Muncie, Indiana (home of a polytechnic) has delivered the MidWestern rap for all to enjoy:

http://www.lazymuncie.com/

. . .with Garfield, the cat.

Goooooooo Eagles!

Ultimately, Soccer (or Footie for Justin) breaks down into a simple match-up of getting the ball in the goal. With some modifications to the formula, the pattern remains the same.

When I was playing Super Mario Strikers last night between bouts of studying, my wife verbalized her wish that the game actually reflected off-sides rules. I then explained to her Strikers is an arcade sports game.

. . . I then explained the difference between arcade and simulation games.

She played Soccer for years, and is very nimble. . . see the above *achem* photo. She knows the rules, and can easily best me with her tricks.

Ultimately, the central purpose of the game remains the same, regardless of arcade v. simulation construction: get the ball in the goal.

"D-Lux son, D-Lux. . . it's not that hard."

My love of In-N-Out has been no secret to my roommates or to my family. I regularly make use of the secret menu to place my orders. Since I was in high school my favorite has been 3x1 animal style, with a medium lemonade. When I get fries I get them sans salt.

That said, one of my old roommates forwarded a particularly troubling order to emerge from a Las Vegas IN-N-Out we darkened one weekend during 2000. Yes, that order consists of 100 patties of meat, mingled with 100 american-cheese singles.

We are not amused. Truly, even I would never eat at In-N-Out again if I were compelled to ingest that . . . side of cow. The whole undertaking is documented in the blog of one of the bold consumers.

No, really Ice Skating (except for speedskating) should be removed from the olympics. Ice dancing too. They aren't sports, they are. . . not. My parents taped the olympics for my wife since we don't pay for television. After a long day of work my wife wanted me to watch the men's short program. I was hoping for speed skating but figured this would be a good deposit in the emotional bank account. The things we do for love. It is true, I'd rather change diapers than watch ice skating. I think my wife may use that to her advantage more in the future.

Today marks the close of February. It is the shortest month but one with a lot of spirit.

February 28 marks:

- The return of Mardi Gras . . . not that it left
- The last day of Black History Month
- The deadline for the United States to have the UN peacekeepers resolved to rescue the Sudan
- The end of the rainy season in the Denman islands
- A significant decline in Google's equity
- Prime Minister Berlusconi's trip to cheer up President Bush
- Black, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Generation of Chaos, MLB 06, and Sims 2:Open for Business introduce themselves to the retail channel
- Only five days left until the Oscar nominations become awards (if you care)
- Another day of either money in the bank or interest owed

 . . . dismissed as coincidence

Last night my wife and I had some company. Another couple from church came over with their 2-year old. I forgot how crazy toddlers are. My infant isn't anywhere near so rambunctious. . . yet.

It was a pleasant experience to sit, chat, and discuss the secret powers of asparagus. Life gets so busy. It was fun to relive fun high school memories in theatre, and discuss the moral implications of dropping toilet paper under bathroom stalls. . . it was almost reminiscent of a certain Seinfeld episode.

The guys also compared notes on crazy stunts performed in the dorms. . . such things I should never repeat in such an open forum. Who knew elevator paneling was so versatile. . .

The ladies were blown away by our Freshmen antics. . . and for good reason. My later years were marked by a resurgence of gaming, thus eclipsing any antics which may have otherwise been instigated. I'm amazed how sane we were, especially since we didn't do anything foolish when intoxicated.

My father just inherited an X-Box for the next two weeks.

Work and school demands have been so requiring as of late, I have decided to relieve myself of all distractions as we head into deadlines and finals.

MGS2:Substance has been dynamite and engrossing. Hopefully my wife will be able to help me through my impending withdrawals. Of course I have other extra-vocational endeavors to attend to. . .

Cryptobadger had this fine film linked in his blog.

You are correct that is Spider-Man. Aside from the maelstrom of speculation surrounding the black suit to be incorporated into the next Spider-Man movie, plenty of confusion should arise as to why Spider-Man would need a giant robot to defeat a bunch of evil-doers in an empty strip mine. . . or why he can summon a super car and robot to defeat said evil doers, but still be left behind when everyone else rides off into the sunset.

All I know is the shooting guitar is a super hero staple that is great with giant robots.

Tonight is date night, because tomorrow is pure, unadulterated Statistics. As you can tell, we party hard.

Hopefully our daughter will be relatively quiet for Diamonds Are Forever. The next movie we are slated to see should be Seven Days in May. . . but that is only because we can't get to the theater any more. Otherwise, it would probably be Why We Fight. If for no other reason, I want to see the movie because the day before I found out about the movie I noticed a disturbing trend in the link between American economics and when we enter a war.

. . .and just for the record, the US Income Tax was established in 1913, one year before World War I started in Europe and four years before the US entered WWI. Interesting to note that taxes remained high even after the war was over. Top tax rates also remained over 60% from the 30's until President Reagan lowered them in his first term.

Heavy. As you can see it is something I've been pondering a lot lately. One of these days my ruminations may uncover a correlation. Speakingof correlations . . .

I'll be back tomorrow with Spiderman.

Perhaps it was the years of avid comic book collecting. Perhaps it was the perfectionist disposition I inherited from my driven parents. It may even be my eternal nature to be a semantics-powered completist. I don't know.

What I do know is I finished MGS2:Substance for the first time last night. I loved the huge twist at the end. No, at the very end. Absolutely brilliant story. It wasn't anything revolutionary, but the writing was excellent, the experience was worthwhile, and the gameplay was on par with the original MGS. That is not to say it was perfect.

Lest you think it was perfect, MGS2 had a few points in the story that did not jive. For the sake of those who want to be kept from startling revelations, I won't discuss the issues . . . since they are all plot related. The best parts were understated. Unfortunately Kojima also delivers some very disturbing relationships. But since this is not my review, I will come back to that later.

The completist in me has been focusing two-parts VR mission and one-part storyline. Even after finishing the game once, that will not change until I get Subsistence in a matter of days. Then I will abandon Substance and the Twin Snakes for the meatier stuff. Until then, I am going to be unlocking VR missions like a mad man!

Despite plenty of engaging interactive experiences, I find the professional recognition to be very compelling. Bonuses were announced yesterday. For the completist, that was a huge wake-up call. Companies reward you according to how much they think you are worth. With even more work, I imagine I could be worth quite a bit.

End of line.