Like I always do when a holiday rolls around, I took a look at last year's blog to see what I posted and how things have changed. Sometimes I'll blow the dust off of the old one and repost it as a REPLAY; and sometimes I'll just start fresh and post something new. I think this time around I'm kind of doing a little bit of both. I'm recycling the title and much of what I talked about previously, but I'm rewriting most of the content so it's original. I always feel a little guilty reposting and updating old blogs. If you're interested in reading that blog you can check it out here.

Anyway...

Today is Labor Day and I pretty much managed to do nothing all day. Mission accomplished. Isn't that kind of the point of Labor Day?

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September (September 5 in 2011) that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.

Playing

This time last year I was playing Uncharted and this year...hmm, let's see...I'm about half way through Bioshock. It's the first time I've ever played it. I know, I know...I'm a little late learning what everybody else has already been saying, but it is a remarkable game. Besides that, I am continuing the never ending excavation projects I have in Minecraft and logged another 4 hours of consecutive game play on Saturday. Oh yeah, then of course there is Team Fortress 2 and the recently released Mann vs. Machine update that just released. How does Valve continue to come up with such addictive and heart pounding game play, I'll never know...but they certainly do. I'm trying to knock out some older games before some of these big Fall releases that are scheduled to release.

Blogging

Despite many of the former blogging regulars being absent, I think the blogging community is the best it's ever been. With a steady stream of blogs of notable substance being provided by a large able-bodied group of bloggers, the community continues to grow and prosper. I know I have a few blogs in the works and look forward to what my fellow bloggers are no doubt going to bring. We're getting some front page coverage with Jeff M's latest blog, Why You Should Blog At Game Informer and I also expect we'll see some new featured bloggers soon. Stay tuned, more to follow.

Watching

I'm going to tell on myself a bit, but I am in the middle of watching "The Lucky One" - a movie based off of a Nicholas Sparks novel, or to summarize...it's a chick flick. Yeah I know...go on, say it! It's true, I'm a big softie for these kind of movies. In my defense, the lead male character is a former Marine. Don't knock it unless you've seen it.

Reading

Well, besides Star Wars Vs. Star Trek (yes, that's really a book)...I've been reading Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth by Christopher Golden. It's a great book and you can expect a blog about it once I finish it. I have another blog about a video game inspired novel already in the works that you should see soon. It's probably the best video game novel I've ever read.

In Other News

I recently had a birthday and wasn't really feeling that much older until today. Maybe it took a few days before it hit me. First, fellow community member Theora Craft and I exchanged a few comments about our first systems and she was kind enough to point out when her family had an Apollo 660 computer from the 80s, she was crawling around.

And then...I see this almost inappropriate but ever so comical banner at Game Informer...just what exactly are you trying to say Game Informer?? Please tell me this is residual effects from the spambots that have been plaguing the website. Anybody else getting this ad...Hist or Kyle maybe (trying to think of fellow old gamers)?

As the weekend winds down, some of you who are students, know students or have children that are students who will be headed back to school or college tomorrow. It's not uncommon to see a decline in activity around this time. If this is you, I would like to wish you well, and offer a word of encouragement:

"Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means." -Albert Einstein

Okay, well back to work and back to blogging tomorrow. I hope you all had a safe and lazy Labor Day weekend and managed to play even more games than normal. Here's to good games, fast respawns and extra lives.

Cheers.