Okay, I’ve become addicted to Rome: Total War. After more than a year of refusing to download ‘better’ Nvidia drivers (because Nvidia can’t make drivers that work properly to save their life) I couldn’t stand the crashing of Total War and got the recent drivers for Nvidia. Ugh. It made me feel dirty. Anyways, Rome is awesome and the only reason I’m not playing right now is because (a) it’s late (b) I have to work at 7am (c) the better half would be mad at me for ignoring her.
I don’t think this little addiction comes as any surprise to me since I was addicted to Medieval: Total War about 4 years ago when that had just come out. Must…. play… Rome…
DAMN.
Lots of work this morning. Silly motions that I have to respond to and some reviewing of old (that’s spelled a-n-c-i-e-n-t) police reports in a recent case that defense counsel wanted to have before going to trial. Then it was on to some new file reviews to see if they warranted criminal charges. Ran across a name that was very familar to me. Familar because I convicted this defendant several years ago in my first criminal trial. Defendant was simply an idiotic teenager using drugs and having sex with underage women then and now he’s a dangerous felon using firearms to intimidate and harm others. Lovely.
Through-out today’s (what’s a good phrase?) work-environment (yeah, that fits) I’ve been listening to Death Cab for Cutie‘s two most recent albums – Plans and Transatlanticism – to relieve the tension that is my job. It’s been pretty sucessful doing that and as my only court hearing today approaches I am feeling very calm and one with the snow serenely falling outside. I saw DCFC last month in Seattle at the Key Arena and it was a very good show save for the annoying teenage girls constantly text messaging others before, during and after the show. Plus, I was shocked by the amount of concert-goers who left the freaking show before it was over. I’m not one of those people It drives me crazy. Pay $35 for a ticket, wait 30-40 mins before the opening acts play, watch the opening acts, wait some more time and then the show but leave before the last song? Leave before the encore? It was a 4 song encore for chrissakes! Just drives me crazy…
Anna and I returned last week from the Philippines. To say that we had a great time would be an understatement. It was awesome beyond all available superlatives. We took over 850 photographs between the two of us during our 12 days.
We stayed at Makati City which is one of the cities that makes up Metro Manila. It’s commonly known as the financial district but I remember it more for the massive (I counted 4) amounts of shopping malls within the 3 blocks surrounding our hotel. Our room overlooked Makati Avenue and the mainstay on this road (as with all others in Manila) is the ubiquitous jeepney. While we (for several reasons) never actually got to ride one, I was nearly struck by several of them, could easily watch them from the safety of the various vans we hired, and observed the sweaty masses that filled all of the jeepneys. Evidently happy with the 7 peso ride.
I’m not really going to bore you with the details of the trip, just hit some of the highlights.
On the third day we (and several others) took a lovely guided tour of Manila. A very somber time was had by all at the American-Filipino National Cemetery. Here is one of the ‘Unknown Soldier’ crosses (there are over 17,000 servicemen laid to rest at the cemetery).
On that same tour we went to Intramuros, the old Spanish walled city built in the 15th and 16th centuries. While exploring the ruins of Fort Santiago we had a view of the Pasig River which if I told you was horribly polluted like some post-apocalyptic wasteland except on water and not like the desert in ‘the Road Warrior’ you’d believe me. Not because you know me to be trustworthy (which I am) but due to the fact that, yes, that is a child sitting on a large piece of styrofoam as he floats through the flotsam and jetsam that litters the Pasig River as it meanders near Chinatown and Intramuros.
After a wonderful wedding at Saint Augustin Church in Intramuros (the luckiest church in Manila because it survived numerous earthquakes, armed insurrections, and being a battle ground and aerial bombardment zone during World War 2) we traveled down to Boracay and enjoyed not only the world famous white sand beaches (don’t get hot in the sun!) but the snorkeling, boating, mango shakes filed with lots of rum (my invention and the cause of my lingering headache and upset stomach), and sunsets across the South China Sea.
So, after several thousand miles of air travel (China Airlines is good!), not too many hours spent at airports (Taipei is very clean but Manila has character) and many meals of rice, we returned and got back to work. Work still sucks but it pays the bills.
games | operator101 | 
Monday 29 January 2007 10:28 pm | 
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