Snow from high up.

Some more snow from high up.

Plants turned into ice blobs overnight. Cool!

Small waterfall thingamajig.

Look ma, there's snow in the street!

Look ma, even more snow on the other side of the street!

Hmm. The second weekend here is almost up. So far everything is going well.

My manager and our lead test (I think?) came up to Richmond last Friday. Good fun. Got some good information on the stuff we're going to do over the next few months (which should be totally kick-ass, by the way). Afterwars we had dinner with the four of us (3 + another tester of our team up here in Richmond).

Got an XBOX yesterday. *Awessommee*. In case you're wondering, it's the Elite version... which isn't even that much more expensive, and has the benefit of a bigger HDD which comes in handy when installing games to the HDD (to speed up loading and so on), and has the HDMI output. I was blown away by the graphics of Gears of War 2 on the flatscreen TV here in my apartment (so far I had only been playing on an oldish TV!). The XBOX itself came with Lego: Indiana Jones as well as Kung Fu Panda, and I got GoW2 along with it. I'll buy some more games from the Microsoft company store, where stuff is way cheaper.

So far I've unlocked little over half of the KFP achievements, and a couple of LIJ ones. Good stuff.

From http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000761.html:

"Computers are like drugs: you begin by spending just a little on them but soon get so excited by the experience — and so hooked — that you wind up spending more and more to feed your habit.

Your first computer experience seems innocent: you spend just a little money for a cute little computer. You turn the computer on, tell it to play a game, and suddenly the computer’s screen shows dazzling superhuman colors that swirl hypnotically before you. You say "Wow, look at all those colors!" and feel a supernatural high.

But after two months of freaking out with your new computer, the high wears off and you wonder, "What can I buy that’s new, exciting, and gives me an even bigger high?" So you buy more stuff to attach to your computer. Now you’re in really deep, financially and spiritually. You’re hooked. You’ve become addicted to computers. Each month you return to your favorite computer store to search for an even bigger high — and spend more money.

Look at me. I’m a typical computer junkie. I’ve already bought 50 computers, and I’m still going. Somebody help me! My computers have taken over my home. Whenever I try to go to sleep, I see those computers staring at me, their lights winking, tempting me to spend a few more hours in naughty fun, even if the sun’s already beginning to rise. "

I fear this warning came too late for me.