Springtime hypothermia
Okay, so January was ultra-warm. Now March is strangely cold. After reading Michael Chricton's State of Fear, I'm no longer a big believer in global warming or "pop theories" of environmental doomsayers. But these last few near-freezing nights at the end of March following a really warm winter is a bit creepy. But maybe - being human - we have this idea of what's normal and what isn't. Blizzard of '93 happened in March. There were 5 inches of snow on the ground at the Birmingham airport on April 5, 1987. So maybe things are more 'normal' than we think. Ebb and flow...something like that.
But why talk weather? All theory and weather-preaching aside, it BE COLD! SCHNAPP! After a disappointing snow season (again), I'm ready for shorts/t-shirts. It'd be nice to have a real spring of moderate weather before the Alabama summer begins. I hate the instant winter to summer or summer to winter transitions.
....
Spent a lot of time last night playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on my XBOX 360. Wow. Absolutely amazing game... It looks so good and plays so realistically, it's the closest a game has come to taking you and dropping you in a believable 'world.'
Usually, consoles (Playstation, XBOX) have been just minor diversions that I've taken but have always come back to gaming on the PC. But it costs so much to keep a PC up-to-date enough to run newly released games well. It's a technology curve that's a very expensive thing to keep up with. Still, I've always gone back to the PC. The games are generally more immersive, graphics generally better.
But this 360 is proving to be pretty incredible. Cost of console was around $400. But that's 1/3 to even 1/4 of the cost of a high-end PC gaming rig. And I get to play on a 42" screen (vs. 19") from the comfort of my couch instead of a desk chair.
For a guy who loves games, this is blissful. Heh.
...
Naturally, I don't want to doom myself to being a couch potato who's found dead at 87 with a Playstation 20 controller in my hand buried under a mound of cheddar Sun Chips. No siree.
I'm still committed to getting in shape. I've eaten less, and lost about 5 lbs. Small victory, but the exercise thing hasn't happened since I've been sick and coughing so much this past month. But now that all that is passing, I can add that.
I want to get outdoors a lot, too. Not out in my front yard. But camping. Hiking. I've got a new sleeping bag, a new backpack, and I just ordered a new Kelty Gunnison 2 2-person tent from Amazon.com. They dropped the price pretty significantly on it during a sale, so I snatched it up. It promises to be tons better than the heavy Wal-mart special 2-man tent that I got in college. I've already got this huge 6-person tent (with side screen room that's as big as the tent area) which is great for large groups and/or if I take the whole family sometime. But it weighs a ton and it's an agonizing experience to set it up/break it down. So this new Kelty tent should do the trick for the random camping outing with the guys.
Woohoo!
But why talk weather? All theory and weather-preaching aside, it BE COLD! SCHNAPP! After a disappointing snow season (again), I'm ready for shorts/t-shirts. It'd be nice to have a real spring of moderate weather before the Alabama summer begins. I hate the instant winter to summer or summer to winter transitions.
....
Spent a lot of time last night playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on my XBOX 360. Wow. Absolutely amazing game... It looks so good and plays so realistically, it's the closest a game has come to taking you and dropping you in a believable 'world.'
Usually, consoles (Playstation, XBOX) have been just minor diversions that I've taken but have always come back to gaming on the PC. But it costs so much to keep a PC up-to-date enough to run newly released games well. It's a technology curve that's a very expensive thing to keep up with. Still, I've always gone back to the PC. The games are generally more immersive, graphics generally better.
But this 360 is proving to be pretty incredible. Cost of console was around $400. But that's 1/3 to even 1/4 of the cost of a high-end PC gaming rig. And I get to play on a 42" screen (vs. 19") from the comfort of my couch instead of a desk chair.
For a guy who loves games, this is blissful. Heh.
...
Naturally, I don't want to doom myself to being a couch potato who's found dead at 87 with a Playstation 20 controller in my hand buried under a mound of cheddar Sun Chips. No siree.
I'm still committed to getting in shape. I've eaten less, and lost about 5 lbs. Small victory, but the exercise thing hasn't happened since I've been sick and coughing so much this past month. But now that all that is passing, I can add that.
I want to get outdoors a lot, too. Not out in my front yard. But camping. Hiking. I've got a new sleeping bag, a new backpack, and I just ordered a new Kelty Gunnison 2 2-person tent from Amazon.com. They dropped the price pretty significantly on it during a sale, so I snatched it up. It promises to be tons better than the heavy Wal-mart special 2-man tent that I got in college. I've already got this huge 6-person tent (with side screen room that's as big as the tent area) which is great for large groups and/or if I take the whole family sometime. But it weighs a ton and it's an agonizing experience to set it up/break it down. So this new Kelty tent should do the trick for the random camping outing with the guys.
Woohoo!
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