Ty’s Weblog

What a great Halloween we’ve had!

Xander had a wonderful time going trick or treating. Kate took him out to the houses right around ours with Mira. Then they came back to the house and Xander wanted to do some more, so I took him all the way down to the end of the street and back. We actually needed a bigger bucket for him.

He also had a great time handing out candy to the other children that come to trick or treat at our house.

It was a beautiful night out also. It warmed up quite a bit today, making it into the 70s. It was in the mid low 60s to high 50s for trick or treating. We all had a great time.

I’m sure most people have heard about the huge solar flare that spewed stuff our way yesterday. Hopefully it’ll not be too big a disruption to daily life, but there are some possible side effects.

Rod Roddy died yesterday. The Price is Right won’t be quite the same without him. Rod was also the announcer on Press your Luck and Soap, two other shows I enjoyed. His wonderful voice will be missed.

Mira had her 4 month checkup this morning.

Weight: 15.4 pounds
Length: 25″
Head: 16 3/4″

She also got three shots, poor little girl.

The doctor said she’s doing great, which we figured, but it’s always nice to have the doctor say it.

So I’m 31 years old today. Feels pretty much like 30. I had a good weekend with my family, which is all I could ask for on any day. No big plans for today. I usually take advantage of the good will to get some gaming of some sort done, I expect it’ll be pretty much the same this year.

I just finished Kingdom Hearts. That had to be one of the best game endings I’ve even seen. The final boss battle was amazing. I was breathing hard after I was done with it from all the excitement and adreneline. I highly recommend this game to anyone who loves a RPG with a great story and great gameplay. Sadly Kingdom Hearts 2 isn’t expected until early 2005.

Xander’s school had its fall festival today. It was very nice. They had different games set up in all the different class rooms and different activities for the kids to do. Most of the parent’s brought something sweet to eat and it all looked very yummy.

When I say it was very nice, however, I mean what the school set up. For us it was pretty much a disaster. Our best guess is that Xander just couldn’t handle the fact that he was at school, but the routine was completely different. He wanted nothing to do with any of the other classrooms. He baiscally wanted to sit on the floor and cry. So, we left. There really weren’t any other options left. After we left he straightned right up and has been mostly fine for the rest of the day. He’s back to normal 3 1/2 year old levels of mayhem.

His costume came out pretty well. Kate and I (mostly Kate) made him a race car driver coustume. We took a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt and put tape and some ironon patches on it. We got him a bicycle helmet with flames on it and it all looks pretty spiffy. We might try to put some more finishing touches on it before Halloween actually gets here.

Jack Elam had died. He starred in one of my favorite movies, Support Your Local Sheriff. I know that’s not the kind of role he was most famous for, but it’s how I’ll always remember him.

Not many people remember that Dale Earnhardt shouldn’t be dead. Diecast Dude recently mentioned that several drivers had died from the same injury the year before Earnhardt died. If NASCAR had paid attention to the problem then instead of waiting for one of their stars to be killed, Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Jr. and Dale Earnhardt would still be with us. I hate that Tony Roper died and nothing was done, it should have been fixed then.

This isn’t exactly news, but thanks to Diecast Dude for remembering this and pointing it out anyway so people don’t forget.

The guys at Penny Arcade pointed out an interview they did for Comixpedia.

Penny Arcade is one of my favorite things online these days, and it’s certainly my favorite web comic, just edging out PVP. PVP used to be my favorite, but it’s stopped being so much about gaming, which is what I enjoyed the most, so PA gets the top spot these days. PVP is still a great strip, but I “only” read it now because I’ve grown attached to the characters.

Here’s an article on what today’s kids think of the games I grew up on.

I love iTunes. I really didn’t think I would. It’s easy to use. The cost is reasonable. Even the DRM isn’t too bad. I’ve very happy with it so far. I’ve only bought 3 songs so far, but I expect that number to climb fairly rapidly. I gave Kate a demo of it, and she thought it was great also. I expect in the near future our CD buying will drop off sharply. I also suspect it will lead to us buying at least one iPod in the near future.

My only complaint is that a fair amount of the music which I like to listen to isn’t avaliable in their store, but that’s a problem that can fix itself with time.

I think this comment, on SlashDot of all places, sums up how I feel about the outcome of the game last night.

The Red Sox should have pulled Martinez and brought in Embree. I even said so while Grady Little was standing on the mound, so it’s not monday morning quaterbacking. Maybe they’ll learn the lesson and use the whole team to win games next year.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a huge Red Sox fan, but I really wanted at least one of the cursed teams to make it this year and since the Cubs managed to keep themselves out, my hopes hinged on the Red Sox. Oh well, maybe the Marlins will at least be able to beat the Yankees.

Got a quick movie yesterday of Mira and Xander laughing.

We had our first parent/teacher conference for Xander today. Everything went very well. His teacher is very happy with his progress in the class room. She was very impressed with how well he knows his numbers and his letters. She said he spends most of his time doing practial life things right now, which didn’t surprise us, since that would be the stuff that was newest to him. We were very happy with the meeting and we’re very proud of Xander.