I’m only about 4 years late trying this game. I’m actually pretty annoyed that I still had to pay over 20 bucks to get it. I have to say, though, that Microsoft really got their collective sh$t together when they teamed with Bungie to put this thing out. Boy oh boy is it slick. Sure, the marines that are supposed to be helping you are dumb as stumps and the polygons aren’t as high as they would be today but this thing is gorgeous. I can’t wait to show my dad.
My dad was born in ‘46 so that makes him, let’s say “experienced.” What I love about my dad, though, is how he caught on immediately to how important computers were going to be (he’s also a lawyer so he’s a pretty smart dude to begin with). We got our first family PC when I was still in high school so it was somewhere between 1990 and 1995 (now I’m dating myself). Of course the only thing I wanted to do was to play games on it. My first game? Doom 2. Yes, it was baptism by fire and I was hooked. My dad, or Isi (pronounced E-C) as I call him, didn’t care for Doom and the space marine saga. I likened it to how much he liked my choice of music at the time - Metallica, Tea Party and anything else sufficiently heavy to make parents leave the room. I thought that it was pretty uncool of my dad to not like computer games. It turns out that I just had the wrong game.
Our next game? “The most successful PC game of all time…” MYST. We peeled the plastic off this one as a family and within the first four and a half minutes my mother, my dad and I were glued to the monitor with the lights down and a pad and pen in hand. My sister beetled off to her room mumbling something about geeks or nerds or her having been adopted. I think we probably played about 6 hours together that night and 6 more each night for the next 7 days. It became a rule that no one was allowed to work on the game alone. Of course, the biggest discoveries were made when you were playing alone and you had to pretend like you didn’t know how to solve the puzzle the next time the group got together. Then you made it look really easy and claimed that you “just thought about it a little.”
I digress. The point is that my dad digs computer games. My mom does too, for that matter. That’s why at almost every gift-giving occassion I try to give them a computer game as their present. With my mom working crazy shifts as a nurse and my dad working every hour he’s not sleeping, a game is the one way for sure that I know they’ll sit down together and enjoy a little clickaround. Sure beats the bizzarro heads-up Sudoku I caught them playing.
By the way, this year’s Father’s Day gift to my dad (and my mom’s birthday present since they fall on the same day) is The Longest Journey - Dreamfall. I hope they like it.
Happy Father’s Day everyone. I’ve got to get back to killing the Covenant and figuring out what the hell this damn Halo is! … and why my marines want to stand right in my line of fire.
My brother-in-law gave me his old Easton Synergy 2 slowpitch bat. Anyone who knows me even a little knows that I think technology can solve just about anything BUT, can someone please make a bat that stops me from popping up?
Jake “three in a row to shallow right field” Kennedy
Just wanted to rant a little. I’ve been causing myself fits trying to position elements inside of table cells. IE handles it just fine but Firefox barfs immediately.
I know what you’re saying, “don’t use tables for positioning, fool.” Thanks for the advice, and watch your mouth - this is a family blog. As anyone who has done a lot of web work knows, tables are much easier to use and normally are the most faithful to the layout you are intending to produce. For the code snobs out there, divs MAY work just as well but you have to admit that they are not nearly as flexible - right now. When browser support, nay, when cross-browser support of div positioning is more consistent then I’ll officially make the switch. Attributes like min-width and auto margins are, on paper, the answer to a lot of layout issues. The trouble is that they are simply W3 guidelines for future browsers. By the time Joe Q Public gets around to having a standards-compliant browser installed on their home machine, well, I’ll probably be dealing with cell phone browser layout issues.
Now I hear you saying, “but you can always use the [insert your favourite] hack to make it work, dummy.” If I have to use a hack then I’m not likely to go that route. Hacks inevitably lead to support issues and eventual outdating. Today’s hacks are tomorrow’s bugs. [and I’ll thank you to cease with the name calling]
No, for now I’ll just motor along with tables, where I need them, and I’ll use divs where columns aren’t important.
You know, none of this would ever have become an issue if some of you out there didn’t have a real hate on for Microsoft. I’ve got nothing against Billy G and the Midnight Racers but having competing browsers out there is making my job more desired. Thank you, haters.
Stay tuned for my next post entitled, “Cross-browser headaches with lists.” My one tip for fledgling pros out there is test in IE and Firefox often. The only consistent thing between them are the inconsistencies.
Could a guy have been more dominate for all but the Stanley Cup Finals? Ray Emery made opponents sweat just thinking about trying to score on him for the first three series. Sure, he had his moments in the finals, but the Ray Emery that stoned the entire Eastern Conference was AWOL in the finals.
Let me also say that JS Giguere was not that stellar either. I honestly believe that there was just some kind of mojo working against the Sens. Pucks would lie in the crease, Phillips own goal, giveaways that always were converted… this kind of stuff just didn’t happen to the Sens, ever. There were times that the Sens looked like the bloody Harlem Globetrotters out there - touch passes, no-look passes, effortless plays that just didn’t find the back of the net. I think we, as Canadian hockey fans, are being punished for hating on Chris Pronger so strongly. Oh well, he still bugs me.
And then there’s Ryan Getzlaf. To me he’s the new Jeremy Roenick. There’s just something about the look on his face that makes you want to hate him - but boy would you love to have him on your side. That kid was a major presence out there, even outshining Selanne (IMHO). I’m happy for Teemu, and the nice guy flying his friends over from Finland story is great too, but he didn’t really light it up. I’m still ticked that he and Kariya didn’t put it all together. THAT was a feel good story [both taking pay cuts to play together in Colorado where they thought they had the best chance]. Now maybe Kariya can bring the Cup home to Canada - in Hamilton.
