Game Night Recap

We had just enough turnout (4 players, including 2 out of 3 Sarah's) to be able to play all of the really fun games. The previous night, our friend Ruby helped us make a batch of tamales, and Sonya made peach ice cream (non-dairy!). And despite the naysayers on Facebook, people thought the food was delicious.

We played:
    Blokus
    Uptown
    Quirkle
    Puerto Rico
And then hit the Wii for Guitar Hero and the latest Raving Rabbids game.

The next game night will likely be on April 25th.

Birthdays and Board Games

This last weekend we celebrated Sonya's birthday. I know better than to post her age (suffice to say "old enough to know better, young enough to still have fun"). We had some of her friends over for Wii games and (amazingly!) board games! The board game fest started off with Fearsome Floors, then we worked into Uptown and had a truly cut-throat game of Blokus.

Jason and I saw Wall-E yesterday, and we both enjoyed it. As I expected, it didn't take long for right wing whackjobs to criticize the movie for not glamorizing consumerism.

We also picked up Rock Band and Aerosmith Guitar Hero for the Wii yesterday. The timing of the guitar controllers is slightly different between the two games, but not so much that I'm unable to do well with both. The drums are going to take some getting used to.

I'm hoping to get some good fireworks pictures next weekend.

Fast Fingers

Think Speedracer and head over to typeracer.com. Sadly, my typing speed (and accuracy) had diminished greatly since high school.

Rites of Spring

Warm weather the previous week deluded me into think winter was over. It didn't snow this weekend, but not because it wasn't cold enough for snow. Undeterred, I opened up the grills and cleaned both out, and grilled up salmon and steaks for dinner tonight.

I didn't realize Buckethead had a song on Guitar Hero 2 until last night. That alone was enough to convince me I needed to get that game for my PS2 (and thus get another guitar controller).

Guitar Zero

Since my trip to California in January, I've been spending a lot more time on the Wii. Taking the vaulted place of Madden and Lego Star Wars has been the rotation of Resident Evil, Guitar Hero 3, and Raving Rabbids (the first one). Even Sonya sneaks in a game or two of Guitar Hero during study sessions.

I think my neighbors might be interested in a Wii party now that I have some party games.

Dropped 50!

The "Ugly Fountain" at Embarcadero in San Francisco.

It dropped about 50 degrees yesterday afternoon, from around 46 to -4, and the wind chill made it worse. While I was visiting the Bay Area last week, my aunt apologized for it raining every day (as if she controlled the weather). At the time, I thought rain was great, it meant it was warm enough to rain! I'd look up Chicago weather, and see numbers like "1" or "5", and think about how happy I was to not be in the middle of it. Winter decided to start without me, but there was plenty left for me to enjoy when I got back home.

During my vacation, I got in some quality Wii game time with my friend George. Resident Evil was fantastic as a two player game, and the Lynx Crossbow game that comes with the Wii Zapper was fun to power through. Mario Galaxy didn't excite me, but then the only Mario title that did was MarioKart64. We tried out Geometry Wars and Alien Syndrome; those played alright for filler games, but when we were done taking a break it was back to Resident Evil.

I'm finally able to get my car repaired from when I got rear-ended in November. Unfortunately, I have to drive this rental in the meantime that doesn't even measure up to the lofty standards of the 1979 Toyota Corolla I drove in high school. I didn't know modern cars were built without power locks! It handles exceptionally poorly on snow dusted roads, and doesn't even get decent gas milage.

In other news, I will be at FAnime this year.

Pinch Hitter 2

Go play Pinch Hitter 2, but be warned it's both highly frustrating and addictive. I'm currently trying to get through task 8.

Super Monkey Ball (Wii)

I got an early Father's Day present: Super Monkey Ball for the Wii. The game seems to be a natural fit for the Wii's controller interface; as the controller is angled so is the environment. There are 50 mini-games, all unlocked and ready for group play, and the main game isn't too shabby either. The only drawback is the music is a little obnoxious.