Lame Halloween Candy

On a recent trip to 7-Eleven this weekend I spotted some Halloween themed candy.


Obviously, I was intrigued. Did these candies have something new to them? Could it be peanut butter & pumpkin, together at last?

First I tried the Snickers Creme Pumpkin. New mold in a nice jack-o-lantern shape. But the candy itself tasted just like a regular Snickers. Nothing special at all.

Surely the Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkin would be something special. Alas, the mold was lame and the taste no different than a regular Peanut Butter Cup.
We need something more than a new mold folks. Color me unimpressed.

Seven years

Seven years ago I was awaken by a call from my mother-in-law asking “Did you see? Did you see?”.
Seven years ago I was driving to work, to send everyone home, when I heard on the radio that the Twin Towers had fallen.
In those seven years, I have seen the best and worst of America.
I have seen honest debate about the future of our country, and I have seen citizens call each other traitors simply because they don’t share the same politics.
I have seen America respect it’s military and our dead, but I have also seen America abuse other peoples and their dead.
I have seen America unite in joy and in grief together regardless of race, gender, or politics, and yet at other times question the foundational concept of America that “All men are created equal.”
America, we are a better country than this.
Our forefathers deserve a better legacy that an era of personal name calling and character assassination.
Our descendants deserve a better future than an era focused on fear.
I saw this video today and I’m with on Uncle Sam on looking forward, not back.

Three Videos

Here are a few videos you might find amusing.
First, here is a clip of Michele aka Scarymommy aka my wife, running in the Disneyland Half Marathon. I am very proud of her and her dedication. Remember, she broke her foot/leg back in June and still was able to run this half marathon in August. The video is by her trainer, Steve Mackel, triathlon & Chi Running coach.


Next, I’m currently on a business trip, and here is my hotel room in San Jose.

My Hotel Room in San Jose from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.

Lastly, I was on a panel at Office 2.0 last week. Here is video of the panel in which we discuss getting adoption of social media within companies. It’s pretty specific stuff that goes on for an hour, but if you are into social media inside the enterprise enjoy.
Here is an excerpt from the panel on ZDNet. My mom will like it since it goes right to a question I answer.

What to if your refrigerator dies

What to if your refrigerator dies and the new fridge doesn’t arrive until Friday?


Run to the store daily for more dry ice!
Yes, the fridge at Cruft Manor has died. After fixed it four times int he last ten years, we are ready for a new one, with crushed ice!
Strange as it may seem, Michele and I have never bought a refrigerator before. We’ve always moved to a place that already had one. The idea of a new, even temperature fridge with an ice maker is spine tingly!

PAX Day 2

Here are a few things I saw wandering around PAX.
Many people like and comment on my This is Portal shirt.
I am the only person at PAX without a Nintendo DS.
I have not seen a single Sony PSP since I arrived.
Zalman FPSGun – Basically a new form factor mouse specifically designed for playing first person shooter games. The mouse buttons are moved vertical in orientation, like a gun trigger. It feels strange at first when using it, but quickly felt natural. I think it would be hard to use this as your regular mouse, since it’s so focused on just FPS games.

Gunnar Optiks – Special glasses for gaming. At first I thought this was stupid, and then I put them on. Just like traditional firearms shooting glasses, the Gunnar lenses are yellow and cut down the blue/white light reducing the total amount of light hitting your eye. As someone with eyes sensitive to light, I find hits very interesting. My eyes did feel more relaxed while wearing these. Worth a look if you spend a lot of time at the computer.

TN Games FPS Vest – This is a vest you wear while playing shooters. In the vest are air actuators that reflect the damage in game with a physical sensation. I tried it and at first it felt like someone was poking me. After about 60 seconds, I could tell when I was taking damage from behind because I could feel it and my mind was translating the feeling into action in the game as I would turn based on non-audio/visual info. I can see this kind of thing catching on with the console community. With Wii & the guitar games breaking the controller-only paradigm, anything goes in the future.

Plantronics Gaming Headsets – For years I’ve used Logitech headsets. They are good with minimal issues. I’ve gone through several due to children slobbering on mics and dogs chewing through cords. The Plantronics people are going for the gaming business with a gusto. I tried out their new headsets and they are really good. ore comfortable than the current Logitech I use now. Worth $100? Not sure, but I’ll have to think carefully when my current set breaks. I was looking at the 777 model which works both with analog audio connections or as a USB input device.
I stopped by the Eve Online booth, and one of the Dev Tema showed me a Titan-class ships firing the Doomsday Device.

PAX Day 1

Yesterday, I flew up to Seattle and went to PAX. I went last year and had a great time.
Here are a few highlights:
Ken Levine gave a great keynote that spoke directly to 40+ year old geeks. I’m not sure the younger audience got all the references, but I sure did.
Tycho and Gabe held a good Q&A session. The worst moment however is when they had the entire audience crack there knuckles simultaneously. It was a horrific sound.
For dinner, I splurged and had a cajun rib-eye and Guiness at Morton’s. Yum.
In the evening, I went to the screening of The Guild. I had never seen it before and was blown away. A hilarious take on a guild of real people that play World of Warcraft and what happens. The audience was roaring all the way through. The show was created by Felicia Day. Watch it now.
And because you people seem to like these, here is My Hotel Room in Seattle


My Hotel Room in Seattle from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.