Apparently, We All Spent the Weekend Playing "Guitar Hero 3"
Sometimes coming back to work on Monday feels like a reunion with old friends. This morning, we compared notes on our respective progress in everybody's current obsession, "Guitar Hero 3". I seem to be running comfortably in the middle of the pack here . . . playing at the Medium difficulty setting and unable to beat Tom Morello (the first major obstacle on the way to Hero-dom).
Most of us, at least, have the excuse of an appropriately-aged child or two for even owning such an extravagant video game. R_ the bass player's oldest boy is perhaps four years old, and wonders why all the songs are so short (i.e. 20-30 seconds from beginning to booed off the stage) outside of Practice mode. ("Well, son . . . you suck, " dad explains patiently.) J_ the drummer is proud of his little girl (6? 7?) who got all the way through "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" this weekend. His two boys (9 and 12) do considerably better.
Since both of my kids are better than I am, my most amusing stories have me as the butt of the joke. ("Then we got to the solo and the meter swung all the way to his side and stayed there through the end of the song.") But we have a whole lot of fun playing co-op career mode, so long as I'm willing to try the bass line. It gave me a sort of sympatico moment with R_ the bass player this morning as I described what it felt like for me to start being aware of that thread through the music.
Department of Ain't Technology Wonderful
Starting today, Netflix is removing the monthly time limit from their "Watch Now" feature . . . which means that I can stream a whole lotta movies (and TV shows!) to my PC instead of putting 'em on the queue and waiting for 'em to show up at in my mailbox.
The selection for movies is a little spotty, but I did watch Cool Hand Luke this way. And "The Office (Season 2)" here I come!
Nerd Skills Update
Typing Speed (Dvorak layout): 287 cpm, 1.7% error rate . . . a little more speed at the expense of accuracy.
I'll take it--I'm starting to feel like I actually know how to type again, after almost eight months since I began the switch.
Quote of the Day
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough. -- Mario Andretti