Moving Sucks!

Sunday was horrible and I would like to blame Steve for it. There is a reason why moving ranks #2 on the list of 'Things I Really Hate To Do,' and that reason is mainly because I am lazy and out of shape. Another reason is that it never goes as planned. Never. I once help my mom pull out the couch so she could clean behind it, and it turned into a hour ordeal moving this and that for just a second. I digress, I asked Steve about a week ago to help me win a chili cook off at work with his awesome chili recipe. He did, and I won, it was glorious. In return for helping me he asked if I could help him move something this past Sunday. My gut instinct was to say no, but he is my Steve, and he did help me win the chili cook off, so I said ok. He said he needed help getting a fold out bed and I was thinking a futon, turns out it was a hideabed. That's fine; it's all good we can get this taken care of. So we take his sister's truck to go get the thing, it is at his cousin's ex-fiancé’s parents house, and apparently the break-up was not a good one. So we get there and it is so totally awkward. The just pretty much stare at us. The couch is down stairs and we go down there and this thing is huge. So Steve and I get to work and it takes us 30-45 minutes to get the thing up the stairs. I get pinned against the wall at one point and Steve stabs his finger on a staple, and I quote; "All the way into the meat!" So we finally get it up the stairs and out the door making our way to the truck. I couldn't take anymore and made Steve take a break. At this point the ex's dad is asking Steve how he is doing. The guy is an EMT and is getting worried about him. Steve asks for some water and the guy gives him the hose and turns it on. So here is Steve drinking from the hose trying not to pass out and the guy's wife comes out to see if Steve needs a glass and the guy says; "We are men and men drink from the hose." I think that he didn't want Steve in his house if he was going to have a heart attack or something. At this point the dad and the ex help us lift the couch into the truck and we leave. By the time we get back to Steve's it has been a couple of hours and we are good to go to unload this thing. We do and it is not that far to go to get it into his basement, there are cellar doors that go right into the room he wants it. Thing is, it wouldn't fit through the doors of his basement room. Then after taking some measurements we realize it will not fit down the stairs either, so the whole thing was a bust. We end up loading it back onto the truck and leaving it at his sister's house. Steve said she could have it, but would have to unload it herself. All that wasted effort for nothing, it would have been so cool to have it in the Man-Cave, but I guess it was not meant to be.

First Day of Fall

So yesterday was the first day of Fall and it was amazing here in Kansas. It was so beautiful, it was nice and cool with just the hint of the colder weather Fall will bring. While I was walking into work I got the great idea of taking the family to the park that night. So at lunch I called up the wife and we made the plans. I get home and Willson is all ready to got the park and play. He was so excited when we pulled up and took off like a shot when he got out of the car. We had a ton of fun on the swings and then he went down the slide by himself for the first time. I was so proud of him, he was so scared of the slide the last time we went. Everything was going great until it was time to go home, after he realized what was happening he had a total melt down. He was mad, he fought and fought as we tried to get him into his car seat. By the end of it all he was such a sad little sight. He had little tear stained checks and was looking out the window at the so sadly. I thought it was really cute, and wished I had thought to bring the camera. Take time I will.

Being Sick Sucks

I know that my title is an understatement and is very obvious, but it is true. I was sick with the flu from last Friday until yesterday. It was horrible, I hate being sick. On top of that I also have an ear infection. Feeling tons better now though. Took a couple of days off and got myself good and healthy.

My boy and Fried Green Tomatoes

My son is all Reida. I took the wife and kid to my mom's house last night for dinner and he was just acting up the entire time. First he was mad that we wouldn't let him have Grandma's cell phone and had a total melt down. Then he got mad when we wouldn't let him in the kitchen, my mom was showing me how to make fried green tomatoes and it was easier just not to have him underfoot. Finally he calmed down about the horrible atrocities of not getting his way at Grandma's house, and we ate dinner. We had bierocks and fried green tomatoes and it was so good. I am starting to drool just. Dinner went really well and as usual Willson ate a good dinner and then handed me his plate and told me he was done. I got him out of his booster chair and he ran off to play. He finished a little before the rest of us adults and decided he wanted to go outside. So he comes up to Grandma and tells her, "Come on." Then starts to pull on her finger, she asked him what he wanted and he just kept saying the same thing over and over. When she asked if he wanted to go outside he said yes and she told him to wait until she was done. Well Willson being a Reida was not going to wait, so he went and grabbed her shoes and brought them to her and then proceded to put them on her. By this time my mom was tickled pink, thinking this was so cute, and it was. So we finished up dinner and all went outside so Willson could play with his golf set.

New Post

Wow, almost a month since my last post, I would like to say it was because I was super busy, but it is really because I have been totally lazy. I guess the biggest thing to have happened was that I twisted my ankle pretty bad right after my last post. It still is sore, I am not sure at what point it should be healed. I am kind of on the fence about seeing the doctor about it, I would hate to pay $20 for her to say it was fine. Other highlights include seeing Parker and getting a chance to hang with him while he moved back to Utah. I also went fishing with Steve & Scott. It was the first time that I have ever used stink bait, and truthfully might be the last. It was down right sick, stomach turning even. I think that I will stick to regular bait and lurers.

Completely Depressed

So I am really in a funk now. I had been planning a trip to Kansas City for the past 6 months for an Aerosmith concert on Sept 1, but it has been cancelled. I even bought my tickets 4 months ago when they went on sale. I was all excited about it, so many crappy things have been going on and that was the light at the end of my tunnel to get me through it all, well at least until after the show. But alas, Steven Tyler fell and broke his shoulder Aug 5. I hope him a speedy recovery and have no ill will towards the band, just the fact that the show was cancelled. Hopefully the will be back out on tour again soon.

Tulsa - Update

I guess things are not the best for my father-in-law. He is still in the hospital and we are not really sure when he is going to get home, if at all. I will post more info when I have it.

The Mountains

Oh how I miss the mountains. I made it a point to stand and look at them each day. There was just something about them that helped set my soul at peace. I always told myself that I would never get to the point where I would take them for granted and not really see them anymore. I guess I took them for granted in the fact that they would always be there for me. Now I sit here in the flat wastelands of Kansas, with the ever present gray walls of my cube surrounding me. The closest I get to my beloved mountains is a photo I took hanging in my cube.

Tulsa

I guess I get to go to Tulsa this weekend. My father-in-law is in the hospital with congestive heart failure and I guess it is pretty bad. Hopefully everything will turn out ok.

Hyphenated Last Name

Maybe it's because I am a guy, but what is with the ladies wanting to hyphenate their last name? To me it says that their husband's last name is not good enough. Over all it just plain bugs me to no end and makes zero sense. When I was about to marry Stephanie I made sure we had a talk about this. I told her that if she was wanted a hyphenated last name then I would rather she just kept hers and not to force mine into that needless tangle. I mean if you like your last name so much that you can't live without it, just keep it and don't mangle it. That is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Meds Suck/Quote

Man I am sitting here at work trying my hardest not to fall asleep. It seems like everything I am taking right now to make me feel better is doing nothing but making me tired. I am taking some blood pressure meds, Lexapro, and benadryl. These things are kicking my butt this afternoon.

So in my post about Halo I said that that the XBOX and Halo went together like 'lamb and tuna fish' and no one seems to know what I am talking about. That is one of my favorite lines from the movie Big Daddy. It is at the end when they are in court. I like mainly because of the exchange between Rob Schneider and Steve Buscemi. It is freaking classic.

Vectorman

Out of all the games on the list I think that the #10 was the hardest spot to fill. I mean there are so many games out there that I just love to death and felt as though they could have been on this list, though in the end there could only be one #10, and that is Vectorman. Vectorman was released on the Sega Genesis in 1996. I like this game mainly because I am the freaking man at it. Or at least I was when it first came out. I was better at this game then anyone else that I knew at the time, and this is the only game the I can say that about, so that is the main reason it made the list. The story line is good, the graphics are some of my favorite, and the morphing is the cherry on this awesome sunday.

Super Mario Bros. 3

How classic is this game? Totally classic. This was orginally released for the NES in 1990. My uncle had this game and I wanted nothing more then to go and play it. The way the worlds where setup with themes was perfect. Though I didn't get how a leaf could give you a racoon's tail and ears. Who really cares though? By far one of the best games for the NES as far as game play, graphics, levels, and items go.

Gran Turismo 2

I got this game mainly because it was cheap, something like $20. Though generally speaking racing or driving games have not been my favorite kind of game, I like to keep one around cause they can be fun every now and again. Released in 1999 for the Playstation, I got mine some time in like 2002. I like the fact that you can upgrade the cars and change different things about them. That to me is the sign of a great car game, I guess it is the RPGer in me. This gets top honors in my book for the graphics, car list, upgrades, and the different tracks and races.

Halo

Before this game I was not a huge fan of first person shooters. Granted that James Bond GoldenEye and Perfect Dark were good games, the genre was just not my cup of tea. I got Halo when I first got my XBOX in the summer of 2003 mainly because it was just like lamb & tuna fish, the two just went together. Bungie released Halo in 2001 for the XBOX. I feel as though I don't have to explain why this game is great, it just is. My love for it though came while playing two player with a friend of mine. We started just kind of jacking around and the soon we got serious and was going for that Legendary skill level. I remember spending all night once on playing just one level, the Silent Cartographer. That is still to this day my favorite level in any of the Halo games.

To be fair I love all of the Halo games just about equal, though I have to say the last to felt kind of short, I would have like to have been longer. The game play did over all improve with each new game and flaws were fixed. The most notable to me was that the flashlite not longer had a power bar. The dual weapons was cool also. But the reason why Halo makes this list and the others didn't is because it was the first and has that special place in my heart.

Tetris

This game rocks. I have been a Tetris fan for a long time and have played it on several different platforms and enjoyed them all. Though it was was not until Tetris Worlds that I became a complete Tetris-junkie. Tetris Worlds was released in 2001 on the XBOX. What I like the most about this version of Tetris over other ones is that you can play songs from the XBOX hard drive instead of the soundtrack. This lead to me playing this game for hours and hours while listening to my music which is another thing that I love to do. I can't tell you how many hours I played while listening to Clubbed to Death, but it was a lot. Though I am the biggest fan of the normal Tetris game, cascade and sticky Tertris was also fun. The multiplayer mode was also sweet. The story line though of the exploding star was kind of dumb.

Final Fantasy Legends III

Thinking of this game makes me think about how sweet the Gameboy was. Released in 1993 for the Gameboy, I got this marvel of gaming for my birthday that year. For the most part it is a classic RPG, but the cool thing is that you get to time travel. You also get to fly around in the Talon, which to me always reminded me of the F117-A Stealth Fighter. I also really enjoyed the fact that you could change a character into a monster by eating meat that you find after battles or into a robot by using parts found. All around just a fun game.

Legend of Zelda

What can I say about this game that has not been said? Nothing. So I will keep this simple. Released for the NES in 1987 and one of the greatest games of time. I have nothing but love for this game, and truth be told it was a close and hard battle for the #2 & #3 spots on my list.

Rouge Squadron

The reason why I like this game so much is the pure and simple pleasure I got once I got the rank of Supreme Allied Commander. Rouge Squardon was released for the N64 in 1998, but I didn't get my copy of it until fall of 2003. I got it used from a pawn shop. The game play is pretty good and for a flight sim it is not to bad. There are a bunch of stages and you get different ships as you go along so it is a lot of fun. The bonus stages are classic, the Death Star Trench Run, Beggar's Canyon, and the Battle of Hoth.

Here is the story why I like to game so much. When I got to the rank of General I felt pretty good about my game skills, that is fairly high up. While talking to two of my friends though, they laughed and said they both had the rank of Supreme Allied Commander. Well that got me to really busting my butt on the game to get that high rank. Well after like three more weeks of busting my butt I finally got the highest ranking. The first thing I did was go to my friend's apartment. They were both sitting in the living room watching a movie when I sat on the coach and said, "You know what is really cool? Everyone in this apartment is a Supreme Allied Commander." I know it makes me sound like a huge nerd, but I don't care. That was the sweetest taste of victory that I have ever had with a video game.

Dragon Warrior

I have nothing but fond memeories of Dragon Warrior. Released in 1989 I got this for my birthday that year. To be completely honest when I first asked for this game for my birthday I did not really have any want for the game itself. I got it so my brother wouldn't. See it's like this. With my birthday being in Decemeber I would get gifts about a week before Christmas. My brothers and I had got a NES for Christmas the year before and would get us a game for our birthday if we wanted one. They wouldn't though buy the same game twice though. My brother Rusty did something, don't remember what, to make me mad so I asked for my birthday what he was going to ask for for Christmas. Normally we would have to share the games, but when our parents were not home the whole "you can't play my game" taunt would be used.

Ok now about the game. It is a pretty simple RPG, you are a knight out to save the Kingdom from the evil Dragon Lord. As you level up you get stronger, learn magic, and get better gear. For a NES game I think that the world is fairly large and a nice mix dungeons and walking around outside. My biggest beef with this game is that there is not a lot of different equipment. There are only a few different weapons and armors. Overall though a classic game that I love to play over and over again.

Final Fantasy VII

When I first started my list for my favorite video games there was no doubt which one would end up as #1. Final Fantasy VII was release for the Playstation in 1997, though I would not play it until sometime in late 1999. My cousin was the first one to show it to me. For the start I was hooked, being a D&D player and fan of RPGs in general this was for me. I also loved the fact that it was a multi-disk game. I enjoy the way that the magic in this game is done. The materia is classic, I love how it gains xp and gets more powerful. The character selection is just awesome. Sephiroth is by far the best character ever made. There are very few things that I don't like about this game. The number one thing would have to be the fact that Aerith dies at the end of the first disc. The first time through I used her in my main party and was hot when all that work was for nothing. Other then that a perfect game in my book.

Top Ten Video Games

I thought that since I need to get into the habit of using this blog, that I would. Here is a list of my top ten favorite video games*. Not to say that there are not a ton of other games that I really enjoyed, these are the ones that I truly love for one reason or another. I will list them all out here and the write a blog/review of the game explaining why it made my list.

1. Final Fantasy VII
2. Dragon Warrior
3. Rogue Squadron
4. Legend of Zelda
5. Final Fantasy Legends III
6. Tetris
7. Halo
8. Gran Turismo 2
9. Super Mario Bros. 3
10. Vectorman

*Note, the only gaming systems I have/had are NES, Gameboy, Sega, N64, Playstation, XBOX, & XBOX360