Connecting the Wii

Anyone know how to get a Wii online with a D-Link WBR-2310 router?

I manage to find the access point and connect almost immediately, but the update bar fills up to 1-10% and then the Wii hits me with an error code 32004 (sometimes 32002). Every time I try, I get one of these two. I followed all the recommended settings on the Nintendo support page for the 2310, I have the latest firmware, and yes, I changed the channel to 1 or 11, and still cannot download the update. And no update, no Internet connection.

It can’t be a signal strength issue — the distance is about six feet, clear line of sight between the Wii and the antenna.

Do I throw the router back in the box and return it to the store, or is there some hope? I don’t seem to be alone with this issue, but my Google-Fu fails me when trying to find an actual fix.

Update

To borrow a phrase from author Jerry Pournelle, the weekend was devoured by locusts. I don’t know where time goes — it seems that Friday night was just a few hours back.

We did get to brunch with a friend, do the grocery shopping, cook two delicious suppers on our new barbecue and do a serious round of cleaning, both in and out the condo. I put some order to the spare bedroom — hopefully, I’ll manage to grab a few hours to work on models this week.

Like Father Like Son

My dad was scanning and archiving old pictures and he sent me one, asking “where were you when this was taken?”

Yep — it’s a picture of him at 29 on the left, and me at 30 on the right. Pretty cool, no?

Change

There’s a popular saying that goes, “change is the only constant.”

I’m leaving Electronic Arts Mobile, after two and a half years with the company. A lot has happened since my previous employer (JAMDAT) got bought almost two years ago, and I felt it would be best for me and EA if we parted ways. The job description doesn’t fit my career objectives anymore; the business is just too big for me to have a real impact on, which is something I need to have. After consultation with friends and family, I thus decided to leap again into uncertain waters.

I got the chance to work on some huge brands during my time at JAMDAT/EAM. I helped create what I’d like to think were seriously cool mobile titles: Dakar Rally 2006, Scrabble Refresh, Tetris Refresh (MP), The Sims Pool (iPod), ESPN Darts, Tetris N-Gage, Tetris 2008… I would like to thank my teams and colleagues, without whom none of this could have happened.

I just signed on as Producer with Artifex Animation Studios, a Montreal-area start-up specializing in 3D animation and special effects. Yep, leaving the game industry completely for the first time in 16 years! Despite being relatively new on the scene, Artifex is staffed by veteran animators and F/X specialists who have worked on shows such as Alias and the acclaimed Lost series. Building bridges with the computer game industry will be one of my first tasks there, as we want to expand into providing animation and cinematic services to industry leaders such as A2M, EA, Ubisoft and others.

So if, through the grapevine, you hear about a project that needs 3D animation at a competitive price, tell them to drop me a line (mavezina@aastudios.ca)…

On to the next adventure!

Update

Not much here lately because I’m working on something. Watch this space.

W00T!!!

Tetris Multiplayer, one of my big producing projects for 2006-2007, has just been voted Best Wireless Online Multiplayer game of 2007!

Huge props go to my teams in Montreal (client software) and in Los Angeles (server software), who both expended considerable sweat and effort into making this happen. Literally, this award would not have been possible without the participation of everyone. Kudos!

Happy New Year!

And may 2008 be a great year for all!

That said, I’m going to bed.

Vacations

They begin today, and just about time, too.

Let me catch my breath a bit and updates will begin to roll in.

Runnin' Ragged

Therefore not posting (or doing anything else) much except go to work, maintain the household and sleep. Will change as I go to vacations next week.

Third Anniversary

I didn’t post it on the real date (October 16) because we were out celebrating with friends, but yesterday was our third wedding anniversary.

Love you hun!

Not Dead Yet

Just feeling like it.

Crunch Time

Starting tomorrow morning, I’m entering a work period that’s familiar to anyone who has worked in the game industry — and quite a few other deadline-driven ones, too: crunch time.

That’s the final sprint before a delivery where you pray nothing goes wrong (or, at least, that your contingency plans hold under the pressure) and everyone puts in extra effort to produce a quality application on the promised date. Which means, obviously, that I’ll be working longer hours and may not be updating the blog quite as much.

Please bear with me — by mid-November, everything should have gone back to normal. Hopefully.

Man, I’m getting too old for this.

A Canuck in New York

Went to the Big Apple today for a meeting. Ultimately useful, but not my idea of fun, especially when it means I have to go through the HomeSec goons to get to the plane.

But hey, at least the licensor liked the game prototype.

Happy Days

My sister got married yesterday, so the last three days have been busy with family stuff. Blogging will resume soon.

Slow Blogging

Sorry, battling a cold right now and not really in the mood to blog.

To tide you over, here’s a neat mecha combiner video.

W00T!

I mentioned the other day that we had launched the new version of Tetris that I had been working on for the past year or so.

Well, the first official review is out, and… 9 out of 10! It’s my personal best and also one of the best scores the Montreal studio ever got.

Big congratulations to my team, who spent a great many hours on this, and to the Los Angeles team for their work on the server component. We rule!

Election Night...

…and I’m spending most of my time just watching the returns, instead of doing something useful. Too tired to do much, other than idly sketching.

I think I need a few days’ vacations. Maybe once the Sprint stuff is finally out the door, and the next Greenlight meeting, and… [sigh]

Light Blogging

At least for this week and the next. I’m shipping two critical projects right now, and while we shouldn’t have to spend the nights at the office, it’s still a huge amount of work.

Busy Week

More excitement than usual this week, and most of it was exhausting. More details later.

Tough Week

I just hope 2007 won’t be like that all the time.

But we’re sooooo close to Code Release, now, that I can almost taste it.

Happy New Year!

Best wishes to everyone! May 2007 exceed your expectations and bring only joy!

That’s it.

I got more bubbly to drink. [grin]

Back Safely...

…After two days on the road to make sure we get to visit both families, who happen to live on opposite of the province from Montreal. It was worth it.

Both humans and canine are fine, though a bit tired. Much merriness was had, as well as gift-giving and receiving. More to come after I rest and put away the phat l00t.

(BTW, my Wii console was a big hit with everyone. Good job, Nintendo.)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We’re spending Christmas with our families, and having a jolly good time. Even the dog is happy!

Best wishes to all my readers, family and friends!

Vacations, at last

They actually started last night, as the office was closed today. But we spent the day doing some last minute shopping for the home and Christmas, so today didn’t really count. :)

Weekend Summary

Not a bad weekend — we did some shopping, and I got around to changing all the dimmers that originally came with the condo with more useful two-way switches. Really, what use is a dimmer controlling the hallway lights? The bathroom? (If I want “ambiance,” I’ll use candles.)

I also got around to sealing several huge gaps at the bottom of the rear door — caulk for the gaps, and a new rubber strip for the door itself. Magic! My wife swears the temperature is more temperate around the house now (and given the ice-cold hurricane gale formerly seeping through, I’m tempted to agree).

Next up, window films and an in-depth clean-up of the kitchen’s faucet’s mechanism (yes, we’ll turn off the water first).

And tomorrow it’s back to work for another pre-Christmas rush week — joy!

Busy Busy Busy

No, not dead, offline, or any such thing. Just very busy at work, with my main project heading to the finish line.

When I get home I don’t have the energy to do much, except dabble a bit with LEGO® (something I haven’t done in a long while — it’s very zen). Pictures later, once the sub-assemblies start looking like a mecha.

Eternal Rome

I’m doing a short recap of the trip so that my wife and I can remember everything later on — this blog is also a sort of journal, after all.

Sunday: we left early afternoon after dropping the dog at the sitter. Getting on a plane was harder than we first planned: although there was plenty of room on the Toronto-Rome flight, the Montreal-Toronto ones were booked solid until Monday night. After some behind-the-scene wrangling, we managed to get reservations on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Rome, and so we boarded the Air Canada flight to Germany. Our luggage went through Toronto, however, and we were not to see it again until Tuesday (which scrambled our plans a bit).

Monday: by the time we got to Rome, it was Monday morning. We had a pleasant walk through the city, only to find that our bed & breakfast was unable to receive us. Thankfully, they had arranged alternate accomodations, and so we got a room not far across the Tiber, in the swinging Trastevere district. We had been told to avoid it if possible, and now we knew why: although the room was nice and clean, the noise level was horrible. Exhaustion did allow us to sleep, but it would have been nice to avoid having to chose between silence and fresh air (open or closed window).

My wife wanted to rest a bit, but I decided to battle my closing eyelids and at least walk around the neighborhood. I was starving, so I bought a piece of pizza at a nearby restaurant — proscuttio meat and fresh cheese, straight from the oven, packed to go. Then I came back and redid the planning for the next few days, given that without the luggage we were missing the required clothes for certain visits.

Tuesday: we decided to hit the Ancient Rome sites first, instead of the Vatican (the latter has a dress code). We first went straight North to visit the Pantheon, then we turned east to the mausoleum of Victor Emmanuel II. After a quick lunch, we made our way to the Roman Forum and the Palatino hill. After a brief detour to the Colliseum to estimate the crowd, we went back to the Palatino for a stroll, followed by the actual Colliseum visit. Next on the list, the St-Clement basilica, where we visited the excavations of the 4th century church and the pagan temple found underneath. Then it was back to the room via the Circus Maximus, for a shower and a quick nap before heading out to a great supper at a local ristorante.

Wednesday: the luggage had arrived on Tuesday night, so we got properly dressed and took a bus to the Vatican to catch the tail end of the Pope’s speech. After seeing the neverending line for the museum, we doubled-back to the St-Angelo fortress. This was once a giant Roman mausoleum which later got converted into a fortress, papal apartments, and prison. Once that was visited, we went back to the Vatican museum. Since it was getting later than we planned, we went straight to the Sistine Chapel to ensure we’d get to see it. We did manage to visit the Pinacoteca before they closed the museum. We then headed to the St-Peter Basilica and a long visit. Once this was done, we decided to go for the gold and hit both the Piazza Navona and the Trevis Fountain, grabbing quick pizzas along the way for sustenance. Exhausted, we then made our way back to Trastevere, where we stopped for supper before turning in for the night.

Thursday: after two days of non-stop visiting and walking, we took a lazy morning. Then we boarded a bus to the countryside, to visit the catacombs. This was followed by a walk on the old Via Appia. We took the bus back to Rome and returned to the room to freshen up. This was followed by a gastronomic supper in an old ristorante, followed by a stroll through the winding streets of the city.

Very early on Friday morning, we made our way to the airport, where we caught our flights home. We had a lot less trouble than on the way in, and caught both flights with no problem.

Yes, the dog was happy to see us.

And We're Back...

…from Rome, Italy, where we took a well-deserved vacation to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. Very nice trip — I think we managed to hit every sight the city has to offer, and then some.

More later as I catch up on things.

P.S. The dog is fine. She loved spending the week at the dogsitter since it meant that she got to go to the park twice every day instead of just once.

Low Output...

…these days at the blog because my mind’s on my work. But next weekend’s a long one, and I’ve got some vacation time lined up.

So, don’t despair.

Still workin'

Sorry, still working (hence no update). I have 200+ screenshots to do for Monday morning, plus some promotional movies.

The life of a computer game producer is a busy one…

tough week

Sorry, not a lot of updates. High intensity week at work, and at night I spend most of my time taking care of the dog (to relax) and following the Lebanon war.

The latter may be the first truly 21st century conflict: it’s being fought with memetics as much (if not more) than with weaponry.

not dead...

…just on vacations.

almost there...

Just one day to go before I get some much needed vacation time. I successfully attained two rather large milestones in my two projects today at work, and thus will have a clear head while resting.

I plan to spend time with my wife, play with the dog, possibly write a little, and maybe even build a couple of minis!

Hot Days 2

Today is the first of what is likely to be another series of Quebec heat spells. It’s a nice place to live in but one must be ready to take the full gamut of weather from -30 to 30 C. Not fun.

(Wrangling a heat-crazed dog is just, alas, assumed to be part of the days to come, as it was tonight.)

Which means, basically, than other than watching the latest Doctor Who episode and browse the Net a bit, I did squat on any of my projects. Darnit.

Lazy Weekend

Spent the weekend doing chores and relaxing. Not always easy with the dog, especially when she damages stuff in the house.

While I didn’t write anything new, I did manage to finish reading the Schlock Mercenary archives (which means I have to get by with one comic a day now, darn) and play a little MS Saga. The latter isn’t a great CRPG, but it’s a lot of fun if you’re a Gundam afficionado like me.

Mind the dust, part 2

Looking forward to a habitable home at last.
The walls are starting to take the right colors.

I wish I could say the same about the content of my bowels, however. Ugh. I think I caught the same intestinal bug as the dog. Going to sleep now, hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow.

(This is the danger of personal blogs, sometimes you hit cool stuff and sometimes you hit crap. Sorry.)

Mind the dust

The contractors are finally showing up this week, so blogging will likely be light/inexistant.

More later when the paint is dry and the floor done.

New Layout is Up

The new layout for VectorSphere.com is now up.

The Weblog will follow in a few hours. Please mind the dust and frequent interruptions as I tweak the code.

A new template

I wasn’t happy with my previous effort, so I did some more work with the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) code tonight. I think I finally hit on something I like!

Here is what the site should look like in the near future. (APRIL 8 UPDATE: You’re seeing the new layout now.)

Feedback would be immensively appreciated before I redo all the pages. Hit the comments or send me mail.

Spring Cleaning

I’ve been using more or less the same Web layout for a while, now. It’s serviceable, but it looks (and is) dated. So I decided to do some Spring cleaning and spent the afternoon puttering around with tutorial files about CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Here is the result.

Now, keep in mind this is a test page. The graphics are subpar, the colors don’t quite match, the buttons don’t work yet (Javascript or Image Map?) and the links shouldn’t be active. But I kinda like it.

Feedback would be immensively appreciated, especially since I intent to use this basic template for quite a few things.

Hit the comments or send me mail.

Happy St-Patrick's... err, weekend

The mecha may not be Irish, but the beer sure is!

(Yes, I own a proper glass to drink Guinness in. You don’t?)

Sick as a Dog

(Kinda ironic, considering the previous entry.)

Blogging will resume later.

One Man's Junk...

…is another’s treasure. I’m culling my accumulated stuff once more. I need to put it out of reach of the dog, and anyway it needs to be moved before we re-varnish the floor. My problem is that I have limited storage space, and besides I’m tired of lugging useless boxes around.

I hate to just throw things away, however. I’ve looked on eBay, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a market. If you know anyone that needs old radio-control or modeling magazines (vintage 1985 or so), let me know.

I’ll add whathever worthwhile stuff I find to the list.

Big Life Change

Remember yesterday when I said that things were about to get busy here? This is why:

This is Layka, the newest member of our family. She’s named after Laika, the first living Earth creature to make it to orbit.

She’s a shepherd/labrador mix, weights around 30 lbs, and is only 4 months old. She’s both headstrong and a little timid at the same time. She’s very smart, though — she gets commands very quickly, which bodes well for her housebreaking (in the meantime, we’re getting acquainted with the mop).

More pictures will follow as she gets settled in.

Japan

As I mentioned yesterday we just got back from Japan, where we spent the last ten days. We first stayed in the old capital, Kyoto, to soak in the atmosphere, then we caught the Shinkansen (bullet train) back to Tokyo for a few days of exploration and shopping. (In fact, this is Mont Fuji taken from the train itself.)

The expedition was pretty eventful, from the start all the way to the end. I’m putting together a day-by-day recap of the voyage (much like I did for the India trip) but it’s going to take a few days.

As you’ll see tomorrow, things are going to get busier around here…

And... we're back.

So blogging was a little light for the past two weeks. That’s because the wife and I were out of town — we just flew back a few hours ago.

From Japan.

(The “Happy New Year!” post on Dec. 31 was a hint, posted from the hotel.)

More details (and pics) later, after we unpack and rest a bit.

Happy New Year!

We just got back from the night’s festivities, frozen, tired, but happy.

Caro and I wish everyone a happy new year and the best for the months to come!

Saturday Night

How do you know you’re getting old?

You’re spending Saturday night at home with the wife, and you’re enjoying it.

Working for EA

You may or may not have heard, but it was announced yesterday that my employer, JAMDAT Mobile, was just bought by Electronic Arts. Which means that I now work in the mobile division of the computer game industry’s biggest company!

I’m fairly excited about this. EA’s might means higher sales potential, bigger budgets and more cool brands to work on.

And speaking of interesting brands…

This is a teaser of the game I spent the last six months working on. It’s the official game of the Dakar Rally, better known as the Paris-Dakar (even though they don’t always start from there). I’m biaised, of course, but I think it’s a pretty spectacular mobile game.

You have three vehicle categories to choose from. The rally starts from Portugal and goes all the way south to Senegal. You have a map of each stage, but the path you take is entirely up to you. Wrong turns will lead you to dead ends like sand patches that will force you to go to first gear or get stuck. Playing through the entire rally takes about 20 minutes; finding the fastest path to Dakar, however, will take you hours.

The game is Europe-only for now, however, so unless you have an account with an oversea carrier you’ll have to wait. Sorry!

Time Eaters

The Internet is fun and useful, but it has its downsides. For one, it can gobble up precious time with absolutely worthless things.

For example, I just lost several minutes of my life arguing on a forum with people who can’t seem to understand that if you tax success heavily, you remove the incentive for success. Why work hard if you can’t enjoy the fruits of your labors?

I remembered why I don’t usually visit these places when they started saying that an unskilled worker could be paid $20/hour because “all jobs are equal” and “everyone deserves success.” Doesn’t matter if that person produces less than $20/hour worth of work, someone else will pay the difference with their own productivity, right?

[grumble] Rather than learn to fly, they’d rather cut off everyone’s else’s wings. We’ll all be poor and miserable, but at least we’ll be equal, right?

Note to self: stay off forums, do more constructive things offline. You got a condo to renovate and minis to build.

Busy

Sorry for the lack of postings. I have indeed been busy, both at work and at play. There will be new pics of miniatures posted soon, and the usual diatribe on stuff I can’t affect in the least (re: politics).

In the meantime, though, we’ve got bugs to squash and a build to prepare for the Europe office. Joy.

First Wedding Anniversary

What do you know — today is October 16, and I’ve been married to my beautiful wife for a year already!

First of many, many more, babe…

Update

Yep, it’s one of those boring “journal entry” kind of post. Busy week, what can I say, and besides all the politico-social subjects that I wanted to comment on have already been debated to death elsewhere. I can’t keep up — blogging is not my #1 hobby, after all.

My project at work is undergoing approvals for the First Playable stage. That is, the point where you can play the game, even though not all features, sprites and maps are present. The bosses are very demanding, which makes the whole process stressful but does wonder for the quality of the game. We’re going to be tweaking at the pixel(!) level next week.

Finally got around to cleaning the garage, six months after moving in. Fixed the garage door opener: turns out it was simply some faulty adjustments in the door travel range. That, and about half an inch of dust at the bottom of the tracks.

Started another purge in my model/gaming collection. Stuff that was put in the “keep for nostalgia” pile last year is going on eBay pretty soon. I have to make room for new stuff. Well, not too much new stuff — I’m using the future baby’s room as a warehouse, and when we have a go to try for a kid, I’m going to have to move it all elsewhere.

Got some gaming ideas, just need to find the time and energy to put it all to paper.

We'll Always Have Paris

Mid-Year Checklist

Back in January I wrote a list of personal objectives for 2005. I just came across the list again, and thought I’d do a mid-year review.

Buy a House: check. This one went fast — we bought the condo in February.

Advance my Career: check. Got a new job back in June. More gaming, better pay, more responsabilities, closer to home.

Write at Least 100,000 Words: not good. I have less than 10% of that. I really need to get cracking. Pick a project, stick with it.

Finish at Least One Project: not good. Links with the above. I just can’t seem to chose which project I want to do first!

Become More Involved in Politics and Social Issues: I wanted to, but after seeing the crooked Liberals get a pass from the populace, and the Conservatives/Bloc do nothing, I said “a plague on both their houses!” and left things at that.

Get a Family Doctor/Dentist: check — mostly. I’ve seen a doc for my sleep disorders, and as soon as the new dental plan kicks in, I’m getting a full clean-up.

Travel at Least Twice: came close, but had to re-schedule. We’ll try again this fall.

Not perfect, but not too bad.

Genealogy

I’m a bit vain, so I sometimes Google my own name. I came across an interesting tidbit in a genealogy forum concerning my family name.

Now, my paternal grand-father had made some research, and the one thing I do remember from the paperwork he showed me was our original North American ancestor, a guy named Jacques Vesinat. Apparently, not only did all the Vezina come from this guy, but a whole bunch of derivatives families as well.

Now one of these guys, a Vizenor from Minnesota, found the same ancestor but went a step further. He had DNA testing done to go even further back.

Apparently, the lab managed to find genetic markers as far back as 30,000 years ago, in the Pakistan area. Other markers point to a European migration around 5,000 years ago, through the Middle East.

Fascinating stuff…

Update: More here and here on the DNA testing progress.

Specialization is for Insects

According to Heinlein (see the previous entry), a human being should be able to…

Change a diaper: Check. Not that hard, but then again it helps that I barely have a sense of smell.

Plan an invasion: Check, thanks to all those wargames I played, not to mention my job as a planner (logistics is 90% of warfare). Do notice, of course, that Heinlein never said anything about quality…

Butcher a hog: Never tried. I suppose the killing blow would be the hard part. Then it’s just disassembling the thing, like a radio or engine.

Conn a ship: Check, as long as it’s not a sailboat. I tried the latter, and I’m no good at it (all of my Dad’s nautical genes went to my sister).

Design a building: Check. Maybe not a skyscrapper, but a cabin is easy. Just make sure you’ve got proper drainage and a sturdy roof.

Write a sonnet: Nope. As a kid I was a choir boy and violonist, but since then I managed to forget everything I learned.

Balance accounts: Check (get it?).

Build a wall: Check.

Set a bone: Never tried, but I know the basic theory.

Comfort the dying: Check (and I hope you don’t have to do it too often).

Take orders: Check.

Give orders: Check.

Cooperate: Check.

Act alone: Check. (All four of these are required in today’s business world, anyway.)

Solve equations: Check (though I’m rusty).

Analyze a new problem: Check.

Pitch manure: Check. I spent two or three summers stacking wood in a paper mill, this is just a smellier version of the same job.

Program a computer: Check. Would that be “use a computer” today, though?

Cook a tasty meal: Check. My steaks are killer, according to my wife.

Fight efficiently: Hand-to-hand needs work. Gunplay (okay, paintball) — pretty good survival rate, but kill ratio suffers a little from all the dirt-hugging. Not a bad sniper, though.

Die gallantly: Never tried, don’t plan to do so in the near future.

If you don’t count the theorical knowledge as a proper checkmark, I score 16 out of 21. Not too bad for a pampered city boy. How about you?

Final Fantasy

Long weekend. Slept late. Wife playing through Final Fantasy X on the PS2.

Life is good.

Light Blogging

Light blogging this weekend. We spent much of yesterday playing Psychonauts, an amusing little adventure game on the Xbox. Now we have to make up for lost time and perform all our listed chores today.

(And, I have to do some research on my science fiction writing project.)

Overload

Sorry for the lack of posting over the weekend. Between the Adscam news, paying our taxes, and generally watching entirely too many dishonest newsbits on TV and the Web, I got a darkness overload and had to look elsewhere for a bit. You know, to keep my brain from exploding.

They say ignorance is bliss. You don’t know the half of it. (sigh)

Anyway, I’ll do some writing and modeling this week, this should help reduce the pressure a bit.

Comics for Sale

A friend of mine is selling off his comics collection to pay some bills. Please help him out and check these auctions:

SPIDERMAN MACFARLANE ISSUES 1 - 7

CONSTANTINE HELLBLAZER ISSUE 40 - 107

More will be coming in the next few weeks.

New Stuff

A little bit of clean-up here today. Please see the Career and Reviews sections.

Condo Life

Not to rub it in or anything, but this is the view at night from the bay windows in our bedroom:

It's Alive! Alive!

The Internet connection is back, the computer is plugged in my new office, and I’m ready to catch up on a week’s worth of Web comics!

Also, more new stuff on my resources page very soon.

Moved

The deed is done.

Still no Internet connection at home. But that’s alright, way too much stuff to do anyway.

More later.

Moving Blues

Packing. More packing.

Lugging up boxes of books five flights of stairs. Repeatedly.

Living out of boxes.

Posting may be sparse as our Internet connection is transfered (I don’t blog at work — no time).

I can’t wait until next week.

Status Report

Long yet short week, with lots of work done. Heading into a busy weekend, which will involve much packing and much painting.

I did get a few more pics of early concept art, but I will probably only be able to load them next week. Stay tuned.

Homeowner!

We signed last night. The condo is now ours, with all the associated costs and responsabilities.

I felt pretty good throughout the signing and the paperwork, but as soon as we got home I headed to bed, exhausted. Guess the stress I didn’t feel took its toll otherwise on my body.

Next, we pack up our belongings, then we get ready to clean and paint quite a bit. But soon, versy soon, we’ll be home for real!

Incredibly enough, other tasks on the 2005 list have been started as well. More on this in the next few weeks as I post new material to the Web site.

More Packing

That’s what’s going on today. Putting books in boxes, wrapping the dishes we don’t use daily, etc.

We’re torn between packing everything right away and “camping” for two weeks while the new place is painted, or just keep a few more things out even if it means a last-minute packing rush.

This doesn’t mean we don’t take a second to breathe, though. The wife is over at the gym, while I’m laughing my head off reading the fisking of a clueless WaPost article.

It’s good food for thought — the newspapers are asking us to believe the word of an unknown Iraqi man gathered by an unknown local stringer, but blog reports from known people on the ground over there are dismissed as “propaganda.”

I think this conflict is the first one where memetics are as big a battlefield as actual combat. (Okay, so the Cold War had its fair share, too. But there weren’t that many fifth-columnists then.)

Home Update

Not a lot of blogging this past week because we’ve been busy as all heck, getting things done.

The paperwork for the mortgage is done, and we’re signing the deed transfer on Monday. After that it’s going to be a whole three weeks of packing, cleaning, painting, and yet more cleaning. Then we get to unpack everything.

On the plus side, I’m finding stuff I didn’t even remember having. Mostly books, but also models. It’s like getting gifts from yourself.

The Speed of Life

So much good stuff is happening today — the condo purchase, the successful Hyugens landing, the Blue Origin announcement, good progress on projects at work…

Too much good things going on to just sit and blog about it when I can be living them. More news later.

Big News

I don’t quite believe it yet, but one of my 2005 goals is fulfilled already.

More news later — it’s not a 100% done deal yet.

Hello 2005!

We went and survived the new year’s eve party, though we did retire early (2 AM). We just can’t party like we used to do in our young age, I guess. Here’s hoping everyone had as much fun as we did!

Normally this is where new year resolutions go, but I’ve decided that instead this year I’m going to give myself objectives with clearly defined results that I can check on 365 days from now. So, here are my goals for 2005, in no particular order:

Buy a House: our current apartment is very nice, and the rent is cheap, but Caro and I want to own our home. We want more living space, we want to invest, and since we like to make home improvements, we want them to benefit us, not our landlord. Did I mention we need more living space?

Advance my Career: I like my job, and I want to get better at it. I would also like to have more people under me, to get additional management experience. The end goal, of course, is to increase my monetary worth. Money may not buy happiness, but it does make life easier.

Write at Least 100,000 Words: preferably published (and paid for), but if I can’t find the contracts I’ll design material for myself and put it online. 100,000 words is the size of a large novel. That’s only about 200 hours of work spread over the whole year, or an average of 32 minutes a day. I spend more time than this on the bus!

Finish at Least One Project: I’ve got several projects started, but none has gone beyond the “notes on paper” stage. I need to get at least one (and preferably, more) done by the end of the year.

Become More Involved in Politics and Social Issues: rather than just rant and rave, I will try to do something about things. Sending letters to government and media should do as a start. If we ever get some kind of Libertarian party here, I may volunteer my time. (We almost had one, but they still back too many socialist-inspired ideas for me.)

Get a Family Doctor/Dentist: seems like a weird goal, but it makes sense. I used to be a very sick child, and have very negative feelings associated with hospitals and the medical profession in general. So, I’ve done my best to avoid them in the past ten years. I’m not getting any younger, however, and even though I’m currently in good health some prevention will go a long way. As to why this is a goal for 2005, rather than just a phone call: our medical system may be free, but it’s also overburdened. I will have to do serious detective work to find a local doctor that’s taking on new patients. Thanks again, socialism!

Travel at Least Twice: should be feasable, since we did it in 2004 (India and Vancouver trips). Possible destinations will include Whistler (BC), Paris/London/Madrid (pick one) and Japan. Caro would like to visit Africa but I don’t think I’d feel safe there.

Will we succeed? Guess we’ll know next year!

Happy New Year!

Another year lived and gone. It has been a momentanous and event-filled time for me, but all of it was very good. I got married, I got a new job, I got happier. Here’s hoping that the trend will continue in 2005 (just replace “wedding” with “house”).

My wife and I have lots of plans for 2005: to buy a home, to further our careers, and to travel a lot before the kids show up. She’s going to start a MBA, I‘m going to start writing and designing a lot more. I’m also going to try and be more involved in the workings of the world around me, even if it’s just by writing letters to government and media (gotta start somewhere).

Caro and I wish you all a happy new year and offer our best wishes for 2005! May your year be filled with happiness and prosperity, and all you ills be small and inconsequential.

See you soon in 2005!

Ebay sale

I’m still trying to get rid of the unused parts of my (rather large) games, models & knickknacks collection. The latter has to get within manageable size!

Please check out my eBay auctions (search for seller name: mavezina). Shipping consolidation is possible when buying multiple items (the shipping rebate will depend on how many items fit in the larger box).

Thanks for looking!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday to all, family, friends and occasional visitors!

Quiet Evening

This is probably the type of posts that originally gave Weblogs a bad name: the sort of personal details that virtually no one is interested to know about. But since I’m using this page as both a personal journal and an excuse to keep writing, I shall do it anyway.

So there.

Quiet evening at home with the missus. I’m looking for gaming stuff on the Net, she’s playing some kind of quest game on her laptop right beside me. We’re listening to some 50s’ music from our wedding’s play list.

Life is good.

Our Canadian Thanksgiving holiday is past but I’m nonetheless thankful that I get to enjoy this sort of quiet moment. Too few people on this planet do.

Sick

Sick as a dog. Spent the day in bed. Stuffy head.

Ugh.

State of the V-Man

Given that it’s been a year (to the day) since I started on a new career, I thought it would be a good idea to make a sort of update to let friends and acquaitances know what I’ve been up to lately.

So, without further ado, let me introduce State of the V-Man, 2003-2004.

Wedding Bells, Part 3

After a couple of hours, the wife and I managed to cut the total picture count by half. We’re now 50% closer to our final wedding album. [sigh]

(Yeah, I know you’re tired of hearing about the wedding. But it’s my blog, so there. Besides, things are going pretty much to my liking in the world right now, so why rant?)

More Wedding Pics!

While selecting our wedding pictures today, I resized a few more to show you all. The first one shows us coming out of the church (with my sister in the background), the second shows the vintage Pontiac 1937 we had hired to drive us around.

Again, the pictures were taken by the excellent Jean-Seb Cossette, which we highly recommend. Do note that these are low-rez, untreated Web pics, so they come nowhere close to the quality of the originals.

Wedding Bells, Part 2

On October 16, 2004, I said “yes” to a union with a beautiful and intelligent young woman named Caroline, to whom I have been fiancé to for the past year and a half. We had been preparing that day for almost a year, and although we did bust our budget (in a major way), it turned out very nice.

We got lucky, too. It started raining on Friday night after three weeks of solid sunshine. Everyone brought umbrellas and shrugged. Then, about two hours before the wedding was to start, the sun came out, and stayed out until all pictures were taken. By the time we got to the main course of the evening, after the pictures and the cocktails, it started raining again, and it didn’t stop for all the rest of the weekend.

We had a few hiccups, but nothing serious. The ceremony was shortened by the delayed arrival of the bride (the priest had another engagement afterward). Turns out they had problems stuffing her dress into the car(!). A couple of my cousins didn’t make it. Not everyone could stay for the Sunday morning brunch, having long roads home. Other than this, though, the wedding went remarkably well. Pictures are upcoming, promised.

As soon as we chose 50 of them out of 700+ photos. >sigh<

Wedding Pics!

We got a first showing of the pics from the wedding today. It is my great pleasure and honor to introduce you all to my wife, Mrs. Caroline Cyr.

Two more pics after the break!

The pictures were taken by the excellent Jean-Seb Cossette, which we highly recommend. (Do note that these are low-rez Web pics, so they come nowhere close to the quality of the originals.)

Isn’t she lovely? This was taken at twilight on the balcony of the reception room.

And this is another picture of the two of us, taken right after supper. You can see the Montmorency falls behind us in the distance.

More once we make our selection!

Wedding Bells

On October 16, 2004, it was my distinct honor, privilege and great happiness to take Caroline Cyr as my wife. I’ve been blessed to find a most amazing partner, and I fully intend to do my utmost to make her happy for the rest of our lives.

Details and anecdotes from the wedding are upcoming, as well as pictures. Stay tuned!

Exorcise this out of my head, please

You may have read reviews of Exorcist: the Beginning on the Web or elsewhere that called it a very bad movie. Don’t believe them.

It’s an exceedingly BAD movie.

We just came back from it, and it’s two hours of my life that I will never get back, alas (at least they were spent with my lovely fiancee, so it’s not a complete loss). As one comment I read said, “someone please exorcise Harlin (the director) from Hollywood.”

Can’t agree more.

Cycling, Part Deux

The bikes have been repaired, and some trial runs were held. I’m a bit rusty after almost two years of non-biking, but you never forget how to ride.

My cardio-vascular status, however, needs some serious improvement.

Timeline of the Trip to India

This is a condensed version of our trip to India. Pictures will follow, as soon as I buy that scanner.

Sunday, June 20: We departed for Toronto on an earlier flight in mid-afternoon. We spent the rest of the day at the Pearson airport, until boarding Flight AC051 direct to Delhi at around 9:30PM.

Monday, June 21: Most of that day was spent flying (15-hour flight). Local Delhi time on arrival was 22PM, which means we basically lost a day to just getting there. Our host was waiting at the airport. Got initiated to Indian-style driving (“the first rule of India driving is, there is no rule. The second rule of India driving is, there is no rule!”). Made a quick stop to meet the parents, then went straight to the private club where we got housed for much of the trip.

Tuesday, June 22: Got up late, had breakfast. Got picked up to visit our host’s house and company. While I sat down to discuss business, the wife-to-be explored the neighborhood and almost got devoured by a pack of wild dogs (that’s her story and she’s sticking to it). We did some shopping to find her a saree and some shoes. Got a night tour of Delhi and its monuments, such as the India Gate.

Wednesday, June 23: Got up late again, and missed breakfast. Went to our host’s house for a family gathering, where the women sang songs and heaped blessings on the new couple. We then went back to our hotel to rest a bit and have supper (some delicious Indian cuisine, with mutton in gravy and Tandori chicken). Rishi then took us out to two Delhi hotspots, the Odyssey and the Last Chance, both located at the last floor of a brand new shopping mall. The Odyssey is a rooftop nightclub atop a restaurant, so they closed early. We then went to the Last Chance, a smaller club that rocked until the wee hours in the morning. We saw a famous Bollywood actress there (they know how to dance!) and the fiancée was even hit upon (Indian men have good taste, it seems). Then we all went to the airport to pick up the other couple invited, my boss Pierre and his wife. Needless to say, we all hit the sack right after.

Thursday, June 24: Caroline wanted to sleep in, so I went out to find food with Pierre and Andrea; we ate at the poolside cafe of the club. Then we basically repeated Tuesday, with another visit to the software shop and the shopping malls. We drove around a bit and had supper at the F-Club, a fancy local night club/golf course.

Friday, June 25: We all got up early to catch our flight to Mumbai (formerly Bombay), and still we almost missed the plane. More fancy driving, including straight through tolls, and after some security checks we were on our way. We got housed at the Taj Mahal Luxury Hotel, which is one impressive place. We visited the bride’s home and family, then Caroline went out to explore the city while I rested with an upset stomach. By the end of the evening I felt well enough for us to go to the private party at the aptly named Insomnia club.

Saturday, June 26: We got up late and then got ready to go explore the streets of Mumbai. Fascinating, but we hadn’t expected it to be so hot and humid. We had to rest for part of the afternoon in order to make it to the engagement ceremony at the Taj President hotel that night. We got some henna patterns done on our hands, drank a lot, and made friends.

Sunday, June 27: The big day! We got up and prepared ourselves. The ceremonies were supposed to start at 2PM, but delays occurred and things got underway at 4PM (something normal for India, I’m told). The whole thing was fascinating; we got to sit with the family, and lived a great cultural experience. Then it was time for the reception, and more eating, and drinking, and dancing…

Monday, June 28: We had to go back to Delhi, so we did some quick shopping and packed our bags. The return flight at 1PM was less eventful than the previous one, and we spent the rest of the day just settling back in at the City Club.

Tuesday, June 29: We got up early with plans to drive to Agra, four hours away. Agra, of course, is the site of the Taj Mahal, and one cannot visit India without seeing it. The trip was very long, however, and tiring. The driver brought us to a McDonald (natural food for white people?) and we saw the Indian version, with no beef and a vegetarian selection. By the time we got to the Taj’s site, the heat was around 45C with the humidity; it proved very hard on the girls, which Pierre and I had to leave in the shade of the monument to rest. This cut the visit short, and we managed to escape the various tourist traps and make our way back to Delhi. The newlyweds came to join us for drinks at the club, but Caroline had to rest, and Andrea seemed very tired. A rough day.

Wednesday, June 30: Everyone felt slightly better, so we decided to go visit Old Delhi and its Red Fort. The visit wasn’t as hard on us as the Taj Mahal had been, but we faced several hassles, such as guides trying to swindle us at every turn. Fortunately, we had the last wedding reception that night to make us feel better, and it was a very nice party.

Thursday, July 1: Pierre and Andrea left early for their planned trip to Rajasthan, while Caroline booked some room for us at the Neemrana Hotel-Fort, an old palace rebuilt as a luxury hotel. We made our way there by lunch, and then had to argue for an hour to get a decent room. But the place itself was magical, and the pool a blessing in the heat. We met a French couple and spent the afternoon just chatting away in the water. Supper was a banquet in the main courtyard, under giant fans. A feast! We ended the day under the moonlight in our tiny room on a turret at the top of the palace.

Friday, July 2: We got up early to get some breakfast, then Caroline headed for the pool. I decided to go hiking in the surrounding wilderness, armed with camera, hat and water bottles; I visited ruins and photo-hunted peacocks. After a quick nap, we simply repeated the experience, with me going down to the nearby village this time. Supper was a repeat of the previous night, except for one major difference — Caroline’s hair had turned bright green!

Saturday, July 3: We got up early to try and solve the mystery of the green hair. Turns out my fiancée wasn’t the only victim: a young French women also had green hair. After much haggling, the manager agreed to cancel the bills to pay for the hair repair. We went to breakfast, but when we came to check out, the story had changed again. Now they were offering just a slight rebate, and Caroline had to yell at them for three hours and fill pages of forms. To add insult to injury, the only taxi available were part of a monopoly and charged three times as much for the 155-km ride as normal. Too bad for them, since a nice family heard us yelling at the driver, and offered to give us a ride to Delhi(!). They even dropped us back at our host’s place, and refused any fuel money. Our flight was late that night, so we had time for proper goodbyes with both families. We also saw our first and only episode of the monsoon, for the entire trip!!! By 11PM, we were at the airport with our tickets, and looking forward to home.

Sunday, July 4: The day was spent flying. Thanks to time zones, we left at midnight and arrived in Toronto at 6AM, despite the 15-hour flight time. A quick hop on another plane, and we were home. By the time we got to the apartment, it was lunchtime, so we called the usual crew and had our habitual Sunday brunch.

Monday, July 5: Mostly recuperating, unpacking bags, and making the apartment livable again. Tomorrow, back to work!

Jetlag, Part II

We’ve been back a week and, although our fatigue levels are lower, we’re still suffering from the aftereffects of the jetlag. Ouch. By 10PM, we generally can’t stand and must go to bed. On the brighter side, however, we now have no problem getting up in the morning…

Most of our pictures have been developed. We took a lot, about seven rolls. I need to buy a scanner to get those in computer format. (Hey, I was planning that purchase for a while anyway.)

Also, I need to finish typing the timeline of the trip. Tomorrow, maybe?

Jetlag's a Bitch

Ouch.

The wife-to-be and I are feeling like we went fifteen rounds with Mike Tyson (which ought to say how bad we’re feeling). A 10-hour jetlag feels like a massive hangover complete with headache, but without the fun of a previous night’s party.

Ugh. So I skipped work completely for today. Will try again tomorrow.

Home

Back from India — a 15-hour flight taking us from Delhi to Toronto by way of the Arctic Circle.

Exhausted but happy.

More news later, possibly including pictures and email answers.

Exotism

This will be my last post for a little while (two weeks, to be precise). The wife-to-be and I are on vacations, and we’re going to stay offline for that time. Lots of things to do and see — I’ll post about it later.

In the meantime, enjoy yourselves, don’t wreck the place, and keep fightin’ the good fight.

Oh, and don’t forget to watch history in the makings tomorrow morning, as Burt Rutan and his merry band launch a private spaceship from the brand new spaceport in the Mojave desert.

Update

The paperwork issues mentioned in the previous post have been succesfully overcome. We are now ready to travel, which will be done soon.

Yes, that means fewer updates here for a little while. The question is, will anyone notice (or care)?

Work is slowly processing on my “state of the V-Man” text, which really should have been done by now. After all, everyone loves to talk about themselves, no? Turns out I’m more than busy writing work-related stuff, and the rest of the time I’m writing non-work-but-still-paying stuff. (Now, if I could become as brilliant and well-informed as most of the gentlemen in my link list, I could turn this blog into a money-making machine… alas.)

Yes, non-work-but-paying stuff is in the cards. I’ve already started, though you won’t see my efforts until next year. Yes, it’s big robot stuff. What can I say, I’m a metalhead (not the ‘80s kind!).

Paperwork

Not many updates these days (including my much delayed “state of the V-Man” address) because I’m drowning in paperwork, both at home and at work.

Many opportunities are around, but for some reasons they all require forms filled in triplicates to become real.

Bog, I hate bureaucracies.

Update

Sorry about the length of time between updates. This was a busy week, the CTIA wireless industry show being held this week. I rushed to get as many things done as possible. Links will be posted as soon as the Airborne Web site is updated.

In other news, I managed to score another writing contract in the same vein as my previous one. I’ll put a link up once it’s announced by the publisher and out the door. (In the meantime, though, please check out CyborGladiators.)

Still no house on the horizon, but we keep looking.

No political ranting, either, because I’m tired of the whole situation. We’ll either win and the Lefties will go on as usual (“no, no, I was on your side the whole time. Now, about this new cause-of-the-week…”) or we’ll all die, and there’s little I can do to affect the outcome. So I’m lowering my blood pressure and ignoring blogs and news for the next few weeks. Maybe I can get some useful work done during that time.

House Hunting

Another week gone without an update. Well, at least I have good excuses: we’re working on big projects at work, all due in April, and Caroline and I have started looking at houses.

I may have mentioned that our apartment building is in the process of being sold; I don’t think we’re at risk of finding ourselves out in the streets anytime soon, but it has lead us to consider the future more seriously. The wedding is coming fast, babies are making us melt more and more, and we’re not getting any younger.

Despite the fact that the real estate market is horrible right now in Montreal (way over-priced), we have decided to at least start putting things in order. This includes looking into financing, putting money aside, and visiting local neighborhoods. Looking at houses online is like chips — you start, and before you know it it’s suddenly 2 in the morning.

At the very least, I’m putting some of my game and sci-fi notes and projects in the computer to at least move them forward. More later as I finish typing.

Best... Job... Evar...!

How can you not like a job that requires you to spend the afternoon playing German boardgames under the header of market research? :)

(Best thing is, we were actually doing something useful, not just invoking an excuse to goof off.)

Tough Day

Today was not a pleasant day.

A series of urgent tasks, some delays, and an unfortunate incident with a spiteful (in every sense of the word) toilet have left me pretty drained. Thus, my two-fold plan of 1) review and post a few messages here, and 2) start researching a new game work, now that I have assembled some source material, have fallen by the wayside.

Going to bed. Hopefully, sleep will reboot me and allow me to have a nicer day tomorrow. More posting to follow.

Weekend Update

I wish someone would invent a technology that would allow me to just talk into a small recorder, press “send” and have ready-to-approve typed posts in the queue of my Movable Type blog manager. I always seem to be far from a keyboard when inspiration strikes me, and, modern life being what it is, by the time I reach my desk other concerns have erased the would-be post from my mental RAM. >sigh<

At least the “blog file” (a raw text file sitting on my desktop where I jolt down ideas) is growing again. Might have something interesting to post soon.

In the meantime, gotta get the apartment ready for the Return of the Queen, aka my lovely fiancee Caroline who went out to the gym. Check the calendar as to why, and pray I don’t burn any of the food.

UPDATE (Feb. 17): The tech described above surely exist, at least in component parts. For example, there are several “speech to text” softwares on the market, and some blog servers allow the publication of audio messages.

But what I want, is a small handheld device (or a cellphone) that lets me dictate my messages; when I get home, they are already online, ready to be published with the stroke of a button if my review deems them acceptable. Kind of a text version of photoblogging, if you will.

Sorry, BTW — as I point out in Tuesday’s email, the content of the blog file will have to wait a day or two more.

Shrapnel, Part Deux

Not much to add for tonight, since my lovely better-half needs to use the computer (she works entirely too hard).

I’ll use the time to do some clean-up but mostly to put ideas to paper. If you’ve visited my main page, you’ll know that I plan on releasing some gaming material in the future. I love my real job, but I also enjoy putting words to paper, and I prefer to own what I create. From my notes, you can expect mostly sci-fi, with the usual helping of mecha stuff thrown in — one cannot wander far from one’s roots, it seems. Rules-wise, probably d20, maybe Action! system; it all depends who I can find to write those parts for me (after ten years of creating rules and editing the creative stuff, I’d like to reverse the jobs). Silhouette, well, it’s not an open system. Maybe I can get a free license. >shrug<

Also in the work, essays on the wireless gaming industry. The first part, Limits, is almost done; then I’ll discuss technology, design procedures, and so on. Feel free to ask questions, if you want (comments enabled). I also have a couple of book reviews (SF novels, mostly) to put online.

So much to share, so few hours…

(Ah yes, I’ve also updated my blogroll, at right.)

Through the States

I saw this link on another blog and went, heck, why not try it? This is the places I’ve been to in the United States over the past few years. The West portion was done while on business trips to California and Nevada, and one extended desert roadtrip (a personal walkabout, but on wheels). The East and Center portions are made of multiple gaming convention trips, personal visits, a pilgrimage to the Smithsonian (could you believe I wept in the entrance hall of the Air & Space Museum, leaning on Apollo 11’s command module?) and the unavoidable Disneyland visit.

Map of the United States

If you liked it, create your own visited states map.

EDIT (Feb. 6): it didn’t last long. The site went down, presumably because of online popularity. Oh well, it’s not like I paid for it.

Update

Wow, almost an entire week without any entry. Not the most prolific blogger in the world, am I…

Part of the reason for this is that I’ve been quite busy at work, and thus leery of spending yet more hours in front of a keyboard when I could spend them with my lovely fiancee instead. I just finished the J2ME segment of my first true game project at Airborne (Cruise Ship Tycoon, which should deploy on wireless carriers as soon as all parties sign off on it) and heading off into more projects. This includes the first original concept that I pitched, which was subsequently accepted and has just entered production. So yes, lots of trepidation here, and only good feelings.

The other reason is that most of my rants and arguments tend to come when I’m not in a position to type them up easily. I wasn’t kidding when I asked whether anyone knew of a good voice-to-text software. I may just have to start carrying a small recorder.

So, don’t give up hope. Maybe I just need to find a way to more easily transfer my thoughts to the Web, that’s all.

Sunday Night

Quiet weekend here, with lots of sleep and not much computer use. Got caught up on stuff on Saturday (added one pic in the Snowboard section), and started the new Baldur’s Gate II computer game on Etienne’s Xbox today. Not as visually nice as the first one, but there are more character choices and a new weapon craft system. Too bad the game still only takes two players — Martin was reduced to making comments on our fighting style from the peanut gallery. At least I get my favorite class/spell combination back (Cleric with Cure Wounds and Flame Strike).

Opportunity landed without problem. I followed the event in real time, and was delighted when it touched down right on the spot. Hopefully, the rover can avoid the Flash problems that are plaguing its twin on the other side of the planet…

Now just checking the Web, with the wife-to-be… Life is good.

Homepage Done at Last

Well, it has taken longer than expected, but the first complete draft of my personal Web page is now online.

I’ve made a conscious choice to use only very basic HTML to speed up the design and maintenance process (well, except for the Weblog, but I didn’t have to code that one myself). Yes, I know that PHP and stylesheets would look nicer, but I’m mainly trying to transmit information efficiently, not win a graphic design award. (eheh)

As usual, if you come across missing stuff, typos, or dead links, please let me know.

So Very Cold...

Home early from the office today.

You may have heard of the cold front that’s washing over Eastern Canada right now. Minus 25 celsius on average, plus wind chill (why our darn cat insisted to go outside, I have no idea). One of the side effects is increased power consumption, which means the occasional blackout.

You know you work in a geek office when the power suddenly goes off, and everyone — and I mean everyone — yells “oh no!” or “f***!” at exactly the same time. Since the building manager told us he doesn’t expect to have power back on until late tonight, everyone went home.

The funny thing, though, is that we waited until the last possible hope of restored power had faded before doing so. Turns out we like our jobs.

Funny how that makes life easier.

Happy New Year!

Since we’re about to leave for our New Year Eve’s party, I’m posting these best wishes for the new year right now. I hope that all of you will have a great year in 2004 and get to enjoy great happiness, as we no doubt will ourselves (see previous entry).

One of my resolutions for 2004 includes blogging more often, since it’s an excellent way to practice my written communication skills. I got a bunch of short essays and observations to post when I return, and I will also update the main Vectorsphere site with new stuff, including a snowboard page and a more detailed freelancing bio (since I’m hoping to score a few writing gigs next year to help pay for the wedding).

Have fun tonight, don’t drink and drive, and may you have a Happy New Year!

Wedding Bells

In a few hours, it’ll be 2004, the year where I will marry Caroline Cyr. The countdown has begun to October, and the preparations are going according to the schedule.

The wife-to-be has suggested that I blog about it, perhaps even make a Web page about our wedding. I’ll let you all know when I have the files online. There won’t be much at first, but eventually we’ll put the pictures up there.

Merry Christmas!

The title says it all, I think. Leaving for the folks’ tomorrow, and will spend the next few days zigzagging around the province, visiting family and friends. So, no real updates here (and that’s different from usual, how?).

Had our first real snowboarding outing last weekend. The fiancee proved to have considerable talents for learning. I think she’ll be able to follow us by the end of the season, if not sooner. More when the pictures get developed.

Not Quite Dead Yet!

For any of you who have this blog bookmarked, sorry about the lack of recent postings. My new job keeps me busy during the day, and I have little incentive to turn on the computer during the evening. When I do, it’s usually just for ten or fifteen minutes while my wife-to-be is in the shower, and it’s just time enough to get caught up with my favorite Web comics, never mind updating the blog.

I’ve started writing a short essay about designing games for wireless applications, which will likely turn into a short series. This will help me chronicle everything that I learn along the way. I’ve got part of the first one done, so it should appear here soon enough.

Currently Reading: A Deepness in the Sky (Vernor Vinge)

Other than that, I’ve been ranting privately on the current Quebec union revolt and the continued slide of mass media into irrelevance, but I can find no time to put it all down in writing. I’m considering using a speech-to-text program like Dragon Dictate to help the process along; if anyone has suggestions or observations, feel free to drop me a line.

Full Throttle

The whirlwind continues as I get trained and put on actual tasks. Pitched my first very own game proposal today, and subject to board approval, the game could be available by late 2004! (Wireless games are much simpler than, say, modern PC or console games, so they don’t need as much production time.)

Wow. Me, an actual computer game producer. Imagine that.

And speaking of game design, I got assigned to an existing project that needs a lot of design work. It was a happy coincidence, since the kind of data manipulation required is perfectly suited to an experienced tabletop game designer. There will be a lot of stats balancing to do, but I think I’m up to it. If allowed, I’ll blog about it a bit, later on.

And We Get Freebies, Too!

This is really a nice job! I discovered last Friday that I get some game-related magazines for free, “to keep abreast of the industry’s developments.”

Man, I should have made the move to the computer game industry years ago. :)

It Has Begun

Work accelerates as I get up to speed (get it?). I’m now logged on, connected, and assigned a couple of tasks already, including my first official game project. I won’t take all the credit for it, since I’ll be working from a great game design doc created by the game team, but has soon as we get the green light from the licensor, the ball’s in my court.

Not bad for a guy’s who’s been a computer game producer for all of four days!

(Getting thrown into the deep end of the pool has always worked for me in the past. Hopefully things won’t be too different at this stage — going well so far.)

There are also a couple of big projects on the horizon, which I sincerely hope to put my claws on. Can’t talk much about it, of course (hey, I’m a pro), but we’re talking classics here, people. Let’s just say the next few months are going to be fascinating…

Adventures in Computer Gaming

Well, my first week as a Game Producer at Airborne is now complete. In the past few days, I’ve learned a plethora of new skills (such as finding the “/” character on a half-dozen cellphone keyboards, or the differences between JAR, JAD and MIF files) and met a whole bunch of cool people that are a lot of fun to work with. Plus, my tabletop experience has already come in useful, so that’s a nice plus.

I think I’m going to like this. A lot.

(I mean, in what other job does your boss hand you a bunch of Playstation 2 titles and go, “play these a bit and let me know what you think”?)

Of course, it’s not all gaming, all the time, though game testing (i.e., play the title a lot) is a part of what we Game Producers do. There’s brainstorming, game concept document redaction, lots and lots of following-up (to make sure any delays are dealt with right away, and not the day before the title is supposed to ship!) and thousands of little daily tasks that need to be taken care of. For example, just loading the test phones can be a time-consuming job, but we take it all in stride.

The environment is friendly and dynamic, and you can rely on your co-workers, both to get things done on time and to help you out of rough spots. It’s a very collaborative process, with instant messaging and emails flying back and forth, and lots of movement between the desks. The energy is very much contagious, and it shows in the level of quality of the final products.

If you have a cellphone that can play games, look for Airborne Entertainment titles and let me know what you think!

(P.S. As you can imagine, I’m busy at all times, so blogging during the day is pretty much a no-go. I’ll try to keep things updated on at least a weekly basis, for you fans out there…)

The Big Goodbye

Monday November 17 will be my last day at Dream Pod 9, bringing to a close a ten-year long chapter of my life. Starting right away, I’m joining the staff of Airborne-e, a computer game publisher, as Game Producer. My new job will be to design and supervise the production of games on a variety of wireless devices, such as cellphones and PDAs. I’ll be learning a whole bunch of new skills and applying those I already have to create some very cool products.

First, to dispel the rumors (because, this being the game industry, some are bound to pop up). No, I’m not leaving a sinking ship — DP9 is in the black, and has no outstanding debt. No, I haven’t been fired — I left on my own device. The parting was amicable, and I’ve made sure there are people ready to take my place and ensure that the flow of great products will continue (contact Robert at rdubois@dp9.com for any outstanding issue until the replacements are brought in).

So, what prompted this abrupt departure? Actually, it’s not that sudden — I’ve been mulling a career change for the past year or so. I’d been feeling moody and restless, and the work just didn’t have the appeal it used to (and I think it showed in the final products). Basically, I had fallen into a rut. I just didn’t know it at the time.

Now, my resume had been online for a while and circulated around (it’s the modern world, gotta get on with the times!). Someone had noticed it, and I got invited to a meeting a few weeks ago. I knew the company, having visited their Web site before, so I decided to attend to see what they had to say. To make a long story short, the afternoon was a blur — here was a bunch of gamers, not talking about their characters or the flaws in the latest rulebook, but about cool games and stuff they’d played recently. The energy in the room was so electric, I practically designed two game concepts on paper right then and there, just for fun.

As I got home afterward, the meeting brought three things to light for me, in ascending order of importance:

1) Physical Exhaustion: I hadn’t felt rested for a while. Getting up in the morning was becoming a chore, and I suffered from frequent headaches and dizzy spells. I was overworked and overstretched, task-wise. One doesn’t have to go far to find the cause: there are only so many customers out there willing to tackle a 200-page rulebook to have fun, and only a fraction of this group is interested in a given genre. This in turn limits the potential sales and thus, the resources that can be allocated to a project (since you want to build in some room for profit); the staff has to wear several hats each and put in long hours. As I get ready to buy a house and start a family, I found I could no longer afford — mentally, physically and practically — to allocate 70 hours a week to my job (especially when only 40 of those hours are paid). The guys and gals over at Airborne-e work hard, but they have enough people to cover every task; overtime is the exception, not the rule.

2) Creative Exhaustion: I’ve been doing pen & paper games for nearly ten years now (fifteen if you count my non-professional publications, such as the 1980s Napalm fanzine). To quote another computer game expatriate, Mike Pondsmith, “I can design a paper RPG in my sleep.” I need new challenges and new experiences to keep me interested