tonyandkirsten.org

Photos are now online!

Here’s a link:

Gulf Coast Relief Pictures: Taken by Chris Cavan, Laura Hudson, Ev Cherrington, and Darcy Smalley

I got a call from a Des Moines Register reporter a week or so ago and she asked me a few questions about a hobby of mine…the story is in print today and you can read it here (I’ll still have to go buy a paper to find out what page it’s actually on.) — scroll to the lower part of the page to read it and to see a semi-crappy picture I sent that somehow looked better on my computer.

So, now for the explanation. If you both have a very good memory and have been reading our blog for a long time, you might remember that in the fall of 2004 I blogged about a game called “I Love Bees.” It was an Alternate Reality Game (”ARG”) involving various websites, puzzles, a dramatized story released as lots of small sound clips, and even real world tasks that involved answering pay phones. It was all a complex, interwoven story designed to promote the second “Halo” game which was being released at that time. I couldn’t have cared less about Halo, but the ARG had a great story and wasn’t too time consuming to follow.

After that, I decided I really liked the concept of these games which create a fictional reality and tell a story (usually involving character interaction, puzzles and other things revolving around a series of websites). Not seeing anything else I was excited about, I threw my hat into Perplex City after I love Bees was over. Perplex City was still in “pre-game” at that point, but it sounded like it was worth waiting for.

Perplex City is a British-based ARG that launched in-full last summer. In this game, “Perplex City” is an alternate, parallel universe to earth with many similarities to us. They have lost their society’s most valuable object called “The Cube” — and somehow it ended up here on earth. This ARG has a real-world prize of $200,000 for finding the cube! (They are funding the prize by selling puzzle cards, which aren’t directly required to play the game). I am definitely not in it for the prize, but this game is a long-running story with great interactive elements — most of the time I maybe spend 10 minutes a day or less reading character blogs and some forum posts. The other day Tony and I did spend a couple hours helping solve a puzzle — but that was the first time I had ever done that.

I really got interviewed, though, because of a new game recently launched that has an Iowa connection to its story. This new game called “Benjamin Stove” (That’s what the main DM Register article is about) revolves around a mysterious former resident of Newton, IA and an equally mysterious painting of some crop circles supposedly seen in the area. The current owner of the paining is now looking for Benjamin Stove and wonders about what happened to him. I am not following this game all that closely, as the pace seems a little slow and so far the action has not been super-interesting. But, we’ll see what happens!

So, there you have it — my “secret” hobby that is really only a secret because i didn’t think anyone really cared to hear too much about it.

Right, so this is out of character for me. Oh, well. Today’s a lab day, and there’s a lot of waiting this morning, so I figured it’d be a good time to blog.

Tagged by: Kirsten Hill

Four Jobs I’ve Had in My Life

• Grad Student in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department of Iowa State — Yes, I do get paid. This is really a job.
• Intern at Procter & Gamble (I worked on Vicks 44)
• Blimpie Subs — Mm… freshly cut meats and cheeses on fresh bread!
• Full-Service Gas Station Attendant — This is where I learned to love coffee.

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over, and Have:

• The original Star Wars Trilogy — Ep. IV, Ep. V and Ep. VI
• Braveheart
• Cinderella Man
• The Patriot

Four Places I Have Lived:

• Ames, IA
• Atlantic, IA
• Cincinnati, OH
• Schaumburg, IL

Four TV Shows I Love To Watch:

• NFL Football
• Seinfeld
• The Simpsons
• Systm

Four Places I Have Been On Vacation:

• Hot Springs & Rapid City, SD
• Seattle, WA
• Chicago, IL
• San Diego, CA — including Tijuana, Mexico

Four Websites I Visit Daily:

• Ars Technica
• Slashdot
• UserFriendly
• Piled Higher and Deeper

Four Favorite Foods:

• Good BBQ sandwiches (like Battle’s)
• Anything with curry
• Chili
• Stomping Grounds’ Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Crepe

Four Places I Would Like to Visit:

• Europe — all of it.
• Beijing
• New Delhi
• Jerusalem

Four People I Am Tagging With This Meme:

• Everybody who reads this and wants to do it, but hasn’t been tagged yet.
• Scott Fiddelke
• Michael The Riley
• Okay, that’s possibly more than four already

Four Things! I am so happy I got tagged…I normally don’t get into meme’s, but this one looks fun.

Tagged by: Pat Blair

Four Jobs I’ve Had in My Life

* Office Assistant at an Engineering Firm
* Tech/Security Crew at Iowa State Center
* Telemarketing/Telefundraising for Aria Communications in St. Cloud, MN
* Field Staff for Great Commission Ministries

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over, and Have:
(I don’t normally watch movies over and over, but here are some favorites I might consider doing so.)

* Serenity
* March of the Penguins
* Original Star Wars trilogy
* The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Four Places I Have Lived:

* Ames, IA
* St Cloud, MN
* New Ulm, MN
* Willmar, MN

Four TV Shows I Love To Watch:
(Hmmm…Mine should be “four radio programs you listen to” instead! But if it has to be TV…)

* CSI
* Football games (NFL or Cyclones)
* Cyberchase (It’s a kids show that was on PBS last fall. Yeah, I know it’s sad I really like it!)
* Between the Lions (Ummm…can you tell most of my TV watching is with a toddler?)

Four Places I Have Been On Vacation:

* New York, New York!
* San Diego, CA
* Hawaii
* Seattle, WA

Four Websites I Visit Daily:

* bloglines.com
* slashdot.org
* sites of whomever blogs each day from planetrock, etc.
* forums.unfiction.com (not every day, but frequently…It’s about alternate reality games)

Four Favorite Foods:

* Raspberries
* Seafood (Especially seafood stuffed w/other seafood. Yum!)
* Fettucini Alfredo
* White Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake

Four Places I Would Like to Visit:

* England
* All the rest of Europe
* Hawaii (again…this time with my husband instead of my mom! Though that was fun too!)
* Some warm tropical islands

Four People I Am Tagging With This Meme:

* Tony, my wonderful husband!
* Jackie Myers
* Wendy Korthals
* Adam Vos