Exercise Sucks and Other Random Thoughts

I started exercising last week. Not a lot mind you - cause I’m in terrible, terrible shape. Just terrible. But we recently changed our diet (stopped eating fast food every day) and that’s a good start towards not being in terrible shape. I decided to add a jog/walk that I do at 7:30 in the morning. My husband and I drop our kids off, then I jog/walk home. Every day, I jog a little more and walk a little less. Once I don’t feel like I’m dying, I’ll add some distance to the run (take the long way home probably), but I’m sticking with a 1/2 mile for now. Last week was the first week of school, so it’s the first week I’ve done this and it went well. I was a little sore here and there, but in general, I felt fine. I had plenty of energy. This week, it’s not going so well. I’m exhausted and it’s making me cranky. I’ve been getting headaches. And my legs are really not feeling so hot. I know this is just that initial hump I have to get past, and I’m not going to let it beat me, but dang - I’m seriously tired.

On another note, I bought these hot looking shoes so I can at least look fashionable as I limp/jog down the street. ->>

I got an email yesterday about a job I applied for - one that sounded amazing, doing demonstrations of a really wicked product. Unfortunately, the job requires a significant amount of travel (3 weeks out of 4 every month) - some travel I’m good with, but I couldn’t be away from my kids that much, so I had to pass on the interview. All my eggs are currently in one basket, the interview I have on Thursday. I really must get this job.

The bowling league I want to join has an organizational meeting tonight. I can’t go, since my husband bowls Tuesdays (the league actually bowls on Wednesdays, so not sure why they are doing the org meeting on Tuesday). I emailed them and I hope they have an opening on a team for me. It’s an IGBO league (International Gay Bowling Organization) and I think it would be great fun to meet the gay community here in San Antonio, even though I’m straight.

I logged into EverQuest 2 today and it’s been a while since I hit my level cap (90) on a character and took a break from the game. It took me a while to figure out my spell bar! I’m a level 90 coercer and I just found out that there’s a level 85 quest to fly for my character’s race - I must go on that. I want to fly! The gliding down was already cool, so this is just super bonus. I also came across several shinies and remembered the thing I love most about the game is the collections. EQ2 I’ve missed you!

‘Civilization IV’ Live On Aspyr Website — Pre-Orders Available

Aspyr Media, Inc. announced this morning Sid Meier¹s Civilization IV is now available for preorder through their Website.

With Sid Meier¹s Civilization IV, rule throughout time and create your own legacy as you guide your civilization from the dawn of man through the space age and beyond. Implement new technologies, conduct diplomacy or wage war to grow your society and become the most powerful leader the world has ever known. The title will retail for $49.99 and is scheduled to ship in June 2006.

Key Features:
* Faster-Paced Fun - Gameplay has been streamlined for a tighter, faster, and more compelling experience.
* Greater Accessibility and Ease of Play - An easy-to-use interface will be immediately familiar to RTS and action game players, and newcomers to the series will be able to jump in and play.
* Tech Tree - Flexible Tech tree allows players more strategic choices for developing their civilizations along unique paths.
* Grow Bigger Empires - More Civilizations, Units, and Improvements to enhance and grow your empire.
* Multiplayer - LAN, Internet, and Play-By-Email offer players all-new strategies and ways to play when competing or cooperating with live opponents.
* Team Play - Whether playing multiplayer or single player, team play offers a new way of setting locked alliances that result in shared wonder effects, visibility, unit trading, and shared territory that delivers a plethora of new strategic and tactical options.
* Beautiful 3D world - Sid Meier’s Civilization IV comes to life with a beautiful 3D world, dozens of fully animated units (including culturally unique units), and totally customizable armies. Cities and wonders will appear on the map. Wonder movies are back!
* Mods and Community Tools - Designed from the ground up for modability, the game contains a powerful map editor with XML and Python support.
* Choose Your Leader - Most Civilizations now have two leaders from which to choose, with each Leader having traits that provide various bonuses to the player.
* Civics - With the discovery of new techs, civic options can become available. Freedom of speech or slavery? Hereditary rule or open elections? This creates endless government choices and possibilities!
* Religion - Now there are seven religions in the game that are unlocked through researching. When unlocked, the religion spreads through a player’s empire allowing them to use the religion to help manage happiness, gain gold and create Great Prophets.
* Great People - As the player uses specialists they gain Great People points in the city that is utilizing the specialists. Great People include the Artist, Tycoon, Prophet, Engineer, & Scientist. They can be used to get free techs, start Golden Ages, or join a city to increase its output.
* Promotions - Each unit has a promotion path that emphasizes specific unit traits. Promotions include bonuses to Attack/Defend on specific terrains/features, movement bonuses, sight/visibility bonuses, and increased withdrawal chances.
* In-Game Cinematics - Sid Meier’s Civilization IV has over 40 in-game cinematics.

‘Weird Worlds’ Mac Attack!

Developer Digital Eel and publisher Shrapnel Games are very excited to announce that the galaxy’s greatest thirty-minute space opera, Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, is now available for the Mac! That’s right, the same exciting game that thrilled PC owners can now be played on the Mac. This is also a true port, and not simply a universal binary version of the game, although plans are in the work for that.

The Mac version of Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is currently purchasable as a digital download, although it will be available in the near future on a hybrid Mac/Win CD, for those who prefer to bask in the odors of newly pressed CDs. Head on over to the Shrapnel e-store, the Gamers Front, to snag your Mac download.

The Mac port of Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space allows Mac users to experience the very same award-winning gameplay that Win users have been enjoying. Explore the infinite possibilities of Sector Prime for scientific knowledge, a military show of force, or a healthy dose of space rum and alien parrots with a crew of cutthroat pirates. Enjoy a short ten year mission, or try your luck at surviving the hard vacuum for a full thirty years (in gameplay that is; in the real world expect your missions to last an average of twenty minutes).

Exploration is done in a leisurely, turn-based, one-click mode. Strange encounters in outer space or planet-side are common, ranging from the benign to the malevolent to the just plain wacky. Sometimes it’s even a wacky malevolent encounter. Those tend to not end well for your crew.

You’re also not the only starship zooming around in Sector Prime. You may encounter a friendly trader, a lost fighter pilot, or other alien vessels. And let’s face it, most alien races are rather angry, and they like to take their anger out on humans by blowing them up, enslaving their women, and probe parties. Weird Worlds continues this fine tradition of human-hating aliens bent on your destruction.

In combat the action unfolds in real-time, as the darkness of space is seared with beams, rays, missiles, projectiles, and other implements of destruction, all in glorious Destructo-
vision. Gamers can ever practice their battle skills in a separate combat simulator.

And just when you think you’ve seen it all, that you’ve explored every single planet you could explore, that you’ve encountered every single encounter, that you’ve fought every single probe-happy alien vessel you could, there’s more! Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is so mod friendly we often have to turn a hose on the game, just to keep the mods apart. The Weird Worlds experience never has to halt!

For more information on Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space please visit its gamepage. You’ll also be able to download a Mac demo for a sampling of the groovy game. And while there be sure to check out all our other titles for the Mac, such as Dominions II and Dominions 3 and Salvo!.

‘Call of Duty 2’ For Mac Goes Beta

Call of Duty 2 for Mac has hit beta status. The game, scheduled to ship in May, is licensed from Activision, Inc. and under development for Mac by Aspyr Studios.

Developed by Infinity Ward, Call of Duty 2 re-defines the cinematic intensity and chaos of battle as seen through the eyes of ordinary soldiers fighting together in epic WWII conflicts. The sequel to Call of Duty, the 2003 Game of the Year and winner of more than 80 awards, Call of Duty 2 offers more immense, more intense, more realistic battles than ever before, thanks to the stunning visuals of the new Call of Duty 2 engine.

Call of Duty 2 provides an amazing experience with all-new enhancements, ranging from stunningly realistic graphics to seamless gameplay, a new engine, groundbreaking AI, and choice based innovations that allow players to experience the closest thing they¹ll ever get to real warfare. Beautifully rendered snow, rain, fog, and smoke, combined with dynamic lighting and shadows, make this the most intense WWII first person action title yet.

Final System Requirements Set For ‘Call of Duty 2’ for Mac

Developed by Infinity Ward, Call of Duty 2 re-defines the cinematic intensity and chaos of battle as seen through the eyes of ordinary soldiers fighting together in epic WWII conflicts. The sequel to Call of Duty, the 2003 Game of the Year and winner of more than 80 awards, Call of Duty 2 offers more immense, more intense, more realistic battles than ever before, thanks to the stunning visuals of the new Call of Duty 2 engine. Now it is coming out for the Mac, and we’ve got the final system requirements for you.

Call of Duty 2 runs best on a Power Mac G5 or Intel 2.0 GHz or faster.

Minimum System Requirements

* Mac OS X 10.3.9
* 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5/Intel chipset
* 512 MB RAM
* 4.0 GB free disk space
* NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 or ATI Radeon 9600 or higher
* 64 MB VRam
* DVD-ROM
* Multiplayer: Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported. Internet play requires broadband connection.

* Supported Video cards: NVIDIA GeForce 5200, 6600, 6800, 7800 ATI Radeon 9600, 9650, 9700, 9800, X600, X800, X850, X1600

Recommended System Requirements:

* Mac OS X 10.4.5
* 2.0 GHz PowerPC G5/Intel chipset
* 1 GB RAM
* 128 MB Vram

‘American History Lux’ Released

Sillysoft Games is proud to release American History Lux, a new strategy game that lets you replay 10 wars that have shaped American history. It’s available to download now for PC, Macintosh, and Linux.

American History Lux includes the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the Mexican-American War, the US Civil War, three separate World War theaters, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and finishes with the recent Iraq War. Background information is provided on each, along with links to in-depth online histories.

Each war comes as a map containing the real geographic layout marking the important cities, forts, and regions of the conflict. The backgrounds are decorated with historical imagery from each period. Thematic music rounds out the interactive learning experience delivered by American History Lux.

American History Lux information and downloads

‘Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga’ Newbie Day Today

Matrix Games in association with Worlds Apart Productions is proud to announce Newbie Night on April 15th, 2006 for Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga. No purchase is required to participate and win prizes, so download the demo (Windows or Mac).

Throughout the day on the 15th, every 30 minutes, a random new player (joined within the last two months) will receive 1 Atok Incident booster pack. In addition two tournaments specifically for new players (Ranked under 1600) will be run on Saturday, March 15th, at 10 AM and 7 PM MST.

Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga features a unique set of single player campaigns along with enhanced graphics, an improved user interface, new maps, new cards, new sound effects, four player games, a tournament drafting system, and many minor adjustments to improve the game.

The digital download and boxed versions of Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga is now available for Mac and PC at the Matrix Games Online Store. Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga is available to both existing Star Chamber players and those who have yet to try Star Chamber. While this is a stand-alone release, the installation process as well as the online play require an internet connection.

Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga contains 2 single player campaigns, 2 starter decks (or 6 booster packs), 5 Atok Incident boosters, 5 event passes, and 5 exclusive promo cards only available when you purchase the Matrix Games edition. For only $29.99 from the Matrix Online Store, the total value of the starter decks, booster packs, and event passes comes to $31.95 and that doesn’t include the value of the single player campaigns or the 5 special promo cards. For both existing and new players, this is the perfect way to experience the new Star Chamber. Also, the new Atok Incident expansion, which is launching along with The Harbinger Saga, contains over 300 brand new cards to further increase the number of strategies in the already robust Star Chamber catalog.

‘QUAKE 4’ Invades Macintosh Intel and PowerPC

Aspyr Media, Inc. announced today that it has begun shipping QUAKE 4, a Mac OS X Universal application, developed by Raven Software and produced by id Software, for Macintosh. QUAKE 4 will run natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macintosh computers.

The long-awaited sequel to QUAKE II, QUAKE 4 enlists gamers in the role of Matthew Kane, a member of the legendary Rhino Squad, to penetrate deep into the heart of the Strogg war machine and engage in a series of heroic missions to destroy the barbaric alien race. QUAKE 4 begins only moments after the events of QUAKE II, with the Earth’s fleet launching a massive offensive to the planet Stroggos. As Matthew Kane, gamers invade the alien stronghold, fighting alone, along side other Marines, and in mechanized walkers and hover tanks as they encounter the Strogg and their disturbing amalgamations of man and machine. Built on id Software¹s revolutionary DOOM 3 technology, QUAKE 4 also features fast-paced multiplayer competition modeled after the speed, style and feel of QUAKE III Arena.

‘The Sims 2: University’ Trailer for Mac - Download to Your iPod

The Sims 2 University trailer has been posted to Apple’s website. Electronic Arts’ The Sims 2 University is the first expansion pack for The Sims 2. The Sims 2 University introduces a new young-adult stage of life, 4 new career paths, new influence gameplay and more than 125 new objects.

The Sims 2 University allows players to explore a whole new stage of life as young adults and introduces college-related wants and fears that are ultimately tied to their Sims¹ social life and academic goals. The expansion also introduces influence gameplay allowing players to earn influence points to have other Sims do certain tasks for them such as homework, term papers, cleaning up the fraternity house or even pulling pranks on other Sims. Players will be able to choose from one of 11 majors and open up 4 new career paths as they make their way through University.

Your Sims are now young adults leaving home to live the ultimate college fantasy. Immerse them in college life as they become the Big Sim on Campus. They’ll relish their new-found freedom as they party with friends, join fraternities and sororities and pull outrageous pranks. Your Sims will explore all the campus hot-spots as they frequent lounges, gyms, coffee houses and more. Help them fulfill new lifetime goals to unlock more rewards and reap all of the benefits of their university years.