Ka-Boom Blox!

Wow, my 25th birthday was freaking AWESOME. List of swag is as follows:

SWAG

• From the wife

1. Pillow - I'm quite particular about my pillows when I have a choice in the matter. I like them firm. Unfortunately, the wife has stolen all the pillows to place around herself come bedtime. Pregnant women need their pillows. So she got me my own pillow. I have since installed a high security, electric fence around it. It's mine.... my... precious.
   
   
2. The Dark Knight on DVD - We saw this in the theater when it first came out and I loved it. It is definitely in my Top 10 Movies list. The acting, pacing, plot twists, visuals.. everything about it is amazing.
   
   
3. A tea maker - BPW loves his sweet tea. I get it whenever I eat out somewhere, as that is the only time I'm really ever going to be able to drink it. But now I can make it in my own kitchen! HI FIVE! I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm excited. Tea whenever I want.. wowsers.

• From Slamin and his wife, a 3 month subscription to Netflix. This is awesome. I've never had Netflix before and ever since the Xbox was updated with the ability to stream Netflix at any time, I've been wanting to try it out. Well, thanks to J, now I can! We fired it up and watched The Sphere last night. The service was absolutely 100% perfect. Very easy to setup and select movies, perfect quality digital stream on the Xbox. Really, it was like watching a DVD. Wow. A++++++ Would buy from again.
• From Moxa and his girlfriend, 1600 Microsoft points for the Xbox. Super cool. I already spent them actually. I bought BC: Rearmed and 4 additional maps for Call of Duty 4. BC: Rearmed is alot of fun so far. It really takes me back to the feel of the old NES games. The game is hard! It doesn't hold your hand- you have to figure things out for yourself. For example, I went tried to infiltrate a cave, but it was dark. I couldn't see anything. But the game didn't stop me from entering. I'm pretty sure that I could have actually beaten the level if I knew my way around. But since I didn't, no way that was going to happen.
• $15 Target gift card from Meglet. Thanks Meglet! I have no idea what I'm going to spend it on yet, but whatever it is, it will be awesome.
• My parents went a little nuts! They got me a full-year subscription to Gamefly! WOW. Totally unexpected. An entire year.. I'm actually going to be able to play all the great games that came out this past year! Gears of War 2, Fallout 3.. wow. I can't wait!

Oh.. and don't forget this amazing system seller.

But really, my birthday was awesome. A co-worker took me out to lunch, wife and I got to eat at Olive Garden that night. A great start to what is definitely going to be a huge year for me. 39 days until baby. HOLY CRAP!

Whaaa?!

I'm 25! Holy crap.

Life Experience Test

I took this test and thought it was kinda fun. Take it yourself. Yes J, I'm talking to you.

The Life Experience Test

Overall, you have partaken in 76 out of 169 possible life experiences. Your average life experience score is therefore 45%. The average score is 51%, making your experiences more than 28% of the people who have taken this test. The average for your age group (18-25) is 45%. Broken down by category: Art: 7/17 (41%) Career & Work: 7/13 (54%) Civics & Technology: 4/7 (57%) Crime & Disarray: 4/11 (36%) Education: 11/18 (61%) Fashion: 5/10 (50%) Fitness, Health and Sports: 2/7 (29%) Life in General: 6/14 (43%) Relationships: 8/14 (57%) Religion & Politics: 1/4 (25%) Social: 12/22 (55%) Travel: 4/20 (20%) Vices: 5/12 (42%)

Take the test and see how YOU compare

Bum deedee bum

I've always been a fan of November- it has a great holiday, the first good cold weather, great tree colors, and lots of great football. Now it is coming to a close. That means we're only 2 months away the baby- INSANE. 2 months away from being a daddy. G-Money threw us a baby shower this past weekend and it was flippin' sweet. We had about 15 people over and much fun and frivolity was had by all. We had some really surprising gifts that we definitely weren't expecting people to get us because of the prices. I mean.. we're talking about college students here. We are very thankful for our friends. Everyone has been very giving, and it's not even the holidays!

Right now I'm on kind of a weird musical kick. I'm really digging covers. And I'm also really digging the TalkBox. So combine the two and you get this.

That is freaking sweet. I want one. Okay, not really- I'd never use it. But it would be fun to play around with. I'm not borrowing someone else's either. Cause that's gross.

I got Fable 2, and beat it. I enjoyed the game, but it kind of started to drag towards the final parts of the adventure. The combat was enjoyable, the voice acting was really great, and the game was really pretty. But man.. it was way too easy. I never even came CLOSE to dying. And the final ending- please. That really ranks up there in the Top 5 of Crappiest Game Endings ever. In fact, right now, I can't think of anything that is worse. So... congrats Fable 2! You've got that going for you!

Xmas and birthday coming up. Games on the list include: Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty: World at War, and Boom Blox. I'm also really hoping to get a few months of Gamefly. Lots of great, quality games have come out recently, and I'm itching to try some of them out.


Oh yeah, and this:

History

Ever since middle school, I had found the study of the past to be incredibly intriguing and engaging. I loved looking at maps of old countries. I was absorbed with learning about kings, queens, emperors, warriors and the like. I would pour over military documents for hours, envisioning ancient battles and heroic charges. I took great pleasure in looking at the big picture of history- how certain events impacted other events, seeing the cascading effect of one particular action upon the rest of history. It is incredibly sobering to think of how one act or movement can have such incredibly important impact on the future.

Which is why, I believe, regardless of political beliefs, everyone should recognize what a historic event just happened. The people of the United States of America elected a black man as its leader. The leader of a country which, for nearly 100 years after its creation, practiced slavery. A country which, for over a 100 years after the abolition of slavery, segregated blacks to the outside of society, keeping them away from success and achievement with the help of Jim Crow. If it weren't for a group of civil rights leaders in the 1960s, who knows when blacks would have finally begun to break through the barrier separating them from their white countrymen. If it weren't for those civil rights leaders, the people of America would most certainly not have voted in a black president on November 4th, 2008.

I saw this posting, and wanted to share it here:

"I have a confession to make.

I did not vote for Barack Obama today.

I've openly supported Obama since March. But I didn't vote for him today.

I wanted to vote for Ronald Woods. He was my algebra teacher at Clark Junior High in East St. Louis, IL. He died 15 years ago when his truck skidded head-first into a utility pole. He spent many a day teaching us many things besides the Pythagorean Theorem. He taught us about Medgar Evers, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis and many other civil rights figures who get lost in the shadow cast by Martin Luther King, Jr.

But I didn't vote for Mr. Woods.

I wanted to vote for Willie Mae Cross. She owned and operated Crossroads Preparatory Academy for almost 30 years, educating and empowering thousands of kids before her death in 2003. I was her first student. She gave me my first job, teaching chess and math concepts to kids in grades K-4 in her summer program. She was always there for advice, cheer and consolation. Ms. Cross, in her own way, taught me more about walking in faith than anyone else I ever knew.

But I didn't vote for Ms. Cross.

I wanted to vote for Arthur Mells Jackson, Sr. and Jr. Jackson Senior was a Latin professor. He has a gifted school named for him in my hometown. Jackson Junior was the pre-eminent physician in my hometown for over 30 years. He has a heliport named for him at a hospital in my hometown. They were my great-grandfather and great-uncle, respectively.

But I didn't vote for Prof. Jackson or Dr. Jackson.

I wanted to vote for A.B. Palmer. She was a leading civil rights figure in Shreveport, Louisiana, where my mother grew up and where I still have dozens of family members. She was a strong-willed woman who earned the grudging respect of the town's leaders because she never, ever backed down from anyone and always gave better than she got. She lived to the ripe old age of 99, and has a community center named for her in Shreveport.

But I didn't vote for Mrs. Palmer.

I wanted to vote for these people, who did not live to see a day where a Black man would appear on their ballots on a crisp November morning.

In the end, though, I realized that I could not vote for them any more than I could vote for Obama himself.

So who did I vote for?

No one.

I didn't vote. Not for President, anyway.

Oh, I went to the voting booth. I signed, was given my stub, and was walked over to a voting machine. I cast votes for statewide races and a state referendum on water and sewer improvements.

I stood there, and I thought about all of these people, who influenced my life so greatly. But I didn't vote for who would be the 44th President of the United States.

When my ballot was complete, except for the top line, I finally decided who I was going to vote for - and then decided to let him vote for me. I reached down, picked him up, and told him to find Obama's name on the screen and touch it.

And so it came to pass that Alexander Reed, age 5, read the voting screen, found the right candidate, touched his name, and actually cast a vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Oh, the vote will be recorded as mine. But I didn't cast it.

Then again, the person who actually pressed the Obama box and the red "vote" button was the person I was really voting for all along.

It made the months of donating, phonebanking, canvassing, door hanger distributing, sign posting, blogging, arguing and persuading so much sweeter.

So, no, I didn't vote for Barack Obama. I voted for a boy who now has every reason to believe he, too, can grow up to be anything he wants...even President."

1.21 Jigga....WHATS?

It's been a long time. Shoulda left you (left you)..

Another month, another baby shower. Only this one I actually got to goto. It was hosted by my mom, way on down in Wartown, and it was a good time. I took the day before off work and we made a nice 3 day weekend out of it. A good time was had, and we got a bunch of baby loot!! Me likes baby loot. Only 3 more months left to go until the due date. We are slowly coming to this realization. Don't rush us.

In gaming news, I went by the store and traded in about 5 of my old games in exchange for Fable 2. I'm not very far into the game yet, but I am really enjoying it. There is a lot to do, and I'm exploring all the different facets of the game. I think mixing it up like this is keeping the game fresh for me. I like the combat, although it is really just too easy. The enemy AI is really poor.. I can just keep shooting them from afar, and they are mostly dead by the time they get to melee range. I am focusing mainly on long range weaponry, with a little bit of melee and magic thrown in there when necessary. For my first play through, I'm just sticking to a Good Male character. When I play through it again, I'm totally going to be an evil sorceress.

This weekend, we'll be going camping with the Theslaminj and his wife. Hopefully we'll make it through unfrozen.. I'm torn though. I really want to have fun, and I'm sure I will, but MAN I WANT TO WATCH THE UGA-FLORIDA GAME! I can practically hear it now..

(Apparently Knowshon can hear it as well...)

Yip Yip

PHOTO UPDATE!

The following pictures are from the 2008 UGA-Alabama game at Sanford Stadium.

TheSlaminJ working. He does the Out of Town Scores.

View of the field, pre-game. This game was a blackout.

View from my camera. Awesome.

Shot of the videoboard, pre-game. At this point, there was still well over an hour before the game began. And the student section was beginning to fill up. Great fan support.


Me and the Men's Basketball SEC Championship trophy.

It's Saturday in... Charlotte??

This past weekend, we went up to Charlotte, NC for the baby shower with the wife's family. Her parents, aunts, cousins, and sister were all there. I took Friday off of work (HELLO BENEFITS, I LOVE YOU) and we drove up. After farting around (literally...) in a fabric store looking for stuff for the baby's room, we got ready to have dinner. Only.. the power suddenly went out. Whaa? Turns out a tanker truck went off the road and took out a telephone pole with power lines attached to it. The accident ended up knocking out power to a fairly LARGE area of Charlotte for over 5 HOURS. Admittedly, I've never lived in a big city before. Athens is the largest place I've ever lived.. but it seems to me that losing power for that long in a major city like Charlotte is a pretty big deal. Naturally, we were unable to cook dinner (pork tenderloin, oh how I missed you), so we took to the streets in search of a eatery that still had power. At this point, we didn't know power was out across the city. Traffic lights were out, and very few people were obeying the traffic laws. It was pretty hilarious seeing all these city folk get REALLY angry at one another. After driving for about 15 minutes, we made it to a powered part of town and ate at Showmar's. I had a chicken gyro that was awesome! Everyone else got fish. They suck.

(this is fish. fish is gross. that is all.)

Naturally, dudes are not really *wanted* to be at the actual baby shower, nor do dudes generally want to be there themselves. So me and the dad-in-law went to a sports bar just around the corner from where we were staying. Dad-in-law is a huge fan of the Ohio St. Buckeyes, which is natural seeing as how he is an alumni. The bar we went to, Murphy's, is an Irish pub that also serves as the home base for Ohio St. alumni in the Charlotte area. So we watched tOSU defeat Troy University. While we watched, we chowed down on some pretty good Perogis. Of course, after we finished them, the guys next to us ordered this huge plate of nachoes and dad-in-law gave me the evil eye. Man likes him some nachoes.

We also watched a bit of the Florida-Tennessee game... which wasn't so much a game as a MASSACRE. Ugh, Tennessee is horrible. I was hoping they would give His Holiness, Tim Tebow, a run for his money.. but no. Then again, I hate any team that wears orange. So I guess I can't be too upset.



(I hate orange.)
So anyway, after the ladies had their baby shower, we mighty men made out way back for the post-shower cookout. Much good food was had by all. Much good conversation was had by all.. until 8:00 that is. Then it was time for Georgia vs. Arizona State on national television. The game started off a little shaky, but it didn't take long for the Dawgs to settle into a good rhythm. Highlight of the night?



(Eagles don't soar. They ride on Knowshon's back. Also, check out the cheerleader's face.)

All in all, a very good weekend. Lots of driving.. but good times.

Also, today, I cut the crap out of my thumb helping my coworker move around stuff in his office. It needs TWO BandAids. I want my mommy. WORKER'S COMP!!!!

Bad boy!

As with almost every blog ever started, I went on a break. It wasn't really intentional- I just stopped writing. I've continued to play games and such of course, and life has really swung into gear.

Wife and I found out in late May/early June that she was pregnant. She called me at work and told me that she had bought a home pregnancy test and it turned out positive. I don't remember much of our conversation, but I'm sure it consisted of quite a bit of silence and "Uhhhhh..."s and "REALLY?!"s. I do distinctly remember getting tunnel vision and not being able to focus my eyes on anything in front of me. Good thing I was sitting down when she called. We went to the University health center where they did a more thorough test which confirmed the at home test's result. Wife and I looked at each other- "Holy crap, we're gonna have a baby."

The past few months have been very babyrific. We've completely reorganized the office by getting rid of my old college futon and college entertainment center(to sister-in-law), my N64 and wall length desk (to Slamin), and a bunch of stuff to Goodwill. We needed even more room, so we started selling books on Half.com. I had no idea how many books we had, or their worth! In about 2 months, we sold well over $450 worth of books. Heck. Yes. The office is currently in the process of being turned into a nursery. Other than a daybed to replace the futon, we haven't really gotten any big pieces of furniture yet. But there will be a crib, dresser/changing table, and other assorted goodies.

Football has started up again, and the Dawgs are 2-0 and are ranked #2 in the country. Their first two games (against Georgia Southern and Central Michigan) were pretty much blowouts. The second game featured this incredible display of athleticism.

HOLY CRAP!

Up this weekend is an away game against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Can't wait!

In gaming news, I'm going to try and list some games I've been playing recently. Upon learning that I am going to be a daddy, we looked at ways to start saving money. I decided that I would go ahead and cancel my Gamefly subscription. I really enjoyed the number of games I was able to play that I probably wouldn't have had a chance to check out had it not been for the service. Thanks Gamefly, I'll probably be signing back up again in the future.

Madden 09 - played the demo and thought it was awesome. So I traded in some games and got this puppy.
Grand Theft Auto IV - lots of fun, though I'm beginning to tire of it. It is easily the most beautiful game I've played, and the technology behind almost every facet of it is mind blowing. I still have fun clipping people in the leg with a car to see the realistic way they react. However, beyond just a couple of modes, the multiplayer is not very engaging. And I am not a person that enjoys collecting things, so feel no compulsion to hunt through the city for 200 freaking birds.
Condemned 2 - Got this through Gamefly. Pretty fun little game, and creepy as hell. I played this a few times at night with the lights off, and there was more than one time I screamed.

The next few weeks are going to get pretty crazy. Next weekend is our first babyshower, being thrown by the wife's family. After that, my weekends are full of either football games, work, more baby showers, and camping. I'm pretty excited. While the weekdays are filled with the doldrums of work, the weekends should be pretty exciting. Huzzah!

Created by OnePlusYou

If you don't Knowshon...

So, the other day, I was bored. Real bored. And I was in the mood to photoshop something. I racked my brain, trying to think of something I could create. My mind eventually worked its way back to a conversation I had w/ my boss Deuce about making a Knowshon Moreno wallpaper. He has a collection of football and basketball wallpapers on his personal laptop, but they are all mainly pro sports (chiefly, Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers). Anyway, I decided to go forward with the idea of a Knowshon background. Probably the most difficult part of the job initially was actually finding a hi-res picture of Knowshon that didn't have a watermark on it. After searching for probably about 30 minutes, I finally found one on someone's personal photography site. Since I don't plan on making any money off of this thing, I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to use it.

So here is the finished product:

(click to see it full screen)

I'm pretty happy with it. I might go back and change the text around a bit, but other than that, I love it!

Time for a beat down!

The wife preordered Super Smash Bros. Brawl for me for Valentine's Day a month ago, and I was able to pick it up this week. It is, as I expected, incredibly fun. It is also jam-packed with a metric ton of content. The disc contains over 200 full-length orchestral music tracks, dozens of stages, hundreds of collectible trophies and stickers, a level editor, and lots of different mini games.

But the main point of this blog entry (and probably a few others) is to catalog my thoughts on each of the characters. I've had the game for about 3 days now, and I've logged just over 10 hours of total play time. Between a limited amount of online multiplayer, a few matches of local multiplayer with some friends, and going through the game's lengthy story mode, I haven't had the chance to even play all the characters that are available from the start of the game. So I'll just comment on the ones I've played so far.

Captain Falcon (still slightly.. ok maybe more than slightly.. homoerotic) Plays virtually the same as her did in Melee, at least so far. I've only played him in one mission of the story mode. He seems a little weaker than he did in Melee.

Diddy Kong (ever since DKC on the SNES, I've always thought that he screams some of the most annoying sounds known to man) This is the character that I am honestly the most surprised about. When he was first announced to be a playable character some months ago, I was fully prepared to hate this little monkey with the complete and total passion that my soul is capable of eliciting. But he's actually pretty decent. He's fast (I find that I'm predisposed to liking the faster characters over the slower, more powerful ones), and seems to pack more punch than other fast characters like Pikachu. Although, I do hate his UP+B recovery. It doesn't get you anywhere, as it must charge as you fall.. and by the time it is ready, you have fallen too far. Also, his Super Smash attack is incredibly powerful if you are able to get the handling down.

Falco

(while he is a good guy... he still just comes off as a jerk most of the time) I haven't played with him much yet, but I do greatly appreciate that he is slower than Fox (see below). The first time I played against him was in an online multiplayer match, and he immediately grabbed a Mega-Mushroom as soon as the match began. It surprised me, and almost made me pee myself. Fox (just stay in your Arwing, buddy... it's the only place I like you) I hate Fox. I've always hated Fox. I hate playing as him, and I hate playing against him. He's too fast for me to control- he feels slippery, and his jump is more like a fast little hop. He's too fast for me to hit- I go to smack him in the face, but he's already teleported behind me. And don't even get me started on his reflector.. Oh yeah, his Super Smash blows.

Ice Climbers (my god... they look like they have Down Syndrome) I'm not sure if I dislike the Ice Climbers more than I do Fox.. I'll have to sit down and make a list of pros and cons for each. Either way, this is another character (set of characters??) that remain virtually unchanged from Melee. I hardly ever used them then, and the same goes for now as well.

Ike

(phallic? noooooooo....) Having never played the Fire Emblem series, I really had no idea what to expect from Ike. I had played with Marth/Roy in Melee, so I was figuring he'd be just like them. He generally is, except he is slower and faster. The game designers actually did a really great job with him- he actually feels like he has momentum and weight. When Ike winds that giant beast-of-a-sword up and raises it above his head for a smash attack, you can actually FEEL that he is about to deliver a world of hurt upon some poor soul. His special moves are generally good, and his Super Smash is really fun to watch. King Dedede

(he's supposed to be Kirby's arch nemesis... but he looks so happy and cute. this bothers me) I was also quite unsure of what to think about King Dedede before I cracked open the game case. I hadn't played a Kirby game in over 10 years, so didn't remember Dedede very well. Well, I now know Dedede quite well, and let me tell you-- this guy is a BEAST. What a freaking fatty. But what a freaking power house as well. Dedede has the capability of launching someone with a relatively low damage meter into outerspace. My first time playing with him, I charged up his hammer and knocked all 3 of my opponents off of the level with one shot. Holy. Crap. His Super Smash is kind of dull and boring, and virtually useless on the scrolling stages. Kirby

(singer of one of the greatest songs on the internets) Yet another veteran who remains basically unchanged from the previous game. I haven't played with him much, but my thoughts on him from Melee still hold to be true: he's too freaking floaty for me to use on a consistent basis. Link

(while Link is sometimes annoying, you have to admit that his sword and shield really look awesome)

Ahhh, everyone's favorite elf/boy/young man/slightly-androgynous hero of Hyrule. His moves, like Kirby's, are also basically the same as they always have been. Although, his boomerang is now the Gale Boomerang from Twilight Princess, and it pulls your enemies slightly closer to you. Not much to say about Link other than one of his alternate costumes is Dark Link, and it looks freaking SWEET.

4 months later...

Dammit.

It happened last night while I was playing some CoD4 multiplayer with Moxa. When it happened, it actually caused all the lights downstairs to flicker, and the clocks to reset. The 360 is a mini-EMP.

So, Gamefly brought me Blazing Angels 2: Secrets of World War 2. I'm really enjoying it.



The game has a really unique control scheme that I've never seen before... though admittedly, I haven't played many console flight sims other than the Ace Combat and Star Fox series. The two key new innovations as far as I'm concerned are in the way you handle the speed of your aircraft, and the targeting of enemy forces. The right analog stick controls the throttle (up to accelerate, down to brake), and it feels great. Your controller shakes if you start going really fast, and when combined with the rumble from the machine guns, it really feels as though your hands are about to fall off and start vibrating across the floor like a cell phone gone haywire. The targeting is great as well, as you lock onto enemies with the L trigger. So long as you have that button held down, the enemy unit will stay in the middle of your screen. If an enemy plane flies past you, the camera turns so you can keep your eye on it as you turn to chase after him. Totally awesome.

The game also has a pretty robust upgrades system as well. For every kill you get or stunt you perform during the game, you gain Prestige Points. In between missions, you are allowed to upgrade various aspects of your weapons, your aircraft, or the abilities of your teammates. This kind of RPG element is actually very welcome as far as I'm concerned, as it allows me to modify the game a little bit to the style I want to play it. Right now, I've beefed up my maneuverability and speed, so my planes can dart in and out of battle really fast. Love it.

What an ending!

Wow. I finished Half Life 2: Episode 2 last night, and that's the only word I can think of to describe the final hour of the game. Wow. Or maybe "really-freakin-hard!"

I don't know if it is because I was playing with a console controller or what, but I had the hardest time finishing the final battle in White Forest. I found myself really struggling with the controls during the fight.. I'm not sure if I would have faced the same problem were I played it on the PC. I ended up dying a good bit! I won't post any spoilers or anything, because J might read this before he completes the Orange Box.

Overall, I'd say I was pretty pleased with the Orange Box. I enjoyed Portal, thought Episode 1 was pretty good, and thought the last half of Episode 2 was freaking awesome. The first half, not so much.. pretty boring actually. I didn't play much Team Fortress.. I tried it out for a bit, but wasn't really impressed. It's going to be a really long time before I play a multiplayer FPS that rivals Call of Duty 4.

My new album.



I know.. weird.

Oops

Hmm, looks like I've been slacking again. OOPS! My bad. Quite a bit of stuff has gone down since I last updated. I'll just give a quick gaming update:

I freaking RACKED UP when it came to games this holiday season. For my bday, I got Crackdown and Mass Effect from the wife, and a wireless receiver for the 360 from Moxa and TheslaminJ . Thanks guys! A week later, the wife went off on a cruise w/ her girlfriends to the Bahamas and I decided to keep myself busy with Call of Duty 4. It didn't take me long at ALL to fall head first into the ocean that is CoD4 multiplayer. I'm still swimming around in it too, discovering all sorts of great stuff! I honestly haven't had this much fun with a FPS since Battlefield 2 on the PC, and Goldeneye for the N64. The manner in which you rank up is ingenious, and all the weapons are very balanced. Definitely a 9/10 from me.

And what's great is that I actually got it for Christmas, after I rented it! And not only that, but also Super Mario Galaxy and Assassin's Creed as well! Wow! I'm definitely not going to be lacking when it comes to the game department for quite awhile. I haven't finished any of them yet.

Right now, I've got the Orange Box from Gamefly. I'm really enjoying it. People weren't kidding when they were talking about the sheer amount of quality material you get when you pick up the Orange Box. I played Half-Life 2 on the PC when it first came out a few years ago, so I'm not planning on playing that again. I started out with Portal, splitting time between wrapping my head around diverse puzzles and laughing my butt off at the writing. The game is only about 3-4 hours long, which I think is a good length. It lets you accomplish a pretty wide variety of puzzles without repeating itself. I finished Episode 1 a couple nights ago, and started in on Episode 2 right after. I should be able to finish it this weekend. I'm probably not going to play much Team Fortress 2, because I don't know anyone else who has it.