Well, Christmas has come and gone. I hope everyone had a good one and got everything they wanted. DeAnne and I had an excellent Christmas.
We both got a good sum of cash. We got some very nice towels, one set with our name and one set with our initials on them. A few t-shirts and a few other things that I can't remember off the top of my head.
The highlight for me was DeAnne opening the mixer I got her. I had bought it back in October before all the mess with the animals happened. So when the vet bills started racking up, I played it up like I wouldn't be able to get her much for Christmas. All the while, she had been helping her mom cook through Thanksgiving and Christmas and, with some carefully placed hints, had decided she really wanted a KitchenAid mixer. I almost blew the surprise on Friday, but managed to cover and in the end, she was completely shocked. It was great.
I now have something to keep me busy for several months. I scored no less than four games for the Wii. Of course, one was Guitar Hero III that DeAnne got me. Then I also got Super Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Mario & Sonic at the Olympics. All cool games. The sad thing is that I still haven't finished Zack & Wiki or Table Tennis yet, so I'm going to try and finish those before I get start anything other than Guitar Hero. I went ahead and played it yesterday. I wanted to start on easy just to play through all the songs and I ended up beating easy last night. I'm loving it. We even messed around with the online stuff some and DeAnne beat a couple of people in challenges. It's the first time I think that we've ever done anything online with a console and it was pretty neat even though the online in Guitar Hero is fairly limited.
Anyway, I better get going. I'm off to work this morning. No vacation time left and I'm on call next week for new years. The only other thing to report really is that DeAnne's car broke down again on Christmas Eve. We were on our way to her mom's house to eat dinner and we stopped at the school to get something and when we went to leave, the car wouldn't crank. I think it's that same computer that they replaced back at the end of the summer. Hopefully, they'll replace it again since it's only been a couple of months since they replaced it the last time. I guess we'll see. Let you know later.
--Paul
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
One More Thing
I updated the links a little. The site I had linked for Virtual Console news hasn't been posting in I don't know how long. I've been using the site that's linked over there now for a month or two and they seem like they'll stick with it.
--Paul
--Paul
Better Late Than Never
I know I was supposed to post this a day or two after her surgery, but Emma's fine. The lump turned out to be a cyst that had built up an infection around it. They removed the cyst and cut out the infection. A round of antibiotics and a few stitches later and she's good as new. The stitches are out and once all her fur grows back, you probably won't be able to tell that she ever had anything done. So that's a great relief. It wasn't cheap, but we're glad the lump's gone and that it wasn't something more severe.
It's hard to imagine, but Christmas is Tuesday. We had Christmas with DeAnne's family last weekend while her sister and her brother-in-law were in town from Utah. Mike's leaving for a 6 month stay in Iraq in a week or two and he had to be back on base by a certain date so we had Christmas a little early. We had a good time and it was good to get the see Sarah and Mike again.
Having Christmas that early has also helped to make our holiday season much less stressful. We're going to Anniston for Christmas with my Mom's family on Sunday. We're staying overnight and coming home on Monday and then Christmas day we're having lunch with my Dad. So overall, a pretty laid back, spread out, easy to work out Christmas. It probably won't ever happen again, so we're trying to enjoy it this year.
I would promise to post again before the end of the year, but every time I make a post promise, I end up not following through. I would like to do a year-ender after Christmas though. We'll see what happens. Merry Christmas to you all and if I don't make it back this year, have a Happy New Year also.
--Paul
It's hard to imagine, but Christmas is Tuesday. We had Christmas with DeAnne's family last weekend while her sister and her brother-in-law were in town from Utah. Mike's leaving for a 6 month stay in Iraq in a week or two and he had to be back on base by a certain date so we had Christmas a little early. We had a good time and it was good to get the see Sarah and Mike again.
Having Christmas that early has also helped to make our holiday season much less stressful. We're going to Anniston for Christmas with my Mom's family on Sunday. We're staying overnight and coming home on Monday and then Christmas day we're having lunch with my Dad. So overall, a pretty laid back, spread out, easy to work out Christmas. It probably won't ever happen again, so we're trying to enjoy it this year.
I would promise to post again before the end of the year, but every time I make a post promise, I end up not following through. I would like to do a year-ender after Christmas though. We'll see what happens. Merry Christmas to you all and if I don't make it back this year, have a Happy New Year also.
--Paul
Monday, December 03, 2007
2Months2Long
Hard to believe it, but it's been nearly two months since I did one of these. Is there still anyone out there? If so, then this one's for you.
Quick thoughts on new music:
Foo Fighters: As good as I thought it would be.
Evans Blue: They've got two albums out. Get them both and listen to them non-stop like I have.
Dashboard Confessional: Good, but starting to need a new hook.
Puddle of Mudd: Almost as good as their first album, much better than their second.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's all that comes to me right now.
Quick thoughts on new games:
Wii Zapper w/Link's Crossbow Training: Fun and well worth the $20 price of admission.
Zack and Wiki: ...: Great puzzle game.
Rockstar Presents: Table Tennis: Excellent for when you can't fit a real table in your house.
Looking forward to Guitar Hero III (my Christmas gift from DeAnne).
Other news:
Emma: We found a knot on her neck a little over a week ago. The vet gave her some antibiotics thinking it was a lymph node infection. They didn't do any good so we took her back today and decided that we're going to have it taken out and biopsied. They're going to do it this coming Thursday (the 6th). We a little nervous not knowing what it is. She's such a huge part of our lives that we can't even think about what might have to be done. Here's hoping that it's nothing serious.
Child's Play: Once again, gamers from around the world are uniting to give the gift of game to sick kids everywhere. This year, the Children's Hospital in Birmingham (AL) is participating. So if you've got a few extra dollars, why not buy a game or a movie for the Children's Hospital and give a little joy to children that can use all the joy and happiness that they can get. Check it out at http://www.childsplaycharity.org
That's all I've got right now. I promise to try and check in a little more often. I'll be sure to at least let you all know how Emma's surgery goes on Thursday.
--Paul
Quick thoughts on new music:
Foo Fighters: As good as I thought it would be.
Evans Blue: They've got two albums out. Get them both and listen to them non-stop like I have.
Dashboard Confessional: Good, but starting to need a new hook.
Puddle of Mudd: Almost as good as their first album, much better than their second.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's all that comes to me right now.
Quick thoughts on new games:
Wii Zapper w/Link's Crossbow Training: Fun and well worth the $20 price of admission.
Zack and Wiki: ...: Great puzzle game.
Rockstar Presents: Table Tennis: Excellent for when you can't fit a real table in your house.
Looking forward to Guitar Hero III (my Christmas gift from DeAnne).
Other news:
Emma: We found a knot on her neck a little over a week ago. The vet gave her some antibiotics thinking it was a lymph node infection. They didn't do any good so we took her back today and decided that we're going to have it taken out and biopsied. They're going to do it this coming Thursday (the 6th). We a little nervous not knowing what it is. She's such a huge part of our lives that we can't even think about what might have to be done. Here's hoping that it's nothing serious.
Child's Play: Once again, gamers from around the world are uniting to give the gift of game to sick kids everywhere. This year, the Children's Hospital in Birmingham (AL) is participating. So if you've got a few extra dollars, why not buy a game or a movie for the Children's Hospital and give a little joy to children that can use all the joy and happiness that they can get. Check it out at http://www.childsplaycharity.org
That's all I've got right now. I promise to try and check in a little more often. I'll be sure to at least let you all know how Emma's surgery goes on Thursday.
--Paul
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Sigh
Not much going on.
Still haven't found a game to play. I've been looking at Table Tennis for Wii but that doesn't come out until the end of October. I'm really excited about it though. The videos I've seen and reviews I've read have all been really good. I played the dog out of some ping pong back when I was in high school and the first couple of years of college and I've always wanted a table. Hopefully this will be as good as it looks to be.
I'm still missing reading Harry Potter. I considered starting again, but I think it's too soon. I'm going to wait a little while. I'm ready for OotP to come out on DVD. I intend to re-watch all of the movies when it does.
Music obsession of the moment would be the new album by Athlete. It's called Beyond the Neighbourhood and it's really great. I loved their first album, Tourist, and this one's just as good if not better. The new Foo Fighters CD came out yesterday too. I haven't gotten it yet, but I like the single.
Speaking of the Foo Fighters. They had a special on one of our HD channels the other night. It was one of their shows from their acoustic tour they did last year. It was one of the better shows I've seen lately. Still loving the dish network. Having ESPN in HD has spoiled me on college football. We don't have our locals in HD, so they look like garbage compared to ESPN and ESPN2. In fact, most of the HD is pretty awesome. We've been watching a lot of CSI: Miami on A&E and catching any music shows on MHD and Rave that sound interesting. We've also recorded a couple of movies off of the movie channel. Other than that, I'm pumped for the new season of Heroes. I can't wait to see where they go this year. Bionic Woman looks pretty good too. The first episode showed up on our DVR, courtesy of dish the other day, so we watched it and liked it.
Well, gonna have to run and get ready for church. Courtney, since you seem to still be reading, I plan on emailing you tomorrow and we'll talk about this bayfest thing. Sounds interesting.
Later all,
--Paul
Still haven't found a game to play. I've been looking at Table Tennis for Wii but that doesn't come out until the end of October. I'm really excited about it though. The videos I've seen and reviews I've read have all been really good. I played the dog out of some ping pong back when I was in high school and the first couple of years of college and I've always wanted a table. Hopefully this will be as good as it looks to be.
I'm still missing reading Harry Potter. I considered starting again, but I think it's too soon. I'm going to wait a little while. I'm ready for OotP to come out on DVD. I intend to re-watch all of the movies when it does.
Music obsession of the moment would be the new album by Athlete. It's called Beyond the Neighbourhood and it's really great. I loved their first album, Tourist, and this one's just as good if not better. The new Foo Fighters CD came out yesterday too. I haven't gotten it yet, but I like the single.
Speaking of the Foo Fighters. They had a special on one of our HD channels the other night. It was one of their shows from their acoustic tour they did last year. It was one of the better shows I've seen lately. Still loving the dish network. Having ESPN in HD has spoiled me on college football. We don't have our locals in HD, so they look like garbage compared to ESPN and ESPN2. In fact, most of the HD is pretty awesome. We've been watching a lot of CSI: Miami on A&E and catching any music shows on MHD and Rave that sound interesting. We've also recorded a couple of movies off of the movie channel. Other than that, I'm pumped for the new season of Heroes. I can't wait to see where they go this year. Bionic Woman looks pretty good too. The first episode showed up on our DVR, courtesy of dish the other day, so we watched it and liked it.
Well, gonna have to run and get ready for church. Courtney, since you seem to still be reading, I plan on emailing you tomorrow and we'll talk about this bayfest thing. Sounds interesting.
Later all,
--Paul
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Obligtory Post of the Month
I had a few moments and my thoughts turned to the blog so I thought I'd post. Since I'm averaging only one or two a month, I doubt there's many of you still reading this, but why not keep going.
I finished the Harry Potter series last week. Book five was a bit of a struggle to get through but after that, 6 and 7 made it worth getting through 5. Book 7 really blew me away. The whole series is great. Rowling really has to go back and write some more books in the Harry Potter universe. They don't even have to be about Harry. She's created a world that has the endless possibilities that all the best fantasy series hold. It could easily be as endless as Star Wars or the Tolkien books. I'm really glad I read them and I'm looking forward to the last two movies. They should be really good if they're done right.
Football season has started and Auburn looks about as bad as they've ever looked and that's about all I've got to say about that.
I haven't been playing any games lately. I'm actually kind of lost here after having finished the Potter books. I've not seen any games that I've just had to play. There are several coming out between now and the end of the year though, so I'm just trying to hold out till then.
DeAnne is doing really well. Her back isn't giving her any trouble and she's really enjoying her new job.
The only other real news is that we've switched from cable to DISH Network. We got a package deal through the phone company for DISH, DSL, and all kinds of phone features that we didn't have before. So far, we love it. We got the HD package and it looks great on the TV. It really does make a dramatic difference. We also got DVR with it and I don't know how we ever dealt with the VCR. The DVR is just too awesome. Our internet is about 3 times faster than what we were getting from the cable company so that's pretty cool too.
So that's about it for now. Who knows, maybe I'll get a second post in later this month.
Later,
--Paul
I finished the Harry Potter series last week. Book five was a bit of a struggle to get through but after that, 6 and 7 made it worth getting through 5. Book 7 really blew me away. The whole series is great. Rowling really has to go back and write some more books in the Harry Potter universe. They don't even have to be about Harry. She's created a world that has the endless possibilities that all the best fantasy series hold. It could easily be as endless as Star Wars or the Tolkien books. I'm really glad I read them and I'm looking forward to the last two movies. They should be really good if they're done right.
Football season has started and Auburn looks about as bad as they've ever looked and that's about all I've got to say about that.
I haven't been playing any games lately. I'm actually kind of lost here after having finished the Potter books. I've not seen any games that I've just had to play. There are several coming out between now and the end of the year though, so I'm just trying to hold out till then.
DeAnne is doing really well. Her back isn't giving her any trouble and she's really enjoying her new job.
The only other real news is that we've switched from cable to DISH Network. We got a package deal through the phone company for DISH, DSL, and all kinds of phone features that we didn't have before. So far, we love it. We got the HD package and it looks great on the TV. It really does make a dramatic difference. We also got DVR with it and I don't know how we ever dealt with the VCR. The DVR is just too awesome. Our internet is about 3 times faster than what we were getting from the cable company so that's pretty cool too.
So that's about it for now. Who knows, maybe I'll get a second post in later this month.
Later,
--Paul
Saturday, August 18, 2007
I'm All Out of Titles
First off, a big happy birthday to Courtney. Hope you've had a great day.
I've made it through book four of Harry Potter. I'm waiting on five and six to show up in the mail. So far, I would say four has been my favorite. I'm pretty pumped up to get through the last three books and see how it all ends. After seeing the previews for The Golden Compass when we watched Order of the Phoenix, I've decided that after Harry Potter, I'm going to read the His Dark Materials trilogy. I've read a lot of good things about it and the movie preview for Compass looked pretty awesome.
No new games lately. Just haven't seen anything that's caught my interest. Metroid Prime 3 comes out in two weeks and I've considered picking it up. They're going to release Super Metroid this week on Virtual Console so I'll probably download that and play it until something comes out in stores. Geometry Wars: Galaxies looks nice, and Puzzle Quest is being ported from DS to Wii in a couple of months. Rockstar's Table Tennis is also supposed to be out before Christmas, then after the new year there's Wii Fit and Mario Kart. So there's plenty to keep me busy coming up. We've just hit the calm before the storm.
We're changing over to CenturyTel for internet and getting Dish this week. Anyone who has my andycable email address and hasn't heard from me, send me an email before Tuesday and I'll send you back an address you can reach me at after Tuesday.
Now I'm all out of thoughts, so till next time...
--Paul
I've made it through book four of Harry Potter. I'm waiting on five and six to show up in the mail. So far, I would say four has been my favorite. I'm pretty pumped up to get through the last three books and see how it all ends. After seeing the previews for The Golden Compass when we watched Order of the Phoenix, I've decided that after Harry Potter, I'm going to read the His Dark Materials trilogy. I've read a lot of good things about it and the movie preview for Compass looked pretty awesome.
No new games lately. Just haven't seen anything that's caught my interest. Metroid Prime 3 comes out in two weeks and I've considered picking it up. They're going to release Super Metroid this week on Virtual Console so I'll probably download that and play it until something comes out in stores. Geometry Wars: Galaxies looks nice, and Puzzle Quest is being ported from DS to Wii in a couple of months. Rockstar's Table Tennis is also supposed to be out before Christmas, then after the new year there's Wii Fit and Mario Kart. So there's plenty to keep me busy coming up. We've just hit the calm before the storm.
We're changing over to CenturyTel for internet and getting Dish this week. Anyone who has my andycable email address and hasn't heard from me, send me an email before Tuesday and I'll send you back an address you can reach me at after Tuesday.
Now I'm all out of thoughts, so till next time...
--Paul
Monday, July 30, 2007
Miscallany
Look out. I got one more post in this month. Thought I'd drop in and let you all know what's been going on.
DeAnne's doing good. She's pretty much back to normal. She still has some numbness in her leg, but the doctor said it can take a while for that to go away. The important thing is that she doesn't have any pain any more. She also has a new job. She's going to be teaching 2nd grade at the Christian academy in town. It's not a lot of pay and no tangible benefits, but she's only going to have 8 or 10 kids and it's just going to be a better environment over all. She's pretty excited about it and I'm just glad she found somewhere that she feels like she might be able to actually teach instead of just worrying about trying to keep control of the class.
On the games front, I finished Super Paper Mario the other day. I really enjoyed it. If you've got a Wii and you're looking for something to play, it's not a bad choice.
After seeing the new Harry Potter movie, DeAnne could now be said to be "into" Harry Potter. She hasn't read any of the books and neither had I until this past weekend. I bought the first two and read them both over the weekend. They were pretty good but I'm really wanting to get to around 4 and 5. That's where the movies seem to have taken on a more cohesive feel. The first two books seemed really separate from each other in the sense that you could have reversed the timing and made book 2 year 1 and made book 1 year two and I don't think that anyone would really have seen much of a difference. One didn't really carry over into two any, it was just the next year whereas it seemed like the fifth movie was really a continuation of the fourth. Anyway, now that I've beat that dead horse...
I was somewhat wrong about my early feelings in regards to the new Smashing Pumpkins album. The first six songs are great. Track seven I could live without and then out of the last five songs, 3 are probably really good and the other two are decent. Overall, I'm happy with it. If you liked the Pumpkins in the past, say during Mellon Collie, you should be able to find a couple of songs on the new album to make it worth your while. I would suggest buying it from Target or iTunes. The bonus tracks on those versions are better than the Best Buy bonus track.
I'll be glad when summer is over and I don't have to cut grass anymore. The sod is doing well. It actually looks really good. Now if it'll just spread and fight off some of the weeds, I'll be really happy with it.
Later,
--Paul
DeAnne's doing good. She's pretty much back to normal. She still has some numbness in her leg, but the doctor said it can take a while for that to go away. The important thing is that she doesn't have any pain any more. She also has a new job. She's going to be teaching 2nd grade at the Christian academy in town. It's not a lot of pay and no tangible benefits, but she's only going to have 8 or 10 kids and it's just going to be a better environment over all. She's pretty excited about it and I'm just glad she found somewhere that she feels like she might be able to actually teach instead of just worrying about trying to keep control of the class.
On the games front, I finished Super Paper Mario the other day. I really enjoyed it. If you've got a Wii and you're looking for something to play, it's not a bad choice.
After seeing the new Harry Potter movie, DeAnne could now be said to be "into" Harry Potter. She hasn't read any of the books and neither had I until this past weekend. I bought the first two and read them both over the weekend. They were pretty good but I'm really wanting to get to around 4 and 5. That's where the movies seem to have taken on a more cohesive feel. The first two books seemed really separate from each other in the sense that you could have reversed the timing and made book 2 year 1 and made book 1 year two and I don't think that anyone would really have seen much of a difference. One didn't really carry over into two any, it was just the next year whereas it seemed like the fifth movie was really a continuation of the fourth. Anyway, now that I've beat that dead horse...
I was somewhat wrong about my early feelings in regards to the new Smashing Pumpkins album. The first six songs are great. Track seven I could live without and then out of the last five songs, 3 are probably really good and the other two are decent. Overall, I'm happy with it. If you liked the Pumpkins in the past, say during Mellon Collie, you should be able to find a couple of songs on the new album to make it worth your while. I would suggest buying it from Target or iTunes. The bonus tracks on those versions are better than the Best Buy bonus track.
I'll be glad when summer is over and I don't have to cut grass anymore. The sod is doing well. It actually looks really good. Now if it'll just spread and fight off some of the weeds, I'll be really happy with it.
Later,
--Paul
Sunday, July 15, 2007
F.Y.I.
I don't care how much it cost or how bad it needs to be done or what, I will never lay sod again. I helped Bryan with some of his but that was back before it got truly hot. Dad and I put out two pallets Friday around the new driveway...wait, i never told you guys, did I? We got a new driveway put in a couple of weeks ago. Concrete. We put it next to where the old one was in case we ever want to go further out that end of the house. It's great. Looks great, drives great, don't know how we ever lived without it. Anyway. So we got the new driveway put in and they scrapped up the old gravel from the first driveway leaving a big row of nothing. So I got some top soil, got that spread out and now we've done two pallets of sod around the new driveway. Now let's see how big of a water bill I can grow.
DeAnne's doing good. She got her stitches out last Wednesday and the doctor cleared her to drive again so she's off at a baby shower. I'm holding down the fort, keeping the sprinklers company and doing a little laundry. I got to looking for something to do and I broke out a dvd I got a while back. It's Butch Walker "Live from the Budokan". Check it out here. I know everyone's probably sick of my Butch hyping, but seriously. I'm sitting here watching this and I'm as blown away as I was the first 5 times I watched it. It's only $15 bucks at Amazon. Do yourself a favor, get it and check out the acoustic show that's the bonus material. You'll be glad you did.
In other music news, the new Pumpkins album came out last week. I pre-ordered off of Amazon to get the special version with the big booklet and it hasn't come yet. I've heard most of the stuff live though and I have to say, I'm on the fence about it. I don't know if I'm just nostalgic for the Pumpkins of old or what, but I'm a little disappointed with some of the new songs. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that they're playing SP songs again and there are several new songs that I've heard that I really like, but I don't know that the old SP quality is still there.
Since this has turned into a general post instead of the original "gripe about sod" that it was going to be, I'll mention that I'm almost through with Super Paper Mario. It's been a really fun game and has been really cool. I'm not sure what I'm going to play once I finish it. The 80's edition of Guitar Hero's coming out soon (this week maybe?) so that's probably top on the list. I'll let you know where I go when I get there.
I think that's enough for now.
Till next time,
--Paul
DeAnne's doing good. She got her stitches out last Wednesday and the doctor cleared her to drive again so she's off at a baby shower. I'm holding down the fort, keeping the sprinklers company and doing a little laundry. I got to looking for something to do and I broke out a dvd I got a while back. It's Butch Walker "Live from the Budokan". Check it out here. I know everyone's probably sick of my Butch hyping, but seriously. I'm sitting here watching this and I'm as blown away as I was the first 5 times I watched it. It's only $15 bucks at Amazon. Do yourself a favor, get it and check out the acoustic show that's the bonus material. You'll be glad you did.
In other music news, the new Pumpkins album came out last week. I pre-ordered off of Amazon to get the special version with the big booklet and it hasn't come yet. I've heard most of the stuff live though and I have to say, I'm on the fence about it. I don't know if I'm just nostalgic for the Pumpkins of old or what, but I'm a little disappointed with some of the new songs. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that they're playing SP songs again and there are several new songs that I've heard that I really like, but I don't know that the old SP quality is still there.
Since this has turned into a general post instead of the original "gripe about sod" that it was going to be, I'll mention that I'm almost through with Super Paper Mario. It's been a really fun game and has been really cool. I'm not sure what I'm going to play once I finish it. The 80's edition of Guitar Hero's coming out soon (this week maybe?) so that's probably top on the list. I'll let you know where I go when I get there.
I think that's enough for now.
Till next time,
--Paul
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
DeAnne
We're back home this morning and DeAnne's doing well. Everything went well yesterday and we were able to come home yesterday afternoon. There was a lot of waiting and it was a long day, but I think it's going to be worth it. The herniation was larger than the doctor thought and was really pressing on her spinal cord, so her pain should be gone now. She says that there's still some numbness but the doctor told us that that might be the case. She's also still on pain killers, so we're just going to have to wait and see what's what.
So that the short of it. She's doing good and everything went really well. We go back to the doctor in 2 weeks for a follow-up and to get the stitches out. Thanks for all the prayers and well-wishes. We couldn't have made it through without you all.
--Paul
So that the short of it. She's doing good and everything went really well. We go back to the doctor in 2 weeks for a follow-up and to get the stitches out. Thanks for all the prayers and well-wishes. We couldn't have made it through without you all.
--Paul
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Anniversary
I mentioned mine and DeAnne's anniversary in the last post. It's now been two years. It's hard to imagine that two years have gone by already. It feels like we just got married. We had a good day. I bought DeAnne some pieces of her china that she didn't have and had some flowers delivered. She got me the game I mentioned and paid for dinner. Nothing much, but it was nice and that's all you can really ask for.
--Paul
--Paul
Games
Thought I'd drop in a mention a few things.
I just finished God of War II (PS2). It was just as incredible if not more so than the first. The storyline is great. I've always enjoyed the Greek mythologies so it's pretty cool to see them interpreted the way they've done and get to interact with that world.
After finishing that I was wondering where to go next. DeAnne answered that for me when she bought me Super Paper Mario (Wii) for our anniversary. It doesn't use the Wii controller much but the game play is really cool and it's been a really fun game so far.
Other than that, the new Guitar Hero 80's edition should be coming out in July. You can probably imagine that I'm really geeking out over that one.
--Paul
I just finished God of War II (PS2). It was just as incredible if not more so than the first. The storyline is great. I've always enjoyed the Greek mythologies so it's pretty cool to see them interpreted the way they've done and get to interact with that world.
After finishing that I was wondering where to go next. DeAnne answered that for me when she bought me Super Paper Mario (Wii) for our anniversary. It doesn't use the Wii controller much but the game play is really cool and it's been a really fun game so far.
Other than that, the new Guitar Hero 80's edition should be coming out in July. You can probably imagine that I'm really geeking out over that one.
--Paul
Saturday, May 26, 2007
1 Year
Well, today marks one year post-op. It's hard to believe that it's been a year already. I feel great. Everything's healed up and I just have to thank God and give him the praise for what he's done for me. It's pretty amazing stuff.
Since I'm here I'll share what news there's been.
DeAnne's in the job market again. I won't go into what happened here. Let's just say it's nice for the year to done and for DeAnne to have some time off.
Our friends Bryan and Adrienne finally got married. The wedding was nice and I know they're happy to have it over with and be moved into their new house. I was an usher and DeAnne attended the book. If we had met them sooner we probably would have been even deeper in, but it was nice to be a part of a wedding and not really have to do that much. I don't know how many times DeAnne's been a bridesmaid, but I think she enjoyed not having to get up early and get hair and makeup and get dressed and be in a hundred pictures. We were glad to serve the roles we did and it meant that we got to watch and enjoy the wedding. So that was nice.
Other than that, we've just been working. We had a big software upgrade a few weeks ago and I worked probably 70 hours that week. Those weeks are always tuff, but at least it doesn't happen often and it could be a lot worse. What else...Our two year anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks. Like my surgery, it's hard to believe that the time has passed so quickly. It seems like we just got married. I guess that's a good thing though.
So that's about it. Till next time.
--Paul
Since I'm here I'll share what news there's been.
DeAnne's in the job market again. I won't go into what happened here. Let's just say it's nice for the year to done and for DeAnne to have some time off.
Our friends Bryan and Adrienne finally got married. The wedding was nice and I know they're happy to have it over with and be moved into their new house. I was an usher and DeAnne attended the book. If we had met them sooner we probably would have been even deeper in, but it was nice to be a part of a wedding and not really have to do that much. I don't know how many times DeAnne's been a bridesmaid, but I think she enjoyed not having to get up early and get hair and makeup and get dressed and be in a hundred pictures. We were glad to serve the roles we did and it meant that we got to watch and enjoy the wedding. So that was nice.
Other than that, we've just been working. We had a big software upgrade a few weeks ago and I worked probably 70 hours that week. Those weeks are always tuff, but at least it doesn't happen often and it could be a lot worse. What else...Our two year anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks. Like my surgery, it's hard to believe that the time has passed so quickly. It seems like we just got married. I guess that's a good thing though.
So that's about it. Till next time.
--Paul
Monday, April 16, 2007
Utah!
We're waiting on the ladies to finish getting ready for the day so I thought I would post real quick. The flight out here was fine. We managed to avoid all the bad weather and had two fairly pleasant flights. It's not terribly cold, the elevation takes some getting used to, the air is dry and the time being a hour behind is kind of strange when you're used to going east and being an hour ahead. Sara and Mike also have an incredible view of the mountains all around them. The whole area is in kind of a valley surrounded by a circle of mountains. Anyway, more later.
--Paul
--Paul
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Adventures in HVAC
So a couple of weeks ago DeAnne and I are watching a movie or something and it gets to a quiet part where no one's talking and it just so happens that at that moment the air conditioner cut off. Normally we wouldn't have paid it much mind except for the dripping noise that accompanied the shutoff. Turns out that our inside unit had a coil leak. This normally wouldn't be too expensive to replace, but it the unit was the original one that came with the house. It was 15 years old.
They gave us a couple of options. We could replace just the interior unit for about the same it would cost us to get new coils or we could just get a whole new unit. So we're now the proud owners of a new HVAC system. I'm interested to see what it does to the power bill. It came with a new digital thermostat that's nothing fancy, but it's got to be better than the old analog one we had. Also, our old unit was a 10 seer (what that means exactly, I'm not sure, I just know it's the efficiency rating) and the new one is a 13. It'll be interesting to compare the next couple of power bills to what we were paying last year.
In other news, we're now just a week away from spring break and our trip to Utah to see DeAnne's sister and her husband. She's really looking forward to it and I guess I am too except for the flying. Flying is such a pain.
Other than that, that's about it. If I think of something else, I'll post again. Later.
--Paul
They gave us a couple of options. We could replace just the interior unit for about the same it would cost us to get new coils or we could just get a whole new unit. So we're now the proud owners of a new HVAC system. I'm interested to see what it does to the power bill. It came with a new digital thermostat that's nothing fancy, but it's got to be better than the old analog one we had. Also, our old unit was a 10 seer (what that means exactly, I'm not sure, I just know it's the efficiency rating) and the new one is a 13. It'll be interesting to compare the next couple of power bills to what we were paying last year.
In other news, we're now just a week away from spring break and our trip to Utah to see DeAnne's sister and her husband. She's really looking forward to it and I guess I am too except for the flying. Flying is such a pain.
Other than that, that's about it. If I think of something else, I'll post again. Later.
--Paul
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Heros
It's spring which means that we're in our peak TV watching season and this year has been pretty good.
24 has been as awesome as ever. I love that they don't ever do reruns during the season, but at the same time, it's a long time to wait from the end of May to the beginning of January for the new season to start, but man is the wait ever worth it. This year has been a sequel to last year in a lot of ways. They carried over a lot of the previous season's plot lines that we left unresolved. If you've never watched this show, go rent either season 1 or season 5. All of them are great, but if you don't want to start at the beginning with season 1, 5 is a good place to jump on.
Lost started the year being awful but has improved the past 3 or 4 weeks. After the first couple of episodes this year, we almost quit watching it. But we stuck with it and hopefully the rest of the season will be worth it. Last week's episode was probably the best since season 2. We're in a stretch now where they've taken a cue from 24 and not showing any reruns till the season is over. It's nice having shows that you watch every week and know they're not going to be reruns.
We've watched a little bit of American Idol. We just haven't seen anyone that we really like this season so it's hard to commit to watching it. We couldn't even remember it was on last week.
Finally there's Heroes. This show is has reached a point where it's right up there with 24 on my list of favorites. DeAnne has even gotten really into it and she's usually not a fan of things that have to do with super powers and comic books. It's on hiatus till April right now, but once it comes back, it'll go all the way to the end of the season on new shows. They've taken a different approach with this show in that they'll show 6 or so new episodes and then take a few weeks off and then come back and show another block of new episodes. It's worked really well in that the breaks have made me miss the show and have built my anticipation up for the new ones when they start. I can't say enough good things about this show. It moves the way that Lost should move. There's rarely a week that goes by that the viewers don't get a vast amount of new information about some aspect of the story, it has great characters and it's like watching a comic book on TV. How awesome is that?
So that's where we stand on TV. DeAnne still watches Grey's Anatomy every week but I'm hit or miss with it. Other than that, that's really all we have time to watch but I feel like we're watching some of the better shows on TV. I just wish they'd move Friday Night Lights back to a time when we're not at church.
--Paul
24 has been as awesome as ever. I love that they don't ever do reruns during the season, but at the same time, it's a long time to wait from the end of May to the beginning of January for the new season to start, but man is the wait ever worth it. This year has been a sequel to last year in a lot of ways. They carried over a lot of the previous season's plot lines that we left unresolved. If you've never watched this show, go rent either season 1 or season 5. All of them are great, but if you don't want to start at the beginning with season 1, 5 is a good place to jump on.
Lost started the year being awful but has improved the past 3 or 4 weeks. After the first couple of episodes this year, we almost quit watching it. But we stuck with it and hopefully the rest of the season will be worth it. Last week's episode was probably the best since season 2. We're in a stretch now where they've taken a cue from 24 and not showing any reruns till the season is over. It's nice having shows that you watch every week and know they're not going to be reruns.
We've watched a little bit of American Idol. We just haven't seen anyone that we really like this season so it's hard to commit to watching it. We couldn't even remember it was on last week.
Finally there's Heroes. This show is has reached a point where it's right up there with 24 on my list of favorites. DeAnne has even gotten really into it and she's usually not a fan of things that have to do with super powers and comic books. It's on hiatus till April right now, but once it comes back, it'll go all the way to the end of the season on new shows. They've taken a different approach with this show in that they'll show 6 or so new episodes and then take a few weeks off and then come back and show another block of new episodes. It's worked really well in that the breaks have made me miss the show and have built my anticipation up for the new ones when they start. I can't say enough good things about this show. It moves the way that Lost should move. There's rarely a week that goes by that the viewers don't get a vast amount of new information about some aspect of the story, it has great characters and it's like watching a comic book on TV. How awesome is that?
So that's where we stand on TV. DeAnne still watches Grey's Anatomy every week but I'm hit or miss with it. Other than that, that's really all we have time to watch but I feel like we're watching some of the better shows on TV. I just wish they'd move Friday Night Lights back to a time when we're not at church.
--Paul
Music Man
So after finishing up the new Zelda game I was looking around for something new to play and I had a few ideas, but didn't know for sure what I wanted to get. I had been looking at a game called Guitar Hero (PS2) for a while, but was put off by the price. Not only do you have to get the game, but you have to buy a controller that's shaped like a guitar. Let me explain.
Guitar Hero is a guitar simulator game. You have a guitar controller that is just like a mini guitar. It has 5 buttons on the neck that act as notes and a bar in the center that you press to strum. You start the game, create a band, give them a name and then start playing shows. While playing the songs, the notes come scrolling down the screen towards you. When they get to the bottom of the screen, you press the appropriate button and hit the strum bar to play the note. As long as you're hitting the majority of the notes, you'll be "Rockin'", miss enough of them and the crowd will boo you off stage.
As you can imagine, this game appeals to me for obvious reasons. The cheapest I've ever found it though was $80 for a combo game+guitar pack. That's where work comes in. My company is very focused on maintaing a good safety record. As such, we get a small safety award each year. After getting this years safety check, I knew what I wanted. I found a place online that was running a 10% off sale on it and ordered it. Needless to say, the game is awsome. It has four difficulty levels ranging from easy to expert. Once you get to the third level, the game gets really hard. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to play it on expert, but it doesn't matter, it's great just playing it on medium. I should probably note that all the songs are actual songs that have been covered. They're very true to the original song, but it's someone else playing it. Songs include everything from old 70's rock like the Allman Brother's "Jessica" to Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine" on up to a recent song by metal band Avenged Sevenfold.
This is actually the second game in the series. As soon as I can, I fully intend on getting the first one. I've checked out the track listing on the internet and it seems like it has a better song list than the new one. I can hardly contain myself.
--Paul
Guitar Hero is a guitar simulator game. You have a guitar controller that is just like a mini guitar. It has 5 buttons on the neck that act as notes and a bar in the center that you press to strum. You start the game, create a band, give them a name and then start playing shows. While playing the songs, the notes come scrolling down the screen towards you. When they get to the bottom of the screen, you press the appropriate button and hit the strum bar to play the note. As long as you're hitting the majority of the notes, you'll be "Rockin'", miss enough of them and the crowd will boo you off stage.
As you can imagine, this game appeals to me for obvious reasons. The cheapest I've ever found it though was $80 for a combo game+guitar pack. That's where work comes in. My company is very focused on maintaing a good safety record. As such, we get a small safety award each year. After getting this years safety check, I knew what I wanted. I found a place online that was running a 10% off sale on it and ordered it. Needless to say, the game is awsome. It has four difficulty levels ranging from easy to expert. Once you get to the third level, the game gets really hard. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to play it on expert, but it doesn't matter, it's great just playing it on medium. I should probably note that all the songs are actual songs that have been covered. They're very true to the original song, but it's someone else playing it. Songs include everything from old 70's rock like the Allman Brother's "Jessica" to Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine" on up to a recent song by metal band Avenged Sevenfold.
This is actually the second game in the series. As soon as I can, I fully intend on getting the first one. I've checked out the track listing on the internet and it seems like it has a better song list than the new one. I can hardly contain myself.
--Paul
Wisdom
Let's start with health. Things are fine with the ol' ticker. I'm STILL getting my blood checked every two weeks, but it's been more stable the last 6 weeks or so, so I'm hoping and praying that we'll soon be able to go to once a month. Also, it's now been about a year since we found out that I was going to have to have surgery. Time flys when you're having fun, huh?
DeAnne's back seems to be getting better also. She's not been going to the chiropractor as often and she's not been talking about it as much as she was a month or two ago. I know we're both relieved that it's getting better. I think it's taking a little longer to heal than she hoped for, but I think that her work is part of the reason for that. I feel like once school gets out and she has some time to rest and she's not on her feet 8 hours a day 5 days a week, she'll really have a chance to get back to 100%.
Finally, I had a wisdom tooth pulled about a week ago. It had broken through so I didn't have to have any cutting done. It was pretty amazing actually. He numbed me up and after he got started it probably on took him 2 minutes. I didn't think he had actually done anything yet when he got up and said he was done. So that was pretty awsome. Most of you know I loath going to the dentist just for a cleaning, so I'm sure you can imagine how anxious I was about having a wisdom tooth pulled. The bleeding wasn't bad either. It took a little while to stop, but it was a lot better than I expected it to be. Answered prayers all around on this one.
--Paul
DeAnne's back seems to be getting better also. She's not been going to the chiropractor as often and she's not been talking about it as much as she was a month or two ago. I know we're both relieved that it's getting better. I think it's taking a little longer to heal than she hoped for, but I think that her work is part of the reason for that. I feel like once school gets out and she has some time to rest and she's not on her feet 8 hours a day 5 days a week, she'll really have a chance to get back to 100%.
Finally, I had a wisdom tooth pulled about a week ago. It had broken through so I didn't have to have any cutting done. It was pretty amazing actually. He numbed me up and after he got started it probably on took him 2 minutes. I didn't think he had actually done anything yet when he got up and said he was done. So that was pretty awsome. Most of you know I loath going to the dentist just for a cleaning, so I'm sure you can imagine how anxious I was about having a wisdom tooth pulled. The bleeding wasn't bad either. It took a little while to stop, but it was a lot better than I expected it to be. Answered prayers all around on this one.
--Paul
Long Time Comin'
I know, I know. It's been a while since I've posted. I've neglected you. I'm sorry. I've got a few different things I want to talk about so I think I'm just going to split them into different posts for ease of reading (and to help keep me on topic). So here goes...
--Paul
--Paul
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Doc
This past Tuesday the world lost a man that was of great importance and made a great impact on a great many lives including mine, DeAnne's, and a good many of my friends. Dr. Daniel was the kind of teacher that, from the moment you met him, you knew he was genuinely concerned about you and your success as a student, not only in his class but in both college and in life after college. He was a great asset to LBW and to the surrounding communities. I would say more, but that's the core of it. Doc was an educator. One of those rare people who live for making an impact on other people's lives. I can't imagine the full extent of the impact he had on me and not only me but all the others he taught over the years. We'll miss you Doc.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Twilight Princess
I beat The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess this past Sunday afternoon. It took nearly 40 hours of game time but it was well worth it and looking back it went by pretty fast. If you have a Wii, you have to have this game. I'm ready to call it my favorite Zelda game of all time.
I know it's short but I had to get that out. Later.
--Paul
I know it's short but I had to get that out. Later.
--Paul
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Better Late Than Never
Sorry for the lapse in posting. Every time I've thought about it, somethings come up and distracted me. Anyway, let me start off by breaking down the health news for you.
We saw the back surgeon about DeAnne's back and he said that he doesn't think she needs surgery. He gave her some anti-inflammatory pills and told her to do physical therapy. So for the time being she's just going to keep going to the chiropractor. It seems to be working. She hasn't been hurting near as much the past few weeks and seems to be doing much better over all.
We also saw my cardiologist a few weeks back and got a good report from him. He said that everything sounded good and just to come back in a year. Thanks again to Courtney and Edwin for dinner. We love hanging out with you two. We're going to have to start making trips down just to see you guys now that the doctor visits have gone back to normal.
Other than that not much has been going on. We both had sinus problems last week and we were miserable for 5 or 6 days, but that's pretty much past now. If the weather would decide to stay cold or warm, it'd help us out a lot. That's all I've got for now.
--Paul
We saw the back surgeon about DeAnne's back and he said that he doesn't think she needs surgery. He gave her some anti-inflammatory pills and told her to do physical therapy. So for the time being she's just going to keep going to the chiropractor. It seems to be working. She hasn't been hurting near as much the past few weeks and seems to be doing much better over all.
We also saw my cardiologist a few weeks back and got a good report from him. He said that everything sounded good and just to come back in a year. Thanks again to Courtney and Edwin for dinner. We love hanging out with you two. We're going to have to start making trips down just to see you guys now that the doctor visits have gone back to normal.
Other than that not much has been going on. We both had sinus problems last week and we were miserable for 5 or 6 days, but that's pretty much past now. If the weather would decide to stay cold or warm, it'd help us out a lot. That's all I've got for now.
--Paul
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Wicked Smooth
As part of Christmas, I got two copies of the new Zelda game for the Wii. So I took a copy back to Wal-Mart and had them put it on a gift card for me. I've been waiting ever since for something to come out that interested me enough to use the card on. It came out last week and it's called WarioWare: Smooth Moves.
It's hard to explain exactly what it's like. If you've ever played a WarioWare game before, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't just take my word for it when I say that it's a little on the crazy side, but in a good crazy kind of way. You play a series of "micro" games that last at most 5 seconds. When a game starts, you're given an objective and it's up to you to figure out how to accomplish the objective is the short amount of time you have. It's a lot more fun than it sounds. It also really shows off what all the Wiimote can do. There's a slew of different ways you're asked to hold the remote and each position allows for countless different movements. Nintendo really seems to have a good grasp on what all their new console is capable of. If other game developers get at as good at putting the Wiimote to use as Nintendo is already, there should be some really good games coming out in the future.
For me, WarioWare was well worth getting. It's really the first game that I've thought was worth buying since Zelda. So don't let the pink box art fool you. Give it a try.
--Paul
It's hard to explain exactly what it's like. If you've ever played a WarioWare game before, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't just take my word for it when I say that it's a little on the crazy side, but in a good crazy kind of way. You play a series of "micro" games that last at most 5 seconds. When a game starts, you're given an objective and it's up to you to figure out how to accomplish the objective is the short amount of time you have. It's a lot more fun than it sounds. It also really shows off what all the Wiimote can do. There's a slew of different ways you're asked to hold the remote and each position allows for countless different movements. Nintendo really seems to have a good grasp on what all their new console is capable of. If other game developers get at as good at putting the Wiimote to use as Nintendo is already, there should be some really good games coming out in the future.
For me, WarioWare was well worth getting. It's really the first game that I've thought was worth buying since Zelda. So don't let the pink box art fool you. Give it a try.
--Paul
More Linkage
You guys know I love Butch Walker. So what kind of fan would I be if I didn't tell you about his new band "1969". They don't have much up yet, but there's 4 songs on their myspace page which can be found at:
http://www.myspace.com/1969theband
--Paul
http://www.myspace.com/1969theband
--Paul
Monday, January 22, 2007
Linkage
I just wanted to post a link real quick. This is a blog I found about the Wii's Virtual Console. The guy that writes it posts reviews of the VC games along with his weekly predictions about what's going to come out each week and then a list of the games that were actually released. It's not much, but I like it and the information is nice.
http://theitrant.com/vc/
I've also put a the link in the list to the right.
--Paul
http://theitrant.com/vc/
I've also put a the link in the list to the right.
--Paul
Sunday, January 21, 2007
DeAnne Couldn't Stand It
Last post for today.
I think everyone knows that DeAnne has cancer when she was 18 and had the tumor surgically removed. Well, she couldn't stand for me to have a more complicated surgery than her, so back in November, she fell out of a chair and messed her back up. She finally went to see the doctor about it back in December. He of course had an MRI done and come to find out that she's herniated a disc and has one or two that are bulging. We're going to Dothan this Wednesday to talk to a surgeon about getting it fixed.
She started going to the chiropractor last week and it seems to be helping. She hasn't had as much pain and he seems to think that he might be able to straighten everything back out without her having to have surgery. He believes that when she hit the floor, her tail bone pushed up against her spine and that's what caused the herniation.
So be praying for DeAnne that the chiropractor can fix the problem and that she won't have to have surgery, or that if she does have to have surgery, that she can hold out until this summer and have it done while school's out on vacation.
--Paul
I think everyone knows that DeAnne has cancer when she was 18 and had the tumor surgically removed. Well, she couldn't stand for me to have a more complicated surgery than her, so back in November, she fell out of a chair and messed her back up. She finally went to see the doctor about it back in December. He of course had an MRI done and come to find out that she's herniated a disc and has one or two that are bulging. We're going to Dothan this Wednesday to talk to a surgeon about getting it fixed.
She started going to the chiropractor last week and it seems to be helping. She hasn't had as much pain and he seems to think that he might be able to straighten everything back out without her having to have surgery. He believes that when she hit the floor, her tail bone pushed up against her spine and that's what caused the herniation.
So be praying for DeAnne that the chiropractor can fix the problem and that she won't have to have surgery, or that if she does have to have surgery, that she can hold out until this summer and have it done while school's out on vacation.
--Paul
Getting Moldy
DeAnne's birthday was the 8th. She had been talking about wanting to get crown molding for the dinning room and the living room/hallway, so I bought her crown with the promise that she wouldn't have to do any of the work associated with putting it up. So naturally, I haven't managed to finish it yet. We did get the dinning room done. It was pretty straight forward. Just 4 walls, pretty much a square. Plus it helps that in recruiting Bryan to help, he recruited his dad who happens to have done contracting work before he went into business for himself. I've still got to touch up the paint in the dinning room but it's done. The living room is going to be a little more complicated. There's one out-facing corner to deal with and there's going to be more than one place where we have to join two pieces down a long stretch. So maybe I'll have this little project finished up by DeAnne's next birthday. Who knows.
In related housing news, they finally paved our road. It's only taken them 7 months to do it, but it's finally done. They've got a few more details to take care of, but the asphalt is down and it couldn't be nicer to pull up to the house and not feel like you're going to shake to death. Maybe now we can wash our cars and not feel like it's a complete waste of time and energy.
--Paul
In related housing news, they finally paved our road. It's only taken them 7 months to do it, but it's finally done. They've got a few more details to take care of, but the asphalt is down and it couldn't be nicer to pull up to the house and not feel like you're going to shake to death. Maybe now we can wash our cars and not feel like it's a complete waste of time and energy.
--Paul
Wii Love It!
The new Nintendo has become a fixture of our daily lives.
Wii Sports, the game that comes with the system is awesome. It could have easily been sold separate from the console as a $50 game. DeAnne likes the bowling best. I'm really into the tennis, but they're all really cool. We finally found some controllers for sale in Wal-Mart about 2 weeks ago so now we're able to play against each other (or on the same team in tennis) and it's a blast. We had some company over for dinner a few weekends ago and Wii Sports was one of the highlights of the evening.
I've got about 10 hours of play time in on the new Zelda and I have no idea how far into it I am, but I get the feeling I've got a long way to go. It's an incredible game. There have been numerous times where while playing, I've caught myself saying "Wow, that was awesome". There are just so many cool things about the game. Something will happen and you'll think that that's the coolest thing in the game and then 15 minutes later something cooler than that happens. Sorry, fan-boy gushing is now over.
I've also downloaded a couple of games. The original Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. 1. They're both still great games and they both are a ton of fun to play still. I was worried that the download-able game thing wouldn't really work that well or that the games wouldn't look very good, but the downloads are small, taking only about 5 minutes on our impossibly slow connection and they don't take up much of the internal memory. Nintendo puts out new games every Monday, and while the last few weeks haven't seen anything worth while hit the store, there should be plenty of cool old games coming down the pipeline.
So that's how things have been with the Wii. DeAnne and I have both really enjoyed it and I know that I'm excited about games that will be coming out in the future for it. I think Nintendo has really come up with something that is amazingly innovative and has really brought something fresh and exciting to video games. Oh, and if you've got a Wii and you know my email address, send me a message and we'll exchange Wii numbers so that we can write each other.
--Paul
Wii Sports, the game that comes with the system is awesome. It could have easily been sold separate from the console as a $50 game. DeAnne likes the bowling best. I'm really into the tennis, but they're all really cool. We finally found some controllers for sale in Wal-Mart about 2 weeks ago so now we're able to play against each other (or on the same team in tennis) and it's a blast. We had some company over for dinner a few weekends ago and Wii Sports was one of the highlights of the evening.
I've got about 10 hours of play time in on the new Zelda and I have no idea how far into it I am, but I get the feeling I've got a long way to go. It's an incredible game. There have been numerous times where while playing, I've caught myself saying "Wow, that was awesome". There are just so many cool things about the game. Something will happen and you'll think that that's the coolest thing in the game and then 15 minutes later something cooler than that happens. Sorry, fan-boy gushing is now over.
I've also downloaded a couple of games. The original Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. 1. They're both still great games and they both are a ton of fun to play still. I was worried that the download-able game thing wouldn't really work that well or that the games wouldn't look very good, but the downloads are small, taking only about 5 minutes on our impossibly slow connection and they don't take up much of the internal memory. Nintendo puts out new games every Monday, and while the last few weeks haven't seen anything worth while hit the store, there should be plenty of cool old games coming down the pipeline.
So that's how things have been with the Wii. DeAnne and I have both really enjoyed it and I know that I'm excited about games that will be coming out in the future for it. I think Nintendo has really come up with something that is amazingly innovative and has really brought something fresh and exciting to video games. Oh, and if you've got a Wii and you know my email address, send me a message and we'll exchange Wii numbers so that we can write each other.
--Paul
Me, My Health and I
So I'll start this series with the topic that got me started on my blogging way in the first place. I'm doing well. We go back to the cardiologist this coming Friday (heads up Courtney and Edwin) so I'll have a more complete report on exactly how I'm doing next weekend.
As to my blood-thinner, we were doing good up until about 4 weeks ago and all of a sudden my level dipped a little too low, so instead of moving to getting checked once a month, we're still on every two weeks. It's disappointing and a little frustrating. It's been nearly 7 months since my surgery and we still don't have this thing completely worked out yet. I know it's going to be an up and down thing and that it's hard to get Coumadin regulated, but come on. I've done a little bit of research on the web and other than a drug that was approved in Europe and then later discontinued for safety reasons, there doesn't seem to be a lot of development or research into better blood thinner agents. As many people there are that are on Coumadin, I'm shocked that this is the case. I guess that's just the way it is though.
Anyway, as I said, I'll have a more detailed report next weekend. I feel great though, and DeAnne says that she can tell a change in me as far as my energy levels and such, so all should be well.
--Paul
As to my blood-thinner, we were doing good up until about 4 weeks ago and all of a sudden my level dipped a little too low, so instead of moving to getting checked once a month, we're still on every two weeks. It's disappointing and a little frustrating. It's been nearly 7 months since my surgery and we still don't have this thing completely worked out yet. I know it's going to be an up and down thing and that it's hard to get Coumadin regulated, but come on. I've done a little bit of research on the web and other than a drug that was approved in Europe and then later discontinued for safety reasons, there doesn't seem to be a lot of development or research into better blood thinner agents. As many people there are that are on Coumadin, I'm shocked that this is the case. I guess that's just the way it is though.
Anyway, as I said, I'll have a more detailed report next weekend. I feel great though, and DeAnne says that she can tell a change in me as far as my energy levels and such, so all should be well.
--Paul
It's Been A Long Time Comin'
Hey, how is everyone doing out there? I know it's been a while since I posted. There's been a lot going on and honestly, I just haven't had the urge to write anything. But here we are, 21 days into 2007 and it's been a wild year already. To make things easier on myself, I'm going to split everything out into separate posts. So consider this just the intro.
--Paul
--Paul
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