This is the last night of being unemployed.  Tomorrow I start my new job at Schuylkill Health.  I've got a lot of emotions running around inside me.  I've got a meeting with a vendor first thing - 8am tomorrow.  It's definitely going to be hectic for awhile while I acclimate to the new environment -- the people, the applications, the "culture".

I have to say I'm looking forward to just getting through my first day.

Well we're done.  Dylan stayed up until about 4:15am....JT is still going strong - not wanting to go to bed.  He just bought some kind of cannon in Runescape so I'm going to let him use it for a few more minutes then we'll hit the sack.  What a great night.  Thanks for coming up PopPop.

Still going.......  We're just about done w/the first pot of coffee.  PopPop has started yawning....never a good sign.  Qe played probably THE best match just now - a map called FROZENCOLORS.  It was me, Dyl and PopPop plus a couple bots vs. a bunch of bots and JT.  VERY intense!  Final score 3-1 good guys!

GAME NIGHT!!!!  Tonight we're having a small family game night at my house.  It's me, JT, Dylan and PopPop.  We've been going back and forth between Quake 3 and Runescape.  Dylan's index finger is getting a little sore from killing me so much - or at least from pushing down the run key so hard so we're playing Runescape at the moment to give him a rest.

If I had to say who's been winning most at Q3 - I'd say it's pretty much a dead heat between Dylan and JT.  PopPop is doing pretty well (he's obviously been practicing!) and I have my moments.

Just like the traditional game nights of years gone by - we've got a cooler full of refreshments, a table full of snacks and lots of yelling and screaming.

Good times!

Calling all Doom fans!  Calling all Doom fans!  My boys are playing Quake 3 right now and that has spurred discussion about the history of games, in particular first person shooters.  As the discussion moved through the years, starting back at 2D games, then Wolfenstein 3D, then Doom, then Quake, etc., etc., the question came up about building custom maps.  Sure you can do it, I said as I proudly went on the tell the story of the custom map I had made for Doom 2 aptly named The Pit.

So tonight I was on a mission -- could I find my old map.  Before heading up to the attic to search through boxes upon boxes of old 1.44MB (yes, megabyte) floppies, I thought I'd search my external hard drive.  It was doubtful I'd have copied it there but it was a lot easier than going up into the cold attic.

No luck.

But then I was struck by an ingenious thought - what about my old website?  I know I had posted it online for people to download.  Perhaps it's still there........

So I did a couple Google searches to find the format for user created RCN webpage url's and within seconds I was looking at my old page!  Ok, the formatting is off and the link to the images directory is apparently broken but with a few clicks I was on my Doom page and sure enough - there was a link to download THEPIT!!!!!!!

So I downloaded it and just as quick as the downloaded completed a terrible thought hit me.......these old DOS games are a pain to get running under Windows XP.  Great.  So I'm in store for a long night of trying to configure a program like DOSBox or something similar to try to get the stupid thing running.  Wait.....I don't even know where the original game disks are.  Great!!!

Well again, not wanting to go up in the attic (seeing a theme here?) I searched the torrentz and found Doom and Doom2 - already ported to run under XP!!  Since I'm on a role I decide to really get cocky and look for level editors because I'm sure the kids will want to take a crack at making one of their own.  BAM....I find the very editor I used way back when to make mine!

This is all too easy......something has to go bad soon, right?  After all, that's how things always go.

So I fire up the newly downloaded relic ---- it fires right up - sound and everything!  So I untrain myself from using the WASD controls - go back to the old arrow keys and run around - plunking off a few soldiers.  This is all fun and everything but I'm ready for The Pit.  COME GET SOME - no, not Duke Nukem!

I take my THEPIT.ZIP file - right click .... choose Extract To.....  select my Doom 2 installation directory and......CRASH!!!!  Here's where it goes bad.  I told you - it always does.

Evidently my RCN page pointed back to my original website on ITW.com....Internet Tidal Wave I think?  In any case they apparently no longer exist so all I ended up downloading was a broken url.

So what had been going so well came to a screeching halt just like that.  My dad tried looking but didn't find it.  I emailed an old friend from college who I'm pretty sure played the level but I doubt he would have kept it.

What a bummer.

So if anyone reads this AND if anyone would happen to have a copy of my old level I would be so freakin' happy to hear from you!