The entire skate team has the day off today as a reward for our hard work during the last several weeks. I am going to spend the day being lazy.

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For the last few months I've been mainly wearing denim jeans to work. They've been different shades of blue but for sure it's still all denim. To shake it up a bit and to give the rest of my wardrobe a bit of a workout, I decided on Monday to wear some wool pants. Now these "slacks" are slightly dressier than jeans so I was wondering if anyone would notice.

The standard line around the studio that you give someone when they're all dressed up at work is "when is your job interview?" That's a joke in more ways than one. Since the entire game industry is based on a casual work environment, on any given day, about 90% of the people at work are dressed appropriately enough for a job interview for another games company. So really, just because someone is dressed up doesn't mean anything. On the other hand, if someone wanted to move away from the games industry, well that might just mean something after all.

Anyways, only two people really said anything about my clothes. One coworker just asked why I was all fancy. Another dude said, "nice outfit, maybe you'll be flagged as a job interviewer". I think he was kidding. I actually don't know any companies that flag their employees as a potential flight risk based on their clothing for one day at work. Though it would make sense. I did hear of one story where a coworker once had to dress up for work because he needed to go to a fancy dinner right after the day ended. A few hours into the day, his manager came up to him and asked if things were going ok and if he wanted to talk about anything that might be bothering him.

Maybe I'll wear a suit to work and see what happens.

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So some dude came over to my apartment this morning to fix my bathroom ceiling. For the most part, he did an excellent job. He was very thoughtful and professional, putting down plastic so that dust, particles, and paint wouldn't get anywhere it shouldn't in my bathroom.

The whole operation took about five hours to complete. Initially he said it might be a two-day job but he changed his assessment after the first hour or so. Before he left, it looked flawless but then as the paint dried, I saw two slight flaws.

In the picture above, you can probably see two faint lines. Compare that to what was there previously. It sure looks better but those lines still stand out for me. The short line is like a ridge of paint or something. I think I could sand it down myself and that would be ok. The longer line is an actual crack in the paint that he put down. I'm not sure if it cracked along a seam of some sort or it just happened to crack there. This seems a little bit more difficult to fix. Should I try to fix it myself? I don't even know what shade or type of white paint he used.

Maybe I'll call the company and see if they're even willing to come out again to fix a minor thing like this.

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Every year since I've worked at Black Box, which dates back to the summer of 2006, we've had an annual holiday party in the beginning of December. We usually get an invitation to said party in late October or early November.

This year, we're past the midpoint of November and so far, no mention of any holiday party. It's looking like we won't be having a shindig this time around. Is this a surprise? Well, no. My employer just announced they're going to be laying off 1500 people just last week. Things aren't exactly awesome overall. Money is hard to come by for non-essential things these days. So I completely understand why there won't be any company-sponsored merriment this year.

I do, however, recognize that just about every single week of the year on Fridays, my employer continues to supply me and others with enough beer, wine, cake, and popcorn that I could ever want. So, it's not all that bad.

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They say competition is a good thing in the video game industry. For the last two years though, there has been only one active franchise in the skateboarding genre and that's been us, the skate franchise. That all changes on Tuesday when Activision and Tony Hawk returns to the market with Tony Hawk: Ride.

After taking a two year break after nearly a decade of yearly releases, the Tony Hawk franchise looks to come back strong with a new way to play skateboarding games. The skateboard peripheral is certainly a fresh new approach but it will be interesting to see if gamers respond positively to its rumoured $130 price tag.

I am personally excited to try out the new game. I don't think it's a surprise that we'll be buying a copy of the game on Tuesday and we'll take it for a spin. Let's see what they got!

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