Madden and Me

Today Madden 08 was released, and thanks to some gift cards, I purchased my copy at Best Buy this morning. Given that we have a Wii, I purchased the appropriate copy. (Since I don't have any pictures of me playing Madden, I thought I'd include a picture of me boxing on the Wii and spare my wife of the pictures of her bowling and boxing.)


I managed to spend a shameful amount of time playing the game today. However, as opposed to just feeling slothful, like I normally do after spending the large bulk of a day playing video games, I also have a sore arm and a sore finger.

When playing Madden for the Wii, one must make a forward throwing motion to pass the ball, besides the pulling of the controller back when snapping the ball. In addition, one must jerk the appropriate controller to the left or right or push them both forward in order to help evade tackles or to make better tackles. These facts account for the sore arm. The sore finger comes from playing too close to a wall. As I went to stiff arm a defensive player, I rammed my finger into the wall. (For those who care, I did have a successful stiff arm and went for another 15 yards before being tackled.)

Although today was spent playing alone, it made me remember and long for the days of playing video games with close friends, often on a daily basis. During my senior year at Bethel, rarely a day went by without playing at least an hour of Mario Kart with my roommate and neighbors. The year after Bethel, while living in Mishawaka, countless hours were spent as four of us each played a team in a dynasty in college football. Every summer spent in Berne included many evenings in front of Ed's TV, playing some sports game or other. Although the games were fun, the people were what made the times great. In some circumstances, very little constructive language was used while playing. In others, the game was secondary to the discussions occurring between those playing and those watching about life, love, and everything else in the world. In each case, friendships were made and/or strengthened. Before leaving for Texas, I met up with two guys from Berne for a weekend of Madden. It was a memorable weekend, not so much because we played so well (although we did play really well), but just the camaraderie of three guys.

Today brought back those memories and more, and made me look forward to the day when those people don't live so far away, and also to the day when I will look back with a similar fondness on the memories and friendships strengthened through time spent together in front of a televisions screen here in Waco, where the game becomes secondary to the conversations occurring between all those involved.

A Brief Catch-Up

The last few weeks have been crazy, but I have emerged victorious... or at least I have emerged with my life. Either way, the stress has let up for a few days at least.

Last Thursday (August 9), I spent many hours in a computer lab, taking the Ancient and Medieval portions of my comprehensive exams. I spent the entire summer studying for this exam, and I feel like I passed. After investing so much time and energy, it just feels good to be done. Hopefully I'll still feel good about them when I get the grades back. Between that and the Harry Potter release party (I finished the book that Saturday evening), my life hasn't had much excitement up until that time.

After the completion of the comps, the test-takers went to Health Camp for a supper of hamburgers and milkshakes. Jess and I followed that with a trip to see The Simpsons Movie. I highly recommend it. I don't remember that last time I laughed so hard.

On Friday, my wonderful wife and I went to San Antonio for a belated over-night celebration of our one year anniversary. Our anniversary had been the previous Sunday, but due to comps, we stayed in town and she cooked a delicious meal while we had our cake. Our time in San Antonio was a nice break from the busy lives we had been living lately. We visited the Alamo and spent some time on the Riverwalk. On Saturday we visited Market Square before coming back to Waco.

This brings us today. I helped some friends move in, and in a bit, I'll be going with a friend to pick up Madden 08. I'm getting my copy at Best Buy tomorrow morning, but it'll be fun nonetheless. Tomorrow (and the rest of the week for that matter) will be spent with Madden and Michael Polanyi. I've been meaning to sit down and read through Personal Knowledge for some time, so I figure now is as good of time as any! I should also work on my paper I'm presenting at a conference in November.

With a new school year starting next week, I've done a little bit of thinking today about how different things look this year. A year ago, Jess and I were loading up the truck to make our trek down to Waco. We had been married for only 8 days, and Jess had no idea where she would get a job. I was trying to decide what classes to take, while having a good idea what I would do a dissertation on. We didn't really know anyone down here and all we had were each other. Now, we're helping other people unload trucks, we've been married a year, we know our way around here, Jess has a job, I know my classes, although I don't know what my dissertation will be on. More importantly, we've made some roots in Waco. We've met lots of great people and have made some great friends. We've found a church that we feel at home in. The best part of it all is that we still have each other.