Posting from the top of the sleeping bear dunes

Here is a picture from the top of sleeping bear dunes, facing toward Glen Lake.

Beautiful view, really crappy climb for fat guy like me!

More Camping!
WE are going on a family camping trip, starting Tuesday. The five of us will be tenting it in the primitive section of Leelanau State Park, way up near the tip of the Michigan Lower Peninsula.

This will be my first time in this particular state park, but it looks like our campsite is about 100 ft. from Lake Michigan beach. Should be a great trip.
I am going to try to mobile blog the whole trip form my phone, so it should be interesting!

Pictures from camping

I took a few snaps with my mediocre camera-phone camera on my recent camping trip.

Once per year, I go camping with all of my friends without my wife and kids. My wife does the same with her friends, leaving all the smelly boys behind. We do dumb guys stuff for the entire weekend, smoking cigars, drinking beers, and playing card and role playing games until the wee hours of the night. Some of the other guys fish and canoe, and I catch up on my reading and do some hiking and cloud gathering.

This is the cabin we stayed in. We were at Fort Custer Recreation Area, and we have stayed in much better cabins before. This one was small, run down,and cramped. There was no pedestal grill either, so we did all our cooking in the fire, which went pretty well. My friend Andy is our menu planner/Master Chef, and we had nothing but good eats all weekend. Tuna Steaks, Hobo chicken and burgers, good cigars and beer.







The Fire pit:














The gross Kalamazoo River in our back yard. It looked like mud and smelled like dead fish. Another reason not to return to this particular park.


The little gentleman's room:


Morning over one of the lakes in the Park:


This is the foundation of an old barn the we found while hiking in the woods between two of the old lakes. We guessed the farm was taken by the US Army during WWII, when the government turned the land into Fort Custer. the farm was left fallow, and the government gave the land to the parks Department in the 70's.



If you look you can see my buddy Tom at the base of the silo for scale.
Here is the inside of the silo.

Beautiful day

Today is one of those gorgeous spring days that make me remember why I like living in Michigan. It is about 60 degrees outside, sunny and fantastic. Get outside for a bit today if you can!

Writing, Writing, Writing!

As I have mentioned before, I am a huge fan of Pen and Paper Role Playing Games (RPGs), like Dungeon's and Dragons. I have done a bit of RPG writing before, writing half of the Psibertroopers game with Scott Palter (which sold nearly 1000 copies!). I also did a few small freelance projects here or there, so I can technically call myself a professional writer, but in truth, I am just a wannabe with a blog.

West End Games, the publishers of the D6 System announced a few months ago that they were planning on going open source with D6, which is great news for fledgling game designers like me. what this means is that you can use the D6 rules for your game at no cost, as long as whatever you write can then be used by someone else under the same deal. this arrangement makes for some cool collaborative projects that might not happen any other way.

Unfortunately, West end Games is broke, and not really putting out any new products right now, so it may be a while before these rules actually get put out in their final format. I am working on my own version of the rules, taking out the stuff I don't like and adding things I do, and my efforts can be found here.

hopefully I can get at least a rough draft done in another month or so, but there are no guarantees!

Important Message

I received the email below a few days ago, and I think it is important to get it out to as many places as possible, so I am blogging about it. I saw the same letter on one of my favorite blogs, Boing Boing, this morning as well, so I know the word is getting out.

I subscribed to MP3 Tunes because there was a link to it on my Nokia N800 tablet when I bought it. I sign up for free stuff all the time, but this seems like a genuinely useful service, especially for folks like me with a big music collection and lots of interconnected devices. If you get a chance, check out their site, and maybe sign up for the service.

Dear MP3tunes Customer,

Let me start by saying that as the CEO of MP3tunes I appreciate your support over the last few years. Your suggestions and patience have helped us build the Locker system we have today. We just launched AutoSync that makes managing your music collection easier than ever.

As you may be aware, the major record label EMI has sued MP3tunes, claiming our service is illegal. You can read about the case here. Much is at stake -- if you don't have the right to store your own music online then you won't have the right to store ebooks, videos and other digital products as well. The notion of ownership in the 21st century will evaporate. The idea of ownership is important to me and I want to make sure I have that right and my kids do too.

I would like to ask for your assistance in our battle for personal music ownership. We need your help because we are a small, 15-person company battling an international giant. They would like to make us spend all of our money paying legal bills. Here's what you can do to help:

1) Please upgrade to a Premium account. This week MP3tunes is launching 3 service levels. I hope you will consider signing up for one of the paid levels. This will not only help us pay for the costs of our service (machines, storage and bandwidth) but a portion will go to cover our legal costs in our case with EMI.

2) If you have a chance to talk publicly about our cause on your blog, with friends, reporters or even EMI personnel please do so. MP3tunes is working hard to design a secure personal music service. We don't promote sharing of music in any manner. We want people to legally acquire their music. But once they do, we think it's important that you be able to use it how you want for your personal use. The AmazonMP3 store says: "You may copy, store, transfer and burn the Digital Content only for your personal, non-commercial, entertainment use." and this is what MP3tunes allows you to do.

You have my commitment that I'll continually battle for your right to store your music online and listen to it anywhere on any device. I hope you'll consider helping MP3tunes in our battle. Thanks.

-- Michael Robertson
CEO
MP3tunes.com

Double Bubble Birthday Trouble

Busy weekend!
My oldest and my youngest have birthdays one day apart, the 18Th and 19Th of April, so this time of year is pretty hectic around the old homestead. With parties and presents, fiends and relatives, and the normal spring cleanup that comes this time of year, our house is even more of a zoo that normal.

Jakob got rock band from my in-laws and us, so he and his friends were jamming away with guitar, drums and mike for a big chunk of the night. The whole rock band package is a neat idea and an interesting experiment in video gaming. The game is much harder than I expected, even on the easy setting, and it is going to take some time to get good at all the different instruments. So far Owen is on vocals, and Jakob really likes the guitar, so Ethan has been relegated to playing drums. When Jakob’s buddies were over, the three of them played through 4 or 5 songs and actually made a bit of progress in the game, which was cool.


Ethan had 5 friends over for his party, and that went fantastically. My wife, who is master of the party games, came up with a bunch of wizardly themed things for the kids to do. We had potion making 101, in which the kids mixed together vinegar and baking soda to create bubbling messes, a big star-shaped pinata, disappearing wizards, which involved a mummy-like toilet paper process, and a scavenger hunt, with picture clues provided by Owen the photographer. Attached below are some video clips and pictures from the festivities.

Sweet Juniper's insight

My wife pointed me to a great post on the blog of sweet juniper , a Detroiter with some excellent insights about the city and two of my favorite things, old buildings and books. His whole blog is a great read if you are interested.

The post is really interesting to me because it show so much about what has gone wrong in Detroit. the corruption, The destruction of beautiful buildings, and the boot on the back of the neck of the innocents kids who grow into poverty stricken adults in the city.

I have always lived in the suburbs around Detroit, and I don't like big cities at all, but it still makes me sad to see Detroit gone so far wrong.

Vacation, all I ever wanted... Vacation had to get away.

Wednesday and Thursday of last week, my wife and kids went with 2 other adults and 4 other kids to the Michigan state capitol, in the city of Lansing.

They had a lot of fun, visiting several museums, the capitol building, and doing quite a bit of swimming in the hotel pool. Here is a photo for all you wish you were there types!

Testing blogging from my phone

Hey all you loyal readers, first post in a long time. I am testing the ability to blog from my phone.
Here is a picture of my son's totally excellent bed head!

New toy

Hi all,this is test post from my new Nokia N 800 internet tablet, which I love more than a man should love gadget. More tomorrow when I have more practice!

More Favorite Things

About time I got back to this topic, eh?
Some of my favorite blogs:
Joystiq - Great info on lots of different games, often funny, great rumors.

Boing Boing - One my favorite Sci-Fi authors, Cory Doctorow, and several other web personalities blog about everything and anything, literally!

Call of Duty 4

I know I am a few months behind, but I just finished the single player game of Call of Duty 4 on the xbox 360, so I thought I would do a mini-review.

Game: Call of Duty 4
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Infinity Ward

First a bit about my playing style and where I am coming from, since this is my first review on the blog.

The game took me about 8 hours to beat or normal difficulty. I am a mid-core gamer, I play a lot of games, but I don't have super twitch reflexes or the patience to play on the really hard difficulties. Most games are acceptable for me at normal difficulty, but some hardcore shooters I will play on easy, otherwise I get too frustrated from constant re-spawning.

There were two or three spots where I had to repeat the same part of a level six or eight times until I beat it, but this was acceptable, and normal for me.

On to the game itself.

After a few short cinematic and a very clever in-game tutorial, COD4 takes off on a wild ride and doesn't stop until the end credits roll. The first few missions ramp up the difficulty slowly, as you become more engrossed in the story that you are playing.

The missions are varied and interesting, which is great, because there is not a large variety of enemies or weapons that can be found in some games. There were several missions where I found myself wishing I could pick my weapon load-out, like you can in the Ghost Recon games. The default weapons in most of the scenarios did the trick however.

Perhaps the best part of the game is the story. You rapidly become attached to the characters you are playing, and the other members of your squad, and you feel genuine emotion as they suffer through the twists and turns of the game.

I played the Multi-player Beta when it was out late last year, and it was terrific fun. Since I rented the full game instead of buying, I have not had a chance to play multiplayer, other that getting the crap kicked out of me in split screen by my kids.

All in all, there are a few modern shooters I like better, like Ghost Recon 1 and 2, but COD4 is a pleasure to play, with outstanding graphics, story, and game-play. I recommend to all fans of shooters.

My buddy Keith emailed this question out to a bunch of my old school friends today.


"

It’s snowing in Wisconsin – again. Second straight week of slate gray skies and silent falling flakes outside. The lot’s already covered over since lunch, and a general sense of quiet has filled the building. I’m one of three people even in my wing right now; the only noise I hear is the click of my keystrokes and the breathy whoosh of the heating vent outside my door.

White on white outside my window. Meetings all cancelled this afternoon. Coffee gone cold on my desk. And there’s this overwhelming feeling that something is missing. For the past half hour I’ve been trying to wrap my head around it, but it’s just not making itself known.

So I figured I’d ask you.

If you’ve got a minute and you feel the urge, tell me about something you miss right now. Maybe it’s a friend, maybe family member or pet. Maybe it’s a feeling from childhood you see in your kids and wish you could experience again. Maybe it’s as simple as a discontinued ice cream flavor – or just a warm-up on that cup of coffee sitting cold on your desk right now.

It’s been a while since I’ve asked, but that doesn’t mean I’m no longer curious. Take a line or two – hell, take a paragraph if the urge hits you – and tell me about something you miss. Anything at all, really; I’m interested, and going no where in that snow for quite a while.

Missing you, too (…but seriously, though, I’ll probably write something up other than this!)

– Keith"

A great question, and my answer is below.

I will finish up my favorites post later tonight, too much laundry yesterday!

I think what i miss the most these days is my enthusiasm. when I was younger, everything I tried was anew adventure, something challenging for mind or body.

Now that I am sneaking up on 40, every choice or change seems more like a chore.

I look at my kids and see how they tackle everything as if it were the most important thing they have ever done, and I feel proud and sad at the same time. something as simple as a halo toy or legos built into the shape of a starship is a moment of pure joy for them.

I wish I could tap into that for myself.

The other thing I miss is Keith's emailing profound questions like this, and hearing back responses from folks I have not seem in a long long time.

Links to to some fun stuff

I have a ton of Hobbies. Too many in fact. Here is a list of a few, and why I love them.

Tabletop Role playing games:
I started playing Dungeons and Dragons with my Brother when I was 10 years old, and I still get together with my friends ever two weeks for some grown up make believe. It is a lot more fun that most folks realize to pretend to be a jedi knight or a barbarian for a few hours.
Especially when you a in a basement with a bunch of smelly nerds!

Http://www.wizards.com - Owners and publishers of the granddaddy of all RPGs, DnD. they also publish Star Wars RPG and a ton or card and collectible miniature games.

http://www.peginc.com - zombie cowboys, superheroes, pirates and a puritan that fights giant apes and evil spirits!

http://www.sjgames.com - for many years, GURPS, made by SJgames was the only RPG I played. It seems a bit complicated for my play style these days, but I still love the amazing variety of stuff this one game can do.

Cowboy Action Shooting:
I love the old west, and later this year I hope to join the Single Action Shooting Society. I already have a rifle, but I need to get a pistol and shotgun.Here a few cool companies that make old west weapons.
http://navyarms.com/
http://www.cimarron-firearms.com/

More link tommorrow!

Xbox not home yet, fedex sucks.

My Xbox 360 has not come home yet, and Fedex has not updated the tracking info yet, so I have no idea when it will be back. I hope they give me another free month of Xbox live, so I can try out Rainbow Six Vegas with brother and his Forza Buddies.

The good new is, I have one of these in my house:


In the dining room, and the fire feels great when it is freezing raining cold ass poop outside!

Xbox 360 Dies, Part 3

I bought my Xbox 360 about a year ago and I thought I was prepared.

I had heard all the blab on the Internet about how unreliable the console was, and I weighed my options carefully. I almost bought the PS3, but the extra hundred dollars, and lack of games turned me off, so I spent 400 bones and picked up a 360 pro.

I am now waiting for my little white box to return from Microsoft for the second time due to a failed DVD Drive. Since I had to return the first box to Walmart after a week, this means when I get my refurb back in another week or 2, It will be 360 number 4 in a little less than a year.

Not a good track record at all, my friend. If I can sell MR Xbox when he comes back for a reasonable amount of money, I think I am going to switch to a PS3.

I don't have that much time or money, and to waste both on another Microsfot product that might not last seems silly, right?

At least this time we had the Wii to use while waiting for the Xbox to be repaired...