Doyle!

Lydia and I decided that it was time to add another member to the family. Our dog, Tink, is a playful, hyperactive little thing. She loves to run and jump and chase. She especially loves to play tug-of-war. Most of all, she loves other dogs (except bulldogs!). Whenever we'd take her to Lydia's parent's house or my parent's house, she'd always have a wonderful time with the dogs there.

So, after doing a little research, I was able to find another puggle through Pet Rescue of MD. His name is Doyle. He's about 7 months old and cute as can be. We added him to the family 2 weeks ago and he's really starting to get the hang of things. He and Tink are getting along wonderfully. They chase each other and jump on one another (they sometimes try to do other things to one another that we put a stop to!). They play tug-of-war, steal each other's toys, and all the other things that a brother and sister would do.

The thing we always loved about Tink was that she has a lot of personality. We weren't sure if it was just her or because she was a puggle. Well, Doyle has a lot of personality too, though it is much different than Tink's! He's very dopey and cute. And he loves to follow me around the house. If I leave the room, he's right there. It's really funny.

So, without further delay, here are some photos of Mr. Doyle. Enjoy!

Screw you, Sony.

My PS2 has been nonfunctional for about a year now. It started getting the dreaded disc read error. I basically stopped using it because I wasn't about to buy a new one.

Well, right before KH2 came out, Andrew and I took our PS2s apart and used that little trick to adjust the laser height and got them both working again. We were ecstatic. I was able to play KH2 for a good 2 or 3 months and then it started again. I hadn't done a thing to it, but suddenly my PS2 was back in the same state.

My plan was to sell my PSP and take the money to buy a slimline PS2. Looking on ebay out of curiosity for systems, I noticed an auction for a laser arm that claimed it would fix the disc read error and the strange buzzing sound coming from my PS2. I won the auction. I figured that for $8 it was worth a shot.

The part arrived. I followed the instructions and replaced the arm on my PS2's laser. And now my PS2 worked. I nearly cried from joy. Well, actually, it worked about 98% of the way. Every game loaded immediately (no buzzing or anything) EXCEPT KH2. That kind of irritated me but I figured it was better than before so I was happy. Then I realized that I had messed with the laser height earlier so I decided that maybe it needed to be put back to the original setting.

That was my task tonight. I went through the steps again and despite some minor setbacks (such as the ribbon cable connecting the power & reset buttons to the mobo came unhooked...on the end inside the PS2) I was able to successfully load KH2 and every other game I own.

Screw you, Sony. I win.

Superman Returns was Quite the Awesome

I saw Superman Returns on Friday.

It was great. Despite the requirement of some of my friends needing to clap and holler the first few times that good ol' Supes jumped in to save the day, it was great. (Actually, I'm kidding about the friends clapping and hollering part. They did do it, but it wasn't as bad as I made it sound!) (You need to go to a movie with my friends to understand what I mean).

All fears I had of Brandon Routh taking up the Superman mantle have been squashed. He looked awesome as the Man of Steel. He fit the role perfectly. His mannurisms as Clark Kent were hilarious. His incredible confidence as Superman was inspiring.

I must also say that I though the role of Jimmy Olsen was perfect. He was one of the funniest parts of the movie (yes, the movie had many funny scenes). Everyone did an incredible job in their respective roles. This is definitely a must buy on DVD.

Also, on a final note: did you know that the actor playing Perry White, editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet played wonderfully by Frank Langella, is the same actor who played Skeletor in the Masters of the Universe movie with Dolph Lundgren? It's true! I actually knew it months ago, but I wanted to post that little tidbit for anyone else who didn't!

Superman Returns...and Triumphs?

I hear that Superman Returns is awesome. Not just awesome, but crazy awesome. Awesomely crazily awesome is more like it.

Blast! I really want to see this now. I've never been a huge Superman fan. I like the character and I think I understand some of the turmoil that makes up the character. Most people just see him as this super powerful guy who can fly and shoot lasers from his eyes. There is actually more of a struggle than people think with the character. For one, he has to live knowing that he's one of the last of his race that exists. Plus, Superman basically lives his life constantly checking his actual power just so that he doesn't hurt those around him. Imagine trying to hold keep a dam from bursting 24/7. That's what he's doing.

Back to my original point, I've never been a huge Superman fan, but I'm really excited to see this movie. I don't think it'll top Batman Begins for me. I'm too much of a Batman fan. But it's definitely a must-see in theaters.

I am definitely getting a Wii at launch. I need to. I must. There is no "maybe" here. There can be no wishful thinking. No. I will own a Wii at launch.

The Wii is just looking more and more promising. They've already announced a DBZ game for it where you use the Wiimote and Nunchuka controller to simulate DBZ moves. Imagine moving your arms in a Kamehameha maneuver and watching your onscreen Goku counterpart unleash his signature blast on a weak and abused Frieza. Oh yes.

Plus, the rumored pricing scheme for the Virtual Console games sounds incredibly reasonable. A few bucks for a sparkling gem of my childhood seems fair.

The PS3 continues to disapoint. The Sony executives continue to amaze me in their idiocy. From pricing the system at $600 to trying to sell it as a replacement to your PC, I don't know what they're doing. Oh well.

And Microsoft has already announced that they will not be dropping the price of the 360 in the fall/winter. Peter Moore basically said that they saw no need because the outrageous price of the PS3 already makes their system look affordable. The scary thing is: he's probably right.

I'm married!

I got married on Saturday, May 27th, 2006 to the most wonderful woman in the world.

Woohoo!

Wii Controller Revealed

The "normal" Wii controller was revealed in the last day or so. It's basically a combination, in my mind, of a PS2 DualShock layout and a SNES controller. Note the 4 buttons on the top of the controller. I'm not sure what they'll all be used for yet.



The main purpose for this controller, I'm assuming, is to allow Wii-owners to play NES, SNES, & N64 games downloaded via the Wii Virtual Console. It should also work well for playing all Gamecube games since the Wii is backwards-compatible.

I can't say I liked the look at first glance, but the second and third definitely improved my opinion. I'm liking it now. I was surprised to see that the controller has a cord. I was hoping that Nintendo would go full-wireless even with the standard controller scheme. Maybe they will by the final iteration.

I like that Nintendo has always been at the forefront of controller ingenuity and so this controller is almost like a homage back to all that has come before the Wii. If you don't believe me about Nintendo being the king of controller design, check this out.
Nintendo was the first to use the following in a widely-marketed product:

• The D-Pad (NES)


• Shoulder Buttons (SNES)


• An Analog Joystick (N64)


• Full gyroscopic motion sensing (Wii)