I apologize for the lack of progress lately. Real life has taken hold the past couple weeks. (Plus Metroid Prime is so much more inviting that staring at code.)

Bear with me and I'll get back on track soon.

Finally finished Metroid Prime last weekend. It took me four tries - definitely one of the more difficult final bosses lately. I ended up with a paltry 68%, and that's where I'm leaving it. I have no desire to play through it again on Hard mode.

Our house is still in disarray due to replacing the windows. Things will be mostly back to normal tonight so hopefully I can get some programming done later this week.

My day job has become busier lately. I got set up so that I can work from home, which of course means that I feel like I *should* be working from home. Our project is getting into the crazy crunch mode so it will command more of my attention on evenings and weekends. Bleh.

I got bored and decided to finally finish Two Towers. It didn't take me that long either. Just 4 or 5 tries. I kinda got lucky since I got the glowing-sword power up right as the trolls appeared. That made dispatching them very easy. I don't know what triggers that power up, but I'm sure happy it happened when it did.

Meanwhile, I have Max Payne (Xbox) and Pikmin (GC) on the way from eBay. Got them for $13 each so I'm saving tons.

I almost bought SSX 3 at retail (we're talking about to ask the schmoe behind the counter to get it for me). Then I looked over and saw that Splinter Cell - a game I have barely started - is now $20. Why should I pay full price for a new game when there are so many other games I want that have been out forever? Once I work my way through those, SSX 3 will be at $20.

I'm really getting the urge to work on Decaying Orbit. Work is so busy, though. Gotta keep pumping out those awesome NVIDIA chips!

Crimmeny has it been over two weeks since the last update? Sorry 'bout that. Things are getting pretty crazy around chez nous what with the imminent baby arrival. Two months may seem like a long time away, but there's just so much stuff to get done.

We had a couple of fun weekends in Carmel and Napa, taking advantage of our fleeting independence. We're also getting a lot of home improvements complete so we won't worry about them later.

Add on to *that* my hectic work schedule as my project is in crunch mode. Stress has been my breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a while now.

My escape has been Pikmin, which I have almost completed. I just opened the final area with the last ship piece. I should have it polished off in a day or two. I'm totally looking forward to Pikmin 2 as this one has been so much fun.

Max Payne (the first one) will be my next game. Yeah, I'm a bit behind the times. The way Gabe & Tycho talk about Prince of Persia makes me want to play it now, but I'll restrain myself. The number of AAA titles I have on my eBay Favorites list is growing quickly.

It really does get to me that I haven't made progress on Decaying Orbit in a while. Especially after seeing the tremendous stuff that Riff's been doing with the emulator.

The Penny Arcade guys have organized a gaming-related gift giving thing called Child's Play. The items are being donated to the Seattle Children's Hospital. It's a great way to give the gift of gaming to some kids that could use some cheer. This is partly to show that gamers aren't all gun-toting vigelantes.

You know how hard it is to buy gifts for your friends and family members that aren't into gaming? Well, in this case you know exactly what to give. There's lots of other toy items on the wish list so there's plenty of inexpensive stuff too.

Anyway, just hit the PA link to read up on it.

I figure I should update everyone on where things are at the moment and what are my plans. There are two major time sinks for me right now: work and baby preparation. At work things have really kicked into high gear as we try to get our project done. The schedule is sufficiently tight that I have been set up to work from home. So now I check in on things in the morning before I get to work, in the evenings before bed, and on the weekends.

My wife and I are also getting ready for the baby to arrive next month - Jan 17th is the due date. Not only are we busy with classes and getting all the paraphernalia, but we've been trying to get all our lingering house projects done.

The combination of these leaves us both exhausted at the end of the day. I just can't string together two hours to work on the game. Naturally this is frustrating since it was coming together so well when I left it.

The light at the end of the tunnel is when either of these ceases to be an issue. For work, this will be a couple months from now. For baby, it may not happen for a while. I'm hoping to get a brief period of a few weeks when we've finished with classes and have all of our house projects done. Fates willing I will get in some programming time over the holidays (when I'm not working of course). Once the baby arrives we'll have our hands full again.

So once again, sorry for the lack of updates. I was fully prepared to be busy when the baby was born. I was not expecting it to hit three months earlier.

I was introduced to Globulos by a Blue's News link-of-the-day a couple days ago. I've been hooked ever since. The games are simple, but incredibly fun. You play against someone else so it's got that multiplayer aspect going.

Basically each player controls three globby guys. Each turn you can choose an angle and power in which to send them. All globs are then moved at the same time, bouncing of each other. One of the games has you trying to bounce your opponent's king glob into a hole. Another has you play a game of soccer, trying to bounce the ball into the other guy's goal. The last is like croquet where you try to get all three globs through the wickets in succession.

I try to get in a game or two every morning and evening. I've never been much into multiplayer games over the internet, but I can see what the appeal is.

Happy holiday wishes everyone! We had a grand time over the long weekend. Lots of leftovers to consume. Played some golf. Got more baby stuff. You know, the usual.

I've rediscovered SSX Tricky while waiting for the third one to come down in price on eBay. It's still fun, but I'll be darned if I'm wasting time filling out any more trick books or getting gold at Alaska in Show Off mode.

I just started Max Payne. It seems fun, if a bit on the violent side. I know I know, what did I expect? I'm turning into a wuss. It'll be even more difficult when Gavin the gamer is born and I have to relegate these games to after bed time only.

Work is quiet this week with most of the company gone on forced vacation. Oh how I would have loved to be off right now, but alas. My project is in critical stage and I'm in town, so hence I work. Plus I'll need to save the vacation for after the kid's born.

Speaking of which, we're expecting him to arrive any day now really. January 17th is the due date. Due to my wife's gestational diabetes if the baby isn't born by then she will be induced.

We're as ready as we can be. It'd be nice if he waited until after this weekend to show since it's another four-dayer. But really, whenever is fine by us. We're both pretty excited.

We held a little poll for our friends to guess what we plan to name him. Only one got it right, but I can't really blame people for guessing Q*Bert.