PixlBit

Since my brother works at what is now AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, a.k.a. The Spaceship, a.k.a. "Jerry's World," a.k.a. what I'm still going to be calling Cowboys Stadium because it takes so much less time to say than the new "correct" name, he got my family tickets to take a VIP Tour of the stadium. It was my older brother's day off, so his friend L'amont gave us and whoever else the tour. He was funny and everyone liked the tour. I took a shit ton of pictures that I will post with a recap of the tour later. 

Afterwards we ate at Social House Bakery in Arlington. I had the Chicken Pesto Panini and an iced sugar cookie because I couldn't resist ... even at $2.95. I knew there was a reason they didn't post dessert prices, but it was sooooo good. 

Then we decided to go to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Ft. Worth, the only place outside of Washington D.C. that U.S. currency is officially printed. There were no cell phones allowed in there because cell phones have cameras, so just imagine giant machines being run by a few workers in a giant warehouse, all dedicated to printing money. We took the self-guided tour in which you pressed a button on the tour wand to hear a bit about the money creation process as you passed by windows into the warehouse in the walkway upstairs. There were also exhibits where some of the workers had taken out sheets of money for you to look at and a couple downstairs with old engravings for notes and bonds and a Spider Press from the 1800s. 

About the only thing relevant to video games I did yesterday related to video games was the fact we rode a freight elevator in Cowboys Stadium that reminded me of freight elevators in video games I've played (it had the retracting metal doors and gate, etc.) and the heavy guarding around the Treasury, what with having to take a bus only a few feet just to get in the place, airport-style security before said bus (my two aunts and uncle all got wanded for hip, knee or other replacements) and plenty of security guards with bulletproof vests. I did play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 via http://ssega.com a couple days ago, though. 

I have to say, having never owned a Genesis, the game still holds up very well and is very fun and challenging, excellently mixing speed and platforming. Site Director Nick DiMola reviewed the original Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog (you can play the Sega Master System version on http://nintendo8.com by the way) and said people remember Sonic being faster than he actually was. For that game it may be true (though I still think it's faster than Mario and very fun ... again, having never owned a Genesis or having any nostalgia for it), but for the second entry in the original trilogy, that couldn't be further from the truth. It's blazing fast and I can see why they used that game to advertise the fictional "blast processing" capabilities of the Genesis. 

And there you have the reason I missed a day of MaD and will probably miss another, as my uncle wants to go to the Holocaust and Kennedy museums in Dallas. I've been to both in middle and high school, but I don't mind going again if that's what we end up doing. My class actually got to interview Elie Wiesel in high school, shortly after reading Night in my eighth grade class and shortly after Oprah interviewed him. 

Don't worry, I'll let you all know more details about my adventures as soon as I can. Probably next weekend, as I also have a lot of Master's coursework to get to over this break. 

Well, bye. 

The Spaceship

U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Fort Worth, TX

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