Team Fortress 2, Fortrix, and Starcraft 2

Recently been enjoying the game Fortrix.  Fortix is kindof a remix of the game Qix. A fun throwaway game that has a nice retro feel.
I've also been playing alot of Team Fortress 2 in the last few months.  A fun FPS that allows the play to have different roles.  It's very similar to the original Team Fortress, excepting a new game engine, and cartoony fun graphics.
I'm also super excited for Starcraft 2 to come out, which Blizzard has stated that should happen in the first half of 2010.  What that really means it as good as anything with Blizzard's record of delaying and canceling games.  The good news is that it is in Beta, however.

Travels

 I recently read through Michael Crichton's Travels.  An interesting book detailing his travels and various adventures, and also his progression away from traditional science, towards metaphysics and New Age learning.  It's an interesting book, with a critique of the modern science mindset that is very profound.  He also has lots of interesting adventures and many involve SCUBA diving.

Spring Break vacation

  We drove down to Southern California last month, and stopped at the Huntington gardens.  They were having their annual Bonsai tree festival, so we got to see hundreds on neat Bonsai trees.  We then went to Disneyland, and it was Melissa's sister Kim's first time to visit the magic kingdom.  We then headed to Arizona, and had a wonderful time relaxing and playing shuffleboard and swimming.  We also went to Mexico for a day.  We then headed back to Idaho, to recover from out vacation!

Canon 500D

Turning thirty three years of age of recent, we piled up our doubloons and purchased a new digital camera. We went with a Canon 500D: the Digital Rebel EOS T1i. I've been hoping to get a digital SLR for the last decade, so it's exciting to get a camera with lots of possibility. Let's hope it doesn't go in the lake, like our last Canon camera. :D

Texts and Tomes 2-8-2010

     About a month ago, I read Ender's Game by  Orson Scott Card.  A fun science fiction read.  It seemed a little one dimensional on the characters, but the science fiction aspects and plot turns made for a decent book.
     I finally finished the novel Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley.  Written about 150 years ago, it details the adventures of the English battling with the Spanish and their exploits in the New World.  Interesting subject matter, but the book drags on in parts, and I'm not a particular fan of the ending.
     Currently reading Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card.  It's part of the Ender corpus, which is fairly muddled as far as which book fits where in chronological progression.  Maybe that's part of the Science Fiction aspect.

McCall Winter Carnival & Snow Skiing

 Went up to the McCall Winter Carnival last weekend.  It was a fun time.  They have a Mardi Gras parade every year; where people on floats throw bead necklaces.  Helped build a large ski jump for sledding.  Participated in rolling a ten foot snowman.  We even saw a moose snowmobiling.
Also, we've been skiing alot up at Bogus Basin with out season passes.  Though we've taken a small break as Melissa twisted her knee a few weeks back.

New Compy/Water Tower Hybrid

I've constructed a new computer.  It's a watercooling setup, which seems a little counter-intuitive for electronic equipment.  It's been a fun project, and I've been enjoying learning more about water cooling.  While I did construct a mostly new computer, I didn't upgrade the videocard, yet.  I'm thinking about waiting until Starcraft 2 comes out, and upgrading around then.