Nearing the end of the year...

I'm not really one for the New Year's Resolution. I think they're silly for the most part. Either you're going to change something about yourself or your not. The end of the year is just an excuse to make a half assed attempt at changing something about yourself.

2012 was kind of a weird year for me. A similar theme seemed to continue to pop up throughout the year. And that was not neglecting what I have or taking my life for granted. Live for the day was the lesson I learned after Kelly's uncle dropped dead in March. Then when we went on vacation in North Carolina, the same lesson popped up again. This time more in a "I shouldn't take what's around me for granted, I need to slow down and appreciate the moment more." Those lessons have stuck with me more than I thought they would at the time. I'm not necessarily doing amazing with those ideals but I believe I've made a little progress with them. If I was to give myself a letter grade, I would say I've achieved about a straight C on the adjustments I've made. I could do a lot better but I have shifted my life to a degree.

The other lesson of 2012 was that I have too much junk and I need to start purging. I've taken steps here and sent some stuff out the door and have plans to get rid of even more stuff throughout the winter months. My goal is to get rid of about 75% of my DVD collection and about 75% of my video games. If I haven't touched it since we moved into this house in May of 2010 then it needs to go.

On the weight loss front. I ended up dropping about 30 lbs. total in 2012. I fell off the exercise after I got sick in the summer but I successfully kept the weight off. I've been working out again the last month and I'm starting to see the weight come off again. So here's hoping maybe I can drop another 20-30 lbs. in this next round of heavy exercise.

On a more nerdy/fun note, I do have some goals for 2013 in my head currently. Here's a brief list:

Read the entire 300 issue run of Cerebus in the calendar year of 2013.
Level my dwarf hunter in WOW to level 60 during the winter months.
Read the 6 volumes of Essential Defenders.
Beat Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.
Write more consistent blog entries.

2013 will also be a big year for Kelly and I. We've decided to try to have a baby and hopefully that will be successfully in 2013.

Until next time!

Games I Love: Pokemon Red

I said I was going to make this post about Mike Tyson's Punch-Out but I changed my mind. I bought Pokemon Black 2 about 2 weeks ago and I've been playing through slowly but surely.

September 30, 1998 was D-Day for this game. My friend Dan and I had an agreement in place. He was going to buy the Blue version of the game and I was going to buy the Red version of the game. If you haven't played a Pokemon game, you need both versions to capture all the potential Pokemon to be had. Several are exclusive to a particular version of the game.

Dan, I think, put about 120 hours into the game and I put somewhere around 105 hours into the game over the course of a few years. We also had numerous battles over a few year period. I think that was pretty evenly divided between us.

The game itself is a really deep RPG. Pokemon are varied by type and are strong/weak against other types. There were 150 Pokemon in that version of the game. So you had a lot of choices for your team. It's very addictive if you get into the grind of leveling your Pokemon and evolving them to stronger creatures.

I've continued on with the series, I don't think Dan did. Things have gotten more complicated as time has gone on. I think Gold/Silver and the White/Black games have been the class of the sequels. I still have my Red game with all of my original Pokemon.

This was easily my game of choice through the last two years of high school.

All-New X-Men #1

This won't be a standard blow by blow review of the book. Mostly just my reaction to it. Anyways, this book is part of the new Marvel Now initiative. Over the next 6 months, most of the titles will be getting new #1 issues and getting new creative teams. Unlike DC, they're not throwing everything out and starting over again new. So far this is the 4th book from Marvel Now that I've read. I liked the first 3 books a lot.

I play the same game over and over with the X-Titles. I said I wasn't going to get Wolverine and the X-Men, I caved. I said I wasn't interested in this book and then I kind of started peaking out of the corner of my eye at it coyly for the few weeks leading up to it's release. My wife wanted a copy of Gambit #5 so that seemed like a good enough excuse to wander into my local comic shop (LCS if you want to get into comic book nerd internet lingo) and pick up a copy.

All I can say after issue 1 is bravo Mr. Bendis... bravo... You just added this book to my buy list for the immediate future. The long and short of the story is that Cyclops is free after the events of AvX and has gone full blown rogue with Emma Frost and Magneto. He's freeing mutants by any means necessary and is calling himself a mutant revolutionary. The X-Men's hands are tied for fear of a civil war. Beast decides to go back in time and grab the younger versions of Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Angel and Jean Grey to try and talk some sense into the present day Cyclops. Beast manages to use some Back to the Future lines to great effect here.

A lot of the X-Titles in recent years have been about the darker turn in the methods of Cyclops and that trickling down to the X-Men teams as surviving became more and more important. There have been ramifications among the various characters as time has gone on. It appears that all of that is exploding here and I'm really enjoying it. I also handed it over to Kelly and she seemed to enjoy it a lot as well.

This book probably shot to the top of my read pile for the near future. I'm really excited for issue 2 to get here.

Geek NBA Preview Part 6: Pacific Division

Golden State Warriors:

Holy crap... I kind of like this team. Klay Thompson is the real deal and will be a great NBA player. Stephen Curry is a solid NBA point guard even if he shoots first and asks questions later. I like Andrew Bogut when healthy. If he stays healthy all year this team will be tough in the front court. That's a huge if though as he's managed that once in his NBA career. I actually think there's some solid depth in the front court with Harrison Barnes, Richard Jefferson, David Lee and Carl Landry up front. This team has some tools to work with this year.

LA Clippers:

I'll go with the positives first. I like Blake Griffith, I like Chris Paul and I like Grant Hill. Past that, I don't like a lot of the moves they made this offseason. I don't like the additions of Lamar Odom, Willie Green or Jamal Crawford. The SG position is terrible when Chauncey Billups isn't on the floor. I dislike the center position for this team as Jordan/Turiaf/Hollins are a really poor combo at the position. I think this team will be playoff bound again but I think they didn't improve their team like they could've.

LA Lakers:

The nightmare scenario kind of happened immediately with this team. They're currently 0-3 and Nash has suffered an injury. I don't think it's time to panic yet. There's 79 games left in the season. I think the panic button time is if they're still under water after 30ish games. I think this team will win in the mid 50s of games and be a contender in the Western playoffs. The Thunder dealing Harden was a blessing for this team as their biggest opponent took a serious step back.

Phoenix Suns:

I'm going to start off and say, this team isn't making the playoffs. With that said, I like how the Suns rebuilt themselves in the wake of Steve Nash leaving the team. I like their starting 5 quite a bit. The do lack depth though and Jermaine O'Neal is a terrible NBA player by this point in his career. I will be interested to see some of the moves this team makes in the future.

Sacramento Kings:

An all around bad team. Bill Simmons ripped them pretty hard on his podcast a few weeks ago. It really sums up this team greatly so here's the video...

Geek NBA Preview Part 5: Northwest Division

I know, I know... the NBA season has started and I didn't get this finished. It happens, life has been busy the last couple of weeks. But I'll go on with the show and try to get this done by the end of next week.

Denver Nuggets:

I like this team quite a bit. There's no superstar on the team but this team has good chemistry and plays hard. Igoudala comes to town and he brings good defense and is a solid contributor for any team. I can see this team winning 50 games this year and having a solid seed in the playoffs.

Minnesota Timberwolves:

This team made some big strides last season and were threatening to finish with a record above .500 until Rubio and Love got hurt. This years team brought in Brandon Roy and Andrei Kirilenko. Roy, if healthy, would provide a great scoring option for the team and could be a huge difference maker down the road. The downside is Love and Rubio are still hurt and this team can't really go anywhere without them. I think this season is already a wash for them.

Oklahoma City Thunder:

James Harden leaves and this team takes a serious step back. I thought going into this season that OKC had a legit shot at getting back to the Finals and winning it this time around. Unfortunately, they couldn't come to terms with James Harden and shipped him off to the Houston Rockets. Harden was a great defender and he really anchored the team when Durant and Westbrook were off the court. The team still has Durant and Westbrook who are top 20 players but their road to a championship just got much harder. I still see this as a team that wins more than 50 games but now I don't see them having the punch to beat San Antonio or the Lakers in the playoffs.

Portland Trailblazers:

I like their front court quite a bit. Aldridge is a good player while Hickson and Batum are solid front court players. I think this is a 30ish win team though. Outside of those guys, who's going to hurt you on this team?

Utah Jazz:

I'm not sure what I think of the Utah Jazz. There's some talent on this team. Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Marvin Williams, Mo Williams, Randy Foye and Jamaal Tinsley all have their moments and can all contribute to a winning team. This team could surprise some people and win just enough to get the 8 seed or they could suck completely. I'm having a really hard time deciding what I think. I will say though, that this team did a remarkable job of rebuilding after Boozer and Williams left town.

Geek NBA Preview Part 4: Eastern Conference Wrap Up

I think the big takeaway from this year is that the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics are the class of this conference. No one is even remotely in the league of those two teams. I think Miami is clearly better than Boston but I also think Boston has a burning hatred for Miami this year. It will be an interesting class if they meet in the playoffs. Miami is more talented but Boston could compete based on emotion.

Looking over the playoff map, this is how I see it unfolding for the playoff seeding:

1. Miami Heat
2. Boston Celtics
3. Chicago Bulls
4. Indiana Pacers
5. Atlanta Hawks
6. Philadelphia 76ers
7. New York Knicks
8. Brooklyn Nets

I'm going really safe with those picks. The problem with this year is the Eastern Conference is very mediocre outside of the Celtics and Heat. I could see anyone of the bottom 4 teams missing the playoffs and a team like Milwaukee sneaking in as the 8 seed.

As for the bottom of the league. Charlotte is the obvious answer there. I think they'll be the last place team by 6 or 7 games easily. Orlando will probably be the second worst team in the conference.

Stay tuned as the Western Conference preview will start up later today or tomorrow.

Geek NBA Preview Part 3: Southeast Division

Atlanta Hawks:

Joe Johnson heads out the door for this season. He was a seriously bad contract for the Hawks as they were paying him superstar money when he wasn't really a superstar. Josh Smith is in a contract year and that usually means big numbers. Al Horford is also a good center when healthy and I like the addition of Kyle Korver. I think this team will still be playoff bound. Johnson hurt this team as much as he tended to help. I also feel they made some good moves to fill the Johnson void. I can see them winning mid 40s gamewise and really surprise some people.

Charlotte Bobcats:

A historically bad team last year. They had a pretty good draft with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Other than that, this is still a pretty bad franchise. Ben Gordon comes to town after a pretty horrible Pistons stay. Ramon Sessions comes to town after looking pretty bad on the Lakers last year. Really, this team reeks of being built from castoffs from other teams. I wouldn't be happy if Sessions, Haywood or Gordon were starting for my team and you've got all three here. This is an under 20 win team. I think 14-17 wins would be reasonable for this squad.

Miami Heat:

The defending champs bring back a pretty similar team. Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis come to town. Both of them have issues as players but they should be mere role players for the Heat. I hate the Heat but I think they'll roll through the East with no problems whatsoever. I think nothing stands between them and the 1 seed for the playoffs. I think the Celtics might be able to knock them out of the playoffs but that's a big if. I think the Heat are the clear favorite to represent the Eastern Conference in the Finals.

Orlando Magic:

The Magic traded Dwight Howard in the offseason. They passed up a pretty good package from the Nets early in the summer and then ultimately had to settle for a far inferior deal in the Lakers deal. A lot of pieces moved around in that deal and the Magic really got the leftovers. Aaron Afflalo comes to town. He's a good pick up but there's no one around him. Past that, this team is a mess. Turkoglu and Nelson are shoot first and ask questions later players. The rest of the team is made up of whatever they could cobble together for this team. I think you're looking at a low 20 win kind of season here.

Washington Wizards:

I don't really understand bringing in Emeka Okafor as he's not a NBA quality starting center. This team has a solid rotation of guys with competent skills. They can play some defense in the front court. I think this team could push into the high 20s on wins.