Playing catch-up

Wow, almost through Q1 2012 without a post? Shame on me!

I'm going to try and play catch-up...

Albuquerque Bound

We're heading down to Albuquerque (hard to spell that one) to spend Christmas with Bill, Deb, and Josh. I haven't been to New Mexico in ages, so I'm actually looking forward to some new scenery - not to mention snowboarding at Taos.

This is Xander's 2nd, and Arabella's 1st Christmas... it should be fun. Oh yeah, we might even get to visit with Aunt Nola. Of course, that depends on the weather - which as of right now, it's snowing.

Blog moved

The new address for blog is http://blog.brandonsimonds.com.

Hassel the Hoff

In conjunction with our Movie Studio release we'll also be offering David Hasselhoff as a playable (read: launchable) character! It really is kind of a first for our medium and it's pretty neat to hear all the excitement being generated by this announcement. People magazine has done an article about this as well.

Video

PAIN - Movie Studio

One of the great things about working on a PSN game is that we produce frequent DLC (download-able content). This also means a shorter development cycle - which is good for keeping customers interested in your product and keeping your work hours normal. Anyhow, with that said, below is what I worked on in the past few months. I think it will be out on November 18th... Happy Birthday Mom! =)

PAIN Movie Studio Trailer

First rain

Today was the first day that it's rained since we moved here (thunderstorms don't count). It was actually down into the 60s, but it felt good. Rochelle finished her orientation and started her real job tonight at the hospital. Deb stayed with us for about 10 days, it was nice having her out here with us. When you coming back? ;) Not much else to report, here are a few videos mom took of Xander and his cousins Jacoby and Boaz.

New baby pictures

By baby, I mean our new 2008.5 Audi A3 S-Line. We're loving how good of gas mileage this gets, not to mention how fun it is to drive.

Reunited

Rochelle and Xander finally made it here!

To celebrate the occasion, I've uploaded new pictures to the photo gallery. Welcome home. =)

Rocky mountain high

Last week I had the pleasure of hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park in an area called Wild Basin. I was accompanied by the Browns as we tackled the Bluebird Lake Trail (10-12 miles rt). The mountains here are so big and so beautiful. The scale and elevation here is not anything like what I've hiked in the Cascades. Just the approach trail I hiked on was higher than a lot of summits I've bagged in Oregon!

These pics are from a friend's camera (Chelle has all the gear with her at Bass Lake) so the pictures are ho-hum. Umm, hello! Take some pictures of the mountains! Anyhow, here's a few from the trip:


Ouzel Falls


Native Colorado Cutthroat Trout were everywhere!
(note to self, bring pole next time)


Candice laughed at this sign, while I reminisced. "Here kitty, kitty..."

Life-line(s) restored

Chelle and Xander came out and stayed with me for about a week. It was great to spend time with my family. Xander was pretty sick (cold + pinkeye) but the meds had him feeling pretty good by the time they left. Chelle is going to finish out her tour-of-duty at St. Chucks with a grueling six straight days marathon. After that, they will drive back here via the Reno - Bass Lake - Palm Springs - Tucson route. What, haven't heard of that?

You know how tv junkies can't live without the boob-tube, or how crackberry addicts would die without their phones? Yeah, I'm like that with my 'net connection. Face it, the internet has proliferated our lives. Need directions? Net. Looking for auto repair shops? Net. Keeping in touch with family and friends. Net. I have this interesting personality dichotomy; I want to live out in the remote mountains in my log home with a OC-192 connection. Someday.

While I may have the net now, we're still waiting for the movers to come. Latest estimate will have them here on Monday. I can't wait - besides having our stuff, I'm anxious to diminish the "cave effect" in our house (large, open rooms with vauled ceilings and hardward floors, not a strand of carpet to be found). Until then, I'll read some more. =)

The eclectic list of books I read during the "Great disconnect of 2008":

• The Circle Trilogy (Black, Red, White)
• Thr3e
• Lone Survivor
• On The Ridge Between Life And Death
• Blasphemy
• Skin
• Death By Black Hole And Other Cosmic Quandaries
• Saint
• The Ultimate Guide To Video Game Writing And Design

Unplugged

I am currently sans Internet (and tv, and furniture, etc) at the new house so I'm writing this post from my work puter. Not much to report, I'm just holding down the fort until Rochelle and Xander get here on Saturday. I think I'll head over to B&N and grab some books for the downtime. =)

A low-key weekend

It was a pretty low-key weekend around here for me. On Saturday, I went down to a Littleton MINI dealership and test-drove a MINI Cooper Clubman S. Man, what a fun little car to drive! I had a blast rippin around the city, and all their hype is generally substantiated. I often wondered if I would fit into one, but there was a ton of room on the inside. I couldn't even slide the seat all the way back and still work the peddals. Lucky for Rochelle, a couple things prevented me from buying one right there on the spot: first, there's a 3 month wait list with a $1000 (non-refundable) deposit required (yes, they're that popular). Second, they we're going to really screw me on the trade in. I can't even write the value, it's that laughable. Anyhow, as my mom would say, I told them to "pack sand". =)

Today I was blessed to meet up with old friends Dave and Debbie Brown and attend their church's morning service. It was a great service and it really struck me how much I've missed good old Baptist preaching. There weren't 40 alter calls, so I think I can talk Rochelle into going back. ;) Afterwards, I hung out with the Browns for breakfast and a tour of their home. It amazes me how easy it is to get around this area. The roads, parkways, and interstates all seemed designed to get people from point a to b quickly with minimal traffic. I swear I went 20 miles to the other side of Denver in less time than it would take me to go from my old house to Redmond!

In other news, we found a house! I move-in (read: dwell in empty house with aero-bed till the movers show up) tomorrow, so we're pretty excited. It's a really sweet house and location. We are blessed to have recieved it.

Back to work

As the title says, I'm back to work. I took a designer position for the Boulder area studio Idol Minds. I can't say enough good things about the studio; the people here are talented, fun-loving, and refreshingly team oriented. Just the kind of creative combination needed to make a game like PAIN, which I will begin working on soon. Until then, I will be getting familiarized with their tools n' technology and taking cover from the occational outburst of incoming missles. =)

Thank you all for your support and prayers, we appreciate them greatly. Now all we have to do is find a house, and we'll be set. Well, sorta... I still need wifey and Xander to get out here! Much love to you all, miss you guys.

Arrival

Well, I've finally made it to Boulder, but it wasn't easy. I originally planned to stop in Ogden, but was making such good time I decided to push on and make it to Rock Springs, WY. It's funny, but the only driving / car issues I've ever had have been in Wyoming. This, coincidently, is also one of the worst places in the entire U.S.A. to have issues (read: long deserted streches of interstate through lunar-like terrain).

Anyhow, about 10 miles from my destination, I see a piece of road debris get kicked up by the vehicle ahead. At first, I thought it was a piece of wood - until a second later when it smashed into my windshield with an emphatic "whack". Wrong, not wood rather a big piece of lug with attached nuts. It scared the crap out of me! Luckly, the Lord was watching out for me as I can't believe the windshield didn't cave in. Here's a pic of the carnage:



After my heart-rate returned to normal, I started limping in to Rock Springs. Literally, about a mile from the exit, I get pulled over by a sheriff. Appearing at my window he enquires if I know why he pulled me over. I gesture to the spidered windshield and take a guess. He replied "nope" without a hint of further inquirery. "I pulled you over because your tags are expired." Doh. I could rant about the DMV not sending me the paperwork, but I should have bothered checking it before I left (my license plate holder partially obscures the tags, so it's difficult to tell).

Anyhow, long story but I made it to Rock Springs in about 12hrs and 60 dollars poorer (citation). Big thanks to MoMa & PoPa for the hotel room, it was actually really nice. Cold Stone was located in the adjacent building, random placement but they got my $$$ too. Today I finished off the rest of the drive, which was around 5hrs into Boulder. Tomorrow, off to work... =)

Happy Father's Day!

Defying winter

I just got back from a three day fishing / rafting trip down the John Day River. Our friend Michael joined me on the float. We were blessed with awesome weather and had the river all to ourselves the whole (50 miles) way. Here's a shot of Micheal enjoying the sunshine and scenery.

Back

Really no excuses for the lack of umm... updating. Do trips to Boulder and Seattle count? I didn't think so. Anyhow, how about some random thoughts in bullet point format?

1. Still no news in the future employment category. Coincidently, I've been doing a lot of thinking/studying/praying lately about discerning God's will. Fascinating subject when you really think about it. There are a lot of different opinions out there. Here's one and another. The last one I read was interesting. Did you know that the word "discernment" is only found once in the bible?

"...this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ." Philippians 1:9-10

2. I won some NCAA tournament pool$.

3. Punxsutawney Phil was right this year, but I think he was a bit off on his time frame. Winter is still hitting us hard here with snow on the ground a few days ago and freezing temps. Forecast? More snow and cold.

4. Mom, we saw you on the news tonight. Dang, give us a heads up or something! Then when I was trying to find the video to link, I ran across this article where they interviewed Al J.

5. I updated the menu links over there --->

6. Xander keeps getting bigger every day. Seems like every time I pick him up he weighs more. Maybe I just need to visit the gym a little more often.

8. Opening day of fishing recently happened here. Unfortunately, nobody could fish because all of the lakes were frozen over.

9. May is coming, and you know what that means.

March Madness

For a hoops junkie like me, the next three weeks are the best in sports (NCAA Tournament). For the first time ever, I will be able to see all of the first round games live. As a person who bleeds Duke blue but living in Oregon, I'll have two teams to root for. So what are my picks for these two teams?


Win vs Belmont (1st round)
Win vs West Virginia (2nd round)
Lose vs Xavier (3rd round)


Lose vs Mississippi State (1st round)

I'd love to see Maarty Leunen (senior F/C from Redmond High School, my alma mater) advance farther into the tourney, but I just don't see it happening. They have just been wildly inconsistent and one dimensional this year. You beat Kansas State but lose to Oakland, Nebraska, and Saint Mary's?

Speaking of Kansas State, I have to apologize to my brother Josh (USC grad school). I'm predicting them to upset USC! So sorry bro! =)

Surviving

Well I'm finally over a nasty bout of flu/cold and on the last day (of 3) of sole parental responsibilities. Things have gone better than imagined! Yesterday I took Xander to the local annual Sportman's Show to check out all the latest n' greatest in hunting / fishing products. You have never seen so many people rocking Realtree™ camo in one place that are not actually hunting. I should have dressed up Xander for the occasion with this outfit:



Unfortunately, it was in the laundry so I settled with the smurf blue-camo fleece (which of course was a hit with all the ladies ). My parents and family friend Matt joined also joined us for a stroll through the show.

This morning we went to church and he slept through the entire morning service in nursery. For some reason I kept thinking the pager was going to go off but it didn't. Speaking of church, next weekend we will be dedicating him during a special children's dedication service. So if you're around and can make it, that'd be greeaaaaat. =)

Snow day II

A nasty winter storm continues to hit our area. Unfortunately, the plethora of snow is also being accompanied by strong winds. Anyone that knows Bachelor, knows that formula makes for a complete white-out. Long story short, I didn't make it up to the mountain today. Instead, I kept myself busy shoveling large quantities of snow (of which I'm getting quite adept at).

I also spent some quality time at Wal-Mart getting the oil changed on the family truckster (read: Nissan Pathfinder). Every visit to that store only increases my disdain for the franchise. Not only do I have to go there, I must also find something to occupy 40 minutes of time while the Pathfinder is being serviced. *sigh* Why can't REI or Best Buy add this basic auto service? Imagine the sales!

So anyways, after spending entirely to much time rummaging futilely through the 3 dollar DVD bargain bin , I head to the service area. Mistake number one happens here. After a quick peek through the service bay window, I inquire if the car is ready. The guy behind the counter asks for my name and searches through service log. "Hmm... nothing by that name in the system" he says. I'm quite exasperated and amazed by his short-term memory loss.

I point to the deserted service bays (from which the car was neatly drove into) and ruefully exhale. Right about the time I begin to ask him to check again, it dawns on me. The car is registered in their system under Rochelle's maiden name (another *sigh*, longer). After getting into the car and driving towards home, mistake number two happens. I hadn't bothered to check if the windshield wiper fluids had been filled. Have you ever heard of not getting your wiper fluids refilled after the 41 point inspection/check/service routine? Curse you Wal-Mart!

Here are some images (cell phone camera quality) from snow day part deux:

Home alone

Rochelle and Xander left yesterday to visit the grandparents in Tucson, AZ. I must say, I'm not used to how quiet it is in the house. Meanwhile, it continues to snow outside and a huge dump (15 inches) is predicted for tomorrow. Hopefully the wind will stay down so I can get some pow. =)