Road Warrior My next month on the road consists of trips to Vegas, London, Daytona, Edmonton, Vegas, and San Jose. At this rate I'll have 25,000 base miles on United before March. Hopefully the company will fix itself out of bankruptcy. A few weeks ago I had a most wonderful weekend. I got to march in an anti-war protest and took care of a very strange woman too. Last weekend I logged a bunch of pool hours while my pals in NY froze their asses off. Ha. Vegas (the first trip) should be fun. I'll get to see my best-friend-in-the-industry. Our friendship burgeoned while working out at the Luxor spa so we'll probably do that. The Kid, Steve, and Jenny are coming for the weekend. Unfortunately--or fortunately depending on perspective--I didn't get my expense and bonus checks, so I can't gamble those. Perhaps that's for the best since my card counting is rusty. I don't think I'm talking to The Girl anymore...at least not on a personal level. I feel pretty good about it. Perhaps April will be my first month of staying in Irvine for 30 consecutive days...but I doubt it.

I can't believe... that Kangaroo Jack was the #1 movie over the weekend. Shoot me now.

That Was Easy So CES wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It was tiring, but hardly the ordeal that TGS was. It helped that I had a support system (Peter and Kid), had less commuting time, and knew Vegas exponentially better than I knew Tokyo. The results were okay. Like most things, there was stuff I should have planned better. So I'll be back in OC for a few days until my next trip. I'm really looking forward to this one. It will be my first official day off from work and my second personal trip since I've started the gig. I'm really excited to go.

On the Road...AGAIN I'm heading out to Vegas for CES. It will be nice to catch up with Peter and the Kid...and the show is always fun...but I wonder why I make a point to go to these things. Every day I'll hit the show floor, go to a showcase event when the show lets out, and write until it's time to sleep. It's a pretty tiring process that makes me wonder why I do the online reporting thing. There are lots of times when the work is overwhelming, yet the respect always goes to print publications. I guess I'm still frustrated with work. Reading Live From New York isn't helping either; just reading details about those first five years...a bunch of young upstarts...working ridiculously hard...to make something really different. I feel like I need to do something like that this year. I have some really cool ideas and lots of problems with authority, but pretty soon I won't be young anymore. I realize I have a pretty stable job (which is amazing considering it's online), but we're not trying to do anything new here. I'm still young enough that stability doesn't matter and I'm totally willing to take that chance to do something that's different. I don't care if it fails, as long as I dare to be great. The online thing is really bugging me now because I have a severe case of magazine envy. James--the living embodiment of my insecurities--just kicked off a new magazine...and everyone is raving about it. A couple of guys I know are starting a new magazine in March. And here I am abandoning my social life (did I have one?) and giving my soul to the third-best gaming site in the biz. And unless the company suddenly decides to put a lot more resources behind my department (the other parts of the company make a ton of money), third best is all it will be. I want more.