I decided, Tuesday night, to buy the game, despite complaints about the DRM (Digital Rights Management).  I did this for three main reasons:

1. I read a letter from someone at EA rebuking the claims made by the anti-DRM crowd.  It was somewhat reassuring, and I know some of the guys who do the webcomics I read have purchased and been playing the game with no complaints.
2. Jess is going to be out of town for a few days, and I’ll have some extra free time on my hands.
3. I just wanted to play it!

I purchased he game in downloadable format, since the only physical versions I could find in Poland were in Polish, and that’s an area I’m still pretty weak.  And Amazon.co.uk wouldn’t deliver to Poland…  

After about an hour download, I installed the game and ran it no problems.  It gets choppy from time to time, and there have been a few crashes, but nothing major.  I’m basically running it with bare minimum requirements on this little macbook.

I was a bit disappointed at how quickly you evolved through all of the different stages.  I had hoped a lot of the gameplay would be focused on exploring the worlds (micro and macro) in addition to completing the goals.  However, my civilization had evolved from single celled to space travel by the end of the day.

I actually found myself trying to slow the game down, especially during the single-celled stage, which seemed to last only a few minutes.

The game is really fun, though.  The major focus is on the creation and building of both creatures and buildings.  

It gives you the power to be extremely creative if you wish, but gets very tiring when you can’t progress without creating four buildings and two vehicles all in a row…  

Another thing I noticed that having a creature with 2 pairs of level 2 legs does not give your creature level 4 ability…  still level 2.  I see how this makes sense in a balancing aspect, but I felt a little cheated out of some levels.

The "Massively single player" aspect of the game is pretty neat.  The fact that I can see other people’s (including my own) buildings and creations in my game.

Evolving your creature and trying out the new parts is pretty fun, too.

I took the diplomatic approach, and evolved an herbivore by making friends…  Next time through, I think I might make a beefy carnivore and advance through domination.  But not until after I’ve fully explored the space aspect.

I will conclude my "Obvious Differences" category with a brief discussion about Electricity.

Poland, along with most if not all of Europe, follows much closer to Nikola Tesla’s standard for electrical distribution at 230 Volts and 50 Hertz.  Whereas the United States follows Thomas Edison’s standard at 120 Volts and 60 Hertz. 

The result of this, is that you need to have a voltage adapter capable of handling the additional voltage.  For most modern electronics and computer equipment, this isn’t a problem.  Most desktop computers have a switch on the back to select the voltage.  

If there is no converter built in, or the power supply can’t handle the voltage, you need an external voltage converter…  These are usually good for short term usage only, and can burn out with long term use, or low-wattage equipment like computers.

Each system has it’s advantages and disadvantages.  If you’re really interested, read more about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents

http://science.howstuffworks.com/electricity.htm

The other major difference is the sockets themselves.  In the US we have a two or three prong plug where the two main prongs are flat (sometimes one is larger than the other – usually in any equipment where polarity is important).  The third prong is the ground, and is usually round (ish).  The socket has two or three corresponding holes, and both the socket and plug are typically shaped like an oval, with the long sides flattened out.

In Poland, the plug has two prongs and one hole.  The prongs are round, as is the hole.  The hole is for ground, and the prong for this is actually on the socket.  The socket has two holes, which typically have some kind of spring-loaded plastic covers which cover the holes – I’m guessing for safety reasons.  The plug and socket are both circular, which tends to make them feel a bit bulky.  Though most non-grounded plugs are small and diamond shaped, having only the two prongs and they slide in next to the round prong.

I took a picture of a socket, but oddly enough, forgot to get one of the plug.

Another difference related to, but not directly influenced by electricity is the light switches.  

This doesn’t exactly fall into the "Obvious differences" category, but I figured as long as I was on the topic…

In the US we have switches where we’re actually toggling a little bar up and down…  In Poland the switches are much bigger and work with more of a see-saw action.  See the picture:

While my wife is off on the ninth grade camping trip, I’m left home alone without much to do (aside from my usual work).  So I figured this would be a good opportunity to catch up on my Blogging (seeing as how I’m stuck waiting for dreamweaver to upload, since apparently switching sites while uploading is just too much for it…).

I’m going to start with just some generic info to catch up on what’s been happening lately.  Since we don’t have television and aren’t big seekers of news, we’re a bit out of touch.  Not being able to read an entire newspaper article, or catch up on bits of conversation, only makes the blackness deeper.  So apart from what we’re told, we’re not really up-to-date on current events, from a news standpoint.

In our lives, however, we seem to be keeping track of things pretty well.  Jess is currently off on a camping trip where they’re doing a cave crawl (got a text message saying she made it through and loved it!), some rock climbing, and other camp-related activities.

It’s easy to forget you’re in a foreign country when you rarely leave the house…  Though we’ve gotten our hands on the remainder of the Pimsleur language classes, so I’ve been doing a lesson as part of my morning bike ride, or at some other point during the day.  We’ve found that the combination of Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone is a good mix.  Pimsleur gives you utility phrases, and Rosetta Stone expands your vocabulary.  The two together have allowed us to figure out new phrases and recognize new words that we pick up while out and about.

Yesterday I barely left the couch, let alone the apartment.  But I got in some extra hours, and so hopefully I can cut my week short (again).  Tonight is volleyball, which should be fun.  Not sure if we’re doing anything afterwards, though.  I hope so, but if not I’ll be okay with it.  I think I’m going to take the bus in, though.  I’m not sure I’m up for another hour of biking today.

Lastly, it has been requested that we take some outdoor shots of our apartment…  I didn’t get any of our "yard" or the courtyard where the kids play because, well, I forgot.  Plus our yard is completely overgrown with weeds at least 2 feet tall (have not yet found a tool for cutting them).  Well, without further ado, here is a little piece of the morning commute.

The door to our apartment.  My back is to the main entrance (and there’s my bike!)

Our lobby, complete with "Skinny" mirrors.  Jess loves them. (our apartment is behind me and to the left.  Front door to the right)

Our entrance, from the inside.  Mailboxes are in the breezeway.

The intercom, and where we get our mail.  (Still not sure how to send it, apart from having the school do it)

Our entranceway, from the outside looking in (none of those windows go to our apartment – we’re on the back side)

Looking left as you come out…

And to the right.  Nothing says brand-spanking-new like cranes, trees with crutches and construction noises…

Our development from the road as I head south on the bike trail to the school.

The aforementioned bike trail…  notice the sky color…  feels just like home!!

The "Red" beer tents…  also called Meta.  This one also has a grill with good food.  This is about 2km from our house.

Huge-ass crucifix that was put up since we moved in.  Huge.  There seem to be crosses or shrines every 2 or 3 km or so.