Droool- BBQ

We went to Oklahoma Joe's yesterday with my folks. Sigh. So tasty. Donald and Mike agree, it's better for all that they don't deliver, and that they're not closer to home. We'd eat way too much. Man I love barbecue. I'd eat there 3 times a week if I had the chance.

We're hooked on Hellgate London. It's made by the same people who made Diablo 2, but not the same studio. You can download a demo from the website. You must fight the forces of evil in a futuristic London. Like D2, there are several classes of character to choose from. You can use swords, guns or magic, and there are 2 sub classes of each. I haven't gotten very far into the game yet because I have about 4 different characters going, 2 offline and 2 online. Unlike Diablo 2, you have to create completely separate characters to play online. Playing online, you can play with your friends, which is cool. You have to know their exact character name, and go through a few steps to connect with them. (I let Mike and Donald tell me what to do there.) Then you can join forces to kill the beasties, and swap loot once you get back to town. As Donald can attest, I'm all about the loot. If there were a game called "Loot" when all you do it smash boxes and get loot, I'd probably buy it.

Yesterday I wanted to play Wii Sports again, which led to the inevitable sore right shoulder. Why do I insist on swinging the wiimote so hard? I'm not really throwing a bowling ball, dammit! Donald and I played a bit of tennis, baseball and bowling together before quitting because we were hot. I had the air off because it's starting to cool down to a decent temperature at times. Those cool times are not 4 in the afternoon. If I can remember to close the windows and turn the air back on before it gets up to 80º, wii will be able to maintain comfortable temperatures.

Donald and I hung out at Mike's 2 nights in a row. We joked that the people at Muddy's will think we're dead. Mike got a 360, so we've been enjoying the new thing. He downloaded/bought Carcassone, which was much more fun after we read the instructions. I can't imagine playing it with actual cards though, it would be worse than Settlers for scooting around and coming undone. Do you play it in the floor? (Robyn actually has this game.) Another reason to go to Mike's is the new ice cream place. Miami Ice is the name, and their unique treat is shaved ice with a blob of custard at the bottom, available in many sno-cone like flavors. They also have some very tasty ice creams, and we've barely begun sampling them. The best thing is how cheap they are, and how much they give you for it. The total bill for Donald and me has been under $4. If you get a waffle cone, they fill the bottom with chocolate chips, then stuff about 2 scoops of ice cream into it. I couldn't finish mine the other day. If you get a regular cone, they still stuff about 2 scoops worth of ice cream on top, so you have to eat fast before it melts and becomes a tipping hazard. Tasty goodness.

Stardust

I really enjoyed Stardust. I know they changed things up for the movie, but I'm okay with that. It's been several years since I read the book, so I barely remembered more than the plot anyway. I found it to be about 90% delightful. The part I did not enjoy was the completely pointless DeNiro mincing about scene. The movie people clearly think it's hilarious, but it just made me feel embarrassed. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the 7 brothers, Michelle Pfeiffer and her goat drawn chariot, Claire Danes, and the guy playing Tristan.

It's been a lazy week for me. Dishes have been washed, groceries have been purchased, laundry has been laundered. Annnd... I played a bunch of Wario's Woods. I just can't help it, I love games when things fall out of the sky. We've certainly gotten our $5 out of it. It's funny that I've never played it on the Nintendo. I played it on Donald's computer- emulated, and on the Wii- also emulated? I don't really know how the virtual console works.

Well look what I didn't know- Wario's Woods was released for NES an SNES at the same time. Wish they'd released the SNES version for the virtual console instead, it looks eaisier on the eyes. After entirely too much time playing this game, all I can see is little dancing creatures. Must stack them!!

Well if you insist

I wasn't going to buy this Harry Potter book. I was going to get it from the library, and buy a paperback copy later in order to match my 6 other paperback copies. Then I went to Costco to buy some chips, and there was a huge pile of books lookin' at me right inside the front door. So I bought one. And then it sat- unread- the rest of the day since I was busy. I ended up reading about 5 pages before falling asleep last night. This morning I got up and checked my email, and the library has the copy I requested. So I didn't need to buy a copy at all, because I would have had it today anyway. Oh well. This way I can loan it to somebody when Donald and I are done. Although there seems to be no shortage of this book. I bet there will be a lot of extra copies lying around in a week.

I had a busy day yesterday. I'll make a list:
10:30-2:30- Hot dusty cleanup duty
2:30-3- Drive around in circles looking for parking spot
3-3:45- Watched a rehearsal
3:45-4- Ran to Costco
4-4:45- Watched a different rehearsal
4:45-5:15- took another shower
5:15-7- got ready for LAN party
7ish-2AM- shot people

Yes, we finally had another LAN party. It was a small one with only 4 extra nerds in our house. Off the top of my head I could name 6 more people who would play games with us, if they didn't live an another state. Here in the area, that was about all I could come up with. Next time I'll start looking sooner. I had so much other stuff to do that I didn't organize this one very well. We had fun though. I made cheesy dip and fresh guacamole. They were thoroughly gobbled up, so must have been tasty.

very addictive

I came across the website for the folks who make Quiddler and 5 Crowns. They have a few daily puzzles, one of which is based on the game "Set". I don't have this game, but now I really want it. The daily puzzle is a great brain teaser. http://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle_frame.htm To learn how to play, click the "how to play" link and it will take you through a quick tutorial. After that it's all getting your brain to see different patterns. If the daily puzzle isn't enough for you, at the bottom of the page is a link to Multiplayer Set where you can play online! You can play as a guest or register. Then you can play against other people or practice by yourself. Robyn and I played for a while the other day. Check it out!