Okay, I'm going to make a confession that will probably shock some of you. I actually like the ET videogame...or at least I liked it back when I played it as a kid. A few articles I've read bashing ET have made me think back on the experience and realize that the game really sucked.

I have to tell you that I was GOOD at the game. I could beat it over and over again. As I recall you had to find the right wells to fall down so you could assemble the three pieces of your phone to call home...then you had to high tail it over to the forest screen and find the exact location where the ship was going to land. You had to be there before it landed or you wouldn't get picked up.

As a child this game SHOULD have frustrated the hell out of me. But it didn't because it was ET. (I also thought ET was really cute as a kid, I no longer do). You have to realize the effect that the game being about my favorite alien in the universe had on me. I mean I WAS ET. I read the entire manual front to back and learned exactly what I needed to do to win. It made perfect sense to me back then. Just like programming a VCR. Here is a list of things that my opinion has swayed widly on since I was a kid.

1. Girls (couldn't stand them as a kid)
2. Ewoks in Return of the Jedi (I even knew the name of one of the Ewoks hell if I can remember it now)
3. Waking up at 7am on a Saturday (cartoons man!)
4. ET
5. Neckbones and hamhocks
6. repetitive games (Berzerk, Asteroids, I could play both for hours; if I didn't flip the score I felt my skills must have been slipping)
7. Michael Jackson (I would have killed for a Thriller jacket as a kid!)

The list could go on for a long time...but I think you guys get the point. So while we may cringe at Jar Jar Binks and bad movie to game translations, remember they are not always there for us! So the next time you throw a fit about Barney being so sappy, remember it's for the children.

I've been a good boy so far this year. So I think I'm going to treat myself to a PSP and a few games to go with it. Some people are fussing about its price at $250. I think of it this way, I paid 250 for my digi camera and I can't play videogames on it. While it's true that I can't take pictures with my PSP, I can listen to music, watch movies, play games online (5 of the launch games will support playing online through a wifi network). Although I am somewhat disturbed that it is launching at a higher price than in Japan; at least we get a few extra items that we would buy anyway.

How do I justify having a PSP when I don't have a morning commute (well I do, but it's all of 15 minutes and I'm driving), I don't fly frequently, and I have a big ass HD screen at home with multiple consoles (where I'll mostly be playing this thing anyway)? Simple. I'll move back to Chicago (and up my commute to an hour each way again); get a job that requires lots of travel (preferably international); and only come home to sleep. Or I could just say because it's so friggin sexy! That's how I justify it.

It's like when my friend asked why I have a pocket pc. Because I'm a geek dammit! In case you haven't noticed, I spend 8 hours a day in front of a computer, come home and spend 6 more. If it beeps, buzzes, clicks, or whirs, I'm all over it! So what if it's little more than a glorified dayplanner. It, syncs up with Outlook with the press of a button. I can download classic arcade games. And once I actually sit down with it for a moment, I know I'll be able to program something wickedly cool for it. So basically what I'm saying is that I am compelled to by the sexy, sleek little device that puts the power of the PS2 in the palm of my hand. And yes I realize that I just referred to a bunch of plastic and silicon as sexy (it's not far removed from what playboy tries to push off as sexy and at least you'll be able to turn this on). March 24th. I'm coming for you!

So my proposal was pretty well received by my partners. Okay I lie...they loved it. There was a big buzz between us as we prepared to present it to the client. We waited a day to let things simmer with them and did a followup call. Plain and simple we're on a list of three contenders.

The interesting thing is the client was concerned that we might not understand the full scope of the project. In other words, our bid must have been considerably lower than the competitors. That can go either way for us...the client might think that we can't possibly do the job for the price we're quoting and give it to someone else. Or our price will give us the contract hands down. We explained to them that the final quote would come after discovery, but that we're confident that the difference in price is not an underestimation of the task at hand but because of our reduced overhead.

Any way it goes we've gained something from this. First that we should raise our rates ;) and second that we should research the domain before bidding on a project. It just so happened that I had familiarity with the real estate domain. (Which I think will give us an advantage on this project). But in the future, before bidding on a project we should take into account how much effort we need to exert to become fluent in the client's lingo.

We should know by next Friday if we have the bid or not. Until then, wish me luck everyone :D

So this proposal is due Thursday. My partners wanted a chance to look over it today. I get home yesterday and figure I'd start on it at 8. Well my wife got started on dinner late and so we had to pause American Idol until she was ready to come in and watch it. By the time we finished watching it, it was 8:30...time for Committed (my favorite Friends replacement). And then Law and Order: SVU had Stephanie March making a guest appearance (the original ADA who was put under Witness Protection because a Colombian drug lord wanted her dead). I couldn't miss that one! So by the time I sat down in front of my computer to write my proposal it was 10 PM.

Anyone who knows me knows that I do my best work against a deadline. I wrote a twenty page term paper the night before it was due and got an A+ on it. So no it was just me the computer, an RFP, and Microsoft Word.

"Dear Sir,

Thank you for the opportunity to bid on your project...."

4 hours, five pages, and about 20000 keystrokes later, I had a masterpiece. Now it's up to the client to decide if he wants the best there is, or some other joe schmoe developing his application.

This is a comment I made in another person's journal. I thought I should share it with my rabid fans (all two of ya!) The journal entry was regarding how women hold the power in a relationship...while I agree it's true, not for the reason he gave (sex)...

Hmmmm...you'll learn that while the average man is the one in pursuit in gender wars. Some men have learned how to turn the tables.

How do they do that you ask? I'll give you a secret. The most powerful aphrodisiac to a woman is a man who doesn't need sex to be happy. Women want someone who looks at them as a friend first and foremost. If you have an "I gotta get laid or I'mma burst" attitude, women can sense it from a mile away.

And no, PRETENDING like you don't need it doesn't cut it. What you have to do is realize there is more to enjoy about a woman than sex. If it's going to happen it's going to happen, if not...it's not. So in the meantime, until that magic moment finally comes get to know her, what she likes, what she hates, what she dreams about, what gives her nightmares, her favorite movie, book, song, childhood memory. Make love to her mentally.

To me sex is another form of communication, which is why it's called intercourse. Without saying a word you are communicating to that person how good she makes you feel. How much you love being a part of her life. It's a conversation in a language that goes beyond words. And if you spend time making love to a woman mentally, when it happens, it will be the best sex she's had in her life.

And when you learn that fact, you'll never be in the position of "having to have it" again.

First off I have to comment on the most feedback I've received to date in my journal. Jervo your reaction was kinda like the reaction I had when I spoiled the game for myself. I tried to start playing the game again but just couldn't. It's just like no fun so I played Morrowind instead.

Anyway, on to something interesting. As you know (or if you didn't you do now...well not right now in a few seconds...once you read the next statement), I am contracting at the Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue developing a program to handle Real Estate filings electronically. A few years ago, I interviewed at the National Association of Realtors Technology Center. The project they were hiring for was a developer/analyst for a specification to handle Real Estate Transactions. I followed the progress of that spec for a few years and then forgot about it. When I started my current contract, I didn't make the connection because they were different domains (one for Realtors and their customers, the other for Title Companies and the State).

As you also know (let's not go through this one again), I am the organizer for a local group of independent tech contractors. We decided to unite our efforts so that we can grab more projects as a collective. So one of the members fires off an email about a client who wants a web application concerning (you guessed it) Real Estate. This is a HUGE project. It can easily net me...well let me just say it'd be worth a lot of money in a short amount of time, plus recurring income for hosting services.

If you've ever scoffed when someone says "Everything happens for a reason." Don't anymore. Something as simple as a failed interview has given me enough knowledge to bag my first big client since returning to the independent arena. So you might not see me that much around here because between my real job (which I'm keeping until it becomes impractical) and the freelance stuff, I don't have a minute to breath (and let's not mention the new arrival coming in April). But if I'm going to achieve my dreams...sacrifices need to be made.

I've had KOTOR for half a year now (or longer, can't remember) and have yet to really take the time to get deep into the game and finish it. So my college buddy from New York sends me an email about Episode 3 (the movie) and how he's excited about it. I decide to use the occasion to schedule a mini-reunion. It comes at the perfect time, my current project will be wrapping up, I'll have a ton of PTO available, and I'll just be ready for a vacation.

Anyway, I start browsing around the official movie site and see a link to an entry in the star wars databank about turbo lasers. I click it and read, cool stuff. So I notice a link about the Ebon Hawk going from there.

WHY OH WHY DID I CLICK THAT LINK???!!! Basically, I ended up spoiling the biggest twist of the game for myself! When I read the description I was like, wait that can't be right. And then it hit me :shock: that's what my eyes did. So umm yeah. I've basically spoiled the game for myself.

I'm still going to go ahead and finish it but it's like watching The Sixth Sense for the first time but knowing the twist. I'll know what everyone is alluding to and be able to pick up all the foreshadowing. It sucks :(

But it's all my fault. Because I should have known better than to even click on that link.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I will give to my children when they grow up. I don't mean money or cars or whatever. I mean what kind of legacy will they inherit. I've been examining the stock market to see what that might give me. Of course that's good for a jumpstart but I want more. The only way I can guarantee that my children will have everything they want is to build my own empire. I don't necessarily need to make a multi-billion dollar company. I'd be happy with 2-3 million a year in profits. Privately owned of course. That way I can do what the frack I want and keep all the profits for my family.

That's my goal in life. Not to be rich necessarily. To be successful.

I first picked up a controller for the Atari 2600 when I was 7. And I've been a video game fan ever since. I first used a computer when I was seven. And I've been a technophile ever since. I wrote my first program when I was 7 and have been programming ever since. I first kissed a girl when I was seven, and was hooked on it from that day forward. The first time I read a Roman myth (Perseus and Medusa), I was seven and have loved classical culture since.

I never realized it until how much of who I am started in the second grade. I know it sounds amazing that I wrote a program at such a young age...but I kinda lied. I typed a program from the back of Family Computing magazine but the seed was planted then.

It was an odd stroke of fate when I first ran into Roman Mythology. Basically, our second grade reader was focused on Roman myths. The first story we read was Perseus and the Gorgons. I was HOOKED! I ended up finishing the reader before the first quarter was even over. Jump forward two years. In fourth grade my school had our first Reading Is Fundamental bazaar.

The auditorium was packed with thousands of books and grade by grade we were allowed to browse and pick out one book for free. It doesn't even seem like I had to look hard before I found a book on Mythology. When I took it to the front desk as my selection, I was so excited about having the book that I didn't even notice if the person reacted to such a strange selection by a 4th grader. (I'm sure he was either blown away by my choice, or laughing to himself that I'd never be able to understand the material). I think it took me all of two weeks to finish that book. Over the years, I read it and re-read it until I knew every story by heart!

Another five years later, I was given the option to take latin or spanish as my foreign language in high school! Well that was a no-brainer! I loved Roman culture, what better chance to learn more about it than to take Latin. Little did I know how that one decision would effect my life. We got our books about two weeks before classes began. The first thing I did was crack open my Latin books. The first day of Latin class, I came in and said "Salve, Magister!" (Greetings, teacher!) He immediately asked me if I had taken Latin before. I told him nope, I just read through the first six chapters of the book already.

Before the year was over, I was a member of the NJCL (National Junior Classical League), received a gold medal from the ACL (American Classics League) for receiving a perfect score on the National Latin Exam (which I repeated all four years), went to Urbana for the Illinois State Latin competition (having qualified for it previously by acing the local and regional exams), and heard my teacher say "You are the kind of student, I became a teacher for." I took latin all four years (even though we only were required to take 3 years of foreign languages) and two years of Greek during which I translated the Oddyssey into english.

It's weird what kind of memories this entry has brought back. It started off with me just talking about how I've been a video game fanatic for 20 years now (since I was seven). But as I typed, I discovered that practically everything I love, I started loving at age 7. Including football. 1985-1986 was the season of the Superbowl Shuffle. Although I was 8 by the time it all started, it was close enough. The Bears, led by an impenetrable defense (Richard Dent, Mike Singletary, et. al) and a sensational offence (Walter Payton, William "the Fridge" Perry, Jim McMahon, et al) went on a rampage through the NFL losing only one game that season to the Miami Dolphins. They continued to be a respectable team throughout the 80's.

Anyway, I guess I've offiicially opened the blinds and given you guys a peak into my personal life, kinda. Let me know, (if you've read this far), what was the most formative year of your life?

So here I am again at the office on the weekend. The good news is I get overtime wages for being here today and yesterday so I'll see a slightly plumper check next pay period. The bad news is that I'm in the FRIGGIN' OFFICE ON A WEEKEND!!!

The last time I worked on the weekend, I was working for myself, and that kicked ass. This time I'm working on the weekend because some idiot restored a backup without bothering to say to people "hey I'm going to roll back the data to a few days ago, so if you have anything you don't want to lose LIKE TWO FRIGGIN' DAYS WORTH OF WORK, please make a personal backup."

On the plus side, I did say that I wanted to improve my code and I guess this gives me the opportunity to do so. But I still come back to the same original point "I'M IN THE FRIGGIN OFFICE ON A WEEKEND!!!!!!"

Don't worry I'm not very angry...I'll just get my work done and go home.