Fianna gets her crawl on. Baby five! *snap*

PC Gamer magazine recently published its 'Top 100 Games of All Time', compiled by having each one of their staff, and other experts, submit their individual ranked Top 15 lists... and so on.

In that vein, let me submit my own Top 15. I'm old school, still clinging to RPG and turn based games. I haven't had a chance to try all the new cutting-edge shooters but here we go, in no particular order:

Half-Life 1 and its mods, Counterstrike, etc (1998 Valve): Being mostly an RPG and turn-based gamer doesn't mean I don't appreciate games that are flat-out good. HL1 had a great story, first-person shooter gameplay that was not painfully repetitive, and incredible multiplayer functionality. Why not Half Life 2? HL1 was more a 'ground breaker' in multiplayer gaming and very low maintenance. There used to be a rotating group of about 10 of us that would play after work, and we didn't need any physical disks (and ultimately only one original copy). We didn't each need to purchase a copy just so we could play an hour or two a week,  and we didn't have to log on to the Steam Mothership to play... and Campers Suck!

Master of Orion (1993 Microprose): Likely still the best space-based, turn-based, strategy game evah (even though Galactic Civs fills the hole well). Not sure whether MOO1 or MOO2 was better (MOO3 doesn't count). MOO was the first strategy game I ever played, and the only game I continued to play over and over and over, all possible combinations, for roughly a decade. I think it was originally Robb's game, and it was installed with floppies. I'm looking forward to the possiblity of Stardock (Galactic Civs, Sins of a Solar Empire) making a fourth iteration... they are the only ones that could do it right. Watch out for those 99,000 ship fleets!

Once upon a time, Bressler.org had photoshopping challenges every week. This is the first in a couple years. Subject: The Real News... as you see it.

My humble contribution to get things going. Make contributions to the topic on this Forum thread.

Hello Friends,

What a wonderful Christmas we had!  We went to Southern California for a whirl-wind of festivities and then had another Christmas celebration in Sacramento the following week.  I received the most amazing gifts of toys, clothes, and books.  I thank you all for your generosity.

I received my first major award in December!  I reached "star of the month" status in my classroom, which meant there was an entire wall dedicated to little 'ole me.  Mommy says she is glad the teachers are recognizing my superior talents.  Grandma Diane continued her weekly travel to Sacramento and took care of me for 3-4 days a week.  When she couldn't be here, Grandma Laurie and Grandpa Rick came over the play with me.  We had a lot of fun!

I am now eating snack foods with my fingers; my favorites are Gerber Puffs and Cheerios.  When we first started practicing, the dogs circled around my high chair like sharks, just waiting for a Cheerio to drop.  After a week or so, my aim improved greatly so that I now get ~80% in the target.  Dutch still keeps hope alive.  Sometimes, I throw the snacks over the side just to keep him coming back for more.

More pictures after the 'read more'...