Thursday, September 29, 2011

Minesweeper Q

I had an urge to play Minesweeper. I know it's a Windows game, but hey you never know what you may find on the App Store. I did a search and found a few ports of the game. However, there was another game called Minesweeper Q by Spica. Looking at the pictures I decided to get the game. 
MQ 1 
Minesweeper is a logic game. You have to figure out a flag mines as you clear the board. You get clues by uncovering numbers. The numbers tell you how many mines are touching it. You have up to 8 ways it can touch: 4 sides or 4 corners. However I have not seen an 8 in the game for the years I've played the game. Numbers can share mines with other numbers too. So it is up to you to figure out where the mine is. If you hit a mine, the game is over. You only win when you flag all the mines and the board is otherwise clear. 
The game has 3 levels like the original: easy, intermediate and advanced. You also get a level for custom games. 
MQ5 
What I like about this game is that you can choose how your gameboard looks. 
MQ 3 MQ6 MQ7 MQ9 MQ8 MQ10 
I like the snow whales board. It's just more pleasant to me. Trust me, it doesn't make the game any easier. You also have 2 modes you can play in: normal and quick flagging. I stick with the normal mode. Don't like the feel of the quick flagging. 
MQ 2 MQ11 
Overall this game is wonderful. Love playing it. I don't play it everyday, but when I do, I'm playing the advanced level. I have not beaten a game yet on advanced. They know how to strike the sore loser/determined nerve of mine. I'm going to beat a game; I swear!!!! 
Minesweeper Q can be found in the iTunes App Store for Free. You can upgrade to the full version (Platinum) in App or purchase from the App Store for $0.99.

[iOS]

Call of Atlantis

My boyfriend, JH, told me that Call of Atlantis (full version) was on sale on the App Store. This is usually how I find a good chunk of my apps. He knows me pretty well. He told me since I like Puzzle Quest on Xbox that I may like the game. It's a game of bejeweled with added features. Plus it was on sale on the app store for free. I can't knock free. 
COA 1 
CoA is like a historical quest of ancient times to restore the powers of Atlantis. To do this you have to search for relics in multiple ancient civilizations: Egypt, Carthage et al. 
Upon opening the game you get to the following scene: 
COA 2 
You can change your settings by going to the options. I personally turn sound off. No one needs to hear me play games on public transportation. 
COA 3 
In order to get relics, they must drop from the board. You have to get them to the bottom row of the grid. They automatically drop once there. The object is to match items in the minimum of 3. 
COA 5 COA 6 
There are 6 boosts in game play. 
1. Gem: Located in middle of the bottom of your screen, below playing grid. If you match more than 4 items at a time, you power the gem. Once fully powered, if you tap it, it will randomly eliminate items off of the grid. 
2. Heart: located in the playing grid. You get this & the next 4 boosts by letting them drop from the board. The heart gives you extra lives. You start the game with 3 lives. Theses lives are life savers on levels that are extremely hard. 
3. Bomb: the bomb detonates where you place it on the grid. It'll remove item obstacles. It will not remove stone obstacles. 
4. Lightning Bolt: This will eliminate all of the same items in the grid. Handy at times. I rarely use this. Only when one item is in my way and I can't make a match. 
5. Hour Glass: This is greatly needed in the more difficult levels. It gives extra time to the clock when the clock is running down. 
Last but not least.... 
6. Sync: The symbol looks like the sun symbol but it does not perform the same. This function is for swapping items. Very handy when you are near an obstacle. However, you cannot swap a relic piece. I never used these boosts until towards the end of the game. 
At end of each game you complete a relic. At the end of each land you have to restore the relics to where it belongs. Once you start a new land you have to power the Jewel of Atlantis. This goes on for 6 to 7 different lands. 
COA 4 
Once you complete all the lands you start over again with levels a bit harder and items that hurt you than help you. 
My Opinion: 
When I first started the game I became a bit obsessive. However, down the road, the company put out an update. This update broke the game. You couldn't even launch the game; it crashed upon opening. I submitted a claim and they said they were working on a fix. The fix came 3 to 4 weeks later. I get back into the game because my boyfriend reminded. I then get to 3/4th of the game with 6 lives available. I start the next game. The minute it loads, the time is done and I lost a life. I tried 3 more times and lost 3 more lives the same way. Now I'm left with 2 lives. I again send company another claim and got the same answer. I put the game down for another 3 to 4 weeks. 
I decide to try it again. Lost another life. Now I'm down to 1. I still haven't seen an update to fix this issue. I said I'll try one more time and if I lose that 1 life I was not going to play this again. I was going to delete it off of my phone. I don't have patience after I put my time in and lose it because of a programmers issue. I got to actually play the game on my last life and was able to pass the level. I managed to secure 2 more lives in couple of levels later on. 
I completed one full circle of the land and played 2 to 3 games in the 2nd lap. I don't know if I want to continue. Maybe if they gave different relics I'd probably more keen on giving it a go. I just gotten the sequel on my iPad (another review another day). I haven't really seen a great reason to keep on. 
The game Is fun when you don't have programmer hiccups. Customer service can be more specific to helping and not shooting off form emails that we know you really don't know what the issue is. The standard autoreply should just state, "we received your claim, one of our programmers will look into your problem and will address it in a future email.". Other than that, the game has nice graphics and story. It was fun to play. 
Call of Atlantis can be found on iTunes App Store for $0.99. Currently it's on sale again for Free.

[iOS]

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Birthday Blow Out


This birthday, September 23, 2011, has by far been the best birthday I've had in a long time. It has become the epicenter of all things great. All thanks should be to JH. He really made it worth it.

JH has been dying to give me something for my birthday all week. I kept telling him to give me on my birthday. Thursday night before my birthday he had to go out and said he was going to be home by bed time. When he got home, we went thru our normal routine we go thru at night. After we finished we were laying around in bed when he asked if he could give me my gift at midnight. I said it's technically my birthday so yes.

When the cable box turned it's last red digit to make Thursday cease and Friday to begin, JH smiled with the brightest smile that could light up a whole room. He then asked me if I could still see ourselves together for the rest of our lives. I said of course. Then he leaned over and took a red box out of the nightstand and proposed. OMG!!!! I do remember if I said yes first, tackled him first or put the ring on first. I know all 3 happened. I was so happy and teary eyed. I ran downstairs to show my brother first.

I came back and hugged and kissed JH so many more times before I called my parents. I decided to call my mom first since she was on my time zone and it was late. I woke her up but my news was by far more important than sleep. After telling her, I tried calling my dad. We played tagged numerous times before we got to connect. When I finally got ahold of him, my mother called JH. I told my dad. After the congrats and I love you's, he asked when is the date. I laughed. I just got the ring we haven't even discussed it yet. JH told me that my mom asked him the same thing.

Photobucket

I was too wired to sleep, but somehow I did fall asleep. I woke up thinking I had the most wonderful dream. To find out it was true was even more wonderful. I unfortunately had to go to work. I sat on the train just staring at my left ring finger. I felt so surreal.

Work went by pretty well. Got lots of birthday wishes and congrats. The office was pretty dead and I could barely concentrate at all. What made it even better, was my boss ducked out early. He was only in the office for 15 mins. I may have to deal with him on Monday. However, JH was picking me up for further birthday fun.

We went to dinner at Monster Sushi since Hana Sushi was closed. Then we made our way to Dylan's Candy Shop and then we caught a movie: Straw Dogs. It definitely was not a birthday movie, but Eric Northman was pretty good in it.

At end of the night, we were both tuckered out. We didn't get home until after midnight, Saturday. I had a blast. I am getting married to the most wonderful man and will be a part of his wonderful family. My family has embraced him as well. I hope he feels that. Everyone I've introduced him to likes him so he's got it made in the shade, literally, lol.

I will keep you posted on details.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Journey Week 2

So I've been doing this WW thing for 2 weeks now. It's going pretty well. I'm learning to pick the proper choices when I eat. I've also been drinking a ton of water. How is it going? Great. I have lost 8 POUNDS!!!!

Yes!!! I'm so happy!!! I lost 5 in first week and 3 this last week. Mind you I haven't started the exercise routine yet!! Hot damn! I'll be my goal weight sooner than later.

How am I liking this program? It's pretty good. It's more like teaching me how to eat better. It's transforming my eating habits. It's a struggle when you put what I like in front of me. It's a battle of self control. It's not like you are denied any food, it's what choices of food you eat.

You are given 29 points a day plus an additional 49 to spend during the week. Points do not roll over. Let's just concentrate on the 29 a day. This is where the decisions lie. You have to decide what will keep you in that point range. It is not good to be under it. If you go over it, then you tap into the 49 extra points. Let's say you are a McDonald's fry addict. Do you know the small takes up 11 points? That's a lot of points that's going to leave you hungry. You only have 18 points left for the day. All the stuff that you love are probably bad for you have high point values. Let's take my soup I had the other day. It was Sweet Corn Chowder. We (my friend and I who are doing the program together) believed this is a pretty healthy choice. We thought wrong. It took 18 points!!! We were just so pissed because we both had used 7 points for breakfast already. Now we only had 5 points left for dinner. The moral here is to make wise choices to what will fill you up for less points. Sometimes you careful decision will not work out for you.

One great thing about this plan is that fruit and vegetables counts as zero (0) points. You can have as much of it as you like. Vegetable like corn does not count as a vegetable though. The next great thing is the extra 49 points a week. If you know you are going out somewhere special during the week, you can save them for that occasion and eat what you like. Another great thing is that if you exercise, you gain back some points you can use daily.

My trick with this program is to drink mostly water. This is where I used to consume most of my fat. I love soda and Arizona Iced Green Tea. I actually miss drinking them. I do have an alternative: diet soda. It comes to 0 points but it tastes.... not so good. I also drink iced tea without sugar. Drinking all this water has me running for the bathroom a lot more than I care to. Sometimes I just hold it because I'm too stubborn to leave my desk. I know I'll damage my bladder and various other issues, but come on? I really can't be leavingy desk frequently just for the bathroom. I feel like I'm a smoker that has to get a nicotine fix.

Anyway, my journey is going well so far. This week I'm saving my excess points for my birthday. This should be fun. I'll give another update in the future.


Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Ringer - Season Premeire

I am a big fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar. Been a fan since her start. I don't know why. Maybe in some way I feel a kinship. I was disappointed when Hollywood typecasted her as "Buffy" and then "Horror Queen". So I was excited she was starring in a new show this season called Ringer. It is classified as a noire. I love noire anime, so the show should be good.

The show is about twins who want to get away from their lives because of dangerous situations. One twin is a recovering junkie (Bridget Kelly)and the other is a rich woman (Siobhan Martin). Bridget twin meets up with rich sister in what seems like a stressful situation. Siobhan informs Bridget that her husband and town has no idea that she had a sister much less a twin. Bridget is trying to mend their relationship. Something regarding the death of Siobhan's son. She is running for her life from some big time criminal who got acquitted after her testimony. They go out on a boat then Bridget falls asleep and Siobhan disappears. Bridget wakes up to missing sister and then just assumes her identity.

Bridget is trying to adapt and learn her sister's schedule, family and friends. Police is questioning her about herself. No one realizes that she's not Siobhan. Bridget finds out the hard way that Siobhan was not perfect and has some serious issues. She's sleeping with her best friend's husband. Her marriage is a stressful arrangement. Has a stepdaughter who hates her. To top it off, someone's trying to kill her. So Bridget finds herself in another pickle.

By the end of the episode, we find out that Siobhan is supposed to be pregnant. How is Bridget going to show this when she's not. And we find out Siobhan is really in Paris. With whom? We don't know.

My opinion on this episode is a bit murky. I like the show so far. I can see how it can progress. What I need from the director and team is better transitions. They didn't bother go over the thought process of Bridget assuming Siobhan's life. One moment she's looking at her sister's ring then next she wakes up in her sister's bed. To me that was a very important transition. What was going thru her mind to assume Siobhan's life. Why didn't she report her missing sister? I know the reason, but it could've shown a struggle of conscience. That was lost without the transition. Hopefully the future episodes will have better transitions.

Stay tuned for next episode's review.




Sunday, September 11, 2011

In Remembrance

Today is the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I am a survivor of these attacks. I was down there that day. What saved me that day was that I was running late. It may saved my life, but I got to dodge bodies and debris, smelled burning flesh and sheer utter terror. I did end up in the hospital that night. Only lasting issue that I have is some nerve damage in my hip. I am lucky that I wasn't burned or disfigured.

I do not like this day and the week that leads up to this day. All e media does is make me re-live this experience. I do not wish to so. They are not pleasant memories. I'd rather move on with my life without my past being repeated. I barely looked at my Facebook page because of all the posts. I don't want to read it. I may sound callous, but put yourself in my shoes. I don't want to see the towers falling again.

We all mourn and get over tragedies differently. Some of us need constant reminder of the pain. Some of us don't. I'm the latter. Please do not discuss 9/11 with me. I will not listen or participate in it. What I will participate in is wishing my BFF Angelique a Happy Birthday.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

School 1965 vs 2010

Scenario:
Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.


1965 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

2010 -
 Police called, arrests Johnny and Mark.. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it. Both children go to anger management programs for 3 months. School board hold meeting to impliment bullying prevention programs

Scenario
:
Robbie won't be still in class, disrupts other students.


1965 -
 Robbie sent to office and given 6 of the best by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2010 -
 Robbie given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. Robbie's parents get fortnightly disability payments and School gets extra funding from state because Robbie has a disability.


Scenario
 :
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car
 and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1965 -
 Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2010 -
 Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. 


Scenario
 :
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.


1965 -
 Mark gets glass of water from Principal to take aspirin with.

2010 -
 Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons. 



Scenario
 :
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from Guy Fawkes,
 puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a bullant nest.

1965 -
 Ants die.

2010-
 State Police, Star Force, Federal Police & Anti-terrorism Squad called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, Feds investigate parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated. Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.


Scenario
 :
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee.
 He is found crying by his teacher, Mary . Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1965 -
 In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2010 -
 Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy
. 

This just 
shows how stupid we have become!

Think about it!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Ah... My New Journey

I have been lazy for the past 4 to 5 months when it came to diet and exercise. I was doing very well for a while with P90. As you can remember from my posts about it, that I lost my mojo for it. It became very redundant. I am not very good at redundancy. I also started up Hip Hop Abs. I didn't give it up though. I went on vacation. I came back ready to start up again, but life got busy trying to catch up. Then I left again. I came back and just never thought about it again.

Well I am the heaviest I've ever been in my life. It is starting to effect me in ways I never noticed. I am attributing my tummy issues, my feet issues and skin issues to this. Plus, I noticed that I'm more winded when my period comes. I also think it's affecting my sexual performance. I can't have that. So I decided I must do something about it. Plus, if I want to carry a baby, I need to be healthy.

What am I doing? I decided to get back into Hip Hop Abs and I've joined Weight Watchers. Today is actually my 1st official day on the program and I'm hungry already!!! Tonight I'm going start my exercise program too. Hopefully, my boyfriend will keep me motivated in the exercise. He says he's going to try the program with me. My employee/friend also joined with me. So we are going to make sure we help each other stick to the diet.

Let's see if this will work. I've heard that WW is great. Look at Jennifer Hudson. It should work for me. That's if I stick with it. I so need to. I need constant encouragement and not lectures. I don't tolerate lectures well. Makes me want to do the opposite. I will post some results here as I go along. Wish me luck on my new journey. I so need it.