Plaidsoft was born a year ago yesterday! YAY!

The kitties were born a year ago on this coming up Tuesday! YAY!

Two weeks ago I was surfing the interwebs and I happened upon an article about a group of dudes who had plans to run through four Legend of Zelda games (Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess) in 48 hours - Friday 5pm to Sunday 5pm - and stream it live. I made a mark on my calendar to watch the spectacle on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday I booted up my computer and pointed my browser to the broadcast to see that he had already beaten OoT and headed on to MM, and they started taking pizza donations. The day trudged along and I left for my soccer game and went to bed. Sunday morning I opened up the laptop and noticed they had converted their pizza fund to a donation to Child’s Play, a charity that brings entertainment into the lives of sick children via video games and boardgames. In the 48 hours they didn’t complete all four games, but they did gather over $1200 for the charity. Quite generous of their viewers.

So generous, they decided to do it again the next week, and every following week thereafter, hoping to raise at least $10k by the end of the year. Last week they attempted a speed run through the Zelda game they didn’t complete (Twilight Princess) and gathered over $300 in 12 hours! This week they are going to make a run through Paper Mario. Since they haven’t played it before, they’re starting early - around 10am (central time) - and are, again, accepting donations for Child’s Play.

Their live broadcast can be viewed on cameronbanga.com (with their blog), or justin.tv (with live chat). If you would like to donate to the cause, you can do so through their PayPal account.

It’s only a week into 2008, and here I am preparing for another conference. This time it’s a little bit more in my area of interest. Unfortunately, since my company is paying for the registration costs and the room, I won’t be able to decide *all* the sessions I attend - just a few of them. I’m sure the sessions that are beneficial for the programming group will be interesting. A ‘party’ is scheduled for the end of the day Friday. When I think of conferences and parties, I immediately flash back to the rave that was featured at the tanning conference last October. Since this is a programmer’s conference I imagine the party will be much less retarded. I hope.

On the subject of 2008, I thought I’d share some of my resolutions.

1. Fix my bike or buy a new one.
2. Between biking and running, travel at least 150 miles.
3. Post in the blog more.
4. Learn PERL or Python.

I ran 3 miles in the past week, and made 3 posts in 3 weeks. I think I’m doing pretty good.

I hope everybody had an excellent non-denominational winter holiday this year. I know I did.

Aside the joy of hanging out with family, old and new, I got a couple bottles of tasty adult beverages, and a lot of gift cards that should keep me entertained for-cheap for quite a while. Even a surprise gift from the Smart Tan peeps that was both greatly appreciated and highly unnecessary. I still have another to go to before the end of the year. Glad there’s only one more too. Yesterday pooped me the heck out.

Did any of my three readers get anything notable this non-denominational winter holiday?

Over the weekend I went to Cedar Point for the last days of Halloweekends. It was pretty cold out, and the lines weren’t any shorter. It really wasn’t more fun than a normal weekend at Cedar Point. I did have a good time, though. The part that sticks out in my mind most is the parts where I came up with three awesome ideas for products.

1) Ketchup Bidet - Much like a regular bidet that removes the need to smear poop on your posterior with toilet paper, a ketchup bidet will remove the need to smear spilled ketchup all over the table with a napkin. Through the power of OxyClean, ketchup will be neatly and quickly washed away. Industrial models brought to you by SuperSoker.

2) Chicken Brat Pie - This is a lot like a chicken pot pie, but instead of a flaky crust, you get a meaty one. The bratwurst sausage will be molded to the bottom of a small pie tin. On top of that is the chicken filling. Then comes another layer of bratwurst meat. Pop it in the oven for 30 minutes and you have some delicious meaty goodness.

3) Corny Dog - Hotdog covered with chili covered with corn bread. Need I say more?

The last day was really slow. Fortunately it was also short. After four hours on the floor we started packing up. It only took 15 minutes to get all our crap out of the booth and on the palette to head back to Michigan. Afterward I met up with Bruce and we did more touring of Nashville - this time of the Vanderbilt University area. After that, we met up with the son of one of our really big customers who also happen to be good friends of Bruce and Tim outside work. I forget the name of the restaurant but they served really good food.

The flight home was alright. Finally got to start the newest Zelda game - the one I had wanted to start all weekend. Got back home to see the excellent job my parents did to spruce up my house a bit. It looks really good and I really appreciate the help they gave over the weekend. I picked up Orange Box and attempted to install Windows XP as a secondary OS - an experience that has reinforced my hatred for Windows. I managed to get the installer to recognize my system to install the upgrade version I had laying around, saving me $200 I would have spent buying a new version, and I’ll be able to play Portal to my heart’s content tomorrow.

I’m squealing with joy at the idea of sleeping in my own bed tonight.

Today was another successful day. Set up early and let the awesomeness of the site work its magic the whole day. We even left the conference floor 2 PM, after Bruce and Tim got here, to take a tour of the downtown area. It reminds me a lot of what Detroit should look like in twenty years. At least I hope it looks this good. We went to a BBQ place for lunch - it was delicious - and we hit up the less-than-stellar Oktoberfest that one of Tim’s friends told him about. Dinner was at a brewery, followed by a ‘party’ that the ST folks were really excited about. It was more of a club shindig than a party. Music too loud to hear anybody talk, lights too dark to see anybody or anything, except the ones that periodically shine in my eyes that I love so much. I stayed for about 5 minutes before heading back to my room. I can deal with the tanning scene, in which I clearly do not belong, but clubs are where I draw the line.

Got up early to set up the network. That went better than I’d hoped. During the show, I was only called once to unlock a door for which I had the only key. I was not bothered a single time regarding the site. I’d call the whole day a huge success. While I wasn’t at the ST booth, I wandered around looking at the tanning stuff and the girls. The tanning booths were funky lookin’ and the girls were… oh my god hot. The chicks from that one tanning show on E! (don’t really watch that channel, couldn’t tell you the name) were there and they’re quite the hotties in person. I got their autograph and the autograph of a chick who was signing posters for the sole reason that she was hot. As far as I could tell she was not famous in the general meaning of the word. I don’t mind.

Oh and here are some pictures. Today it’s a few photos of the hotel and some of the more interesting tanning booths.

THE FLIGHT

The flight was short - almost too short. I didn’t even get to finish the podcast I was listening to. The guy in front of me fell asleep and his head would roll forward then jerk back reflexively. I thought that was really funny for some reason. The cabby who took me to the hotel didn’t wear any shoes.

Speaking of the hotel, we’re staying at the Opryland on Smart Tan’s tab. I’m sure it wasn’t an inexpensive gratitude they showed us, and I really appreciate the opportunity to stay here. It’s friggin huge. I had to ask directions from one of the bellhops to my room. I’ll have some pictures when the trip is done. I’m off to help set up our area.

THE WALKTHROUGH

After arriving to my room, we all walked around the conference hall. But not before me getting lost again, pressing the down button on an elevator, and making some guys who wanted to get off on floor 6 get off on floor 5. It took all I had to not bust out laughing at them. On the way to our meeting place I got confused and managed to find my way onto the conference floor without a badge (which is required). The real walkthrough was uneventful. I can’t wait for gameday tomorrow. Apparently the Dallas cheerleading team might make an appearance.

That brings the total ‘lost’ count to 3, but I’m getting the hang of the place.

PRE-GAME PARTY

Drinks, drinks, drinks! I had a hell of a time hanging out with the ST folks. Jack Daniels’ Bar was a hoot and a half. The live band there kicked lots of ass.

Nothing really bothered me this week, at least not enough to rant about. I got a bunch of neat things for my birthday - a bonsai tree and a bunch of really cool pictures for my walls.

Saw Superbad, it’s super good. Saw War, it’s super bad. Went to Cedar Point, my face is super sunburned. That’s my week in a nutshell. I’m gonna stop now so this doesn’t sound like every other dumb blog. Too late, I guess.

I’ll have another Tuesdays with Flannel up some time this week for those who enjoy them.