A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to the local bookstore to find a children’s story collection to read to my son at bedtime. This was one of many team outings to pick out things for the baby.

   My wife and I have very different opinions about how to shop properly. My goal is to find a suitable product and get out of the store as quickly and cheaply as possible.  My wife prefers to find the best product in the best possible condition, even if it means spending hours finding the one copy of a book with no tears, bends, folds, or creases inside. Needless to say I wind up with a lot of time to kill in most stores we visit together.

  To fill time I went and checked out the comic book/graphic novel section. I haven’t read a comic in almost a decade, but I was desperate for something to look at inside the store. I remembered how much I used to love comics when I was growing up. I was then a little shocked to learn that comic books are now $3 each.

   I read comics mainly in the mid to late 1980’s. I was lucky enough to live in a big city, and my dad was kind enough to take me to comic book shows about once a month (this was a big deal before EBAY). Unfortunately I didn’t have a high allowance to start with, and I’ve never really been good with money.

  Due to my monetary issues, I bought most of my comics out of the $0.25 bin and wound up reading mainly comics from the 1970’s that were in horrible shape. I eventually grew out of comics and got rid of the whole collection, but I still have fond memories of those stories.

   Anyway, I located a bunch of the Marvel Essentials paperback collections. I was thrilled to find that each book had reprints of about 20 classic issues in chronological order. They’re in black and white, but that’s good enough for me. This is the only affordable way I can think of to ever pass these stories down to my son.

  My wife and I left the bookstore with $50 worth of fancy hardcover Fairy Tale and Mother Goose collections to share with our child (you’d be surprised how expensive children’s books are). I then went home and bought some X-Men, Captain America, Daredevil, and Avengers collections for half-off cover price on Amazon.

   Now my son gets the joy of hearing fairy tales at bedtime, and Marvel Comics whenever I’m watching him. My wife and I have different memories we want to pass down. I’m just hoping my son appreciates the variety.

   They recently turned a Wal Mart near my house into a Super Wal Mart. I'm normally not a huge supporter of Wal Mart, but my new schedule makes me keep odd hours and there isn't much else to do at 4:00 AM on a Wednesday, so I went to check it out.

   This has been a ghetto Wal Mart for years and no one ever shopped there because it used to close early and didn't sell grocieries. When I went in I got my shopping done in less than 30  minutes (It's actually really cool to have an entire store to yourself). I went to check out the games and found that they had a huge clearance on all the games that the store had been unable to sell in the past.

   I finally picked up a copy of Psychonaughts for $15 (I've been looking for this game for months but haven't been able to find it), Mercenaries for $10, Lord of the Rings The Two Towers for $5, and Rainbow Six for $5 (not my usual type of game but couldn't pass it up at that price), They also had MGS3 for $6, DMC3 for $10, and Star Wars Battlefront II for $10 (I'd have bought these if I didn't already own them).

  I actually have a great deal of things going on in my life and probably could've written something more personal or meaningful, but I still get incredibly excited about cheap games.

   My new schedule is working out well so far. I have been on the deep night schedule for three days now. So far I've been able to have dinner with my wife twice and have read my son a bedtime story and tucked him in every night.

  I have been able to train before work, and lift weights afterward without any interference. This is my first night off, so I'm seeing how the free time goes.

  My wife and I made the deal that I would take care of my son on my nights off so that she could attempt to get a good night's sleep. My son only wakes up once or twice throughout the night, and it takes about 20 minutes to feed/change him and get him back to sleep. This leaves me with almost 7 hours on each of my days off for gaming and GS.

   I now have more guilt-free gaming than ever in my life. I used to constantly feel that I was neglecting my wife/child/home by gaming too much on my days off. This lead me to only play my PS2 for maybe 3 hours a week.

  I have no guilt about playing games at 3 AM when my wife and child are asleep. There's still plenty of stuff to do around the house, but it would wake my family if I finally got around to hanging shelves, and my neighbors would prefer I put off mowing the lawn until a little later. 

  Today I start my new shift at work. For the past year I have been working from 3 pm to 11 pm with Wednesdays and Thursdays off. For at least the next six months I will be working from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am with Wednesdays and Thursday’s off. I know both those schedules seem weird to normal people, but I’m happy about the switch.

   I like to lift weights or run to burn off stress after work, and I live about 30 minutes away. Between exercising and showering I spent about another hour every night at work. When I got off work at 11:00 pm, I usually didn’t actually get home until around 12:30 am. I also had to leave for work at 2:00 pm. On days I went to Jiu-Jitsu I had to leave at 11:00 am.  This meant that I was busy during the part of the day when everyone gets things done.

   My wife tells me she’s worried that she’ll never see me on this new schedule. On paper at least, I should see her much more. I used to leave in the middle of the afternoon and not get home until she was ready for bed. The afternoon schedule never gave us enough time to do anything on the days I worked, so my days off were just filled with errands. Normal people can go shopping on their way home from work, have dinner with their family, or do some work around the house from 5 pm to 10 pm. The only thing open when I got off work was Wal Mart and people look at you funny if you bring your wife and infant shopping at 3:00 am.

   My old schedule also meant that I was very lonely on GS. I have a decent amount of friends, but almost all of them were asleep when I got home. The forums just aren’t as much fun when there are 30 minutes between posts.

  With my new schedule, I plan to sleep form 9:00 am to about 4:00 pm.  This means that even on work nights I can have dinner with my family and probably go do some things. It’s been a long time since I could shop, go out to eat, or see a movie on a workday. Now I can realistically expect to get something accomplished at home on the days I work, and my days off will be just that.

   My wife is a little worried that I won’t be home with her and the baby in the middle of the night, but I think she’ll get over it. A lot of people think just because it’s dark that it’s dangerous. Most people killed in auto accidents are killed during rush hour, almost all home burglaries actually occur in the daytime, and most violent crimes involving a stranger don’t take place in homes.  Besides, I have several friends I work with who live within walking distance from our home who have said my wife can call anytime she needs anything during the night. In return, their wives can call me for anything while they are still working the 3:00 pm to 11:00 pm shift.

   Hopefully it will all work out and I’ll be seeing more of you on the forums

My wife and I have been parents now for 10 weeks. Last night was the first time my wife was finally willing to leave me alone with the baby. 

My wife took slightly less than 4 hours to go out and eat with 4 of her friends. Some of the wives of the guys I work with get together every few weeks for a girls' night out. This results in our wives usually knowing more about what's going on at work that we do.

I know a four hour dinner with friends doesn't sound like much, but it’s a big step. I was very proud of my wife for trusting that I could watch my son for several hours and no catastrophe would occur. She doesn't say it directly, but I am pretty sure that my wife doubts my parenting skills.

My wife has spent a lot of time cuddling the baby and exposing him to different types of music. She went to college on a music scholarship and I hope one day my son will develop some of her talent.

I have no talent, other than fighting. It’s not really much of a talent, I always made it primarily on size and conditioning rather than skill. Plus, I would probably be arrested if I tried to expose my infant son to it. While I will always think athletics and physical fitness are important, they are not things I can share with my child at this time.

This leaves me with video games. I can bring my son into the room with me and he can watch me play video games. He has short attention span right now, but we’re working on it. I can now claim to my wife that video games are my shared activity with my son.

Now, every time I buy a new video game, I’m spending money that will turn into quality time with my child. I have never objected to my wife buying all kinds of CD’s for my son (he likes Classical, Rod Stewart’s American Songbook, and Katie Melua), and hope she will now accept my game purchases in the same way.

This is a longshot, but I think I’m going to try to hold on to it for awhile. My wife won’t be too eager to accept my gaming hobby as a “bonding experience”, but I might be able to pull it off. I only have the two hobbies (fighting/martial arts and gaming), and I’m pretty sure my wife would prefer I expose my boy to gaming if she had to pick one.

Come to think of it, this logic may be why she was afraid to leave the child alone with me for so long. Anyway, I did fine and both my wife and I are very proud of me.

I was on the GS forums tonight and saw a post about “How old do you think is too old for video games?”. This bothered me greatly because it shows that even gamers aren’t taking the medium seriously.

I celebrated (if that’s what you want to call it) my 30th birthday on Friday. My presents included the New Super Mario Bros. and Rayman games for my DS, and copies of Urban Chaos and Drakengard for my PS2. While I was more than willing for my older co-workers and family members to think this was strange, I was surprised to learn that many gamers did too.

Video Games and computer entertainment are a multi-billion dollar industry. Literally millions of copies of games are sold around the world every year. A top selling video game makes more money than many blockbuster movies. This should count for something in the area of acceptance.

Right now, there are a huge number of people who enjoy video games. There are also billions of people who enjoy Television, movies, and music. So why is it you never hear anyone ask “How old is too old to watch movies?” or “How old is too old to listen to the radio?”.

I don't expect to change what the people from the generations before mine think about videogames. However, it bothers me a little when a 13 year old posts that 21 is too old to still be playing video games. If games don't respect the mass appeal of video games, how can we expect anyone else to?

  For my first Father’s Day, my beautiful wife and now seven-week-old son bought me a new DS Lite.  This has to be one of my favorite gifts ever.

   I try to commemorate big accomplishments by getting a new video game or game system. My wife got me a GBA:SP for my birthday, three days before we were married in June 2004. For my last graduation in April 2005, my wife bought me a PSP.

   So far, I’ve covered all the handhelds. This worries me because I really want a next-gen home console, but am running out of major accomplishments. I’ve graduated from college, started my career, gotten married, and become a father. As far as most people go, I’ve accomplished a lot and would be greedy to expect much more.

  Looks like I may have to break down and buy my PS3, Wii, or XBOX 360 on my own. Happy Fathers Day to anyone else with offspring.

   As some of you know, I live in the Dallas, TX area. Recently, the Dallas Police Chief announced a new chase policy for police. This policy is similar to the ones in place in many cities, and I am by no means singling out Dallas.

   Anyway, Dallas Officers are no longer allowed to chase vehicles that flee unless they are driven by a confirmed violent offender. In other words, anyone who chooses to flee from a routine traffic stop will not be chased. Does anyone else see a problem with this?

    I have heard video game industry critics claim that games like the Grand Theft Auto series encourage people to commit horrible crimes. There has never been any sort of scientific study that actually provides any solid evidence for this claim. It seems odd to me that there are more activists concerned about what something might hypothetically do to normal people, but there is so little outcry over something that will obviously increase criminal behavior.

   On paper, a no chase policy looks good to officials, who are wealthy enough to have full coverage insurance. There is no denying that police chases can be dangerous for the public and may result in innocent people being hurt. However, police chases are nowhere near as dangerous as letting criminals go free if they are willing to endanger the innocent.

  Policy makers have stated that it is okay to chase violent offenders whose identities are confirmed. Maybe it’s just me, but there seems to be less need to chasse someone whose identity is confirmed than there is to chase a completely unidentified suspect who has chosen to run from police. If police know who they are and what they have done, they have a much better chance of catching them that they do of a completely mysterious person. The whole thing is counter-productive.

   The truth is that most crimes are not witnessed and reported immediately. A car only shows up as stolen in a computer system after it is reported. IF someone stole my truck while I was at the mall with my family in my wife’s car, this most likely won’t be reported until I get home. Should someone who steals my car be pulled over before I have reported it, I would feel better if officers could go ahead and chase them when they refuse to pull over.

  The same thing goes for people who burglarize houses. They don’t pick occupied homes and leave witnesses to call police immediately. Therefore, the vehicle that contains all of my possessions is free to ignore police during a traffic stop and flee with little chance of reprisal. Meanwhile my stuff is gone forever. Too bad thefts aren’t “violent”, because then police would be allowed to stop them.

  Lawmakers seem to think that everything is magically insured just because they carry full coverage auto and home insurance. Meanwhile, the millions of Americans who live in apartments with no renters insurance and who only carry liability insurance on their vehicles do not enjoy this protection. If someone breaks into an apartment, takes a person’s car keys and drives away in their liability-insured vehicle filled with their possessions, then that person has just literally lost everything. Police would probably like to be able to help this person.

   Lastly, violent crimes aren’t reported immediately either. If, God forbid, a person grabs a small child from a bus stop and throws her in the back of his vehicle, it will be at least several  minutes before witnesses can call 911, give the information to the operator, and have police dispatched. Most witnesses do not have the license plate of the vehicle written down, and the identity of this suspect is nowhere near “confirmed”.

   Picture that the vehicle containing the child runs a stop sign one block away and a traffic officer attempts to pull it over. When the vehicle refuses to stop, the officer would have no choice but to discontinue the chase or lose his job. Minutes later, when the information is sent to police, the officer would realize that he could have recovered the child and stopped the suspect. Imagine how you would feel if your child was taken and an officer attempted to stop the vehicle he/she was in, but had to let them go due to a city policy. Imagine how you would feel if you were the officer.

   If all the people who protest video games are so concerned about society’s well-being, where are they now. Criminals are now free to evade police in major cities across the country. At least 15 year olds can’t buy a copy of GTA: San Andreas. Justice is served.

I have been very busy with work and family recently, and haven't got to spend much time on GS. I've been able to squeeze in a bit of gaming on my PS2 and PSP, but haven't managed to get any free time for blogging or surfing on my PC.

Anyway, I checked today and noticed that I am officially 100% of level 14. I don't know that I have ever been 100% of a level before. I used to just go on from 98% or 99% to 1% or 2% of the next level.

I think I'll take this time to enjoy my complete mastery of level 14 and all it has to offer. It's almost sad to think that tomorrow I will be a lowly 1 or 2 percent. Oh well, my quest for GS perfection continues on to level 15. 

   It’s been nine days since my last blog, which is actually a pretty long time for me. My new child has kept me very busy, and I’ve been putting in a lot of overtime at work.

   I know it sounds weird to put in more time at work after a child is born, but I’m trying to put aside as much money as I can. My wife has been a teacher for the past six years. We actually met while I was teaching the behavior unit at the school where she taught sixth grade. My wife has now decided to be a stay at home mother. I support her decision, but it will be a little difficult.

Last year I left teaching for a job that paid more money. I enjoyed teaching, but I didn’t love it enough to justify the difference in pay. Besides, I love my new job more than I ever could’ve loved teaching.

   Even though my current job pays more than teaching, it doesn’t quite make up for the almost $40,000 my wife earned every year. My wife will continued to receive paychecks until August, so we still have a couple months of two incomes. I am working a lot of OT to make sure we have enough saved to make it through at least the next year.

   Since the pregnancy, we have managed to pay off all of our credit cards, and cover about $10,000 in home renovations. This makes it sound like we have a lot of money. We don’t, we’ve just been living as cheaply as possible. We’ve gotten pretty good at living on less money, so I think we can pull it off if I keep working OT.

  This is why my last blog showed so much disappointment in Sony’s decision to price the PS3 at $600. Even with my wife staying home, my household will earn slightly over $50,000 per year. It seems ridiculous to me that a video game company would make any product that households in our income range would have to think twice about. We could afford $600 if we had to, but in reality we just don’t have to. My wife and child could be provided with a lot more important things for $600 than a videogame system for me.

  I’m still loving my PS2 and PSP though. I just finished Killzone about an hour ago (it took me longer than it should’ve). I thought it was a great game and don’t see why it got some low scores. It’s got me on an FPS kick, which is weird because I never really played them before now. I recently bought Project Snowblind ($9.99) and Serious Sam ($5.29) on clearance, and can’t wait to get to them. I’ve got enough PS2 games in my collection that I haven’t gotten around to playing or beating to last for quite some time.

   With how many great PS2 titles are being clearanced for under $10 new, I’ll probably continue to build my collection for the rest of 2006. I plan to buy a Wii near launch if the price stays as low as Nintendo has led us to believe. Therefore, my new status as an official bargain gamer shouldn’t bother me too much and should tide me over until the PS3 drops into the “somewhat reasonable” price range.