21 March 10

It is almost time agian for me to trade the comforting embrace of terra firma for the cold blackness of the briny deep! Before I depart, though, I wanted to give the ol' website a little TLC.

As I mentioned last time I updated, I've been playing an awful lot of Mass Effect 2 lately. I've finished the game finally, and I've included a review which you may access through the internet below. Suffice to say, I like the game a whole lot! Probably one of the best I've played in a long time.

In other news, I recently washed my beloved 2nd generation iPod nano.  After a thorough wash and permanent press drying cycle this little exemplar of modern microcomputer technology no longer functions, as one might expect. This put me in the market for a new iPod. I looked around at the models available, and finally chose one of the 160 gb iPod classics. I knew I needed more than the 8 gb of memory that the 4th gen nano could provide. I also didn't want to go for one of the 32 gb iPod touches, since they are rather expensive and I already have an iPhone, and don't need to double up on that functionality. So, now I have a device that can comfortably fit my entire music collection with plenty of room to spare. I've also purchased several seasons of anime from iTunes, with the idea that I can enjoy it while I'm underway. Another advantage of having so much storage space is that I can download a ton of podcasts to it. For those of you who weren't aware, a podcast is essentially a talk radio show that is downloaded to your iPod. Some are free, while some you have to pay a subscription fee to access. One of the shows that I found which I'm really enjoying is The D6 Generation, which is all about gaming, whether it be the board, table top, or video variety.

Speaking of which, I've recently started playing a new table top game, called Firestorm Armada. It is a space-based combat game, much like my first love, Battlefleet Gothic. The rules for this game are quite a bit simpler than BFG, which makes for a quicker game. Also, it comes along with a new batch of minis which look absolutely awesome! I've chosen the Terran fleet, and I've finished one of my ships, which you can see here below. My plan is to finish the rest of the fleet in this scheme, so I will post some more pictures when I get them done. At some point, I plan on launching a section of the website devoted to the game, but that is in the future for now.

It is hard to believe, but I've been living here in San Diego for almost a year now. It won't be long before Gwen and I will be heading back east to Virginia! Gwen's father, Jim, has graciously offered to come out here to help us drive our cars and some of our stuff across the country. It should be interesting trying to drive a cat and a dog 3,000 miles! Our house search is progressing slowly; it is hard to say which way we will go at this point, since we are still more than a month out. But, we have been looking at several places in the Lorton, VA area. This area has the advantage of being close to the base I will be working at, which will minimize the commute time. Given that this is Northern Virginia we are talkign about, being able to avoid rush hour traffic on I-95 and all of the attendant hazards to life and limb that come with that endeavor are an incalculable advantage!

Well, that about wraps it up for this round. Until next time, remeber: It's a long way to Tipperary!