He knew it was called an AT-ST and I didn’t

I’m not sure it’s considered babysitting if it lasts for 2 hours, but that’s what went down. It flew by thanks to equal parts:

1. Lego VW bus assembly (nowhere near complete)

2. Super Mario World classic SNES game

3. Breaking out old Star Wars toys

4. Annie’s cheddar bunny snack mix and soda water.

5. Hitting the neighborhood playground because the St. Patrick’s Day weather was AMAZING.

I wonder if I could have kept them entertained for much more with all that packed in.

That said, I salute parents.

Fiesta Charra

It’s only taken like seven years, but we’re finally getting to know folks in Oxford who can join us for lunch.
Today we had Mexican food uptown and spent a small chunk of the  meal marveling at the absurdity of politics.
The other more important topics of conversation included music, Star Wars and movies that are not Star Wars.

Draw Something

Every once in a while, a (mobile) game comes along that pushes every button I have in a good way.

Like the time you figure out the physics of Angry Birds, there are games that have the right amount of polish and playability.

There have been  others, like:

Everyone has their own list. The latest for me (and many) is Draw Something, a variation on Pictionary pretty much.

I love drawing, and it’s super fun playing with friends. (Facebook as the conduit is perfect in this instance). I spent my entire Saturday night playing this game and barely felt guilty.

Are there issues? Yes, they need more words to draw, and a replay feature would be nice. The upgrade scheme for colors is sneaky, but more power to ’em.

I mentioned online that this game will sell a lot of Androids and iPads, but the truth is, it shines with the bigger screen of a tablet.

This honeymoon phase will surely wane, but for now? I’m enjoying it lots. (The answer to the drawing above was: JORDAN)

An excuse to be creative

Tom and I took a little bit of time on Friday to create our own concepts and print them before the work whistle blew.

You know how an idea is better in your head than in reality? …
Essentially my concept was very low brow with mixed entendres.
At the end of the day, it didn’t even make sense to me!
(And I broke my internal desire to Stop Making Things with “words” and “messages”)

The important thing though? We had fun. You can see Tom’s creation and some process shots here…

Beckon wealth and good fortune

Snapped these Maneki Neko down at Lime in Covington.

Sidenote: I believe this is the first time I’ve put an animated gif on this album proper. To learn more about this file format and stuff, here’s a six minute video on the matter.

(Warning: people in the video say “Jif” casually.)

Other Sidenote: Looks like you can get these solar powered cats on Amazon (affiliate link).