So today, I was heading to the Microcenter to try and mend my broken computer. I experienced a hard drive crash – the irreconcilable kind where it sounds like the heads are actually trying to escape from the drive. After a maddening series of roadblocks, I managed to recover our Quicken data. It had been moved to the desktop computer because the laptop had died and the desktop was, you know, more reliable. My first replacement drive, a 200GB Maxtor, refused to be recognized by its own setup software. It recognized my OLD 200GB Maxtor, but not this NEW one that came in the box with it. I now have a 250GB Hitachi Deskstar (OEM). The Deskstar line enjoyed a pretty good reputation under IBM – we’ll see if Hitachi took over the quality as well as the name.

So yea, I was heading to the Microcenter when Pastor Donnie called. He and a friend were in need of some Hawkeye football action and there was no Big Ten Network to be found. I was able to ease their pain. This was at 2:00. They came on over for the game at 2:30, and I got there at 3:00 thanks to the construction on Metcalf. The game was tragic. My guests called it a ”comedy of errors”. It was comical for a while, but then I was ready for grown-up football time. It never came. I think the “Hawkeye Highlights” section of the site is ready to retire. There won’t be anything to add this week.

I had been invited to play pool with some friends, which I’d declined in order to watch the game, but those fellows came over afterwards to watch some UFC action. Speaking of those guys – one of them mentioned that tonight was day 128 of his complete sobriety. We discussed more details than I’ll share here, but yes – this is a big deal and I’m extremely happy for him and his family! Shortly before all that, Jeff called and invited me out to Buffalo Wild Wings with some friends – to watch the UFC. I mumbled something about watching it at home, and he thanked me for inviting him. I pretty much deserved that.

And speaking of Jeff, he was one of the two friends that had wounded XBOX360s (the clean one). My 360 is currently on the way back to me – hopefully in better condition than when it left. I had gotten the RMA packing materials from Microsoft, and as I was packing it up my 3-year-old says “Are you going to send it back to Jesus?”

…

I know that Jesus solves problems. To be fair, I didn’t really give him a chance on the 360. I guess I could have prayed about it, but I figured I’d just send it off Microsoft since it was a known issue. I explained to her that fixing video games wasn’t really what Jesus did because there were some nice people in McAllen, Texas that had that job already. She understood.

I was really starting to think that I was going to get away without this issue. I have been putting the ole’ 360 through its paces with Halo 3 over these last five weeks, but to have it just suddenly break… man, that is cruddy. And that is exactly how it happens. I know of a few personal cases and many, many thousands reported online. Everything seems fine, and then the thing just quits working one day.

It doesn’t seem to even be tied to any sort of abuse. I have two friends that had the problem about the same time. One of these friends is very neat. The house is always clean, no kids using the system, and it sits on a hard surface with good ventilation and never moves. The other friend has many children that often go bonkers over the machine. It is very likely that the dog peed on it a few times (after he chewed up all the cords) and the inside of the machine might very well reveal traces of pancake batter and yogurt.

Both machines died around the same time. Now mine has gone to join them. I guess I’m glad it happened within the new 3-year warranty period, but no Halo for a few weeks makes Bill sad.

Another thing that makes me sad is being late for church all the time. This past Sunday, I was in such a hurry that I executed a textbook smash-through-garage-door maneuver in order to shave a few seconds off my time.

I hope you enjoyed that added bit of drama. I put it in there just for you! The truth is that I mistimed the door opening by a second. It is one of those habitual tasks that just got the wires crossed. I have the door timed inside my brain. I usually look back there to make sure it is open, but that is always just ceremonial. I’m not really paying attention to the door.

Well this time I didn’t look, and I did catch the very bottom of the garage door with the very top of the van. Fortunately there was no body damage to the vehicle. It did smash up taillight above the rear windshield. The garage door itself was mangled only slightly, and I was able to use additional mangling to get it back into working order. You’d probably have walk up to it to tell it was damaged, so I don’t foresee us fixing or replacing it any time soon. I should probably repair the van just so that molding doesn’t fall off on the highway and land me in a lawsuit.

Just when I thought my life wasn’t interesting…

I do however, blog about the children, the Hawkeyes, and video games quite a bit. Those things are pretty interesting to me – if not anyone else. I got my Hawkeye Highlights section updated, though I hesitate to call most of them “highlights”. It was a great game today; however, as Iowa took double-overtime to defeat Michigan State in Iowa City. I was a little disappointed that it even came to overtime after a disappointing final defensive series.

Of course it could also be said that they were lucky to even be in the lead at the end of the game after riding Albert Young for 5000 yards or whatever it was. Iowa has a decent shot at bowl eligibility, and if they win out ( no small task, I know ) it will be all but a sure thing. It is at times like this that I think about how Iowa State is 1-8 – with a sole victory over Iowa – and it makes me want to keel over the yak on the floor. Oh, well – next year, right?

We have almost all of the memory cards full for the camera now, so one of these days we’ll have a lot of pictures for you. Time has become such a commodity lately. It’s really crazy. I have a lot of video to work on as well. It’s something I like to do, but the only time I have to do it is about 30-60 minutes after I get home at night when I usually feel like…

Playing Halo 3. In the fictional land of galactic war, you may now refer to me as LT. BillyActionface. I’m officially a Spartan officer now, so that is sweet. That is more so a reflection of experience at this point rather than skill, but I have been holding my own.

It is now time to watch the Big Ten finale show, and next time I’ll tell you about my candlelight dinner at the Chick-Fil-A!

The one place that I was slightly disappointed; however, was the part I was looking forward to the most. In the first Halo, there were cut scenes throughout the game that told an engaging and mysterious story. With Halo 2, the cinematics really took over and made for a much richer experience than the first. The storytelling in Halo 2 is one of my favorite parts. The storytelling in Halo 3 is… fine… nothing more.

Everyone was anxious to see what happened after the ridiculous cliff-hanger in the previous game, and that is all we really get. That is nice, but there aren’t any new characters, no motivations explored, and one major player in the story that makes no appearance at all except for a few voiceovers. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as good as Halo 2, which I found to be very, very good.

That said, this is the first Halo game that I managed to complete on Legendary (read: very, very, hard) difficulty. I played through the first time on Normal, and that was way too easy for me having put significant time into the first two games. I ingested the whole thing too quickly and didn’t get much out of it. The second time through was on Heroic, and that makes sure you have to stop and think about what you are doing. It was much more satisfying. The transition from Normal to Heroic was actually harder than from Heroic to Legendary.

Now comes the dilemma. The only thing left is to go play online – which would surely be a rocking good time, but I’m not sure if I want to put up with the other players. Despite the M rating on the game ( for 18+ only ), the online game is dominated by preteens that feel the need to barrage you with every bit of cursing and filth the learned on the internet that week. It doesn’t matter if you beat them or not. Now I’m a big boy and I can take it, but why?

Now, they did put multiplayer cooperative mode in for the campaign this time which is extremely right up my alley. Anyone wanting to get in on some of that, look me up!

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