I haven't blogged in quite awhile because so much was going on in my life. After almost eight years, I got my black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. My wife and I are also expecting another child. Other than that, I was just working, spending time with my wife and son, and riding my motorcycles (which became my passion instead of gaming).

On June 10, 2008 I was involved in a serious accident at work and was hospitalized for 11 days. I left with a broken pelvis, some internal injuries, and 49 staples in my left arm. This naturally gives me a lot of down time at home. My burthday was several days after I got released from the hospital, and I got enough new games to keep me busy for quite awhile.

Regardless of the injuries, I consider this to have been a valuable experience. It gave me a new appreciation for how great my life with my family is, and how many good friends I have. I am already walking again, and I will be able to return to BJJ in two more weeks. My MMA career is probably over, but I was getting older anyway and was very close to retirement before the accident. Also, because I was hurt at work, worker's comp took care of all medical bills and I have been given all of the time I need to recover with full pay. My wife is a teacher who is taking next year off to be with our soon to be born child, so she is home with me and my son. He's actually gotten a little spoiled to having both mom and dad home all day with him. We have actually had a lot of great times together, even if I can't walk around for too long. God has really taken care of me and I know how fortunate I am.

I got Lego Indiana Jones, No More Heroes, and the light gun Resident Evil game for my Wii, and Assasin's Creed for my PS3. I'll be alternating between these games for the next few weeks. I'm still spending most of my free time with my family, and I am able to take short rides on the Harley, but I should get at least a few hours worth of gaming per week. I hope to see you guys around on the forums.

My Wii broke in April, and I had to send it back to Nintendo for repair. Nintendo sent me a letter saying they had provided me with refirbished unit, and all of my game save data was lost. I was not happy about this because Ihad a little over 10 hours of progress saved in Twilight Princess.

Due to my work schedule and family life, I just didn't feel lik eI had time to replay the first 10 hours, so I hadn't picked up the game since. I was posting on GS and relized that I vabe never finished a Wii game. While I will never finish most of the Wii games I bought because I think they are crap (Spider Man in particular). I think Paper Mario mixes the least likeable aspects of RPG's with the least fun parts of the usual Mario games, and I will never regret not finishing that one (even thought I am apparently the only gamer on earth who hates this game).

It occurred to me that RE4 and Twilight Princess are good games, but I just never finished them die to time restraints. I decided to finally give Zelda another try, so I inserted the disc and started it up. To my surprise, my save data was still there from April.

While I was happy to see my data intact, I felt cheated out of 8 months of gaming. I know I should've checked when the Wii came back in the mail, but I trusted Nintendo. So far, I ahve had horrible luck with the Wii. Most of the games absolutely suck, but I can't resist the idea of playing Twilight Princess and Mario Galaxy. I wish I could just go ahead and hate this console with all of my heart, but the VC and the three or four classic franchises that I remember from childhood keep me from throwing the system out the window.

For the past few months, all of my free time was spent either riding my Harley Sportster or playing the new Ratchet and Clank for the PS3. My wife has always hated Ratchet and Clank games, and refuses to sit in the same room with me when I play them. I was able to convince her to go on a ride with me though.

While my wife still hates Ratchet, she liked the bike. We went to the Harley dealership this weekend to get a backrest put on the Sportster so it would be more comfortable for her. While we were there, I saw a used Softtail that caught my eye. I'm a big guy (6'5", 250 lbs), so theSportster was a little small for me.It was a great bike, but it is not the best suited for a man my size who wants to take a passenger. My wife agreed, and we traded up for the new bike.

Now, we have a beautiful full-sized Harley that has become my everyday transportation. I look forward to many trips around Dallas with my wife on the bike. We haven't been able to ride together very much yet due to a lack of child care. We havefriends and family who are willing to watch our son, but we feel bad imposing too often while he is still so young. This will proabably change as the weather warms up and he learns a few more words and becomes potty-trained.

My wife also bought me a copy of Super Mario Galaxy for Christmas. This means that as soon as I've had my fill of Ratchet and Clank (which will still last for a few months) and it is too cold to ride, I'll have another grat game to occupy my time. My wife rocks!