Busy day today. WWFM III in Coquitlam, cleaning, packing, and these gems…

A: Are we going to the grocery store?

Me: No, we are going to the highway.

{We drive towards the highway, but then the GPS suggests taking the road beside the grocery store}

A: Are we going to the grocery store?

Me: No, but we’re driving by it.

{We come to a stop just outside the grocery store}

A: I’m confused. There’s the grocery store! Are we going to the grocery store?

Me: …

Later, whle cleaning his room:

A: I get knocked down! But I get up again! You ain’t never going to keep me down!

I’m not sure he can pronounce ‘Chumbawumba’, but he sure likes the song.

A few weeks ago, we bought an XBOX 360. That officially brings us into the Wii60 ranks that were predicted at the start of the latest “next generation” console war. It was a bit of a steep purchase, since we bought Rock Band along with it (and Burnout Paradise too, FWIW). Rock Band is largely responsible for the dearth of posting on this blog and LeftCoastMama. Gwen plays guitar, I play drums. Aidan sings. Yes, keep that visual in mind … in reality, it’s not nearly as bad as you think it might be.

A few days ago, you may heard of a small game released called “Grand Theft Auto IV“. The GTA series has become quite notorious for the amount of sex, drugs, and violence portrayed in the game. I had played the very first GTA game — a top-down game where you could steal cars, shoot people, and run over pedestrians. I don’t recall there being much (any?) sexual content in the first one. Even then, it was a fun, addictive game. You can actually download that game, legitimately, for free.

Fast forward a few years and now the forth edition of the game is out, to much hubbub. And yes, we did pick it up, and I’ve been playing it a few hours every night over the past week. It is as violent as you have heard. The language in it is as crude as you might expect in the back alleys of New York (the city on which the game’s Liberty City is based). There is sexual content. Stealing cars is commonplace. Running over pedestrians is easy and lacking of any serious consequence (but don’t run the tolls on any of the bridges!).

And yet this is a magnificent game. It is, by far, the best looking and best sounding game I’ve ever played. The attention to detail in the city is incredible. Every city block is different, and different neighbourhoods have their distinct feel. There are tonnes of cars and pedestrians on the roads — sometimes. In the middle of night, not so much. In the day time, lots. Traffic increases at rush hour. There are lots of taxis, and an incredible number of incompetent police cars. Pedestrians have lots to say (usually not of it very polite). There are 18 music stations you can tune into in whatever car you’re in, all with track lists numbering well over a dozen songs. You can watch TV. You can surf the net. You can bowl, play darts, play pool, go drinking, go to a cabaret, and participate in lots of other activities.

The city’s architecture is something to see. Towering skyscrapers, lots of impressively lit bridges. Tunnels. Parks. Slums. Construction. An airport with airplanes landing and taking off with regularity. A Statue of “Happiness”. A comprehensive subway system with 4 lines. The city is massive, and the game comes with both a street map and a subway map.

The sun rises and sets on Liberty City, and all light sources are a thing of wonder. Shadows fall as expected, and are nice and soft, not hard and ragged as in many other games. I will often find myself walking or driving along and lose myself in just looking at the game. You can find lots of screenshots on the net, but you could start here. Frankly, they don’t do the actual game justice.

On the otherhand, the game is quite violent and crude. The control system leaves a bit to be desired, and although each different type of car/truck/van/garbage truck/motorcycle drives differently, they’re all pretty twitchy when it comes to steering. Fighting and shooting isn’t particularly easy. The camera doesn’t help a whole lot when driving — it’s hard to see if you’re going to run into something or get T-boned at intersections.

Although this game is being set up as the biggest entertainment release (surpassing that of any other video game or movie) I wonder if a game without the history and notoriety that this one brings, without the sex and violence, and keeping with the visuals, sounds, voices, and storytelling would be as successful or more successful. Sadly, I don’t think so. And yet I can’t help but wonder if a superhero game (think Superman, Spiderman, or even something like Hellboy) would be able to function in this setting just as well. Or a suspense/mystery (think Phillip Marlow).

Still, despite the 18+ rating, it’s quite a compelling game. Liberty City keeps drawing me back in…

The weeks fly by but the weekends are family time. As such, here’s another weekend update…

We went and got Aidan’s hair cut yesterday. It wasn’t exactly planned; I mean he certainly needed it, but Gwen has developed a phobia about taking him to get his hair cut so it hasn’t been done on the weekdays. I desperately needed to get my hair cut too, so when I announced my attention to get my hair cut yesterday, Gwen & The Boy tagged along. We got to my barber’s shop, which was completely empty when we got there. Well, the barber and another hair-cutter (aside: what’s the noun describing a woman who works at a barbershop that exclusively cuts men’s hair? Barber? I guess, but it’s one of those nouns that I exclusively associate with a man. Weird.) were there but no customers.

So, we had a quick discussion (that involved the barber) and we decided that I’d get my hair cut while Gwen & The Boy watched, and then we’d get Aidan’s hair cut too. My haircut went well, without any tears. As soon as we tried to put Aidan in the barber’s chair, though, the hysteronics began. Once again, I sat him on my lap and the barber did the best he could. There were less tears than in previous times, but calm is the wrong word to use.

The haircut isn’t great, but it’s better than what it was when it was long. There are some pictures a bit further below.

On Sunday, we had brunch with our friends Ali and Nooshin. We biked over to Ali’s Yaletown condo and ate brunch while the Vancouver Marathon passed on the street below. Aidan had a chance to help with breakfast, and seemed to enjoy himself.

After brunch, we all got on bikes and pedalled over to Stanley Park. There’s a nice new playground there near Second Beach, and one of those old firetrucks-turned-into-playground-climbing-equipment that seem strangely popular in Vancouver.

After parting ways with Ali and Nooshin we took the Aquabus from the foot of Hornby Street to Granville Island and biked home. It was a nice way to start the day. The rest of the day sort of got away from us, but it started well!

This past weekend was rather busy. Saturday was a rare sunny and warm day, so we decided to try to take full advantage. We started with our regular video chat with Grandma and Grandpa, had breakfast, and then biked down to Granville Island for Ocean Construction Supplies’ annual open house. Last year’s open house was of mixed success. This year was much better.

Ocean is an oddity. It’s a fully functional and operational and industrial concrete plant in the heart of a tourist destination. It actually fits quite well into its environment, with brightly and colourfully painted concrete trucks. (Note: We didn’t actually take any pictures of the cement trucks, so the next shot is by Maurice Jassak as found at http://www.seegranvilleisland.com)

Unlike last year, Aidan was excited to actually get in the cabs of some of the construction vehicles, like this large front-end loader. The cab was ok, but he didn’t want anything to do with the tires, bucket, …

Mommy was allowed to do this, but he didn’t like it very much…

He also sat in the cab of this concrete truck (this photo also by Maurice Jassak)

Part of the fun is a big pile of sand that they put out in the middle of their marshalling yard. They sprinkle this sand pile with Tonka trucks, and it ends up being swarmed by mostly boys, aged 3-6. This shot shows a rare moment when there were no other kids on the edge of the sand pile. Typically it looks like a very confusing hive of bees.

Lastly, he went back to the Bobcat that he sat in last year. This year, the camera survived.

After biking back home, we grabbed some lunch and then headed out geocaching!

We headed down to Delta, just south of Vancouver. There were a number of caches that were placed as part of the BCGA’s Cache Blitz 2008. These ones were rated 1.5/1.5 and there were about a half dozen of them so we figured it was going to be easy going.

It was no such thing. The first cache’s ground zero put us in the middle of a parking lot, with various heavy machinery nearby (a wood chipper, for example). It was right beside Splashdown Park, which was preparing for the coming season, so there were lots of muggles around. And lots of trucks. After poking around for a short while, we stopped. We just weren’t comfortable, and it wasn’t an appropriate area for Aidan.

Our next stop was out in the middle of nowhere, beside a fence post, a drainage ditch, and a pile of discarded building supplies. We searched for a while — the GZ put us in the middle of a field-like area — and then another geocaching crew pulled up. They found it in short order, in the pile of rubbish. I was refusing to look in there, but had pretty much figured it must have been there since it wasn’t anywhere else. I mean, I hate digging through garbage to find caches. What is that teaching Aidan? And, once again, the coords were off.

The third stop was much more satisfying. It was a short walk along the edge of a ball field, and Gwen found the cache within seconds of arriving at GZ.

The last stop was next to the highway, in some trees, surrounded by more trash, in an extremely hilly area. All the found logs noted that it took them forever to find it. We DNF’d this one too. 1.5/1.5? Not a chance. Also not appropriate for Aidan. And the trash again?

I was quite steamed by the end of the caching — quite frustrated. So, we went to DQ, grabbed some ice cream and drove down to Boundary Bay park to overlook the marshes and mud flats and eat some ice cream. It helped considerably.

Back to Vancouver and cleaned the apartment better than it had been cleaned for quite some time! Put the boy to bed and then Carla and Tomer came over and we played Thurn and Taxis for the rest of the night. It’s an interesting 2 player game; I’m not sure if it’s better with 4 or not. Tomer won both times, I’m sure he enjoyed himself.

On Sunday, it rained.  We stayed inside.