Call of Duty 4

So the boy and I were out for black Friday, and I spotted COD 4 for the DS. Despite the fact that I was out Christmas shopping, I couldn't resist. And I love it. The controls take a bit getting used to (although the Lite seems like it'd handle a bit easier), but after you do it's a very fun game. I didn't think the DS was going to release any FPS's at all, so that may be some of my excitement, but I've played it every day since I got it and really enjoy it.

Tomorrow night the Pens play the Dallas Stars and I'll be going to the game! I didn't think I'd make it to any Pens games this season simply because they had gone from the verge of being sold to Kansas City - to - impossible to get tickets unless your a season ticket holder! But sure enough, John got us a pair! We haven't been to a game yet that they've lost either so.. *keeping fingers crossed*

Light Up Night

..is rather overrated. Unless you're a 5 year old, that is. Last Friday was Light Up Night and John and I decided to go. We both took the day off work together so we headed down in time for things to start. I've never been to it, but I did expect more considering all of the hype it gets. It was neat to see the "fireworks" they did and the tree light up, but it just didn't live up to the expectations. One interesting thing though: when we were walking there, there was a lady standing in front of one of the finer restaurants roasting chestnuts (on an open fire :P). We stopped and got some, because neither of us had never had them before. They were quite good! It was random but cool. Then at the end of the night (after the letdown), John took me to a steak house (I had been saying how I was in the mood for steak.) That made the whole venture much nicer :) My steak was cooked perfectly too.

Now for my PSP. I was thinking about selling it. As far as my handheld systems is concerned, I rarely put down my DS. My PSP just isn't getting the same love. However, last night when I came up with that (potential) idea of selling it, I figured I should play a few games on it before I finally part with it, and I ended up playing it the whole night and I think I'm gonna go back to Midnight Club 3 for a bit later tonight. So, I'm not sure what to do :-/

Pumpkins!

We carved these just before Halloween, but just now got the pictures of them. Unless you have no idea who I am, you know which one is mine :)



Speaking of delayed Halloween stuff, we also just went to a haunted house this past weekend. I almost thought it wasn't going to happen since we've been so busy, but there was one still open in Prospect - and for as lame as I thought it would be, I was rather impressed! Haunted hay ride (not as lame as the majority of them), haunted house, and haunted corn maze all in one. I even got scared a few times :)

Now that Halloween is out of the way, I can not believe how many stores have Christmas stuff out. It used to seem that Thanksgiving day was the threshold for the Christmas outburst, but now stores aren't even waiting for Turkey day to get here. It's like every year it's a race to see who can put out the Christmas stuff first. I think it's getting to be a bit ridiculous.

C# - weird

Things have been a little hectic lately, as I was recently told (not asked) that I will now be put on a project at work, developing in C#. I'm a Java programmer. So I'm trying to read up on this language and it just seems strange. It's like Javasoft or something. Delegates are weird. I can't think of a single instance I'd use them when not dealing with events. The fact that C# still has virtual functions is one thing that says to me that the language isn't as good as Java. (For those who are completely lost, Java's functions are [technically, C++ speaking] all implicitly virtual.) But alas I'm supposed to help make up for the 2800 hours they overestimated this project for, because they can't change the release date (for once). I just love my company.

Anywho, the Pens are playing tonight, and I'll be headed to Rudy's in a bit to have a beer, chill, & watch the game. Although I don't know of anyone around here close who likes the Pens, so I think I'll be going just myself. I put something on facebook about it, and Andrew (dancing buddy) replied but I think he lives far, far away. I need to recruit a Pens fan group around here or something :)

Halo for the DS

No, seriously. It was made and demoed, but unfortunately it will never reach the stores (or the majority of living things). Matt Casamassina from IGN proved that it was a real game. What I am trying to figure out though, is if it has been leaked anywhere. If it has, that may just be the motivation I would need to risk hacking my DS. I would have already, but I am worried about frying it. That would be not so cool :-/ I know the Halo idea will never and would never have gone over with Microsoft. They have no reason to let one of their "babies" on to a competitor's system. Still, the thought of playing Halo on a DS is just so awesome.

I may get into playing Diablo II again. Turns out my little sister just started playing. And even though I live in the sticks and have dial up, I can still play it OK. I used to like creating sorceresses. Those were probably my favorite. And I sort of miss running through 5,000+ cows and seeing if I could kill them all off on my own :)

Concert

Well I started a post over the weekend, but my computer decided it would be a good time to randomly shut off, so here I am making another attempt. The concert was good - in fact, my uncle is *still* talking about it. Had I known he would have enjoyed it so much, I would have gotten better seats. He really loved the show. They do sound great live - and Eddie brought along his son, Wolfgang so that he could have a chance to tour & play guitar with him. Lets just say that it was cute and all, but he certainly isn't his dad!

That was the concert. Getting to the concert was a mess. Now, I think that Google is a rather neat company, and I've even made joking remarks about how they're going to take over the world. Except for Google Maps. I've used Google Maps before, and they've been horribly wrong. Not just a turn or two off, but exceptionally terrible. It had been a few years since that incident, so thinking they may have gotten things straightened out, I printed them out to Cleveland. My uncle knew how to get there, but looking at the directions, they looked much shorter by Google, so we went with those. Big mistake. The 1 1/2-2 hour drive to Cleveland ended up being over 2 1/2 hours. We arrived just 10 minutes before the show started (and that was with cutting off the long line waiting for the garage - by accident. Seriously.)

All in all it was fun. But I'm officially boycotting Google Maps!

Van Halen tomorrow

Tomorrow is the Van Halen concert already! It seems like just yesterday I ordered the tickets. I also found out who the opening act is too. It's Bob Marley's son,Ky Mani, which is a great disappointment to my uncle, but on the other hand, not so much for me :). I have a very diverse liking of music. In fact, I love reggae. If he throws in a few of his dad's hits like he did in the previous shows, it'll be really cool. I'll have to leave work early tomorrow because the show is at 7:30 and uncle insists on getting there 1 hour before it starts, as he always does for concerts. That on top of a 2 hour drive.

Then this past weekend John and I were throwing around the idea of going to see Halloween, the new movie by Rob Zombie. But it wasn't playing anywhere that we could find. I'm thinking it must have done pretty bad at the box office, because last we looked it was a new release. So instead we decided to rent a movie - and end up with Shawn of the Dead. John ultimately just thought it was weird, and although I found it to be weird too, I also like British humor. So it was sort of amusing to me. There were parts I thought were really funny that he just didn't. I'm still evaluating what my overall rating would be, but it's something I'd probably watch again. It's something you should at least give a chance to if you like British humor :)