When my Xbox 360 died, I wasn’t surprised. Only someone with their head buried in the sand or up their tuckus was unaware of the pending doom that is the RLoD (Red Lights of Death). An early model 360 wasn’t so much a machine of gaming wonderment and joy so much as it was a ticking repair job time bomb. I knew the risks, the dangers, and went in anyway. When I was hit I took it on the chin like a man and dealt with it. Now I have a newer model, one with the latest chipsets, and am well pleased.

But yesterday… yesterday my PlayStation 3 fell. Everything seemed fine, and then BAM! Nothing. I reset the power, and all I got was a two second green light before it flashed yellow and then blinked at me with its mournful red light. No amount of resets changed things. It was over. An internet search informed me that it had fallen prey to the (previously unknown by me) YLoD, which I think you can work out the meaning of. What made the moment truly sad was that it was an original 60GB fatty model. What makes that special, you ask? Well, those models are 100% backwards compatible with PS1 and PS2 games. Newer models are either partially backwards compatible or not at all. The whole reason I bought the 60GB model PS3, in spite of the lack of compelling software at the time, was because I knew Sony was going to be ending their production of said 60GB models, and I didn’t want to run the risk of not being able to play older games, or worse… having to repurchase a PS2 and figure out how to plug it into my mess of an AV system. I liked my PS3, and I wanted to keep it.

Thankfully I found a place online that specializes in PS3 repairs, has a good reputation, and seems to work fast. Hopefully they can resurrect my baby and get it back to me soon. Here’s hoping. If they do, I’ll shout their praises to the heavens. If not, you’ll hear about that too. Cross your fingers for me.

Yeah, I’m about done. That didn’t take long, did it? I guess as I get older I have less and less patience for what I consider to be bullshit. All the endless crowds and lines and asshole people have conspired to drain just about all the fun out of this experience. Such a shame.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I have had me some fun. Yesterday I got to see Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillian in person, and that was a blast (my wife especially enjoyed the Fillian part – she loves her some Captain Hammer/Malcome Reynolds), and seeing the cast and writers from Family Guy and American Dad was great, but it’s everything surrounding those things that wore me out. By the time we were out of there, I had nothing left in me. And this morning, when I got up, I knew I couldn’t face another round offighting people and standing in lines, so I’m going to miss the Hereos and Lost panels. Not that I could have gotten into those anyway since people started lining up last night at midnight to get into those. I am bummed.

Plus, my wife is even more tired of it. She had planned on trying to get Dean Koontz’s autograph and sit in on his panel, but now she doesn’t even want to go back into the con at all. I hate that, because I knew she was really looking forward to that, and knowing that her fun has been taken away tarnishes the experience a bit for me.

Anyway, today I’ll I’m going to do is go the Starkville/Tenth Wonder panel, and then possibly see if I can find the Geekscape podcast, and then I’m going to leave.

I don’t think I’ll be coming back to the con for at least a couple of years. It’s just too much, and my patience is too little. Here’s hoping Dragon*Con proves to be a more enjoyable experience.

Dear lord, my feet are sore, and I think I nearly drowned in geekness. Yesterday was a Preview Night, with most of the time taken up by just getting our four-day passes (why they don’t mail them is beyond me, especially given the chaos of that process), but once we had our passes we went into the con and checked it out. First off, it is HUGE. I think the building is about five or so city blocks long, but after winding your way through throngs of people it might as well be five miles. My wife and I wandered a bit and bought a few shirts before she bugged out while I stuck around the do an interview with Jonathan London (http://www.geekscape.net). The walk out of there and back to our hotel felt like it took all the strength that I had left in me.

Once I was back in the room, I settled in at the small table, opened the program guide, and began to map out what panels I wanted to see. It was a healthy list. I then eat a burger, took a shower, and went to bed.

This morning my feet felt pretty good, which surprised me. My wife decided to rent a car so that she could tool around San Diego and perhaps go to Tijuana while I geeked out. Traffic nearly kept me from making it to my first scheduled panel, which was a solo discussion given by J. Michael Straczynski about professional writing. Luckily, I made it, and It was fantastic. On a down note, though, the recording I took of it is really quiet. I’m hoping that I can pump up the volume of his voice so that it is easier to listen to without also pumping up louder bits. We shall see. I then went to another panel (not as good), was somewhat forced to sit through another panel (meh), but then got to sit in on a fairly interesting talk. The recording on it was better. But, by the time that one was over, so was I. I managed to make it throuh one more, but that one was strictly for me. It was a spotlight panel on Bill Willingham, the writer of Fables, one of my favorite comics.

Once the panels were done I wanted to roam around the con floor a bit to pick up some new books and such. And, I managed to find a few good ones, but it took me hours to find them in the midst of everything else. Some cool finds just aren’t worth the pain.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day, but this time I’m going to take it easy. I’m going to skip a panel in the late morning and just try to get in early enough to get a seat in the Joss Whedon panel, which will be followed by panels for American Dad and Family Guy. I’m hoping I’ll leave tomorrow in better shape than I’m in now. Otherwise… ooff.

And with that, I bid you all a good night…

Yep, that’s right. I actually made a sale. One of my short stories was accepted by the online sci-fi magazine Ray Gun Revival (www.raygunrevival.com), and it will be published soon. The pay was small, but the validation and encouragement more than make up for it. I’m really excited. I’ll post more when I know more. So, for now, know that I’m one happy guy.

Also, I’ll be off this weekend to Comic-Con in San Diego (which in German means a whale’s vagina – true story). I’ve been looking forward to this since I failed to go to last year’s Comic-Con. I purchased four day tickets for my wife and myself as soon as they were available. I’m hoping to sit in on a lot of panels, and maybe get an interview or two that I can play on my podcast. Wish me luck! Either way, I know I’m going to have a good time. I’ll also be snapping pictures like crazy, so expect to see some of those.

Anyway, bye for now!!

I love video games. I always have, and I always will. My wife, while not a big player of games, still (thankfully) enjoys watching me play. Not all games, mind you. She doesn’t care for games that are nothing but running and gunning, games that are all violence and no story. When I want to play those, I do so on my own time. But, if the game has a good story, good characters, interesting gameplay, and something for her to help with (helping me keep track of items, level up characters, relaying how many laps there are on the track, etc), then there’s almost nothing she likes better than to snuggle in and watch. Her favorite games have been Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, Psychonauts, Project Gotham Racing, Fable, Grand Theft Auto 3, and surprisingly Bioshock – I didn’t think she’d dig the scary premise).

But, one genre of game she has given me no end of grief about until recently was music games. The first time she saw me try and play Dance Dance Revolution, she nearly hurt herself laughing at me, and when she saw my play Guitar Hero for the first time she raced for a camera to show my humiliation to her friends at work. She pretty much dislikes any game that uses something other than a standard controller to play it, and the more hand movements are involved, the more she dislikes it (one of the reasons I got rid of my Wii). So, when I picked up Rock Band, I didn’t anticipate anything different from her.

Anyway, one day while she was taking a nap, I decided to play a little. About an hour in, she wakes up and comes out to see me playing through the solo on “Wanted Dead Or Alive.” She chuckled, but she sat down and watched me play a bit. Then I played “Cherub Rock,” and it was all over.

You see, my wife is a big Smashing Pumpkins fan. They are her favorite band. Not the Amore stuff, though. Strictly Gish, Siamese Dream, and Mellon Collie. I knew that Rock Band had “Cherub Rock” on it, and I’d hoped that if I could get her to see me play it, that her love for the Pumpkins would be enough to make her want to play.

Boy, did that work! I’d bought the instrumentless version of Rock Band since I already had a guitar controller, so she asked me, “Can you get the drums for this?”

“Yeah, they sell them separately.”

“Then get them.”

I did. At first she was really hesitant to sit down and play it. Once she got over her initial fear, she tried a few of the easiest songs, and really had a hard time with them. She didn’t seem to be having fun, and I thought that she would probably give up.

Cut to today. While I was at work she called me twice to tell me how high her note streaks were while playing “Say It Ain’t So” by Wheezer and “I’m So Sick” by Flyleaf. She was having a blast, and “Cherub Rock” was only a small part of it. I was so pleased, and when I got home we played a bit together.

And sop there you have it. Rock Band, making marriages stronger.