Not-so-Hotlanta

Apparently there is a normal font size. Let's experiment with that. So yeah, it was cold in Atlanta. Here is what is essentially a skillet dish at the Thumbs Up Diner. The skillet was very deep.

















Grits. They serve this with cheese which I guess I forgot to order? Otherwise it's rather plain. I sort of wanted some brown sugar but felt weird asking for it like anything not cheese would mark me.
















Gabe with what was essentially a fancy southern Bacon and Egg McMuffin and his MONSTER french toast.
















There would be a rec. league hockey game (oops! I forgot to pay you for that Gabe! next time...) later in the evening. A quick morning skate to get me used to those bladed things again.




















Odd, I could've swore I took this picture with two fingers up. Oh well...
















Goofing off at the skate shop where we got our skates sharpened.
















Visiting Georgia Tech where Gabe works. They have a really impressive looking super gym. Here is their cardio section with racquetball courts in the background.





















Olympic (as in 1996) Swimming pool with multi-story diving boards and all.





















Some rich alumni donated a bunch of money presumably for this facility. His one stipulation: they build a waterslide.





















Full on rock climbing as well! The building Gabe worked in was also rather impressive looking. There was a cheesy glass bridge with "ones" and "zeros" glasses stained etched in. Well the binary is cheesy.
















Dinner at "Korean Restaurant"
































































Kabocha or similar pumpkin stuffed with purple rice and stuffs.
















Duck stuffings.
















This duck had to be order in advance as it takes 4.5 hours to cook.
































And we sat at President Jimmy Carter's table. Here was HIS service bell. I ran it once. No one showed up.
















And at the evening rec. league hockey game, I managed to score a goal which was very exciting. The game was tied 2-2 after two periods. I was hoping to play more with my brother but he got drafted to go play on defense since he's a good skater. I was huffing and puffing. DDR training was just not enough but by the last two shifts, my body had caught up and I was feeling fresh and energized. Unfortunately we had a goalie meltdown and at this point the score was 7-2 =P oh well, it was all for fun. I just wish I had another go with the improved lungs for the full game.

Onward: Dirty South!

Visiting my bro in Atlanta.





















Between the Airport Terminal and Baggage claim, I saw FIVE of these. A sign to what sorts of foods I would expect? I should also note my horror while watching food network on the plane, there was this show called Paula's (Southern) Home Cooking in which the host was laying on the butter like it was gravy on turkey. Ugh, no wonder why...
















Atlanta Ribs. blurry ribs =P Good stuff. Probably could have gone for a full rack.

Mass Effect: umm...

So I've been playing Mass Effect lately. Actually I've been playing through this game a second time to see how different it is when you chose different options.

SPOILER ALERT

Pretty much it's the same game whichever way you play it. Unlike Knights of the Old Republic, being evil does not get you different powers. Instead, people just respond to your vitriol with some other line of dialogue and quickly forget you were being an ass. Even if you manage to really piss someone off like I did to one of my crew members, it was really of no consequence. =P The different endings are only slightly different with the different background locations for where the conversation takes place and so different dialogue. Not really a big deal.

Now here's something strange.



That's the big baddy in the game. But watch the first 30 seconds of this video...



Umm... I may be biased towards Star Control 2 but come on Bioware. That's a little too similar for tribute. What do you think?





















Uh... what?
















Riiiiiight... do yourself a favor and don't hit RB when you've been zapped with biotics.
















Again, this time by a psychic bug alien. Oh QA...
















Ah, fuck. Whose idea to make that rail exactly the width of my underside?
















And I'd hate to be all negative (although I'd blame QA in the above cases), but this section of the game was awesome to behold.

More fun to eat

I wish blogging about pasta was as enjoyable as eating it. =P

Game Vids

Here is a neat song using either mixed Atari sounds or a bunch of sounds made to sound like they are from the Atari. Hopefully the former.




And here is an interesting demo of a guy playing SMB with his hand as the controller. Make it to the end where he is controlling like 200 Marios in a wave. It'd be nice to see something like that coming out on the eye-toy for the Playstation. Hand controlled and possibly generated particle systems!

Join forces to form Voltron!

Bad lighting makes for bad photos. So when I first created this marvel, I was intending to make 1) a Squash Salad (something that looked like chutney was in my mind) and 2) Parsley Soup but two meh dishes joined forces to make a pretty decent ratatouille. A piece of toasted bread would have made it just right.
















Pesto Campanelle. A retread from maybe about two years ago.

Filler Post

Warning, post may contain excess use of the word "balls. "
Play Filler


















Click and hold to make "filler" balls. The longer you hold, the bigger the ball you get. Balls pop (and you lose a life) when one of the bouncy balls hits the "filler" ball you are making. Once you let go of the mouse button, that "filler" ball is final, meaning it can't be popped. The object of the game is to make enough of these balls to cover 2/3 of the screen. P.S. Balls.