SUGAR

Since Monday, I’ve tried very hard to decrease my intake of sugar from all sources. I am doing this for many reasons. First, both of my parents are now diabetic which means the chances of me of developing diabetes is higher. High sugar consumption can also lead to obesity. I don’t want to be tubby. Researchers are now saying that sugar can cause wrinkles in your skin. These are all very good reasons why I should try to limit my sugar consumption.

It is of course difficult to completely cut sugar out of my diet and nor should that be my goal. As long as I limit my intake, I’ll be happy. Sugar is in almost everything that we eat. Will I stop eating steak because it contains a little bit of sugar? No, that would be kinda dumb. I will however, think twice about consuming refined sugars.

On Monday, I was really good. I didn’t have any chocolates or candies or soft drinks. The only thing that stood out was that I ate two kiwi fruits in the evening. I’m sure that was my biggest hit of sugar of the day but it came from eating fruit, which I think outweighs any disadvantages.

On Tuesday, I was a bit off the wagon. I had one chocolate glazed doughnut from Tim Hortons which had 20g of sugar. Then I had a cup of french vanilla coffee where I added four packets of sugar which probably totalled 16g. I also had a can of Coke but it was Coke Zero which contains no sugar. I know I’m probably trading sugar for carcinogens there but hey, I gotta concentrate on one thing at a time. In the evening, I also had two kiwi fruits.

Today, I again had a single chocolate glazed doughnut from Tim Hortons for 20g. We also had a studio wide meeting at Canada Place today. They served refreshments and I was feeling thirsty (I have a cold right now), so I took a small cup of Sprite. It was about can-sized so figure about 30g to 40g sugar right there.

Some people have stated you should limit your added sugars to 40g or less per day. If that is right, I think I’m doing ok. It might be even possible to have a doughnut a day and still be under 40g if I’m smart about what else I eat.

Let’s see how long I can keep this up.

CONGRATS TO DR. ERWIN TANG

As I’ve mentioned before, even with unique names, like mine, there’s a good chance that someone else out there has your name. Of the several Erwin Tangs out there, Dr. Erwin Tang of Texas is probably the one that has interested me most.

From what little there has been on the Internet, I’ve determined that Dr. Tang is a well-respected and more than competent dentist. A family man, he was voted “Father of the Year” in Plano, Texas for 2001. He is also apparently an outstanding member of this community.

It is on the Internet that our worlds meet, perhaps not like an upper and lower molar but more tangentially. I’m fairly certain that’s he aware of this site and that I own this domain. Once in a while, I see random hits from near Dallas, Texas. Is it him or someone in his family visiting? Maybe. I wonder sometimes if he’s disappointed that a random dude like me has secured our namesake .com domain.

Well, Dr. Erwin Tang has entered into the online arena in his own right. I’m not sure when his web site went live but Dr. Tang now has an online presence to promote his thriving dentistry business. As far as web sites goes, it’s a pretty good one. There’s enough content to keep a reader interested, especially if you’re a prospective new client. I applaud it for being simple without being simplistic. I give it extra points for being able to book appointments online.

Once again, congratulations to Dr. Erwin Tang and his staff on his new web site!

DECKED OUT


Everyone at work who won a prize pack at the party were able to pick up their swag today. My manager and I picked up our stuff at the same time. One of the production coordinators made both my manager and I pick a number between one and ten. She picked three. I went with two. She got a PJ Ladd signature series deck from Plan B. I got a Danny Way model from the same series. Awesome! We also got an item of Plan B clothing. I got a white polo shirt that actually fits me. Short of the $1300 watch that was given away, I think this was the next best thing.

The board didn’t come with trucks, wheels, nor grip tape so it’s not ready to ride. It’s still wrapped in its vacuum sealed clear wrap so the board looks pristine. I’m probably better off mounting such a nice board on the wall and just getting a cheap board if I actually want to start skateboarding. Given my aging body, I’m not sure if that’s a smart idea.

Anyways, many thanks to Coralie and Amie for organizing such an awesome party and providing us with great gifts!

WRAP PARTY WRAP UP

The wrap party on Friday night turned out to be a very well-organized event. Held at the Century House, we had the whole place to ourselves. Inside, there was a huge skate. banner that almost hung from ceiling to the floor. All the wait staff and bartenders were decked out in official skate. t-shirts. Even the napkins had the game logo printed on them. Inside the former bank vault was a widescreen TV with the in-game videos running on a continuous loop.

The appies were plentiful and varied, ranging from cheese, to fruit, to meat, and seafood. There were lots of prizes to be won as well. I usually don’t win these type of things but I guess I was lucky that night. I won a Plan B prize pack which I still don’t know the contents of because I won’t get the goodies until I get to work tomorrow. I’m really hoping it includes a Plan B deck because that would be awesome. Coincidentally, my manager and I both won the same prize. A rendering engineer came up to us later wanting to trade his Fallen prize pack for ours. We both turned him down because we each were hoping we’d get decks. This is not to say Fallen doesn’t make great stuff but they don’t make decks and I already have a kick-ass pair of Fallen shoes already.

The turnout was pretty good for the party, though I was disappointed that some people did not showup. The great thing was that people who had left EA during or after the game release were still invited to the party. That’s a classy move. There were no “celebs” to speak of but I heard Alex Chalmers was there but I did not see him.

I didn’t have to pay for any of my drinks which might have contributed to the fact I forgot how many gin and tonics I had during the night. The party went on for a long, long while. I remember looking at my watch at one point and realizing it was nearly 2am. The surprising thing was that the majority of the people left at the party were the software engineers. We’re not the crazy ones are we?

One of the physics SEs was talking about taking the party to his apartment but I knew it was enough fun for one night. I left around 3am and somehow found a cab at that hour to take me home.

I am looking forward to hearing some stories tomorrow morning at work. I only hope they don’t involve me.

WRAP PARTY

Tonight is the night that the skate wrap party is taking place. This is only my second wrap party and my first EA one. Nokia held one for Shadow-Born but it turned out to be the lamest thing ever. Nokia’s idea of a “good time” was to schedule a two-hour block of time at a pub. That two hour block happened to be 4-6pm on a Friday. Lots of people weren’t able to attend. Nokia just bought us some drinks and appetizers.

EA does things a little bit differently. We’ve taken over most, if not all of a restaurant/bar downtown. They even printed out real tickets for the event. I already have my taxi voucher so that I can get home safely, sober or not so sober.

It should be lots of fun!

LET THERE BE FULL SPECTRUM LIGHT

For the upcoming dreary and grey Vancouver fall and winter, I’ve decided to spring into action. I think all of us have felt kinda “bleh” when it’s all rainy and dark on the west coast. While moving to Hawaii would probably solve that, I’ve decided on a cheaper alternative.

I’ve decided replace the lighting at my desk with a full spectrum light bulb. While I don’t think I fall under the classic definition of suffering from SAD, there are some days when I only feel like eating one doughnut because of the lack of sunlight.

If you think about it, modern human beings are outside a lot less compared to our early ancestors. In the winter, we get up before the sun has fully risen and spent all day inside at work. When it’s time to leave, the sun has already gone down, and we arrive at home in darkness. That can’t be good but here in Vancouver, we do this months at a time.

So, as an experiment, I purchased a 15W full spectrum bulb which gives off the equivalent amount of light from a regular 40-6oW bulb. These type of bulbs are said to closely recreate the same lighting conditions as if you were outside at noon on a clear day. Such bulbs also emit light that covers all wavelengths of the visible spectrum.

The first time I turned on the lamp, it was amazing how white the light was. I’m not talking about brightness but just how pure the light was. Looking around, I was shocked at how “yellow” the lighting was around the studio. In sharp contrast to the full spectrum bulb, everything else was bathed in this “yellow” glow.

The benefits of using this new bulb are supposed to be less eye strain, more attentiveness, better emotional well-being, and better sleep patterns at night. That’s quite the list for a single bulb but it certainly can’t hurt to try.

Of course, the bulb burnt after the second hour it was on, well short of the 10 000 hour rating. I phoned the distributor and they’re sending me a replacement in the mail. Today, I had to go back to my regular lighting which seems quite different now.

I’ll let you know if I become the cheeriest guy at the studio.

WHERE IS THE HAWKMAN?

At least in North America, today was the first day that the general public could buy Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground. Even though, at least in my opinion, skate. and THPG come at skateboarding in completely different directions, both the media and the gaming public have pitted each game against each other in some fierce competition. In reality, I hope there is room in the marketplace for two skateboarding games, one offering a more realistic experience while the other goes for a more over the top style.

It’s interesting to note however, that there has been very little marketing for THPG. Behind Guitar Hero, I would guess Hawk has been Activision’s best money-maker. Given that, you’d think that Activision would have cranked up the hype machine right up to a feverish pitch to coincide with this week’s release date. At least to me, this appears to have not happened. There is the obligatory web site but that’s standard. Activision also released a demo (which didn’t include a lot of anticipated features). They apparently aired one commercial during the Monday Night football game. A few web sites got to play THPG but these previews were published at the tail end of the summer. It’s actually almost eerie how quiet things have been in the Hawk camp for the last several weeks. For something that’s the perennial blockbuster, why go silent for weeks before and including launch?

It’s possible that Activision is trying something new and keeping the hype to a minimum and just letting the game (and the demo) speak for itself. I’m not a marketing guy but something tells me that’s not the reason.

The most interesting thing about all of this is the lack of reviews for THPG. The standard operating procedure for game development is to release review copies of a game to web and print publications days or even weeks in advance of the launch. The reason for this is to have these reviews ready for consumers to read on or before the big day. So if on Tuesday, I read that game XYZ got seven reviews with 9/10, I’ll lean towards getting XYZ since reviewers have played it and liked it. It’s usually a good idea to get your game out early to reviewers because for the most part, it will help sales.

So back to THPG now. As of early Wednesday morning, there are no reviews of THPG anywhere online. You can check Metacritic and GameRankings but neither site has anything. The word on the street is that Activision did not send out any review copies to any reviewers. Now they might have but embargoed the reviews until later this week. I really don’t know what this means and all I can do is speculate which I won’t do here. Is this a good sign or a bad one? Who knows at this point?

All of this could be moot by next week however. If seven days pass and THPG sells 100K copies on next-gen then no one will really care about reviews. Or the reviews will come in (and they will) and nothing but praise will be showered upon THPG, thus leading to massive sales.

What happens, this is a very interesting week and I look forward to every twist and turn! In the end, I hope there’s room for everyone up top.

A ROMANTIC ACHIEVEMENT

After finishing the fantastic BioShock, I’ve put a new game in my Xbox 360. Entitled The Darkness, you start off as a low-level mobster trying to make sense of a hit gone bad.

Early on the in the game I acquired an Xbox achievement worth ten points that was unlike any other achievement I had seen. Achievement points are awarded in every Xbox 360 game and are given for completing specific game tasks. They usually are handed out for passing a level or killing a certain amount of enemies.

This time around, however, was different. Early on, your avatar visits his girlfriend at her new apartment. Jenny gives you a message left by a friend of yours and you’re to call him. After you read the message, Jenny motions for you to sit on the couch with her because she wants to watch some TV. If you sit down with her it turns into a fairly realistic simulation of what it’s like to sit on a couch and watch TV with your girlfriend (or so I’ve been told… ha!). You start off sitting side-by-side but as time goes on, she’ll lean over and you guys hold hands. Then she’ll put her head on your shoulder and she’ll give you a kiss.

Now all this time, you’re able to press the “A” button to get up and leave. Now if you remain on the couch, however, Jenny will eventually mention how tired she is and she’ll fall asleep on your lap. Aww… cute. Anyways, once she’s asleep, you’ll be awarded the “Romantic” achievement, worth ten points and described as “real men stick around for their ladies”. If you get up early, you’re just a dork and you’ll get no such points.

I’ve received hundreds upon hundreds of points for winning car races, killing Nazis, discovering treasure, and all sorts of crazy stuff but this is the first time I’ve gotten points for just being a good boyfriend.

Incidently, the TV watching portion is pretty neat too. When Jenny turns on the TV, she puts it on a channel that’s showing To Kill a Mockingbird with Gregory Peck. Because this movie is in the public domain, the developers were able to include the entire film with the game. So, it’s entirely possible to watch the whole movie in Jenny’s apartment.

MY LOBSTER PLACE IN SAN VANELONA

So what you’re seeing above is the signage for my chain of lobster restaurants in the fictional city of San Vanelona, which is the setting for the game skate. In the early summer, one of the artists came around asking some of the programmers if we wanted our names emblazoned on some city signs. I said yes of course.

We couldn’t choose what our names would be associated with but we were able to give suggestions. I think I chose some sorta fruit stand for whatever reason. That seems pretty stupid now. I’m glad they gave me a lobster restaurant instead because I love lobster. I also like how it’s simply “the place for lobster”.

So if you’re ever skating along the cobblestones of the Old Town district, keep an eye out for San Van’s best place for lobster!