Having had The Orange Box for around a week or two now, I pretty much played two things on that set (see my Steam profile for more details):

1. Portal
2. Team Fortress 2

Unfortunately, my machine kind of lags when playing both games. They are playable, but I’ve had to tone down the graphics a bit, although I was half-expecting that since I can manage playing Half-Life 2 on high graphics settings, then this should not be a problem.

Despite that, I really enjoyed both games that I have played so far. Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and 2 can wait, especially since I have not actually beaten Half-Life 2 yet (lost my save file the last time I played and I was at Nova Prospekt).

Portal

So what did I think of Portal? Well, I started playing the unofficial Flash version of the game first, so pretty much, by the time I started playing the actual game, I kind of understood the game mechanics. But the game itself was quite entertaining, especially with the whole plot (yes, there’s a plot in Portal, surprisingly enough) of the game. I would not want to spoil things for people who have not played the game yet, so I will not say too much, except I miss my Weighted Companion Cube.

Team Fortress 2

A fairly entertaining game, touching up on Team Fortress Classic by quite a bit. The cartoony graphics just makes the game fun. It really is a nice change from all the serious games popping up all over the place. Sure, it is a recycled idea (class-based, get the objective teamplay), but it is a lot lighter and quite fun compared to various other things. I must admit though, the “Meet the …” trailers set the environment for fun nicely.

Like most team-based games however, finding teams that do not exactly suck, or getting yourself better at the game so you do not get owned so quickly by your opponents, is one of the things that would affect the fun factor. Hence, the Steam Community implementation makes things so much better, although more people on that list of mine need to get Team Fortress 2.

Hopefully, I can find myself playing some other games that are included in the Orange Box and finish Half-Life 2 and move onto the two trilogies. Too bad I am super busy with a bunch of other stuff.

So back in late August, I wrote up a post saying how I am looking for a new laptop. Well, I finally ordered one yesterday, after having made enough money over the course of my current work and previous work to justify the cost.

If my reply to Yang’s comment was any indication, yes, I am getting a ThinkPad. And yes, I’m getting an X-series ThinkPad (you know, the small and lightweight ones), the X61 to be specific. And it all cost just under $1500 CDN. No shipping, just taxes and the laptop.

It pays to know people who work at IBM.

Well, where to begin?

Co-op has been going quite nicely. I’ve certainly found myself getting better with things I suck at (ie. public speaking), so that’s quite fun. We’ve visited several schools so far, including University Hill and Maple Ridge Secondary. More schools are on the way though, which is good since we can promote the really nice program we have.

I got my first ever co-op site visit today. It was quite interesting because we went over the things I’ve done so far and looked at just what my future goals are. I also saw the importance of doing the whole learning objectives thing. Two really nice things that came out of it: 1) I was given permission to do another co-op term after taking a break over summer (generally, I am supposed to do one school term at least between work terms) and 2) Harriet will vouch for me to take part in co-op Japan when the time comes (probably either late next year or 2009).

As for Scouts, as you may know, I have been promoted to Troop Scouter this year, which pretty much means I’m head honcho for an entire section. A bit intimidating for someone who would rather prefer to be in the sidelines doing the whole supporting effort thing like myself, but a good challenge nonetheless. We’ve been doing some new things, like selecting our PLs and APLs with scenarios to observe their leadership skills, amongst other types of skills. For those who aren’t familiar with Scouts, we divide up the Scouts into patrols, who are led by a PL (patrol leaders) and assisted by the APL (assistant patrol leader). I have also been taking a somewhat relaxed approach to working with my leaders, making things more in their hands and allowing them to take on new initiatives. Would it work out in the long run? Who knows, but I guess I’ll find out!

I’ve also been tasked to do Group Camp for a second year in a row. Now admittedly, last year’s planning, along with various responsibilities at school and such, got me so stressed out that I did terrible with school. Ideally, things do not go into that area this year, but I did learn over the year and I will probably start delegating things off soon to capable people.

Speaking of Scouts, October 13 is Apple Day, which means Scouts selling apples on the streets by donation. My group will be out in the Chinatown area, so if you see kids in white and yellow neckerchiefs, buy an apple from them.

As for my part-time job that I got before starting co-op through Marcel, I’ve been pretty much given the reins on the project I worked on when I started there. Unfortunately, I know I will not have much free time to do it, so I will be working on it in the various pockets of time that I have when I actually am well-rested enough.

And for those who are looking for part-time work and are capable of doing PHP/MySQL web applications, the company that I am part-timing for is hiring full-time employees. Just go to Appnovation’s website for more information on available careers.

On the gaming side of things, The Orange Box just came out and I am seriously thinking of buying it. I already have Half-Life 2 though, so that means if I do actually end up buying it, I will have one gift-able copy of Half-Life 2 available. Any takers?