Skyrim screencap

Sweet zombie Jesus! Our interior design consultant came over yesterday to assist bdot with the final touches on the living room makeover. Wow… the end result is phenomenal. It has been so long in coming it feels a little alien to me. The living room is now painted, art is up, curtains are up… the overall impact of everything far exceeds my expectations. We’ve had art sitting in boxes for years that is now finally on our walls. I believe adding our personality to this room is helping the house become our home. A big thanks to bdot for all her work on this… slowly our imprint is moving throughout the rooms of our home. Of course there is more to do, and we seem to dream big… so the evolution is slow moving, but it has certainly begun! I’ll post a shot later… I’m not sure it is worthwhile if there is no daylight however. I think we are on track for Saturday’s party. Hopefully we’ll have some zots left to be able to enjoy it.

Speaking of ‘phenomenal’…I finally got the long awaited RPG Skyrim installed. Damn! You immediately notice the graphics are drop dead gorgeous. The clouds in the sky, the reflection on the water, *gasp* aurora borealis!, blowing snow… the world is so immersive. The details in buildings, runes and art on walls in dungeons and even the detail in the inhabitants of Skyrim are all done with care and consideration. I’ve only played a few hours (I think I’m level 4)… so I’ll reserve an evaluation for later, but I can’t see this dropping below 4 stars. The intro cut scene was awesome (I won’t spoil it) and got you right into the game. I think this is a landmark release for ‘sandbox RPGs’, and it raises the bar for playability, graphics and fun. The quests don’t seem as forced as in previous Elder Scroll games, so far they seem to have flowed together from the initial cut scene like a logical progression of events. Anyway, I’ll post a few screen caps tonight so you can see the visuals. Initially impressions are highly favourable! Skyrim will clearly be a Game of the Year candidate. More on this later I’m sure. Screencaps :

Skyrim screencap two

So… the big Sabres v. Bruins post-Miller/Lucic rematch. Considering the roster I have no complaints about the game. The Sabres are not a big physical team, I think to think they are or could magically and suddenly be one is delusional. That said, they can play harder and not get taken advantage of physically. I think that was achieved. As for the fights… I don’t think Goose won, but he showed up, and I applaud that. Did anyone really think a meatball like Lucic would get a beating? I sure didn’t. I thought goose was just trying to survive the fight. He was outmatched. It could have been pretty ugly for him but he mostly held his own. Overall I like the response from the team… Strange things happened, did I actually see Stafford fight? There was more of a team response after the whistle. And, most importantly they took a point and had several shots at a second. Overall a big improvement from the previously embarrassing non-response game vs. the Bruins. It will make for four more very interesting games as well. Hopefully this play becomes the norm not just a one game spectacle. Time will tell…