Nintendo is Trying to Make Me Better

First it was Brain Age, then Wii Sports, and now Wii Fit. These guys are making exercising and thinking hard fun. What's wrong with them?

I've only been playing Wii Fit for a day now and I have to say it is way too much fun for working out. The reward system Nintendo uses in Wii Fit and games like Brain Age totally dig into my game side and make me want to keep going even though the games are telling me to rest.

The really cool thing is, now I can try all those strange things that you'd normally have to go to a gym and work with a trainer. Like yoga. I don't know squat about yoga, but the game makes it easy and fun. True some will argue you can still exercise without a Wii, but what's the fun in that?

It makes since to me that these kinds of games are appealing. Today all we seem to focus on is how we can better entertain ourselves. I can't tell you how often I hear people complain they're board. I used to think it was just all these lazy American's, but I'm beginning to think it's a commonality among developed countries.

I just hope this doesn't turn into another piece of exercise equipment that gets used for a week then turns into a full time dust collector. Given what I've seen so far I think Wii Fit will last at least a month before I start to slack off. Time will tell. Don't tell Brain Age I'm playing Wii Fit, he hasn't seen me in a few months.

Indiana Jones

I know I'm not one to review movie's on my blog, but this is a special occasion. We're talking about Indiana Jones who is back from the 80's almost twenty years later. I have to admit, I'm actually a pretty big Indy fan. I even like to watch Temple of Doom now and then.

WARNING: Spoilers Below

Before I bash it, I must say it was good to see Indiana on the big screen. There were a lot of things I did like about this movie. I loved how they played into Harrison Ford's age. I think they nailed the 50's quite well. Story wise they worked in the warehouse scene that has the ark in it, and over all there was a lot of classic Indy action. For Indy fans, they'll love the references to the first and third movie.

I have a couple of minor complaints. I was under the impression we'd get to see Sallah again. Granted the movie never went to his part of the world, but he is a great character. I also think, but didn't expect it, this movie would have been a great for an adult Short Round appearance. Indy always has friends he runs into along the way anyway, why not have one we already know a little bit of his background?

Of course, my major complaint is the plot device. Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford have been reviewing scripts surrounding the crystal skull for almost 20 years and when it's all said and done aliens is the best they could come up with? Really? I'm sorry Inter-dimensional being that go to "the space between." Yeah yeah I get it, Ford didn't want to be in another Lucas movie with aliens so they played with names, but they look like aliens and act like aliens so they are freakin' aliens as far as I'm concerned.

The first three movies stuck to major world religions. Raiders was all about Judaism, Temple of Doom was about Hinduism (granted in kind of a dark degrading way), and Crusade was obviously Christianity. In all of those movies Indy doesn't believe the mythology behind the artifact, but through the course of the movie he learns there is something more to it and the audience comes to understand things on a greater scale (like maybe no single religion is right but there is something mystic about them all).

Last I checked we still have four major world religions the Indy series hasn't touched. How about we use those before we jump to aliens? Regardless of my complaints I would still recommend seeing this movie in the theater. Most likely this will be the last Indy movie, so if you want to see Jones on the big screen again (or for some of us the first time) this could be your only chance.

Quick Cube Update

In the time between this post and the last one, I had lunch and redesigned the middle of my cube. That is a totally attributed to how easy Sketchup is. It downright amazes me sometimes.

The redesigned middle allows me to actually rotate the faces of my cube now. Before it was just a big solid non-rotating brick.

Detailed Rubik's Cube in Google Sketchup

WARNING: Many pictures ahead and they were all harmed during the making of this post! Load at your own risk.

Finally my masterpiece is finished. I'm sure everyone wonders why did I waste my time with creating a rubik's cube in Google Sketchup? I mean, there so easy to make, and so many have already been made. What makes mine so special?


Well, mine has mad detail. It's way more than a cube divided up into 9 parts and colored in. I crafted each component separately, and to scale.



I was going to go into even more detail, but at this small of a scale Sketchup cannot do some things. For example, you can't make a circle with a radius of 1/64th of an inch. What gives? I just want to round some square corners.

Below are some images I took that looked interesting in Sketchup. Now, I need to figure out how to animate things and I'll really be in business.

Going to the Moon, brb

Look mom, I'll be on the moon. Anyone else want to go? Feel free to sign up here. All you have to do is click and type your name. You're sure to have a seat right next to Seymour Butts.

The General Grant

Seeing the General Lee across the street from the shop on a regular basis now made me think about things. I don't know if I would want to drive a car around with a confederate flag painted on the roof. This train of thought lead me to the picture below. It's so great what you can do with Google Sketchup these days.

Stimulus Package, where is the catch?

Because the last two digits of my SSN ends between 00 and 20, I got my economic stimulus payment today. I was very much under the impression this was a bogus deal. I was pretty sure the money was basically a forward of our 2008 tax return. After perusing the irs.gov site I found this in the stimulus package faq.

Q. Will the payment I receive in 2008 reduce my 2008 refund or increase the amount I owe for 2008?
A. No, the stimulus payment will not reduce your refund or increase the amount you owe when you file your 2008 return.

As far as I can tell, I was wrong. It really is free money from the government. Perhaps not free, I did learn (from Yahoo Answers no less) the stimulus package is basically a loan taken out by the government and passed down to us lowly individuals.

On the other hand don't the expert say we're in this financial mess partly because American's are in so much debt? Should not the government strive to the same financial goals as individuals. Surly they could set an example.

Mr. President, your stimulus payment insults me. Try managing the money I gave you in taxes for the last 13 years better before you concern yourself with my personal finances.