If you want to read about Saffron instead.
August 29, 2008
DTD on Hard with no lives lost!
On DTD, with a teeny bit of tweaking and more attention to the timing (no juggling though), I was able to make my previous maze that helped me finish the hard level into one that didn't let a single creep through! Total score, 7350 and the final maze. OK, so maybe I'm really done with this game now...
Posted by matthew at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2008
Seattle Mariners baseball game
Yesterday, I was in Seattle for work and there happened to be a Mariners game on as well, so my colleagues and I went to Safeco Field to take it in; and the Mariners even won 3-2! Memories of the nearby noisy train, the moving giant roof cover and copious stat keeping/reporting are still swirling in my mind.
Posted by matthew at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2008
Desktop Tower Defense on Hard
I found an open internet connection and was able to satiate my desire to finish the tower defense game on hard (previously finished on medium) - here's the maze that I made to make it all work and I barely survived with only 1 life remaining - yea, I'm done! Now onto my real life...
Posted by matthew at 1:08 AM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2008
Online glasses gamble
Ever since reading about purchasing glasses online I've been interested in doing it. Unfortunately, I don't need glasses so when Saffron took it upon herself to snap Heidi's only pair, the opportunity to get some opened up.
First, she needed her prescription from the optometrist, then off to get some extra measurements from the drugstore and after looking around at a lot of different websites and a lot of different glasses, Heidi decided to get three different pairs, the main ones, the movie watching backups and the sunglasses (you can get any glasses tinted).
With an investment of $75 for three pairs of glasses including taxes and delivery, it's a gamble that I'm excited to take - we'll let you know how it works out...
Posted by matthew at 7:43 PM | Comments (1)
Anguish of a Down's baby
First off, this story has nothing to do with the upcoming arrival of our second baby but I thought that the story was interesting enough to share with you all.
A woman in the UK had a baby which had been screened for Down's in utero (came back 1 in 35 million chance) but when the baby was born it clearly had Down's. The anguish and disappointment of the mother was very clear.
I felt nothing but coldness. I couldn’t even hold her or feed her. I told the midwife to get this thing away from me. I was totally distraught... All I could think was I’d been cursed and that I couldn’t imagine coping with a disabled child, let alone what I regarded as the stigma of having one.
Continue reading "Anguish of a Down's baby"
Posted by matthew at 9:33 AM | Comments (0)
Tower Defense Addiction
For the last two days I've been addicted to this strategy game called Desktop Tower Defense where you try and block little critters as they go from one side of the screen to the other. After a bunch of tries, I was able to come up with a maze that got me all the way through the medium level (pic above), but I haven't made it through the hard level yet. I've since blocked the site on my home network because it's too addicting, so I guess I'll never know if I can make it through the tough one or not... Unless I can come over and play at your place *smile*
Posted by matthew at 8:55 AM | Comments (1)
August 10, 2008
Interesting Wooden Mirror
Picture from Environmental Graffiti
This video has been traveling around the net for a long time (about 9 years!) but I still think that it's pretty cool. Not a terribly hard thing to implement necessarily (it's just like your tv, but with bigger blocks) but seeing the finished product is pretty slick. My favorite is hearing the sound of all these little blocks moving as they change en mass from dark to light.
Posted by matthew at 8:28 AM | Comments (0)
August 9, 2008
That ain't no etch-a-sketch
Photo by etchasketchist
I found a really talented artist who does his work on an etch-a-sketch. Tough to make anything but stairs on there for me but he seems to make it work. Some other ones that I liked were the Daniel Plainview, the Princess Bride, and the Halo.
etch-a-sketch artist homepage
flickr photostream
Posted by matthew at 8:56 AM | Comments (0)
August 8, 2008
Auspicious 08/08/08 08:08:08p
Picture from 3rd Foundation
Besides being a really easy day and time to remember, it's also a very auspicious day for Chinese people meaning that a lot of people are going to make their friends and family choose between their wedding and the Olympics opening.
Hey, even our friend is doing it; mostly for the ease of remembering though.
Posted by matthew at 8:08 PM | Comments (0)
Uncontacted Tribes
An old article from CBC shares how there are some people groups out there that have had no contact with the outside world. I was unaware of that!
It's pretty cool to think that there are people out there still living in the jungle that are blissfully unaware that there's a technologically advanced culture living so near to them. Makes me wonder what I'm missing...
Posted by matthew at 5:52 PM | Comments (0)
August 7, 2008
BC's Sesquicentennial
Photo from jonrawlinson
In 1858, the mainland colony of British Columbia was formed, they joined Canada 13 years later (in 1871) which was 4 years after Canada entered its own confederation (in 1867). It has been 150 years since their inception as a colony/province (that's sesquicentennial - look it up). Let the celebrations begin!
Posted by matthew at 2:48 PM | Comments (0)
July 24, 2008
Crime Fighter Preventer
During our trip to the Othello Tunnels, the park checked my car and gave me a thumbs up for being a Crime Preventer! (probably because I removed my CD faceplate)
Posted by matthew at 1:11 PM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2008
Moving the gigantic rim
Our friends, Luke and Janell, came up to see us for a few days this weekend and took it upon themselves to help out with some jobs around the house. We decided to try and move a huge rim that was on our back lawn and make it the center of our fire pit. It's an extremely heavy rim that weighs probably 500-600 lbs. We ended up moving it by brute force with some long branches for leverage at points taking a little bit less than 3 hours in total. Now our fireplace looks a lot more awesome - we love it!
Update - It's a rock crushing casting - not that I know what that is.
Posted by matthew at 8:22 PM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2008
Conflicting Circles
Picture from jeffbridges.com
I had to try this out, just like you will. Find out if it's true.
While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction and there's nothing you can do about it.
Link via digg.
Posted by matthew at 5:08 PM | Comments (0)
July 9, 2008
Hike thru Washington, DC
I went on a 6km hike through downtown Washington and got to take in a bunch of great sites, like the Metro (smooth ride and clean; longest escalator ever!), Capital Hill (big!), Washington Monument (monumental!), WWII memorial, The Reflecting Pool (Clint Eastwood courting Rene Russo - gross), Lincoln Memorial (monkeys?), The White House (kaboom!) and some great Sushi to end it off - yum.
Posted by matthew at 11:58 PM | Comments (0)
