life with the red ring of death

for those of you unfamiliar, the 'red ring of death' is a term reserved for the wonderfully-crafted piece of machinery known as an Xbox360. this quality product has a 2 out of 3 tendency to have catastrophic hardware failure within 1-2 years of functionality.

it could only be made by - microsoft.

anyway, my xbox360 displayed this dreaded red ring last week, and i had to send it off to repair. the UPS store kid said they get two of those A DAY.

What have i accomplished in the time i would otherwise have been gaming?
- raked the yard of rocks/pebbles in preparation for topsoil
- bought fencing materials
- read The Lost Symbol
- read 3 trades of the Walking Dead
- read Empire, by Orson Scott Card
- read What is the Gospel?, by Greg Gilbert

The Lost Symbol was largely a waste of my time. I have the compulsion to finish books/movies/games that i start, however, so i had to keep reading even though i threw up a little in my mouth at several points. Particularly the points at which Dan Brown feels the need to completely abuse any sort of proper treatment of the Bible. He is teaching people pretty horrible hermeneutics through the course of his fast-paced, thrilling nonsense. But, i liked Angels and Demons (the book, not the film), so i had to give it a shot.

The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman, is a fascinating jump into a zombie apocalypse, focusing on a small group of key characters. the depths of human nature are plumbed, and it's not for anyone under 17, in my opinion. definitely rated-R, but also definitely thought-provoking and significantly engrossing. also just gross at times, but mostly engrossing.

Empire, by Card (one of my favorite authors), was amazing. It was fast-paced, but in so many ways BETTER than any of Brown's books. much more is left to the imagination of the reader, and since i have a pretty vivid sci-fi imagination, and watch lots of movies with explosions, my mind was able to supply some pretty sweet details to compliment the deft narrative woven by Card. the premise is: what if there was a contemporary civil war between red states and blue states, precipitated by the assassination of the president and vice pres.? you should go read this.

i just picked up the sequel, Hidden Empire, today from the library, so i'm hoping to finish this one before the ol' Xbox360 returns sans red ring.

i wonder what else i can accomplish before the gaming resumes...?