Life and work have been insanely busy lately and I thought I'd make sure things don't get too stale around here an post a quick update...

On the basement front, I now have 41 panels of sheetrock in my basement, ready to be hung. Nikki's stepdad and I carried them down the basement 1 at a time last week, and I don't care to ever do that again. Now it's a matter of finding a weekend to wall-up the studio room.

I'm currently reading Halo: Ghosts of Onyx. It's the fourth book in the Halo series and chronologically it takes place at multiple times in the Halo story - although it seems to center around the same period as the Halo: CE and Halo 2 game plots (rather than pre-Halo: CE like Fall of Reach). I'm really enjoying it... if you're into the Halo story then you'll like that this book seems to tie up a LOT of loose ends in the game and book plotlines. However, it opens up even more questions. I'm about 3/4 done with the book.

I got an XBox 360! It picked it up this past weekend at Microcenter, which had a $100 rebate on a Premium system. Nice! The only game I picked up was Table Tennis and I've also downloaded Geometry Wars, which are both pretty fun. I also signed up for the Halo 3 Beta, which is only available to XBox 360 systems. Not sure when the Beta is going to be available to play... and based on the sign-up site I'm not sure if it'll be well-organized, but I'm eager to play it.

That's about it. Hopefully we'll get some snow in a few days!

A great photo created by the folks working on Halo Wars:

Awwww, cute.

Hilarious, and NSFW, unless you're wearing headphones.

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The Halo 3 TV Commercial

The audio is a little quiet on this copy, but it's the one with the best quality image I could find.

Today I purchased four cases of Green Glue. It was something I had to get done so that I could start hanging drywall in the studio before the contractors begin their work. It was a big hit in the wallet, but a necessary purchase. In fact, the biggest expenses of our basement are coming up now with drywall and carpet. Everything else we'll be doing ourselves though.

I just got my first issue of a free magazine called TapeOp. TapeOp is a free music recording magazine that makes its money through gear advertisements. So far I'm loving it - they interview producers, engineers and musicians about studios and gear. The interviews range from experienced pros who have rare, expensive gear to unknown guys who buy used stuff and accept any offer to record someone's music.

Even if you're only mildly into recording then you have nothing to lose by signing up for a subscription. I've read about three of the articles so far and I've already learned a thing or two. All you need to provide to TapeOp is a valid email address. And these days it's easy to provide an alternate address that you don't care about getting spammed (if you're concerned about providing your email address for a magazine subscription). Just go to TapeOp.com and sign up.

One of Bungie's posted screenshots of Halo 3 multiplayer footage is pretty awesome. It shows 1) the new Mongoose ATV vehicle in use by two players and 2) the new "laser rocket" weapon. A few details about these new, tasty goodies can be found here in this 1UP.com article. The screenshot is on the new "Valhalla" map. There are other hi-res screenshots on Bungie.net of Valhalla, High Ground, and Snowbound available here

Check out this site called Halo Everywhere. It's just a fun site where Photoshop and Halo come together. Go look and you'll see instantly what I mean. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the site:

Water Skiing

POW's (look closely)