Categories
Video Games

Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident

Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave IncidentThe Malgrave Incident was a refreshingly old school adventure style game for the Wii. This style of game was very popular on the PC years back, but still has it’s charm today.

You’re a detective and you must solve a mystery, basic but still never seems to get old. I really enjoyed the simple scenes where you must locate all the hidden objects. It’s like a massive issue of Highlights at the dentist office. I always liked looking for all the hidden stuff, simple but fun.

There’s also a number of different logic puzzles that need to be solved along the way too. I really enjoyed them, some were a bit challenging but all were solvable. Nothing too crazy or complex.

This game is really best played with someone else. It’s good to bounce ideas off one another and the slow pace of the game works well for 2 people.

While this game hasn’t gotten the greatest of ratings online, I thought that it was a lot of fun to play. Granted it’s not Halo, but I think it’s a great game for casual gamers or for people who just like the old school simple point and click adventure game that is hard to come by these days.

 

Categories
Sports

Kickball: Week 2

Time for KickballWow, this game had it all. It’s an instant classic and I’m sure we’ll all speak of it for quite some time.

It was a foggy night, with the fog growing more dense as the game went on. There was just something a little off in the air, and I think we could all feel that something out of the ordinary would take place on this night.

The conditions were rather rough. With all the moisture and a game having been played right before ours, the field was slick and beat up. Most notably around 2nd base and the shallow parts of the outfield. The ball had a misty slickness to it as well, almost slimy at times.

I do believe it’d of been easier to handle in rain at times than it was in this mist. I know I had way too many drops and bobbles (I really have to work on that), and my first step when running or changing direction was almost always a slip. Very frustrating and made for some sloppy play in the field (almost entirely by myself).

24/7 Bait and Tackle had been unbeaten to start this game, and frankly the do have a very strong looking team. We held them to a stalemate the first few innings, then to took a 6 run lead on us. Honestly it wasn’t looking too good, but we kept playing hard regardless and there was no quit in our play.

Little things, like even when a ball was dropped or misplayed we’d hustle and get that ball back into play. At times resulting in outs on aggressive base runners. More than anything I was proud to see this in the team. Our errors were only single base or run errors, not major catastrophes, and my keeping the damage to a minimum we were able to keep the game from getting out of hand.

Sadly we did lose Lauren to an early injury. She really tried to gut it out, and it was inspiring to see that. Health in much more important than kickball, and she had to be removed from the game. Hopefully it isn’t too serious and she can keep playing, she’s been great for us.

Our legs really came alive towards the end of the game. I’m not exactly sure what did it, but we all were doing an excellent job of finding a hold in their defense and kicking to that spot. Our confidence at the plate really shows and I’m glad to see our practice paying off.

Our biggest kick of the game was with the bases loaded and Geoff at bat. Before I pitched to him, I scanned the position of the defenders and our bases runners as I try to do before every pitch. I noticed that their outfields were playing in and really playing the lefty Geoff all game to go to his right. Knowing that Geoff favors kicking to his left and had enough good leg in him to clear the shallow outfielder I had a great feeling that he’d be driving in some runners. Well he launched a rocket into left, well over the outfielders head and cleared the bases with a triple. It was really an amazing kick and great base running, and at that point we knew that we really could win this game.

We would manage to tie the game up in that inning, and now all we had to do was not give up any runs in the 7th and final inning and hope for a walk-off victory. With some solid fielding and heads up play we got through without surrendering any runs.

Bottom of the 7th, the momentum on our side with the heart of our lineup at bat. We liked the position we were in. We got players on base early and you could feel the excitement in all. Excellent base running by Kevin landed him on 3rd with only 1 out. Early season RKI machin Kate was up and with a decent kick could score the speedy Kevin. I kept thinking before I rolled the ball, keep it low to right and we win. She kicked it to right, they dropped the ball and Kevin easily scored. Even had it been caught, Kevin’s scores on that play.

An amazing finish to an amazing game! So proud of my team and their never die attitude. We will have to consider selling the movie rights to this epic.

Categories
Books

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

UnbrokenAs per NGM’s recommendation, I just finished reading Unbroken. He spoke very highly of it and I must say that I concurred that it was a very good read.

It really is amazing to read just how much some people have gone through in their lives. Louie was an Olympian, served in WWII, spent well over a month in a raft in the shark infested Pacific, and was a POW in some horrible Japanese prison camps. This was all one guy, not a collection of tales by numerous individuals.

I’ve always gotten easily agitated listening to the typical person complaining about how difficult their situation is or how easily they give up when faced even the slightest obstacle in life. I always joke how easy their life is and that they don’t have a right to complain.

Reading Louie and the other men’s tales of serving in WWII really puts in perspective what a difficult situation is. These guys faced life and death choices constantly and didn’t have a feeling of self entitlement. They actually had to earn what they got.

This was an excellent, well written book. Highly recommended.

 

Categories
Sports

Kickball: Week 1

kickballLast night was our first kickball game as Express Pizza. I gotta admit I was both pretty anxious and even a little nervous going into the game. I put a lot of thought into the lineup and where everyone would be playing the field, and really wanted to make sure that everybody was happy with their respective spots as well placed where their talents could be most effective.

Jake’s Water Ice was our opponent on this night. I talked to a few of the guys before the game, seemed nice a nice bunch. As the home team, we started in the field. I was very proud to see that our practice in the field really payed off. We started the 1st inning with some very solid defense.

On offense I did the majority of the pitching, which was fun. Nothing came up the middle that I had to avoid from our players, which made things easy. However I did manage to get struck in the head with a fine toss from the other team. I was even crouching low as to stay out of play!

We kept score and stats, so I’ll try to share them as they come available.

I did manage to go 2 for 4 with 2 doubles! Though I did get a decent sprained ankle on my first double. I almost overran the bag and to keep my toe on the bag had to take and awkward stop. It began swelling up pretty good after the game, but I expect to be fine by our next game.

Jake’s played small ball in the later innings and eventually took a 1 run lead which they were able to hold onto in the end. Some of their kicks we felt were bunts, which are illegal. But the ref’s opinion is the one that counts and they were ruled fair. We eventually adjusted to their tactics, but just a little too late.

It was some of the most fun I’ve had in a while. So glad that I signed up and got some other good frieds to sign up too. Can’t wait for our next game!

Categories
Books

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi Backlash

Star Wars Fate of the Jedi BacklashFinished up another book in the Fate of the Jedi series. The story is coming along very nicely now and things are really starting to shape up. Some backstabbing and treachery always makes for a better read.

It’s nice to have Luke, Han and Leia together just like in the old movies, even if it was only for a few chapters. They’re pretty much what I think of when I think of Star Wars (sorry Chewbacca, RIP).

I really liked the force wielding tribes, it was cool to see other people using the force differently than how Jedi’s would. Reminds you how big the galaxy is.

Something big but separate events should be going down with the Sith and the Moths in the next books. Look forward to checking them out.

Categories
Books

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi Abyss

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi AbyssThe third book in the Fate of the Jedi series was a solid read. There seemed to be more of an emphasis on Luke and Ben’s journey, which was cool. Their subplot has been the most interesting to me. The whole beyond shadows experience was pretty deep. They really went pretty far out with the whole thing.

There was also a good amount of Han Solo stuff too. He’s gotta be in his 60’s in this story, but it’s nice to see he’s still getting around and causing trouble for others.

The Sith storyline took a pretty major turn towards the end of the book. I wasn’t expecting them to attack Luke in this book, so that was a pleasant surprise. Those last few unexpected chapters were hard to put down.

My summer reading spree continues. Need to decide on my next book to read.