Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta

As many of you know, I am an avid Xbox gamer. And as all Xbox owners know, Halo is the killer app for the platform. Halo 3 is launching in late September, but for the last couple of weeks, some Halo fans have had the opportunity to beta test the multiplayer part of the game. It's been a riot, the game is a ton of fun. There have been some very memorable games, one of which was a perfect game I had. I didn't die, my team cleared our objectives perfectly without giving up a score, and I led the entire team to victory. With Halo 3, there is a new "saved videos" feature that allows you save your game and watch it later. I've posted this perfect game on YouTube so everyone can share in my glorious victory. :)

1,100 miles

Well, I'm finally home from my East Coast tour. Home-basing out of the Philadelphia metropolitan area, I drove all over the eastern seaboard this week, braving heavy rains, snow, high winds and storms. In total, I logged over 1,100 miles on my little Pontiac G6 rental car, across 7 different states. You can actually see from the map just how wide ranging my travels were. I kind of miss the GPS lady in my trusty Hertz Neverlost navigation system...

Dover Township, NJ

Ever since Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle came out in 2004, I've had a craving for those delicious little cheeseburgers. But unfortunately, just as in the movie, the hallowed grounds of White Castle restaurants are very elusive...existing in only a handful of states in the northeast and midwest. Thanks to the power of GPS navigation with integrated phone books, I was able to find a White Castle relatively close by to my driving route today, only 2 extra hours out of my way. Seems long considering my original destination was only 30 minutes away, but it's more reasonable when you consider this is the closest I've been to a White Castle in 3 years. A long drive through the Jersey countryside and a couple hundred miles later, I had my hands on those delicious cheeseburgers that made Harold so heady that he became a new man, and that made Kumar finally realize his life purpose.

Southampton, PA

My original plan was to visit Steph and JJ in Southampton last week, but Steph up and had her baby instead. So we rescheduled for today... I got a chance to visit them at their beautiful new house in Southampton, hang out with Kaden (their 2 year old in the picture), get some home cooked grub from JJ's mom, AND watch Planet Earth over FiOS on their shiny new plasma HDTV. The 6-day old peanut was funny to watch, but I decided that bath time was my cue to exit and head home.

Philadelphia, PA

I was sitting around with Dave and Heidi this morning (in Fairfax, VA) having breakfast, and we were chatting about what we felt like doing today. Since the East Coast is getting hammered by a Nor'easter right now, we decided the best thing to do would be to head over to Philadelphia to get some delicious cheesesteaks. 2.5 hours later, we arrived at Pat's King of Steaks, where the cheesesteak was invented by Pat Oliveri in 1930. (Note Dave's drink in picture, we are not at Pat's.) Dave, Heidi and I all had a very delicious cheesesteak at Pat's, but noticed that there was another restaurant across the street called Geno's. Though Pat Oliveri was the first to put chopped up steak on hoagie rolls, Joe Vento of Geno's was the first to actually put cheese on such a sandwich, the key ingredient in said sandwiches. So Dave and I looked at each after finishing our sandwiches, shrugged, laughed, and then headed across the street to have another cheesesteak at Geno's. lol. Heidi, of course, just shook her head, not so surprised. We also ran up the stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (like in Rocky, the original movie), saw a secret Freemason meeting at Independence Hall, checked out the Liberty Bell, and cruised around the very unique and very cool sports complex (with venues for the Phillies, Eagles and Flyers). Good times on a spontaneous day trip before I dropped the two of them off at the train station to send them back home.

Fairfax, VA

After aforementioned ridiculously long drive down south, I've arrived in Fairfax, home of very good friends, Dave and Heidi. I get to hang out here for the weekend, catch up on 8 years of life, stay in their beautiful home, and do some sightseeing. Fairfax is a pleasant suburb just out of Washington, D.C. ("the District"), and apparently a pretty good central location for us to cruise around to fun places nearby. We headed into Arlington for lunch today to hit the Hard Times Cafe, a cool little chili joint here where Dave got some Chili Mac (pictured), and Heidi and I got chili dogs. YUM. Also got to visit Georgetown, see the waterfront (complete with a regatta and rowing teams, just like in the movies!), the historical landmarks in "the District," and grab dinner at Zatinya, a cool tapas place downtown. Good times.

Long Island, New York

After an epic raging bender in Manhattan, I figured I'd head across the river to Long Island and visit Yo, who's hanging out there for a few weeks after interning in SoNo, but before heading home to California. Just a quick visit to the L.I., because my final destination today was Fairfax, VA, near Washington, D.C. The GPS unit in the rent-a-car said it should have been just over a 4 hour drive. But due to the bender from the previous night and me getting a slightly late start to the day, I didn't get out of Long Island until almost 5pm. On a Friday night. With only one route available to get off the Island. I discovered NYC traffic, took me 3.5 hours just to get out of New York City. In total, nearly 8 hours to get to Fairfax. Thankfully, 5 Red Bulls later, I made it awake and alert. And kept Heidi up long enough to get some Taco Bell. Yum! No, the picture has nothing to do with Long Island, but I didn't end up taking any pictures out there. But I did like this picture that I took while walking around in Manhattan.

Manhattan, New York

After the customer meeting in Philly, my first stop on the whirlwind is Manhattan, New York, home of Forster. And what else would Forster and I do with only one night to hang out together? Party! The included picture on the left is the two of us after about 20 beers each. Forster: "Yeah, I'm about done with this." Wei: "Time for Indian food!" The beers were a great idea. The Indian food...less so. When we finally turned in at 6am (after getting Indian food and then watching some Team America), I crashed out to treasure the 2.5 hours of sleep I would grab before arising to tackle the next day.

Malvern, Pennsylvania

Today, I'm out in Malvern, Pennsylvania for a customer meeting with Unisys. This kicks off a week-long East Coast tour where I'll be cruising around and visiting friends, while getting ready for another meeting with Unisys next week. Malvern is a suburb about 45 minutes northwest of Philadelphia. The weather here is 45F and rainy. Makes me miss the absence of weather in California. Rain is so inconvenient. Then again, with temps this cold, it means the salsa and wine that I brought for friends will stay fresh without a need for refrigeration. lol.

It's alive!

Haven't had much to post about lately. Did recently discover a clever website related to the Xbox 360. Because Xbox Live provides a persistent on-line interface for the Xbox, 360voice.com has linked into the service to breathe life into Xbox 360's. Check out the blog being "written" by John's Xbox: gtdroptop

All NZ/Oz Photos Posted

Unfortunately, despite it's slick interface and useful tools, Picasa and Picasaweb just didn't have the storage capacity to hold all of our vacation pictures. So I've moved them all back to my regular location on Snapfish. We've now posted all of our New Zealand and Australia pictures on-line in 3 different collections. Check them out and enjoy!
- New Zealand
- Sydney
- Uluru and Cairns

Photo Album #4 Posted

I've posted the fourth album from our trip, this one is from the few days that we spent in Ayers Rock/Uluru. A very mystical place in the middle of the desert, we got a real feeling for what the Outback is like, and a good taste of Aboriginal culture. Some pictures from our 5am sunrise walk around the base of Uluru...a 5 hour hike where it was 120F in the shade. Pictures here: Uluru

Master sushi chef

So, I hear a friend of mine has MAD skillz at making sushi. Alas, I can't share this deliciousness with everyone, but you can virtually submit your opinion here: Sushi chef

Photo Album #3 Posted

I've posted the third album from our trip to the South Pacific. This one includes 135 pictures from all over Sydney. There is everything we saw in the city, at the various wildlife parks, the sunny beaches, the famous Blue Mountains, the Sydney Opera House where we saw Handel's Messiah, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge which Carrie got to climb. The photo album is here: Sydney

Ben in town for skiing

John's brother, Ben, is finishing up med school and will be spending the next couple of months in Taiwan on a hospital rotation. Since he had to fly through San Francisco anyway, he was able to swing an extended layover in the Bay Area to do some skiing. There wasn't much snow, but we still had a great time. Our friends Kevin and Lora joined us on the slopes at Sugarbowl as well. In the picture, you can see Ben and Carrie sporting their stunna shades.

1,000 little Dixie cups

I have to give the guys credit, they came up with an original idea. To be honest, I would have felt unloved if I came back from sabbatical with no prank waiting for me, I just wasn't expecting something quite this messy. My first day back in the office was started off by discovering 1,000 little Dixie cups on my desk, all stapled together, and mostly filled with water. And my co-workers, being the cost-conscious people that they are, made sure to save a few pennies by buying the cheapest cups available. Which meant that by the time I arrived, the cups were already starting to melt and leak everywhere. Let's just say that it was non-trivial to get my day started today.

New snow in Jackson Hole!

Carrie flew out to join in the fun in Jackson Hole over the weekend. Carrie's arrival also means an upgrade in accommodations from the Hostel to the luxurious Teton Mountain Lodge
(4.5 stars), new snow (3 inches) and warmer temperatures (+16F).

K2 Apache Recon All-Mountain Skis

Details: 174cm, radii 18.0, sidecut 119/76/105mm, fir/aspen core, traditional shape
Average retail price: $649
Conditions: Jackson Hole (Wyoming) sub-zero overcast, 3 inches of fresh powder in 24 hours.
Terrain: Groomed intermediate trails with soft chalky snow on top of hard ice, 3-6 inches accumulation of soft fresh over hardpack.
Review: This ski has clean graphics, in line with K2's tradition. I was however, very disappointed by their performance. Spent all day on the intermediate and advanced groomers, which chunked up through the day as the top layer was pushed off, and then new snow started building up mid-day. Granted, they were shorter than previous skis demo'd this week, but that should have made them more responsive. Instead, they felt clumsy and unresponsive. The Recons were light enough to turn pretty easily, but they carved poorly, and had a hard time holding their edge. Unlike the Volkl AC3's which were very confident in all conditions, the Recons were all over the place in the wide range of snow pack.
Score (scale of 1-3): 1 - Hated these, expected more from K2, would not buy them.

Pwn'd!!

The diagram you see in the picture articulates the details of just exactly how this narrow chute pwn'd me today. Granted, it's my own fault for turning into a gnarly looking chute on a low-snow coverage day, but who would guess that a marked trail on the map would be so hairy, or that the stream running straight through the middle was still running, despite the -10F temperatures?
1.) This is where my right ski nose-dived into a soft spot under the hard crust and popped off.
2.) This is the imprint of where my head was introduced to the hardpack after I was launched out of my right ski. Notice, no trail between points 1 and 2, that's all air-time, baby! (Loving my new helmet at this point!)
3.) This is where my body impacted after rotating over my head, creating the bounce for my next air.
4.) This is where I landed for the slide along hardpack before coming to a rest where the picture is taken. Notice again, no trail between points 3 and 4, more air-time, baby!
5.) This is the arduous climb back up to point #1, where my ski was. It's about 30 feet from my final resting place to my ski. Took about 25 minutes, because it's a 45+ degree slope with only a thin crusty layer of the snow, and 5 feet of soft stuff underneath. Kind of like trying to climb in quicksand.
And that's only one of my adventures today. Also came face first with aforementioned freezing cold stream, rode every single lift on the entire mountain, took the 4 lifts and 45 minutes (now that the tram is closed for replacement) to the top peak of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, experienced JHMR's famous 4,400 vertical foot top-to-bottom run (20 minutes, all black or double-blue runs), and rode a couple of JHMR's famous super-steep runs.
Took two days and some adjustments to my boots, but finally got my ski legs back and got to see everything this mountain has to offer.

Volkl AC3 Titanium All-Mountain Skis

Details: 184cm, radii ~19.5, sidecut 118/76/104mm, extended wood core, traditional shape
Average retail price: $899
Conditions: Jackson Hole (Wyoming) sub-zero mostly sunny, 0 inches of fresh powder in 24 hours.
Terrain: Groomed intermediate trails with soft chalky snow on top of hard ice, off-trail advanced in-bounds bumps with chunky, unpredictable conditions.
Review: After fighting with the twin tips all morning, I switched to the Volkl AC3's for the afternoon and the difference was night and day. They aren't overly shaped, allowing for cruising the groomers with gentle, large radius turns. It has some fancy technology, but it felt nicely stiff to me, holding its edge very confidently with zero chatter, and extremely stable at speed. The graphics are a little boring and generic, but that's once of the tradeoffs with an all-mountain ski intended for the masses. I enjoyed these so much, that I'm keeping them for tomorrow, which looks to be another groomer day, as this afternoon's snow showers never really materialized. I can't quite stomach $900 for a pair of skis when I rarely get more than 10 days on the mountain in a season, half of which are spent snowboarding now. And honestly, as confident as these skis are on the groomers, they are not a $900 improvement over my K2 Four's, which are very happy on groomer days.
Score (scale of 1-3): 3 - Very fun current-gen ski, would buy as a replacement/upgrade to outdated or broken skis