Woohoo

I am very excited that vacation time is here. I am sitting here watching football and Food Network while playing WWSM 2009. It doesn’t get much better than this.

I love watching Food Network, but Thanksgiving and Christmas are the best times of the year to watch. Yesterday I watched the full 1.5 hour Iron Chef Battle Thanksgiving. It was great. It always amaes me how good that the chefs are. The ideas they come up with are simply amazing and watching them is really a treat. Who would have ever thought that watching people cook could be fun. It is and I watch all the time. On the downside, I get plenty of ideas for food that my wife is not down with at all. That’s ok though, that’s what restaurants are for. It’s the reason I discovered the joy of foie gras. I’d never cook it at home, but if I see it on a menu….

WWSM 2009 is even better than expected. I really enjoy the new match engine. Having actual players running around on the field rather than the old circles is much better. The game itself is much harder. It has taken my team a few months to really learn the tactic I am running and the fact that I have purchased several new players has a definite effect. It is a wonderful game. If you are reading this and you do not like soccer, that’s ok. When I started playing it years ago, I hated soccer, but I found the game to e a lot of fun. Over the years of playing the game, I have learned a lot about the game and now I enjoy it a lot. One of my best friends is a hugie soccer (footall) fan. He’s blown away by the fact that I can carry on a sensible discussion about players, leagues and tactics in soccer having barely seen any real games at all. The game itself is so well done, that it teaches you soccer and through learning about it, you learn to love the game. Give it a shot.

I have to end on a bit of a sad note. MC Breed died yesterday. I’m signing off today with probably his most well known song.. Ain’t No Future in Yo’ Frontin

One More Week

Well, only one more week until I go on vacation. For the first time I can remember, I tool the entire week of Thanksgiving off. My wife has decided to do the same. I don’t have much planned, but I am going to make the most of it. I am donating half a day to my son’s school book drive on that Monday I believe. On Tuesday, i will see Quantum of Solace with my wife. Otherwise, I will be watching TV, playing video games and maybe cooking something up for Thanksgiving. I’m thinking maybe red cabbage. I’ve never made it, but I grew up with my Mother always cooking it. Love the smell, love the color and love the taste.

I am bemoaning my sports teams this year. It has been a rough one. I’m a Seattle transplant living in Portland, so losing the Sonics has been hard, BUT, at least the Blazers are a good team on the rise. The Seahawks are breaking my heart this, as are the Huskies. The M’s were abysmal and I hope they can do something this offseason. I pin all hopes of having a playoff team this year on the Blazers. Brandon Roy is fantastic and seeing as he is a Husky, I can get behind the team.

Still waiting for WWSM 2009 to come. It is being released next week, so I hope to have it by next weekend. Here’s hoping anyway..

I miss House music. Twin Hype was good and I can’t get enough of this song.

Feeding My Addiction

I’ve decided that in the short term, I will lay off politics. While I did not vote for President Elect Obama, I will give him some time before I badmouth him. That might be a year, that might be a day. Today though, I will not badmouth him. I have 4 years for that if needed.

Today I am writing about my addiction. It’s that time of the year again and Football Manager 2009 comes out in another week. Here in the US it’s known as Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009, but for us diehards, it’ll be called FM2009 and that is how I will address it.

This year’s version of the game has a 3d match engine which I have read good reviews on. Although the game is available for download now (this is a trial edition), I am going to wait until my copy arrives in the mail. Once that day comes, forget about it. I am done, like many others, I will play prety much daily for the next year. I will load it up on my laptop and play it each night while watching TV. I will set tactics, set and make transfers, train and scout. I will dream about the game. I will discuss it with my friends. It will take up almost all my free time. My friends are already sending me scouting reports of the players so I can plan my squad out. This year, I will be working with Manchester City.

As addictions go, this one is not so bad. I have been an addict for roughly 9 or 10 years now. The cost has been inexpensive. I have gained weight, lost hair, had 2 children and bought 3 homes all while playing. I can walk away from my addiction. I really can. When my laptop crashed a cuple months ago, I rebuilt it and left FM2008 off of it. I wanted to make myself hunger even more for the new veresion. When it gets here, I will devour it, like the worlds best cheeseburger. Savoring each bit. Exploring each nook and cranny and looking for each of the new changes. The best part, the game will come and I will be on vacation the next week. This will be a great vacation.

Alright, on to some music. Lately I have been listening to a lot of what would be considered “Native Tongue”. One of the foremost purveyours of this style of Hip Hop was my favorite rap group, A Tribe Called Quest. Q-Tip, one of the leaders of this group, just released his first new album in 10 years. Here’s the first single…Gettin’ Up