Happy Birthday to Tracy, the bestest little sister a brother could have!

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Someone I know has a baby nephew named Ben. Though I don't know much about the father of said nephew, I do know he has slight geekish leanings. Secretly, I hope he partially named his son after one of the greatest Jedi to ever wield a lightsaber... Ben Kenobi.

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Whoa, I totally forgot to make a post last night. What I meant to write is that I have the day off today. Yay! Long weekend! In honour of the leap day this year, EA gave everyone a day off in their development studios in BC.

I just woke up and will be going to catch an early showing of Semi-Pro starring Will Ferrell. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

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Have you ever paid $37 for two bumper stickers and a fake parking permit? I haven't but I'm considering it and I don't even own a car. If I do pull the trigger on this purchase, you can definitely label this under the geek section. I want to buy the official Black Mesa parking permit kit offered by the Valve store. It contains two bumper stickers and a vinyl, static-cling Black Mesa parking permit. At this point, you will probably fall into two categories: you understand what this (and how it cool it can be) or you have no clue what I'm talking about.

Black Mesa is the fictional research facility featured in the Half-Life games universe. All such games have been held in high regard, with Half-Life 2 topping many lists as "the best game of all time". The parking permit is kinda stupid if you think about it. How many people approach your car in that close proximity? I don't park cars on the street too often, which is probably the most noticeable it might be. A bumper sticker might be more visible but I don't care for the ones included in the kit. Even if people saw it, how many of them would really get it?

Oh, so I guess I need to explain why the kit costs $37 (before tax). The kit actually selling for $9.95 but they force people to use a FedEx shipping option if you live anywhere outside the US. The FedEx option is $27!!! So it costs the same amount to ship something to Australia as it does to Vancouver, even though Valve is located in Seattle.

A friend of mine suggested that I buy more stuff from the store to make the shipping more worthwhile. I guess that makes it a better deal. Now that I think of it, the head crab plush toy would be a more practical item to buy. They don't make it yet, but thing I would like the most is a Black Mesa hoodie, just like Alyx wears. A few people have made their own but they look off since most of them screw up the logo somehow.

I wonder if I can get one silkscreened for cheap, like I did with the et.com t-shirts.

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About five months ago, I wrote a post where I detailed my purchase of a full-spectrum bulb for my desk lamp at work. I was attempting to see if this new bulb would prevent the "winter blahs" from affecting me.

With nearly half a year in front of the lamp, eight hours a day, and almost a full winter behind me, I think it's time to make a quick, informal assessment. In short, yes, I think I have felt better this winter than the previous one. I feel less tired, less moody, and more cheerful during the day. This winter hasn't really bothered me that much.

Of course it would be ridiculous to conclusively say this was all because of a single light bulb. There are a number of other factors that might be at work. I'm in the second year at EA and things are going well at the studio. Last year wasn't horrible either but I was still a rookie and kinda nervous about things. Also, this time last year, the game was in rough shape so there was a lot of concern on a daily basis. My current project is going much smoother. Weather wise, maybe there were just more sunny days and less rainy ones this winter. I can't be bothered to look it up but it sure feels like that was the case.

Placebo effect or not, I know for sure that I've got the whitest, purest light on any desk around the studio.

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In a previous post nearly a year ago, I wrote about how I lost my watch because I'd been holding the strap together with tape for about three months. Well, working backwards, it's been considerably over a year now since I first applied clear tape to my busted watch strap. Initially, I had intended it to be a stopgap measure until I bought a new strap. Somehow, either through laziness or some other word I can't be bothered to look up, I never did get a new strap.

Now, I actually did visit the Swatch store in Times Square in New York around midnight in August of 2007, looking for a new strap. They brought out a couple for me that fit my particular model but none of them looked good with my watch. I find it odd that over the course of a year, I wouldn't go to the Swatch store in Metrotown but I was ok with visiting the one in Manhattan.

So here we are. In fact, it got worse a few days ago. A second rip developed in the strap, so now I have to tape it in two places. Only a handful of people have commented on my ghetto watch strap. I wonder how many have noticed, only to have not said anything.

I wish I could show you what the strap looks like right now but I can't seem to find my digital camera. I hope my mom didn't sell it for drug money.

Anyways, I think this weekend is the weekend where I go to the local Swatch store.

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Today is Monday!

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