Just a quick update for those dying to know how our weekend was. The place was cool and the people nice, but it was really only a short step up from standard suburban communities. They built Energy Star certified homes, recycle, group buy organic foods, carpool down into Ithaca, centralize hot water and laundry facilities, and have group meals a few times a week. It very similar in many ways to a Mitchell Lama building with its committees and concensus decision making.

The down side was there was no efforts at self-sustainability, very little efforts to keep costs down, and no sense of making their lives easier. The up side is their vision is pretty accessable to many people, really anyone currently living an upper middle class suburban lifestyle.

In short, not what we are looking for but we learned a lot and had a good time.

Hi ho!
Still playing Katamari Damacy. The only thing better than playing it I think is to tell people about it. It just so wacky!
Went to UberCon two weekends ago. Had a great time. Met some webcomic artists of some of my favorites. I bought the book from the RPG World guy and he drew an awesome sketch in it. Maybe I'll scan it later.
This coming weekend is exciting. The wife and I are going to check out a "sustainable living community". Very exciting indeed!

What have I been up to lately? Well, after reading this interview, I've been making clocks. On the computer. I hope to have some links up soon. Also, I've been playing Katamari Damacy. Tycho called it the best $20 bucks he ever spent on a game and I echo that fully.

Oh, and we have some new pictures. On Saturday, the wife and I bopped around the Village. We hit a street faire and the guy who runs the turtle races at the Ren Faire was there so we got to see that again. Number 0, Englebert Lump, won. Then we watched some bocci at the park.

On Sunday, we went hiking with a guy we know from Wednesday meditation.

Here's another cloud. I like clouds.



Here's some trees behind my office. Pretty nice landscaping. I feel very exotic.



And here's my lovely wife.

I got a new digital camera. I wanted something cheap and small that I could just have on me without having to consciously decide to bring a camera along. I know, I know, why not a camera phone? Well, I like the phone that I already have and it doesn't have a camera. Anyway, here's a picture of Janet playing bocci:



The camera can take big pictures or small pictures. Big ones look nicer but small ones take up less space. I've been trying out both. Here's a picture from my parking lot:



It's small. It's OK, but not great quality. Here's the same picture taken big:



That's much better I think. I took some other pictures of people, but I took them all small and they didn't come out so good. I think I'm gonna stick with big pictures for people. Here's the small shot of the bocci game:



See, I think if I'm trying to capture a person, small is no good. But If I'm just trying to capture a scene, then I think small is OK. If I'm going for a pretty shot, something asthetic, then big is the way to go, obviously. Anyway, we'll see what I come up with in the next few days.

I just came back from a 3 day retreat at Bhavana Society. It was instruction for beginners in mindfullness meditation. In short, it was a good experience. It was at times so hard that I thought I'd have to quit early and go home and at other times I felt I was making real progress. Some people DID leave after the first day, but I don't know what their reasons were. It started Thrusday at 5pm and ended 11am Sunday, although I hung around for lunch and to talk to the monks a little bit afterwards. It was a silent retreat, except for two brief quention periods. We followed the eight precepts. My wife also attended, bringing a whole class of additional challenges. More details later.

"Gosh, Pete, where've ya been?" Well, I'll tell ya...

A bit ago, I played and finished Prince of Persia. Excellent game. I'm thinking of playing it through again. I tried Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I can play it with my wife, which is great. Unfortunately, the gameplay is really repetitive. Currently I'm playing I-Ninja, Maximo, and Spy Hunter. We also have Karaoke Revolution, which is a hoot.

Off the PlayStation, I'm distracting myself with ProJax and Breakeys - both goofy but cheap.

But by far the biggest drain on my time is Gunbound. I am totally addicted. The quick games creates a "just one more game" vortex which sucks me in and doesn't let me go until 2 in the morning. Ahhh.

For my birthday, I've received Maximo 2 and Ratchet & Clank 2, so I'll be glued to the futon for the foreseeable future. :)