Heading home!

okay, officially done working for the YEAR.

Headed home for the holidays. A few days in P'burgh, then to good ole' e'ville:


Happy Holidays all!

Hamilton Mtn. Hike

This weekend Marty, Jodi, Stacey, and myself headed out to the gorge to do a little hike on Hamilton Mtn. The winds were crazy. We've had about a week of very cool (~30 degree weather) but very sunny weather, so we took advantage of it to take this hike, one of the best in the gorge and of perfect length. Took a few pix along the way and wanted to post a couple from the summit.

Two of the images above are from the summit ~2500 ft. Right as we were summiting a crazy intense storm was blowing in so we only spent a few very cold minutes at the top. was a great great time, and i got to try out my new uber xmas present jacket. the image at the top is a pix of 3 of us trying to stand up in the wind and not get blown off the side of the moutain. great way to spend a sunday afternoon!

New videogame designed to have no influence on kids behavior"

Scott sent me a link to this bit of entertainment:

"Tetris suggestively twisting and turning blocks, violent falling motions, and increasingly frenzied suspense are a potential influence on children," said video-game ethicist Steve Contreras. "By contrast, after playing Stacker, with its eternally unchanging shapes and gentle lowering actions, I doubt a child would ever want to arrange any sort of virtual block again. This is exactly what this controversial industry needed to rescue its reputation."

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43441

The last console generation is here...yippee skippie!

This is the last console generation. Microsoft will spend billions smartly turf-fighting with Sony, and it is important for them to do so. I realize they expect to make money this time around, but its more important to minimize Sony influence before they provide a more profitable solution. Not that this is some nefarious plan, its just how I’m expecting things to play out. over the next 5 years very compelling horizontal solutions will emerge that are feature rich in the living room that minimizes the value of the console. The cycle is around 5 years (peak at 3-5, tail off for another 3-5, total lifecycle 10 year max). Dell is selling a reasonably equipped PC for $299 on their web site. The features are numerous: wireless controller, internet access, USB slots, hard drive, great graphics...is that the PC or the console I’m talking about? You can’t tell, can you? This new consumer device will emerge and dominate the living room.

And what pops out the other side? new machines…see…lots of people think games want to be in the living room so we can use that big ass TV…but that TV is actually a limitation of the display capabilities we have that are cheap enough to build with a $300 device. nothing is cheaper than free, and you already have a display, so they don't have to provide one...that changes soon.

So…the market goes horizontal in 2010-2012, then what? well, if you think your PSP rocks, wait until you don the goggles running tiny LCDs at high resolution from a device the same size and you can look around you with that light saber in your hands (ala the new Nintendo Revolution controller is a primitive realization). head mounted displays limitations have primarly been: latency, weight, and resolution. These will be overcome in our lifetimes.

and with that introduction...welcome the next revolution in gaming :)

Housing cools....

So...its finally happening. Burst 2.0 of my investment lifetime is happening before our very eyes. Rising mortgage rates have taken their toll, inventory is rising, articles everywhere are going to pop up (already have)....while i was able to share my anecdotal stories on the upside i found shocking, tis also interesting to see in my condo complex 3 units for sale all lowering prices around 10% and others who want to sell waiting until this inventory clears (good luck). all over NW portland we see inventory...hasn't been like this for 2 years.

i'm thankful i have taken the advice of a few friends on a condo investment in florida i walked away from a few months ago (this was not for rent, i was going to flip the contract when the unit was ready for occupancy in 12-24 months). the most convincing argument they made was this: "when amateurs (read: idiots) like you start thinking this is a good idea is exactly the time you DON'T want to make the buy".

good advice, thanks chris :). it'll be interesting to see the selling price on those units in a year. and now....in the panic...how to exploit all those crazy no doc and low doc loans that were made, ARMs to people that had no business qualifying, etc. etc.

great reading: housingpanic.blogspot.com

Threading game engine basics...

A short article I wrote with Henry Gabb a few months ago has made it to the front page of gamasutra. If interested, check out:

http://www.gamasutra.com/

Book Review: Don’t do, Delegate by James M. Jenks and John M. Kelly

I picked this book up at a garage sale for about $.45. I’m reporting on it not so much because I thought it was a good book as to share that one nugget, that ‘ah-hah’ moment that it provided, an insightful observation about motivation of people. My reasoning for reading such a book was an insight made by a manager who said I was stricken a year ago with ‘super stage II’ syndrome. Basically, delegating a bunch of tasks to folks who were given deadlines and deliverables. Then, when those deadlines were slipping, inserting myself to catch them up and make them on time. He pointed out that this is not how delegation is done and that I needed to do less of this and suggested I learn (among other things) some alternative coaching styles to improve myself in this area (one thing is simply acceptance: you are given increasing responsibility because you have demonstrated mastery of the previous challenging skill set, its time to help others achieve similarly and it will take time and patience). In addition to the coaching styles, he nudged that it would be best I strengthen my delegation skills. At any rate, here is the book highlight, in abbreviated form:

on motivating:

managers think subordinates are motivated by (in order): good wages and job security. subordinates actually care about “full appreciation of work done with a “feeling of being in on things” second. in other words, managers do not understand what motivates their employees. According to the famous psychologist Maslow we can sort the motivations of people:

1. bodily needs
2. safety
3. belonging
4. esteem
5. self actualization

Supervisors mistakenly think the lower needs are important to their subordinates (wage levels and job security address bodily needs and safety). workers feel that higher areas are more important. Good delegation relies on motivating around these higher needs.

Next, there are two examples given. Mgr. A: “Corporate wants another Q.C. report. I don’t know why. You’ll have to go around and note procedures used on all products and report” Mgr. B. says “our customer is especially interested in quality. we want to have a reputation of high quality. What I think we can do here is find ways to improve quality control by reviewing the current procedures.

what’s the difference? Mgr. A appeals to neither belonging nor achievement. Its ‘yet another order from corporate.’ He doesn’t emphasize the results that the subordinate is to achieve but starts right off on the method. The only motivation is the fear of a reprimand.

Mgr. b, on the other hand, presents the same assignment in a different light. First, he lets the subordinate know why the achievement is important. he put it in the context of the mutual efforts of everyone in the company and the status that results from achieving an important objective. Also, one can feel pride from participating in the teamwork of the firm.

Not a recommended book, but the highlight above is a useful observation and one to put into life's tool chest.

1/5 stars.

XBox 360 at best buy already!

So, i wandered into Best Buy looking at scanners yesterday, and my wandering eyes catch a glimpse of a shiny white new white box. That's right folks, the XBOX360 is available to play/demo at Best Buy already. I was kinda suprised. The other interesting thing is there was this 'casual shopper' who was a bit more...knowledgeable than your average 19 year old snowboarder about the games, graphics available, and demos. He was giving out all kinds of information on the different games, demos, etc. and trying to get folks to stick around as long as possible to chat. When one guys g/f stopped by to go, the guy was like 'oh no, wait, wait...did you see the new blah blah blah demo'. i'm pretty sure this guy was getting a paycheck for his efforts, but it definitely wasn't apparent (no name tags, no mention of being there to demo, etc.). congrats to the marketing machines and the authenticity movement within.

call of duty and ghost recon looked unbelievable.

no, they were not available for purchase.

Tornado in Evansville and Newburgh...

Early Sunday morning a tornado tore through my hometown, destroyed many homes and killed over 20 people. At this point, all family and friends have been accounted for and are thankfully doing fine. Chad and I lived about a mile from each other in Newburgh, he sent me a link to some images:

Here is a slide show of some areas close to where I used live. Evidently, the tornado went up Bell Road, and down Lincoln and then out by 261 and 66.

When things like this happen, so close to home, its always chilling, and those terrifying moments when you just don't know if everyone is okay, and if they aren't okay you can do NOTHING about it from so far away, its just scary as hell. Normally, when there is a tornado, you can see the sky changing and you know its a possibility, but this happened late at night, in a season when tornadoes aren't as common. I think its taken everyone by suprise and it makes it that much harder to handle.

Dinner!

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this amazing and healthy dinner dish Stacey cooked up the other day. Its got spinach, mushrooms, and a light sauce with pasta shells. was very tasty. just had to take a picture!