Back in the saddle

Books. Games. A week off. So many things. Where to start?

We had a great visit with Dad while he was out. They're always too short and too few. We only had a couple small projects for him this time. We installed a digital thermostat and replaced the light fixture that decided to throw itself to the floor when we replaced the roof. The rest of the time was spent visiting the park or hitting Liberty Land or the pool or the driving range. It was a pretty eventful trip. There was some relaxing in there as well. I also learned that Dad is pretty incapable of walking and looking while trying to play Portal 2. Oh well, nobody's perfect... G enjoyed the laser tag (and the pirate game - don't ask) as did the girls. Although our poor team didn't fare very well. I managed the top spot on our team and 11th overall ranking. Somehow.

While at Liberty Land we also had a lot of fun with a video game version of that scene from Entrapment - you go into this little room and hit the start button to make a bunch of lasers show up, you then have to make your way to the other side of the room, hit a button and then make your way back to hit the stop button. All while trying to do it as quickly as possible and without hitting the lasers. Good fun.

Mostly as I can't be bothered with in depth thoughts on the following here are some quick responses on the many things I've read recently:

Reality is Broken - save the world through gaming. Some interesting ideas, not convinced of her conclusions. worth reading and talking about though.

Demonglass - the second Hex Hall book. Silly good fun. And such a cliffhanger!

Robopocalypse - World War Z with robots. Some of the world building is a little lacking, but pretty fun. Read it.

Fullmetal Alchemist volumes something or other to 24 - good. Series is winding up. What's going to happen? Also a lot gorier than earlier installments.

That should cover the books. I've also been playing a fair amount of Portal 2. It was a Father's Day gift and it's brilliant. So funny. If you like puzzles at all and have a sense of humor you need to be playing this game. There is nothing better than making your way through a tricky room and then getting some hilarious dialog as a reward. The co-op is pretty good as well. Best new game I've played.

I've also been toying around with the Uncharted 3 multi player beta. Now that they've released an update it seems more stable. I can't wait for the actual game. The multi player is decent. I'm horrible at it, but it's fun.

McK has her final softball game of the season tonight (barring possible thunderstorms). Somehow her team managed to make it to the last game. So her team will most likely place second, but still anything is possible. Good luck McK!

Maybe something about fish tacos?

I really don't have anything worth passing along. I did make it to one of McK's softball games over the weekend. It was ... interesting. Granted they had maybe 3 practices at the beginning of the season and a few games/practices since then, but it was only occasionally softball being played. The other team was one member short and so if our team managed a decent hit, points tended to be scored. I've heard they've pulled together a little more since, but I suspect the winner is still determined by who plays less badly... ^_^

Lovely wife and I managed to find a restaurant to celebrate our anniversary in. A new place called the Blue Lemon. It's either a decent priced trendy place or a slightly high priced sit down place. Guess it depends on how you see your glass of cucumber water (which was strangely delicious). I had fish tacos (served fajita style) and lovely wife had some grilled chicken with sun dried tomatoes and artichoke. It was actually a pretty nice place and I'd eat there again. Food was good and the atmosphere was nice if a bit loud.

G and I have been playing some Little Big Planet courtesy of the Welcome Back package Sony offered after PSN came back. It's a cute little game. Better than I expected it to be. Would like to mess around with creating levels, but I'm sure it's a little more difficult than I expect it to be.

Speaking of G I am getting dragged to the Fathers and Sons camp out this weekend. He is excited, I am not. I'm mostly hoping to just make it through the event. Especially as I've done something horrific to my neck/shoulder and haven't been able to sit/sleep/do much of anything for the last few days. Alas.