Feeling A Little Reflective

It's funny: I've been writing here for six years, and you never really notice how much your writing improves until you go back and look at the older writing you've done.

I have some articles that I thought were the pinnacle of writitude when I wrote them. I look back now and absolutely cringe. I started pruning old articles out that were written to be "edgy" and just turned out to sound like a ten-year-old's idea of what edgy was supposed to be, or articles that were trying to sound like a homeless man's Bill Simmons.

For example, the other day I decided to write an article about No One Lives Forever. I went back to look at an old post I had about it and was absolutely mortified. If I could have gone back in time and punched my past self for being an idiot, I would have. I deleted the post right away because it was just so mind-bogglingly stupid that I couldn't imagine living in a world where somewhere something that lame was something I had written.

I think it all comes down to this: If you want to get good at something, do it, keep doing it and don't stop until you get good at it. Listen to criticism (but don't beat yourself up over it) and learn from your mistakes. Look at your older work and see what worked and what didn't. Edit yourself. Be yourself. Use your influences as a guide but not as a template. Don't expect success overnight.

And above all, if you're going to write, don't put two spaces after your sentences. It makes them look all janky.

My Boy

Here he is, the most beautiful baby ever. Enjoy.

I Have The Most Beautiful Baby In The World

Just a heads up, everyone? It's official: I have the most beautiful baby in the world. Sorry, everyone who thought they did.

His name is Ethan Alexander, he's 6 pounds, 8 ounces, and he was born last night. Mom and baby are resting comfortably.

The Problem With Deer Hunters

I live in Wisconsin. Every fall in Wisconsin, it's tradition for people to slap on blaze-orange suits and head out into the woods to hunt for deer.

I'm not anti-hunting. I recognize that since farmers in the area stupidly killed all the coyotes and wolves years ago out of fear that they'd start killing their cows, deer-hunting is necessary in order to thin the herd. The majesty of seeing a herd of deer in an open field is lessened considerably when you're worried that they're going to leap into the road and embed themselves in your radiator.

Here's where I have a problem: I was listening the radio this morning to wake up, and an ad played for Farm & Fleet, a regional "Walmart-for-country-bumpkins" store, and they were talking about hunting supplies that they have on sale.

So what hunting supplies do they suggest? Knives? Rifles? Bows? No! Try "infrared two-megapixel cameras" and "laser sights."

These are deer they're hunting, not the Predator. It's kind of an oddly one-sided arms race. The deer aren't getting any upgrades. It's not like you're going to come across a Level 58 Deer Matrox with an AOE attack that drains 20 health per second and spawns Level 12 Deerlings every 45 seconds. No one is outfitting the deer with machetes or tactical body armor.

The deer are already at a bit of an unfair advantage, seeing as how we have guns and they have squishy internal organs. When you add in these extra technological advantages, deer-hunting can only be called a "sport" in the same way that drop-kicking a newborn is "sport."

You Are Not So Smart

I'm sure other people are more aware of this site, but I just found out about You Are Not So Smart and it's AWESOME. I'm going to be reading this for a while, I think.

Made Some Muffins

I made strawberry-cream-cheese-stuffed strawberry muffins. Yes, I meant to put "strawberry" twice. But how will they taste?

Me Am Brain Hurting

Learning programming is starting to hurt my brain a little bit. It's been a long time since I really sat down and learned something that wasn't easy for me to pick up.


Usually, most every subject I pick up is something I already have some familiarity with. For instance, I wanted to learn about dog training. I knew a bit about it to begin with and had family who worked with animals, so it wasn't that bad to learn. I wanted to learn about World War II. I already knew the basics, so it wasn't that difficult.

However, programming is tough. It's really tough. It's not even just the syntax, which is literally like learning a brand new language. Reconfiguring my brain to sort out the equations necessary is what's really been the most draining.

Now, I've reconfigured my brain like this in the past. I've picked up math classes really quickly after the initial shock wore off. For example, I had a math class that I started six weeks after the rest of the class and I finished a week ahead of everyone else. At the start of the class, it took a week or two of headaches (literally) and then I was able to push through.

I think that's been the hardest part for me so far: The headaches. Whenever I learn a concept that's totally foreign to me or take on a new large task, I get raging headaches that only go away after I sleep. Then I'm usually able to take on the next task or chunk of the lesson. It's almost like when you exercise and your muscles hurt afterwards. I'm exercising my brain and it hurts.

If this post is a little rambling, that's because I'm right in the middle of, you guessed it, a major headache. I'm just trying to dump my feelings on the page in hopes that someone else who's in the same boat might read this and feel that they're not alone in this.

Must sleep now.

Back From Break

You knew I had to weigh in on E3, right?  We'll have some thoughts posted later.

Dealing With A Sinus Infection

WOOOOOOO they rule.  So therefore there haven't been any articles.  I'll be coming back with more shortly.  Don't forget about me.  I'm needy.

Seriously, don't go to gladwell.com...

...unless you have hours of free time.  Malcolm Gladwell's writing is mesmerizing.

How I Spent My Two Week Vacation (From This Blog)

With my time off from this blog, I got a lot done. I finished writing up two reviews for the Crystal Chronicles games that just came out for DS and Wii. I started a new draft of my screenplay, re-started my novel "Gunman" and started a new novel called "2519." How many of these projects will get finished? Probably zero, but it's always important to have projects gestating, even if none of them come to full term.

I also got some good quality gaming in. I have been very much enjoying MLB Dugout Heroes so far. I'll have a breakdown of what works and what doesn't later on in the week.

Now that I've learned to not overthink the series, I've also been going back into the vault for more Zelda action. I returned to Zelda: Minish Cap for the GBA. Last time I played, I got through the first dungeon and had a capital time. It was great! I loved it! Then I tried finding the second dungeon and became hopelessly, hopelessly lost.

I almost had the same thing happen again this time around. I followed the cues to get over to the Mountains, but along the way I was supposed to get my first jar in order to continue. One of those little Deku Scrubs told me to go see his friend who lives in a cave at the bottom of the hill.

At the bottom of the hill, there's a very obvious ladder that leads down into a cave. Easy enough, I thought. I walk into the cave, look to my left and see a very large boulder that I can't move, along with some glowing marks on the floor. I instantly became obsessed over the boulder. I tried using my Gust Jar on it, bombing it, pulling it, walking up to it and hitting it with a sword, rubbing every single object in my inventory against it.

At this point I became despondent. My mind started racing. "Okay, so I need to find a tool that will move the boulder so that I can get into the cave. Where could it be? No one told me about this." I ran all around the map to try and find some clue, but none were forthcoming.

Then, I realized something. I walked back into the cave and looked to the right. There was a very obvious passageway that needed to be blown up with a bomb in order to allow me to pass. I walked in, and there was a Deku Scrub that was willing to sell me a jar. Easy enough.

So far, I haven't consulted any FAQs, and I'm going to try not to. I shouldn't have to. Minish Cap should not be that hard. Other people have been able to beat it, so why can't I?

How I Spent My Weekend

Now that my weekend has passed, I can finally comment on it. I had a great time visiting my sister and her husband, even though it was exhausting.

They both live in northern Wisconsin, and it's a six-hour drive from where we live. We left with my mother on Saturday morning. Before we left, she wanted to fill one of her tires up with air. We looked around for a gas station with a free air machine, and eventually found one. We start filling it up, but it doesn't look like it's working. We try again, and the tire appears to be deflating. The attendant comes out and gives it a try, holding it for even longer. Now, the tire is flat.

I've never changed a tire before. I've seen it done, but no one's ever taught me. The very nice lady who was helping us showed me some tips and tricks and I set to work putting on the spare, and we ran across the street to a car dealership that had a working air compressor, and they refilled the tire. As it turns out, the air machine at the gas station was broken and deflated our tire. There was nothing wrong with our tire at all.

I had to put the tire back on the car now. Have you ever seen those flimsy little jacks they give you for a car? We were on a slight incline, and the jack was bending. We ended up borrowing their pneumatic jack and propping up the car, whereupon I put the new tire on and we drove on it for 6 hours. All in all, that set us back about two hours from our original start time.

We FINALLY get to her house. We had brought along Caramelo, the Official Dog of Downwards Compatible, and he had a great time playing with the Official Dog of Downwards Compatible's Older Sister, who was named Finnegan. Now, Finnegan, or Fin for short, is about the same age as Caramelo. Fin is also about five times larger and liked to chase Caramelo. I couldn't tell if Caramelo was having fun or was scared for his life. I'd like to think he was enjoying himself, because otherwise our laughter would have been cruel. He was chasing Fin himself, so I think he was enjoying himself.

After that, we went for a walk in the woods, and we were plum tired out after that. My sister's husband played some Raphael Saadiq (whom I had never heard of and was pleasantly surprised). The dog was tired, we were tired, everyone was tired. We watched a movie and went to bed.

However, Caramelo had different plans.

He was in a strange place, with strange noises and strange people and animals around. He decided that this would be the best time to go into Hyper Alert Dog Mode, where every possible noise would roust him into a fit of barking. He woke us up three times between 10:30 and 12:30.

The last time he woke us up, I decided to lock him in the downstairs bathroom, because that's where he usually goes at night in our house. That didn't work for him. He kept right on whining and yapping, so I had the let him out.

After that, we were repeatedly accosted by Finnegan and their cat Phyllis. Phyllis is an adorable, sweet cat, but my wife is allergic. She would come over by us and start purring and want attention. If you ignore her, she gets more insistent, eventually trying to sit on my wife's head. I had to get up around 3am and see what it was she wanted. It turned out she wanted to get into a room nearby, so I opened the door and she was in.

After that, Fin kept waking me up my walking over to me and looking me straight in the face with his sad puppy dog eyes. At one point, he laid on me, leaned over onto my wife and wedged himself in between us.

We got up for good around 7am, when my sister woke up. Both the dogs were so excited about it that they decided to run upstairs to notify us immediately. I slogged my way downstairs and had a headache for the rest of the day. I was so out that I could derive no joy from them dancing to Noah and the Whale. On the drive home I slept for a solid two hours, and my dog was out for the whole trip home.

We had a great time, don't get me wrong. It was a lot of fun, but I'm still groggy. I could sleep another 10 hours and it still wouldn't be enough.

The Official Dog of Downwards Compatible

Yes, it's time to introduce you all to Caramelo, the Official Dog of Downwards Compatible. He appears in the top photo with Ruth, the Official Wife of Downwards Compatible. If looking at a cute puppy dog is not your idea of a fun time, you may want to look away.

Our dog is constantly cuddling. As soon as you pick him up, he cuddles with you. He plops his head on your chest or his shoulder all the time. By the way, sorry about him flashing you in this picture. Couldn't be helped.

His usual position, watching out the window, making sure that no one walks past with a stern warning.

And, finally, here he is, bringing sexy back.

Hilarious Shirt

I want this shirt so badly:

Link

Ugh

I've been horribly sick for the last few days. Sorry about the lack of updates.

How about Larry Kryklasdfiak's first four games? Especially when you consider that his team lost to the Clips by only one point AFTER losing Bogut and Villanueva. Do you still think Terry Stotts could have pulled that off?

I'm going to go lay down for a while. Ugh.