Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

One of the best ways to work of stress, I find, is good video game. My favourite genre are so called "First Person Shooters." This genre of twitch-gaming is one of the most action-packed, violent, and challenging types of gaming experience. It rewards fast, accurate reactions that take practice to develop. One of the newest such games is "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2." I've been playing recently and have to say it's a cinematic, exciting, and immersive experience. In it, you take the part of several different special ops soldiers tasked with a wide variety of missions. In one mission you have to capture an arms dealer fleeing through a Brazilian Flavela slum teaming with angry militia. In another, you have to escape on foot after your convoy in Iraq is ambushed. One minute you are directly airstrikes from a Predator drone and in another you are sneaking past Russian dog patrols in a pine forrest. Thrilling, thrilling stuff.



-t

Mass... The Video Game

I can't figure out if this is real or not. There is a website for the "game." And it does seem plausible... I like the game where the kids are swinging in the thurible!

-t

Madden '09 Ad

A friend of mine from College, Adam, now an Art Director for Ad Company, posted this very funny commercial for Madden '09 on his blog (I think that means he probably had something to do with its creation). Adam is a great guy.





Great ad for a great game.

-t

The Prodigal Priest...

Regular readers will probably realize that I've been taking my last week of vacation seriously. I really tried to avoid the church as much as I could. Alas, there were two important matters that did require my attention at the parish, but mostly I've just been taking care of errands and resting.

The big news is that we found a place to live. We decided to rent another apartment as we were having no luck finding a place in our price range anywhere near downtown. Renting we could spend a lot less and get something very nice and very close to the church. What we found was 20 McMaster Avenue. It's a house that was divided into two units. We'll have the ground floor and part of the second floor: 3 bedrooms with two full baths. We also have exclusive use of the backyard. You can see pictures on Betsy's Blog.

I think the cats will like the place, too. A few days ago Denise got out without her collar. Her collar has a bell on it that makes hunting more difficult. Sure enough, when she came back from her unhampered patrol she was holding a live mouse! She was so proud of herself. She strutted over to a corner of the kitchen holding her new toy, put it down, and then laid down next to it. The mouse sat there, stunned, for a few seconds and then made a run for it. Quickly but casually, Denise stood up and batted the mouse back and forth between her paws. By this time James caught on and wanted to play, too. When he got a opening he grabbed the mouse in his mouth and dashed away. I followed, and he seemed to realize that I was going to take his new toy away, so he stayed out of reach. Eventually I managed to get the mouse away from him and took it outside. Both cats were quite pleased with themselves.

Then, today, Denise brought a live pigeon into the house! It was still alive, but probably injured since it didn't seem to be able to fly. Betsy and our neighbor friend managed to get the bird outside. Sadly, we don't have pictures of either kill, although I'm very proud of Denise's skill. I'm sure she thinks that she is doing a great job defending us from the wild animals of Toronto.

BTW, I finished the video game "Grand Theft Auto IV." Well written, engaging. But it's definitely not for kids! Next up: Madden '09. My vacation isn't over quite yet...

-t

Life Without the Wife

We had a long but great staff meeting today. I'm really happy having Kerrie on board--she fits the team perfectly. We spent about three hours hashing through all kinds of projects. One of the things that made me really happy was the large amount of time spent on strategic initiatives--for instance, we are already talking about a meeting we will have in September to plan the year's calendar. The result of a more strategic view is much more room for creativity and exploration. I'm loving it. Things are flowing nicely! I would be interested to read a study about how time is spent in staff meetings. Intuitively, I would think about third of the time should be spent talking about the past, a third on the future, and a third on the present.

Betsy is getting along fine in Belfast. We have been talking on Skype and it works well for us. I even get to see a video feed from the camera on her laptop. She is still getting used to the time difference.

I've logged about 20 hours on Grand Theft Auto--which has gotten me about 25% through the game. I have to say that it gets more entertaining as it goes along and one learns the fundamental skills of the game (driving and shooting, mostly). The missions become more challenging and more interesting.

I'm also still mind-boggled at the amount of detail in the game. For instance, I took a character to a comedy club to earn their friendship, and Ricky Gervais did a stand up routine. Yes, the real voice and routine of Ricky Gervais. How's that for random?

Otherwise, I'm surviving Betsy's absence okay. I do miss her, though. I keep thinking I'm going to see her at the end of the day...

-t

Pure Pwnage

I'm still thinking of getting a PS3. That makes me think of games and gamer culture. There's a funny Internet series that was done a few years ago (and still being made) called Pure Pwnage. Part of what makes this really funny for me is that it's filmed in Toronto right in my neighborhood--so I recognize the street scenes. Here's the second episode in the series: "Girls."

My favorite quote: "It turned out that they're pretty good like defensively. Right away they repelled like my attacks. You know, like they had good base defense or something."

-t

Goofing Off

Very early this morning I dropped Betsy off at the airport for her (short) trip to Dallas. She is gone until Wednesday visiting an Art Exhibition along with a gaggle of students from her department (mostly undergrads) and a professor. I have to admit, I was feeling weird by the time I got back, like I was in danger or something. Such a mood can mean many things, including the possibility of some internal shift happening. Often I've found that death-omens portend periods of growth. The same thing can happen in congregations, BTW, that are poised to experience growth and change. Anxiety can be a good thing!

The sun still hadn't risen by the time I got back from the airport, so I went to bed. Many confused dreams. I've been reading Dante's Inferno, and I think some of those images may have invaded my dreams. That's telling, isn't it--a priest dreaming he's in the Sixth Circle watching the heretics burn in their sepulchers! Ominous.

I spent the rest of the day playing with the cats, watching TV, and basically goofing off. Tomorrow will be busy enough.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll finally get around to ordering parts for my computer rebuild. I also have a couple of meetings to attend and a staff meeting and so on. Tuesdays are a busy day.

Incidentally, I've been thinking of buying a PS3. You see, now that I have an HDTV it makes sense to have a Blu-Ray player. And the Sony Playstation 3 can play Blu-Ray discs for the same cost as a standalone player and can also do games and can play all kinds of media content (streaming audio and video, etc) and you even browse the internet with it on your TV. Pretty cool, heh? I don't know, it may need to wait until my birthday.

-t