This Should Work

As James pointed out in a previous comment, it’s prime video game playing time with the wife away. After doing a little bit of research this weekend I settled on buying a game called Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. In retrospect, I probably should have made another choice.

I’ve played this series before and the last one was ok at best (decent gameplay, over-the-top story, terrible dialog, even worse “acting”). But everything I read pointed out that the story was much better this time around and the gameplay was more in-depth; one review even gave it a 9.8 of 10. So I thought I’d give it this series a try one more time.

So I place the disc in my Playstation 2, and start the playing game–or so I thought. I first had to sit and wait through a 12 minute cut scene that sets up the plot the game. When that was over, I move my character a through a few frames and then to listen to some more dialog (for about two or three minutes) that reveals a little more about the plot. Finally, fifteen minutes into the experience I get to actually play the game.

That pretty much summarizes how this game is designed: 10-15 minute cut scene, move through a few frames where there’s little to do, listen to 2-3 minutes of dialog, fight somebody, repeat. The story is a little less over-the-top, but the writing is horrible at best.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, there is actually one moment in this game where your character climbs a ladder for 5 minutes! Why? So that you could hear a f**kin’ song that they wrote for game! Seriously, I pressed up on the controller with one hand, and walked into the ktichen and emptied the dishwasher with the other hand (Thank God for wireless controllers).

There are a few good moments in this game (there’s a sniper battle that’s entertaining), and the Bonus materials are pretty good as well. The second disc includes the original Metal Gear game from 1987 which was fun to go back and revisit, also there’s an online mode that’s supposed to be pretty good (I wouldn’t know because my Playstation is not networked yet).

I’ve learned my lesson; I’m selling this game back this week and swearing off this franchise for good.

image from lik-sang.com.

[tags]Metal Gear Solid, Video Games, MGS3, [/tags]

For the last five years I believed the best doughnut ever was a hot, fresh Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut. While living in North Carolina I’d drive 45 minutes just for a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

But this morning I am now crowning a new king of dougnnuts. This honor goes to a local joint, Spalding’s Bakery. Not only are Spalding’s doughnuts tastier than Krispy Kreme, but the over all experience of buying doughnuts is definition of local.

The bakery has been around since 1929 and just recently reopened in a new spot in Lexington, but it still has some of it’s original materials, including display cases and cash register. The bakery opens at 6:30am, when I arrived at 6:50 and the line was already wrapped around the building; so I stood in line with everyone else to wait for my turn.

Standing in line, I started talking with other locals asking questions about this new place versus the old place (most believe the old place made better doughnuts). And when I say locals I mean it; the four people I talked to were a city council member, a retired school teacher, a local bus driver, and a farmer (who recently moved 30minutes away but drove back just for the doughnuts).

After waiting outside for 20minutes, I finally got inside the small bakery to see the sparsely decorated bakery. A few pictures on the wall of the old bakery, two of the original display cases, and a counter with the old cash register is all that’s inside. No boards staing what they sell and for how much-everyone knows the price (fifty cents per doughnut).

Another 15 minutes inside and I finally got to the counter where I was helped by the daughter of the original owner! She explained to a couple customeres that her two daughters and grand-daughters were also helping in the back area as well- a true family business.

As for the doughnuts, oh the doughnuts. Warm, crispy, airy, and slightly chewy (not rubbery), I ate two in the car on the way home. Was waiting 45 minutes for doughnuts worth it? Yes, and I’ll do it again soon.

[tags]Krispy Kreme, Spalding’s Bakery, Doughnuts[/tags]

My wife has returned to San Francisco for a conference, which means it’s just me and the dogs here in Lexington, KY. So let’s run down the TSW Bachelor checklist:

• Pizza? Check.
• Beer in fridge? Check.
• Dirty clothes on the floor of the bedroom and bathroom? Check.
• All TV’s tuned to ESPN? Check.
• Unmade bed? Check.
• Dirty dishes piling up in the sink? Check.

Basically, it’s like my college days all over again, except this time I’ve got two dogs and no term papers.

[tags]Bachelor, Checklists[/tags]

Anyone else confused and disappointed by the season finale of Lost? I know of at least one other person who seems dissatisfied.

One thing that you may have missed last night while you stepped away during the commercial break was a commercial for The Hanso Foundation. A couple of episodes ago, two characters found a video in a hatch that mentions the Hanso Foundation at the very end of the video.

So the people behind Lost create a commercial about a this fake foundation and even creates a fake website promoting careers in this organization. The website has only five career opportunities with very cryptic job descriptions and qualifications that will keep Lost conspiracy theorist busy until next season.

I don’t get it; I’m sure somewhere in this site there’s a nugget of information that sheds light on the story. Then again, my wife may be right- the writers have no clue what’s going on and they’re making up as they go along.

[tags]Lost, Hanso Foundation, Careers, Conspiracy Theories[/tags]

This weekend I saw a commercial on ESPN for the Scripps National Spelling Bee which will happen next week. The commercial announced that the finals will be “broadcast Live in HD on ABC.”

Yep, ABC’s going to haul out their expensive HD equipment for the spelling bee. Live HD broadcasts are so life-like that once while watching the Masters on CBS they showed a close-up of Phil Mickelson’s face and my friend said “I think he needs some facial cleansers. His pores are looking pretty bad.”

Besides not caring to see if 13-year-old contestants are using Clearasil or not, there is another reason not to broadcast this event in HD-5.1 surround sound. All HD programming is in 5.1, and I have no desire to hear this coming out of all five speakers in my living room.

[tags]ESPN, ABC, HDTV, Spelling Bee[/tags]

This past weekend on the flight to Durham the pilot thanked us for choosing Northwest Airlines and reminded us that we can “get the best deals on airfare at nwa.com.” NWA. When I heard these initials I thought about a section in Klosterman’s book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs called “Monkees = Monkees” where he tried to match a band with a television show. He writes:

The goal is to figure out which television show is the closet philosophical anlogy to a specific rock’n'roll band…The Strokes are Kiefer Sutherland’s 24…The Black Crowes are That 70’s Show…U2 is M*A*S*H (both got preachy at the end).

So while we were taxiing to the gate, I followed Klosterman’s lead with “NWA = NWA” where I tried to match air carriers with hard-core rap acts.

• NWA (Northwest Airlines) = NWA (Niggaz With Attitude): Three respected arilines (Northwest, KLM, Republic) working together to fly passengers all over the world. Four respected rappers (Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren) worked together to become an international sensations.
• Independence Air = Vanilla Ice: Both thought they were all that and a bag of Fritos, but both flopped.
• US Airways = Ja Rule: Both want to be big time, neither have the skills.
• United Airlines = Dr. Dre: United recently emerged from bankruptcy and returned as on of the top airlines in the country. Dre has bounced back from his album The Aftermath and is now an uber-producer working with Eminem and 50 Cent.

Monday night my co-workers and I went to the local diner Ramsey’s for a “farewell” dinner. According to everyone at the table, this diner has the best Hot Brown in town.

My co-workers kept asking “Carter, are you going to order the Hot Brown?”

“I’m thinking about it” I replied multiple times. In truth, I was sort of leaning toward the country fried steak over the Hot Brown slightly. But when the waitress asked me what I’d like for dinner, I said “Can I get a Hot Brown with a side of Fried Okra.” Everyone cheered my choice. “You won’t be disappointed,” someone said, “They’re goood!”

My Hot Brown arrived on one regular plate with a larger one underneath. “Be careful sweetie, the top plate’s hot, okay?” the waitress said. Whether the top plate was hot or not, the bottom plate was needed; There was so much melted cheese that it was falling over the lip of the plate.

Two large slices of bacon formed an “X” on the top of my Hot Brown. “They used to crumble the bacon on top, now that was good” someone said.

I waited a few minutes for the dish to cool down, then started in. Underneath the thick layer of melted gooey cheese was a white sauce made from (I’m guessing) cream, flour, butter, salt and pepper. The sauce covered two slices of sourdough bread which had soaked in some of the sauce, but not so much that the bread was soggy.

As I’m eating the cheesy, creamy covered turkey sandwich, I come across a small slice of tomato. This was probably the healthiest thing on plate, but I pushed it off to the side (not a fan of tomatoes).

From what I was told about them, it’s a heart-attack-on-a-plate sort of meal but I don’t think so. I’ve had McGriddles that have made me feel like my heart would stop; the hot brown was no where near that bad. It’s more like a there’s-no-amount-of-time-on-a-treadmill-that-will-ever-burn-this-off sort of meal.

And yes, I’ll probably have one again

In my opinion, sleeper sofas suck. They’re usually ugly, the matress is uncomfortable, and the springs that the matress are on squeak like hell.

And have you ever tried to move one? I helped a friend move one out of his parents house. Carrying that heavy thing down a set of stairs was not fun at all.

However, I came across these beds which look too cool and would be great for someone who’s in a small studio apartment (or any small space). And check out the couch that changes into a bunk bed! It’s like Transformers for the IKEA crowd!

read more | digg story

My goal was to redesign this site in time to submit it for the CSS Reboot event that happened on May 1st, but that didn’t happen. I’ve been wanting to change the look for a few weeks, but couldn’t find the time or energy to do it until this morning.

Why a mouse trap? I just set my first one this morning. I wasn’t hurt when setting it and the mouse won’t be hurt either–it’s a humane trap.

Saturday night, when I let the dogs to do their business, little dog (Spike) disappeared into our backyard. It took me a while but I found him in the corner of our backyard. After telling him a couple of times to get back in the house, Spike finally left the corner and returned to the house.

The next morning I let the dogs out and again Spike went into the same corner. I tried to call him out again, but he wasn’t coming out. I went back into the corner to find my dog sniffing around a huge pile of crap!

I have no clue who’s animal been making deposits in our backyard. I asked my wife if she had seen it before. She said she noticed a hole in ground a few weeks ago when raking, but it wasn’t filled with feces.

We know it’s not our dogs, and it’s not the cats next door, the best we can guess is maybe it’s from raccoons. It’s a mystery.