During the first week of November Julie and I took a much needed break from the daily grind and decided to take a little road trip to the Smoky Mountains. It was a perfect and more importantly affordable little getaway for the two of us. Plus it had the additional benefit of only being about an 8-9 hour drive from home (Northwest Indiana).

We left for our trip on a Friday morning, in the pouring down rain of course, though eventually the weather would end up being perfect for the majority of our time away. On the way down we eventually got out of the rain and enjoyed a beautiful drive through southern Indiana, Kentucky, and on into northern Tennessee. Without a doubt there is some beautiful countryside to be seen along the way.

Wanting to get back into Illustrator and have a little fun, I came up with this little bit of inspiration to share – simple and straight to the point, I think. And moving forward I’d like to spend some more time creating small works like this just for fun. After all, sometimes less is more.

*click for full view

Well I am now officially a Playstation 3 owner, as of the release of the MGS4 Bundle Pack. This was a long time coming and with the downfall of HD DVD, I knew the days were limited until I broke down and bought a PS3. With the inclusion of the MGS4 game and the new Dual Shock controller, the time was right.

Primarily, I think the system will serve as a Blu-ray player, but I am optimistic about the coming line-up of exclusive titles coming to the PS3. Either way in spending the last few days with the system I have found it to be a well thought out piece of hardware and a very capable gaming platform, as I have been most impressed with MGS4. Now granted I still have a few gripes with regards to the online play, and not having a unified online gaming experience, but it seems like some well needed changes are coming to address this.

This can be a very interesting question as there are many possible answers to it. For some it may be away to share in discovery or education, for others it may be a social outlet or online diary that is shared with the world. The point is that we all blog for our own unique reasons as well as goals.

The reason I bring this up is that I read an interesting article today on CNN that had to do with blogging being related to the practice of group therapy. And it got me thinking about what is truly so attractive about sharing information, albeit personal, creative, or otherwise, with the general public? Furthermore, are there benefits that are attained, perhaps even subconsciously, that are truly therapeutic or self-enlightening?

Well my new replacement Zune has arrived and the good news is that this one is functioning normally, at least for the past couple of days since its return. I will say that the turn-around time for the second replacement Zune was quite fast, as Microsoft had stated it would be. With waiting for the return-shipping box and then the back and forth, it was approximately three weeks.

So I am completely enthralled with having a functional Zune 80 yet again. It had been far too long, over two months since I had a functioning device and it is great to be back in the land of portable media playback. Also, to my surprise, Microsoft even sent me a Zune branded sock or pouch/carrying case as a little bonus. I was not expecting anything and would have been satisfied with a functional Zune, but it was a nice touch on their part.