Last night was the big Relay For Life 2009 Celebration where over 150 teams walked from 7 PM Friday evening until 9 AM Saturday morning. We had a great turnout with over 4,000 people in attendance.

Our team had a birthday campsite theme and we sold plain cupcakes for $0.50 and supplied a self service table where people could put their own icing and sprinkles on them. We also had birthday bags for adults and children.

Our team faithfully had at least one member on the track walking the entire time. I’m very proud of the people (including my wife) who stuck with it all through the night.

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Currently I’m going back through Half-Life Episode 2 to get all the achievements. I got most of them the first time I went through a few weeks ago. But there are 2 achievements that are really difficult and very annoying that I’m trying to get.

The most tedious achievement is to take a small garden gnome from the beginning of the game and carry it and put it into a rocket towards the end of the game that will launch into outer space. I’ve found this to be very difficult to keep up with. I constantly have to keep up with the gnome, all while fighting off enemies. If I don’t have the gnome in my possession and I hit a loading area, I end up losing it and having to go back to a previous save to regain the gnome. So why do I go through all this pain? I think that there is something about completely mastering this game that has compelled me to take on the painful task of transporting the gnome.

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Tonight I finished Half-Life 2: Episode 2. I’d say that this episode is the most creative thus far. Its also the most infuriating episode and challenges the player’s reflexes and skill level. Its like the game assumes you’ve played the other games in the series and thrusts you into the action from the get go.

I really liked the new enemies in this episode. The Hunters (pictured to the left) are almost like mini-bosses and can be real beasts to take down. When there is a pack of them, it gets real hard to stay alive and dodge their attacks. The final battle, where I am suppose to defend our rebel base and missle silo from Striders proved to be most challenging. Each Strider had at least one Hunter that had to be taken down before I could get a clear shot at the Strider. By the end of the fight I was up against six Hunters and two Striders at one time. I died or failed my mission at least 15 – 20 times before defeating all the enemies.

Anyhow, I’ve really enjoyed going back through the Half-Life 2 series over the past few months.  I’m very excited to find out what happens in the final installment to the series.  Its probably going to be some time in 2010 before Valve gets Episode 3 done but I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

I’m very proud of my son Joshua, who made the paper today! He made front page of the Lifestyle section. Here is a link for anyone interested in reading about him:

Lynchburg News & Advance Article »

Even though not many people showed up to his birthday party, I’m glad that something good came out of it. I hope a lot of people decide to donate after reading this article.

Joshua, I’m proud of you buddy!