Lacrosse - the great sport

Is there any sport out there better than lacrosse? I doubt it.

Lax is faster than football, more physical than basketball, and less boring than baseball. I mean seriously, what can be better than a stick, a ball and a helmet? Nothing.

I did not have lax when I was little - the only time I saw a lax stick was in the encyclopedia. It was that strange Northern sport that all the private school kids played - and Native Americans.

Somehow, I got my son into lax, and he really has enjoyed it. So have I. There is hardly a better way to spend a Spring day than pacing the sidelines watching Natick put the hurt on another town (hopefully).

Nowadays, we have indoor lacrosse and Fall lacrosse - which my son plays, but not going too nuts on it. Don't want to burn him out, you know, it should still be fun.

While lax is growing leaps and bounds in popularity, it is still small enough in many towns that a kid can pick it up in middle school or high school.

So I recommend giving lax a try - scrounge some equipment. Grab a stick and go out and give it a toss. It's a blast.

Flash Game: Hedgehog Launch

There are a lot of launch games out there, but one of the ones that I have enjoyed is hedgehog launch. This is a vertical launch platformer.

You have to get your hedgehog into outer space as part of the space program for some tiny Caribbean country. To help you along, you have platforms that can bounce you up, parachutes to bring you down slowly, booster rockets to give you a lift, and radar to show you where the platforms are. And you are launched in the air with a big slingshot.

The catch is you have to buy these things. You get money by going over coins that are fortunately floating in the air, and you get a multiplier for duration of flight and height achieved. You never have enough money to buy everything, so you have to budget your money for different things.

My son says that I play a lot of these games where you have to budget resources, and I guess I do. I find them more interesting than flat out shoot 'em ups, usually.

The goal is to get into space in the fewest days.

My record is 3 days - I have done it 3 or 4 times. I consider it pretty good if I can get into space in 8 days or less.

Give it a shot. You can find it at armor games - http://armorgames.com/play/1760/hedgehog-launch

A quick, fun diversion.

A Clash of Cultures

There is a culture war coming. And it will not be pretty.

Some of that came to light when I was over at the stringed instrument store to pick up some music for my cello. As I pulled up in my minivan (small, 4-cylinder, 10 years old), I saw the cars an the parking lot: 3 Priuses, a Volvo, a Subaru Outback and a Honda Minivan, and a few other nondescript Japanese cars. No Fords, no Buicks, no trucks.

And all these cars were sporting eco bumper stickers and Obama bumper stickers and bumper stickers talking about classical music, stickers for private schools and academies. I was the only standout because besides my Obama sticker, I was sporting a Natick Lacrosse sticker.

It got me to thinking. What is it about playing a stringed instrument that attracts a cetain type of person in general? Middle/upper-middle class, liberal, academically oriented.

i don't have the answer, I am just making an observation. But it seems to be a type and there did not seem to be a lot of diversity in that group (racial diversity, yes - but other than skin color they looked pretty much the same).

I think this group is happy about the Obama win, but there must be thousands just like them. But there are others that are the polar opposite who are thinking that their world is crazy and turned upside down. They may be becoming smaller, but they are still a big group.

And they are in for a shock.

Election Day 2008 (2 thumbs up)

Woo hoo! Obama won!

The nightmare of the idiot Republican President and his gang of fascists is over.

One thing that I noticed about the 2 crowds at Sen Obama's victory speech and Sen. McCain's concession speech. Looking at the Obama crowd on TV it was all ages, all genders, all ethnic groups. McCain crowd was a bunch of really white guys, a few white women and nothing else.

If that is all the Republicans have, then they are in trouble. They are running out of scared white guys fast.

Almost Election Day

We are coming up on the election. The Republicans are sounding pretty desperate. The Democrats are trying not to sound too happy. Also concerned about any last minnute shenanigans.

My kids are getting excited - they have been having mock elections at school - Obama wins.

I can feel the winds of change in the air. People are excited - especially people who have not previously participated in the electoral process.

I was a little concerned when Gov. Palin was nominated - people seem so excited about her! I myself think she is another idiot - uninformed, jingoistic, incurious, just what we need in this complex world (sarcasm implied). Just what we need to these complex times. But people do not want to think and she makes them (some of them, at least) feel good. Me, I want to puke.

I am looking forward to a president who can think and speak and is willing to learn and do.

Let's see what the next week brings.

Jury Duty, Part 2

So I was impaneled for the trial.

It was not bad, the jusdge was really good at explaining the case and what was expected of us. You know, being on jury duty is some pretty heavy sh*t - you are deciding the fate of someone with a decision that can affect them for the rest of their life.

It was a drug case. A pretty big drug case. They have to bring in all the evidence and show it to you.

I have never seen so much pot in my life in person (alright, I really have not seen much pot at all, but this was a lot of pot!) - I am talking about compressed bales of it the size of a milk crate and heavy enough to make the floor shake when they dropped them.

Then there was the kilo of coke - wrapped in foil just like you see on TV - a brick. And the machine guna nd all the rounds of Soviet ammunition for it. This guy was ready for anything, except for the cops, I guess.

It was kind of a sad story. Hi dad had died when he was young, so his mom was working to support all her kids and he started running with a bad crowd and missing school. Eventually he dropped out and started dealing drugs. My guess is he made a decent amount of money.

The evidence was pretty strong and he was convicted of some very harsh violations. My guess is he is going away for a very long time.

I wonder how much of this could have been avoided if someone had taken him under their wing back when his dad died to try and help him through that.

Now, his life is wasted and we are paying a lot of mony to incarcerate hime for well over 20 years. That could be a lot of money put to services instead of giving him 3 squares and a bed.

Jury Duty - Part 1

I have been recently called to jury duty. My first thought was, "Ugh! What a drag!" But as I thought of it a little more, I realized that this is my responsibility to our republic and our Constitution.

I mean after all, we are coming out of the shadows of the Bush administration, where the executive branch has made a huge grab for power, and had tried to ignore the legislative branch as much as possible. This is what happens when people elect someone who is so stupid and incurious as to not be able to understand or investigate our own system of government. And Palin is another one - she cannot even name a few Supreme Court decisions that she thought were bad. HELLO! Ever hear of Plessy vs. Ferguson... Dredd Scott? Sheesh! What a frickin' idiot!

But I digress.

What other branch of government lets the People share the basic power of their position? I don't hear the Executive Branch saying, "Hey you, come on over and tell me what to do about the budget." I don't hear the Legislative Branch say, "Hey you, come on over and tell me how to vote directly." But the Judicial Branch says, "Hey you, come on over and make the decisions for us. We will provider some guidelines, and make the decision on punishment, but the actual decision of guilt or innocence is up to you." That' s some pretty heady shit there.

So I did not try to weasel out too much, and I was pleased to get in on a short trial - a couple of days.

More on the duty, next time.

JetMan - A real Buck Rogers

Have you heard about Jet Man? The guy who flew across the English Channel with wings and a jet-pack strapped to his back? The guy is amazing. He literally soars through the air and steers with his head and shoulders!

I guess Buck Rogers is showing my age... for you kiddies out there, he is a real life Buzz Lightyear - with wings that pop open and jets on his back and little flashing lights. He is only missing the wrist-mounted laser (little blinky light thingie).

Anyway, this former pilot has built a jet pack that burns kerosene and has these carbon fiber wings on his back that lets him fly like a superhero. He has flown over the Alps (great video on his site) and recently flew across the English channel in under 10 minutes. I watched it on TV and it was incredible.

The called him a real-life Daedalus (thank goodness he was not Icarus), and he was amazing. Now I don't think this is ready for prime-time, as he has to jump out of a plane to get started and use a parachute to get on the ground, but it is a very interesting and inspiring feat.

I don't think we will be seeing people flying to work anytime soon - and the result of a collision would usually be fatal, but I would not be surprised to see this in a Bond movie soon.

Man, this was just too cool!

Flash Game - Warfare 1917

So I was introduced to another Flash Game - "Warfare 1917." It is a Flash Game where you manage troops during WWI (either German or English) and try to take over trenches and territory and eventually win the war. It is by the same guys that made "The Last Stand" and "The Last Stand 2" - 2 other really good zombie shooting games. I'll review them soon.

Warfare 1917 lets you use your resources to build different types of troops with different strengths and weaknesses, and different build times You also can direct artillery fire (and eventually tanks) in later scenarios. Like "The Last Stand 1 & 2" a bug part of this is managing your resources. But this game also includes some tactical needs like what troops to send and when.

There definitely is some strategy, as I have been able to improve my push to end the war, going from 9 wins and 27 losses, to 9 wins and 6 losses and finally to 9 wins and no losses.

It is amazing what can be done in Flash nowadays.

Now you can't play this in one sitting unless you have an hour or so, but if you play it at Armorgames, it lays a cookie on your browser and saves your progress.

So if you are interested in a bit more than a "twitch shoot 'em up," give Warfare 1917 a try, I think you might enjoy it.

Have fun!

Lyman

A Cure for Disney-itis

Are you like me? The constant barrage of manufactured teeny-bopper musicians makes you want to puke? Do Hanna Montana and Hillary Duff and the Gang from High School Musical fronting generic bands make your skin crawl, but your daughters scream for more?

Well, I have a solution for you.

We went to the Jersey Shore for a weekend and caught an Irish festival that was in itself pretty crappy - lots of expensive, cruddy trinkets and Paddy Bands singing about getting drunk. But on a stage off to the side I heard a very nice little band starting up, so I grabbed the kids and went over. It turned out to be a band made up of sisters, all under 15, and playing their instruments (more than one at times) and singing.

They were the Raining Hearts, from Pennsylvania. And they were sincere and talented and excellent role models of hard working kids doing something that it looks like they love. They play traditional songs and write their own Irish-pop songs and are entirely captivating.

Their self titled CD - Raining Hearts - is only $10 - but only 7 songs, and does not do justice to their infectious tunes, but it is a good start, and a nice alternative to that Disney crap, especially for kids. Give it a shot if you want to try something in the car for the kids to listen to. Their CD is in heavy rotation in our household.

I am sure that there are other kid bands out there that are worth hearing, so give it a try and see what you can find. Let me know if you find something you like.

Enjoy!

The Simple things - radio?

There is a lot of talk about this being the digital generation. I'm not so sure. I think that the generation that grew up in the 80's is the real digital generation - they built the thing - the current group only consumes it. But that is a topic for another blog. I want to talk about the importance of analog media.

Like radio...

...and I am not talking about internet radio, or satellite radio or HD Radio. Just plain old Marconi radio.

I did 2 things recently that relate to that. I wanted to listen to the radio on my big stereo, and I wanted to listen to radio in the dining area and kitchen where I occasionally work. So I went to Radio Shack and bought one of their radio/TV antennas and attached it to the home stereo. It sounds pretty good! I can even pick up the local commercial classical music station that is rather weak. But the really impressive occurrence is that my kids have started listening to the radio stations and discovering new music.

Now my kids mostly listen to CDs/MP3s, or their Mp3 Player, or Internet radio or even tunes on YouTube, but this was new for them again and somewhat exciting.

You would have thought that we had gotten cable, the way they spent time in the family room. The only thing that they complained about is the number of commercials. Who doesn't? Except for listening to NPR, I guess commercials are the norm. But they have discovered music and groups that they never would have heard.

The other thing I did was buy one of those table radios from Cambridge Soundworks. It sounds really good, has a decent antenna, and even has a little remote. Not sure if it sounds better than Bose, but it does the trick for a lot less. Again, it is great to listen to music while I work, and we even have a little nice music while we eat dinner.

All in all, adding music to the home environment has been a pleasant improvement to the TV, or kids walking around with phones on their ears or whatever.

I recommend trying to add some nice music to your environment and seeing what happens.

Let me know your experiences.

Birthday Activity - Rug Doctor?

So this week is my birthday, and when my wife asked me if there was anything special that I wanted to do, I said I wanted to clean the carpets in the family room and dining room. I know, pretty exciting, but the new dog and the old dog and the yucky cat have all contributed to creating ugly stains on the carpet and it was getting a little embarrassing to have people come over - and have to apologize for the stains.

Besides, I paid good money for that carpeting, and I did not want it ruined in 1 year.

So my son and I went over to the Stop and Shop and rented the Rug Doctor - pretty cheap - $25. Then we got the cleaner - not so cheap, $20 bottle for about 4 rooms (we were only doing 2), plus some pretreatment for about $9. In total, about $50.

It fit in the back of the minivan and we lugged it inside, mixed the soap with the hot water, read the directions, did a little play acting and let it rip.

UGH! The stuff that was sucked out of the carpet was nasty... N-A-S-T-Y! The water that was sucked out was just BLACK! We were grossed out, but also kind of happy that it was coming out and also pretty impressed with how it was all working. I mean, c'mon... it's kind of a guy thing. You got to use a noisy machine, mix all sorts of potions and in the end, things are even clean!

So, did it get all the pet stains (pee and cat gak)? Yes. Would we rent it again? Yes. Was it expensive? Not really?

It worked well, it just took a long time because in order to keep it small and light, the unit only holds about 2 gallons of water, so you have to keep emptying it and refilling it. About an hour for a regular sized room.

They have a wider Rug Doctor that covers more space at any one time, but because we were going around table legs and bookcases, the narrow one was better. If we were emptying out a large room that was pretty regularly shaped, I would probably use the wider unit to make it a little faster.

Unusual present, but worth it.

Finding "My Time" during the day

As I may have mentioned - I am starting to play the cello again after 30 years. It is daunting, it is fun, it is tiring.

Oh, I guess I have not posted about it yet. So a brief history. Way back in the Dark Ages, I decided I wanted to play the cello. Its a big instrument, but it makes a lot of sound, and I think I was on a Spanish kick at the time (Pablo Casals still being the greatest living cellist). I also wanted to be a bullfighter when I grew up. Anyway, I started playing both at school and at the University of Texas String Project. I played for a few years and was passably good, but never great.

I finally stopped playing when I discovered girls and the cross-country team.

Fast forward 30 years.

I was playing Guitar Hero on the Wii (see my review of Guitar Hero III) and having fun, but felt like I wanted more control of the music - you know, really make music. Right then and there, I decided to take up the cello again.

So I called my mom, who has been keeping my old student cello for all those 30 years - I guess a mom's hope springs eternal - and she said, "Sure, I have it. Take it away!" So the next time I was in Texas, I packed it up, stuck it under the plane and brought it back home.

I found a teacher, Steve Laven, who is pretty cool and pushes me and is supportive. And we jumped into the whole thing. After 2 lessons and a week or so of practice, I have discovered that I remember a lot of practical music theory. My hands are stiffer. I need to cut my nails more. Playing a cello from a wheelchair is harder than before. But it is fun.

Actually, the other evening I was practicing and I was concentrating on my bowing and had a wonderful moment of concentration on something that was not work, not chores, not kids or homework. It was a very pleasant time. A time of focus and removal from the day-to-day works and distractions of everyday life. Now, I feel all grouchy if I don't get some of my cello practice/away-time. It's like a little vacation in the living room.

I am curious. Does anyone else have some activity that they do that takes you away in a similar way?

The Myth of Conservative Morality

So Sarah Palin's young, unwed daughter is pregnant... I will leave the attacks to someone else, but I would have you think about what the neo-fascist conservative talk radio hacks would say if one of Obama's black daughters was unwed and pregnant. Obama says family is off limits, I say, "Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war!"

But let's look at something else that is more telling. The Conservatives would have you believe that the Liberals are killing the American Family. Let's run a little scorecard:

DIVORCE:

Sen. John McCain - Check (and he divorced his crippled wife to boot!)

Sen. Barak Obama - Nope

EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIRS:

Sen. John McCain - Check

Sen. Barak Obama - Nope

FAMILY LIFE:

Sen. Joe Biden - raised sons for 5 years on his own after wife died in car accident. Result - no pregnancies

Gov. Sarah Palin - eloped with husband; raising family together. Result - unwed pregnant daughter

SCANDALOUS BEHAVIOR:

Sen. Joe Biden - Nope

Gov. Sarah Palin - under investigation for firing trooper who would not support her vengeful acts against sister's ex-husband.

FINAL TALLY IN BAD BEHAVIOR:

Conservatives - 4

Liberals - 0

Hey, life is hard. Things happen. But when you are pointing fingers at the people who are screwing things up, point them at the Conservatives, not the Liberals.

And keep a skeptical ear for when people talk about "Real Family Values."

McCain's Veep?

I don't know about you, but I was more than a little stunned by McCain's selection for VP. I mean Gov. Palin has a startlingly small amount of experience to be president - and that is what the VP is there for, right?

This is a startlingly cynical selection. How stupid do the Republicans think the American public is? OK, I take that back - look who they elected twice. But seriously, do they really think that they can get Hillary supporters' votes by throwing any old schmegeggy woman out there - even a woman who is the opposite of the progressive liberal that is Sen. Clinton?

Well... they did push out Clarence Thomas as a black Supreme Court Justice who has consistently ruled against traditional black and minority issues, so this should not be such a surprise after all.

I guess this will be an interesting election. I can't wait for the VP debates - it will be interesting to see Gov. Palin tangle with Sen. Biden. I am sure that they are training Gov. Palin to handle all the standard questions, it will be interesting to see how she handles the questions that are outside her traditional area of experience.

This is either a brilliant choice, or a shot in the foot. Time will tell.

Clever TV - Word Girl

If you are about my age, you grew up watching Rocky and Bullwinkle - a very funny cartoon that had jokes for the kids and the adults. I still love to watch it.

But there has not been a lot nowadays that has filled that same void - humor for kids and adults.

Until now.

A new contender for the all-humor crown has sprung up from an unlikely place - PBSKids. The new show is Word Girl. It actually teaches kids vocabulary, but in a funny way, and I love all the jokes that I know the kids don't get.

For example, WG introduced the word "coincidence" by having Prof. Two-Brains (he accidentally fused a mouse brain to his brain, so now he steals cheese - and the mouse brain is just kind of stuck on the side of his head to give that gross-out factor that kids love) break out of prison on the day that an exhibit of ancient cheese was opening at the museum of history. Who'd a thunk it? A "coincidence!"

I heard about Word Girl from on of my favorite Podcasts Grammar Girl - yes, I listen to a podcast on grammar and it is also really interesting and entertaining. More on my podcasts later.

However, if you have little kids running around the house, you have an excuse to watch Word Girl.

And even if you don't have kids running around, watch her anyway.

R U A Nerd?

So is nerd cool? Or is nerd still... well... nerdy?

I don't know. But I do know that nerds are ruling the world and pushing a lot of our economy. Trust me, the nerds did not cause the dot-com bust. They did not cause the mortgage bust, and they did not cause the gas prices to fly out the window.

They didn't even cause global warming... but they may solve it.

Who knows, we may even get our first nerdy president.

Now I have to admit, I have many nerdy tendencies - unnatural obsession with technology. I am drawn to certain things that my wife just does not care about. Like pi. I think pi is cool, to her it is just silly. Same with prime numbers - no attraction for her.

And can you believe it, she doesn't even have a favorite number! I have one - 27. Why? Well it's kind of obvious 27 is 3 to the third power, and three is the lowest prime number. Cool, eh?

So I took an online nerd quiz and guess what? I made pretty nerdy.

See?




Give it a shot. I hit pay dirt with the number of computers I have and building my own, and owning an HP computer that does RPN (actually, I have 2). Also a microscope, telescope, and slide rule.

Anyway, check your nerd score and see what pops up.

Enjoy!

Be true to your school - or party

So, like the Beach Boys Song, I want to be true to my party - the Democratic Party.

I keep hearing about supporters for Senator Clinton that will not support Obama because their feelings are hurt. Well, I say - GROW UP! This is politics - this is a contest. There will be a winner and a loser and we have to deal with it.

What kind of Democrat would you be if just because Senator Clinton lost, you go out and support someone who is not a Democrat and does not support her goals and ideas? I expect that from a little kid - in grammar school, but not from a rational adult.

Again, I just see people voting and behaving on emotion, not using those little grey cells in their brain.

So stop being a bunch of cry-baby pussies and figure out what is important to you, your family, the country, and then vote for the candidate who will best support that. It's as sample as that.

Dream Pinball 3-D - BAD!

As good as Williams Pinball for the Wii is, that is how bad Dream Pinball 3-D is.

Williams has compelling graphics and game play. Dream Pinball has terrible graphics - in fact, some of the tables look like the same table skinned. And the original table was not so hot in the first place. The tables have little personality, and the game play and ball physics never really seemed to gel.

Also, I could not really get the camera to give me a consistently useful table angle. If I could see the ball at the top of the table, it did not give me a good, useful view of the ball on the lower flippers. I kind of think this is important and the designers would have gotten this part correct. But for some reason, the just blew it off, or never bothered to actually play the game.

Now at least I got a decent deal from Amazon, and I was able to sell it to GameStop for a $5 loss, so it is not bad at all. I've returned games for less and taken a bath.

If you like Williams Pinball, keep playing it. Do not get Dream Pinball 3-D. It does nt compare, and it is a waste of money.

Update on my hair

So it has been way too long since I have posted. So here is an update on the hair situation -

MAN! My hair grows fast and full. And there is even more gray. And curls. It is a little disconcerting that as far as I know, in my immediate family, no one else has curls like this. I'll keep asking my mom (I have her hair - as my dad starting losing his hair in his 20's) which relative has curly-wavy hair.

I think I am past the danger zone - no more hair tickling my ears or my eyes. That was when it was really annoying and I threatened to cut it off.

I keep telling my daughter that as soon as it gets long enough, I will put it in pigtails tied with pink ribbons and I will pick her up at school - and wear a name tag that says, "Lily's Dad." She said she would die of embarrassment, so I told her that I would go to bed early that night since my job as a parent would be done.

Anyway, I am far from 10 inches of hair, but I am well on the way. More updates later.

FLASH Game - Dino Run

As much as those of my generation (personal computer gaming pioneers) hate to admit, we have neither the time nor potentially the inclination to play games on our computers like we used to when we were young.

So what do we do for a quick game fix? I might play a quick FLASH game.

There are flash game depots all over the web, but I like Armorgames.com and Miniclip.com.

The nice part of Armorgames is that they rate the games and you can sort on rating.

Right now I am playing a FLASH game called Dino Run. It is a retro game where you have to race your dinosaur against the clock. The game puts all sorts of obstacles in your way, holes in the ground, bluffs to climb, other slower dinos, etc.

This game has a wonderfully retro feel - the dino is all pixelated, the soundtrack has a wonderful 8-bit boop-beep sound to it, and the controls are right, left and up. On a console, this would have had one of those non-ergonomic chrome joysticks with the round red ball on the end, and a jump button with a cigarette burn on it, and I would be smelling pizza from the counter.

For simple, entertaining, mindless fun, try Dino Run.

Web Sites Referenced:
http://armorgames.com
http://www.miniclip.com

A new beginning - a new dog

We just got a new dog. A rescue doggie; 2 years old, mini-dachshund, very cute, very tiny.

We decided that we needed to give our old dog a rest from trying to play and run around and sleep on the bed, etc. After all, she is way up there - 15 years old, I think (maybe older).

A new dog is very exciting for the whole family. The kids like it because they are there from the beginning for this one. Lady, our old dog was already 5 years old or more before son #1 appeared, and even older when small brown child arrived.

Plus, a new dog is a new opportunity to do it right. Train her right, feed her right, just a new page to write on.

Actually, a new dog is full of so much promise. Like a baby, or a new book. You can't help but imagine what it will be like in a few days, a few weeks, a few years. Meanwhile, I have this little brown lump of fur snoring at me and looking up at me with those big brown eyes, and dancing around when I come home.

So off to the doggie lessons and around the block for a break and we will see what happens.

Wii - Guitar Hero III

Another game that I dig on the Wii - Guitar Hero 3.

This game is particularly enjoyable because when I was younger - back in college, we used to do air guitar contests. Well GH3 is like an air guitar contest, but you have more control over the music. And you can still jump off the furniture.

As an added bonus, anyone my age (40's) probably has 30 years of rock riffs stuffed into their head, so it almost seems like part of your DNA. So this game, which is basically a rhythm game lie clapping to music, is easier for me than my son, who has been listening to crappy rap and does not have the historical background on these rhythms that I do.

The result is that without having to play as much as him, I can make the big scores. Or at least give him some competition.

The Good Part - loud, non-violent fun, and rockin' tunes.

The Bad Part - seems like a lot to pay for the guitar controller when all the real brains is in the wii-mote which you already paid for. Original game disk was non-surround mono. Had to send disk in to get updated version.

If you are willing to spend the bucks, this is a great game. You can play it for a tune or two and then put it down (maybe...) and the gaming experience is not altered significantly.

Gaming - Wii and PC (flash)

Like many of you with kids, I have succumbed to the pressure from the squirts and purchased a gaming console - a Wii (OK, it was not hard to convince me, I wanted one too).

But like many of you fathers, I don't have a ton of time to play. So I am constantly on the lookout for games for the Wii, or FLASH games on the PC that I can do in 5 or 10 minutes, or sometimes a little longer.

So here is what is on my hot rotation list right now:

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection
This game is excellent!

Graphics are good, controls are good (you can bump the table by flicking the nunchuck or the Wii-mote), sound is suitably cheesy.

I think I am looking for games from my youth, and this one is exactly what i am looking for.

There are extensive reviews online, so google it and read them.

All I will say is that this brings back those wasted nights at the arcade. And I am laying some serious smack on my teenage son on the scores. He just does not know all the little tricks, like using the flipper buttons to change the rollover lights at the top of the table.

Hint: Williams always had great options for multi-ball. Learn how to make multi-ball happen and you are on the way to serious scoring.

This game is fun, pretty , uses the Wii controllers really well, and doesn't cost a bundle. And you can play one game or sink some serious time into it.

This is a BUY!

I have Dream Pinball 3D on order at Amazon, I'll review that when I get it in.

As you may remember, I am growing my hair for locks of love and I am not one to have long hair ever. It is an educational experience.

My latest discoveries:

If you have a lot of hair, it is harder to take care of
OK, you know all those jokes about getting blown off for a date because I have to wash my hair (not that I experienced any of those personally)? Well the concept, if not the veracity, has some foundation in reality. Hell, even with just a slightly longer mop up top, it takes forever to get it properly wet, and then there is getting the shampoo into it and all the scrubbing and the rinsing, etc. WHEW! I cannot figure out how women do it.

It's OK, I'll tough it out.

When your hair is short the grays are short, when your hair is long... the grays are long!
This is a bit of a shock - I have a crapload of gray hair. 'Nuff said.

Women are just as clueless about men's appearance as men are about women
Perhaps because I am still in the not obviously long hair stage, I am getting a lot of puzzled looks at the office and around town. A surprising amount of, "did you cut your hair?" "Something looks different?" "Are you losing weight?" (I wish), etc.

It must be human nature to notice a change globally, but not to be able to nail it down. So guys, when you get in trouble for not noticing a new dress, or new hair, or nails or lips (but not new cleavage, you should notice the cleavage), don't feel bad. It happens to women too, just men don't really care.

Keep track, more updates to come...

Household Flub

So you know, when starting a houshold project, you should think it through all the way, or read the documentation.

For example:

The clocks were changing, so it was time to change the filter in our water filter for the kitchen. As an aside, I recommend these under sink filtration systems over those carafe-based ones (read Britta) or faucet mounted ones. They are cheaper over the long run, and the filters last longer since you only use them when you want, and the filters are larger and hopefully more efficient.

Anyway, the filters are in big cartridges, kind of like a very long oil filter. There are 2 of them, a particulate filter and a charcoal filter. To change the filter, you unscrew the holder for them, take them out of the holder, drop in a new one and screw the holder back into the unit.

So I grabbed the wrench, grabbed a towel to catch and drips and reached under there and started unscrewing. The astute handyman will notice that I skipped a step - I should have known better. I forgot to shut off the water supply to the sink. What ensued was just what you imagine - the water started to drip as I loosened the holders, then it became a stream and then a torrent of water spurting from the joints. It was like a Three Stooges episode, except I was playing Curly.

I squawked for my beloved to bring another towel and to quickly reach under there and turn off the valve at the angle stop.

Fortunately, it worked, and with no more Stooges moments.

The moral is, before you start mucking around on a home task, or any task, either read the documentation, look it up on a reputable online site, or site back for a moment and go through the process and see if you can find any flaws in your plan.

Or else you might be going, "Oh, a wise guy, eh?" and getting poked in the eye.

Locks of Love

I've decided to give a try to growing out my hair and giving it to Locks of Love.

Now let me preface this by saying that I have never had my hair over my collar, so growing a 10-inch ponytail is quite a change.

But hell, I am 46 and I still have a great head of thick hair, only a little gray here and there, and I mostly work from home and my hair is not going to get any better. So why not? It will be a change, and I can be a bit of a rebel for once.

I went to the LoL website to see what was up. COntrary to popular belief, most of the kids getting wigs from LoL do not have Cancer, but rather have Alopecia Areata (sp?) - which is a disease where the body's white cells attack the hair follicles and cause hair loss.

Imagine being a kid or a teen and having all those body image issues and then losing all your hair. Devastating! I know that my daughter who has tons of lovely hair is always fussing with hers, and if she lost it, I would do whatever I could to make her comfortable.

So I am going for it. We'll see if I can really make this happen - I am in the annoying hair length now.

The Regular Guy Fallacy

I hear it time and time again, "I like < insert candidates' name >, he's a regular guy." I don't know about you, but I don't want my President to be a regular guy, I want the smartest guy out there.

After all, we are talking about President of the United States, not head of the School Committee (which also takes a pretty smart person). You need to be able to understand world situations, economics, diplomacy, military conflict. It would be good to have an understanding of history, an appreciation of what others have done before you.

Hell, it would be nice if you had read and perhaps had some insight into our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

You should also be able to pronounce "nuclear" if you are in charge of pressing that red button.

Democracy is hard work. You have to participate, read, listen to other people, visit websites. We aren't choosing Homecoming Queen here. Judging someone based on what they look like, their hair style, if they seem like a regular guy or a prick or a bitch isn't going to cut it anymore. LBJ was a prick, but he as a great politician. Nixon was a crook, but he understood international power politics. JFK was probably a womanizer, but he inspired us to do our best.

If we keep judging politicians on little things, superficial things, then we will get meek, or idiotic or bland politicians.

We are talking about being part of a complicated world, and I want my guy (or woman) in the big chair to be the smartest, most qualified one out there... not just the one that panders to the LCD the most. I hardly care about what he or she does in their private life as long as he/she can get what I want done.

So there is a challenge. look outside the superficial stuff and find out what these candidates are all about.

Now stop reading and visit some websites.

Do we really want change?

The word from the candidates this election cycle is change. All of them say they will change Washington.

If you believe them, you're a sucker. Change is hard, and no one really wants change if it affects them, only if it doesn't.

Example 1: Everyone hates lobbyists. Get rid of them. But then how do you tell your legislator what you want? You can write to them, or call. But eventually, you'll want someone who has a better connection to push your point. Or you get busy. So then you (or the organization you support) hires -- you guessed it -- a lobbyist (or the equivalent).

Example 2: Reduce government spending. no one wants to pay more taxes. Heck! I want to pay less taxes. But one man's boondoggle is another man's necessity. It might be the difference between some people getting new road surfaces and others not, or everyone get patched potholes. I don't know about you, but I want my legislator to fight for the new road surface.

Frankly, I don't trust anyone who holds Washington and the system in such contempt. After all, the President (usually) does not operate in a vacuum. He has to compromise if anything is to get done. I want someone who knows how to work the system and the things that I elected him/her for happen.