sets I was lucky enough to work on tomorrow.

MRIs suck

So I went and got an MRI yesterday. My shoulders were too wide for the regular donut, so they moved me to the open scanner. The problem was the open one took 45 minutes. The doctor strapped me in and we chatted about Williams AFB (he was there in the late 70s). He finished by putting a plastic grid over my face, kinda like a football helmet, only closer to my face. About 30 minutes in, he needed to inject me with something and couldn't find a vein. I could tell he used to be military medicine because he liked to dig around in the arm, rather than start somewhere fresh. After failing a couple times in my right arm, he moved to my left hand. Another 15 minutes and I was done. Those suck.

Hopefully I'll get my results in a week or two. They are checking to see if my low testosterone is something wrong with my pituitary gland, rather than the reproductive organs.

MNF - Girard vs. McGregor

Well, the Dolphins are playing against the Steelers. I don't even know what the spread is. I stopped watching football when I drafted Shawn Alexander and Travis Henry in my main fantasy league (thank goodness I have Romo in that league too). I do know that the Patriots are going off and somehow the rag-tag bunch of Packers are playing well. With all that being said, I'm watching tonite and rooting for the Dolphins to not go o'fer. I think they have a legit chance to win tonite.


And for those that went to Hometown Heroes in VA, yes, I will be clapping/cheering after every first down.

Things are better

for those of you that knew where I was, I am out and am better. Thank you for all of your thoughts. Things are better.

Eeyore knows whats up

He's clearly a B A

On the streets of ...this crappy city

I'm in Philadelphia this weekend, gunslinging and crushing players dreams with the Molten Core raid deck. I haven't been doing as well as I would have liked with the gunslinging, but I'm still undefeated with the raid deck.

This city sucks. I think it just might be the whole east coast. The weather here has been atrocious. It has rained pretty much the whole time. The buildings are all old and seem run down. The service is horrible. Heaven forbid that the waitress had to break up her conversation with the cook to just come and take our order. It just doesn't seem like anyone cares and doesn't really want to put forth the effort.

There is one saving grace - The Reading Terminal Market. This place is right across the street from the convention center and it's basically an indoor flea market for food. They have pretty much every kind of food you can think of there. The Amish breakfast was damn good, who knew that they could do eggs/bacon/toast so damn well. Had the chinese and it was tasty goodness. Even went for some overpriced cookies and they were pretty ridiculous as well. Only redeeming quality of this city IMO.

Marnie is ok back home. The fires didn't threaten our house all that much after all. Her and the girls are doing fine and I'll be back in town Monday afternoon.

And SoCal continues to burn

Work was closed today, I have been glued to the TV. There was a new fire that cropped up out by Palomar Mountain, the Poomacha Fire (SE of the Fallbrook fire). This fire, as I type this, is quickly becoming huge, it is just burning through houses out there. Supposedly, if this fire combines with the Fallbrook fire, the 76 corridor could be in trouble. I'll keep you posted, but for now we are ok.


View Larger Map

Yea...so I'm not burning yet

Yea, it's really really close. A buddy of mine's wife is a teacher and her school is closed.

The sky is half black with smoke. Big wall of smoke. Marnie and I aren't threatened...yet.

* UPDATE *

So I haven't posted here in awhile, almost a month now. I never meant to let it lax this long. Here are a couple updates from me.

- The Colorado Rockies -
Jeez, talk about a hot team. I wasn't able to watch most of the Dbacks/Rockies series but the small amount that I did see the Rockies just looked better. They are streaking like hell and should go on to win the World Series. I thought Arizona was a better team, but it didn't matter. I think that if it's Indians/Rockies, it will be the least watched World Series in the history of the MLB.

- Vera -
Marnie's grandmother, Vera Corr, recently passed away. Marnie and I are in mourning and Marnie is sad that she wasn't able to get a hold of her a week ago. I thought Vera was a very strong woman and was always very kind to me, even though I don't think she liked me to start. She saw how I treated Marnie and she knew that Marnie was happy with me so that made her happy as well. I am very disappointed with how her affairs are being taken care of. It would seem like her children are just rushing to put her to rest and I don't know if they really knew what her wishes were. Marnie is sad over the way it is being handled and I am sad as well. Marnie and I are planning to visit, probably next spring or summer to pay our respects.

- My health -
I have been on a couple different medications for a couple weeks now. I had a bad episode about 2-3 weeks ago where I feel that I was stuck in a rut and needed to get out. It wasn't as bad as it was in Arizona before I started to see my shrink, but it was down there. I went and got tested and learned that I was low on testosterone in my system. So the doctor prescribed Andro as well as some anti-depressants. The Andro comes in the form of a patch which I have to rotate the location of so it doesn't irritate my skin to much. I must say it is annoying, but for the first week I could definitely feel the effects. It wasn't as if my blood was boiling, but it was warmer overall and I just felt different. It is too bad that I won't be able to race in the Tour de France now, but on the brightside, I could start setting homerun records any day now.

- My Weight -
It hasn't be going down lately. I actually haven't weighed in for a couple weeks now and I'm afraid that I gained some weight. Marnie has been fixing my meals so I have been eating at regular intervals and the medication has helped the boredom/nervous eating a bit. I'm really going to have to buckle down if I want to hit my goal.

- 30th Anniversary -
Happy 30th Anniversary Mr. Lucas. I will continue to spend money on your franchise as I am still a big fan.

Sigh

Worst Collapse in the History of Sports!

I guess this is what it feels like to be a Brewers fan.

F Football, I'm watching NBC

Chuck

I had my reservations about this show, but I think it delivered. It has a couple B list actors and I don't know how long they can pull of the charade, but it had plenty of good one liners and he sold me on being a nerd. Obviously his ring tong was awesome!

Heroes

Jeez, this show just keeps delivering. Did you see Nathan bump into Ando? Marnie did, even before I pointed it out to her. I love this show. Who is Nathan, is it Sylar? Was Peter meant to be found by the irish guys? Is poor Hiro gonna be locked in feudal Japan all season? I hope not. This show continues to be an A in my book.

oh...and I really really wanna buy a Nissan Rogue. No idea why, but I feel compelled to go out and buy one.

Week 3

Last week was tough, there were a couple upsets. Who knew that Cleveland would wake up and put up big points vs. Cincy. I ended up going 10 for 15, which is only good for 67%. This week has to be better.


Date & Time Favorite Spread Underdog
9/23 1:00 ET Indianapolis -6 At Houston
9/23 1:00 ET San Diego -5.5 At Green Bay
9/23 1:00 ET At Kansas City -3 Minnesota
9/23 1:00 ET At Philadelphia -6 Detroit
9/23 1:00 ET At New England -16.5 Buffalo
9/23 1:00 ET At NY Jets -3 Miami
9/23 1:00 ET At Pittsburgh -9.5 San Francisco
9/23 1:00 ET At Baltimore -7.5 Arizona
9/23 1:00 ET At Tampa Bay -3.5 St. Louis
9/23 4:05 ET At Denver -3 Jacksonville
9/23 4:05 ET At Seattle -3 Cincinnati
9/23 4:05 ET At Oakland -3 Cleveland
9/23 4:15 ET Carolina -4 At Atlanta
9/23 4:15 ET At Washington -3.5 NY Giants
9/23 8:15 ET At Chicago -3 Dallas

Monday Night Football Point Spread
9/24 8:30 ET At New Orleans -4 Tennessee

It will be a miracle if I win 11 this week.

2.5 Games!!!!

Take that Buckner!!!

Week 2

The AZ lose put me below 80% last week. Still over 70% so it wasn't that bad. The week was easier though, here are my pics for week 2.


Date & Time Favorite Spread Underdog
9/16 1:00 ET At Pittsburgh -10 Buffalo
9/16 1:00 ET Cincinnati -7.5 At Cleveland
9/16 1:00 ET Indianapolis -7 At Tennessee
9/16 1:00 ET At Carolina -6.5 Houston
9/16 1:00 ET At St. Louis -3 San Francisco
9/16 1:00 ET At NY Giants -2.5 Green Bay
9/16 1:00 ET At Jacksonville -10.5 Atlanta
9/16 1:00 ET New Orleans -4 At Tampa Bay
9/16 4:05 ET At Detroit -3 Minnesota
9/16 4:05 ET Dallas -4 At Miami
9/16 4:05 ET Seattle -3 At Arizona
9/16 4:15 ET At Baltimore -10 NY Jets
9/16 4:15 ET At Denver -10 Oakland
9/16 4:15 ET At Chicago -12 Kansas City
9/16 8:15 ET At New England -3.5 San Diego

Monday Night Football Point Spread
9/17 8:30 ET At Philadelphia -7 Washington

Not many upsets this week. You have to be careful when picking upsets, you can't force them.

We are official california residents

Went to the DMV today to get licenses and registration for both vehicles. Marnie has been worried this whole time because you have to take a written test. She looked over the handbook and was stressing pretty hard. I said, "meh, I'll be fine."

You could miss 6 out 36. She missed 5 and I missed....2.

The two I missed were, what is the blood alcohol level in which it is illegal to drive? The options were .05, .08, .10. I chose .05, for the state of california, the answer is .08. The other question I missed was When do you have to fill out a (SR1) form for the DMV. The answers were like 90 days past due registration, get in an accident and the damages are over $750, and getting a traffic violation. The answer is #2, I chose #1. Oh well, I got the "paperwork" questions wrong and actually undershot on the blood alcohol level one.

I just find humor in that I did nothing to prepare and got less wrong.

New TV

Marnie got a job and she starts today. The first priority after her getting a job was to get a TV for the front living room. We were sporting a 27 inch or so and it was small.

We headed to Sam's Club and got a Vizio. It's a 37 inch flat screen. It's pretty nice and was cheaper than the other ones.

Evidently we don't have Top Gun, so I went and used the Wizard of Oz. In hindsight, should have probably gone with a Star Wars.

The Goal is 80%

Do you know why Monday Night Football is the most bet on game of the week? It's the last chance that these guys have to break even before they visit their bookie on Tuesday.

Yea, I watched Two for the Money again. I think I'm going to watch it every year before football season, it's a good sports betting movie. I'm also gonna make my picks every week. Like the title says, the goal is 80%. The bold are my picks.


Date & Time Favorite Spread Underdog
9/9 1:00 ET At Houston -3 Kansas City
9/9 1:00 ET Denver -3 At Buffalo
9/9 1:00 ET Pittsburgh -5 At Cleveland
9/9 1:00 ET At Jacksonville -7.5 Tennessee
9/9 1:00 ET At St. Louis -1 Carolina
9/9 1:00 ET Philadelphia -3 At Green Bay
9/9 1:00 ET At Minnesota -3 Atlanta
9/9 1:00 ET At Washington -3 Miami
9/9 1:00 ET New England -6.5 At NY Jets
9/9 4:15 ET At Seattle -6 Tampa Bay
9/9 4:15 ET At San Diego -6.5 Chicago
9/9 4:15 ET At Oakland -2.5 Detroit
9/9 8:15 ET At Dallas -6 NY Giants

Monday Night Football Point Spread
9/10 7:00 ET At Cincinnati -2.5 Baltimore
9/10 10:15 ET At San Francisco -3 Arizona

I think the lock of the week is the Pittsburgh game.

Stupid Stupid

It's a good thing I didn't start Buchholz today on my fantasy baseball team. Gawd I hate the redsox even more.

How Old Are You?

So I got one of these forwarded emails from a family member of mine. You know the ones. This particular one kinda set me off a bit, here is what it said and then I'll comment after it -

____________________________________

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end. It will blow you away.
One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events.The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general. The Grandfather replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before: television
penicillin
polio shots
frozen foods
Xerox
contact lenses
Frisbees
andthe pill

There were no:
credit cards
laser beams
orball-point pens

Man had not invented:
pantyhose
air conditioners
dishwashers
clothes dryers
and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air
andman hadn't yet walked on the moon

Your Grandmother and I got married first, . . . and then lived together.
Every family had a father and a mother.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, "Sir".
And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir.
"We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.
We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.
We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.
Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started.
Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings. We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.
If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan' on it, it was junk
The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.
Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.
We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.
Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.
And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.
You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, . . . but who could afford one?
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.
In my day:"grass" was mowed,
"coke" was a cold drink,
"pot" was something your mother cooked in
and"rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.
"Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office,
" chip" meant a piece of wood,
"hardware" was found in a hardware store and
"software" wasn't even a word.
And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap...
and how old do you think I am?
I bet you have this very old man in mind...you are in for a shock!Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.

Are you ready ?????
This man would be only 60 years old
__________________________________

So I kindly responded to my family member with "that's not all they had". They also had this little thing called apartheid. And that man that is 60 years old today, probably wouldn't have lived to see 60 back then, you know, without polio shots, penicillin and all that nonsense. I'm sure they also thought it was ok to beat their wives when they "got out of line a little" or even "take the kid out behind the shed to give him an attitude adjustment". yea...they had it so great back then compared to today. If anything, it was scarier to live back then.

Blast from the Past #1

I am so conceeded that I tend to google myself and see what I come up with. Well, there are a lot of interesting links out there so I thought I would link some of them from my past.

Here is the one - Link

This is a tournament report from a Star Wars CCG touranment that took place in Tucson on October 2, 2000. Almost 7 years ago, I sat down across from Kiki and engaged him in a fight that would have determined the winner of the tournament. It was a hard fought match but it was Enrique's day to shine. He played well and deserved the victory. That deck that Kitani had was a great build too.

Fantasy Football 08 Team #3

This is the last team that I have for this season and arguable, the most important. It is in my dad's Beeline Fantasy Football League. There is a lot on the line in this league. Outside of the money, there is, more importantly...respect.

Team Name - The Sushi Machine

I mean, have you tried a ZigZag roll?

QB - Tony Romo
RB - Shaun Alexander
RB - Travis Henry
WR - Roy Williams
WR - TJ Hoosyermamma
TE - Kellen Winslow
K - Nate Kaeding
DEF - San Diego

Bench
JP Losman
Michael Turner
Eric Moulds
Jason Witten
Josh Scobee
Raiders

I think that this is my strongest team. This is a big league as well, so the teams aren't as stacked and we have to carry 2x kicker, 2x defense on the roster. I'm pretty happy with the QB situation here. I have two guys who have huge potential upsides. They won't be as solid as a Peyton, but both have a higher chance to just go off on any given sunday. My RB are solid. My bench is on the weak side, but it's a big league. I think this team will perform the best out of my three teams. I will probably snap up a breakout WR in week 1/2 to replace old man moulds.

Fantasy Football 08 Team #2

Team Name - Playtester Rage

The team name came from my days of experience when communicating with Playtesters and being a playtester myself. It always felt like there was no grey area, it was just always black or white, broken or sucks. This is for Trevor's league and I did this draft live...except for the part where I took Chester Taylor.

QB - Peyton Manning
WR - Roy Williams
WR - Hines Ward
WR - Vincent Jackson
RB - Travis Henry
RB - Marshawn Lynch
TE - Kellen Winslow
W/R - Marion Barber III
K - Robbie Gould
DEF - Dallas

Bench
Devery Henderson
Chester Taylor
Rex Grossman
Mushin Muhammad
Michael Turner
Ted Ginn Jr.

Meh...i'm pretty weak in the RB department overall, but Petyon slipped to like the 9th pick or so and I thought he was better than the RB that were available and I knew I could float Travis Henry around the wheel. I think that Lions WR (Williams/Johnson) are fine picks. I think with Mike Martz there, an improved pass blocking line, and a decently armed QB, the Lions will put up numbers on the scoreboard.

Fantasy Football 08 Team #1

I stole this idea from Trevor, so here are my Fantasy Football teams.

Team Name - Chastrength

Team named after a typo in one of the Lord of the Rings TCG sets. Who knows how it got in there. This team is for Brian Fred's yahoo league. I got this team completely on auto draft.

QB - Jon Kitna
WR - Lee Evans
WR - Calvin Johnson
RB - Shaun Alexander
RB - Travis Henry
TE - Antonio Gates
W/R - Brandon Jacobs
K - Nate Kaeding
DEF - New England

Bench
Brett Favre
Joey Galloway
Kellen Winslow
Kevin Jones
Isaac Bruce
Jason Hanson

It's not bad. I seem to have a thing for Travis Henry this season. A good RB a couple years ago in a system that rewards RBs seems like a good matchup. Who knows...it could be a trap.

GenCon wind down

Well, i'm sitting here in the lobby of the Marriot waiting for the taxi to come. It has been a great show. We got a great turnout for both WoW Nationals and the Vs. Pro Circuit.

I was able to see a lot of my friends at this convention. Chuck, Evan (I couldn't stop by and say hi, but I did see you), Kyle, Mark, Trevor, Mr. Beal, Matt Kirk, Charlie, and a couple blast from the pasts in Jon Vandermeer (yes, that Jon Vandermeer and yes, that infinite loop deck at Worlds '98) and the Terwilligers (they have all growed up). I also saw both Hunter brothers towering over everyone else. I was half expecting Jeremy Lamere to come strolling in. It was good to see some people back playing. I know that they will do well.

I did coverage over the weekend, you can find my handiwork here. It was fun doing coverage again, but man am I rusty.

Can you guess which Orc Shaman I am from the Dark Portal set in that picture? I'll give you a hint, he might double as a rogue borg.

I'm happy to be going back to sunny southern california (nice stench and humidity Indy...you cesspool). I have to nurse this cold back to health or Ant is going to kill me if I miss a day of work.

Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain - I Am Murloc - WoW

Rock Out

Phew

Ok...so I'm back, it's been a rough couple of weeks.

Right from ComicCon, I went to Arizona to move Marnie and the girls out to California. Got everything set up, ready to go, and confirmed. The movers got there on time and we were off to California by Tuesday afternoon.

On the road to California, the A/C in the jeep goes out. This sucked bad because it's super hot in the desert between Phoenix and San Diego. We move both dogs to the Uhaul and Marnie suffers in the Jeep. The Uhaul cab was pretty cramped with 2 dogs and me in it, but at least we had the air conditioning.

About half way to San Diego, I get a call on my cell phone. It's the apartment complex, our new apartment is flooded (water main broke) so we can't move into that one. They have another one set up for us. In the meantime, while we are on the road to San Diego, Marnie has to call SanDiego Gas/Electric, Cox Cable, etc. to get all of our information changed to the new apartment.

We make it to San Diego finally, the traffic is a bit ridiculous, but Marnie does a good job of keeping up (she doesn't like big city freeway traffic). We check into the hotel and get cleaned up. There is no A/C in the hotel and it's kind of humid out, but whatever.

The next morning, we drop off the Uhaul at the apt complex before heading to PetSmart for the girls grooming appt (babysitting while the movers get the stuff in the house). This is about 2 hours before we are scheduled to move in. We go into the office to let them know we arrived and we'll be back in 2 hours to move in. They say that our apt isn't ready and that we can stay in a model apt for the night. We say this is totally unacceptable. We have movers coming, cox cable coming, etc. They say that they'll reimburse for any problems, but we continue to push this as being unacceptable because we can't reschedule either because it's a ridiculous lead time. They pull some strings and get the carpet cleaners in there asap.

We get the paperwork signed and get into the apt. There is zero cell phone reception. We weren't given a chance to check out the apt before we signed and this was all they had so we were stuck. No phone sucked bad, the movers got a little lost so they were delayed. The Cox guy shows up and tells us that it's going to cost extra to get cable into the 2 bedrooms. We tell him that's not what the Cox operator said. He said he's sorry they are mistaken and that we can call them but we'll still have to pay etc. Ridiculous! The movers show and unload everything. We have a garage, but can't park either vehicle in there without significant manuevering that neither of us want to do on a regular basis. It's a small garage and the street is narrow and it's on the side of the street, yea...a pain in our ass.

There is no A/C in the apt and despite having 4 fans going and opening up all the windows, it's still pretty hot.

Went to Blizzcon last weekend, which was fun. Saw the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and played a bit and played a bit of Starcraft 2, but demoing for 12+ hours and gunslinging for 4+ hours over 2 days was a bit hellish.

On top of all this, I had a severe outbreak of the gout. So I have been in pain for the past 5-7 days or so.

It's been a week of hell, etc, but we are finally moved in.

Are you a Mexican...or a Mexican't?

My favorite type cast actor of all time, Danny Trejo. He was signing for Planet Terror. Also notice the chick in the background. They hired a model, that was an actual amputee and they put a fake machine gun on the end of it.

The Story of My Life

Inside Joke

For those of you that used to be co-workers of mine, that phrase under the insanity gametext may look familiar.

Hey Arizona

You know what it is? I'll tell you what it's not! It's not 105 degrees right now.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA

California 1 Arizona 0

Take Girard out to the Ballgame

Caught this puppy as a ricochet in rightfield bleachers during batting practice. Went to see the Saturday night game vs. the Padres. Chris Young looked dominant early, gave up a couple of hits including a solo dinger to Tony Clark. They yanked him and the Dbacks went slap happy on Bell. Valverde came into close it down and there were fireworks afterwards. It was fun spending time with my dad at the ballpark.

Tru Dat

I wish I could post this everytime I read some pompous movie review.

Club Sevens opens this weekend

Club Sevens opens this weekend

The building might look familiar to some. I swear that was the same decor that was in it before.

Olbermann Asks Bush Cheney to Resign 7.03.07

MIA

I have been missing in action. I promised people that I would update my progress at Pro Tour San Diego. I did embarassingly bad. I left for AZ on Saturday, not to look back. Had a good time in Arizona with friends/family. Went to see Transformers, it was a very good movie. It had some slapsticky comedy, but I enjoyed it. I'm sure that people that were expecting nothing short of the Piano will give it a bad review. I guess people are entitled to their incorrect opinion.

Back in California now and starting to really plan for Marnie's move out here at the end of this month.

You are...that guy!!!

Wow

I had such high expectations going into this movie and let me tell you, I was blown away. Not only did they not ruin every good one liner in the trailers, they didn't ruin all the explosions either! This movie was awesome on so many levels. This will probably make my top 10 in my movie list.

If you plan on seeing this film, do not expect a "logical/realistic" plot. I'm sure that there are people that might over think the plot but just go with it. "Sure, that might happen." The acting is great, the action is awesome, the big "gasp" moment at the end of the movie (you know what I'm talking about, the one that is in every Die Hard movie) is freaking cool. The Mac guy is well cast, Kevin Smith's character is awesome. This whole movie is just...just...well...awesome. It was well worth going to see the midnight showing. I can't wait to see it again.

Emo Girard

Picasso had his blue period, I have my emo period. This is me with my new hair color. Don't make me paint my nails and post on livejournal...cause I will.

Beware of Entity!

5 seconds of fame

I'm taking my 15 minutes of fame, 5 seconds at a time. Big props to Mr. Bahr for digging up this old fossil.

It's a Secret to ....Phil

So I've finally fully settled into the new position. Here is my second article that I have written for the TCG. I need to get more witty remarks in there.

Girard's article about the Alliance champs

Happy 30th Anniversary

I really should go up to the celebration this weekend, but I don't think I'll get the chance. I'm such a bad fan.

In case you missed it...

a Brewers fan had some nice words to say about the New York Mets. I know that took a lot of effort and pride to say those things, so I will pay it forward and hope that the Brewers continue to pound...on the NL Central and well..the Braves too.

Ping: David Stern

Way to ruin the only series worth watching in the NBA playoffs. And you wonder why there are less viewers and people think the league is rigged.

Where are Bowen's and Duncan's suspensions?

Weekend Trip to AZ

So I headed back to AZ for an extended vacation and to celebrate mine and marnie's 11th wedding anniversary. Wow...11 years and it seemed like just yesterday that we were taking off in the middle of the night to drive 8 hours to Cor'delane to get married. We celebrated by getting tattoos. This is Marnie's tattoo. Let's see if you can guess what movie that saying is from. Mr. Gaeta guessed it as soon as I told him.

This is a picture of mine. I got the King of Hearts on my right forearm. I was actually pretty worried over the past couple weeks. Marnie and I had talked about getting tattoos for awhile now and I didn't know if I wanted one on my forearm because of that whole stigma and being able to hold down an office job if I ever have to again. But then I was like...what the hell, you only live once. So this is it, it's a little shiny because I just put lotion on it.

We also went to the zoo and I got to go to the Diamondbacks game vs. the Giants with my dad. We saw Bonds's HR #742 in the first inning. The Diamondbacks came back late in the game and won it all, despite Valverde almost giving it up. Overall, it was a pretty freaking awesome weekend.

help Get Mike Fit

Well, it's time to embark on the weight loss trail. This time, I mean business though. There is money involved now, money that you could potentially make if I lag behind.

Get Mike Fit

If you go to that link, you will be able to see all the details of what I am talking about. Please be sure to read the First Post. It will explain where I'm coming from and where I am going.

I'd watch it

This is the true story, of seven strangers, picked to live in a guild, and have their lives taped, to find out what happens, when people stop QQIng, and start pew pewing. The Real World - WoW

Disturbia

First off, it's very creepy to go and see a movie by yourself. This is the first time I have done this in a long time and it just feels...weird. I decided to unplug myself from The Game and go out and do something. I went to see Disturbia. This will be a mini review of what I experienced.

The Previews -

Resident Evil: Extinction - This trailer started off as a Las Vegas commercial and then it started to pan back. The commercial was on the MGM grand marquee and it slowly panned back to reveal a dust covered beat down Las Vegas Strip. The further it panned back, the more it revealed of the post-apocolyptic strip. I was getting gitty, I loved post apocolytpic movies, I live for them. Postman? I loved it. It kept going further and further out until it reached space and showed a satellite. On one of the solar panels was the Umbrella logo. I about jumped out of my seat cheering. They then cut to a Milla shot of her in tight shorts and loaded with guns. A bunch of action shots followed. I'm so going to this show, even if I have to go by myself.

28 weeks later - This is a sequel to the movie 28 weeks. A zombie movie set in England. The film is kinda shot "roughly" but I enjoyed it anyway. This one looks a bit more polished, so I'm going to see this one too. Nothing like a good zombie flick.

Transformers - I've seen this trailer but it was still good. Shai LeBouf is in this and it was recently announced that he will be in the new Indiana Jones movie as well. This is a Michael Bay film so I can expect nonstop action. I hope that it overshadows the fact that Bumblebee is a Camero.

Feature Presentation - *SPOILER ALERT*

I went into this movie expecting Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I got The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. It was suspenceful. I didn't care for Carrie Anne Moss's performance, but though that David Morse and Shai both did a good job. It did take more than a while to get going and it seemed like all the big action happened in the last 15 minutes or so. There were a couple of great cut away scenes that drew views down long hallways with the bad person coming into view or a lot of bad person emerges from the shadows shots. *ULTRA SPOILER ALERT* The bad guy didn't get up for a second try. I initially felt kind of annoyed that he didn't but then again, this really wasn't a big hack/slash type movie. It is a typical suspence type move, but they didnt' pull it. Also, when you go into these types of movies, you tend to (at least I do) try to pick up on little stuff that they'll tell you towards the beginning that you'll need to know in a time of dire need. They did a good job of going back to one of these tidbits and it was good that it wasn't the ultimate "out". I personally thought that they ran the "why didn't they try this" trick in the end by glossing over an obvious "out". Let's see if you can guess what it is.

So in the end I wasn't that scared. Maybe I'm just getting more used to movies like this. I can thanks Kyle and Evan for that. I was more scared when I came home to an empty 2 story house with the wind whistling and it being dark out. Not..a...fan.

mmmm....meat

First off, Props to Mr. Jay Webb. The man put together a group and made the reservations. He also chose a pretty damn good restaraunt.

Last weekend, we went to Fogo E Brasa for a dinner with friends. It was great to see my friends again. I missed some people that should have been there like Clark (sorry about the tooth) and Pup (obviously poker is more important than your friends.....tool). Those that were there, Jay, Steve, Mike Bahr and Stephanie, Webba and Krissy P...err Kristen, Dan, and of course Marnie.

We ate lots of meat. They have an appetizer bar with salad, egg salad, pot stickers, fried cheese, etc. Then the meat comes. They bring out skewer after skewer of meat and they cut you off a piece. Top sirloin, sausages, chicken, tri-tip, etc. It's sooo good. They got us with charging for desert, but whatever. It was good food and good people. I had a ton of fun and want to thank everyone that went.

Nice job Jay, nice job.

PING: Chuck

Yea....29 is old

It's just about time to grow up.

All Is Right In The World

The Mets and Yankees are undefeated and the Red Sux haven't won a game all year.

How Awesome He .... Is

Guess Who's Not an Amatuer anymore

ME!!!!!

Boston (Anthony Shaheen) and I won a PTQ in San Diego today. It was a two-headed giant qualifier and we did it, only losing 1 game all day. Here are a couple strats that we employed, that are probably unorthodox.

- Dominant Head -
I was tabbed friday afternoon for Anthony's partner because his previous partner tapped out. I accepted, but under 1 stipulation, I wouldn't be making any meaningful decisions. This was, of course, OK with Anthony. He made the decks, each turn, he analyzed the play and we made it, he drafted both our decks for Top 4 with little to no imput from me. With the exception of like 2 occurances, I did exactly what he told me. We felt this worked because in magic, there are usually alpha-type players. They feel they have a plan and they feel their plan is best so they want to fight for it. We were always on Anthony's plan so there was never, go down road A, stop halfway, go down road B and then never put anything meaningful together. We also felt we got at least 2 wins from our opponent's faltering and doing this. Sure, we got a lot crookeyes when Anthony was making every single call and I did what he told me too, but we won.
I think if more "casual" type players that could just as easily turn dudes sideways and don't have a super ego were paired with more experienced players, I think those teams would qualify more.

So there you have it, we Q'ed. I will officially no longer be a Magic Amatuer after Pro Tour San Diego. I'm pretty excited.

Know What I Hate about ADD?

When you are in the shower, thinking of game/engine design and then you stop and think to yourself, am I done with the shower or did I just get in? At that point, when you can't remember if you are coming or going...I hate that. So with a death fear of being dirty because you didn't actually take a shower, you start the shower routine all over again.

Yea...I hate that.

Chapter 1

My eyes don't open, but I hear the sprinklers going off. It must be around quarter to seven. Those stupid things are like clockwork, every single day, even on Saturday. I feel the effects of the alcohol from last night and roll over to fall back asleep. The cool breeze blows through the window as I fall back asleep.

The alarm blares in my ear and I reach over to turn it off. I grab the cell phone and attempt to go through the motions, the alarm is still blaring. I sit up and continue to fiddle with the alarm on my cell phone. The siren dissipates as it goes by the house down the street. I slump over and stare of my phone and toss it aside. It misses the nightstand and falls to the floor. I think to myself, "Man, what a gyp. Sometimes it sucks to live in Oceanside." I swing my feet around and wipe my eyes. I find the remote to the TV and turn off the music channel. Hey, what do you want from me, it helps me sleep at night. I pay a flat rent, so it's covered in the money I fork over each month. I curl my toes on the rug and attempt to stand up. Obviously, I lose my balance and sit back down on the bed. There are some days when it's good to be just 29 years old and then there are those days that it's bad to be 400+ pounds of fun. I bet you can guess what today is. I tiptoe through the clothes strewn about all over the floor and bang my knee on the computer table as I make my way for the bedroom door. The sun is shining through the curtains as I open my bedroom door and make a beeline for the bathroom.

I'm on the first floor of a two story, 3 bedroom home right at the top of the hill before the Valley. It's good rent and my roomates are nice. I never see them, so that is what probably makes it work out better. Nobody appears to be up yet, which is no surprise for a Saturday morning. The roomies like to party sometimes, nothing wrong with that. I finally make it to the bathroom and close the door behind me. The sun is glaring through the tiny window above the shower. I shield my eyes and attempt to make sure it all gets in the toilet. I wipe my eyes one more time and glance over at the sink. What the hell? There is blood all over the inside of the sink. Not a small amount of blood either, this was a fair amount of blood, just spashed everywhere, including some on the mirror. What the heck is going on here. I finish my business, flush and head back to my room. I peer out of the small hallway between the bedroom and the bathroom, nobody is around. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I was told this is my bathroom and that the traffic would be kept to a minimum. Where did all that blood come from? Did someone get hurt? I toss some shorts and my Reebok sleeveless T-shirt on and re-emerge, looking for answers. There is blood on the front door handle and a trail of blood leading to the kitchen. Nothing good can come of this. As I enter the kitchen, the water is running and the sliding glass door is busted. There is plenty of blood near the broken glass. This must be where it all came from. The party got to rowdy last night and someone fell through, or perhaps put through, the sliding glass door. I guess they haven't had time to clean it up. The blood trail leads right out to the garage. I reach for the door handle and open the door. I can't believe what I am seeing.

There, right in front of me, are my two roomates, Shawna and Dee, eating the other roommate, Dee's husband, Aaron. They are devouring him by hand. Blood and entrails strewn about the garage floor next to the car he was restoring. They are kneeling over him, gorging themselves. I choke back a gag reflex, covering my mouth. I guess it wasn't quiet enough, both of their heads snap to me. Their green glowing eyes staring right through me, with pieces of the inside of Aaron in their hands. Shawna screams at me at the top of her lungs and lunges towards me. The blood curdling scream snapped me back into reality. I slammed the door and threw the deadbolt to locked right as she slammed into it. What the hell was going on? Has the world gone mad? I fall to the floor, slipping on the still wet blood that is covering the the kitchen floor. It's like an ice skating rink, I turn over, attempt to get my feet under me and scamper back to my room. I quickly slam the door behind me and push the computer desk in front of the door. I stop a minute to control my breathing, I am practically gasping for every breath. I fumble for my phone and dial my wife, Marnie. No answer, I scream some sort of garbage into the phone, the only discernable words being "call me as soon as possible". Where do I go from here. I pull back the curtains just enough to see out the window. They are everywhere. People walking with blank stares, seemingly mindless. A woman runs down the street screaming. The neighbor appears from behind the bushes and tackles her. Her screams are drowned out as he begins to tear into her flesh. A few other "people" emerge from down the street and they begin to rip her limb from limb. I had to get out of here...I had to get to Arizona to Marnie.