attention gamers and role players

A message from my friend Kevin -

So it's four days before the end of the quarter and my group has disintegrated into me, a webform, and three guys with barely enough motivation to feed themselves. I've given up on the last three, but I'm trying to milk that webform for all it's worth. I was wondering if you, Alan, and your legion of online enthusiasts and role players would like to fill it out. It take about 10 minutes if you think too much, but the results will be going directly to EA's creative director. With solid survey data, impressive gameplay simulations, and a strong presentation, the instructors may be willing to overlook the complete absence of actual user testing.

Kevin's survey - http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~nhart/survey/

For everyone on the friendslist with an interest in gaming, please take give minutes from your day and answer these questions. Help some exhausted grad students finish their project! It's fun and the concept is hilarious. I can't believe Kevin is showing this to EA and I would so play this game.

Feel free to also pass it around on your mailing lists and your own friendslist this weekend. Post this everywhere!

Kevin is working on his PhD at Stanford in their learning design and technology program right now, and is currently going to school to make better video games, improve educational software and generally make the world a much cooler place. We've known each other since high school when he would sit on the counters and I was a gawky, terrified journalism student. Kevin is the single most interesting person I've ever met. He's smarter than I could ever dream of being, and insanely clever in unique ways. For those real life friends, he's a lot like Gene. (Damn it Gene you had better come down here for Christmas so I can introduce the two of you again.)

(no subject)

I braved Frys and returned my weird keyboard for a happier USB one. The return process was surprisingly quick. I ended up with a cheaper keyboard and ended up with Coppola's version of Dracula on DVD. I noticed they have also released Prick Up Your Ears on DVD! It's got Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina, and is a strange, sad, scary film. Highly recommended.

It occurs to me that I haven't seen that movie in ten years. Gosh. It was another lifetime ago in my world.

I thought I might go hit up a store in the Arboretum for some random things. But five minutes of the parking lot and I was convinced of two important facts:

- there were no spaces
- everyone was insane.

It would have been faster to drive to HEB and park there, then walk to the stores rather than circle in hopes of landing a spot. Driving was also inhibited by the large, bright yellow Hummer H2 that someone just parked in the middle of a lane. Just. Parked. If there hadn't been useless security guards doing everything but moving that eyesore I would have left a big fabulous note on their windshield.

I'm thinking of having business cards printed up with catchy sayings. Like "Congratulations on your double parking, asshole!" or "It must be so hard to park this ugly damned luxury car, you poor pathetic bastard." I would distribute them feely.

Did some grocery shopping instead, and picked up things to make pastas and quiche. I wanted to make tiramisu, but the store had no marscapone or lady fingers! Ack. I'll just make more pie instead.