27 October 2007

Let's Rock!

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Redoctane shipped my Guitar Hero 3 bundle yesterday and it was delivered today! Not bad for a game that is supposed to be released this coming Sunday.

As you can imagine, I tore into it almost as soon as I could.

Quick Review:
The actually like the new UI. The wireless Les Paul guitar is awesome (after losing the wireless when going from PS2 -> XBOX360, it's great to have it back) and feels more solid, plus the strum bar is quieter. Better still, it works great with Guitar Hero II. I thought that battle mode was going to suck, but it's actually a lot of fun. The online play is great. I played (and won) some random Pro Face-Off matches and then hooked up with a friend to play Pro Face-Off and Battle Mode matches. For better or worse, the achievements are much harder to get, and there are a lot that involve co-op career mode (yeah, it's a new feature too).

All in all, I'd say Activision did very well with the latest installment. It'll keep me entertained for quite a while!

24 October 2007

My xbox has a Voice

"Shall we play a game?" - Joshua in WarGames

Ok, maybe it's not quite like that, but my xbox 360 has learned how to keep a blog. Sure, it just picks randomly from a list of phrases, but it's kind of cute. It really appeals to my geek nature i guess.

Anyways, my xbox live gamertag is 'autenil' (the same as my EQ2 developer name).

Now, off to try out the Guitar Hero III demo!!

Back at home

Just an update. Even though the I-5 was closed this morning, we decided to head back down to San Diego from Bakersfield. The drive went great with no delays and we passed the Horno fire burning near Camp Pendleton, getting some pics (hopefully I can post later).

Upon reaching home, everything was much better than when we left early Monday morning. Most of the smoke had cleared and you could actually tell that the sky was blue. There was some small debris blown into our yard and the front sidewalk is caked with dirt, but everything is just peachy.

Thanks to everyone who IM'd or emailed to check up on us!

23 October 2007

California Land: Smokin' Hot!

San Diego really is a beautiful place to live, but it gets kind of hot while it's ON FIRE.

We noticed the fires a little after noon on Sunday. I noticed that my car was no longer parked at my house and called the police to find that it had been towed (stupid homeowners' association rules) and we all piled into the car to get it back. $314 later (zomg!) we were driving home and noticed the haze in the sky. We turned on the radio and heard about the Witch Fire burning near Ramona, CA. We were amazed that this smoke was from a fire 30 mi away.

We went home and closed up the house and turned on the TV. With the fire due east and heading west at a remarkable rate, we definitely wanted to keep an eye on it through the night. Sarah woke up at around 5 am Monday morning and turned on the TV. The Poway High School that was being used as an evacuation center for Ramona citizens was cleared out and the evacuees were moved to Mira Mesa High School, just down the street for us. The Witch Fire was encroaching on Poway. The air quality was horrible. Even with the house closed up and the AC running, there was a thick wood-fire smell in the house.

We reserved some plane tickets to get Sarah and the kids out of town, but weren't able to get to the airport fast enough. Work was obviously canceled, so we decided to beat the crowds out of town and turn the fire into an impromptu family vacation. We packed up all the important stuff in the car in case the fire does reach the house and took off heading north at about 9 am. I-15 was closed due to the fire, but it was very easy to head out north toward LA on I-5 (the I-5 was later deadlocked by people trying to leave, so early was definitely the way to go here). Parts of LA were burning too, but we were able to avoid those areas pretty easily. We were going to stay in Stevenson Ranch, but there were some nearby fires so we decided to keep driving north. It's a good thing too, because another large fire broke out there.

We kept driving north and decided to stop in Bakersfield. It's a nice little town (and has Sonic restaurants!), but best of all, there's no fire.

We're just hanging out here enjoying the local sites and breathing clean air. We might head back home tomorrow depending on how the fires do through the night.

10 October 2007

Whew! My fingers are sore!

After 24.5 hours of building spread out over 11 days, I've finished building the 5200-piece LEGO Millennium Falcon kit.

Here's a time-lapse video for your enjoyment:

02 October 2007

3 Steps to Wealth!

Someone wrote this up on my whiteboard in my office:

1. Time Machine
2. ?
3. Money Hats!!