I don’t do a lot of fun posts here (Oh, but they’re all fun, Mike!) so I thought I’d expend my elections today on things that amuse me lately. In fact, I might even make this a weekly thing. I think Happy Fun-time Wednesday has a nice ring to it…
LEGOS!
I’m a Lego fanatic. I have been ever since I was a kid and I got way too many Lego sets from my parents and grandparents. Now, I have given (read: “lent”) those way-too-many Legos to my son, who who starts out his childhood with several thousand bricks to his name.
A problem I’ve run into is the cost. Legos, for those of you who haven’t spent a lot of time in the toy aisles lately, are expensive. And while I would love to spend all my liquid assets on Legos, my significant other rightly notes that food for the family is a higher priority.
The solution for me — as is often the case — was in the software. Specifically, Bricksmith. Bricksmith is open-source 3-D design software for the Mac. It just so happens that instead of building things like houses or cars, it builds Lego models.
Bricksmith draws from the LDraw library of virtual Lego bricks — providing you with a model of almost every Lego brick that’s ever been injection molded. You simply download the software (a measly 12.1 MB with the brick library, 1.5 MB without) and get to building.
Did I mention it’s free?
Granted, it takes about a minute to position each brick on your model, and you can’t hold it in your hands or drop it down the stairs when you’re done, but it does give the cash-strapped Lego enthusiast an outlet for his or her brick-based creative energies.
There are probably some Windows-based programs out there that do the same thing, but I don’t have a Windows computer, so the Microsoft-dependent among you will have to fend for yourselves.
WOW!
Of course, I mean World of Warcraft. If you don’t know what that is, I feel sorry for you. You have a great hole in your life that can only be filled by a highly addictive massively multiplayer online roleplaying game.
I have played WoW for years. I’m not one of those “my true life is lived in Azeroth,” 12 hours at the computer at a time types, but I enjoy an hour or two of gaming when I can.
This week, I transferred my character, a level 80 paladin, to a new game server so that I can play with some of the other WoWers here at the Chronicle. So, if you’re hip and you’re on the Grizzly Hills server, look me up. My character’s name is Keeanu.
Originally his name was Kirke, which means “church” in Middle English, a very appropriate name for a paladin or holy warrior. However, that name was taken on my new server, so I chose Keeanu, which  also starts with a K and is awesome.
Woah.