Fun with Video Games

10 Random Things

1. First of all - Happy Superbowl Sunday!  We kind of forgot about the Superbowl this year (since the Steelers didn't make it) so our spread is a little underwhelming.  We're going to crash our neighbors house this evening, haven't told them that yet, so hopefully they have a bit more.  Right about now I'm missing Kris' Bree cheese bread.

2.  It's been a rough couple of months in our household.  Kurt went through all the stages -  denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance and go ahead and through in shame, outrage at PSU, outrage at the media, and finally - glad this is all over with.  He's still a Penn State Fan and thinks highly of JoePa and all the good things he's done.  Thanks Joe!

3.  Miniature trains.  We didn't really grow up with miniature trains.  I remember the one that Uncle Bill had when we were little visiting our cousins in McKeesport, but that's about it.  Kurt on the other hand has 3 generations of trains that have been handed down to him.  They've been in boxes for the past 5 years and he finally decided to get them and see if he could get them running.  His parents were a big help in this, buying him new track and a transformer for Christmas and then picking up stuff for the town at flee markets.  I had no idea they were so intricate.  The lights on the train crossing light up and the red and white arm goes down every time the train passes.  The train cars and some of the houses also light up.  And there is smoke and a whistle that come out of the train too.  We're not going crazy yet, but Kurt had fun setting it up and Jon had fun playing with it.

4.  After a year and a half, Kurt ended his job at Bethesda Softworks.  His job wasn't in the department he wanted, but he wanted to get his foot in the door and see how the Company worked and get something on his resume.  It turned out to be a good move.  BSW is an awesome company and it is doing really well.  The only complaint I had was that they didn't pay overtime (something they changed earlier this year).  Kurt was very proud to have worked on two of the most popular games published in the last two years - both Game of the Year winners.  To celebrate this, we made little shrines in our basement :)

5.  The Lake Placid Ironmen is sneaking up on us so we've cleaned up the other part of our basement and turned it into a workout area.  I've actually started using Kurt's bike trainer and it's really fun.  Yesterday I did a Tour or Rome that took 30 minutes and only had a few hills.   The GymPac is something that was sitting in Kurt's parents basement.  It's from the early 80s, but it still works really well.

6.  Not helping the Ironman training, but loved by everyone else in the family is the automatic M&M dispenser that Kurt got for Christmas from one of his co-workers (thanks for the M&M's mom!).  It's set to automatically dispense a small handful every time you put your hand under the dispenser.

7.  I haven't seen Micaela in a while.  That's because she finally got to a high enough level on World of Warcraft where she was able to get a mount (something you can ride) and has been glued to the computer for the past day.  She picked a winged horse for her mount.  "Oh, a Pegasus" (me) "No mom, it's a celestial steed; Pegasus sounds too girly" (micaela).  Ha! We've turned her into a dork :)

8.  After living in this house for 25 months, we finally got curtains put up in the formal living room.  While we were at it, we did a little re-arranging around the house.  Never mind that we will be moving in 4 months.  We moved Jon back to his original room with the sports theme in it, but we gave him different furniture including the double bed that was in the basement.  Micaela also got an upgrade.  She stayed in the same room, but got the furniture that was in our guest room.   Miceala did her own decorating and Kurt did up Jon's room in Star Wars stuff.

9.  And what prompted this room change and rearranging of furniture??  Did we just feel like replacing our guest room with a sitting room?

Nope.  Kurt needed somewhere to play his old video game consoles and they can only be played on the old CRT TVs like we had in that room.  He got the Atari for Christmas and the rest were mostly given to him by people who had them in their attic and weren't using them anymore.  It is so much better playing Mario on the original Nintendo with the original controller.  I've also taught Jon how to play Sonic the Hedgehog.  He's better at it than Kurt.

10.   If you haven't done so already - please donate a few bucks to Livestrong!  Kurt is running his first Marathon in March and has signed up with Livestrong to be on their team and raise money for them.  He only has a little bit left to reach his goal.  Just clink below and then click the "donate to Kurtis" button above the thermometer!  http://laf.livestrong.org/site/TR?px=1006461&pg=personal&fr_id=1140&et=3CRhjkMB9M8rH4BAhl3Vtg&s_tafId=1321