Circus Comes to Town

UP WITH THE SUN: The first words out of CJ's mouth this morning (before 6 a.m.) were, "How far did Dad get on the mod?"

Apparently CJ expects us to stay up all night hacking games. ;)

To answer his question, we're still in the research stage. "Dad" did decide that it would be better if CJ started off with something a little less daunting than Toad's Tool. He wrote in an email this morning, "Lunar Magic http://fusoya.eludevisibility.org/lm/, looks like it might be a good place to start. The first one you suggested, Toad's Tool 64, looks pretty advanced and would only be frustrating for both of us. Not that I expect Lunar Magic to be a breeze, but it should be (relatively) a lot easier. I downloaded the SMW ROM, and will do some more investigation tonight of how to get things setup and configured. There's a lot to it and it won't happen overnight. But we have started down the path."

I do know one thing - none of this is going to happen soon enough for CJ. :)

At 6:30 a.m. he asked when his dad would be home from work. I told him it would be 10-plus hours, to which CJ replied, "When he gets here I'll say, 'It's time for hacking!' This is going to be some kind of hack," he assured me. "I'll make some levels hard, some levels easy. ..."

CJ dreams of a day somebody plays his hack and posts it on YouTube. Tonight, Christian did download the Lunar Magic program for CJ and he (and Annabelle) did start messing around with it.

Speaking of hacks, today we learned that Halo, one of the most visually stunning games to date, has been remade (by Microsoft programmer Ed Fries) in an Atari 2600 version

BOOTCAMP: This morning the kids and I did a SparkPeople's cardio kick boxing
workout. It's only 10 minutes. Really, we should do it every day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. ASTRONAUT: Today is Neil Armstrong's 80th birthday. To celebrate, we watched BrainPop's movie about the Apollo Project.

We also watched a great NASA video about Apollo 11. Since there are so many stunning photographic images of the mission, I was very surprised to find this video was animated in kind of a Marvel comic book style. However, maybe kids these days would find it more engaging than grainy video. It was was informative and entertaining.

To the right is the very first photo Armstrong took upon setting foot on the moon in 1969.

GETTING CENTERED: This afternoon, we headed to Seattle Center. There, we finally saw the Pacific Science Center's temporary circus themed exhibit.

Much to my horror, there were clowns and clowns' accessories everywhere. There was a trapeze feature, as well as an overhead tightrope, but the lines for both were oh-so-long. So we skipped that. The kids spent most of their "circus" time in the exhibit's center, where there were dozens of circus themed costumes for them to try on. Annabelle stuck with animal themed costumes, while CJ was more interested in humanoids (muscle man, ringmaster and clown).

We also took in a live science show. It was about snakes, but really most of the focus was specifically on boa constrictors.

The audience was overflowing and the presenter was unmic-ed and hard to hear. She said she couldn't wear a mic because of the snake being wrapped around her. I get that. But I don't know why she couldn't have used a boom mic or a mic on a stand. I mean, c'mon, it's the science center. Embrace technology!

We spent a fair amount of time exploring the musical exhibits (in the upper lobby of the Imax theater, which was amazingly empty this afternoon). One of the things we checked out was a cool theremin.

We also spent a good half hour in a corner of the science center dedicated to the fine art of video game design - something CJ has a wee bit of interest in. ;) The gamers control center had interactive displays concerning artistic elements (colors, contrast, etc.), math elements (vectors and such), and more. CJ was in heaven.
Later on, we checked out the butterfly exhibit. It was enchanting, as always.

After the science center, we ended up meeting Christian for a cheap dinner at McMenamins on Queen Anne, then heading back to the center for some fountain action.

First, there was the smallest fountain imaginable - just a long sidewalk with a section where a steady stream covered the pavement. It's right by the Pacific Northwest Ballet HQ.

From there, it was on to the big guns - the fountain in the center of the Center. That fountain is SO frickin' awesome - its spray pattern is complex and dramatic and it sprays to a soundtrack (everything from Santana to World Music).
Our last stop was a wading pool/fountain near the Vera Project and Key Arena. It's a great place for young kids on a hot day, as it's only a couple of feet deep so it's relatively safe, and there are some neat little fountain features and plenty of nooks and crannies to explore.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love living in Seattle?

WHO YOU GONNA CALL?: One of the gems unearthed during the Great Basement Purge a couple weeks back was the vintage Ghostbusters jumpsuit that Rick practically lived in from age 4-6. It's too small for CJ, but Annabelle fits in it.