TBone’s weblog!

Happy Birthday Tommy!

We all had a very happy Thanksgiving here in Florida. Tina got to have Thanksgiving with her parents for the first time in 20 years, so that was obviously great. The kids were in heaven having both sets of grandparents here fighting for the right to spoil a grandchild. Olivia must’ve played 200 games of cards with Nana, Grandma and Grandpa. As long as she wins, she’s very fun to play with. Someone made the comment that she takes after me in that way, but I disagree - I just always win so people think I’m only happy IF I win. I’ll let you know if I’m happy when I lose - if I ever lose that is.

Today is Tommy’s birthday, so we took the family out to Peach Valley Cafe for brunch this morning, and fun was had by all. I had a hamburger that was quite tasty - it was called a Sequioa Burger. I’m not exactly sure why it was called that, but it was good nonetheless.

I’ve made good progress on my project this weekend and appreciate my family’s willingness to let me slip away for hours at a time to finish it up. I promise when I’m done with this semester to not load myself up so much - these are the last of the “hard” classes.

Oh yeah, I got a new TV. I checked the internet on Thanksgiving night and saw compusa was running a special on a Mitsubishi 1080P 57″ DLP, and checked if it would fit in the hole in our living room. It appeared to barely fit, so I headed down there, thinking that it wouldn’t be there, but willing to give it a shot anyway. Much to my surprise, they had it, and for the price they quoted on the internet, a full $800 off MSRP, so I got it. The line was going to be a 2 hour wait since they were running so many specials, so I called Tommy, who came down and rescued my Dad from being out until 2am. I managed to squeeze it into the bus and got home about 1:30, and with the help of everyone the next day, we got it up and going. It looks great and fills the hole perfectly, as expected. I got other stuff hooked up, but was shocked to find my XBOX not working properly anymore - it won’t get online at all. No matter what I do, it refuses to pass the IP test - up to and including plugging it directly into my cable modem. What’s up with that?

My presentation is tomorrow around 5pm - wish me luck. Then I strap on my climbing shoes and begin to ascend homework mountain for class #2.

November 26th, 2006 | Category: General | Comments (1)

Hey wait! Was she there?

I was looking through old pictures tonight for my mom, and ran into a funny one I thought I’d share.

It was Olivia’s fourth birthday, July 2000. We had a bunch o’ people at our house like usual, and it was the birth of one of the most brilliant concepts I’ve ever created. I told Olivia to hold up 4 fingers and took her picture with each person who attended the party. Over the years, these pictures have proven both annoying for people at the party, and fun to look at years later. And you never wonder which birthday it was.

This was the first year, and unfortunately for everyone, Marie couldn’t be there for the big event (I don’t remember why, but I think she may have been in Chicago at the time). However, we hatched a plan to take her picture at Dave and Marie’s big July 4th party two days later, and then put that picture into Olivia’s bday group and nobody will know the difference.

November 20th, 2006 | Category: General | Comments (1)

Pleasant Magic Game

I bought some Magic tickets for the game on Saturday night. A friend at FIEA offered me some better seats, so I had some extra tickets. Tommy brought a friend, and as perfect as it sounds, Tina’s parents arrived into town about an hour before tipoff. So she brought them over to the Waterhouse and dropped her dad and Olivia off for the game. I sent Tommy and his pal in, and waited for Tina, and then went in to see the game.

They were great seats, and the game was good, since I love to see my fantasy players in action. Adam Morrison was certainly a central part of the Bobcat attack, so that was good to see. He struggled at times, but man does he have a quick release. The Magic blew them out, since Dwight Howard is the man. Even Olivia had fun, since they often have breaks where the Magic dancers come out and do their thing.

I’ve been grading this weekend, and getting through it pretty well. Should be a busy, short week. My parents are coming over Wednesday night for Thanksgiving, and we’ll have family over on Thursday for a big dinner. Should be fun, and everyone is looking forward to it.

November 19th, 2006 | Category: General | Comments Off

Top 10 lists

I hope you like my Top 10 lists at the top of my blog. I get those from the CBS site, and just choose them randomly. It’s kinda cool though, because once in a while you get one that seems timely. I’m definitely aglow with the holidays approaching, so I thought I’d give you one of my faves without having to hope the God of randomness shines down upon you. Aren’t I nice? Even if you think I’m not nice, you have to admit that it WAS nice to give you the list. Don’t you?

Top Ten Signs You’re Having a Bad Holiday Season
10. All of the Christmas cards you receive are addressed to “Resident.”
9. On the one hand you got that great new clock radio; on the other hand there are cruise missiles heading for your palace.
8. You’re riding in a one-horse closed sleigh, and your wife keeps whining, “Oh what fun we’d be having if only this were an open sleigh!”
7. A week after Christmas, you notice a bizarre smell coming from the chimney.
6. The first words your Furby says are, “Take me back to the store.”
5. You’re wrapping presents with rejected drafts of your suicide note.
4. You’ve had more than one fist fight with a mall cop.
3. Every person you know gets you an industrial-sized bottle of Clearasil.
2. The FBI finds your “genetic material” on Mrs. Claus’s dress.
1. Two words: tinsel rash.

I liked #9 the best, but maybe that’s just me. #3 was also solid as a rock.

November 17th, 2006 | Category: General | Comments Off

It’s thinking…

Remember the Dreamcast ad campaign? With the launch of the PS3, I decided it was a good time to remind you.

I got my neuroevolution project thinking last night too. It’s not performing quite as well as my professor’s dissertation project, but pretty damn close in most cases. I’ve been spending a lot of time on it lately, and my hard work is finally starting to show some results. Maybe I won’t fail the class after all! I’m not out of the woods yet though, since I still have to write a paper detailing my results, and that will take quite a bit of time as well - once I get my results. But don’t worry, little successes like this make it easier to work on so I should be OK. And, when I get closer, I can start on my homework mountain for my other class, which will be loads of fun as well.

But look on the bright side - in a month, this semester will be in the books and I’ll be on the open seas, kicking back, teaching Tommy how the skunk rules work in ping pong while Simon climbs the rock wall, Olivia learns to ice skate, and Tina gets a facial.

November 17th, 2006 | Category: General | Comments Off

I won’t put my hands up, and surrender

I listened to a lot of music today - on my way to work, at work, on my way to school, on my way home, and then tonight. The best song of the day? It was the second to last song I heard. White Flag, by Dido. How to Save a Life was last - Tina likes that song, because they play it on Grey’s Anatomy.

When is Dido coming out with a new album? I check her website once in a while and she never mentions it. That sucks. Her first two are so great, it’s hard to believe her third could compare. But I bet it’s better than both, if it ever comes out.

November 16th, 2006 | Category: General | Comments Off

Teach In

So I spent yesterday at Croom’s High School teaching about careers in video game development. I had a good time and the kids were well behaved, for the most part. You’ve got your typical cutups who will hopefully honor Darwin and not procreate, but by and large they were very nice to me, and seemed pretty excited with what I had to say. I talked about how cool FIEA was, how cool EA is, and how great it is to work in the industry. Hey, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, right?

I had spotted what I thought was a pseudo-Chinese restaurant recently, and decided to give it a whirl last night. There was a place my mom used to take me in Utah called North Seas Cafe (aka Jimmy’s) and the look of the place reminded me of that. It was called Imperial Dynasty, which I felt also indicated a menu featuring moo-shu pork and fried chicken, with a side of fries or fried rice.

Joey and Mark were on their way home from my parent’s beach place and decided to swing by for a free meal, as usual. We went in and it was much more Chinese than American, and actually was pretty good. The dishes that we got - spicy orange beef and sizzling something or other - were both really good and large portioned. Tina and I took quite a bit home, if that gives you any indication of the mountain of food we were presented with. Joey and Mark split a moo-shu pork but each got soup as well, and reported that both the egg drop soup and the hot & sour were good. So four thumbs up for that place.

November 15th, 2006 | Category: General | Comments Off

Photos…as promised

After the camping trip, Angus sent over some major league photos. My giant strike was not captured, but some other stuff was included. I’m putting up a couple faves here…

TBone’s weblog!

Happy Birthday Tommy!

Hey wait! Was she there?

Pleasant Magic Game

Top 10 lists

It’s thinking…

I won’t put my hands up, and surrender

Teach In

Photos…as promised

Things I miss

Camping, etc.

Blast(s) from the Past

New Printer

Nobody’s Perfect

Testing…Testing…123…Is this thing on?

Long time No See

It ain’t easy bein’ green

Too much going on to blog

The Good Doctor

Flash

Ketchup

Login Info

Popular Posts

Recent Comments

Links

Meta