David: Apple Watch

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I don't know what I expected, but I'm not blown away by what was shown.

The main problem I have with the wearables market is the planned obsolescence of a fashion accessory. I don't have to worry about the movement of the watch that's currently on my wrist not being able to keep up with time in the future or the lenses in my sunglasses not being compatible with 2016's sun. Of course, they don't talk to my phone, show me text messages, or offer wireless payment solutions.

What I want is a standardized gold outer case that they will design future internal upgrades around.

Oh shit, that's funny. I just realized I'm taking the PC side of the PC vs Mac argument over a watch.

David: Paul

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So...I saw Paul McCartney Wednesday night at the Sprint Center.

I knew he was coming a couple months back, but I didn't try to get tickets. There were three great songwriters in The Beatles (sorry Ringo, I still love you), but for my personal tastes Paul was number 3 on that list. That's not to say I didn't like any of his songs, but I do dislike what John Lennon referred to as his "granny music". While I do like a few of the songs he's written post-Beatles (I love the "if I ever get out of here" section of Band on the Run and listen to it weekly) I wasn't interested in attending a concert full of these songs.

Then my Mom called on Wednesday afternoon. Would I be interested in going to see Paul McCartney with her that night? Well, yes, I guess I was. So I went.

And it was probably the best concert I've ever been to.

The majority of the songs were from the Beatles catalog, with a good mix of Wings and current era stuff thrown in. His voice, I don't know how it's possible, is still amazing. I'm trying to think of words to describe it and I can't. Part of it is the obvious gravity that comes just from it being Paul, but that only goes so far. He also delivers to that expectation and perhaps exceeds it. From the 3 hour show (including the 2 encores) three songs stand out in particular. Yesterday, Helter Skelter (which didn't just seem hard in comparison, there was so much energy in that one), and a rendition of George's Something, begun on ukulele.

I maintain my earlier assessment on songwriting, but I'll add that Paul McCartney is also the greatest showman I have ever seen. I'm sure I'll go to many more concerts in my lifetime, and I'm sure I'll enjoy many of them greatly. I'm not sure if any of them will ever be this good again.

And if Paul ever comes back to KC, I'll be sure to get my tickets.

David: LEGOs

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Outside of video games (I've been fascinated with watching pixels move as I push buttons since my family got a Magnavox Odyssey2, which means as long as I can remember) my favorite toys when I was a kid were my LEGOs. They were a hodgepodge of various themed sets mixed in with some basic sets and carried about, along with various building instructions, in a plastic blue box resembling a briefcase. If I was going to be visiting a place away from home for any length of time, my LEGO case was sure to come along.

I remember building, tearing down, and rebuilding the same models over and over and over again. For me, the finished product was fairly boring and the creative possibilities held little appeal. What did it for me back then was following the directions. LEGO instructions were my gateway to technical drawings and fed my fascination for how things were put together. To me they were like reading the step by step instructions to a magic trick (incidentally my home town's public library may still have some magic books in the juvenile section with my name scrawled on the card).

Over time I aged out of my LEGO days. Video games were getting easier to come by, and comic books were beginning to pique my interests. However I've checked in on the LEGO aisle many times over the years. You know, just to see how things were doing.

At the age of 19 I began dating my then future wife and quickly became "Uncle" David to her 2 nieces and a nephew. While shopping for their birthdays and Christmas I was often tempted to buy a set of LEGOs, even though they were never on the list of things they wanted or needed. What I really wanted was an excuse to play with the bricks, ostensibly with the kids. LEGOs never made the cut, however, and I was left without a fix.

Flash forward 12 to 13 years later and I finally got my chance to buy LEGOs, this time for my daughter. (In case you're wondering, LEGO DUPLO do NOT count). These were girlie LEGOs, no way around that. They're from the "Friends" series, and you can say what you want about gender bias but my daughter loves them. We sat down together with the set she got for her last birthday and put together what is basically a LEGO dollhouse. I helped a little, but it was mostly all her. It was a mini-LEGO fix.

Yesterday, however, was different. Yesterday we took our 4 year old son to LEGOLAND. The attraction itself is pretty neat, but the best part for me was that it emptied into a big LEGO store. I made a bee-line to the Star Wars section and, after realizing that the Millennium Falcon might be a little too advanced at this point, son and I settled on the Jedi Interceptor. Little did I know then my son and I were a match made in LEGO heaven.

We got home and immediately opened the box and got started. For a 4 year old, he impressed me with his ability to interpret the LEGO instructions, and with just a little bit of help from me he began assembling the model. About 3 pages in, though, something beautiful happened. He picked up the Anakin minifigure with his lightsaber and told me he wished the ship was done so he could play with it. "Don't you want to build the ship?" I asked, greedily hoping for the answer I eventually got. "No I want to play with Anakin and Artoo while I wait for you to build it."

Euphoria.

I finished the ship, mainlining that old drug and loving every second of it, and handed it over to the boy. You see, he didn't get a set of LEGOs. He got a spaceship.

The LEGOs were for me.

David: One Month of Silence

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Sorry, I just couldn't take it.

Damn it, Vent! Don't you die on me!

David: Hearthstone

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I've been in the Hearthstone beta for a couple of weeks, and there hasn't been a day go by since that I haven't played a few hands. The game itself is enjoyable. Although I did purchase a deck of M:TG cards once, I never really played that game or any other CCG/TCG. That said, i'm enjoying the strategy where it exists, and cursing the luck (my bad/opponent's good) where it doesn't.

One thing has been bugging me, though. I don't find the game as fun as the standard action oriented titles I play, and yet I have barely touched any of those since I started in on Hearthstone. I was struggling to determine what the difference was, and of course it was leveling and progression.

As with any CCG, Heartstone is based on collecting and building decks out of a library of cards. Beyond a few basic class specific cards, the majority of the library is locked to a new player. New cards are unlocked by purchasing packs of 5 randoms. These packs are bought with real money (no thank you) or gold, the in-game currency. There are several ways to earn gold, but the most reliable way to earn a quick chunk is by doing a daily quest (playing as a certain class, winning a certain number of hands, etc.). So boom, you're playing once a day.

But it doesn't end there.

Every 3 games you win earns you 10 more gold. So if you completed your quest in 2 hands, you only need to win one more for that 10 gold bonus. Might as well play another hand.

Hey congratulations! You just won 3 hands in a row. Here's your 10 gold. By the way, did you notice that your character is leveling up and you only need about one more hand's worth of experience points to hit the next level? Then you'll unlock the golden version of one of your existing cards. Just one more hand. Promise.

Hey you leveled up! Way to go! You also moved up a rank with that hand! Aren't you just a little curious how tough the competition is at this rank? You are?! Play another hand then!

Wow! You're on a roll! This new rank is nothing to you, maybe you can burn through to the next one quick. Besides, you only need one more win to get to that next 10 gold bonus.

And so on, and so forth.

I see the strings, and yet I don't mind doing the dance.