It's been a while.

Forgot about this blog for a little bit. I was busy for a little bit with college finals and moving back home, but now that all that's done and I've yet to find a job for the summer, I'll probably have time to update this with my various shenanigans. I'll update tomorrow with my plans for the summer.

Oh.

Looks like that Clippers/Grizzlies series might be worth watching too. That comeback is one of the most insane things I've ever seen in a basketball game.

Random thoughts from this weekend

• Really excited for the players the Colts have drafted and/or signed over the weekend. Andrew Luck is going to be an outstanding QB in this league, and with one of his favorite targets joining the team with him the transition from college to pro level should be a little smoother. The Colts also grabbed a WR from Stanford after the draft, but I would be surprised if he ends up doing much more than playing special teams. Other than these three, Indy also got some depth at running back and on the offensive line along with a possible third WR in Hilton and a solid second tight end in Dwayne Allen. I'm excited to watch this offense evolve with Luck. Also very excited to see what Pagano's new defense will look like. This next season is going to be interesting for Indy fans.
• As exciting as the Colts' weekend was for me, the Bulls' weekend is leaving me pretty nervous. A torn ACL is much easier for an athlete to come back from than it used to be, but Derrick Rose's playstyle relied heavily on his speed and it will take him at least a year to get back to full speed. Hopefully in this time he can develop a less reckless game so injuries won't ruin his career. His body just can't handle all that driving to the basket.
• Speaking of basketball, these playoffs aren't looking to be too interesting. The Knicks were absolutely crushed by the Heat and I'm expecting a sweep of that series, the Jazz can't keep up with the Spurs, the Nuggets don't look like they'll be able to handle the Lakers' front court,  and even without Rose the Bulls should be able to handle the 76ers. So far the only series that look like they could be interesting are Thunder/Mavs, which easily had the best first game, Celtics/Hawks since even when they were playing terribly the Celtics kept the game pretty close at the end, and Pacers/Magic. Pacers/Magic is particularly interesting to me since I was expecting the Pacers to easily defeat the Howard-less Magic, but Orlando put up a fight and managed to take game 1. If they can keep up this intensity the Magic should make this a close, heated series.
• I've started a female units + Ike run of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. I'm currently on the chapter right after Nephenee joins and it's a bit more difficult than I expected. Ike, Titania, and now Lethe can crush just about anything in their paths, but I have some problems with the others. Mia has only gained one point of strength in 7 level ups, so she can barely deal damage unless I have her use the forged Steel Sword I gave her, but even with that she can't take out anything but mages and archers in one round. Ilyana is also having problems one rounding, but mages usually do before promotion. Fortunately I can usually get enough damage out of her for Mia to be able to finish the enemy off. Marcia is a little better off than the other two since she hits a little harder, but she also has trouble killing in one round unless I have her use a Steel Lance which lowers her speed and hurts her already frail durability. All in all this playthrough has been a lot of fun so far and a refreshing change of pace from a normal run where Boyd, Ike, and Oscar can almost handle entire maps by themselves at this point.

Sports Teams

This list should be much smaller.

Favorite Sports Teams

• Indianapolis Colts: As the name of this blog indicates, I'm an Indiana native. I grew up in the Peyton Manning era- I had just turned 5 when he was drafted-., so this past season was a weird one to me. Looking forward to the future with Luck though.
• Chicago Bulls: Some of my earliest memories are of seeing Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen play. I admittedly didn't follow basketball much after their retirements, but I've gotten back into it since Derrick Rose entered the league. 
• Chicago Cubs: 104th time is the charm... yeah probably not, but I love this team and Wrigley Field. It's my favorite place to watch a baseball game.
• LA Galaxy: I don't follow the MLS very closely, but the Galaxy have my favorite soccer player- Landon Donovan- so I check how they're doing from time to time.
• Green Bay Packers: I've liked the Packers two QBs during my life. My dream Super Bowl matchup is Packers-Colts, especially if Luck develops to be as good a quarterback as Rodgers is right now. I love seeing two high-powered offenses meet in a football game.

Video Games

So I'm going to be using this blog mostly to talk about various forms of entertainment in my life. This will include video games, sports, movies, books, TV... you get the point. So, to give people an idea of what's going to be covered in my posts, I'm going to spend my next few entries covering my favorite games, sports and teams, etc.

Favorite Video Games

• Super Mario Bros.: It's the first game I ever played and still one of my all-time favorites. I love the simplicity of the game; it's a game anybody can pick up and play easily without having to go through a bunch of tutorials and/or asking someone to explain the controls to them.
• Starcraft II: I haven't played much ladder in the past few months, but I still love some of the custom games. Desert Strike and Mafia are probably my favorites, even though I almost inevitably have terrible teammates for both.
• Final Fantasy IV: I know a lot of people that will say this game hasn't aged well, but to this day it is one of my favorite RPGs. It definitely helps that is has Kain Highwind, one of my favorite characters in the series.
• Final Fantasy VI: This is the crowning achievement of Squaresoft/Enix, the Final Fantasy series, and the RPG genre. It is a serious contender for my favorite game ever, and easily has the best villain in the history of video games. The main cast is so well-rounded and you have so many different combinations you can use for your party, almost all of which can be molded into a certain role in the party due to how the magic system works.
• Final Fantasy Tactics: Noticing a pattern here? I'm a big fan of the Final Fantasy series- the old school games at least; still haven't played XII or XIII- and RPGs/SRPGs in general. Among SRPGs, Tactics ranks in my top 5 along with some other games I'll list later. The complete customization of your party is the selling point for me here: other than storyline characters like Ramza, you have complete control of your party. Starting from the base classes of squire and chemist, you can turn each generic party member into any class you choose, whether it's a summoner or a lancer or a ninja. It can be time-consuming to unlock some of these classes, but the end result is definitely worth it.
• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance: I love the Fire Emblem series, and this is my favorite one. I love the way supports are handled in this game, mounted units be able to move after attacking was a great change, and Ike is far and away my favorite Lord in the series. My only real complaints are the cast could be a little more balanced- the first four people you get are all within the top 5-8 units in the game- and only 3 members of your party can actually be used to damage the final boss, which just seems stupid to me.
• Tales of Symphonia: Yet another RPG. I love the art style of this game, and the battle system is quite fun. The story and characters sometimes feel lacking, but overall I still enjoy both. 
• Super Smash Bros. Melee: I love the Smash Bros. series. It's simple, fun, and great for both parties and tournaments. Well, Melee is great for tournaments. Brawl's competitive scene has always bored me and I never got into SSB64's.
• Super Robot Taisen Original Generation: SRPG #3 on this list. I love this game and its sequel and play through them all the time. The characters and battles are very entertaining, and I love switching up mech/pilot combos.
• Sports games: Madden, FIFA, NCAA, etc. I'll play pretty much any of them. They're a lot of fun usually, though Madden has a few problems/shortcomings I wish EA would deal with.

I think that should just about cover it for now. As you can see, I'm quite fond of RPGs and Nintendo systems, but I also own an XBox 360 and a PS2 that I use primarily for PS1 games.

Hello

Hi there! I plan to update this with some more personal information later, but for now, here's a video of puppies: