Hello, everyone, and welcome back for another installment of The Awsome Blog! This month in the news, Konami is a total failure, Mark can drive a stick shift and the ESA was fooled into inviting NintendoPlayers.com back for another year at E3. But first, this picture of the east side of Building 8, as requested by Jon C. (It's actually four pictures roughly stitched together in Photoshop Elements.) This was taken from the top of Building 7, which is right next to Building 8. Currently Building 7 is slated for demolition, but there is still an outside chance that it may be saved and remodeled into a warehouse. Meanwhile, at Building 8, work on mechanical platforms continues with Platform 4, which is at the west end of Bay 2. Someday I'll draw a map of the building so you can see where that is. You can see Platform 1 directly opposite 4 on the right side of the picture where the wall has been removed. Just outside there is where the columns for the new entryway will be set into the concrete. In the middle of the building, you can see the two huge main doors lying on the ground. They were removed, along with the section of wall holding them up because we need to install new footings there. Also, it was thier destiny. They were never a part of the final design. And on the north end of the building (on the right) nothing much is happening, since we haven't begun constructing platforms in those sections.

So, why is Konami such a loser? Well, let me tell you. On June 12, Konami released the huge title Metal Gear Solid 4. Behind this game was years of hard work, incredible graphics and tremendous hype. As expected, it was given perfect and near perfect reviews from nearly every gaming news outlet. Anticipating this release, I purchased some stock in Konami, thinking that the anticipation of the release of MGS4 would drive the price of the stock up at least a little. That was on May 30, and I was able to squeeze my order in at $36.50, even though the day's low was actually $36.55. I thought I had done pretty well for myself, since the previous low was $34.34, and I didn't think it would get that low so close to a major release. That, and the price had just come down from $39.76. Well, I was wrong, and Konami totally dropped the ball. Not only did the price drop hitting a low of $33.73 on June 5, but it hovered around there for another week before hitting another low of $33.36 on June 13. Since the release of MGS4 came and went without a rise in stock price, I can only conclude that even though this was supposed to be a huge blockbuster, and probably already considered a big success, no investors actually care. Basically, MGS4 has not saved the Playstation 3 from sucking. It's still a terrible piece of junk that is absolutely not worth owning. Currently I'm hoping that Konami's stock will at least rise back up to $37, so I can break even. After this debacle, I promise never to trade on Konami, or any other video game publisher because of a game coming out on the PS3.

In Building 8 news, a 400 foot trench was dug for the chilled water pipeline from the mechanical building between Building 3 and 5. In order to provide cold water for the air conditioning at Building 8, it was decided that it would be cheaper to bring water from the central chilling plant that already services most of the campus than to add a new chilling plant just for Building 8 since it will only really be used twice in a year. Of course, digging a trench mean lots of shovel work, which is never fun. In this picture, Matt S. of Atlanta, GA is standing on the chilled water pipes catching his breath. Note the cap and shirt wrapped around his head for protection against the sun. The heat that day was pretty intense, and it was made worse by the fact that it was a Sunday, which we usually have off. The project leaders made it up to us, though. The had someone run to In-N-Out Burger to get lunch for us. There was so much food that I was able to get two double-doubles, fries and a vanilla shake. Needless to say, I was pretty much done working after that. My spirit was willing, but my stomach was too full.

As I mentioned in the comments after the last issue, I have made great progress in the area of driving heavy equipment. I am now allowed to drive the backhoe, but only use the front loader, not the actually backhoe 'stinger.' It's an interesting vehicle to drive, since it has a really sharp turn radius, despite being so large and apparently unwieldy. The controls for the front loader are very loose after years of hard use, but they are fairly intuitive, so I like using it. Mostly I use it to carry away chunks of concrete that Doug C. rips out with the excavator.

I also drove a Bobcat skid-steer loader. I'm not entirely sure which model it was exactly, but it was something like this. This was very interesting to drive since the skid-steering was new to me. It's sort of like a tank where you have the two levers, each controlling the drive for one side of the vehicle. To drive forward, you put both sticks all the way forward. To drive back, you pull both back. To turn around, you pull them in opposite directions and the vehicle spins on the spot. The one I drove had enough power to do a wheelie if I wanted. Also, the front loader on the Bobcat is controlled with foot pedals. The one on the right raises and lowers the bucket, and the one on the left tilts the bucket back and forth. (I may have that backwards.) Using my feet was a bit strange, but I got used to it pretty quickly. I told the guys in charge that it is thanks to my video game training that I was able to adapt to new control schemes so easily. I was going to take a picture of the Bobcat, but it was a rental, and I forgot to snap one before it was returned. Oh, well.

I finally learned to drive a stick shift! I was given about a minute of instruction, and was immediately sent out to practice. The vehicle I learned on is probably one of the absolute worst choices for learning to drive a manual: a dump truck. That's right. That sweet 1971 Kensworth dump truck is the first stick shift I've ever driven. I really like driving it. Everything is a challenge now. Backing into a spot was a cinch in my '92 Geo Prizm, but now backing into five spots is really tough! I'm still getting used to the standard transmission. Starting is always rough for me. I just can't get a feel for how much gas to give it while letting off the clutch. Going in reverse I have pretty much figured out, though, since it's really just a balance of having a little clutch and a little gas so as to not go flying backwards into something expensive. Shifting up is easy, but the dump truck doesn't like downshifting. Anyway, I'm considering obtaining a commercial driver's license so I can drive big trucks on the street.

I am very happy to announce that I will be attending E3 for a second time this year. The dates for the convention are July 15-17, but I will be in LA on July 14 to attend Nintendo's pre-show press conference. I still haven't worked out all the travel arrangements, but it should go smoothly, and between my tax refund and my economic stimulus check, I should be well covered for the event. This year I will have a camera, so expect some awesome pictures from the convention.

This week is the LSM Summer Training 2008, which means the one year anniversary for my coming to California is coming up. I arrived on Sunday, July 1, 2007, so by the time you read this, I will have been here for a year. Of course, I didn't start working at Building 8 for another two weeks, but we can have a party for that anniversary, too. Anyway, that's why this post is late. I didn't get back from the training until around 10:00, and this post was only half written at the time.