Second, I have more new books to read. One I think is going to be a battle to get through, as it’s highly evident that the authors are very good writers, it’s also highly evident that they are more accustomed to writing scientific dissertations. I’m sure the information is very good and the studies accurate, but I think there will be many who don’t read it all the way through. The other two books look like they will be very good reads, and while I have read the first few pages, I will wade through the other book first. I really need to finish reading Get Rich Playing Games as well; it’s not that it isn’t a good book, because it is – I enjoy Scott Steinberg’s books – as you all know, I’m just easily distracted. So once I get done this small collection, I can start on the next group of books. Everything from the art of game worlds to learning Flash. Not that I have any Flash programmes, but the book was sent to me for review, so I guess I had better read it too.

So I’ve been playing Turok on the 360, and I’m noticing some very interesting things about the game. I’m not going to tell you yet what they are though, because I think I will write it as an editorial on Village Gamer. That’s another huge list of things to do. At least I’ve finished all of the icons – or at least I think I have. There are probably a few I’ve missed. Next up I think I will add all of the photos to the gallery, which numbers in the hundreds – and they all need edits as well, I think. So much fun. Then there are all of the articles still to be written; and game reviews. So many game reviews. Some of the games are older, but that’s alright, because we need the content.

Our yard no longer looks like a jungle – only like half of one – but we’ll get there I’m sure – just in time for all of the plants to go dormant in the fall   The outside of the house is getting pressure washed tomorrow as well. That would be nice – although I hear that moss is highly effective as an insulator.

Alrighty – not a huge update, but something for you to read all the same. History channel’s a rerun of Alexander, and I’ve seen it often enough as it is. Besides, it is late (early?) and I have things which need doing in the morning before I head off to work. One day, KillaNet and Village Gamer will be my only job. Not that I hate working in the transportation industry or anything. Oh wait – yes I do!

We shall see how our plans start coming together, and then it be a definite move forward. Until next time…. be well.

In a warped kind of way, I feel sorry for Greg because he chose to ruin his life on something so petty. It must be tough to have your life ruled and ruined by your ego. Was running a DDoS botnet so important to him, did it win him so many friends, that it was worth the minimum two year sentence he is now facing? US Federal convictions don’t just disappear, either. Neither do they offer parole. He will definitely be doing the time, and I doubt he will have a nice consultancy career waiting for him on the outside, either.

While I don’t hesitate to agree that he deserves every bit of punishment thrown at him, I find myself still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Almost the way we felt when the FBI initially seized his computers way back in 2004. That action did not stop him. He simply found other ways to access the internet and send his bots to visit us. What he didn’t know was that I am very good at certain things. These things involve research and finding things. He couldn’t have known that I would track him right to the WiFi spot he was pirating at a McDonald’s restaurant, or that I would not only track him to the public library, but I would get his account canceled and receive file copies of his activity while on the library’s computer. The only thing that stopped him from being caught red-handed those times was pure luck and timing. The FBI was out there, they were looking for him – but they missed him by > — < that much.

Don’t get me wrong – I am incredibly grateful to FBI Special Agent Brian Scott and US Attorney Matt Segal – a promise was made to me when they took over our case – and they kept that promise. All that remains now is to submit our impact statement to the Judge and await final sentencing. Do I hope that he is ordered with restitution? I’d be lying if I said I’m not, but I highly doubt that we will see a cent of any ordered restitution.

I will certainly not miss the feeling of waiting for the next attack, or the dread I felt whenever I saw Greg join our IRC. Nor will I miss the lack of sleep, long nights and examining endless attack logs. I want to feel optimistic that we can now safely move forward with the knowledge that Greg is behind bars – or at least he soon will be, although I do admit that it will be better once he is no longer on the street at all. So, how do I really feel? You know, I’m really not sure.

Amy also bought me two new books for Mother’s Day – because I need more books. Added to my reading list are Steve Berry’s latest novel Venetian Betrayal and an older James Rollins novel which I hadn’t read yet, Excavation. These two authors are among my favourites, because they write action-packed mysteries which revolve around current situations and historical mysteries. Venetian Betrayal is about Alexander the Great, and Excavation is about the Incas. Even though I haven’t read Venetian Betrayal yet, I’m already looking forward to Steve Berry’s next book, The Charlemagne Pursuit. James Rollins has had a new book out for awhile that I must get – The Judas Strain – and he has a new book coming out in June – The Last Oracle.  *sigh* So many books, not enough time.

The second announcement is that SteelSeries will again be providing prize packages for Digital Storm. Their products were hotly contested for at Digital Storm 2006, when they sponsored our WCG Counter Strike tournament. This year the prizes will be bigger, better and much in demand. My thanks to Casper at SteelSeries for the continuing support of Digital Storm.

Tomorrow night we will be attending the ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver event featuring artist Syd Mead and a special screening of BladeRunner – The Final Cut. Thursday I will be attending the AutoDesk Game Tour event and finding out all kinds of very cool stuff about their products and design tools. I will also be talking to the reps about Digital Storm ‘08 and our uber secret 2009 event. Saturday we’ll be in Vancouver yet again – 3 trips in one week – for the Tom Lee Music Rock Band Championships. At the very least that promises to be entertaining. We will probably have to drag Mike forcefully from the store’s drum department when it’s time to leave.

Next week will be another round of daily trips into Vancouver. Wednesday and Thursday I will be at the Vancouver International Game Summit conducting a few interviews and grabbing some photos for Village Gamer, and then on Friday and Saturday I’ll be at VIDfest to check out all of the new media coming out and of course to find out who the winners are for the PopVox Awards.

Over the next few days we will be working to finish the design layout for Village Gamer, so that we can hopefully take the site officially live this week. There isn’t too much left to do, it’s just all time-consuming and between events, work and home renovations (no, we’re not done yet) there is never enough time. It would probably help if I’d stay away from the 360, but there are times when one needs to just sit and game. Then again, I do have hundreds of photos which need some edit work and then need to be added to the Village Gamer gallery. I need to stop thinking – every time I do, I remember something else that needs to be done for one site or another.

Some of you may have noticed that KillaBlogs is undergoing changes. We have changed the blog software over to WordPress MU, as our own blog software is no longer being developed and supported. With so many nasty script kiddies out in the world, we felt it was better all around to go with a piece of software which was more secure and kept up-to-date with new web developments.

Second, I’m attending the Autodesk Game Tour which hits town on May 15th. There will be some seminars on using the Autodesk family of products as well as some raffle draws and a social hour. Definitely a great opportunity to learn new things to pass on to the KillaNet Community as well as the networking benefits. I must print up more business cards before then.

There is a Black Bond Book warehouse across the street from the acting studio where Mike was taking his voice-over acting classes. They have lots of books. They have lots of books on sale. They now have fewer books on sale, because some of those wanted to come home with me. What were they? Well – other than another Jack Whyte novel, I’m not telling you, I’m going to make you all wait for the reviews. Don’t worry, they won’t take long for me to read because they are mostly pictures and illustrations. And no, they are not comic books.

hmmm….Scott might have to build me some more shelves to go on the very nice wall unit he just built for our living room – or extend it around the corner and start down the next wall. There’s a plan – more space for more books.

Oh, and something else new and exciting, Scott picked up the first of our servers on Saturday. Just like a kid with a new toy. More equipment for KillaNet – and of course there will be more to come from our excellent source of techie stuff.

Well, we did attend the last SIGGRAPH Vancouver lecture night which featured Michael Rubin, author of Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution, and Dr. Alvy Ray Smith, former Director of Computer Graphics Research at Lucasfilm and co-founder of Pixar. It is always fascinating to hear from the people who pioneered much of the technology that many of us take for granted today. I also picked up Michael Rubin’s book and even got it autographed. I had a few moments to chat with him about Digital Storm and the educational centre, and he wished us well on both projects.

The next SIGGRAPH lecture night we’re attending will be an evening with futuristic artist Syd Mead followed by a special screening of BladeRunner: The Final Cut. I am definitely looking forward to hearing about how Mr. Mead finds his inspiration and how he creates his masterpieces.

In Digital Storm news, I was happy to be able to announce earlier this evening that Shaw Cablesystems has very generously agreed to provide full internet service for the LAN. Being a very satisfied Shaw Cable customer, it’s needless to say that I was very happy when I was contacted this morning with confirmation of their sponsorship.

There will be more news this week in regards to Digital Storm 2008, but you all will just have to wait until I have all of the information I need – I wouldn’t want to miss anything important.

We also stopped by the Park Royal Mall last Saturday to check out Nintendo’s Smash Brothers Brawl, then we went to visit a couple of geek friends at their place of work. One geek friend was in, the other was at the Earth Day fair at Jericho Beach, so we stayed for a few minutes to visit with Dave before heading off to visit with Ifny. I’d say more, but it could be tied to one of the Digital Storm announcements we’ll be making very soon, and I don’t want to free the geek just yet. *snicker*

Plans for 2009 are also underway, and I’ve had a couple of meetings in regards to that top-secret project. Watch for future announcements this coming Fall.

Alrighty – I think that’s about it for now; be sure to check back – I’m sure I’ll update this blog sooner than later.