I mentioned it yesterday.  I spent last night and this morning trying to figure this one out.  Check it out, but be forewarned – You may not be able to stop doing these GROW mazes.

GROW CUBE

Tycho from Penny Arcade posted about it the other day and I checked it out on a whim.  He mentions how much he craves them, and after messing around with a couple of them for a while, I certainly understand what he means.

I really encourage everybody to try out the newest GROW called GROW TOWER EYEMAZE.  The goal is to flip the switch WAAAAAY up there.  In order to get there, you must stack each item in a certain order.  It’s sorta frustrating and very rewarding when you figure it out.  After you complete the GROW TOWER, check out some of the others at the bottom of the page.  They are completely addictive.

Speaking of addictive, You might want to check out Defense Grid:  The Awakening on either Steam or Greenhouse.  It’s basically a 3D Desktop Tower Defense clone.  If you are looking for time a time waster, this is definitely one of them.

One major issue with Rock Band is that the drums are incredibly loud. As such, there are several mods floating around teh intarnets to help remediate this issue. Below are some of the ones that seem to be most accepted amongst the geek culture.

http://www.generationgamerz.com/v2/insight/time-for-rock-band-arts-crafts.php

http://www.metafluence.com/rock-band-drum-pedal-problem-turned-mod

http://www.metafluence.com/rock-band-drum-mod-round-up

In other news, Microsoft is laughing all the way to the bank because the Xbox 360 version of Rock Band works with the GH III controller. This is because, in order to get certified to work on the 360, Microsoft forces developers to make their controllers conform to a standard. That way, I can use my GH II controller to play Project Gotham Racing 3, if I choose (not that I have). On the surface, it seemed like a way for M$ to strongarm developers, but now, it seems like a brilliant move.

Good question. Things have changed a bit since the Chicago Marathon and the Indianapolis Marathon last month. We have several months before we run the Indy Mini in May 2008. So, where do we go from here?

Dawn decided she wanted to train for a 10K until the first part of next year. We’re not sure where we’ll find a 10K to run in, but she wants to get Preferred Seeding for the Mini, so she needs to find somewhere to get a time that will put her there. She JUST missed Preferred Seeding with her time in the Indianapolis Marathon by 9 seconds.

Me, I’m training for a 5K. My goal is to be able to keep up with Braden some. I’ve got a long way to go, but if I work hard, maybe I’ll actually be able to keep up with the Bellmont High girls (one of them ran a 20:33!).

I’ve got my run times posted on the Run Log page. I’m not happy with the way things look, but at least it’s something. I’m actually running 5 days per week totaling over 30 miles per week most weeks. That’s a huge change from the 3 days per week I was running and a much bigger commitment; it’s cold and rainy this time of year. Oh well…I’ll live…maybe.

Gaming

So, what I have been doing when I’m not working or running? Playing a multitude of games! This fall/winter has been the gaming equivalent of the The Perfect Storm. There are sooooo many great games out there, I don’t think I have enough time or money to play them all!

Where does one start feasting on all the gaming goodness? The best place…nay, the mandatory place MUST be Orange Box. Hands down, this is the absolute best value in the history of gaming. The total package of gaming, Orange Box includes Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode One, Half Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, Portal, and, if you pre-ordered the PC version from Steam, Peggle Extreme. All of this for $50 on the PC and $60 on the Xbox 360! Portal is probably worth the price of Orange Box on its own.

I’m currently knee deep in Hellgate: London. Hellgate is the creation of Flagship Studios…essentially the dev team that created Diablo and Diablo II for Blizzard Entertainment. HGL is a pretty good game; it’s Diablo with a few new innovations. Unfortunately, there are a ton of other games just waiting to absorb my time. We’ll see how long I’ll be in London.

So, what am I looking forward to? To name a few, there is Crysis, Mass Effect, Guitar Hero III, Rock Band, and Assassin’s Creed. There is even more that I can’t think of off the top of my head.

Ahhhh, the Perfect Storm…

BTW – The kid is only 8 and if you look closely at the end of the song, he’s playing it on Expert Mode! My jaw damn near hit the floor. Enjoy!

Another change is that you see my Xbox LIVE Gamercard complete with pathetic gamerscore.  My excuse is that I started playing 360 games late; I’m a die-hard PC Gamer.  But I ran across a little game called Crackdown that has me hooked.  I haven’t played an Xbox game that has latched on to me like Crackdown has; Including Halo.  For those of you who don’t know what Crackdown is, it’s a sandbox game much like Grand Theft Auto, but you are the good guys.  The gameplay is fantastic, the visuals are cool, and the achievements are fun and challenging.  If you don’t own an Xbox 360 but love the GTA series, buy an Xbox 360 and get Crackdown; you WON’T be disappointed.

I’ll have some more updates relatively soon, including links to the gallery, my playlist, the About page, and more.  I’ll also have a less pathetic Gamer Score by then (I hope).