It’s that time of year again.

Dear IRS, Please cancel my subscription.

Do you have tender, childhood memories of “Sesame Street”? I sure do. Silly old Ernie endlessly pestering poor old Bert. Big Bird’s wide-eyed naivete. Kermit’s soft hearted interaction with kids my age. Good old, well meaning Grover, the worst waiter ever. And, of course, that great blue haired glutton, Cookie Monster. Well, if you share those precious memories with me; if you feel all warm and fuzzy inside with you hear that familiar toon (“Sunny day. Everything’s A-OK”); if you too long for the simple days of yore… GET OVER IT! Grow up! Act your age! And, most importantly, do NOT scarf down whole platefuls of cookies in a crumb flinging binge!!!

Yes, it’s true. Life is not the sunny days and a-ok’s we were promised. If you live in a trash can, you’re not a grouch, you’re a drunk. If you call your male roommate “good buddy” and your beds are next to each other, you’re probably gay. If you’re a waiter who can’t tell the difference between a bowl of soup and a straw hat, you’re going to be unemployed! And if you consume cookies fast enough to choke a snuffaluffagus, you’re going to die of obesity-induced diabetes!!

Sadly, our old sunny neighborhood has made quite a few concessions to reality since you and I left. (I blame that little falsetto fiend Elmo.) For example, this season “Sesame Street” is focusing on childhood obesity. Yep. You guessed it. Cookie Monster is on a diet. Oh, rest assured the left-leaning loons who run PBS (on our tax dollars) firmly deny that Mr. Monster has a “problem”. They have taken the cover-up and spin approach.

“We are not putting him on a diet … We’re teaching him moderation.”

So says, Dr. Rosemarie T. Truglio, the show’s vice president of research and education. Suuuure. Moderation. Like I’m going to fall for that one! I’ll bet they’ve got our poor furry friend tied to a chair in some dark room, force feeding him lettuce wrapped tofu! OH THE HUMANITY!!

Read the very entertaining full article at cnn.com. Link courtesy of PvP Online.

The process of creating a new world for our Ultima Online game server has passed a mile stone. The map is finished, at least finished enough to start building towns and decorating dungeons. I still have some tweaking to do here and there to fix glitches produced by the map compiler program, UOLandscaper.

Other than tweaking the map, I need to finish drawing the “paper map” image that will be used for treasure maps, etc., and drawing a smaller version for the web site that players will use to learn their way around the new world.

I’ve already updated the new, unreleased web site with descriptions of the new races and classes, and I’ve finished my first draft of the world history that will be used as a back story for events and quests that we put together to keep the players occupied.

Mean while, on the live server, we’ve started the process of ending the world, so to speak. We kicked off an event this week that is the first in the story arc that we came up with to set up our move to the new server. I won’t go into detail, as I don’t want to give away all the goods in case any of our players happen across my blog.

If any readers think they might be interested in playing UO, check out the current game site and feel free to ask me any questions you have about getting started.

I’ve been delinquent in my posting again, so I figure it’s time for another personal update. It’s funny how owning a digital camera changes the way you record your life. The other night, I dumped the digi-cam onto my computer, all 200 or so pictures. It was then that I realized how far behind I am in telling the story of my life to those who are interested. (For the rest of you… Sorry. Deal with it.)

Back on March 5th, our youth drama group, The Bottom Line, had a landmark performance. They did an opening sketch for this year’s Disciple Now. The theme for DNow this year was the awesomeness of God. Youth Minister Bill asked me to put something together for that theme and the end result was a moving “reader’s theater” style piece that contrasted the real meaning of the word awesome with the way it’s been trivialized in the lingo of today’s youth. The performance was aw… um… it was really good.

On March 12th, Tammy and I experienced a real land mark. In preparation for my big trip to the Tetons in August, we met up with the rest of they guys from the expedition at Mineral Wells. It was the first time since Tammy’s rock climbing accident in 1999 that we successfully climbed live rock (that means climbing outside). We’ve been gym climbing since a few months after her accident, but phobias (mostly on my part) kept us from being comfortable on live rock, away from the safety of man made walls. It was a fun day and we both climbed really well. The other members of the expedition learned more about rope work and belaying. It was an all around success.

For the entire month of March, I’ve been making the drive to church (during rush out it takes about 45 minutes) twice a week to practice for our Easter musical, “Believe”. Due to casting issues, I handed over the director’s chair to Ron Buck (who did a fantastic job) and I took on the role of Pilate. Tammy managed all the back stage stuff, from costumes and props, to extras and make up. As usual, she was the glue that held the show together. (Thanks punkin!)

The week before a production is always pretty crazy, but with Ron directing, I didn’t have to be there every night. I got Monday off. *wink* We managed to get home before 11 PM all week, better than the Christmas show. Performances were on April 2nd and 3rd (yes, the week after Easter) and except for some minor tech issues, the shows were all perfect!

Spring has sprung, and Tammy and I are both eager to get outside. I managed to ride my bike to work once this week, but another cold snap has kept me from any more than that. My plan is to ride my bike to work everyday this summer. With gas prices retarded high and my trip coming up, I’ve got no excuse not to put the bike to good use.

This weekend is Tammy’s birthday. Not just any birthday, but the dreaded 30th! She has tried so hard to give me a hard time about being over 30 (to no avail). Now it’s time. *wink* Sadly, we’ve been unable to coordinate anything with our friends. Between folks hauling there kids to this or that and a others suffering through morning sickness, it’s just been impossible to put together the party Tammy deserves. (No! Tammy is NOT pregnant. Bite your tongue.) We are going to Six Flags with the Preeces on Sunday afternoon, but I’m pretty bummed that I couldn’t put together something better.

I think that covers the high points. Sorry for getting behind again. I shall strive to improve.