That's it...

No more Dead Space with my wife watching. She's having WAAAY too much fun waiting for just the moment in the game and then scaring the ever-living-shit out of me.

Seriously tho'...having finished the campaign for Gears of War 2 first solo, and then co-op with my son on Insane, I felt the pull to get back into Dead Space and pick up where I left off. I remembered the game was good, just not as good as it is. Man alive, the atmosphere, the graphics, the story...and then the added ambience courtsey of my wife...all makes for stellar gaming.

With the holiday season approaching and more sales around than we know what to do with, if you haven't played the game yet, keep an eye out for it in the sale rack and do yourself a favor - get it!!!

A Thanksgiving To Remember

While not everywhere in the world, here in the U.S. Thanksgiving is one of the major holiday - up there with the 4th of July and Christmas - where people tend to be off from work (sorry to all those in retail...) and get together with friends and/or family.  A day of good company, good food, and good 'ol football.  Since we live rather far from each of our families (we're in PA, my folks in southern CT, and my wife's family north of Boston), we routinely travel to one of their places for a holiday each year.  This year, my inlaws got Thanksgiving.  I worked through and including Wednesday, so we packed, set alarms, and were ready for a 6AM departure on a 5.5 hour trip north.

At least that was the plan...

Unfortunately, upon waking, my youngest son was running a 101 fever and, more problematic, a persistent cough.  Normally a late-fall, early-winter kids cold wouldn't be the end of the world.  However, after decades of smoking, my mother-in-law is suffering from chronic emphysema.  She's on oxygen 85-90% of the time, and strugges even with that.  So, anything that makes it more difficult for her to breath is very hazardous.  Worse yet, a cough turns into pneumonia, and then I'm going up for a funeral.  So, after getting some confirming thoughts from my sister-in-laws, we stopped into CT (which we had to do anyways to pick up some furniture), said hello to my parents, and headed back home.  We hit some unsuspected traffic in NY and NJ, but otherwise had an uneventful drive back.

However, in all of this, we can be thankful to Wegmans, a regional premium supermarket who had all the makings for a Thanksgiving dinner already prepared and ready to serve.  Twin brined and roasted turkey breasts, dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes (those we made at home...), corn, dinner rolls, and an apple crisp and pumpkin pie for dessert.  As we sat down around 5PM to eat, I looked up at my family and realized that missing out on seeing the extended family wasn't the end of the world.  I have all I need right here within my own walls.  And...I got to eat dinner in my PJs. 

Too funny not to share

This is probably older than time itself, but it was the first time I had seen it and figure it might hold true for others as well.

World Diabetes Day

Today is a day that many would let come and go without recognition, but I'm going to dedicate today's blog to help change that - even if it's just for a single person. Every year, November 14th is World Diabetes Day. World Diabetes Day (WDD) is the primary global awareness campaign of the diabetes world. It was introduced in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to the alarming rise in diabetes around the world. In 2007, the United Nations marked the Day for the first time with the passage of the United Nations World Diabetes Day Resolution in December 2006, which made the existing World Diabetes Day an official United Nations World Health Day.

The reason this is an important day and cause for me is two-fold. First and foremost, I work for a company called Novo Nordisk. Headquartered in Denmark, Novo has been fighting against this disease state and towards a cure since 1923. It's what I see every day, what I live every day when I get to work. In my professional career, and having worked for other large 'American' pharma companies (e.g. Wyeth, Genzyme), the company as a whole truly believes it is our responsibility to help find a cure and change diabetes. It's a great feeling to go home with, and I'm grateful - especially in these times - to work for such an exceptional organization.

The other reason it's important is my paternal grandmother was a type-1 diabetic, and succumed to complications from the disease in a time when current treatment would have extended her life and improved the quality of her life. Additionally, my mother-in-law is a type-2 diabetic. So I have personal skin in the game of seeing our organization's cause through to the end. I'm sure I'm not alone either. With the diabetes rate growing year after year, I would hazard to say that most of us have either someone in our immediate family impacted by the disease, or someone we closely know.

The National Diabetes Goal is 'By 2015, 45% of Americans who are at risk for type 2 diabetes will know their blood glucose level and what actions to take." It sounds like such a modest goal, but understand that the level of education on the disease is so poor that it's not clear if that goal will be reached. Find out if you're at risk next time you see your doctor, and get tested. Treatment today is exceptional, but only if people make use of it.

Ok, that's enough of my soapbox talk for the day. Step outside, and if you see a building, a monument, or whatever bathed in blue, you'll know why.

The London Eye on World Diabetes Day

I should know better

Planning ahead = bad.  It's just not something men should probably do in general.  But either way, I actually had a minor stroke of genius a month or two ago with respect to my eldest son's xmas gift.  Rather than cave into the random crap he asks for, and then quickly starts rotting in the basement after one or two weeks, I ordered up a pair of tickets for the Metallica show in Philadelphia on January 17th.  This would be his first concert ever, he absolutely is in love with Rock Band, and has even started taking guitar lessons a few months ago.  I was going to be a hero.  Notice the term was.

While talking about his xmas list that is soon to be delivered to his grandparents, he is stuck on a Zune.  Well, expensive + electronics != good xmas gift from grandparents.  Halfway through the "And your mom and I probably wouldn't get you it either" sentance, thinking that we already had his gift bought and paid, I realized the issue.

We're going to be in Orlando.

Soooo....anyone in the market for some decent seats for a Metallica concert in Philadelphia?