Lily experienced some big steps today — literally and figuratively.  At the doctor’s office today for her 1-year checkup, the doctor saw her first tooth beginning to pop through.  Yowzers, finally.  Just like her older brother, she started teething about 6-7 months ago, and never stopped.  It’s about time!

Today, my wife saw her take her first steps in the morning, at the doctor’s office, and at school.  I haven’t seen it yet, but maybe tomorrow?  We were so happy, we decided to celebrate with dinner at P.F. Chang’s.  Isn’t that what everyone does?

Is Spring finally here? The weather seems to have picked up. Today, we hit 70 degrees, and I took the kids to the park to hang out at the playground. Lily had her experience on the swings, and Josh got to push her. Some of Josh’s classmates showed up, and I watched him run around with them.

It was a nice weekend overall. Did I mention it was Lily’s birthday on Saturday? Yeah, we kept it simple — a late breakfast at a nice restaurant Saturday morning, then just hanging out as a family, and we went to a church event in the evening. The actual birthday party will be next Saturday.

I can’t believe Lily is 1 years old now. Heck, we can’t believe we survived 12 rounds, er months, with her, but we did. We were spoiled with Josh — he was always so easy-going as a baby, and later, as a little guy. Lily has been the baby with a little attitude and a heavy need for attention. Luckily, she’s cute as can be, so I guess that makes up for it.

My wife and I played LittleBigPlanet together this weekend.  I played for a while by myself yesterday (got really far), but I hit a number of areas where you need a friend along in order to get special items like stickers and stuff.  She joined me today for 30 mins, and we had lots of fun.  Just like in real life, I really liked having her there for company. I have the best fun with her that way.

This month, I watched the end of Battlestar: Galactica. It wasn’t canceled. After the 2003 miniseries and four seasons, the writers wrapped up the story. I’ll really miss the show as the show was simply unpredictable — you didn’t know what was going to happen next, and the stories kept me on my toes. Sure, there were one or two bad (or “eh”) episodes, but not every episode can be a home run.

The show had so much going for it, but I think I will especially miss the space battles. They were so ingenious, surprising, and fun. Some insurmountable battle with seemingly no way to prevail, yet the humans would use some crazy strategy that made you go, “Wow, I never thought of doing THAT. That is awesome!”

In honor of the end of Battlestar: Galactica, some links.

1. IGN.com published their list of Battlestar: Galactica’s 20 best storylines and moments. I would agree on each one.
2. Entertainment Weekly recently put together The Beginning of the End: A ‘Battlestar Galactica’ Oral History, the background history on how the miniseries was produced, despite all the hate coming from the original BSG fans.

I’m gonna miss that show.

The Galactica

On a Saturday night (when we can’t go anywhere fun with the kids), I had some quality geeky alone time.  I watched my latest Netflix movie, The Island, starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, among other well-known character actors.  It’s a sci-fi movie about the future, cloning, etc.  I remember when this Michael Bay movie came out in 2005, and bombed at the box office.  I didn’t stay away from it, so much as never got around to watching it.

I actually thought it was a good movie.  Good action, pretty decent sci-fi plot, and decent acting.  It’s no blockbuster, but I’m glad pleasantly surprised to learn that Michael Bay can actually make a decent movie. Who knew?

The only portion that raised my eyebrows was the rampant in-movie advertising / product placement.  Especially the MSN Search crap.  How much product placement? Did you know that Cisco Systems, MSN Search, Xbox, Puma, Reebok, Miller Light, NBC, NFL, Budweiser, Apple, Aquafina, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Mack, Coca-Cola, Speedo, TAG Heuer, Amtrak, Ben & Jerry’s, and Nokia are some of the sponsors of the film? That’s crazy, even by Michael Bay standards.

The Island (2005)

Vince Shlomi, the ShamWow guy got in to a fight in South Beach with his $1000 hooker. Shlomi and the hooker were both arrested for felony aggravated battery.

How is this guy affording a $750/night hotel room, and a $1000 hooker? How many ShamWows has he sold?

ShamWow Guy In Slap, Chop Bust – March 27, 2009.

So we watched Made of Honor Friday night, borrowed from a friend. First of, I want people to know that we had low expectations. Turns out, it was even worse than I imagined.  Formulaic to say the least, but the characters were so one-dimensional, especially Michelle Monaghan.  Her mood swings and decisions were so often extreme, you knew it was contrived as a plot device.  I think the movie’s ending was the worst aspect, as it was extremely rushed, as if “Whoops! We have exactly 2 mins to end the movie, let’s wrap everything up fast.”  I’m not even kidding.  Two mins, and you get a fast wrap-up, and then closing credits. Instant chick-flick.

Made of Honor (2008)

I don’t know who I felt worse for — Patrick Dempsey or Michelle Monaghan or Sydney Pollack. Not Patrick Dempsey, because he must have pocketed good money as he has top billing.  Michelle Monaghan’s character was one-note person — I’d be embarassed to have this movie on my resume.  Sydney Pollack is a great actor, and this was his last film, so I guess some actors/actresses just need the fast money.

Total awesomeness.  Check the link for a 2 min clip for the upcoming Family Guy episode.

http://io9.com/5187033/picard-steals-the-show-on-family-guys-star-trek-reunion?autoplay=true

The new stadium is lookin’ good.  I can’t wait to see a game there, but did they say 15,000 fewer seats than Shea?  Larger version on the original site here.

The Orange Box

This month, we purchased our first two PS3 games.  We purchased The Orange Box with the PS3, and we recently added LittleBigPlanet to our collection.  Now we have a collection of…..two.

The Orange Box includes a few games – Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 follow-up episodes 1 and 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.  I already started playing Half Life 2, but slowly.  It’s taking me a bit of time to adjust to using a game controller versus the years of using the keyboard-and-mouse combo.   I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve been running into walls, struggling to walk through a door, and gotten killed by the evil Combine soldiers who raided the house.

Good news!  This past weekend, I started improving.  Maybe the fact that I’m a little out of practice with first-person shooter (FPS) games is playing into that as well.  I’ve struggled to find caches and where to go next, while I’ve got soldiers shooting me.  I’ve found some help during my adjustment period.  I started using visual walkthroughs posted online to help me find out where to go and what to do.  It’s a crutch, but useful. The more I get comfortable, the less I’ll be freaked about getting shot.  The less I’m freaked out, the more I can concentrate on finding my way, enjoying the game better, and less reliance on the walkthroughs.

LittleBigPlanet

Our second game, LittleBigPlanet, arrived today. It’s a platform puzzle game, similar to games like Super Mario Bros, Metroid, etc.  Except it’s nothing like it at all.  The graphics are awesome, the art design is ingenious, and the game is pretty neat.  Your ability to fully customize your character, the ability to move, push, pull, swing, etc, is just fun. There are a number of maps that come with the game, but you can also go online to play other user-created levels, or create your own.

What I’m most looking to is the co-op play.  You can have up to 3 other people playing with you.  I want to play these levels with my wife.  I mean, how fun would that be!?!

These should satiate me for a while, although I do have my covetous eye on Bioshock.  Most people finish their games straight through in a 10 hours or so.  I don’t play as often, and I take my time.  I’ll be ready for a new game in a few months.

Today will be the day infamously known as when I bought a $10 chicken salad sandwich.

So I’m working in NYC, and a number of us have a 1pm meeting.  We decide to go downstairs to the cafeteria to grab a bite before our meeting.  One person makes a suggestion that we try this place called Wichcraft nearby, as they have “excellent” sandwiches. I say, whatever, okay, why should I be the one against checking out a place that has “excellent” sandwiches.

So we head over to Wichcraft, and look at the menu.  It’s your usual sandwich place.  I’m trying to eat healthy, and I see a decent chicken salad sandwich.  The first thoughts in my head are:

1. The ingredients are “walnuts, roasted tomatoes, pickled red onions & frisée on multigrain bread.”  What heck is “frisée”?
   
2. The sandwich costs $9.50.

I ask the woman at the counter what “frisée” is, and she tells me it’s lettuce.  I’m looking at her incredulously, and ask the obvious question, “Uh, why don’t you just say lettuce?”  She looks at me like I’m an uncultured dolt. Obviously, why would anyone refer to plain old lettuce as “lettuce” when you can class it up with name “frisée”. Later, I found out that frisee is supposed to be an endive with a finer cut to the leaves, but I bet you most places are just giving you lettuce.

Anyway, I’m the first to order.  I have doubts about a $10 sandwich, but I’m in NYC with NYC prices (I spent $11 yesterday on pasta and a bottle of soda somewhere else.)  Most importantly, my coworkers are around and I don’t want to appear cheap.  So I buy a regular size chicken salad sandwich with fancy lettuce for $10, no chips or drink.

Meanwhile, everyone else has changed their mind, and decided to eat in the company cafeteria with cheaper, er, more reasonable prices.  And I’m stuck holding an “excellent” sandwich.

BTW, it was not good at all, and certainly not worth $10. Tomorrow, I’m sticking to my caviar and champagne lunches.

What an overpriced $10 chicken salad sandwich looks like.