I struggled to find something enjoyable and manageable to celebrate my birthday. As much as I didn’t want to ask my friends to drive the distance to Battle Ground, it was a combination of reasons that led me there. First, we would have Jenni’s family to help with the kids so that Jenni could join in the festivities. Secondly, Jenni’s grandma in Longview wanted to see Bruce, so meeting her in Battle Ground would save her a long drive. Third, I wanted to shoot the new airsoft assault rifles Jenni’s dad got for Christmas.

As part of the celebration, I sous-vide steaks for the dinner as a treat for everyone. It also fulfilled a wish to have my friend Clark try the sous-vide method. The steaks came out tender and everyone seemed to enjoy them.

A long-time promise fulfilled as well was playing bridge with my brother, Clark, and Jenni’s grandma. We had joked it about it for years after we found out that we both liked bridge. We had a great game, Jack and I versus Clark and Gran. Jack and I almost won the rubber, but I misplayed and they took the next bid. Great games.

Clark brought Rock Band Wii, Beatles Edition, so that we could play that with Jenni’s dad’s projection wall. It was pretty fun, though I was disappointed that despite my music background, I couldn’t keep the beat on the drum or hit the notes on the guitar very well. Don’t get me started on the vocals. It was still a fun experience and I’ll have to try it again sometime.

The airsoft assault rifles were too much fun. I enjoyed aiming and firing in semiautomatic mode. Then it was such a rush to go full auto. I didn’t do that too often as I didn’t want to use up all the ammo. We shot at soda cans and enjoyed a soft “tink” sound for a good hit.

Best of all, I finally got an Autobot chrome emblem, thanks to Jack. Now our minivan is a Man-Van ;)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We really appreciated receiving Christmas cards and letters from friends close and far. We will need to send out Christmas cards of our own next year to stay in touch with friends.

Our Christmas was mostly low-key since we’re caring for a newborn. Christmas Eve was busy with Jennilyn’s family coming over for a smoked prime rib dinner. It was fun sharing a meal with everyone and the time-lapse highlighted some great moments. The kids got an overdose of Christmas presents that spanned days.

Christmas day, my dad had a cold so we did not go to my parents house for dinner, but I did make a trip out to drop off their presents. We used Google+ Hangouts to show Bruce off to my grandma and extended family. Tracy and her dad came over for dinner, which was unique that we continued the Google+ hangout video conference to bridge our dinner time with my parents.

Tracy spent the night with us and we enjoyed Batman Begins since we had joked about my nickname for Bruce. Still a great movie. I’ll have to see The Dark Knight before The Dark Knight Rises next summer.

Here are some other Christmas highlights, in no particular order:

• Having Christmas shopping mostly done before December was awesome. So much less stress.
• Being home for Christmas for three weeks on paternity leave was almost like reliving my college years when I had three weeks off—except for the whole newborn thing.
• Time-lapse videos bring out the funny and clever side of Jenni’s family.
• Artificial trees are a great investment for people with allergies to pollen.
• It’s way too much fun buying presents for your kids.
• We smiled seeing our photography used in friends’ Christmas cards.
• Thankful to attend Beaverton Foursquare’s Christmas Eve candlelight service. It is always magical.
• My parents and I buying the same rice cooker for each other

I experimented with a time-lapse app on my iPod after being inspired by the stop-motion video “Address is Approximate.”
[See post to watch Flash video] ]]> http://davidandjennilyn.com/2011/11/27/happy-thanksgiving-2/feed/ 0 http://davidandjennilyn.com/2011/10/15/a-toast-of-kool-aid-to-steve/ http://davidandjennilyn.com/2011/10/15/a-toast-of-kool-aid-to-steve/#comments Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:01:14 +0000 David http://davidandjennilyn.com/?p=2367 My sadness over Steve Jobs’ death surprised me as it affected me more than I thought. Although I never met him or communicated with him, his ideologies and uncompromising direction in design has greatly influenced my work. I admit to being enamored by Apple’s products, but I equally admired Steve Jobs’ salesmanship and learned two game-changing perspectives.

Features and Specs Are For Geeks. Benefits Are For Everybody.

Nerds, geeks, and specialists sometimes fixate too much on the specifications that they forget what they represent. I think we’ve approached a point in computing technology that the processing power is more than we need for everyday tasks. Watching how Steve sells a benefit of a feature in his keynotes has helped me tremendously in reaching non-technical people with technical products or services. What does a four-gigahertz processor mean to someone who does not distinguish hard disk space and memory? It means they can get things done faster. What does eight gigabytes of flash storage mean? Two thousand of someone’s favorite songs or digital pictures.

Most people don’t know the specifics of the tools or services they use, but they do know the benefits. Steve was a master at selling the benefit. He saw the bigger picture than the multiple-core-million-gigahertz-super-something—he sold it to you and I in how much time we’ll save (better yet, what else we could be doing instead).

Making Something Easy to Use Doesn’t Mean It’s Dumb Down

Empowering people is an amazing feeling. I’ve had the privilege of building web tools for my work that speed up people’s tasks or allow them to do things they couldn’t do before. It’s exhilarating and addictive. I think there is a misconception, usually from those who pride themselves as elite, that when a tool simplifies a difficult skill so that it is accessible to more people, the tool is “dumb-down” for the masses. Perhaps the elite are fearing the status they hold, but whenever something difficult is more accessible, it allows for growth and innovation. And no tool can ever replace true talent and artistry.

My Corollary

There are few things about Steve that I would not to influence my life. While his company produced great products, I’ve read that they have come at the expense of terrorizing his employees with fear. Of the two levers that move men (love and fear), I would choose love. I would rather have those who follow me be motivated to do their utmost best because of their respect and love, not because I would destroy them otherwise.

His dedication to his work is also too costly to me. While I have to fight to not finish a code project at work when I need to go home for dinner, I want to always to skip building the next best thing so that I be with the best thing in my life—my family.

Thanks for the Kool-Aid Steve

One of the popular sayings surrounding Apple’s product marketing is “drinking Apple’s Kool-Aid,” meaning that the press and consumers get blinded by Steve Jobs’ showmanship and not being able to see realistically. It’s an incredible high (spiked Kool-Aid perhaps?) to see Steve just tell us how we need something we never knew. Though I’m not a fan of consumerism, his keynotes are great lessons on believing in your products, selling them as magical devices, extreme focus on simplicity, and a masterpiece in design and user experience. He always saw the bigger picture, which is something we all need when we’re deep in the forests of everyday life.

However, I don’t like junk and clutter. So, though I get drawn to the new and shiny things, I think through how a particular gadget will augment my life before I consider buying it. I believe that’s helped Jenni not get worried when I go on and on about gadgets in our conversations at the dinner table.

With that in mind, there have been a few gadgets that are essential, a great value, a time-saver, or too cool not to have.

1. iPod touch

I’ve only had one for nine months, but its usefulness and fun-factor has made it too cool not to have. Granted, if I had more disposable income, I’d probably rather have the iPhone, but the monthly cost for an iPhone is more than our joint monthly cellphone bill. Still, as mobile web usage goes up in general, I will likely get a smartphone to stay up with my industry.

The biggest benefits of my iPod touch are specific apps. Various camera apps allow me to have a photo and video camera with me anywhere (though the image quality is not quite up to par). That’s handy for more than photography like note taking. When I go grocery shopping, I take a photo of the list Jenni has made on a whiteboard.

I’ve enjoyed discovering new music through Pandora, having a calendar with me at all times that’s synchronized with my work and personal Google calendars, a calculator to help me with calculating tips, and having maps with me (which does work without wifi if I preloaded it before leaving). I can go on and on.

2. Google Chromebook CR-48

Perhaps this one is controversial, or could be generalized better. My computing experience shifted when I started bringing my work MacBook home in the evenings. The trackpad was so well designed and functional with multi-touch that I could actually use the laptop without a mouse.

However, I always felt odd that the MacBook had more personal use than work, so I was glad that I got a Chromebook CR-48 from Google. However, it couldn’t replace the MacBook initially because it couldn’t play Netflix and crappy trackpad drivers. But after many software, I can leave my work MacBook at work.

There are a few things I still can’t do on the CR-48 because the operating system is a browser, but the gap is shrinking.

Why is a laptop useful? I can have recipes at the kitchen while I’m cooking, I can type blog posts while Jenni works on a video project. It comes awake from sleep super-fast, so when I just need to check something online, I am in-and-out quickly. I can watch Day9′s StarCraft 2 tips while doing dishes.

The biggest advantage with the CR-48 is the free 3G modem, so I can have internet anywhere for two years as part of the pilot project (100 MB monthly limit though).

3. Logitech mm28 Portable Speaker

This little trooper has been great for when I watch something on a laptop and the sound is too soft from the laptop’s speakers. It has incredible battery life for 4AA batteries, and something easy to pack for travel. I bought it on sale and have never regretted it.

It’s also great for when I can’t wear headphones or want more ambient music throughout the room. I use it for listening to sermons or Pandora on my iPod as I clean bathrooms and other household chores.

4. Motorola S305 Bluetooth Headphones

Any audiophile would probably blow off such a ridiculous idea, but the usefulness of wireless headphones cannot be understated. I can’t believe how many times either my headphones have ripped off my head or have my head jerked because the cable got wrapped around my chair’s arm. These headphones are a god-send because I don’t have to mess with the cables, can change volume and tracks on the headphones, and can pair with my iPod and phone at the same time.

I prefer the behind-the-neck style because I can hear sounds in my environment. I use them at work while I program so that I can hear when someone is trying to get my attention. I highly recommend wireless headphones to anyone who listens to music while they work. It’s great for vacuuming, washing dishes, or any tasks that doesn’t require your full attention.

Go Go Gadget!

That’s my list for now, I’m sure I’ll have other gadgets to mention in the future. Gadgets that I have my eye on lately are a wired gaming mouse (Logitech G400), a 128 GB SSD for our desktop computer, and a tablet (Kindle Fire!). I do like my toys…

See the 288 hand-picked photos from Mauritius, Réunion, and Paris »

At the beginning of the year, I asked my mom if she had any New Year resolutions. Not quite a resolution, but my mom replied with a desire to travel more. When I prodded further as to where she would like to go, she mentioned that she and my dad were planning to go to Mauritius for my aunt’s 60th anniversary this year because they were throwing an anniversary party.

As I walked to the MAX stop to work the next day, I felt prodded by the Spirit to go and see where my dad was born. The only thing was, I could not figure out how to bring the rest of my family with me. Traveling with two young children on a very long flight and special food needs would be difficult to accommodate.

It was a bit of deliberation and prayer before Jenni and I came to consensus. I will likely never go there again if my dad was no longer with us, since I do not speak the native language and do not know any of the relatives. So it was important to me to go while dad was still travel-hardy. So the plan was to go without Jenni and the kids; only with my parents and brother.

The trip consisted of three destinations. We would go to the Mauritius island to see where my dad was born and grew up until he was six. Then we would visit Réunion island, where my aunt lived and where the anniversary party was hosted. Lastly, we would stop in Paris, France because it was a transfer point to get to the islands from the states. Jack was unable to take as long of a vacation, so he did not stay in Paris with us.

Our flight to Mauritius was about 21 hours excluding layovers. We flew from Portland to Toronto, had a few hours layover, then to Paris, France. Since we had a 12 hour layover in Paris, we ventured out to see Paris instead of hanging out in the airport. Then we flew to Reunion Island, had a short layover, then finally, to Mauritius. We started our flight early Tuesday morning and finished Thursday night with an +11 hour time zone difference. It was exhausting, especially since I was unable to fall asleep on the plane. I did not inherit the gene that allowed the rest of my family to sleep sitting upright in an airplane.

Air Canada was a nice airline that provided power via plug and USB port. Their movie selection was pretty good so I spent a lot of time watching movies from Portland to Paris. The second airline we flew on was Air Austral and their movie system never worked, had no power ports for my iPod and MacBook, but their food was the best I’ve had on an airplane.

Once we were in Mauritius, we were greeted by family who took us to a relative-owned vacation home on the opposite end of the island from the airport. My dad’s brother and wife from Hong Kong joined us, and that made up our visiting team. My dad, mom, Jack, myself, my uncle “Gow Sook”, and his wife.

I’m going to make an aside for context. My dad is the eighth brother and the uncle with us is the ninth. They also have three sisters. So my grandfather had a total of twelve kids with two wives. Then, several of my uncles had large families as well—up to sixteen kids. Some of those kids had kids who are now my age. My dad is two generations up and I’m one generation up on some of the relatives we met, which made it interesting in the family hierarchy. Several of them call me uncle, even though they were years older than me.

Mauritius

The first day in Mauritius, it poured heavily in the morning. Warm, tropical rain. So my dad, uncle, brother, and I played Poker and Suicide Spades happily until the afternoon. It was a nice way to start the trip with some good o’ fashion card games. Then a relative took a few of us to a nearby beach and shops while others played mahjong, then we played in the pool for the afternoon. It was a quiet day. One of our cousins came in the evening and took Jack and I to a local bar to meet up with some more cousins. It was nice getting to know them. Some of them spoke English, but they were more fluent in French and Hakka, a dialect of Chinese in Mauritius.

Day 2 in Mauritius, we visited the Botanical garden, and saw some huge lily pads and large turtles. The garden also featured some leaves that blended multiple spices together. We also took a short boat excursion which had windows on the lower level to see the ocean floor, but there wasn’t much to see. In the evening, we were honored at a large dinner party with over 100 family members were gathered. We had a glorious seven course meal, my brother led toasts at each table (though many of them didn’t understand him, they happily toasted), my dad told the story of how my grandfather came to Mauritius, a group of ladies sang songs, then family portraits were taken.

Day 3, we visited the home where my dad was born and grew up for his early childhood. I wish I could understand what everyone said and learned more of my family history. The place was a maze, and I was amazed that such a large family could live there.

By noon, we had a tour bus, with at least 30 relatives on board, go out and tour the island. 15 minutes down the road, the bus died, and we had to wait for another one. During the drive, there were a group of ladies that joyously sang songs. It felt like I was part of a musical as they sang, waved hands, and joy filled the bus. We visited a few vistas, the ruins of one of my grandpa’s stores, then finished off at a relative’s beach house for catered dinner.

As I walked through the ruins of my grandfather’s store, I couldn’t help imagine what it was like, what it sold, and how he made it so profitable. My grandfather, Lam Cham Kee, owned and operated three stores in Mauritius. I still have many unanswered questions of how he grew his successful business.

Day 4, we traveled to more tourist sites: a Hindu temple, vista, gorgeous waterfall, and the colored earth. The Hindu temple had a lake which they considered holy. People would bring water bottles to fill up there. The waterfall we visited was distant from the viewpoint the parking lot was adjacent to. By the viewpoint, however, was a small hole through a wall of trees which my dad, Jack, and I ventured in and, through an unconventional path, we arrived at the top of the waterfall. It was great to sneak away with just the guys.

The most fascinating site was the Colored Earths. When it was described to me, I thought it would be just a cliff side showing different levels of sentiment rock. Instead, we were greeted by round mounds of dirt that varied in color. It’s like a desert landscape where God brushed watercolor to it.

Réunion

The next day, we traveled to Réunion island in the morning, and heading out to a vista immediately after settling in a relative’s hotel in the city of St. Denis. Réunion has a large mountainous area in the middle and we visited the closest vista. Then we went to Rosemay’s house for dinner, and watched them rehearse some of the anniversary party events. Rosemay was a name I heard a few times growing up, but I never had a face to put to the name. She is the youngest of three daughters of my aunt who was celebrating her 60th anniversary. Her bubbly spirit was contagious. Her fun personality was a delight. Her husband was a cheerful fellow who Jack and I enjoyed conversing with.

Day 2 of Réunion was the start of many long driving days. We visited a market, a waterfall, and more of the mountain side.

Arriving at the waterfall was amusing. We drove through a road with sugar cane fields taller than our vehicle on both sides of us. Then magically, everything cleared, and we saw a waterfall.

The roads around the mountainside were paved, however they zigzagged constantly to get altitude. I got a bit car sick from the accelerations and decelerations going up and down the mountains.

Day 3 of Réunion, we visited another vista, the turtle museum, a beach, then a boat ride to watch the sunset. The turtles were fascinating and the aquarium room allowed us to photograph them as they swam by. I’m thankful we were able to take the boat ride to watch the sunset—I just wished Jenni could’ve been there as well.

Day 4, we drove around the entire Réunion island. It would normally take 3 hours to go around the island’s circumference, but we were making many stops along the way.

The highlights were visiting the church that, by miracle of God, survived a volcanic eruption. The lava poured down the hillside, melted everything in its path, but it stopped short of the church, and went around! The wall of lava that parted in front of the church was at least six feet tall. It was quite miraculous. They say attendance to that church increased afterward.

The beaches of Réunion were not as welcoming to walk barefoot on since they consisted of lava rock. Still, the waters retained the blue color of the sky. I experimented with long-exposure photography to make the ocean waves look like mist, but got mediocre results.

Day 5 was the anniversary party, so we hung around all day before going to a crazy party. We sat at the honored guests table, witnessed our family go into party mode, and had fun times.

I, unfortunately, did not come as prepared in clothing, so I looked like a dorky programmer with a short-sleeved dress shirt and a tie. My dad and brother got the memo and came in suits. But at least I stayed cool as the restaurant filled with guests.

Because we were honored guests, we were part of the welcome line where over 200 relatives and guests came and greeted us. The French greeting was the custom, so I popped my personal space bubble and touched cheek to cheek on both cheeks for many of my relatives. I also learned how to say good evening in French quite well.

Our aunt had a grand entrance with her children and grandchildren preceding her. They were applauded before seating for the first few courses. All these customs were new to me and the party felt much more like a wedding reception.

The first event of the evening, my aunt’s children and grandchildren sang songs and danced. The mayor of St. Denis came and said a few words. Not many people live in Réunion for so long and fewer still celebrate this many years of marriage. Some party songs were played and Jack took the opportunity to be the favorite long-distance relative. He led them through the Macarena and other party antics. I was content to shoot photos on the side.

The music paused while everyone enjoyed a few more courses of the dinner. Then the dance music came back and my family boogied down. Even my dad got in the middle of a dance circle. So that’s where Jack gets it from.

Around midnight, they had Jack and I demo dancing with my aunt’s daughters. Jack’s nightclub two step impressed a lot of people. My aunt’s second daughter loves dancing, and her salsa background helped her and Jack do a great lead-follow dance to “Everything I Do” covered by Brandy. I did a simple single-time swing with the oldest daughter.

We finished the party at 2am and helped clean up a bit before going to bed. Then we recovered the next day before our evening flight to Paris. So I got to go another night without sleep.

Paris

Jack connected to a flight home from Paris while my parents and my uncle and aunt wasted no time checking into our hotel and explored the city. We went to the Notre Dame, Panthéon, and explored the shops in the Louvre. I had heard from an Apple keynote that there was an Apple store in Paris. When I asked where it was, I was surprised to hear it was in the Louvre.

Paris Day 2, Dad and I visited the Rodin museum and enjoyed the sculptures. The plan was to see the Louvre afterward, but the Louvre was closed on Tuesdays. So we took the opportunity to travel to Basilique du Sacre Heart of Jesus of Paris, Arc de Triomphe, and the Tower Eiffel. It was great to travel with dad, appreciate art with him, and learn the Paris metro system. I’m thankful for the app on my iPod touch that included a city and metro map. It made getting around Paris a cinch. Best dollar I’ve spent in Paris.

Paris Day 3 was all about the Louvre. My mom and dad had visited it ten years ago when they made a similar trip to Mauritius for my aunt’s 50th anniversary. But they arrived at the Louvre in the late afternoon and had to run through the museum. This time, we had a full day to explore the art.

I was much more interested in the sculptures than the paintings. I have never taken an art history class, so I was unable to appreciate the stories with the art. So I enjoyed them at face value, saw the famous ones highlighted in my flyer, and took pictures. Some of the art were massive in size. I can’t imagine how someone could’ve painted them and maintained proportions.

I had heard that I would need three days to fully appreciate the Louvre, or one full day to get through all of it. I was done after five hours, but I went back and revisited some areas I enjoyed. Again, without the history about the art, I don’t think I needed more than the five hours.

I woke up excited the next day because I was heading home. My flight was at 11:20am Paris time, but I got up at 6am to make sure I wasn’t late. We had run into some airport problems flying from Réunion to Paris, so I wanted to be extra-prepared to make it home. It had been a long 16 days away, which I did not take lightly. We had a lot of friends and family come help Jennilyn with the house and kids while I was away.

My parents came along through the metro system to help me with my luggage. I was not able to buy a ticket to the Paris airport at the kiosk. For some reason, my credit card wasn’t accepted, so I took a chance and used the city ticket I had been using the past few days to get to the airport. My mom didn’t think it was a good idea, but I did not want to go back upstairs, and potentially another metro stop, in order to get the right ticket. Frustrated, I just went along and hoped it would all work out, even though I didn’t like using the Metro without paying.

Now, in Portland, you could ride the MAX light rail without ever buying a ticket, but if you get caught by a random check from Tri-Met, you’d be fined. I was hoping for the same system, meaning, no checks along the way.

When I got to the airport, there was an entrance booth that required a valid ticket to continue. My ticket didn’t work and the booths are blocked by automated doors. I saw some people throw their luggage over before wedging through the doors. My suitcases wouldn’t fit over and French people as a whole were skinnier than me. I swallowed my pride and hoped that being an American would afford me some ignorance points when I pressed the assistance button.

No help came. So I eventually had to tailgate a legitimate person going in, shove my luggage through as fast as possible, and get squeezed by the doors as I crammed in. Out of guilt (and spite), I went to a ticket machine and bought an equivalent ticket to be fair and handed it to the gentleman behind me. He must’ve thought I was being nice when I was just trying to pay my debt.

And Back to Portland

The flight home was a time of recollection and watching movies. Thankfully, the trip home was shorter, but I still didn’t sleep much. I finally had a breather and time alone to process the past 16 days.

I also thought about all the friends and family who helped Jennilyn and prayed thanks for them. Tracy, Leah, Tiffany, Jenni’s parents, Mary, and more who helped make it possible for me to go on this trip.

By the time I arrived in Portland, I checked my iPod and it read 6am in Paris again. I welcomed the cool air of the Pacific Northwest.

It’s strange how alien home is when you’ve been away and come back. It was a tremendous opportunity to be able to visit where my dad was born. My relatives were kind, patient, and generous, welcoming us to their homeland. I’ll never be able to thank them enough for all they had done and given to me.

It was humbling to think that this whole family came from one man, who traveled to Mauritius many years ago, started a successful grocery store business—a lineage of people who would be spread across the world—and I am one person who is part of his legacy. I wish I could have met my grandfather and learned his story. But at least from this trip, I know his name: Lam Cham Kee.

Photo Galleries

• Mauritius
• Réunion
• Paris

I agree with most of the reviews on the web so far that the design of the laptop is pretty cool. Or there-lack-of design. It has no logos, stickers, or branding. Just a black laptop. With a textured surface that makes it feel more rugged and sturdy.

For those not addicted following the technology industry, the Google Chrome notebook is an experiment to see if we can use a computer that is only a web browser. I’m going to start by saying that it’s too soon and there is a lot of re-thinking before living only on the web is viable.

Still, I’ll give props for Google taking a chance. I’ve found that ever since receiving a Macbook for work, I’ve found a laptop to be indispensable to daily life. I feel almost guilty that the Macbook has more uses at my home than at work; where I usually bring it to meetings to take notes, occasionally do browser testing, and impromptu coding sessions with someone. At home, the Macbook serves as a recipe book, watching Netflix on the couch, watching web videos, blogging, and more. How it quickly powers on from sleep was a convenience I didn’t realize I needed until I would boot up my PC and wait a few minutes before I could do anything useful.

When I started using the Google notebook, I tried to make it replace the Macbook. Over the last two weeks, I can’t say that it can. But I have hopes that coming improvements to Google Chrome OS will make it come closer.

First off, the Chrome notebook is lacking polish. There are apps on the Chrome web store that can’t install or can’t work on the Chrome OS notebook! That’s very confusing for a user. Secondly, since the whole computer is just a browser, I can’t install software on it except what is on the web store. Third and last, the driver support is pretty primitive if I can’t plug in a USB thumb drive to the one USB port on the notebook.

One great perk is the free two-year of 3G internet service. Granted, it’s capped at 100 MB a month, I’m hoping to see how my life could be “improved” having access to internet anywhere I have the Chrome OS notebook. It was handy at the Portland Swing Dance Club board meeting I attended.

Google also develops another operating system for cellphones, the Android OS. I’m curious as to what Chrome OS could offer that is better than Android, since there is so much overlap in their target audiences and uses.

I guess I’m thankful for a free and decent laptop if Chrome OS goes away. I’ll probably end up installing a flavor of Linux if that happens and it would be a great terminal machine for home.

So my running joke I had with Jennilyn when I bought the collector’s edition, which is a huge splurge for me since I’m not a big collector nor spender on video games, was that instead of getting a harley or a sports car, my mid-life crisis was the StarCraft 2 collector’s edition. I’m glad she plays along and encourages me to partake in geeky gamer endeavors.

I actually haven’t stuck with StarCraft for as long as my brother and some college friends have. They still play it from time to time to this day whereas I’ve moved on to different games. However, the game StarCraft teleports me to my first year in college where I played it every Friday with my dorm mates as we did laundry. Thank God for the ability to pause during multiplayer matches while we switched the laundry to the dryer.

But my favorite memories of StarCraft were in the years after, when there were at least eight of us who were StarCraft multiplayer regulars on the same floor in the dorms. At some point after dinner, some one would get the urge to play and go down door-to-door and say “Craft at 9?” And homework would take a back seat to the intergalactic war that ensued.

In my database class, my final project was to create a web interface to review StarCraft statistics that were collected on the fan-made Battle.net game service alternative bnetd, which we lovingly called it Cattle.net (I’m not aware if my friends knew that Blizzard has an fixation on cows).

My project partner ran a Linux server with bnetd so that our multiplayer games would be less laggy than doing it over IPX, in the days before TCP/IP protocols were becoming more of the norm. Anyway, the final project allowed me and my friends to see our gameplay statistics in the games we played. I could say that StarCraft got me into web development because the project introduced me to PHP and MySQL. How’s that for a game-changer?

Back to favorite moments of StarCraft, and I’ll finish with one memory or else I’ll be typing instead of gaming, one particularly fond memory I had in StarCraft was actually a competitive multiplayer match. Although I preferred cooperative games where all my friends would battle the computer artificial intelligence, which by the way, was extremely lethal and a threat throughout, we had too many friends playing to do cooperative matches exclusively.

In one long match, my friend Matt had completely decimated my main base, but I had expanded to multiple bases. For those who don’t know, in StarCraft, the winner is determined not when the enemy army is destroyed, but when all the enemy buildings are destroyed. So, in theory (and practice in my case), your enemy could have a massive army and lose if you wipe out all their buildings. I used that to my advantage as a mighty technical tactician (ahem).

Back to the match, it was down to my friend Matt and I, all our other teammates were wiped out. He was Protoss and I was Zerg. He had a carrier fleet going through the game map destroying all my bases, trying to eradicate me. I had expanded very many times, but only had one base that was producing my army. I built a quick zergling army to do a strike at his only base. He was getting frustrated after destroying each of my expansion bases and still not winning.

As he searched for me with his carriers, I sent my zergling army up to his base, which was protected by several photon cannons and a high templar. The photon cannons and the high templar’s psionic storm would easily defend against my weak zergling strike, but I had two aces up my sleeve.

One, I had one remaining queen which I used its spawn broodling ability to quickly kill the high templar. Two, I had a defiler, which I rarely made use of, use its dark swarm ability over the photon cannons so that my zerglings could attack them unharmed by the cannons’ ranged attack. The strategy was so brilliant that I can hardly believe I thought of it.

I’ll never forget the screams and yelling I heard down the hall when I finished off his base before his carrier fleet could destroy my base. It seemed like a sure win for him until I outsmarted him.

Ah, the glory days…now, I just gotta click on every StarCraft 2 unit multiple times to hear all those funny sayings…

See a few more photos from StarCraft 2 Midnight Launch »

So when the Unreal Tournament 2004 modification Alien Swarm was released, I enjoyed reliving the funnier parts of the Aliens movie with my own experiences—surviving swarms of aliens bent on my destruction or infestation. The original Alien Swarm for UT2004 was a great mod; taking a 3D first-person shooter and going to a 2D-style, top-down gauntlet-like game. The modders made great use of the existing media assets from Unreal Tournament to deliver a scary and fun cooperative experience before “coop” became the trend it is today.

I played through all the campaigns in Alien Swarm for UT2004 on my own, which wasn’t as much fun as with friends, but I wanted to see what the modders came up with scenarios on my own time. The missions were quite tough and more so when I had to control all 4 marines by myself. Luckily, the bots controlling the other 3 marines with me had inhuman aim and I didn’t have to worry about friendly-fire.

In one evening in Oysterville with Jack and Clark, I remember a fun session when I finally got to play Alien Swarm with friends. It was intense as we were all scrambling from one place to another while aliens just kept coming after us. We would heal each other, weld doors shut to buy us time, and have climatic battles to the exit room. It would be a precursor to the survival stories we later had fighting zombies.

I remember reading on gaming web sites that the modders were stopping development on Alien Swarm for UT2004 and moving to the Source game engine, and it would be a commercial product. Quite a bit of time has passed and I discovered last week that Valve, the company that created the Source engine and the Left 4 Dead series, hired the modding team for Alien Swarm a while back. And then, they released Alien Swarm for Source for free yesterday.

Clark and I took a spin through it and I found myself not only nostalgic from the original, but also admiring all the subtle details they made to make the game more accessible and provide more tactical information without cluttering the user interface.

For example, the aiming reticule has a small stroke line around its circle that wanes as the ammo in the gun used is being fired. Most of the time, I am looking at where I’m shooting, so it’s a great place to visually indicate how much ammo is left without requiring me to look away from the action.

I also liked that they color-coded each marine’s visor, so that it’s easy to spot who’s who in the battlefield. In the original Alien Swarm, all the soldiers looked similar except for their weapons. The extra touch of color makes it even easier to differentiate the marines when there are aliens swarming all over.

Other areas of polish that impressed me were:

• Loading the game area before the lobby so that when the party is ready to start, the game is ready to go. No loading screen necessary when everyone is ready to go.
• The game world map allows players to draw on it, so players can plan out their paths through the alien-infested world.
• Hacking doors is a mini-game, kind of frantic but better than looking for keys on a level.
• Being a part of the Steam service is a huge plus. Having voice communications is a necessity in something this intense and tactical with other players.

The fact that the game is free makes it a great LAN party game. Too bad the player limit is 4 players, just like Left 4 Dead…speaking of which, since the free version comes with all the tools to create more content, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did a zombie conversion for Alien Swarm. That would be fun.