Michael's Weblog

After moving the one turtle it was time to prep food, medicate, and feed all of the patients at the turtle hospital. There are currently six turtles that need to be given pills and fed by hand (well, tongs). Feeding some of the turtles is a challenge while others have no problem chowing down on a couple pounds of mixed mackerel, squid, and smelt. It takes a long time to feed them because you have to do it piece by piece. I quickly learned how each was easiest to feed. It was interesting that all of them seemed to have their own methods of consumption. I found that one liked to swim up to the food, take a chunk, swim around in a circle and come back for more. Another 'sat' in place almost the whole time while I dropped food into it's mouth. Another needed to be fed from it's left side. Turtles make an awful mess when being fed...

Once I got home I decided it was time to pop GT3 back into the PS2. I hadn't played the game in ages..and apparently didn't play it much before. I had only completed a bit over 11% of the game. I played more of the first two games in the series. My biggest disappointment came when I realized that I didn't have a rally license and couldn't race in the rally events..which is probably my favorite part of the game. I only had to complete the last challenge in the test so I gave it a go for a couple hours. No luck. I didn't seem to improve much either. My best time was three seconds over the needed time to pass. It was very aggravating. Most of the time I didn't finish because I either hit a wall too hard or got turned around. Any mistakes keep you from making it to the finish line in time. I was about ready to go out and buy a different type of racing game (whatever $20 greatest hit I could find). I put it back in again this morning and came in just over a second off my second try. During the next 50 tries or so I got progressively better. One different little mistake kept messing me up every time however. I am proud to say that I finally did successfully complete the test. Next problem..no rally car. Not enough money for racing tires either. That game can be annoying :). I managed to get the money, buy the tires and win a crap rally car so I guess things worked out.

Kira made it back safely from Honduras last night. I had the privilege of picking her up from the airport at midnight. Luckily I didn't have to work today so I was able to sleep in a bit. She says she enjoyed the trip. I haven't talked to her much about it because she slept most of today and then went out to see her friends.

Today I received the online beta test for '25 to Life' which a game that I've seen some controversy over recently. It is rated M but I don't see how it's any worse than the GTA's. They have quite a bit of work to do on this game before it's street ready. I've had a lot of loading difficulties and getting in and out of online games. The single player options are always missing from these betas which is unfortunate. I'll play it more before I give my opinions, but at first glance, I'd rather play the GTA's or SOCOM's. I'd really like to test some racing games (the only one I've had the option to test wouldn't work on my PS2--probably because it's the original model) or more MMORPGS. I've tested at least 4 games that are basically identical with different skins/maps. The online games tend to be first person shooters which I dislike playing online.