I know this post could have more to it considering I’ve been snowed in since Friday evening. Depending on who you listen to and where you look, close to 30 inches of snow fell in my area. Dulles Airport reported 28.5, I measured 22 and 28 at different spots around the house. And to add a little extra icing to the cupcake, early weather reports have another 5 inches coming down Tuesday night. As of this post, the Federal Government is closed today (February 8, 2010) so I am very happy I brought my work laptop home. So instead of taking the time to pretend to be intellectual about some specific topic, I offer you a bunch of quick hits.
Twenty-Ten. Two Thousand Ten. It doesn’t matter how you say it as long as you remember it’s 2010 and not 2009 on those checks you have to write up. This year the beginning of 2010 is marked by significant game releases through many of the opening weeks of the year. Fortunately for me, that also means there were plenty of topics to consider for each of my gaming posts. Let’s have a look at my selection.
A lot of noise gets thrown around over opinions. Whose opinion is right, whose is wrong. By definition, opinions are subjective and vary from person to person. They can however, be influenced by more prominent external factors. Gaming sites featuring preferred personalities, independent podcasters and even casual word of mouth all factor into a purchasing decision. Outside of these traditional channels, every now and then we are gifted with a rare perspective on a new release that warrants some serious attention. This week our lucky contributor is the ESRB, although not in the way you might think. The ESRB recently rated Dead or Alive Paradise for the PlayStation Portable and generated a lot of attention throughout the Internet with their view on the game.
Thankfully, the rest of this post is rated A for Awesome.
As a podcaster, assuming I can call myself one, I have developed a specific ear for what I like and don’t like in a podcast. Now that I know what goes on behind the scenes, I have a better appreciation for the higher quality podcasts available. One such podcast that I highly recommend is Talkingship. I have been fortunate enough to have appeared on a few of their Game Club episodes and this week I brought on one of the hosts, Aaron (aka Jitterbug) to wax poetic for an hour and some change.
I had another one of those days yesterday. On the surface everything looked normal. Diabetically speaking my numbers were in range over the course of the day. However none of that seemed to matter. Accepting the small victories is becoming a more difficult task each day.
I don’t have anything monumental to discuss as your Monday gets going so I’ll do my best to be brief. One of the joys about a weekly gaming post is that no matter how miserable my week has been, I know that every Friday is devoted to video games. Sometimes it’s a necessary respite from the day-to-day grind. However there are other times when I would like to elaborate on something more timely but must delay those posts until the following week. It happens. I figure if I have some truly tremendous news then I would blast twitter and put up a post when I need it. After all, it’s my blog, right? But I don’t want to break the routine unless it is essential. Posts are published at 9:30am each week day. Those are the “rules” I’ve set.
It’s been another one of those weeks. Everyone on my Xbox Friends List is playing Mass Effect 2 and everyone else is talking about Steve Jobs. These are the weeks that are particularly trying on my ability to select a topic interesting enough for both you and me. I have no right discussing a sequel to a game I have installed on my Xbox’s hard drive but have yet to play. One day that game will be a mark of pride instead of a badge of shame, but that day is not today. So let’s talk about Apple. If you missed the news — and I know you didn’t — Steve Jobs unveiled his latest masterpiece to the public on Wednesday: the iPad. As expected, everyone has an opinion on the viability and prospects of this device. Is it worth the money? Will it cure Juvenile Diabetes? Who was responsible for naming this thing? Given the circumstances, I could not resist the opportunity to gather my thoughts for you to consider and most likely dispute. But let’s not jump to conclusions just yet.
Be sure to stick around until the end for One More Thing.
I finally made it though the last of my test strips with the lucky number 13 on them. Somehow I managed to time my next shipment of test strips to arrive two days before I ran out. I might have cut things a little close, but the prescription had to be renewed and thus added a slight delay to the whole process. I’m still not pleased with the “Tier 3″ status of my strips and the subsequent cost of each renewal. These things are vital to how I conduct my business as a person with Diabetes, why they cost so much is beyond me. Speaking of beyond me, I noticed a little blurb on the box of my FreeStyle test strips that made me scratch my head.
When I describe the American Dream 2.0, naturally it revolves around something involving the Internet. In one specific case, my former fake boss at Talking About Games, Jay Van Beveren took his experience as Editor in Chief and turned it into a job opportunity within the video game industry. Making the rare but coveted transition from outsider to made man, there was a lot to talk about this week when Jay came on my podcast. An episode like this is a particular joy because I know that finding 10 minute tangents are expected and we can just as easily find our way back on topic without missing a beat.
