Nemo's Reef

Parenting, man: who knew it would take up so much of your valuable gaming time? I mean, I have tried everything to get my now sixteen-month old to engage and game with me, but he just won’t do it. We tried a little Minecraft together and at first he was distracted by the colors or maybe it was the game’s aesthetics? Okay, okay, it was the sounds the cows, sheep, and pigs were making. And before you get all PETA on me, I promise you none of the virtual animals were hurt in the creation of this post. No, that’s a lie, too. I’ve tried to make my character into a vegan, but why eat mushroom stew when beef and pork is so plentiful? But ultimately he gave up on the gameplay in favor of chewing on the left joystick on my Xbox controller. I don’t blame him, though; they do have an interesting texture and a surprisingly mellow yet distinctive flavor. I tried to bribe him with an old 3rd party Dreamcast controller but he wasn’t biting (get it? Biting? Ha, I kill me!). I guess once you have a taste for Xbox, no other can replace the craving. So, long story short, it was the end of our short-lived foray into gaming together: or was it? Upon his first trip to his new pediatrician’s office out here on the west coast I noticed just how fascinated he was with the fish tank, something that unfortunately due to the two crazy Siamese cats that I mention in my bio, we cannot have in our home. But thanks to a quick search on the App Store, I found the next best thing: Enter Nemo’s Reef.

Banana Pancakes

“But, baby, you hardly even notice, when I try to show you this, song is meant to keep ya, from doing what you're supposed to, waking up too early, maybe we can sleep in, make you banana pancakes, pretend like it's the weekend now…” – Jack Johnson.

Why I Write

As I lay in bed this morning, unfortunately mere minutes before my alarm was supposed to sound, I had one question and one question alone on my mind: Why write? There are a ton of professions I could long for, many different dream jobs I could aspire to. So why do I write? It’s a simple question to think about really. Why do any of us do the things that we do? Why are we compelled or driven rocketing towards one goal while completely avoiding others? I often find when we’re exploring things that should be the most basic we find that the answers are not so simple. For instance, why I write.

Clash of Clans

So my time that was once devoted to such things as a quest to beat Zelda (I haven’t quit yet, I was just delayed) and Minecraft on both my iPhone (I deleted my game level by accident) and Xbox has now been taken over with a new obsession: Clash of Clans. Somehow I managed to escape Farmville and Mafia Wars, but I was sucked into Clash of Clans by a co-worker. At first I thought this was going to be just a brief obsession that would quickly fizzle out. The game is pretty simplistic, but somehow something that started out as a time waster back in February has turned into a juggernaut. I’ve made it thus far without spending a single dime on this “free” game, but the temptation is growing. I mean, who doesn’t want a Barbarian King, right? And I now find myself asking just how bad do I still want Dragon’s now that my wife has gone all Daenerys Targaryen on me? Oh yeah, that’s right, even my wife is sucked in now…

Mutant League Football

Last year I remembered my best friend by sitting down and conquering a game from our youth that we never had a chance to beat together; Mega Man II. This year I had plans of continuing that same tradition with the second annual Mega Man II Marathon, but as I previously mentioned in last years Mega Blog, life is what happens when you’re busy making plans. My two cohorts from last year’s marathon were scattered across the United States. Joe is keeping America’s skies safe as a member of the Vermont Air National Guard Alert Detachment, and Covino is touring the country in support of his amazing documentary A Band Called Death (If you haven’t seen it yet, you should and chances are it’s coming to a theater near you!). So that left me to sit down solo and take on the behemoth that is Mega Man II. The only problem with that is I don’t exactly have the free time that I used to (notice the blogs have been a little light lately - sorry about that). I have this tiny dictator in my life now that I love to pieces but that doesn’t give me a lot of time off. So with that in mind, I changed the game…

Batman (1989)

“Tell me something, my friend. You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?” That’s right, I made it back to Throwback Thursdays at Essex Cinemas and the movie was the 1989 Tim Burton classic Batman! This was something to get excited over and also something to beg my wife for a kitchen pass for (thanks sweetie). Batman was a movie that influenced my childhood and well, I guess with my Batman apron, baby batsuit and comic collection, it’s a film that still influences my life.

Bacon Christmas/Maple Bacon Cheesecake

The patron saint of Bacon Christmas

So last year we were invited to participate in a new holiday celebrated by my brother and sister-in-law called Bacon Christmas. Yes, I’m saying that there is something bacon that I didn’t create, I only got to bore witness to, but I was very thankful that I did. From the Bacon bearded, eye-patched, Bob Dole Whiskey offering to the two pounds of bacon-covered turkey, to the Corned-beef stuffing, it was a holiday celebration of excess and awesomeness.