Wednesday, September 3, 2008

How to spend a geeky weekend in Seattle


This last weekend (friday through Sunday) I went to my first convention. A gaming convention called Penny Arcade Expo. It was held at Washington State Convention and Trade Center (four stories of craziness as I like to say). Friday afternoon Jeremy, two of our friends, and I headed down town to find parking and explore the world of video games, PC games, and board games. It was a big Geek convention and I am proud to say that!

All in all the weekend was very entertaining and enlightening. I went to two panel discussions. Number one was the History of Harmonex (the guys that made Rockband) and number to was "Is casual killing core gaming?" Now many of you who read do not game as much as my dear husband does so I will explain both panels.

The first was a walk through of how this tiny company Harmonex grew from some gentlemen from MIT who wanted to make music more interactive with the general public....all the way up to Rockband and the craziness of popularity that this game has developed.

The second was a discussion about gaming companies gear more of their games towards the "casual" gamer (one who likes to play easier games that you can put down after a half hour if need be and not have to invest so much time into...). On that panel was a gentleman that
I used to watch on tv...on Star Trek: the Next Generation.... Mr. Wil Wheaton.


He is so intelligent and a wonderful speaker as well as a HUGE GEEK - just like the rest of us 70,000 people that attended. I have since become an avid reader of his blogging.

Wil's blog

He is insightful and still very funny when poking fun at geeks and himself.

So that was three days of non-stop lights, games, walking, hard to find food, waiting in lines, and happiness. (Something like one day at the MN State Fair)...

Now it is Tuesday and I can tell you nothing remotely laborious happened on Monday...I don't even know what really happened that day but lots of watching Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, napping, and more napping.

I made an attempt at my first batch of freezer jam of the strawberry variety tonight. Check out my food blog tomorrow for the recipe and pictures...then I proceeded to find the only ounce of productivity I have felt at home in two weeks.

That means I cleaned out the fridge (scary), unloaded then reloaded the dishwasher with some dishes that had been sitting for too long, then bagged up threw bags of garbage, two bags of glass and bottles, and had Jeremy help haul them to the garbage...in the meantime cleaning off most of the table and counters. I feel very productive and tired too. This week, because I had four days off, I am working four ten hour shifts...I feel like I am living at the job this week...but it's ok because I am finally out of training and working on my own with the assistance of a mentor for the next two weeks. I enjoy the problem solving aspect of my job and helping consumer's feel so much better about our company (knowing that we rock as a company and how we treat the consumer).

so that is a random post for you...covering a few days...

P.s. My mom is coming to visit in 24 days (but who's counting!)

P.p.s... Jeremy and I found Waldo!

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