AgentCooper.NET

From my previous blog post you would know that I purchased a Xbox 360 a couple weeks ago. So far it seems that it was money well spent… or was it? I say this because I found myself playing video games for nearly four hours last night. Was I playing the latest and greatest smash hit (Madden 07) selling for $60 in the stores? No, although Madden is a fun game I spent all that time playing a game that I downloaded for 400 Microsoft points (~$5)… UNO! A blast from the past, this game ROCKS! I’m one of those who typically stays away from board\card game ports as the developers typically spend too much time in non-sense and end-up developing a game that has a completely different experience than the original. Untrue for the UNO!, they developed this game so well it gives me flashbacks to my childhood. The folks over at Carbonated Games didn’t waste their time creating “life like” computer personalities or incorporating whiz bang features and rule sets no one likes, instead they kept to the basics yet took advantage of the Xbox 360 features. They created a colorful high-definition game, which the graphics even as basic as they are really intensify game play. The Xbox live integration is equally awesome, allowing you to talk shit to your opponents as if you were playing with your sister or even little Bobby from down the road, except for this time there is no going and crying to mommy! Wow, I’m excited…

So I buckled under pressure this weekend and went out and bought an Xbox 360. Ok, so maybe I didn’t buckle from the pressure given I really wanted one to begin with. I don’t consider it “another toy” as some others may instead I’m considering it an investment; I’m hoping that now that I’ve living downtown it may be able to lure me into staying home more often rather than going out every night. If successful I’m bound to get a great return on my investment…

One thing I was disappointed about is that the unit stopped working after about 24 hours. It started returning an error indicating that the power supply was malfunctioning. Luckily I was able to take it back to the store and exchange it for another unit, I also opted for the extended warranty from the store (EBGames) – it was an additional $40 but given some of the horror stories I’ve read online from the number of units malfunctioning after the standard warranty has expired, I figure it’s a worthwhile investment.

Currently I only have one game – Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006, but there are several releases lined up within the next couple of months which sound very interesting.

I finally moved into my new place in downtown this last weekend. So far I love it though it’s been taking some adjusting living in the heart of downtown. I’m not discouraged that within the first week I’ve had to file two separate police reports.

Sometime Tuesday night\early Wednesday someone broke into the car. They smashed one of the rear windows and took off with the stereo.  I learned something though; car prowlers are willing to smash a window and risk getting caught without the guarantee that they’ll get anything out of it. In this case the only thing they took was the stereo but the faceplate wasn’t on the stereo, mind you it was in the glove box and they ultimately ended up finding it. I guess they just figure no one actually walks around with the faceplates and that they’re generally located somewhere in the vehicle. The cost of replacing the window is too much to replace every other week so I think I’m just going to revert back to the factory stereo; does anyone even steal those?

The other incident was an assault; although I wasn’t one of the primary participants in the assault a couple punches\kicks we’re still exchanged. Has me thinking whether I should start carrying some pepper spray around with me but I haven’t decided on that yet.

Regardless of the above I still love the place, what I love most is the character the building has. The building was originally built in 1910 as was part of the original site of the University of Washington; it was also the first medical\dental building built west of the Mississippi. The elevator doors in the lobby are the original solid brass doors from when the original elevators were installed in the 1930s. Located in the basement is the fitness center, which is housed in an old vault from the bank next door; they even kept the original doors on for character. I also love the fact that the neighbors are cool, this surprised me a bit given how upscale the building is I thought they’d all be a bunch of pretentious pricks.