Archive for July, 2003
*w00t!* Aiden is 6 months old today. It’s just amazing how quickly they grow up, it’s almost like yesterday that Autumn was 6 months old… instead, she’ll be 7 in about a month.
Aiden is doing very well. He’s a good eater and loves to play with anyone who will give him the time of day. When he was younger it appeared that he may not like playing by himself, but as he grew older, he’s been playing a lot without anyone around. Since Autumn has been gone for 2 weeks, he’s really needed to learn how to play by himself anyway 
He’s also learning how to crawl, getting up on his knees, rocking back and forth until he flops on his face!
We’re getting ready to take a trip to Disneyland in California in two weeks, should be fun, mainly for Autumn. I’m just going to enjoy not having to work and swimming in a large heated pool at the hotel!
July 24th, 2003
Autumn isn’t home right now. She’s visiting her Grandma and Great Grandparents up in the Gold Country, lucky girl! She asked us if we’d post some photos of Aiden, so in honor of her request, here they are! Just so happens I have a few of her with her little bro. *Cute*.
(Aiden pulling Autumn’s ear!)
View the entire collection of photos in Aiden’s (7.2003) gallery.
July 19th, 2003
Happy Birthday Bro! 33 years old and 4 years my senior… haha! 
Hope your wife got you something really cool, like, “leave me alone” time. 
Did you bother to even go surfing?
July 14th, 2003
I guess I’ve stirred the “bug” pot over at Blizzard. Recently Blizzard released an update to their Diablo II game (it’s been over a year since the last update) and opened the patch for public beta. I, someone who has always enjoyed playing Diablo II but has found it unplayable under Mac OS X due to Open GL issues, decided to take Blizzard up on their beta offer.
Well, much to my surprise, the moment I started playing I knew something wasn’t right. Sure, there have been vast improvements to the Open GL engine but it still wasn’t right. So, being the good beta tester that I am, I posted a “message on the Blizzard forums”:http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?FN=d2-beta-mac-bugs&T=110&P=1 (I go by the handle of “tippy”… don’t ask) stating my opinion about the patch and how something was still amiss. Well, much to my surprise, not only did Blizzard respond, but they’ve actually found two major bugs so far! w00t!
So, if you’re looking for a beta tester on your next hot game, look me up. My wife may not like you but I will
July 14th, 2003
Hope everyone had a good Fourth of July holiday. Ours was “eventful” yet uneventful at the same time… weird how that can work. Although, I did learn a valuable lesson in attending fireworks displays on the 4th. Oh, you’d think I’d already learnt it too… cue the music.
Flashback
A few years ago, we went to Stinson Beach and watched the amateur fireworks display. You know, the ones where young teenagers drink booze and attempt to impress the not yet legal ladies with their in-adept skill of lighting fireworks without blowing their fingers off and such. Well, one “smart” individual thought it would be fun to light one and throw it as far as he could. Little did he know or even care, but after lighting the firework, he threw at US! Yes, the little bastard threw the damn thing at us, burning a hole in Autumn’s jacket then bouncing off her, across the side of my mother’s face, burning parts of her hair and skin.
So, as you can see, I’m not really a big fan of idiots and fireworks. Doesn’t make a very smart combination in my humble opinion and if anyone disagrees with me, too damn bad.
Fourth of July 2003
Flash forward to this year. Thinking that I was making the best decision for my family, we decided to go to a professional fireworks display at the county fairgrounds. After driving aimlessly for an hour or so finding a parking spot, we make it into the fair after paying a hefty price of $11 per head plus $5 for parking. Gasp.
Autumn is excited, wanting to ride the rides and play the games. Well, since there is so many damn people, Autumn only got to ride one ride, a damn kiddie train. Joy.
We had much better success at the games, where she won her own goldfish, I won her a plush frog and a large pink plush dog, all for a measly $10 or so. Not bad!
Anyway, the fireworks came and went and now it’s time to go home. Time check, 9:45PM. After getting in the car I realized we were in for some traffic, not to much, but it could be an hour before we get home. Well, in reality it was an 1 hour and 30 minutes before we turned out of the parking lot! ARGH! At 12:00AM we finally made it home… what a damn joke. We spent more time in the car than we did at the actual fair. Never again…
Next year, I’m watching the fireworks in “Animal Crossing”:http://www.animal-crossing.com/.
July 7th, 2003
Where have I been lately? I’m glad you asked. I’ve been playing “Warcraft III”:http://www.blizzard.com/war3/ for the last week or so. The “beta I was involved”:http://www.snapturtle.com/archives/000067.php in finally finished up last weekend and the official version of the Warcraft III expansion pack shipped on July 1st.
Frozen Throne is really fun. I’m completely addicted to the game right now, playing at any “spare” moment I have. Even though I played the beta, I’m still not a very good player because I didn’t play as much beta as I should have. So, I’m working my way up the ranks and finally winning some games!
In other “Blizzard”:http://www.blizzard.com/ news, “four key members quit”:http://money.cnn.com/2003/07/01/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm the day the expansion went on sale. There hasn’t been a lot of talk as to why, but one person said it was because Vivendi Universal hasn’t been very forthcoming with information related to the sale of Vivendi Interactive, which includes Blizzard.
The four are starting their own gaming company, so hopefully we’ll see some great stuff from them as 3 of them were the co-founders of Blizzard and the creators of the “Diablo series”:http://www.blizzard.com/diablo/.
July 3rd, 2003
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