D'Arque Bishop's Journal

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

This was originally posted on Mortal Kombat Online’s forum. I’m reposting it here in case my friends might be interested in what was going on yesterday. You can read the original thread here.

Hey everyone.

So, we were down for approximately 18 hours. The downtime was due to our hosting provider migrating the site over to a newer, faster server. The site should now actually be more responsive and you should hopefully see less “server is busy” errors.

As for why it took so long and why we picked now, well.. there’s a story behind that. I’m putting it out here, in the interest of full disclosure, plus to get this annoyance off my chest.

A few years back, we had an extended downtime where we were down for about a week. During that downtime, we had been moved to another server by our hosting provider, due to the fact that the hard drives had failed on the old one. Shortly after the upgrade, I noticed that there was a problem with the motherboard. It wasn’t a show-stopper, but fixing it required some jury-rigging. The jury-rigging held up pretty well.

However, with the release of the new date coming closer and closer, I started realizing how much traffic we were getting and that we could do with slimming down system usage. For that, I wanted to get rid of the jury-rigging. So, we asked our hosting provider for a replacement motherboard. They responded yesterday by offering to move us to a new server.

I agreed, thinking they were going to take the hard drives from the old server and put them in the new server. Instead, they took the old drives and made them slaves to the existing drives.

It also didn’t help that when I logged into the server, I realized they put a completely different distribution of Linux than what we were using before. I called them and griped, because at this time I really don’t have time to learn a new distribution of Linux and configure it for our environment. They agreed to install our normal distribution, and did so.

… and when I logged in, I found they installed NONE of the software we needed. There wasn’t a web server, a mail server, or anything. By this point I was tired of depending on the hosting company and decided to fix it myself. To give a comparison, it was the equivalent of someone handing me a machine with Windows 7 Starter Edition and saying it was ready for use, without any of the necessary software. It took several hours, and by the time I went to bed at 1 AM CDT, I had everything but web services working.

Fortunately, when I got up this morning, I realized where I went wrong on the web services and got those fixed too.

Right now, I realize there are a couple of bugs in the site. For example, the online list isn’t working. However, I will be working with CCShadow to try and get them fixed as soon as we can.

Thank you for your patience while we get everything back to normal.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

Jennifer and I were at Walgreens this morning; I had thrown my back out yesterday and we were waiting for a prescription from my doctor to be filled. We saw the Easter stuff, and, well… she couldn’t help but be cute.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

Jennifer and I have three cats. The oldest, Lucy, has been with Jennifer since she was a kitten. Now fifteen years old or so, she hasn’t been doing well as of late. She’s back to her old self, but she’s still not 100%; she had gotten so bad at one point that we were afraid we were going to lose her. Still, like I said, she’s bounced back.

Now, Jennifer disputes this story, but I figure it’s a bit amusing…

The past few days, before we leave for work or come home from work, we’ve noticed Lucy has been laying on the kitchen table. She’s not supposed to do so, but she’s been doing so anyway; we figure she’s milking the “I’m dying” thing for all of it’s worth. We’d tell her to get down off the table, and she just gives us this look as if to say, “What are you going to do about it?” The answer is that I immediately pick her up off the table and place her on the floor, admonishing her.

Well, I try to be very careful about not disturbing the cats when they’re laying on the bed when we go to sleep. Last night, while in bed, I got Darcy (another of our cats) off the bed after he angered Lucy. I tried to get comfortable, but after the scuffle, Lucy had decided to snuggle in right against me where I couldn’t move without rolling on top of her. Worse, the position I was in was very uncomfortable and it was either bother a sleeping Jennifer or possibly hurt the cat laying right up against my back. I spent quite a bit of time in that position, praying Lucy would get bored and get off the bed.

After a while, I turned and looked at Lucy. She looked at me, with an almost smug look on her face.

“Well played, cat,” I muttered.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

Hey, no macking on the fiancée!

Last night, Jennifer and I went and met some of her coworkers for dinner. On the way back, she needed to stop for gas. While I waited by her car, she went in to pay. When she stepped out, she had an odd expression on her face. When I asked her what was wrong, she looked at me and told me that when she walked in and asked to put money on the pump, the cashier replied with, “You are very beautiful.” She was thrown and didn’t expect that, and asked him to repeat it as she wasn’t sure she heard him right. He repeated what he said, and asked, “When will we be having dinner?” Jennifer just looked at him, and said, “Well, I’m not sure that’ll be cool with my fiancé, who’s right outside…” He replied, “Tell him he is a very lucky man.”

If that wasn’t bad enough, after she had pumped her gas and we had left, she called me (we were in separate cars) and told me that as she was telling me the story, she looked into the store and the cashier was looking at her and making motions implying she should call him. What the hell?

Listen, folks. If someone says she’s unavailable, she’s unavailable. Don’t annoy them or their significant others.

How do you like your barbecue? TOASTY!

TeeFury’s shirt design for today (and only available today) is just awesome. I’m definitely planning on wearing it next time we have a cookout at the house. I’ll let the design speak for itself.

Broken phone? You have a cheap option.

I was talking to Scott Howell earlier, and he mentioned that he had broken the touch screen on his cell phone. Worse, he isn’t eligible for an upgrade until July. Fortunately, though, he uses AT&T, which is a GSM provider. I had originally planned on asking my dad to send a spare phone to him to tide him over, but my dad had a much better idea: buy a cheap prepaid phone and use that. Scott researched it, and ended up buying a cheap GoPhone at Walmart for $11. I guess the GoPhones are unlocked; he put his AT&T SIM card in it, and it worked fine. Now he has a phone to tide him over until July, when he can get a nice phone.

So, if you’re on a GSM provider (AT&T or T-Mobile, for example) and need a replacement cheap phone, just get yourself a GoPhone and you should be fine.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

Jennifer and I had decided that tonight, we were going to cool off after work by going to a bar a coworker had told me about last Friday. The bar is called Barcadia, and its claim to fame was that it had a number of classic arcade machines in it. The machines looked like a decent selection on the website, including the original Mortal Kombat. It sounded like fun, so we decided to give it a try. We stopped off at District 7 first to have some dinner, and then made our way over for dessert and drinks. Jennifer in particular was looking forward to their fried oreos.

Were we impressed? Well… no.

When we drove up, we noticed right away that the only parking at the place was valet parking, which we wanted to avoid. After looking around for a minute or two, we parked on the street near the bar and walked over. As we approached, we noticed that the crowd was significantly younger than us. We went in, ordered our drinks, and I walked over to play some games. I ended up playing a few games of Mortal Kombat, plus other games like Star Wars, Robotron:2084, and Popeye. The machines weren’t in great condition; several had monitor issues and the controls on some weren’t very responsive. Star Wars in particular had nonfunctional buttons and was out of alignment. In addition, it wasn’t clear whether or not the machines were supposed to be on free play. I had asked for quarters at one point and was directed to a change machine, but when I walked around several machines had numerous credits in them. As I was closing my tab, I heard the bartender who directed me earlier tell someone the machines were supposed to be on free play.

As for the fried oreos we got? We were not impressed at all. The vanilla ice cream that came with them was a generic single serve vanilla ice cream cup that would be at home at a Chinese buffet or school cafeteria. The oreos themselves were, well, fried oreos, but were okay at best.

As we were leaving, Jennifer looked around at the crowd, and commented that it was “douchebag central”. I couldn’t help but agree; the place was pretentious and the average person there was ten years younger than us, looking to hook up. It really was not the kind of place we liked, and if it wasn’t for the arcade machines, we wouldn’t go in at all. We shrugged our shoulders, and decided that it was not some place we would go back to.

Ah, well. It’s a shame, but it was worth a try. We figure that from now on, if we want classic gaming and drinks, we’ll go to Joystix for their “Pac-Man Fever Fridays”, where we can have drinks in their nice little lounge and have the run of the entire showroom of games.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

I had mentioned something called “Project DK” on my Twitter a couple of times. I guess now I can finally say what it was… not that it was anything important, mind.

A while ago, I had decided to get back into writing fiction. Mind you, I haven’t really done any since high school and was a bit out of practice. I had a couple of stories knocking about in my head, but didn’t know where to start. That problem was solved when out of nowhere, a story came to my head, waving its arms, and going, “Me first! Me first!” My only concern was that it was a fanfic, and I really didn’t want to get started working on someone else’s characters. Still, the idea wanted to be told, so I sat down and wrote it.

The end result was a Mortal Kombat fanfic called “Dracula Killer”. I knocked it out in a couple of hours, with Jennifer giving me advice and editing. Once I was done, I sent it on to Crow and ]{0MBAT for their thoughts. They, plus Jennifer, had pretty much the same opinion.

“It’s great. What happens next?”

Well, crap. I honestly had thought the story would end there, but they wanted to see more.

So, a couple of nights later, Jennifer and I were at dinner, and with her help I brainstormed an expanded storyline for the story. I thought it through, and then began working on the expanded story. Over time, I had gotten the page count doubled and wasn’t even anywhere near halfway through. Unfortunately, I hit a bit of a creative stumbling block: the new game.

I apologize if this is a spoiler, but a big part of the setting/tone of the story depended on the Outworld invasion of Earthrealm (from Mortal Kombat 3) being rather sudden and mystical. As the story for MK3 explained, Kahn opened a portal over an unnamed city and used his magic to claim everyone’s souls, except for the chosen warriors. However, screens from the new game showed that it was, in fact, a full-on military invasion. The thing that ended up killing it was watching a video today, where kombatants were fighting on a rooftop, while the city burned around them and a dragon and a helicopter had a dogfight.

Based on that, the premise I had wouldn’t work anymore. The only way I could see it working is if the method Kahn uses to invade Earthrealm was changed in the new timeline, as this story takes place in the old timeline. (Mortal Kombat is starting a new continuity the same way Star Trek did: time travel changing the past.) Otherwise… no. It won’t work. So, I decided to bite the bullet and submit the original version of the story on MK Online.

If you want to read it, you can do so here.

Comments and criticisms are welcome. Just keep in mind that it’s written under the assumption that the person reading it will be familiar with Mortal Kombat.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

Honesty is the best policy.

Jennifer and I had dinner at TGI Friday’s tonight. After dinner, we each ordered our own dessert. After we were done…

Jennifer: “That was delicious. And I was NOT sharing. … just kidding.”
Me: “No, you weren’t.”
Jennifer: “No, I really wasn’t.”

Poe’s Law, anyone?

Sometimes, on Twitter, I’ve been known to take something the official Mortal Kombat Twitter account says and make a wild unfounded rumor joke about it. Well, apparently in God of War, Kratos has something called “Quicktime moves” that he can use. A new gameplayer for Mortal Kombat featuring Kratos was released today, and @MK_MortalKombat retweeted someone noticing the Quicktime moves were in there. My response?

“Quicktime moves? OMG MK IS COMING OUT FOR MAC.”

I thought it was funny, until @MK_MortalKombat retweeted it, commenting, “No. :p” Well, crap. Now I have to wonder how many people out there actually thought I was being serious…

Why not remake Braveheart with Arabs while you’re at it?

http://www.racebending.com/v4/blog/akira-adaptation-courts-white-actors/

I don’t even know where to go with that, other than what I said above. Really. It just seems like an incredibly stupid move. I mean… will they even be called Kaneda and Tetsuo anymore? What about Akira himself? What’s the damn point, other than to make it interesting to American audiences who won’t want to see the foreigners or subtitles… oh, right.

Never mind. After all, they’ve done the same thing with Let the Right One In and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

I went ahead and put it on the wall where I had put the “YOU’RE NOT PAID TO THINK” poster my friends Sean and Corinne had given me for my birthday. That and my Mortal Kombat II advertisement poster are now out in the hallway outside my office. Personally, I think the new poster looks good where it’s at.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

I have to give Jennifer a lot of credit.

She’s been very supportive of the fact that I’m into gaming. She’s been willing to come out to Dave & Buster’s with me whenever I’ve had an itch to go, for example. Then again, it gives her an excuse to play some Time Crisis 4, which is her favorite arcade game. She also lets me know when she hears about arcade conventions coming into town, and comes out with me.

Yesterday was another example of that. She received an email alerting her that Stern was having a release party for their new The Rolling Stones pinball machine, and the Houston one would be at Joystix. Seeing as we had nothing else going last night, we decided to go out there. While on their normal “Pac-Man Fever Fridays” the whole showroom was available to play, only the middle showroom was available this time around. I entered the tournament they had for The Rolling Stones; the objective in the first round was to hit twelve million points in as few balls as possible, and you had three tries to do it in. On my first try I did it in four; it would have been three had my third ball not gone into the right drain almost immediately. Unfortunately, by the time I got to my second try, enough people had done it in three that I had to do it in three balls or I would be eliminated. I didn’t manage it. It was fine, though; considering the other people in the tourney played a lot and I don’t get to play pinball too often outside of emulators, I was happy I did as well as I did.

The thing is, for various reasons, I’ve been getting a nostalgia for old arcade games. My home office is an extension of my geekiness, so to speak, as I have framed posters and other memorabilia set up around it. For example, I have two Mortal Kombat II posters in my office. A couple of weeks ago, though, I was browsing around on the net and found a movie type poster for the game Dragon’s Lair (as seen on the right). I went ahead and picked one up, and this weekend I will be seeing if I can get a 27″x40″ frame for it. It’ll be replacing one of the two Mortal Kombat II posters.

However, what I would really like to have is an arcade machine or pinball machine in the house. I admit I’m a little jealous of my friend Eric, who not only has Ms. Pac-Man and Scramble machines, he has an old Pinball Wizard pinball machine. The problem, though, is that I almost literally have no place to put a machine. As it stands, about the only kind of machine I could reasonably put in the house is a cocktail table machine, as it could double as actual furniture. If it were available, too, I’d love to get one of the pseudo-arcade cabinets NetherRealm Studios made for the new Mortal Kombat game. Unfortunately, I don’t have the money available for it, and if I did I wouldn’t have a place to put it.

Ah, well. It’s a nice thought to have an arcade machine or a pinball machine (preferably Doctor Who or Bram Stoker’s Dracula), but we have more important expenses to worry about right now. For now, I’ll content myself with Pac-Man Fever Fridays, Dave & Busters, and the occasional Game Night at Eric’s house.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/11/nokia-and-microsoft-enter-strategic-alliance-on-windows-phone-b/

It’s happened. Former Microsoft exec and current Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has married his future and his past in the holy matrimony of a “strategic alliance.” Windows Phone is becoming Nokia’s “principal smartphone strategy,” but there’s a lot more to this hookup…

Well, I could say I was surprised, but I wouldn’t be telling the truth.

Something had been troubling me for a while now regarding Nokia, and it only just occurred to me what it was yesterday. Don’t get me wrong; I used to really like their phones. I’ve had a 5210, a 3390, and a 3650 in the past. However, for all of their domination in the “dumbphone” market in the United States and abroad, they never seem to go anywhere in the smartphone market. I’ve heard people on Slashdot and other tech sites talk about how much they loved their N900 phones, but when it came to people I knew in person who used smartphones, it was always Blackberry, iPhone, Android, or Windows Mobile. I never knew anyone who used Nokia phones. Then yesterday, in a Slashdot discussion about the merger, I saw a couple of people mention how much they liked Nokia’s E71.

It hit me then. Nokia’s smartphones are very geek-friendly, but ONLY geek friendly.

The reason the E71 made me realize it is more of a personal one. A year or two ago, in an effort to try and save money on smartphones at my old job (as we were handing them out more and more), I did a bit of research and found the most cost-effective one was the Nokia E71x. It had full Exchange support, which was our primary requirement. So, we started handing them out to users.

In the end, we stopped after a few months. Why, you may ask? It’s simple: the users HATED them.

The company I worked for was not a tech firm. It was a company that manufactured oilfield equipment, so the users were much more often than not non-tech savvy. The phone interface was confusing them, and as a result it was extremely difficult for them to get the phones to do what they wanted them to do. It was also extremely confusing for us to troubleshoot, as the menus didn’t make any sort of logical sense to us either, especially when previously dealing with phones like Windows Mobile or Blackberry. We got numerous complaints about the devices, and in the end they were phased out.

Around that same time, my parents went and got new phones, and without consulting me they got E71x devices as well. Mom is (and has been) ambivalent about them; she doesn’t care about the phone one way or another, and probably would like a better interface, but she likes that she can get photos off it via free software on her PC (unlike her old Motorola phone) and she likes the QWERTY keyboard for texting. Dad, on the other hand, LOATHED the phone, to the point where his brother did him a favor and sent him an unlocked RAZR to use instead. Dad can’t get pictures off it easily, but he considers it a small price to pay for not having to deal with the E71x anymore.

I know people around have been saying Symbian et al were very powerful phone OSes, but the problem is that Nokia wasn’t going anywhere in the US in the smartphone market. Everyone I know hated the interface, and while I know the plural of anecdote isn’t data, it would not surprise me if a lot of people across the board felt the same way. It doesn’t matter how powerful or versatile your phone OS is if it’s difficult to use. That’s why I can easily see Nokia having partnered with Microsoft in this venture: say what you want about Windows Phone/Mobile, but it has a much more logical and usable interface than Nokia did. If Nokia wants to be taken seriously in the business world, then they need a much more friendly OS for their phones.

After all, while geeks care about power and versatility, the lay users care more about whether it works easily and efficiently. In the end, it’s the lay users that end up driving the market.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been living in Pearland for eight months now, and truthfully, it doesn’t feel like it. It almost feels like I’ve only been there a few weeks still. This is actually a good thing, as it shows how Jennifer and I are meshing well. We definitely haven’t gotten tired of being around one another, and we’ve been enjoying the time we’ve been spending together. Now that we’re past the initial adjustment period, things haven’t really changed much. Life is good.

However, I’ve had one thing still tying me back to the parents’ house, in a sense: the darquecathedral.org servers, which were still being hosted on the DSL line there. I had been planning on moving them down to Pearland anyway, but Mom and Dad decided they wanted to get AT&T U-verse to replace both their DSL and their DirecTV. So, we went ahead and purchased Comcast Business at our house, arranged for static IP addresses to assigned to us, and then went up to Spring this past Saturday to grab them. All in all, it was a pretty quick and painless process, and fortunately everything fit in my car, including the cart the servers were sitting on. Once I configured my parents’ PCs and their router to work without the servers, we headed back to Pearland. We got home by 9:30 PM, and had the first two servers online by midnight. I got up from bed at 7:45 AM the next morning, and had the third server online 45 minutes later.

The one thing we were worried about most with the server move was the heat generated by the servers. Fortunately, we’ve found keeping my office door open keeps the room at a somewhat normal temperature. The temperature gauge on the front of one server shows normal temps, too, which is a very good sign. We’ll keep an eye on things, but all in all the server migration was a great success. Now I just need to clean out boxes to make more room for me to be able to walk around…

The amusing thing, though, is that now that the servers are migrated, we’ll be getting away for a few days soon. Jennifer and I have decided to take a vacation to Las Vegas, as she’s never been and we managed to get good deals on airfare and a hotel. We’re only going to be gone for a couple of nights, but I figure I’ll introduce her to some of the sights and a couple of the shows. I’m thinking at the very least I should show her the dancing waters in front of the Bellagio, the volcano in front of the Mirage, the Forum Shops at Caesars, and the canals at the Venetian. As for the shows, well… Cirque is out due to the high prices of tickets, but we have a couple of other ideas in mind. No, the wedding is not one of them.

Speaking of which, I know I mentioned it on Twitter, but forgot to mention it here: Jennifer and I are officially engaged. Right now, it’s looking like the actual date is going to be sometime in late September. We’re looking at having a small intimate ceremony with just close friends and family invited, and then a few months down the road have a nice big blowout. We’ve been spending days off (on Jennifer’s end) and weekends going to different places to get ideas of venues and the like, plus potential food options, etc. It’s been a bit overwhelming, but we’re off to a good start. Hopefully we’ll be able to announce something to our friends in the next month or two, even if it’s only a “save the date!” type of thing. We’re looking forward to it, and we’re definitely making sure it’s what we want.

Like I said earlier, life is good. Here’s hoping it just keeps getting better.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

Several months ago, I had made a post talking about a trailer for a new Mortal Kombat movie that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Starring Michael Jai White as Jax and Jeri Ryan as Sonya, this trailer (popularly referred to as “Rebirth”) was a completely new take on Mortal Kombat, with a more realistic urban setting, and characters such as Reptile and Baraka reimagined as deformed and/or mutilated insane humans. It later came out that the trailer was the work of a director named Kevin Tancharoen, who financed it himself and was making it as a pitch to Warner Bros. to make the next Mortal Kombat film. The trailer was definitely controversial, but also was very well-received. Even Ed Boon liked it, but he said that it probably went too far. The trailer was soon pulled off YouTube, and nothing more was heard from it. It was pretty much assumed “Rebirth” was dead.

As it turns out, we were wrong.

A report over at Bloody Disgusting is saying that Tancharoen is getting to helm a Mortal Kombat ten-episode web series, under the Warner Premiere brand. Michael Jai White will be returning as Jax, though there’s no word on whether Jeri Ryan will be returning as Sonya. She’s not listed in the article, and I didn’t get a response to my query on Twitter. In fact, it’s not even certain yet that it’s based on “Rebirth”. It’ll start filming in Vancouver next month.

If “Rebirth” is anything to go by, I think it’ll be really good. While I hope the series will be based on “Rebirth”, I’m fairly doubtful it would be, simply because it’ll be in wide circulation on the web… and “Rebirth” was definitely a pitch for a hard-R film, complete with gory deaths. Still, while it was a very different take on the Mortal Kombat mythos, it was also VERY reverential to the source media, and it showed that Tancharoen knows his stuff. There’s no word on a release date, but I would imagine it would probably be this summer, especially after the new game hits stores.

I’m definitely looking forward to it.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

Changes have been happening in my work life.

A month or two ago, it was announced that a company called Robbins & Myers would be acquiring the company I work for, T3 Energy Services. While I had been through acquisitions before, most of the time it was T3 doing the acquiring. The only time I was on the acquired side was when I started at T3; I had been working as the IT guy for a company called Walker Bolt, and their parent company was acquired in late 2001. I moved from Walker Bolt to T3′s IT department, and a couple of years later Walker Bolt was sold off. It was going to be interesting being through it again…

… or it would be, if I was going to stick around for it.

A couple of months ago, a former coworker contacted me. About a year and a half ago, the VP of process improvement at T3 was offered a job at a company called Kem-tron. Since then he’s become the president of the company. Also, said former coworker, the manager of pressure control engineering at T3, went over to Kem-tron as the VP of engineering. They contacted me, and asked me if I’d be willing to come work for them. I went over and interviewed with them, and gave it some thought. After thinking on it, I decided to accept their offer. I start tomorrow as their new IT person.

Leaving T3 has been rather sad for me. I’m going to miss my coworkers, and it’s been great having a boss who’s so good to work for and looks out for his employees. Also, as I’ve put it in the past, working at T3 has shown me exactly where I went wrong with Walker Bolt. However, things are definitely changing at T3. Many of my now-former coworkers (especially in the corporate side) are leaving. Also, after the acquisition is finalized, the IT department is going to be moved to a new office at I-45 North and FM 1960. While this would have been nice had I still been living with my parents, it would be a 40 mile drive from my current home. I’m personally done with the long commutes.

I’ve been working up until the end, too. Even now I’ve got my T3 laptop sitting next to my monitor here in my home office, and am working on some database maintenance that needs to be completed by the start of business tomorrow. Still, first thing 8 AM, I’ll be at Kem-tron reporting for work and learning about my new job. I’ll be doing all of the IT work for them. It’s a much smaller company, but it’s definitely growing, and if I’m lucky I’ll end up with an IT department of my own.

It’s been a wonderful run. I’d been at Walker Bolt for two and a half years and T3 Energy for nine. However, it’s time I moved on. I’m hoping for the best to those I leave behind, and I’m looking forward to what challenges lie ahead.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

(Note: the following represents my own views and do not reflect those of Mortal Kombat Online or any other of its staff.)

Well, it’s been a tad difficult separating myself from Mortal Kombat Online’s day to day operations, but more and more ~Crow~ has been proving himself up to the challenge of taking my place and in fact is doing a better job than I ever did. Nowadays, though, my site work has consisted of helping do database maintenance and working on supporting CCShadow’s efforts towards V.8. So far, things have been coming along swimmingly.

One of my definite hopes with V.8 is that we finally create a mobile-friendly version of the site. As an iPhone user, I’ve found myself using my phone’s Safari for more and more web browsing. V.7′s layout is definitely not mobile browser friendly, and it would be nice to make it where it can be so. It’ll be much more of a design issue than anything else; for example, adding mobile browser support to my personal site really required nothing more than a small plugin which detects the browser’s user agent string and chooses the layout based on that.

Another site called Kamidogu has taken a rather interesting approach. Its webmaster actually developed an iPhone native app for accessing his site. Admittedly I haven’t tried it, but it’s a neat concept. Kamidogu is hardly the first website to make an iPhone native app, but it is the first Mortal Kombat fansite to do so. So far reviews have been very positive regarding the app, and I wish them the best of luck regarding it.

Now, would MK Online ever release such an app? Personally, I would say no, and I say this as an iPhone user. Considering we’d not likely be creating any other apps, it doesn’t make sense for us to pay the $100 or so for the certificate needed to publish apps from Apple. Also, it’s much easier to create one universal layout for mobile devices than it is to create separate apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc. Finally, it comes down to time. CCShadow is a very busy guy and just developing V.8 is taking the bulk of his free time. I just don’t see him developing separate apps.

Ah, well. Like I said, it’s an interesting concept. I just don’t ever see it being implemented for MK Online.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

It’s kind of funny how some things begin.

Back in 2001, I was hanging out in an IRC channel called #mortalkombat. It was being run by an alliance of sites, one of which was a site called MK5.ORG. Back then, the future of MK was pretty uncertain; no one really thought that another MK game would come out. Then, near Christmastime, Midway announced they were making Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the fifth fighting game in the series. One of MK5.ORG’s founders, Scott Howell, knew the game would be at E3, but neither he nor Joey Schorr (the other site founder) could go. So, he asked if I would go, provided I covered the game for the site. I said sure.

I don’t think any of us expected me to become a central figure to the site. However, I ended up being one.

The years since have been great. Once Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance came out, we became Mortal Kombat Online. We became the top ranked Mortal Kombat site. We ended up releasing exclusive news, like the first render from Mortal Kombat: Deception and the revelation of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. We’ve been to many Midway media events. We’ve been to several E3 shows. We’ve done live online chats with the development team. It’s been a blast.

However, lately, I’ve been finding myself with less and less free time. I’ve got a wonderful girlfriend that I spend my life with. My job has gotten far busier. I also have projects of my own I want to pursue. They may not be as popular as MK, but it’ll be my own work, and not my extolling the virtues of someone else’s work.

So, effective today, I stepped down as MK Online’s webmaster, and have moved myself into a purely technical role at the site. Others (namely ~Crow~ and Tyrant-Cenobite) will take over the site’s day to day operations.

I have to admit I’m a bit melancholic. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do, and the site is in good hands. Plus, I want to give my projects the time they deserve. On the other hand, MK Online has been a big part of my life for the past nearly nine years. It’s a bit hard to walk away from it, even if I don’t plan on going anywhere. Still, I know it’s for the best.

So, what are the projects I’m working on? I’m keeping them close to my chest right now, as I don’t want to jinx anything. I hope to announce something within the next couple of months, however. We’ll see.

In any event, I enjoyed my time as MK Online’s head honcho, and am proud of my accomplishments over the past several years. I’m thankful for the opportunities afforded to me, and all in all… I’m content, and glad the site is in good hands.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

In my last post I had mentioned that we have our home theater set up for watching movies at home. We’ve also changed how we watch movies out as well. Up until a few weeks ago we would catch movies at the AMC over at Gulfgate or (in one case) at the Cinemark in Pearland. However, Jennifer pointed out a better option recently that we’ve started to take advantage of.

Pearland has two movie theaters (that I’m aware of). One is the aforementioned Cinemark at 288 and FM 518. The other is a “Premiere Cinemas” further east down 518. A couple of weeks back, we decided to go see Resident Evil: Afterlife at the Premiere Cinemas for a change. It’s a much older theater; it reminds me of the old AMC (like North Oaks 6) or General Cinemas. However, the price for an adult ticket was $4.50. So, for (less than) the price if one ticket at the Cinemark, we both got to go and see a movie.

Of course, it’s not perfect; there are obviously no IMAX screens and they don’t support 3D films. (The posters for Jackass 3D had notices that said “in 2D” on them.) However, it’s not often a film comes out that I want to see in IMAX and/or 3D. For $4.50 a ticket, this theater pretty much provides us the best value for the money. We may end up seeing more movies out as a result.

It’s nice to know we have another good value method for watching movies.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

One of the things Jennifer was looking forward to when I moved in was the integration of my audio/video equipment with hers. While she already had a DVD player and HDTV, she didn’t have a sound system to go along with it. On the other hand, I DID have a home theater setup, consisting of an Onkyo receiver and Aiwa speakers and subwoofer (the speakers were part of a “home theater in a box”; the original receiver was long destroyed). When I moved in, we put my receiver in place, along with my DVD player (as it was upconverting). While I hooked the DVD player to power and had it ready, we left the receiver disconnected for a few months.

The problem wasn’t that we didn’t want to use it. The problem was that we didn’t know what to do about the rear speakers. Our floors are hardwood, so we couldn’t just run the wires under the carpet. Also, we had NO desire to run wires through the wall. I did that before at my parents’ house, and did NOT like it. That’s also the reason my office at home is linked to the home network through a wireless bridge.

A few weeks ago, however, I came across the perfect solution. A company called Rocketfish had a universal wireless rear speaker system. We picked one up from the local Best Buy, brought it home, and I spent the evening wiring up the receiver to the speakers, TV, DVR, DVD player, and Wii.

The end result was very satisfying. The sound came through very crisp and clear, and the rear speakers were clear as well. Even my friend Mike, who has the most impressive home theater room I’ve ever seen, was impressed by how well the wireless solution worked.

In fact, the home theater setup revealed a weakness in how I had the speakers set up at my parents’ house. When we wired them up at my parents’ house, we put them up by the ceiling, facing out… but not down. The sound as a result was always subpar, and I thought the speakers themselves were probably very low quality. It wasn’t until I listened to them at ground level on the new setup that I realized why they seemed low quality: they projected across the room, but not down to where I could actually HEAR them properly. Oops. At least now they sound great at room level.

Since we put it together, we’ve gone ahead and added a Blu-Ray player to the mix, and use it to watch Blu-Rays and instant viewing from Netflix. We ended up getting a decent little player from Samsung for about $140; a number of people had recommended that we get a Playstation 3, but we didn’t think it was worth it. It cost twice as much as the Samsung (which does everything we’d want the PS3 to do), and we wouldn’t be using it to play games. It’s worked out beautifully so far; the best test was when my parents came over to visit a week ago last Sunday. As I sat Dad down in front of the home theater, he asked if he could borrow my copy of Avatar… and then sat, mouth open, as the Blu-Ray version of Avatar finally finished loading and started showing. He asked Mom for a similar setup, but I don’t think Mom’s going to go for it.

Since then, it’s gotten plenty of use. We still have two movies waiting to see for it from our Netflix disc queues (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Cloverfield), and my entire instant viewing queue. Looks like it’ll be serving us well for quite a while.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-06/robbins-myers-agrees-to-acquire-t-3-for-422-million.html

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) — Robbins & Myers Inc., the industrial- equipment maker with operations in 15 countries, agreed to buy T-3 Energy Services Inc. for about $422 million to boost sales to oil companies.

Owners of Houston-based T-3 will receive 0.894 share of Robbins & Myers and $7.95 in cash for each of their shares, the companies said today in a statement. The deal values T-3 at about $31.80 a share, 17 percent higher than its closing price yesterday, according to a calculation by Bloomberg.

Excluding one-time transaction costs, the purchase will start increasing earnings for Dayton, Ohio-based Robbins & Myers in the company’s first full year of owning T-3, according to the statement. The companies said combining operations will yield about $9 million in annual cost savings.

I have to admit, that was a fun bit of news to come in to work to yesterday. On the other hand, I’m not really worried per se. According to the press releases, there’s going to be very little overlap between the two companies, so layoffs are not guaranteed. In addition, they’d likely need the IT people to help in the integration. I’m fine for the foreseeable future, especially as the sale hasn’t even closed yet and won’t for a few months at the very least.

I suppose we’ll see what happens.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

It’s been nearly three months since I moved in with Jennifer. Honestly, it’s been pretty much smooth sailing here; or, as Jennifer has put it more than once, it’s been the most “non-event” event in her life. We’re pretty much crediting it to the fact that not only did we do a lot of preparation work in advance of my move in, I had been living here pretty much half the time in the months leading up to it. I made every excuse I could think of to spend nights down here… even if Jennifer herself wasn’t the primary reason, it helped that the drive to and from work from her house put together was shorter than the drive between my parents’ house and my office, one way. The one disadvantage of me being down here, so far, is that a good number of my friends live up in Spring. However, we make time whenever we can to go up and visit them.

About the biggest hurdle that I saw regarding the move in was the electronics. Of course, I had a number of electronics, and we had to decide what to do with them. The PC, game consoles, and TV ended up going into my office. The PC was a given, but with the consoles I can play games without bothering Jennifer if she’s watching TV. My home theater and DVD player ended up going into the living room. Jennifer didn’t have a home theater system already, so it made sense to put mine in place. As for the DVD player… her existing one wasn’t an upconverting DVD player, so we put mine in place there and moved hers to the bedroom.

However, our biggest foe so far has been wiring. The first of the two big examples has been in terms of networking. Her office is on the opposite side of the house from my office, and the cable modem and wireless router are located there. We REALLY did not want to run ethernet through the walls, and buying wireless adapters for my Xbox 360 and PC would have been expensive. (Not to mention it wouldn’t have helped my wired-only IP phone for work…) So, after doing some research, I ended up buying a ZyXEL WAP3205 wireless bridge. It basically bridges my ethernet network in my office onto the home wireless network. So far, it’s worked flawlessly. I’ve even been able to play online via Xbox Live with no issues. We’re also considering getting a second one to bridge our Wii onto the wireless network. (No, it won’t join our wireless network. We have no idea why, so the easiest solution is an ethernet adapter and wireless bridge.)

On the other hand, we’re not sure of a decent solution for our other wiring issue. We haven’t actually hooked up the home theater system yet, simply because of the speaker problems. Now, hooking up the front speakers and the subwoofer won’t be a problem (once I retrieve the left/right speakers from my parents’ house). HOWEVER, we really don’t have a good way to hook up the back speakers without running wire through the walls (again). Neither of us like going through the attic, so that’s kind of out. Running it under carpet is out, too, because the living room (like most of the house) has hardwood floors. We’ve tried looking at wireless solutions for rear speakers but have had no luck. So, here’s my question… does anyone have any ideas they’re willing to bounce off us?

Otherwise, life has turned out to be pretty good here. I’m enjoying living with Jennifer, and things are looking pretty good for the immediate future. Here’s hoping things stay that way.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

I know I should be doing an actual post at some point. I’ll do one. I promise.

In the meantime, here’s a musical meme I yanked from my friend Jenn Dolari.

Step 1: Put your iTunes or equivalent on random.

Step 4: Bold out the songs when someone guesses correctly.

1) Hey man, please don’t make a sound. Take a look around, can’t you see what’s right in front of you? Have a little taste, no more time to waste. You don’t wanna get left behind cause it’s all coming down right now.

2) In the time when darkness ruled, no one saw the light. In the cold black emptiness, victims of the night.

3) On his way to dinner, when it took him by surprise, and with one pull of the trigger, he would vanish overnight. Dancing by the roadside, holding on for dear life; then a gun from out of nowhere made a widow of his wife.

4) The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees. The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon the cloudy seas. The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor.

5) You can have my autograph. I think I’ll sign it love to you. But should I sign it just for you?

6) Only came outside to watch the nightfall with the rain. I heard you making patterns rhyme. Like some new romantic looking for the TV sound, you’ll see I’m right some other time.

7) Show me a river that’s so deep, show me a mountain so high. I’ll show you love that’ll last forever. Flyin’ high, so high.

You get to feel so guilty, got so much for so little, then you find that feeling just won’t go away. You’re holding on to every little thing so tightly ’til there’s nothing left for you anyway.

9) Uhh! Awww, sookie sookie now! Hey! Oww, uhh! Come on, baby! Hey there, Sugar Darlin’, let me tell you something girl, I’ve been trying to say, now.

10) Love – Devotion – Feeling – Emotion. Don’t be afraid to be weak. Don’t be too proud to be strong.

11) Wake up in the morning, and I raise my weary head. I got an old coat for a pillow and the earth was last night’s bed.

12) Highway run into the midnight sun… wheels go round and around. You’re on my mind.

13) I tried to kill the pain but only brought more… so much more. I lay dying and I’m pouring crimson regret and betrayal.

14) Time it was, and what a time it was. It was a time of innocence, a time of confidences. Simon & Garfunkel – “Bookends”

15) Every night she walks right in my dreams since I met her from the start. I’m so proud I am the only one who is special in her heart.

16) Hooray for a child who makes it through. If there’s any way because the answer lies in you…

17) As I wake up in a room somewhere, dawn light not yet showing, there’s just a thin horizon between me and her; the edge of a half-dream glowing.

18) Words like violence break the silence… come crashing into my little world.

19) Tell me, Doctor, where are we going this time? Is this the 50′s or 1999?

20) I know you broke up with him, and your heart’s still on the shelf. It’s been over two years for me and I’m still not quite myself.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

Imagine, if you will, a beach on the Texas coast. On this beach, a man sits on a beach chair. It’s obvious he’s been out in the surf more than once, but is relaxing for now. A small table sits next to him, behind which sits a cooler full of drinks. He’s got a Bud Light in a can he’s drinking from, and he’s eating chips and dipping them into a jar of salsa bean dip. He’s wearing cargo swim trunks, a grey tshirt, sunglasses, and a cap. A pair of sandals are waiting for him in the car. He’s relaxed, enjoying the sun and the sound of the surf. The only hints to his geekiness are the SolidWorks logo on his cap, and the copy of Snow Crash he’s reading.

If you had told me a year ago that that man would be me in a year’s time, I would have thought you were insane.

Things have changed a great deal over the past month and a half. At the end of May, I packed my things and moved down to Pearland, moving in with Jennifer. It’s been something of an interesting experience, as neither of us have lived with roommates in several years. Other than the room that we designated as my office (we’re kind of calling it the Bish-Cave), the changes in decor here have been more subtle than anything else, with my equipment or decorations supplementing what’s already here. As for my office, it’s pretty much everything me; I had brought my PC and equipment, desk, books, DVDs, games, artwork, collectibles, TV, TV stand, and consoles and got them all set up here, only needing to add a set of shelves Jennifer donated, and two sets of bookshelves I bought from IKEA. The artwork has changed, too; with Dad’s help I found a couple of my old Mortal Kombat II posters, and Jennifer and I found one of my old Star Trek posters. They’re all hanging now, complete with other collectible items. The only other item of note in my office is an elliptical, which I use on nights when I can’t get to the gym.

My clothing has changed somewhat, as well. Before, I wouldn’t even think of wearing shorts. With it getting even hotter in Houston than is usual, I decided it was high time I got some shorts. While we were over at Academy doing some shopping, I picked up two pairs of cargo shorts. On a whim, I also picked up a pair of sandals as well, which shocked Jennifer no end. I’ve been wearing them regularly since, and I have to admit they’re pretty comfortable. The cargo shorts have been so useful I’ve even gotten a pair of cargo pants… though, the cargo pants are currently out of commission due to a bit of an issue involving the button. The main thing I like about the cargo shorts/pants is the fact that they have enough pockets where I can drop my iPhone in one and not have to worry about needing a belt clip.

We’ve also been doing new things as well. A perfect example is grilling. Jennifer had never owned a grill of her own. Well, a few weeks back, two friends of ours offered to sell us their practically new propane grill dirt cheap. Of course, we jumped at the chance, and with our friend Louie’s help we brought it home. The weather in Houston hasn’t been cooperative, but we have had a couple of chances to try out the grill. The first time we grilled burgers and hot dogs, basically making it up as we went along. Tuesday night we cooked steaks, and we finally got them cooked and decent through trial and error. Tonight, I decided I was going to cook burgers on my own (as I haven’t really cooked for myself in a LONG time), and using knowledge remembered from when I used to cook at my parents’ house and tips online, I cooked the very first Bishburgers. They came out very yummy, and I’m already planning on variations on what I cooked. I’m hoping to serve them when we have friends over for dinner…

So far, the past month has been pretty fun and a learning experience for both of us. I don’t know what the future holds for us, but based on what we’ve done so far, we’re looking forward to it.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

Well, it’s certainly been a big week for Mortal Kombat news. As would be my luck, I was out of pocket both times something big broke.

On Tuesday, while I was on vacation in Colorado, a video emerged on YouTube that frankly surprised the hell out of everyone. It was a teaser video that seemed to be a teaser for a possible live-action MK movie.

When I finally got home and watched it, I was surprised. Any urge to call it faked was tempered by the fact that the video starred Michael Jai White and Jeri Ryan as Jax and Sonya, respectively. It’s since come out that the video was done by director Kevin Tancharoen as a pitch to Warner Bros. to let him do the MK reboot film. The style was very different, with it being set in a far more “gritty” urban setting, and known “alien” characters like Reptile and Baraka being reimagined as deformed or mutilated and insane humans. It was also far more brutal looking than the first MK film.

What did I think? I actually rather liked it. I personally wouldn’t mind seeing Tancharoen’s vision brought to the big screen. It’s definitely not as if there aren’t multiple MK continuities out there (“canon” games, movies/TV, MK: Shaolin Monks, MK vs DC Universe), and this is definitely one of the most unique takes on it. Based on what little I’ve seen, I think Tancharoen could pull it off.

Then, yesterday, while I was at the gym, Warner Bros. released the first teaser trailer for the upcoming game reboot, which is appropriately titled Mortal Kombat.

Unlike the Rebirth trailer, which was a radical reinvention of MK, the reboot game appears to be a “back to basics” approach, featuring characters clad in costumes close to their original appearances, 2D gameplay, reinvented classic arenas, and very brutal fatalities. From what I saw, the game looks like it’ll harken back to the old days of Mortal Kombat II, especially with the Outworld setting. A great number of fans are looking forward to it, and I have to admit I’m one of them. While I really enjoyed Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe and wish I had taken the time to get a proper fighting controller so I could really play it properly, I’m glad Netherrealm Studios (the MK development team that went to WB Games from Midway) is doing a dark true Mortal Kombat game. I’m also kind of glad they’re doing a reboot, as I’m not sure how they’d resolve the Gordian knot the plot became at the end of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon…

The only question for me, now, is what happens to the Rebirth trailer. Both Rebirth and the game are reboots, but are so completely different from one another as to make them incompatible. On one hand, Ed Boon did admit on his Twitter page that he thought it was awesome. On the other hand, he did say it probably crossed a line. I’m kind of hoping the movie gets a go-ahead, but I’m not putting any money on it.

Ah, well. Either way, Mortal Kombat is definitely getting a rebirth. Here’s hoping it turns out to be well worth the wait.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

I suppose I should be up-front. I’m sitting out on my parents’ patio writing this post using the official WordPress iPhone app. This is a kind of “because I can” post.

Moving right along…

Something occurred to me the other day. I was checking my LiveJournal friends page, and I was noticing how dead it was. Where I would once see numerous posts on there, requiring me to check a few times a day in order to keep up. These days, however, it seems like that only two or three people constantly post in LJ anymore, and of those three, one most posts stuff that she originally posted on Facebook and Twitter.

It’s not a complaint, mind. It’s a natural progression. These days people are moving on to the newest things, like Twitter and Facebook. Hell, while I started using LiveJournal in 2001 or so, I stopped updating it directly in 2005 when I opened my site blog. I’ve even moved past the site in a way; for short posts I use Twitter, and for lengthy posts I use the site.

It’s a tad of a shame, though, as I always liked having a central site to read my friends’ blogs. Now I use TweetDeck to watch my friends’ tweets and Facebook postings, and Firefox’s RSS feed reader to watch my friends’ blog postings. Ah, well… sometimes a bit of inconvenience is the price we pay for progression in other things.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

It’s amusing how completely different two restaurants can be, even when at the same location.

About a block or two from my office, there’s a little island of land bordered by Old Spanish Trail, Yellowstone, and Ardmore. In this bit of land, there are two major restaurant buildings. One of them is occupied by Guy’s Meat Market, which has been there for YEARS (it looked old when I started working down here back in 2002). The other has had two occupants that I can remember. Then again, my memory only goes back as far as 2008 or thereabouts. While the two restaurants have had the same building, they are so different it’s unreal.

The first one was called Steve Vietnamese Bistro. It was apparently a favorite place of the higher-ups at where I work to go for lunch, seeing as it was so close to the office. The two times I went in, it was because I and my coworkers had been invited by our boss. To say they weren’t good experiences was something of an understatement. The food was overpriced and not very good. The waiter was especially slow. We were especially turned off when more than once, one of us found an insect in his water. One time, one of us went there by herself… and was kept waiting for over an hour for her pho. When she confronted the waiter, he kept protesting that it was coming, even though she could see into the kitchen and saw them standing around. (For reference, when we go to Pho Saigon our pho comes out in less than five minutes.) We could never understand how the place stayed in business, as there were never any customers that we saw.

Well, after Ike hit, Steve closed for good. We kept a wary eye on the place to see what would open in its place. We soon got our answer, as several months ago a new restaurant opened called Beaucoup Bar &Grill opened in its place. We didn’t go right away. as we were still suspicious given what happened at Steve. Then, Jennifer told me that her coworker Michael had been there multiple times, and he loved it. So, we decided to give it a try.

We were impressed. The wait staff was friendly and attentive, and the food was very good. As opposed to the pseudo-Vietnamese of Steve (we never saw any Asians working there), Beaucoup is Cajun cooking done pretty well. One of my coworkers who is originally from New Orleans now goes there for lunch weekly. I went with her today for lunch, and other than the crowded parking lot it was a pleasant experience. The wait staff were even kind enough to ask us if we wanted water while we waited for our lunches, which we were just picking up to take back to the office. All in all, Beaucoup is definitely a “have-again”.

About the only problem at Beaucoup is the parking, and to be honest it’s not entirely their fault. The small parking lot is shared with Guy’s, and Guy’s has signs all over their side saying that their parking is for Guy’s customers only. According to a note on the doors at Beaucoup, the owners of Beaucoup tried to work with the owner of Guy’s to get parking for Beaucoup customers, even offering to pay, but were angrily rebuffed. Fortunately, the owners of Beaucoup arranged to get parking along Ardmore and Telge for customers, but it’s offputting that Guy’s would be that way. (To be honest, I believe the Beaucoup note, simply because of how clear Guy’s makes it that they don’t allow parking for anyone else.) I’m a lot less willing to go to Guy’s as a result; my experience is that if you’re a dick to your neighbors, you’re a dick to your customers as well.

Ah, well. Still, like I said, Beaucoup is everything Steve wasn’t, with good food and good service. I’m glad the restaurant space there is now filled with a decent place, and I’ll definitely be going back… hopefully with Jennifer, as she’s been wanting to try it too.

Originally published at The D'Arque Cathedral. You can comment here or there.

It’s not exactly a surprise to anyone that I enjoy playing board games. Hell, the fact that I’ve discussed the game Talisman on here repeatedly should be something of an indication. In any event, I still have several of my old board games. On Sunday, Jennifer came by the house, and we were talking to my mom, when the subject of my board games came up. I brought down my most recent acquisition, which was a special edition of Monopoly. While showing it to Mom, it brought back some memories, so I decided to locate the other editions of Monopoly in the house.

Before I became hooked on Talisman back in eighth grade, my parents and I used to play board games every Saturday night like Clue and Scrabble. Our favorite, however, was Monopoly. I talked my parents into getting a standard set, and we played with that for a while… and then Mom revealed to me that she and Dad had a set older than I was. It was in a blue plastic carry case, and the houses and hotels were made of wood (white bottoms and green or red roofs). We played on that every so often as well.

Seeing as I was really getting into Monopoly at the time, I wanted a special edition or two of the game. For a present one year, my parents got me the fiftieth anniversary edition of Monopoly, with gold-plated player pieces, wood houses and hotels, a plastic money holder, and a rulebook that included a history of the game. In addition, I got my hands on a standard edition of British Monopoly and would play that every so often. Not only would I play with my parents, I’d sit down and play with friends as well. I remember a game against Sean where, after he made a deal with me that went badly for him pretty quickly, Mom had to counsel him that I never made a deal that didn’t directly benefit me in some way. Those were fun times.

However, once I picked up Talisman and other Games Workshop games, I turned away from Monopoly. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy it anymore. I just never got around to playing it, and as such it fell into disuse. I literally have not played it in over twenty years.

That’s likely to change, though. Jennifer loves playing Monopoly and wants a chance to play against me. In addition, our friend Julie loves playing board games so we’re sure that she’ll want in if we decide to play. That’s not even counting the possibility of Becky and Brian (or even Sean and Jinny) wanting to play a game. We’ll definitely be playing soon.

Oh, and going back to the special edition of Monopoly I mentioned I recently bought? We got it while doing shopping at the outlet malls in San Marcos the day after Christmas. It’ll likely be the edition we’ll play with our friends… and as you can probably tell by the picture to your left, it really is no surprise which edition of the game we ended up picking up.