Out Cold...

Well so much for writing a lot of new posts over break. It turns out that ultimately when I go on break, I resort to my baser instincts. These most notably include lots of videogames. I think I played approximately sixty hours of videogames last week alone. The first week of break was consumed in going back home to deal with Christmas stuff. I am not a big fan of Christmas, but I do not mind getting caught up in the family traditions. These included making gingerbread cookies as well as waking up at 6am on Christmas morning to open presents. I honestly do not remember the last time I woke up that early in the morning for anything unless it was last year's Christmas.

The next week of break consisted of Christmas wrap-up before returning to Cedar Falls. Once in Cedar Falls, I spent a couple days working on hammering out a few minor issues with my server. New Year's was a quiet party at our place with a handful of friends who were in the area. Forutnately, Jess lives close enough she was able to come spend a couple days here to run a workout, celebrate New Year's, feed her fish, and see me! I probably should not neglect the hours spent watching college football. Afterall, it was bowl season and they went rather well for me. Iowa won in dominating fashion while Texas won close with Colt McCoy showing why he is one of the most amazing college athletes. To top it off, Tim Tebow showed what he is made of in a Florida victory over Oklahoma in the National Championship. Each matched my hopes as well as expectations almost beautifully.

Then came last week. During the fall semester, I had hardly played any first-person shooter (FPS) videogames. Since I bought my PS3 back in February 2007, these have been one of my primary hobbies. It also turned out that a tournament for Resistance 2 (R2) was starting with over $50,000 in prizes. The exciting part about this tournament was the lack of an entry fee. So KOR put together two teams. The four most experienced in R2 were put on the first team while we rounded up what was left for the second team. We found ourselves a bit short-handed due to eligibility requirements restricting the tournament to U.S. residents of 17 years or older in age. I was appointed to head up this second team. This resulted in the need for me to get some familiarity with the game. After the ridiculous hours of gameplay, I managed to work off the FPS rust as well as learn R2. That pretty much sums up my break.