Ilovesnow!

Ilovesnow!
Originally uploaded by shelby_wills

It's not supposed to snow this much in Eugene...

I fail (at NaBloWriMo)

Lindsay, hot dog!

Lindsay, hot dog!
Originally uploaded by shelby_wills

So, I'm copping out with a photo blog post early, I know. But I think it's okay in this case. I am absolutely exhausted after my first day back at work today. So, enjoy this photo of Lindsay in her Halloween costume. Everyone I know has already seen this photo, but I'm sort of obsessed with it. It's definitely one of my most successful pet photography endeavors so far. :)

I've probably already told most people about CuteOverload, but I need to reiterate that it's the best thing ever. There's no better quick pick-me-up than going over there and getting a shot of daily furry adorableness with funny commentary.

See you tomorrow.

Oh, wow.

I am honestly shocked that it has been one year (minus 20 days) since I last blogged. That is basically blog-quitting, rather than being merely slow to post. I am a blog-quitter.

Anyway, I guess November is NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). The idea is to post on your blog once per day during the month of November. I think this whole something-once-per-day-in-November thing started with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), in which they write a novel in a month. I first read about this on one of my favorite blogs, BreakupBabe. BreakupBabe has since become a real novelist and has pretty much shut down her blog. Anyway, the novel-in-a-month is NOT HAPPENING HERE. I can probably handle a mini-post per day, though. I'm a couple of days late in starting, but I'll try it. Look what happens when I take 3 weeks off from work? I get a little energy and creativity back. Then again, I reserve the right to take another year-long break if I go back to work tomorrow morning and am again 100% wrung out. Also, I will attempt to not do too many cheap photo-posts, but I'm not guaranteeing anything. :)

If you want something cool, witty, funny, interesting, and arty to look at, LayerTennis totally sucked me in for the past hour and made me not pay attention to The Amazing Race premiere. 2 artists send art back and forth, building on what the other sent. I highly recommend looking through past battles. If I didn't have a job and responsibilities on Fridays, I would totally watch the next one live.

That's enough. I'll save some life-updating for future days.

This is for you, Chrissyfur.

I don't think anyone checks this blog, except for Brunner. My current computer situation just doesn't lend itself well to blogging, but I'll try to do it at least once every few months. :)

Today's the day after Thanksgiving, and we're in Portland with Eric's family. We're avoiding the crazy shopping day, so we went to Chez Machin for brunch. We each had yummy savory ham/egg/tomato/mozzarella crepes, and then we shared a delicious apple-pie-like crepe for dessert. Eric's now watching the football game while I draft my fantasy Congress team and try to take a nap. I take it back, there's no way I'll sneak a nap in with Eric hitting me every time something annoying happens with the Ducks. I'm trying to get him to redirect that rage into rubbing my foot instead of punching my shin.

Do you ever go out shopping on the day after Thanksgiving? Is it worth the craziness, or is the craziness part of the tradition and fun memories? I just don't think I could ever want cheap socks enough to go to Fred Meyer's at 5am. I'd rather go sockless, if it came to that.

We're here until Saturday morning, when we'll go home and I can play Neverwinter Nights 2 for the rest of the weekend. NWN2 may be buggy and graphically unexciting, but the story and quest possibilities have caught my interest and imagination in a way that hasn't happened in a long time. I may be more open to console games these days, but there will always be a special place in my heart for good old PC point-and-click story-based games.

One last note... the Wii was a big hit with the cousins yesterday. The Wii Sports games are so intuitive; we played several 4-player games of bowling and golf with little to no ramp-up. Even game-phobic family members were intrigued by figuring out how to swing the "golf club." Nintendo's strategy of emphasizing accessibility and affordability over cutting-edge graphics is genius.

Thieves with good fashion sense

Paris is ready to listen, if you're ready to talk.,
originally uploaded by shelby_wills.

My car was broken into in front of my house the other day. They took my North Face jacket, some shoes, and all my burned CDs. The burned CDs, I just realized, included the obligatory mix CD given to me by Eric when we started dating. I've since had the chance to become annoyed with his music, so I didn't actually listen to the CD anymore, but it did have sentimental value.

Among the things they didn't take: my stereo, spare tire, or any of the regular, non-burned CDs. What, they wanted Eric's mix and a bunch of unlabeled discs, but not Boyz II Men or Kelly Clarkson? I don't get it.

This is especially annoying because I've never left my car out on the street overnight before, it was just one night because the company redoing the siding on our house needed to park in the driveway. When I found my car the next morning, the driver's door and the trunk were literally wide open. I'm suprised no opportunist stole my car after the coat-thieves had left, considering how many Hondas have been stolen in the vicinity lately.

The siding job is nearly done. They did a really great job of putting up the siding, trim, and fixing all the screw-ups of the original builders. All that's left is for them to paint in a week or so. Don't worry, there will be pictures!

Summer Camp for Game Developers

One of the more memorable experiences I've had lately was my trip to the Game Developers Conference in March. It was like summer camp. For geeks. Cool geeks. Three days, packed with 20 classes an hour to choose from, and lots of opportunities to socially meet others in the industry.

In the sea of hundreds (thousands?), it was nice to run into my co-workers throughout the day. We didn't stick together for the classes, but it was nice to touch base with each other at lunch or dinner to see what we'd all learned, and what experiences we'd had. I felt that we had some really great, energetic, and honest conversations while we were down there. I became much closer people I don't generally get to talk to back at work.

And of course, I learned a lot from the classes. The greatest educational experiences were to be found in the roundtables. There was a kind of openness and desire to exchange experiences and find common best practices - and that openness can be very hard to find the rest of the year.

The most meaningful experience I had, though, was one I didn't expect. Not only did I not expect it, I was almost avoiding it.

I decided to attend a Women in the Gaming Industry roundtable on a whim - when I had a spare hour when no other class looked relevant to me. Before the roundtable, I have to say that I was kind of tired of the "Women in Gaming" issue. It felt tired to me, worn out. But in the roundtable, I started to hear and feel some things that were very new to me.

As the only woman on the development team in my company, I generally don't feel isolated, or even notice that I'm the only one. Hearing other women speak, though, opened my eyes to a few things that we have all shared - things that I had unconsciously attributed to my own personality and not to gender issues. I didn't come out of the session suddenly blaming everything on gender issues, but I did come out with a sense of community that I was sorely (and obliviously) lacking. After the session, I had several more opportunities at GDC to attend events with the women from the roundtable. And it was a relief. It kind of felt like home.

My main takeaway from the whole thing is that I am trying to take the realization that other women in my position, at my age, are feeling the kinds of fears and difficulties and successes that I feel, and use that to keep from feeling powerless. When certain things are difficult, I remember that someone else went through it. I try not to blame myself and feel defeated, and I feel empowered by the idea that I can do something to improve it: encourage more women to work in the gaming industry.

And they should. It's a lot of fun. :)

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www.idga.org/women/

A(nother) new beginning.

And so my blog is resurrected, in the latest, but probably not last, of its incarnations.

This is my attempt to keep a website that can be public. What a shocking concept! No, I'm not hoping to have a famous blog. Rather, the point is to have a website that I wouldn't mind anyone in my personal or professional life seeing, if they happen to run across it. That may make for dull blogging, but at least those of you who are interested may be able to keep up with my life!

I promise to (try to) keep the cat-chat to less than 50% of the content. ;)