Booze makes you shiny

My voice is a bit hoarse this morning after a night at the Lucky Lab. It was just the sort of thing that I needed, though.

There's an interesting story that's caught my eye the last few days: A worker fired for a bumper sticker on her car gets a better offer in the end. The end result works out well for the woman involved but... What kind of country do we live in where management can fire somebody for exercising their First Amendment rights? Well, the neocon America, but still.

Phantom Brave arrived in the mail the other day. It's from Nippon Ichi, who made La Pucelle and Disgaea, both excellent, offbeat strategy games. This one throws a lot of stuff at you very quickly, but like the other Nippon Ichi games, it's fairly deep. The main character is a bit annoying, alas. I think of the three, Disgaea may be my favorite, if only for exploding zombie penguins. Oh, and the guys who made the strategy guide are offering it as a free download. Which is awesome. It looks good--I will have to pick it up now.

I've been liking Pikmin 2 a lot, though it does have some mixed messages. They got rid of one of the more annoying aspects of the first game--the fixed time limit--but they also start sending you ominous messages if you take "too long" to play the game. So which is it, guys?

The laptop is still on hold in the repair facility, which is a little worrisome.