Fireworks, Pew Pew Pew

My company is hosting a fireworks display for the coming July 4th holidays. Instead of the usual sitting outside, being eaten alive by mosquitoes, this event will occur indoors on the 64th floor of the office building. The interesting thing I found out was that the fireworks are actually going to be bursting about 20ft away from the building itself so we get a level-eye view of the fireworks as opposed to the usual ground-side view. There should be explosions all around and I just know I am going to instinctively reach for the shock paddles to do some medic-whoring!

Viva la Crawfish!

4th of July is coming up and since there hasn't been a really big social event in Houston for a while, I have decided to host a big party on Saturday, the 5th. As per special request from BluPnutMM, crawfish will be the main course again. It may be harder to get as they aren't in season anymore, but it's always worth a shot. Besides the crawfish, I am hoping this will be a potluck of sorts with everyone bringing some other foods to share.
Entertainment will probably be a healthy dose of Rock Band, Mafia, Bang!, and most likely some Karaoke at night.

*Update* Well, apparently, crawfish are actually still in season. Now the question becomes, Live or Cooked? Last time, the cooked crawfish was pretty good, if a bit spicy. Votes?

Etrian Odyssey 2

Read reviews on this game and they were all generally positive. What piqued my interest was that almost all the reviews noted the game for its punishing, merciless, unforgiving levels of difficulty; right up my alley! The Veggie clan was quickly registered with:

Cucumber -> Ronin
Grapes -> Protector
Catnip -> Dark Hunter
Kiratoma (stupid character limitation) -> War Magus
DataSix -> Hexer
Lemon -> Land shark

So far, Cucumber and Catnip have been slain by a giant caterpillar who 1-shotted them. I have also had my first voluntary encounter with a FOE and I learned a valuable lesson. When the warning says, DON'T FIGHT THE FOE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HALLWAY, don't fight it...That thing 1-shotted everyone.

WANTED!! Dead or....Dead preferably

Kung and I were playing some Rock Band last night and for some inexplicable reason, I decided to sing. Ahh, the soothing ballads clearly got all the locals revved up as I think half the dogs in my neighborhood were howling by the end of my rendition of Wanted: Dead or Alive. By default, it doesn't actually play your voice over the speakers, but by holding down the left trigger, you can share your awesome voice talents with everyone playing. The best parts are when I have no clue how the song goes, so I just sorta mumble my way through, Just like a real rock star...

Cheap Parts

The prices for computer parts seem to be super cheap these days. Have been helping Catnipped with a new computer ever since the old one was devoured whole by age, and now, I am tempted to get some upgrades for my existing computer. They had 4 gigs of ram for $60 on Newegg. Totally makes me want to get another 2 video cards...

Cudrummernator

After a pretty long migration last night, I decided to check out the drum aspect of Rock Band. The foot peddle really could have been better ergonomically designed. The cord is too short, which limits where you can put it and the default position leaves you feeling so cramped up while sitting. Despite this however, playing the drums is an incredibly fun aspect of the game. If only my legs didn't hurt so much after playing them for an extended period of time...

Are you ready to Rock???!!!

Ever since VO4, I had wanted to pick up Rock Band simply because I think it would be a really fun party game when friends like the BluPnutMM couple and the Austin bunch come over. However, the price has also been a bit high as I didn't quite feel like paying $170 for the whole set. Well, on Sunday after having lunch with Potato, Tomator and Papaya, I decided that I would finally make the acquisition. Since Papaya needed some speakers for his PC as well, we all went to Fry's Electronics. Lo and Behold, it was only $140! Needless to say, I quickly made the acquisition and there was much rocking the rest of the day. Now I have Maps stuck in an infinite loop in my head.

On the NWN2 side of things, Kira, Grapes, and I will most likely be playing through the official campaign. I will likely be a pew pew sorcerer type character. This possibly stems from the awesome Icelandic movie that Dragonfruits recommended to us during VO4. After the movie, I think we all had an itch to try some classic P&P D&D. This was the next best thing.

Wake Island 2142

They released some new maps for BF2142, specifically Wake Island 2142 and Operation Shingle. They also tweaked the ARs a bit and fixed some of the badges. Link to official site here. Perhaps it's time to revisit that trusty VOSS.

What is More Fun than a Barrel Full of Monkeys?

The obvious answer is a colonoscopy. Took mom to get this procedure done today. I am pretty sure it could have been planned better as you aren't allowed to eat anything for a day before the procedure, but she also had to sing in this benefit concert for the SiChuan earthquake victims. Needless to say, she was pretty exhausted after the entire thing. Luckily, nothing abnormal was found, so all is well.