Whoa. Geek alert. Calling all 80′s Transformers fans. There is a game. Xbox, PS3, and PC gamers (and fans) rejoice.

On IGN (bottom of page 5) this week, I stumbled upon a mention for a new game coming in 2010 called Transformers: War for Cybertron. Activision is publishing a third-person shooter based the Transformers property, but thank goodness, it ain’t the crap that Michael Bay put out. It’s kinda similar to the 80′s cartoon and comics, but less blocky. You can play as either Autobot or Decepticon faction, as they battle each other in the era before coming to Earth (if you follow the lore.)

The game trailer is available in SD and HD (full screen) on gametrailers.com. It’s a little hard to watch and focus in some parts, but I spotted Megatron, Starscream, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Ratchet.  Even cooler? You also get to see Omega Supreme and Trypticon. Way cool. I hope the game doesn’t blow chunks.

I’ve been a bit MIA recently, but I’ve been working out of another office site for the past two weeks.  I’m currently riding the rails, and working in Jersey City, which is a first time for me. Sure, I lived in Jersey City in the past, but never worked there. I’m wrapping up week 2, with two more weeks to go.

It’s been an interesting change of pace:

1. I’m parking in New Brunswick, and riding the NJ Transit train to Newark Penn Station, and switching a few PATH trains to get to the office in Newport, a swanky area of Jersey City. I haven’t done the regular commute-to-work-a-la-train gig in many years, but it’s both tiresome and interesting. I do love the train, but I sometimes forget how spoiled I am that I get to drive to my regular office by car. I do like reading on the train, but rushing to catch it can be stressful at times. It does often result in good anecdotes!
2. Also, people are animals! I don’t remember people being so rude and pushy back in the day…… in 2005. Was it always like this? Maybe the Midtown Direct lines weren’t so crowded, but at least people were courteous. The folks riding the PATH and the Northeast Corridor will elbow and shove past you to make the train. Be nice, people. You don’t have to be jerks.
3. I like working in a new city. New faces, new places to eat, and Hoboken is close by for meeting with friends, and drinks. For example, last night, I went out for drinks with friends in Hoboken after work. It was swell.
4. Lovely views of the lower Manhattan skyline.
5. I’m learning a lot about the business side of the bank, and it’s phenomenal. Such complexity, and so many darn right smart people that I’ve never met before running the place.

I do miss being in my regular office, but this is a nice change.

I am shocked at how dumb network TV executives are, but I’m thinking the current senior management team at NBC should win some awards for myopia. We are all aware of the entire Jay Leno – Conan O’Brien fiasco, and there’s no need for me to elaborate.  Instead, I shall cite another example: Southland.

I missed Southland on NBC the first time around early last year. As I understand it, NBC aired the first season (7 episodes), then ordered additional episodes to kick off Season 2. Before season 2 premiered in October 2009, NBC cancelled Southland. TNT purchased the rights to 1st season, and the unaired episodes from the 2nd season. I watched the series pilot, and I was absolutely blown away by how good the show was. Gritty drama, tense action, great acting. Wow. Seriously blown away. Why would I want to watch the diminishing returns of former favorite Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which has become more boring to me every additional season?

Southland on TNT

At the current moment, TNT will air all of the episodes, and they’ve posted all episodes online for your consideration. They have not ordered new episodes, pending ratings. If you are looking for gritty police drama that will hook you for an hour and pull no punches, check out Southland. I think it’s excellent.

I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. I finished Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. For weeks, I’ve been slugging away at each chapter of the game, painstakingly finding every treasure (thanks to the good folks at IGN and their game guides), and collecting achievements (trophies.)  Yesterday, I reached the last chapter, fought my way to the boss battle at the end. Again and again, I lost. Today, somehow, I finally beat him. I completed the last two action sequences, and was rewarded with a lengthy (and satisfying) cutscene movie that tied up the game very well.

Man, what a great game. Pulse-pounding action, great story, awesome visuals, and wonderful voice acting. I’ve embedded a short AP video (a la YouTube) where AP interviewed some of the key actors in the game. I can’t wait for the next installment (please tell me there will be another game) to see where the next adventure with these characters will go next.

Another movie in the can. Once the kids went to sleep on a quiet Friday night, we sat down to eat some Pappa John’s pizza, and watch our latest Netflix movie, Away We Go. It’s a 2009 Sam Mendes movie starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, with respected supporting actors/actresses like Catherine O’Hara, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The premise of the story is that Krasinski and Rudolph are a couple who are about 6-months pregnant. Living near Krasinski’s character’s parents, they originally planned to have his family nearby to help. Turns out, the parents are soon moving to Belgium long term. Our intrepid couple heads out to visit various family and friends around the USA and Canada, in order to find a suitable home where suitable locale with family/friends that would be best for their future daughter. They end up travelling from place to place, finding these various people to be odd, or off their rocker, or whatever, unable to find the perfect spot.

I don’t think this was the best movie, per se. It was a decent rental. I liked Krasinkski and Rudolph in these roles, and I personally liked the characters they played. They didn’t have much, but they were two likeable people in love, surrounded by a sea of nutjobs. I could relate to them, even though they had “cardboard windows.” They were both approx 33 years old, deeply in love, and not exactly at the pinnacle of wealth and power. I’m 33, deeply in love with my wife, and not exactly rich and powerful. We don’t have the perfect life.  In the movie, they don’t have a particularly perfect life, and openly question, “Are we fuck-ups?” Hey, when you’re at this stage in your life, and you didn’t have the “perfect” life, you’d wonder if you were a fuck-up at times too.

In addition, the supporting actors/actresses establish those characters very well.  I will say that I could have done without the folksy, earnest soundtrack, which is starting to get cliched in some of these indie movies.

So final assessment — it’s a decent rental.

Away We Go (2009)

Last month, I started watching Men of a Certain Age, after I saw TNT running ads to promote their network lineup, including this show (see that, ABC? That’s how you promote your programming.)  So far, I’ve only missed the 2nd episode. The show features Ray Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula as 40-something men in various phases of their lives. It follows the bonds that these three college friends have while dealing with the issues of middle age:

• Romano’s character is a neurotic family man with two kids, but his wife is divorcing him.
• Braugher’s character has a wife and kids, but is forced to work as a car salesman for his father’s dealership, in order to support the family.
• Bakula’s character is an actor and ladies man, but he struggles-and-despises the roles he’s getting, e.g Lifetime movies.

Men of a Certain Age (2009)

It’s a new show, so it hadn’t been getting stellar ratings, but I think it’s pretty decent. Good stories, and good acting. It’s interesting to watch these three guys deal with the crap in their lives, but still talk and bond with each other. In every episode, they meet up at a diner to talk about what’s going on. If my best friends lived nearby, I know I’d be doing the same thing. Out of all the characters, I identify the most with Andre Braugher’s Owen character. He’s a family man who hates working for his unforgiving father (and who constantly disrespects him), but needs to keep doing what he’s doing to take care of the family. I haven’t seen Braugher in much, but he’s a terrific actor.

The good news is that TNT renewed it today (January 14 2010) for a second season. Again, TNT must believe in letting a new show develop an audience (again, ABC, you suck.)

Last year, my wife introduced Joshua (and Lily via the trickle-down effect) to yoga for kids. Before I had even tried yoga myself, she bought this yoga-for-kids DVD set, featuring yoga instructor Marsha Wenig.  Joshua enjoys it a lot, and has his own yoga mat to along with my wife’s. Lily likes to participate too, but she’s basically hanging around.

Turns out that more parents are trying out yoga for the kids. According to CNN’s article, “Yoga helps even little ones channel energy, emotion“, hundreds of studios across country teach yoga to children. Wow, I had no idea.

This must be an original uncensored video for an upcoming episode about swearing. It’s NSFW, so…… listen with your headphones on while the cast swears profusely with some nice insults. [I give credit to the folks over at io9.com for the original title, because it's right on the money.]

When I first changed my major in college back in 1997, I was desperate to find a good job in the technology space. I was starting from square numero uno, with no real world experience in IT, apart from a semester running the computer labs at Univ@ Albany for a semester (as part of a class), and while at a small college near my parents house in the spring of 1997. 

I attended summer classes at Pace University, registered at the Pace Co-op program office for internships, brushed up my resume, and interviewed one location after another. IBM’s TJ Watson center, Avon, and finally Reader’s Digest. Of all my choices, I accepted the position at RDA in their Help Desk initially doing analysis work for the first semester. After a regular help desk employee moved on, I jumped at the chance to take her place on the phones. I spent the next eight months providing level 1 support, including the occasional office visit.

It was an interesting experience, and I truly loved the people I worked with. Some really nice people over there, but RDA was just beginning to experience troubles.  That same year, I witnessed my first layoff, as one day, the halls were empty, and middle management was gone. The stock was in bad shape, and the old timers were grumbling about retirement.

By August 1997, they offered me any open internship position within the firm if I would stay, but I wanted to try another company, so I parted with a heavy heart, and moved to another intership with Kraft in their Coffees & Cereals division. People have come and gone, and I went to a few get-togethers of RDA staff in the late 90′s, but life went on for me after I graduated and started working full time.

I just read an article in the NY Times about RDA’s current woes, and it saddens me. The article, A Reader’s Digest That Grandma Never Dreamed Of, states that the company has moved out of the beautiful Pleasantville/Chappaqua campus. More people have been laid off, artwork sold, brands have suffered. I hope the management team is able to pull it together to save the company and the brand, even though it’s saddled with onerous debt.

Putting together the new play kitchen, and no plumber's crack in sight!

Kids being kids, they love to pretend to be superheroes or Vikings or anything fantastical you can imagine. Oddly enough, they also love to pretend to do mundane adult things like cooking and going to the DMV to renew their vehicle registration.  Frankly, I’ve never met any children who wanted to pretend to renew their vehicle registration, but I’m sure it must happen somewhere. Whenever our kids visit a children’s museum, we always see a mob scene at the play kitchen area.  I’m not sure what the deal is, but I suppose kids like to pretend to be grown-ups. My niece has a play kitchen, and all three kids love to pretend to cook eggs and boil potatoes.

For Christmas, my wife’s family got our kids the KidKraftplay Deluxe Let’s Cook play kitchen. It’s certainly been a while since Christmas, but I finally had a lengthy block of time to clear out some space and put it together early Sunday evening.  The instruction manual advised between 1 – 1.5 hours, but I knew that’s never accurate. From my experience, these projects often require you to tack on an additional 2 hours to any job. It took me close to four hours, as the kids constantly tried to “help” me. Still, I’ve realized that even though they aren’t actually helping, they need to feel like they are.

Josh and the new play kitchen assembled

The kitchen turned out rather nice, but I was a little surprised that no play food was included.  Luckily, my wife purchased some over a year ago from a KB Toys store that was closing up, and she held on them until she needed it. She’s good like that. Soon we’ll have to introduce the kids to diner lingo. That should be fun.