Category: health

Jemez Springs

We went to the zoo the other day with Sean. Then yesterday, we went to Jemez Springs and hiked a bit. You don’t hike very far with a 2-year-old. It was nice to get into a rainy forest, as compared to the dry desert we’re usually in. We walked across a small creek and up to a sort of natural hot tub…although we didn’t get in. At another place called Soda Dam, there was a strong sulfur smell. Sean has had a cold and I kept asking him when he’d get better. Vanessa said, “when you get it.” Well, now I’ve got it, so I guess he can recover now. Last night, we visited my parents and then watched nearby fireworks from our local playground.

11/22/2005

I came up with the idea of buying the Alhambra board game so we could play it on Thanksgiving but Vanessa couldn’t find it locally. We ended up ordering it from the internet but alas, it won’t be here in time.

Went to dentist for cleaning this morning. I asked the hygienist if she dreams about teeth at night after dealing with them all day. She said not after 30 years of doing the job. Hopefully this friendly banter will make her less prone to jabbing my gums with sharp implements next time, but I’m not optimistic.

04/16/2005

More wacky patents. What has Namco patented? Pac Man (described in really fancy language), scoring, and every other videogame idea that could be thought of by a 5-year-old. I tell ya, patent examiners need an English language de-obfuscator program. Of course, that’s probably already patented.

Evin and Erica and family came over last night, bringing with them Samba de Amigo…a classic game in which you shake actual maracas to the music. Pretty good game. It’s interesting all the specialized controllers they’re coming out with these days. Maracas, taiko drums, bongo drums, dance pads, cameras, feedback steering wheels, etc. Unfortunately, they all take up precious space where games formerly didn’t need physical space. Still, when they’re fun, they’re really fun.

Vanessa and Sean returned from being away for a few days. Good to have them back, but Sean has a cold now. Seems a miserable lad. I think colds really do make people miserable. Since he’s just a baby, his reaction to it must be entirely honest. Not old enough to put on a show. I have wondered in the past when I’ve had a cold and was moaning and groaning if I wasn’t exaggerating. Still, perhaps I’m a bit more vocal about it than necessary.

If you’re running Adobe Reader 6.0, you noticed that annoying banner ad at the upper-right in the program. To fix it, go to Edit->Preferences… Startup and uncheck “Show Messages and automatically update”.

4/3/2003

I just went to the dentist for an appointment with the brutal “pick lady”. After Vanessa’s account of the gentleness of her new dentist’s hygienist, I think I will switch before my next appointment. I need one closer to work anyway.

12/12/2002

Just found this site for finding musical recommendations. It looks pretty useful for those with more obscure tastes in music.

Here’s an interesting article about the dollar value of virtual objects in online games. Amusing to think that people are actually making money from virtual objects. Also interesting to think about the possibility of creating your own objects in games…perhaps things like a ghetto blaster that plays mp3s from the player’s hard drive. All sorts of odd interactions between the virtual and the real world could happen. Perhaps you could put digital pictures from your hard drive into a picture frame in the game. Perhaps the game could scan your website bookmarks, documents and mp3 file names and learn a great deal about you to tailor the game accordingly. You can download objects like clothes or other things for The Sims at websites like this one.

Went to doc for physical this morning. All systems are running within acceptable parameters. Still must do blood test of some kind. I had never gone for a full physical before and I figured I might as well since I’m paying for insurance. It was somewhat like taking a car in for a tune-up.