Friday, December 21st, 2007 - Congratulations to the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater Warhawks (my old Alma Mater) Football program for taking home the Division III championship against their old nemesis Mount Union.

The Warhawks have been runners up the past two years and it was nice to finally see them win it all. Nice going, guys! Read all about the game here.

Congratulations to Brett Favre, not only for breaking Dan Marino's all time passing yardage record, but for being named Sports Illustrated's 2007 Sportsman of the Year and for making his 9th Pro Bowl as the starter for the NFC.

Congrats also go out to Al Harris, Aaron Kampman and Donald Driver for their Pro Bowl berths. Personally, I think Nick Barnett, Greg Jennings and Charles Woodson got shafted, but what can you do?

Last, but not least, Happy Holidays!

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thanks for stopping by...

Friday, December 14th, 2007 - More than two months without an update. I guess that gives you an idea of how busy I've been lately. Where to start?

Pi Studios, my company, has been working on Rock Band for the PS2. The game hits store shelves next week Tuesday, but until now, our involvement has not been public knowledge. Yesterday, GameSpot did a hands on preview and the cat is finally out of the bag. Woo hoo!

The Packers continue to roll. What an amazing season so far! Sitting at 11 - 2 with three games left is something even the most optimistic Packers fan (like me) couldn't fathom at the start of the year. Two wins or a Seattle loss is all we need to secure the #2 seed in the NFC playoffs. Despite the fact that I'm in Houston, I'm actually going to be able to see the Packers/Rams game on Sunday on Fox. That right there is making my whole weekend.

MySpace wasn't enough...I actually broke down and joined Facebook. Stop by and send me a friend request. It's strangely compelling, despite the fact that I'm not in High School anymore. =)

The company is giving us time off from December 22nd until January 2nd and I'm very much looking forward to that, despite the fact that I'm not returning to Wisconsin for the holiday. A week of college football and parking my ass on the couch is just what I need right now. 2007 has been a long year.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm still very much alive and well. Hopefully I'll make more time for updates in 2008. This once every two months stuff is kind of crap, don't you think? =)

Take care...

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 - So...let's talk about the Department of Homeland Security for a sec, shall we? Okay...let's start at the beginning. My sister Kelly turned 40 a few weeks back (Happy belated birthday Sis!) and, being the inconsiderate (and stupidly busy) jerk I am, I completely forgot about it. So I decided to make it up to her and send her a belated birthday gift through the good old USPS (She's in Wisconsin, I'm in Houston). No problem, right? Wrong...

I take the gift and two cards, box it up, put priority mail stickers on it and take it down to the Post Office, where the nice lady behind the counter weighed it, stamped it and postmarked it. A week later, the package is returned to my apartment with a homeland security sticker on it saying that it couldn't be delivered by air because it weighed more than 12 ounces and that it had to be stamped by a U.S. Postal Customer Service Rep. Um...what would you call the lady at the POST OFFICE who stamped it for me??? Yeah, that's quality... It reminds me of this little gem. =)

Paranoia - If it's not an American flag, it's probably a bomb

So yeah... Speaking of birthdays, I turned 34 on October 1st. Heidi and my friends were kind enough to throw me a surprise party at my favorite local drinking establishment, the Velvet Melvin. Thanks to everyone who came to the party! I had a great time...

More congrats go out to Brett Favre for breaking Dan Marino's career Touchdown mark while leading the Pack to a 4 - 0 start. Don't sweat the loss the Bears, Brett. It's not your fault by any means, despite what SI's Dr. Z has to say. =)

Thanks for stopping by...

Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 - As my old buddy Keith Fuller used to say, "Sweet Fancy Moses!" How did it get to be September already? Forget September! It's almost OCTOBER!!! I guess that just goes to show how busy I've been at work. It's amazing how time flies when you work in game development.

Oh, where do I start? The Green Bay Packers are off to a somewhat surprising 2 - 0 start. I guess we'll get to find out how "for real" they are when they play the Chargers at Lambeau tomorrow. And speaking of the Packers, congratulations to Brett Favre on becoming the winningest Quarterback in NFL history! You've had one hell of a run... And I hope that run takes you through this season and next season as well. =)

I was right about Hatchet. It is AMAZING! Seriously the best horror film I've seen in the past 20 years. It is a damned shame that Hollywood will put out a movie like Rob Zombie's Halloween (which was average at best) in wide release and a fantastic horror gem like Hatchet can only get a limited theatrical run. There's just something wrong about that... *sigh* Anyway, congrats to writer/director Adam Green on a fine, fine film. I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

The 2nd Rock Out To Knock Out RSD benefit show is coming up! Check out their website for details. It's for a good cause, so if you're in the area, go show some support!

I guess that's about it for now. I'm still alive and well. Thanks for stopping by. =)

Saturday, July 21st, 2007 - Calling all horror fans! "Hatchet" is coming! This looks like my kind of movie. Check out the tagline: "It's not a remake. It's not a sequel. And it's not based on a Japanese one. Old school American horror."

[ Victor Crowley is coming for you! ]

I'm so in! The cast looks so badass. Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees), Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) and Tony Todd (Candyman) in the same film! How can you go wrong? The movie is racking up awards on the festival circuit, too! Critics and horror fans are raving about it!

Apparently the original cut of the film got an NC-17 rating. I guess it took a while to get it down to an R for theatrical release. That bodes well for guys like me who are sick and f***ing tired of all the PG-13 horror that is polluting theaters these days.

Check out the Official Movie Site and the trailer, then make friends with Hatchet, Victor Crowley and The Hatchet Army on MySpace!

Spread the word, kiddies. Victor crowley is coming on September 7th and this movie's gonna rock!

Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 - If you know me at all, you know I'm a huge fan of bad horror movies. Well, I think I found a new one for my favorites list. It is...DRIVE THRU!

Oh my... Great little flick. Some great dialogue, solid acting and great production value. It's the story of Horny the Clown, a mascot (turned killer) of a fictional fast food chain called Hella Burger. With a tagline like "The food won't kill you, but you'll wish it had!" how can you go wrong? =) Good stuff... If you're in to B Movie horror, you could do a lot worse than Drive Thru.

Speaking of movies, DeepDiscount.com is having one of their semi-annual 20% off sales on all of their DVD movies right now. To get the discount, just type in the sale code SUPERSALE when you check out. DVDTALK and USATODAY also work if you want to place multiple orders. Sale ends June 16th.

Other than that, I've made a minor update to my WTF? Page and added a new link in the Humor Section. Check 'em out.

Saturday, June 2nd, 2007 - I've been listening to the new Megadeth album, United Abominations that was recently released. Wow... Great stuff!

Their last release, The System Has Failed, quickly became one of my favorite Megadeth albums. This was a pleasant surprise after such sub-par releases as Risk and The World Needs a Hero. I'd say United Abominations is every bit as good as System. I dig it...

Interesting that it's every bit as political as The System Has Failed was. Dave Mustaine obviously has no love for George Bush or the U.S. Government right now. I think I'll get a similar vibe from the new W.A.S.P. album Dominator, which is due out on Tuesday. I think Dave Mustaine and Blackie Lawless should get together and go bowling. =)

On a work related note, Pi Studios and Activision have just released the Bravo Map Pack for Call of Duty 3. If you've got COD 3 for the Xbox 360, you should check it out!

Thanks for stopping by...

Thursday, April 26th, 2007 - It's that time of year again...time for me to completely forget (and be reminded of by my family) the death of my parents. *sigh* It's hard to believe that my mother has been gone for 3 years already (as of today) and my father has now been gone 9 years (as of the 23rd).

People seem to make a big deal about anniversaries. I, on the other hand, try to celebrate every day with thoughts of my parents, my family and my friends. Those two days, the 23rd and the 26th, have nothing but bad memories for me...most likely for purely selfish reasons. Bad memories, regardless.

So, as is my way, I will continue to remember the good times and the bad times...just not the final times. My thoughts are with you, mom and dad. Today, tomorrow and always... I miss you.

Saturday, April 7th, 2007 - I am very sad to learn of the passing of former KISS guitarist Mark St. John. Mark died this week, April 5th 2007 of a cerebral brain hemorrhage. He was 51. =(

Those of you who know me know that I am a huge KISS fan. I'm also one of the few KISS fans who enjoys the 80's non-makeup lineups and albums just as much as those in the makeup. Mark wasn't with the band very long, but as Paul and Gene are fond of saying, KISS is a family. Once you're a member of KISS, you're always a member of KISS.

Warm thoughts and my condolences go out to Mark's family and friends. You will be missed, my friend...

If you want to learn more about Mark St. John, click here.

Saturday, March 31st, 2007 - I discovered a project recently aimed at helping children in Kosovo called the Snake Plissken Memorial Playground project.

Being the skeptic I am, I e-mailed the U.S. Servicemen behind it through the group's MySpace Page to make sure they were legit and I and asked him for the story behind the charity. This is what he had to say...

Quote: "Well, it's not (officially) a charity... for various reasons. I'm just trying to get some money together to get something done. My squad and myself have been working closely with the school in Gumniste whenever we can to try to get them repairs, supplies, etc. We're already getting them a new fence (right now it's barb wire), repairing the roof, repainting, and trying to get them heat that isn't a wood burning stove. I'm just trying to get enough money together to put together with whatever I can part with myself to build these kids a playground...and honor Snake Plissken."

How cool is that? I donated $50.00 to the cause and told the guy I would do anything I could to help support the project.

If you would like to make a donation through PayPal, the donation e-mail address is SnakePlisskenMP@hotmail.com.

Snake thanks you for your support! =)

Saturday, March 17th, 2007 - I've updated the My Job section of the site now that my work on Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for the PS2 has been announced.

I also put in a blurb about my previous work on the Halo 2: Vista Editor Project.

The Humor Section has also been updated with a new link to some Star Trek Inspirational Posters. Funny stuff, there... Oh, and I fixed the annoying Firefox bug that was screwing up my How To Get A Job In The Games Industry article.

Most people don't know this, but my girlfriend Heidi suffers from a medical condition called Peripheral RSDS/CRPS. It's fairly uncommon and most doctors don't know anything about it. In fact, it's so rare that it's not uncommon for someone who has RSDS to go undiagnosed for up to ten years. It's a pretty scary thing...

The reason I'm mentioning this is, I've been donating my time to an organization called Rock Out To Knock Out RSDS. If you visit their site, you can probably tell I designed it. *laughs* I don't have much in the way of "mad skills" when it comes to HTML, but they were very happy to have the help.

Any donations to the cause would be appreciated. The best way to donate? Go to the concert! This Saturday, March 24th in Bakersfield, CA. They've got 25 bands for a mere $15.00! For more details on the concert and the charity, visit http://www.tkorsds.org.

Thanks for stopping by....

Oh...and Happy St. Patrick's Day! =)

Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 - It's hard to believe, but it's been exactly ten years ago today that I started in the game development industry at Raven Software. Holy crap! TEN YEARS!

A lot has changed since then. I was a 23 year old kid who didn't know which way was up back then. Now I'm a 33 year old (kid?) who has a somewhat better idea, but is still learning something new every day. I'm in Houston now at Pi Studios...a company that is, in a lot of ways, exactly how Raven was when I started there ten years ago. We're in a small office with a small team and we're all excited to be a part of something special. We're a family. And the talent here is amazing.

Now we all know that change is inevitable. I'm sure at some point soon, Pi Studios will experience the same growth and success that Raven did all those years ago. And as a member of the management team here, it's going to be my job to help manage that growth and make sure that the same pitfalls Raven encountered in growing to a 100+ man team dont' happen here. In all honesty, that's a challenge I'm very much looking forward to. I welcome that challenge with open arms.

And...on a completely unrelated note, I'm excited to hear that Brett Favre is returning to the Green Bay Packers in 2007. That's very exciting news for a young team with a lot of talent and a lot of room to work with under the salary cap. Playoffs in 2007? Bring 'em on!

Oh, and if you're interested...there are two new entries on the infamous WTF? Page. =)

Thanks for stopping by...

Saturday, January 13th, 2007 - Okay, what the f***? It's 2007... Another year, yet ANOTHER snub for KISS by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This is ridiculous. Here you have a band that's been rocking the world since 1973 and is the all time music industry leader in gold record certifications by the RIAA. A band that's sold over 100,000,000 albums and has the most dedicated fan base of pretty much any band in history. Do they deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? You're GOD DAMNED RIGHT they do!

Adding insult to injury is this year's induction of Van Halen. Are they deserving? Sure. I won't dispute that. But let's put this into perspective. Van Halen is a band that was:

• a) Discovered by KISS in a club
• b) Had their first demo produced by KISS
• c) Were given their first world tour and subsequent exposure as an opening act for KISS

Christ, Eddie Van Halen wanted to JOIN KISS when they met! Come on!

It's bad enough that people like Bonnie Raitt have been inducted before KISS (George Harrison solo, anyone???), but VAN HALEN? That's the last straw...

Screw you, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You're dead to me... I'm going to show up in Cleveland and spraypaint a big f***ing KISS logo on your front f***ing door.

Here's looking forward to KISS' induction (and an apology from you bastards) in 2008.

Monday, January 1st, 2007 - Happy New Year, everyone! I wonder how long it will take this year for me to stop writing "2006" on all of my checks? =)

Just wanted to congratulate the Wisconsin Badgers' Football Team on their 17 - 14 victory in the Capital One Bowl over the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The victory gave the Badgers the first 12 win season in school history. Congrats, guys and thanks for an awesome year! GO BIG RED!

I've added a new link to my Humor Section to a Saturday Night Live skit featuring Justin Timberlake. Holy crap, is it funny. If you're easily offended or have no sense of humor you should probably avoid it altogether. =)

Thanks for stopping by! Hope everyone has a great start to their 2007!

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