Having children and getting married are both huge commitments, so I’ll compare the two. Getting married is huge because it’s the end of your independence. You can no longer do whatever the heck you feel like doing, but instead must always consider your spouse in day to day things. In some ways it can actually save you time. While your awesome wife makes you a sandwich (that’s for all the feminists) you can do something else.

But having a kid is quite different. I only know up through age two, but the time it takes just to feed, bathe, dress, punish, clean, chase, drop of at daycare, take on walks, and put to bed is amazing. I think most people only consider their personal maturity, and whether or not they’re ready to shape a young mind. All important things to consider, but for one main reason, I think the time issue might be the most important.

Now let me come back to marriage for a moment. I believe the number one cause of failure in marriages is selfishness. You don’t show your spouse how much you love them by what you buy them or what you say, but by what you do. If you’re selfless, then you do things like take out the trash, get water for your wife, let her pick the show to watch, and in general do things to make her happy (not necessarily yourself). If you’re selfish, you look out for yourself, and sometimes to the detriment of your spouse (and ultimately the marriage).

So back to babies. The time issue is so important, because kids require so much of it! If you are selfish with your time, then you aren’t being the loving parent that you should be, and I can see this being another reason marriages fail. In an instant, the amount of time you have to yourself is slashed, and it ain’t coming back for the foreseeable future. If you’re selfless, you give that time up. If you’re selfish, you leave. When people say they feel suffocated, what they really mean is they’re selfish.

I think society in general romanticizes love SO much, we’re told that our feelings should trump all else. That feeling of being in love is great, but that’s not actually love. Love is doing anything and everything for someone else, and whether you’re doing it for a spouse, child, friend, or family member, it means there will be less time for yourself. That’s something I think all potential spouses and parents should consider.

First, I grew tired of MAG, and I’d rather play MW2 with friends, so I’m selling it to max out my value while it’s still pretty new. But feeling lazy and not wanting to bother with Ebay, I decided to check out Amazon’s trade-in program.

It’s run by a third party, but it’s super easy to do. You search for the game you want to trade-in, if they want it, it shows a price. Since I was going to send one game, I figured I’d look around and find other games I never play and see what I can get for them. Turns out I’ve got 26 games I never play…so might as well trade them in!

Once they give you a price, and a free shipping label, you have seven days to send them in. The only iffy thing I see is that if the items are damaged or not what you were supposed to send, they won’t send it back. For videogames they say:

For video games and movies, this includes the correct disc(s), manual, cover art, bundled accessories, UPC, and case.

I have all original packaging and manuals though, so I’m not worried about that.

Total I’m getting $170 for all of it. Everything from Zelda: Twilight Princess on Wii (booooring!), to Rogue Leader on the GameCube (hey, $1.75 is better than nothing!). I could probably get more on Ebay, but the hassle of running 26 auctions, many of which probably would get me nothing (seriously, who wants Rogue Leader from 2001?), and it just made more sense to get a nice chunk of change with practically zero effort.

Once I get my Amazon gift cards I’ll comment to let you know how the process went. They also take trade-ins for dvds and textbooks too.

My main complaints with the stock keyboard is that to do any special characters you have to push a symbol button first (same for numbers). I’ve tried a keyboard called Smart Keyboard that allows you to long press buttons as a shortcut. Like long press “r” and you get a 4. Smart keyboard is good…but it won’t use the dictionary or auto apostrophe unless you buy the full version.

I’ve tried swype, which was just a little strange, but it’s missing some stuff like auto apostrophe, and double letters are just hard to do.

So that brings us to the HTC Sense keyboard. It comes on Android devices running sense, but people have been able to get it working on non-sense devices. It looks nice, has auto capitalization and apostrophe, and a great predictive dictionary feature.

You can check it out here.

I’ve had a PS3 for about three years now, and in that time my love for games has really increased, and it blows me away how awesome current games are. Back in the day it was rare to find a game that could keep my interest until the end, but that’s common fare now.

I think a big part of this is trophy support, and having those accomplishments recognized. But I also think game developers have reached a new level of quality. Check out some videos of God of War III. It’s amazing what they can do now.

I just finished Modern Warfare 2’s single player campaign, and now I’m working on Uncharted 2. I have never played the God of War games, but I have the first two coming for PS3. They remastered them in hi-def, added trophies, and it’s only $30 on Amazon.

But there are so many great games to play. Heavy Rain looks awesome, as does God of War III. And who can forget FFXIII.

It is a great time to be a videogamer.

Back in November I started playing Modern Warfare 2 on the PS3, and since then I’ve sunk well over 3 days into the game. The multiplayer is fast and furious, and highly addictive. This is my first Call of Duty game, so I can’t say much about anything previously in the series, but it’s super polished and plays great. The customization of classes is fun and gives some variety, and the use of death and kill streaks gives the game momentum. Getting rewarded for going on a roll and being able to call in air strikes and killer helicopters can really push the outcome in your favor.

There are some negatives. Despite the different game modes, some of which include holding flags in Domination (like battlefield) or capture the flag, it all feels very much like deathmatch. My personal favorite is Domination, where your teams wins by holding flags and accruing points, but even in this mode, there is usually little communication as a team. To compound the problem, people spawn at different times and places, so organizing isn’t easily done. And because of all this, the game begins to get very repetitive.

There’s a mode called “prestige” which adds some replay value to the game. Your level in multiplayer is capped at 70, but prestige mode lets you start all over and do it again. This gains you a special emblem, and there are 10 levels of prestige. So theoretically, you can play the game through 11 times in multiplayer.

MAG

I picked up MAG a couple weeks ago because I had to check it out. This is a game promising 256 players in one battle, and everything is about communication. So in a way, it’s the opposite of what Modern Warfare 2 is.

My first impressions were not good. I think I was expecting MW2….just bigger, and that’s not what I got. The game is much slower, and it took a while for that to feel OK. It runs at a slightly lower framerate, and the controls aren’t quite as tight and quick, and for the first few hours I had some serious buyer’s remorse. But the more time I sunk into the game, the more I got used to how the game played, and now it’s great. The game is much more like a simulation, where MW2 is like an arcade game.

The best part of the game is the teamwork. You and the members on your team attack or defend certain positions from the other PMC groups you’re battling against. You can custom design your player for different purposes, like being a medic, heavy weapons, or a sniper. You earn skill points with each level that you get to spend on these different attributes. One of the best ways to level up is to research healing and resuscitation early on, because it gives you tons of experience. Once I researched this, I was able to come out number 1 or 2 on my squad with ease.

And this is one of the things that makes this game more rewarding than MW2. Healing someone on your team so they can continue to fight with you feels good. Spawning with other members of your squad at the same time and place means you march into the fight together. Your squad leader tells you were to concentrate your fight to help your team win the battle. It’s this communication and teamwork that make the game standout.

If there are any drawbacks…it would be the learning curve. MW2 you can just start playing…and you might suck at first, but that’s because you have to develop the twitch skills needed to be good. MAG on the other hand comes with very little training or info on how the game works, and that makes it feel overwhelming at first. I’ve just gotten to the level where I can be a leader in a game, but I feel vastly unprepared to lead people into battle (especially on the biggest and most complicated maps).

But this is where the MAG community comes in. There is all sorts of valuable information at the MAG forums, and people are generally good at helping you in the game. But having a mic is an absolute must! Why anyone would get this game without a mic, I don’t know. Without being able to chat with others you feel isolated. You can’t request a medic, or call out snipers, and it really takes away from the game.

Conclusion

I’ve come to the conclusion that the games are very different, and both are quite fun. I’ve gone back and forth now between the two, and they both fulfill a different need. When I want fast paced action, it’s MW2. When I want something slower paced and more “intellectual,” then it’s MAG. I know a couple guys with MW2, but no one with MAG, so I’m sure I’d enjoy MAG even more if I had friends that played it, but finding good random people to play with is still fun.

If you can only pick up one, it depends on what you’re looking for. MW2 also has a good single-player game, so that might be important to you (MAG is online only). It also depends on the type of game you want to play. I’ve never played a SOCOM game, but MAG is by the same people. I’d compare MW2 more to a quake or counter-strike style game.

Hope this helps anyone looking to pickup one game or the other.

If you’ve got a smartphone (iPhone, Android, etc), then head on over to www.theblarg.com to see the new mobile layout. You can even login, leave comments, and all that good stuff. To login, hit the little arrow in the top right.

Edit: You can be as specific or as vague as you like. If Uncle Frank touched you in an inappropriate way, this probably isn’t the best place for that (at least I wouldn’t want to share that here).

Hardware

The phone itself is far from flashy. It’s not as unique as the Droid, or as instantly recognizable as the iPhone…but it’s feels great in your hand. It has nice curves that make it a joy to hold.

By far my favorite feature is the 3.7″ AMOLED screen. At 800×470 pixels, it’s very high res, and looks beautiful. Right under the screen are four dedicated buttons that help you move around the OS and access different features. Below that is a little trackball. It’s great for selecting links on webpages with lots of links, instead of having to zoom in so your finger can actually press it. The trackball can also be pressed, so for example it can be used to take pictures. It also flashes to notify you that you have a notification.

Some of my other favorites about the hardware would be the 1ghz processor. Not only is the phone super snappy, but it should handle future updates to Android with little problem. It has a dedicated noise cancelling mic, and the 5 megapixel camera takes pretty darned good pictures (with an LED flash if you’re really in the dark).

Android OS

This is my first experience with Android, and I love it. The Nexus One is currently the only phone running Android 2.1. First, there are 5 main home screens. You can CUSTOMIZE these screens to your hearts content. By default there are some standard apps you’ll probably use a lot, like the browser and gmail, but this is old news on smarthphones. A long press on any home screen gives you the options that really make Android stand out.

Shortcuts – These can be things like a bookmark to a favorite website, a specific contact, a playlist, or even a specific phone number (super speed dial!). I have a shortcut that takes me directly to my different Pandora stations. The cool part being that these can exist on your home screens, and minimize the amount of searching and tapping needed.

Widgets – These are by far my favorite software innovation, and what I think really sets Android apart from its competitors. Widgets are like mini-applications that “run” on your home screens. For example, I have a search bar right on my main screen, a calendar, a settings bar, a facebook box that provides updates and the ability to update my status, and a music control bar that lets me pause/play and skip songs. But this is all without leaving the home screens.

(No, this isn’t my phone!)

Of course you can’t fit all your apps on the home screen, so there is a button at the bottom that pulls up all your installed apps.

Another cool feature is the notification bar. At the top of the screen is a skinny bar that contains useful information on the right like time, battery, signal, etc. But on the left it displays icons when you have different notifications. If you receive an email, text, chat, it shows up on the left. If you have the music player running it has a little play button. Then you just “grab” it and pull it down. If you’ve got an email, you can click it, and it will take you right there. It’s a super quick way to get the information you want.

Comparison to the iPhone

Talk of whether or not the Nexus One is an “iphone killer” began the minute it was announced, so comparisons between the two are inevitable. The comparison though is both a hardware and software issue.

First, I don’t have an iPhone, and my time playing on one is limited, but I think the only advantage the iPhone has over the Nexus One is the library of apps available. Due to the popularity of the iPhone, and the head start on Android, it has a lot more apps available. But with Android phones available on T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon (and soon to be ATT), the adoption rate of Android phones is about to explode. Will Apple have a new iPhone out eventually, and potentially on various carriers? Yes, but I think the competition only started to get serious very recently with the Droid.

But apps aside, I think the Nexus One is a better phone in all aspects. Hardware wise, this shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s newer, and it’s better. The screen has twice the resolution and the processor is twice as fast. Out of the box, the internal storage is only 4gb, but it’s expandable up to 32gb (when available). This option saves the consumer money if they don’t need it, and gives them the option if they do. The battery is user replaceable, the camera is better, and the screen is bigger.

Software wise (sheer number of apps aside), I think the Android OS is head over heels better than what the iPhone offers. The customization of the home screens is awesome, and the ability to run multiple apps is also cool. I can stream Pandora, run a jogging tracker app, and browse the internet all at once (though browsing the internet while I jog would be tough). Multi-tasking is yet another area that Android outperforms the iPhone.

Of course, if there is some must have app on the iPhone that doesn’t have a comparable alternative on Android, then all the advantages of an Android phone might not matter to you.

Conclusion

After using my Nexus One for a month, I can never go back to an old style phone. I think in both hardware and software it excels. If there is any area I think it could do better, it would be the pricing. It’s actually comparable to other smartphones bought out of contract, but if you’re looking to renew your contract and get nice subsidized pricing, you might want to look elsewhere. Right now it’s only offered subsidized with a specific plan (which can be changed later as far as I know), but that would have forced us out of our grandfathered phone and data plans. Again, that might not matter depending on your situation, but for us, buying the phones outright made sense.

For anyone looking for an Android phone, I can’t recommend them enough. The Nexus One is coming to every carrier in the next year based on different announcements, so if you don’t want to switch to T-Mobile to get one, you just need to wait.