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I am thrilled this weekend! Ecstatic! I have been looking for a knockoff or even this original classic game, for at least a year now, hoping to introduce my kids to it and have some fun playing together!

This weekend I happen to visit the excellent Wikipedia page for this game, and noticed a link to a completely payable Flash Version of this game!! Even has the original Music and Sound Effects, amazing!!!

What is this game, you ask? It’s a board-game style Game of Life simulator. You simply play week by week, figuring out how much of the week’s time to allocate for various activities. Choose between eating (dohh), relaxing at home, working, or learning in Hi-Tech U. Of course you need to manage your budget through all of this and decide when to buy shiny new TV, move to better housing or try to find a better job.

This is just high level, the game has great depth, and definitely teaches you some real skills useful in life out there.

Kids and I already played one big game, late into Friday! Silly computer won, but my youngest came in close second, and me 3rd (What!? I forgot how to play, Okay!). And today, I plan to have a big challenge match, at least one. Kids love it also, starting to realize that it isn’t an easy game to master. Really fun for the whole family! There are enough surprises (winning lottery, getting robbed, getting fired, etc) to keep it interesting from match to match.

Of course, lots of credit goes out to Sierra! I really loved them and their games. So sad that they lost their way and disappeared into corporate jungle of America nowadays. Also, Kevin Boye, whoever you are, Thanks a Ton for porting this to flash!!!

Play it now, right here!

Be sure to click through to Vimeo to watch in HD (if your connection allows). Also, for the record, I love this music and the whole thing is excellent!

While I really appreciate that Microsoft and Netflix finally got XBox 360 going with HD streaming, I myself still wasn’t able to check it out. The reason is the silly requirement of being a Gold member. I do plan to check it out soon, as we are going to go Gold for the Winter Break this year.

But I digress. This post is about Tivo, which is playing Aloha Scooby-Doo! streaming from Netflix at the moment. My youngest son is a huge fan of Scooby Doo, so it was no brainer for him to choose from 5 different kid-friendly choices I gave him for first viewing.

That’s right, I tried it for the first time now. Took about 1 minute, and the activation process couldn’t be simpler (seriously, I don’t think it could!) We got a code displayed on Tivo screen, upon choosing Netflix, and a URL. Type a code on that URL, and voila! Few seconds later, Tivo switched to show us our Instant Queue full of movies to watch instantly.

Furthermore, the quality is Amazing! Granted, this is just a cartoon. But on our HD it looks excellent! No artifacts whatsoever! No delay, no hiccups, no issues! Impressive!!!

This changes everything, and yea, Cable TV is in even bigger trouble, as if it wasn’t already…

In fact, I have a suggestion for Netflix, that will save them some money, and I will be the first to utilize it! To help them figure out how to price this “All You Can Eat” streaming buffet, give us loyal subscribers the option to Hold the DVD queue. I’ wouldn’t object to hold DVD shipments, down to one or two a month of maybe newer movies, and just let us enjoy the streaming buffet for the rest of it!

Kudos Netflix and Tivo! Next up on my wish list, setting up Orb on my media center Vista for streaming to my iPhone on-the-go. Or, perhaps, Netflix should give us an iPhone client, and while we wait for that, make sure to check out Joost for iPhone! Viva la Tivolution!!!

PS: Happy Holidays! Did I mention I love Amazon? Well, I love the simplicity of emailing someone an Amazon Gift Certificate, something everyone sure to enjoy! Plus, click-through and support this site in the process

Apologies to all my International blog readers. This is an official Simpsons episode, and I think it only is watchable inside the US right now. I am certain if you do a quick YouTube search, or Veoh, etc, you will find another openly available copy.

So, are you a PC? I am, though I own and enjoy iPhone also. I think for me the price premium is the deal breaker for Mac, plus I do like to tinker and upgrade my computers ALL THE TIME!

Today we watched opening ceremony in HD on our big screen. A day late, but I prefer to watch things on my own schedule, even sporting events! The ceremony was Inspiring, especially in all the High Definition glory on the wall.

You will need specific setup, to bring the best quality available Olympic coverage to your Big Screen TV. First thing you’ll need is Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate edition. Next, you will need an XBox 360 connected to home network, or you can skip this in case your Windows Vista PC is already hooked up directly to TV (it happens!).

Now, simply install TVTonic add-on on your Windows Vista MediaCenter PC, and start it. You can use it on your Windows Vista PC or naturally view it via XBox 360, using the Media Center extender functionality.

Actually, TVTonic brings a whole world of Internet TV to your local computer. It is actually similar to Miro and others, in that it simply pulls RSS feeds of Podcast style broadcast shows. It comes with pretty impressive guide with all kinds of Internet shows, including Dilbert, and GameTrailers in HD, both of which me and the kids enjoy tremendously!

Of course, you can always simply visit NBC Olympics site and watch highlights or even full events, steaming and online.

I am very pleased with this progress! The TVTonic client is completely free and brings home very high quality video, for convenient viewing on the Big-Screen TV. We have configured it to download specific sports, like soccer and fencing, automatically as they become available!

If you have Vista 64 Bit edition (very rare still), they are promising to make it available soon (via EngadgetHD).