Xbox Live

Now a momentary pause for a short story:

There once was an an xbox.
It played all the games and never locked.
Then before Halo 2 was over, the system keeled over.
And now I am left with my shoes.

So my 360 is finally coming back in about a week. I am very excited. When I first got my 360 in the summer (for Dead Rising) and I did not have it plugged in (I was not getting the wireless unit). In my new pad in Florida though, the tv stand is right next to the router so a connection is not a problem anymore. However, my experience with Live was cut short when shortly after getting connected (about two weeks or so) my 360 crapped out. I sent it away eventually and when it came back happened to be the same day a new patch was released for the 360. After getting the patch installed about 5 minutes after the ups guy left...the system crapped out again. Without getting into the crappy details, I had to send my box back and now the new wait begins. This time it is different though. Over Thanksgiving, Raj showed me what you could do with your friends over xbox live and we discussed about how easy it would be to get some multiplayer on when I got mine back. I started talking to guys in class and they were very excited about having regular matches in Halo 2 / Gears of War over Live. Just the sheer ability to stay connected with people through Live is simply amazing. On top of all that, Viva Pinata reviews/videos are tickling my funny bone so much that I ordered the damn thing off Amazon last night. Hopefully it will be here when my 360 gets back. I don' t think I have ever been this excited since Christmas about 3 years ago (and when I proposed to Laura).

On another note: The 1up Network has entered my life in full force. Being away from family and friends has made me look for something to get attached too. I have found comfort with 1up yours, EGM live, GFW podcast, 1up show and all the editorials by that wacky crew. Pretty much at any given moment in my apt, I'm listening to some form of 1up Network audio.

Progress has been coming along in my work. I've been redoing a lot of my collision algorhithms using my brand spankin new Mesh class. Ah Matrix math...how I love thee.