I just want to thank everyone who sent me kind words of support and encouragement over the last two days. The sheer number of people who have shown genuine concern for my current situation has certainly made a difficult situation that much easier to deal with.

I am in the process of discussing with HR what other teams might be interested in my services. One other team has already expressed their interest in me. I've met with representatives from that team from both the managerial and technical side. I am taking my time to think about the position they have offered me. I have a few days to decide.

There's one last thing I want to discuss. Anytime there are tough changes at work like this, there can be a danger of focusing purely on yourself and ignoring others who are going through the same thing. I suppose this can be somewhat understandable but it doesn't change the fact that over 20 other of my co-workers were affected yesterday. These are my friends and colleagues, some of whom I have worked with on three great games, spanning a four year period. Some of them weren't offered alternative employment on another team and were laid off outright. So while I deal with my own situation, my thoughts are with them as well.

I'll provide an update when it's appropriate.

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Well, I got laid off today. I got pulled into a meeting by my manager as soon as I stepped into the studio this morning. I was told there was a need to reduce costs at the studio and I was unfortunately one of the ones affected. I was also told it wasn't related to my performance but I don't entirely believe that. If I really was doing an awesome job then why was I chosen over others to leave?

Anyways, I was also informed that I had a job waiting for me on another team in the sports label. This job is for me to take or turn down, my choice. It would, however, get my out of the games label which I rather quite enjoying working in. I know very little about this new position so that's why I'm meeting with some managers later on today. I'm going to keep an open mind about this.

New job or not, I feel very disappointed in having to leave the skate team and Black Box in general. I've been part of an awesome team with great people for almost four years. I'll be missing working with those great people and that's the toughest part of this.

I know that I have a standing offer from this new team but I have to stress I am keeping all my options open at this point. My loyal readers, if you or anyone you know has even an inkling that someone might need a software engineer to make video games, you let me know. At the very bottom of this page on right, there's a link where you can find my e-mail address. Feel free to contact me.

Don't worry about me in the meantime, I'm still part of the skate team until the end of the month. I'll have a job no matter what going forward. The only question is, where will that job be?

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As some of you know, I maintain a simple visitor log for this web site. The tracking service I use recently upgraded the level of information they provide to me. In particular, they have now started to provide domain resolution from IP addresses, meaning that IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX resolves to something a little bit more meaningful.

In the image above, I've chosen a select few to show you what I can see. The first entry isn't a surprise, that's probably Cam at UFG, one of this blog's most loyal readers. If this web site ever went public with an IPO, I'd probably have to give a million shares just out of principle. It's a shame this site will never reach that stage.

The second entry is quite interesting. Greedy Productions is actually the company that produces the local TV show The Electric Playground. That show is about video games and stars Victor Lucas, whom some of you might have seen on TV if you're a gamer. I could let my imagination run wild and think that Lucas himself stumbled onto my blog and read it once before deciding to take a nap. Should I dare to dream? In all likelihood, it was probably someone on his staff.

The third entry is interesting because it comes from Sweden. If you see the referrer line, this person came to my web site because they explicitly typed my full name into Google. Were they actually looking for me and not some other E-dawg? Who do I know in Sweden? Some people whom I work with and know at EA were recently in Stockholm to visit DICE. Maybe it was them? I think they've been back for several weeks now though so the timing isn't right. Maybe someone at DICE knows me? That would be super cool because I have much respect for the people working there.

As always, don't be alarmed that I have these visitor logs, every single web site on the Internet does the same thing. In fact, other sites know a lot more about your surfing habits than I do.

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The OT meal at work tomorrow is going to be KFC. I may not have to work late tomorrow but part of me hopes a single, easy bug gets assigned to me late so I can have me some fried chicken.

I cannot recommend Fortune House restaurant at Metrotown. Making a reservation there doesn't really mean "making a reservation" as it means with other restaurants. At Fortune House, having a reservation means you get to wait in line with other people that have "reservations". Sure, there's another line for "walk-ins" and you supposedly get priority over that line but that's no consolation. Having a reservation shouldn't mean I get the privilege of standing in line for over 20 minutes for my table. If you want to sample Chinese food at Metrotown, go somewhere else other than Fortune House.

One of the halogen bulbs burnt out in one of my track lights this evening. It took me ten minutes how to figure out to take the bulb out. I'm thinking about replacing it with an LED bulb.

I had pho for lunch today. It was average in quality. If I had my way, I'd go to White Spot for lunch tomorrow.

This is the last sentence of this post.

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During the Olympics there were so many things to do and see. Some of the things were grand in scale, like flying through Robson Square or touching and seeing an actual gold medal. Other activities were simple in nature, like just seeing the cauldron with your own eyes.

One of the simple Olympic activities I enjoyed was seeing the various street performers around town. There was one that stood out in my mind. During the first week of the Games, a friend and I were walking along Granville when happened upon a man dressed as Batman. Yes, the Caped Crusader himself. He was standing on a box of some sort. I noticed his costume, while admirable, was not entirely authentic nor form-fitting, yet you could not mistake him for anything else other than the Dark Knight.

My friend wondered aloud why Batman would be at the Olympics. People didn't seem to care as he had attracted a small crowd around him, with children along with adults among them. We kept on walking and as we got a few steps past him, we heard him yell.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Both my friend and I paused ever so briefly as we looked at each other and laughed. Vancouver Batman had, for just a few seconds, channeled the deep Christian Bale Batman voice. He had done it well. It was impressive enough that my friend and I endeavoured to go back and see him, to drop off some change for the man behind the mask.

Unfortunately, I never was able to find him again in the next two weeks afterwards. Fortunately, many other people did see him. Click here for one of many photos taken of Vancouver's Batman. I wonder who is the man behind that mask. Was he in town just for the Olympics? Where is he from? Is he still out there now? These are mysteries that are almost as compelling as the real Batman himself.

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