Wii are Having Fun

As a graduation present, Heather got me Mario Kart Wii for our Wii. My favorite kind of games are racing games and since we have had Mario Kart 64 on the Virtual Console for awhile, I have had a natural fondness for this franchise. Both of us have had a blast playing it, with our cute pair of Wii Wheels, granted, Heather has surpassed me in rankings. Honestly, she seems to be better at the game than I am, however I know how to drift and she doesn't!! But that is little help when you're barreling over the edge of a funking rainbow track!! Mario Kart Wii is definitely one of the best games for the Wii either of us has seen yet; it is Heather's favorite game on the Wii.

One of the coolest things to happen on the Wii since the Virtual Console is the introduction of compact games called WiiWare. The service premiered with few games, but there were some gems in there, 3 of which I have downloaded. First, I downloaded Defend Your Castle, a simple game where you have to use your cursor (among other things) to fling/squash the enemy troops away from your castle. It's an awesome game and gets really crazy after you pass the 20th level. Next is a very simple game called POP that requires you to pop lots of bubbles and make combos and so on to increase the time you have available to play. Very simple, fun and quite relaxing and addictive. Finally is a real gem called Lost Winds, which is a 3D side-scrolling game centered a little kid teamed up with a wind spirit to explore the boy's world and find out a way to defeat an evil spirit. I am very pleased with this game because it is so simple, but very challenging at the same time. To get the little kid from place to place, you have to use wind blown with your cursor to help him jump/fly to where you want to go. Sounds easy, but sometimes it isn't. Overall, all 3 games have a lot to offer and I highly recommend them to anyone with a Wii that is connected to the internet.
Owning a Wii is probably the best all-round family gaming system I have ever experienced. It is easy to use, interactive (physically and mentally) and loads of fun. Heather and I couldn't imaging not having one anymore since it's so cool. It is the best of the current systems, and don't let anyone try and convince you otherwise. Why else do you think it can't stay on store shelves when the PS3 and XBox 360 just sit and perhaps gather some dust? Think about that...

Stage 1 of College Education Complete...

...2 more stages left.

I finally graduated from Red Rocks community College on Saturday, after three years of faithful academic diligence. Thank god I'm done! I loved it there, but if my last semester showed me anything, it's that things can't stay the same forever. I couldn't be a straight A student in every class and have fantastic teachers for every class either. I'm very lucky though, I had only one shitty teacher in my three years there, but a few teachers that really need to learn how to teach properly. If there is one thing that has stuck in my mind so far in learning to become a teacher, it is that a teacher should never assume, anything. A lot of the teachers I've had at RRCC have assumed many things, that they have a smart class or that we have all of the information that we need stored away in our brains. Not all of us can keep every ounce of information in our brains that is thrown at us. Hence why when a teacher assumes, they make an ass out of themselves, be it to one student, or many.
But I digress. I am so happy to finally have a degree under my belt, even if it is only an AA. I look forward to continuing at Metro State in the fall (I'm sure I'll encounter bullshit there too) and getting my BA in Environmental Science. I see a bright future ahead, for myself and my family. I also plan to grow in many areas of my life: as a parent, a partner, a photographer and most importantly as a person, as I progress along the path of education, in academia and in life. I wish myself, and those of us out there striving for the same things I am, good luck!

I Predict a Busy Summer...

Barely into a second day of work after the close of the semester and I can already feel how busy I am going to be. I will have three big responsibilities this summer: training a replacement, nurse-maiding a new adjunct though for his first experience with us and getting a guide to the labs prepared. On top of that, making sure the lab stays clean and tidy will be a chore, as always, but it is much easier during the summer since we will only have, at the most, two classes going, versus 8+ during a normal semester. I'm up to the challenge and look forward to making the best out of my final semester as physics TA. I will miss my job after I'm done, but as with all things in life, one must move on from one chapter in life to another.

Adventures at Dusk

I decided to be adventurous tonight and take my daughter for a walk along the lake behind our apartment complex. I've been down there before, but have never really explored it too much. Zoey was my trailblazer, she plowed through branches, brush and reeds to find new places (or beaver homes to her 5 year old brain). I used the adventure as an opportunity to take some stylistic pictures. I chose to shoot in black and white and at high ISO (1600-3200) to give my photos a grainy, vintage look. After reviewing some of them on the camera, they look pretty good. I am usually not one to experiment, but tonight was an experiment for me. I was going to a high contrast, film-like look to my photos and I hope I succeeded (I think I did). I'll post my noteworthy shots on Flickr later.
The best part of the whole trip was how fearless my daughter was. As I said before, Zoey just pushed and climbed through the forest without fear or trepidation. She was excited and curious; a combination of emotions that I seldom feel anymore, but tonight, I felt them. I was bolstered by my daughters bravery and followed her without fear. We will have to do that again sometime.

A New View Into My Life

Ok, I'm going to try this Blog thing again. I don't know how much I will keep up with it, I may just double post here and on dA. Anyway, I'll use this to spread my thoughts, desires, ideas, art, perhaps even some wisdom, to the world. So stay tuned, I may just show you something brilliant.