Some of the new features included in Brian-9.0:
Advanced intelligence
Ability to make more complex decisions
Increased energy
Ability to take on more responsibility(This feature has not been fully tested)

As one of the lead developers, I cannot begin to express my pride in this newest release. But we are not resting on our laurels. We are still on track for our most recent product, Will, to reach version 7.0 in August. And in September, be sure to look out for Victoria-19.0. We hope to make it our most stable release ever!

[tags]brian, birthday, victoria, Will, cousins, jen-and-terry[/tags]

So Sunday, I decided to go ahead and take William to see the boys and I could visit with the sis for a while. Poor Brian was completely distraught that he couldn’t go, but there was no way that I could risk him getting anyone else sick. I’m pretty sure that he understood… but I’m definitely sure he didn’t like it.

Well, Will and his cousins got along splendidly. They had a great time playing together and no arguments to boot! I think that could be a first with my kids!. Anyway, like I said, I got a chance to visit with my sister, and somehow felt a little better as I didn’t feel like I got enough time to talk with her(or any of the rest of my relatives) over the X-mas holidays.

In other news, I have officially reached PRO status in baseball, tennis, golf, and bowling on Wii Sports. All I have left is Boxing – and I have a looong way to go before I accomplish Pro. You may ask how such a lazy fatass …erm someone with such limited physical activity as myself might be able to score so well on Wii sports in such little time. Well, in a nutshell, it’s practice, practice practice. When we first got the Wii, I told myself that this thing was going to help get me in better shape – nothing amazing or anything, but at least I’ll be up and moving. I promised myself that I would play every other day for at least 45 minutes – and I have done just that… except it’s more like 1-2 hours(at least!). So you figure 1-2 hours every other day for almost a month… that’s a lot of play time!

But it has worked! I’m nowhere near as winded as I was the first time I played a 2 hour marathon of Wii Sports. And my scales told me this weekend that I had been consistently UNDER 200 lbs. for 4 days in a row! Of course, I probably ruined it by eating over at my Mom’s last night! Eating large portions of Filipino cooking just doesn’t go well with trying to lose weight.

Anyway, I figure if I can keep this routine up, and then purchase the Wii Fit game when it is released later this year, I will be well on my way to being a healthier, happier me.
[tags]wii, fitness, health, Brian, Will, cousins, sister, family, sick, wii sports, wii fit[/tags]

“Hey, Buddy! Whatcha got there?” I asked.
“They’re glasses,” He replied. For a 8-year-old kid who was just told that he was stuck wearing glasses, he seemed fairly upbeat.

“Can you see better?” I asked.
“Yep”
“Well do you like them?
“Uh-Huh…. They’re bendy!”

So I guess bendy glasses are cool. I remember when I first learned I had to wear glasses. My older sister and I both had our eyesight decline at a pretty early age. I can’t remember when my little sis started wearing glasses. When I put on my first pair, I remember thinking, “Cool… the world seems so much clearer with these things!” But in time, I came to loathe glasses. I still do. I wear contact lenses for the most part now, but I desperately want to have surgery so I can rid myself of the dependency on either glasses or contacts. So – for the past few years, I have hen-pecked Brian when it came to his eyes with “Turn on the lights,” or “step back from the TV,” or “Don’t read on your belly!”

I guess it was inevitable that it would happen, though. And maybe he will cope with wearing specs at a young age better than I did. Not to mention, his new glasses do look rather good on him. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to upload any pix of the “New Look” Brian until I:

• Find the time to load Picasa on my laptop and import the pix in that way.
• Find a way to revive my old PC from the dead.(Definitely a hardware problem. Either motherboard or CPU)
• Build a new PC.($$$$)

I think option 1 is the best bet…
[tags]Brian, glasses, pictures, picasa[/tags]

Each rune quest varies in the number of steps to complete and the difficulty of each step. Once a rune is earned, the magi then has the ability to cast a particular spell. So, if you earn the lightning rune, your wand can then cast a lightning bolt spell…. which could then be used much later in the “adventure quests.” The whole setup was impressive, and there are a ton of items spread throughout that the players can interact with. Both Brian and Will had a ball running around and activating things with their wands and earning runes. We agreed that the best way to tackle these things was to split up in groups of 2. Amy went with Brian, and I took Will. In the 2 hours that we spent there, we had completed all but 3 of the rune quests(different ones for each boy). They really had a blast and are excited to go back.

All that wand-waving had made us extremely hungry, so we decided to walk down to the Yamato Japanese Restaurant and treat the kids to a great hibachi show and good food. Unfortunately, when we planned this outing, we had forgotten that it would be Labor Day weekend, and there was a 2-hour wait!!! By this time, it was already late and everyone was so hungry that we decided to scrap the Japanese food and go to Chik-fil-A instetad…. Our boys LOVE some CHIKIN!!! Afterwards, I don’t think it took more than 5 minutes in the car before both boys were fast asleep – wands still tightly gripped in their hands.

The following weekend, was Teacher’s Appreciation Weekend for the Ripley’s Entertainment Group where all Horry County certified teachers got free passes to all of the Ripley’s attractions. Well, you know we were going to take advantage of that deal!!! So we loaded up the car and went to Ripley’s Aquarium. We realized that we hadn’t been there since Will was still a bald-headed baby, so the whole experience would be new to him. They had a blast going through the tunnel and looking at the sharks, and were shocked when their mom reached in the interactive pool, pulled out a horsehoe crab and turned it over, revealing its underside. But to see them at Ray Bay, petting the stingrays… I think the look on their faces was near priceless. I just wish I had remembered to bring my camera!

After the aquarium, we decided to take another stab at going to Yamato’s and this time, we were able to get in with no issues. I think everyone enjoyed the hibachi performance,(what is it with the males species and fire?) and both of the boys really liked Amy’s tempura appetizer, but I’m not to sure that Will was too keen on his hibachi shrimp. I think he was expecting fried popcorn shrimp. No matter – it made for a great Sunday snack for me.

Where was Victoria in all of this? Well, since school started, she has become the typical college student enjoying her newfound freedom. Football games, and visiting her friends in the dorms, and any other excuse to get out of the house. I can’t really complain, though. Her grades are good, and she hasn’t gotten into any major trouble. In fact, she has gone to Conway today to see if she can substitute at the elementary school on the days she doesn’t have class. Not bad….

[tags]Victoria, Brian, Will, Ripleys-Aquarium, Yamato, MagiQuest,[/tags]

This weekend, he made it quite clear that maybe he was lacking some quality time with his parents. He basically spent the whole weekend under Amy’s elbow, or cuddled with her in the chair. I wish I could have spent some time with him, but I had to work again this weekend. I can’t begin to tell you the guilt that washes over me when I peek into his bedroom at night and check on him. I plan to make it up to him on Saturday. I think he and I will go on one of our “man trips.” The only problem is that it won’t last as long as our usual trips, because I have to work again this Sunday.

Hey, Dad? If you’re reading this… I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry. Until now, I never really understood.

Amy has been taking classes for most of the summer. First, a week-long technology class and then a month-long graduate course for her re-certification. Now that her classes are over(she aced both of them), school is just around the corner. She has been spending the last few days trying to get her room ready for her new class of little munchkins.

Victoria has been doing well. She has already completed all of her summer homework, which is better than I could have done. She also has the oppourtunity to go to Italy in the Spring with a group of AP students. I was all gung-ho for her to go until we saw the cost and with the recent terror upheavals overseas. In my heart, I still believe we should send her if she still wanted to go, but it is a family decision that we have not made as of yet. She hasn’t really had much of a summer break this year as she’s been watching the boys everday while I’m at work and Amy’s in class. I’ve got to find some way to make it up to her… believe me, that many weeks straight having to put up with Will and Brian for that long can sap the life out of even the most dedicated person. Did I mention that she got her Driver’s permit over the summer? So, I’ve been trying to get her in the car at least 3 or 4 times a week. She has improved quite a bit since her first time out.

Will is going to be 5 this Friday. It’s really hard to believe that he is that old already. Of course, if you ask him, he’d probably think differently. Will definitely has a unique personality, and depending on his mood, he can either be quite the charmer – or quite the demon. Right now, Will’s greatest obsession is the xbox. He eats, drinks, and sleeps xbox – or more precisely, anything Star Wars that runs on the xbox. Now don’t get me wrong, this summer has been full of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger(1 and 2), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ultimate Spiderman, and Madagascar (All xbox games). But when it comes down to it, nothing beats Lego Star Wars. Brian and Will are re-playing this game from the beginning(again) to see if they can unlock the 2 pesky characters that they couldn’t get last time.(I think one of them may be Vader)

Brian is turning into a rather tall, rather energetic, health nut. I think he’s eager to get back to school just so he can race the other kids in class again. He doesn’t care for sweets and loves apples and bananas and plums. He claims they make him faster. We all went to the pool at the Maison yesterday, and I was very proud of Brian’s progress when it came to swimming. He must be practicing really hard in the bathtub!

Despite all of the extra work hours I’ve had to put in this summer(another subject entirely), I’ve tried very hard to spend more time with the kids this summer. It hasn’t quite gone the way I wanted, but I can honestly say that I have noticed more growth in all of my children this year more than any other. Not sure what that means… maybe I’m just getting more reflective… or maybe I’m turning into an old sap… heh, wouldn’t that be something?

So my car died this summer. Not quite sure what had happened to it. All we know is that if rained, the check ‘engine light’ would turn on and the car couldn’t go over 45 MPH. When it was dry, it ran as smooth as ever. But no one could find the root problem, so we decided to trade it in(on a clear day) for another. I ended up getting a great deal on a (used)2006 Dodge Stratus. I’ve had the car for a week now and am extremely happy.

On the work front, I’m trying to teach myself python. I figure it will help me with some repetitive sysadmin tasks that I want to automate. The fact that it is cross-platform, fairly easy to learn, powerful and free help with my decision making. I’m hoping I can put it to good use on both my *nix and windows servers. My friend and Co-Worker Vic has come back from his tour of duty overseas. Some of the stories he brought back are truly amazing. I’m just glad he’s home safe.

OK this has gone on long enough. I’ll try to keep the posts more frequent and less lengthy.