Dr. Mario Review!

Hello dear readers. I hope you all had a lovely few days off and ate your fill (and played your fill!).

I spent many an hour on the new Super Mario Brothers for the Wii - and learned that the multi-player mode is probably the best thing to happen to video games in quite awhile. However, Dr. Mario was not far from my mind (as is expected).

I like to make sure it's not far from your minds either so take a look at this awesome review/explanation by Brutal Gamer:

Dr Mario was the first puzzle game to feature Mario, and in my opinion it was, and still is, the best one. You are presented with a bottle filled with viruses of varying colours, and Dr Mario throws his megavitamin pills into the bottle. Your job is to eliminate the viruses by using the pills to match 3 coloured pieces with the virus, either horizontally or vertically.

Dr Mario was quite an original puzzler back in the day, and had a fantastic soundtrack and a great sense of humour. Seeing the large viruses that represent each colour falling over when you eliminate one of their colour from the bottle is comical. It was also addictive and fun.

Click here to read the entire review by the Brutal Gamer

Quitsville's New Look

Happy almost holidays to you dear readers.

A heads up that Quitsville may go dark for a few days (depending on the level of activity around the holidays) but no fears, I'm still here.

In the meantime, I'd like to encourage all of you who keep up to date on Quitsville via a reader to click through today - Quitsville has a new look! Courtesy of a very talented young man I know (SN) Quitsville has its very own logo. And visit us on Twitter - there's a tinier logo there that matches!

Have a great couple of days off! Don't think about the economy and play some video games.

Road to the Record: Return to Funspot - Part 2

As you all know, I spent the past weekend in the warm embrace of Funspot, on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. I've already written about our very boss hotel room and the incredibly odd presence of minor characters from King of Kong in Return to Funspot - Part 1, but I know what you're all really waiting for...

The answer is yes, this was the weekend that I beat the Dr. Mario Record of 960,000 (on the arcade machine). Saturday night, upon arrival at Funspot, I made my way to the machine and (in the glare of some pretty nasty lights due to the film crew at the Donkey Kong machine) slowly but steadily racked up a score that pretty much puts to rest any concerns I had about achieving this goal. On level 19, I hit 969,000 points, putting me just over the currently recorded score by one Nik Meeks.



Did I stop there? Oh no... Though I was pretty certain that I was only moments away from dieing, I managed to hold on for quite a bit longer - 5 levels and nearly 400,000 points longer in fact. It was, as they say, an epic battle. In the end, I lost on level 24 at 1,303,000 points. It was majesty, pure and simple. And though the mass of video gamers located around me had no clue what was going on, I did (and so did my much maligned manager who has been pushing me to train more and more lately and has benevolently lent me his Nintendo DS for many hours). It was a pretty exciting moment if I don't say so myself.


Now, just to get this out of the way - I know this is just a video game. And after seeing the many folks at Funspot for whom video gaming is notjust a hobby, I'm grateful for the other things in my life that allow for this Dr. Mario adventure to be what it should be - a comedic lark. That said, I was pretty excited to see that score on the actual arcade machine... and it has only increased my need to see the score in the tiny grey font of the TwinGalaxies official scoreboard!

Road to the Record: Return to Funspot - Part 1

When our original plans for a weekend trip to visit friends fell through there was only one thing to do - that's right, head on up to NH for a classic Funspot trip. It was all fairly last minute but we scored an amazing hotel room at the Summit Resort. Seriously, we're talking a 2 bedroom "apartment" accommodation with full kitchen, fireplace, jacuzzi tub - the works. Only downside was a 10am checkout but I'm willing to cut them some slack. When we return (as I'm sure we will since our less than $100 room sleeps 6!) we'll simply ask for late checkout. Accommodations aside, I know you're not looking for details on where we slept.

Though Saturday afternoon/evening found me battling the beast in an epic Dr. Mario game, I'm not going to focus on that just yet. I want to first address the surreal adventure we found ourselves on when entering Funspot. It was really as if we'd walked straight into cult video game classic King of Kong. For those of you who haven't seen it, King of Kong chronicles the battle for Donkey Kong glory between newcomer Steve Wiebe and the Antichrist Billy Mitchell (he of the Billy Ray Cyrus haircut and zero spine). Though Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell themselves weren't there, you could hear their names being whispered throughout by the cast of backup characters that apparently haunt Funspot with a certain regularity. Enter Robert Mruczek, Brian Kuh, and Mark Alpiger. These guys all played minor roles in the King of Kong movie (with varying degrees of sleezitude) and it was pretty weird to see them in person. As you all know from previous postings about Funspot, the Donkey Kong machine sits only a few machines down from Dr. Mario so not only did I get to see all these guys in person but I did hear some of the smack they were throwing around about each other as well. Don't let anyone tell you that the video game world is devoid of bitterness.

When we came back Sunday morning there was no sign of the sycophant Brian Kuh (who we encountered when we were leaving Saturday evening - apparently he can only be seem under the cover of darkness) but the others were still around, hovering around the Donkey Kong machine. There was extensive filming going on throughout Funspot - with a veritable camera crew and lighting system at the Donkey Kong machine (thanks for shining that light in my eyes btw) and an official Frogger Off happening as well (we're talking roped off machines people).

I know that in the scheme of things, Dr. Mario just doesn't rate but there's quite a bit of irony in me playing for the record with all of these video game B-level celebrities hanging out around me. We'll get into that in Part 2 of the post.

Metric and why you should love them

I know this is not a typical post for me but I had to spread the Metric love this morning. I saw them play at the House of Blues last night and the show was just amazing. For those of you who have not yet had the privilege of visiting the new House of Blues in Boston, you're not missing much. Yes, it's bigger but it's primarily a larger than life copy of Avalon, the club that used to be in the space. I haven't yet sat in the designated seats so I can't speak for those but when you're in general admission, the view is not so different - except for the very weird art the HOB has going on.

That said, we don't go for the venue, we go for the music... and last night, the music was wonderful. I've seen Metric live a few times now (even once on this tour at the 9:30 club in DC) and they don't fail to deliver. Songs that are merely extremely energetic rock showstoppers on the recorded album become utter spectacles of rock glory when performed live. Alright, that might be a bit hyperbolic but seriously folks, they play the shit out of these songs.

Frontwoman Emily Haines is almost always attired in something spangly and light catching (which I love) and she owns the stage like a crazy woman (in a good way) running all over the place, flirting with the audience, keeping everyone engaged. I know the band is good (they're my current favorite) but what you don't get off the album with quite as much force is that this band really knows what they're doing. During their live performance of Gold Guns Girls off of this year's Fantasies, the guitarist Jimmy Shaw leads into an epic minutes long guitar solo that just owns the club. His playing is fierce and explosive but controlled enough to stay on point. Bassist Joshua Winstead is similarly impressive, keeping the band on track and incredibly together for a live performance, while simultaneously managing to get in his own point of view. And the drummer... oh, the drummer. Drummers are usually my favorite so it's no surprise that Joules Scott-Key holds a special place in my heart. The man is amazing. That's it. That's all I'm saying.

If you haven't taken the time to listen to Metric, you really should. Though their current tour is focused mainly around Fantasies, their latest album, their catalog is rich with quality music. They know how to get it done with softer, quieter songs as well but really have endless energy and manage to transfer that to their audience. Their albums have ruled my life for weeks after coming out. I can't say I wouldn't mind hearing a few more oldies (Police and the Private off of Live it Out was the song that got me into Metric and I would love love love to hear it live) but the set lists are chock full of songs that make you just want to move. Some variation between DC and Boston kept it fresh but more than that the energy and excitement of the band (because you can still see how excited they are to be playing live music for you) is really what makes this show special.

Click here to visit Metric's site (do it!) - maybe they're playing near you

Other Metric albums not specifically mentioned in the post above (but still great):
Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? - check out Dead Disco especially
Grow Up and Blow Away - a really superb album
Knives Don't Have Your Back - Emily Haines side project: very different but quite good

Cost of Luxury

I've been thinking the past few days about the economy and the recession and our changing habits - whether or not they exist. There's a lot of argument out there about whether we have changed our spending and consuming habits in the wake of the fiscal crisis. I'm not an economist (in fact, the UPS guy at my office seems to think I'm a shopaholic) so I can only go by what I see and what I do. And honestly, what I've done is not very different from what I've been doing. Sure, I've curbed my spending a bit and focused on building my savings - but it's not because of the economy, it's because of impending life changes I see in the nearish future.

If I had been unemployed and hadn't found a new job that I love, I'm sure that would be different. I have no doubt that I would have tightened the metaphorical belt - canceled the Netflix, eaten out less, etc. But, that didn't happen and so, my habits haven't really changed. I don't buy generic any more than I used to, I still buy the things I want and when I do opt out of my purchases, it's not the economy at large that's top of mind it's my personal economy.

That said, we know that 10% of Americans have a pretty poor personal economy right now, being out of work and all. Chances are, a good number of them have changes their spending habits. Like I said, I'm no economist, but this seems like a self perpetuating cycle of doom here - unemployment begets less spending begets layoffs begets... well you get the idea.

The only articles I could find on this topic were fairly old. I'm wondering - what are you guys seeing? What have you read? What are your plans this Christmas?

For your perusal, some links:
LA Times: Luxury skin-care products defy the economy
Guardian.co.uk: Recession takes bite out of organic product sales
Social Media Explorer: Will The Recession Change Our Buying Habits For Good?
Reuters: Affluent Consumers Not Likely to Change Spending Habits Despite Economic Slowdown

Everyone wants to quit!

I know I've blogged about this before but people really are staying in jobs that make them unhappy, jobs that are not challenging, jobs that do not appreciate or respect them. Most people, in fact.

Though we've heard about how the youngins are the ones really suffering during this recession (see: The Lost Generation), it turns out that everyone feels stuck. The kids just starting out can't get a break, the boomers are just biding their time until a delayed retirement, and the middle of the road adults (Gen Exers in a recent Huffington Post article) are feeling increasingly overlooked and undervalued.

Sure, these are stereotypes and generalizations but the point is that a considerable chunk of the working population is just waiting for the chance to bolt. According to the above mentioned Huffington Post, only 50% of baby boomers, 44% of the youth of America, and 37% percent of Gen Exers said they'd stay at their jobs after the economy improves. I have no idea what the normal percentages might be but that seems pretty stark.

Click here to read the entire article on the Huffington Post

Read other related posts on Quitsville:
Who's Quitting
Payback will be a B****

Read a related article from the WSJ - Looking for work in your fifties

Road to the Record: 1,005,400

Yes, this isn't an official Funspot score - you're not allowed to go to the arcade when you're home sick with a head cold. But I could not resist posting this score as it is the first time I've scored over a million. Turns out the idea of getting the Game Boy Advance version of Dr. Mario was a good one as it's allowed me some really critical practice time these last few days.

Hitting a million is, to be blunt, pretty sweet. It's not on the Nintendo or at Funspot so it's not exactly the record I'm going for and it's not video taped or witnessed (by an official) but it's still pretty cool. It also beats out a lot of the registered scores!

Arcade - 960,000
Gameboy - 522,000
Game Boy Advance - 193,600
Nintendo - 1,358,400
WiiWare (single level) - 99,200
WiiWare (multiple levels) - 643,000
Super Nintendo - 1,216,600

The euphoria of hitting a million points has had 3 basic effects on me:

1. Urge to buy an original Gameboy is rising and may become uncontrollable.
2. Urge to buy a video camera is rising and may become uncontrollable (even though I should really just use my digital camera).
3. Urge to visit Funspot again is rising and may become uncontrollable (but when, oh when, will I be able to do that in the midst of all the holiday merrymaking?!).

Road to the Record: Head Cold

You may have noticed (then again, you may have not) that the blog has been quiet for a few days. I have had the misfortune to catch the cold that has been going around - through the office and my house and my friends... The downside of this is no fun on the weekends, only resting and recuperating. Sad. The upside is LOTS of time for Dr. Mario on both the DS and the Nintendo (and the Wii!).

Reports to come.

Road to the Record: Portable!

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you already know that my Dr. Mario Game Boy Advanced cartridge arrived yesterday - at the office, where I could not play it! Needless to say, I was pretty excited and when I finally got a chance to play last night, the game did not disappoint.

As a wee tot, I played quite a bit of Dr. Mario on the actual Game Boy - in fact, it might have been where I played most of my Dr. Mario. The Game Boy Advance version of the game (played on the Nintendo DS just to make things even more confusing) sent me careening back in time to those many hours with my beloved grey brick. The DS has color of course, so that's different but it was a very familiar experience. I will say this for my aging eyes - dear god, that screen is tiny.



All in all, the experience was incredibly satisfying. I ended my first game with a score of 902,800 which I think is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, as you might have guessed, the first thing I did this morning was to bring up famed score site Twin Galaxies. Finding the high score for this is a bit tricky given the veritable hodge podge that I used to play it - Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, DS? What exactly would I use to gauge this score?

It turns out the DS doesn't have a high score registered (most likely because there isn't actually a Dr. Mario DS game) and the Game Boy Advance game is poorly represented (only one score). Any way you slice it though, my score measures up.

Dr. Mario Game Boy Advance High Score: 193,600 (Vickie Edel)
Dr. Mario Game Boy High Score: 522,000 (Nik Meeks)

Road to the Record: Turkey Day

@FunspotNh just let me (and everyone else) know that they are open Thanksgiving Day.

I know where I will be.

Sadly, my Dr. Mario Game Boy Advance game has not yet arrive. Tomorrow...

Who's Quitting?

I know you've probably all been hearing about the unemployment rates (ever on the rise it seems) but I was sent an interesting article today (Thanks JN) that highlighted the U.S. Worker Quit Rate. Not surprisingly, given all the talk we're hearing about long term unemployment, hesitancy to unfreeze the hiring process, etc., U.S. workers are increasingly less likely to quit their jobs during this economic uncertainty.

I did a quick (very quick, so please don't take my information as indicative of ALL information) search on the U.S. Quit Rate and History of such. Yes, the current rate is low, low, low but historically (through all of time), it has often been low. What is of note, is the variation since 2000 (see tiny image below).


The quit rate, which reflects the cautiousness of U.S. Workers, clearly reflects the fact that workers are being extremely cautious right now. It's not a shocking revelation but it does hit home for me. I wrote about this a bit early on in the life of Quitsville (see Payback will be a b****!) but I think it will be interesting to see where the flood gates open when the economy has stopped licking its wounds and has fully rebounded. Which companies will see their employees giving notice in groups and which companies will be able to take comfort in the way they treated their employees when the chips were down.

The very low quit rate (1.4%) also helps bring home just how lucky I have been. There is a perfectly sane reason while the quit rate is low and I know I am the exception, not the rule.

Click here to read the entire article on Reuters.com

Stalled Out on the Road to the Record - Update

I am so bad at withstanding temptation.

I did not give in and buy the Game Boy and the Game Boy version of Dr. Mario. I did, however, buy the Game Boy Advance version of the game that I can play on my "Manager's" Nintendo DS.

I hear Amazon.com has same day delivery now... in some cities...

Stalled Out on the Road to the Record

I've been getting some queries lately on the status of my quest for the Dr. Mario World Record. The honest, sad news is that I haven't made any progress since the last trip to Funspot. It's inexcusable I know but let me outline the problem for you.

1. Funspot is 1-2 hours away and really requires a lengthy visit to work up some good scores. It takes a day if you go - that day is shot. And... well... it's been hard to find a day to give to the cause.
2. I've been playing at home but even getting in a game on the Nintendo or the Wii takes about 2 hours... which requires me monopolizing the only TV in the house.
3. I'm mostly sticking to the Nintendo at this point as its speed/controls/etc. more closely mirrors the arcade platform. While I'd love to get all the high scores, I think it's prudent to know one off at a time.

That said, I had an idea this morning to purchase an old school Game Boy and a copy of the old school Dr. Mario game... unnecessary? Probably. But, think about it - with a gameboy, I can play while we (or someone) watch tv or on my commute or... elsewhere.

I'm holding off on the purchase for the moment but I wouldn't be surprised if I ultimately fail to control this impulse. I want the record gosh darn it. This is crap. I want to see my name in lights! Or at least in boring, grey font on the Twin Galaxies website.

Bad Manager, Bad!

It's no secret that part of the reason I started Quitsville (and quit my job) was to rid my life of a certain boss I had who just simply did not fit the version of my life I was trying to cultivate.

I don't want to throw stones (maybe I've gotten that out of my system in real life) but there was always a part of my interaction with the BossWoman that seemed to stem from pure and simple playground tactics. BossWoman was actually a fairly sad caricature of a person - she had low self esteem and was underhanded to a degree that burned bridges to the ground before you could set foot on them.

That said, I did learn from BossWoman. As I recently red in the Inc.com article: The Best and Worst of Female Bosses, sometimes a bad example can be just as instructive (if not more) than a good one.

I've been lucky enough to have some really superb lady bosses and an additional fair number of exceptional lady non-bosses to mentor me through young adulthood into the more comfortable arena of older young adulthood. I'm a much more confident and focused young woman than I was before I met these ladies. They've helped me to develop a picture of myself and who I want to be and implement that in my life. But you know what, BossWoman is there on that list too - as much as I hate to admit it. BossWoman showed me more clearly than anyone else has where exactly my BS line is, what exactly I will put up with and what I won't.

My Secret Goal - Unleashed

Hello dear readers! As some of you may know, November is National Novel Writing Month - I'm guessing actually, that most of you do not know this. That said, it is National Novel Writing Month!

What does that mean for you? Probably not a lot - except a handful of blog posts from yours truly about writing a novel. What does that mean for me? A great deal more!

As I shamelessly admitted in My Secret Goal - Explained, it has always been my dream to be an actual author - to have a book written and published and read! I've also long lamented the fact that I do very little actual writing (outside of work) and that I am not as diligent in search of my dreams as one might hope.

National Novel Writing Month is a great way to kick start your own novel writing aspirations. Sure, you're probably not going to write the next great American anything in the span of a month but what you will do is write some things down. Get some words on paper and some ideas out in the open. There's also a certain amount of camaraderie that can be found in National Novel Writing Month. We all know how many really just crap novels there are in the world but how many would be authors stay in the shadows because of fear of failure or lack of time or just general ennui? Let me tell you - at least one.

So for November, I will be doing my best to write. I'm a few days late in starting which definitely doesn't help but I'm 2 pages down on my way to the goal of 175 pages (set by NaNoWriMo itself). I'll keep you guys updated on my progress.

In the meantime, why not join National Novel Writing Month yourself? Give it a shot! And if you let me know your login name, we can be friends and cheer each other on!

Click here to sign up for National Novel Writing Month

P.S. National Novel Writing Month is a not for profit endeavor and they are taking donations. I've tweeted about this post under my @Quitsville name - retweet me and I'll donate $1 to NANOWRIMO ($1 per RT up to $100 - I am still a starving artist after all).

The Lost Generation?

We all know that unemployment is high (and lingering - see Unemployment Might Linger) but who is bearing the brunt of our struggling economy's pains? Turns out, its the Kids of America. While national unemployment hovers around a rough 10% (as reported by the government of these, are fair United States), the unemployment rate for those 16-24 is nearly double at 18%. In fact, according to the recent BusinessWeek article - only 46% of those aged 16-24 even have a job, the lowest since we began tracking in 1948.

The article also argues that it "seems strange" that young people are suffering the most in this economic downturn but I have to admit, I don't agree. Sure, young people are notoriously starry eyed and idealistic - it's easy to get them to do extra work to "get ahead." But let's okay this out a bit more. The entire county is suffering extreme unemployment. And yes, those aged 16-24 are suffering more but folks of all ages are finding themselves clinging to jobs that in better times would be far beneath them. We've all heard the stories of HUNDREDS of applicants for a single, secretarial position or the hiring freezes and lack of pay increases. Those companies who are hiring are seeing far superior candidates than under normal standards. It might not be the most prudent long term decision to hire someone who isn't actually interested in the position but companies are, I assure you, hiring above their needs. Why take a BA when you can get an MBA for the same price?

BusinessWeek refers to the kids as "The Lost Generation," speculating that this generation will feel the repercussions from this economic downturn for years to come - suffering from ennui and stagnation in their careers. While I no doubt agree that this may be the case for a fair number of the unemployed, I'm also wondering if we're going to see an increased "class" differentiation amongst this youngest generation. 18% are unemployed but we also know that at least 46% have jobs. Are these 46% taking advantage of the need in some cases and excelling past their peers?

Click here to read the entire BusinessWeek article