Doesn't everyone deserve a second chance?

You know, I mentioned my unfortunate mishap with Herb, our XBOX 360, however what I neglected to say is that I did do some of research on the quick fixes to resurrect it back to life. Long story short… don’t do ‘em. I didn’t try ‘em… but anything involving baking your XBOX in its own heat or cracking it open with your own soldering gun, just didn’t sound appealing to me. Plus, who has the time or the patience. I certainly don’t. Actually, I lie. I did have some free time on Friday, and I ended up visiting a GameStop store. Why GameStop? No reason, I was actually headed to get a quick beer at the Buffalo Wild Wings next door. But, I started to think that I could pick up Herb’s replacement and deal with dead Herb at a later date. (My definition of “deal with” loosely translates into “quickly being forgotten on a shelf in the basement left to collect dust”.) It’s a good thing I stopped in. A Mr. John of GameStop kindly informed me that Microsoft has extended the XBOX 360’s warranty up to three years, specifically for the Ring of Death. Hoorah for Herb… he does get a second chance. Why didn’t I find this news release last week? I don’t know, I just play the games and watch the movies… the damn thing should take care of itself. I mean it is part of the hive. errr, I meant to say XBOX Live. So, I called 1-800-4-MY-XBOX and a nice Filipina named Mary assisted me through a pretty painless call. We talked a little bit, the weather in the Philippines was nice when she went in to work, but it was close to 4am PST (Philippine Standard Time or Pamantayang Oras ng Pilipinas) so it could have been bad for all she new. What happens next? Monday I should get a box that I put Herb into and he comes back 1 to 2 weeks later good as new. Now that’s easy. Wow Microsoft! I do admit I feel guilty being so hard on Bill and all. But he’s a trillionaire, he can take a little criticism every once in awhile. Anyway, I've over it. More importantly, I think for a treat… I’ll be getting this for Good as New Herb to munch on…

Portal, due out now, from the maker's of Half-Life.

Details about Valve's new one player game, Portal can be found here. And, remember kids, "If at first you don’t succeed, you fail."