Cold, Lobsters and Zombies

It’s been wintry here in Calgary since the day after Dad arrived. There were a few days were it approached zero, but most days have been in the -15 range. Today isn’t supposed to get above -20, and it’s snowing and the wind is blowing. Brrr. Yesterday might have been a day to go to Nakiska except for the cold. I’m sure the snow conditions are great, but it would be cold on the lift.

So, instead we went to Chinook Centre to:

• Return the Shaw digital cable box. The 6 month free trial was almost over and still nobody in our house watches TV.
• Look at the Lego Store. Ian wants the new London skyline set they’ve put out. It would look nice next to Tammy’s Berlin.
• Go to Chapters and Hot Topic. Miranda got gift cards from her friends at her birthday party.
• Go to the Apple Store. Harold asked me to pick up two game controllers for his new Apple TV. So I did, and one for myself, too.

We got to the mall just after 10, then realized that even though the mall said they opened at 10, only some of the stores were open then. Chapters was, and Starbucks was. But for the rest we had to wait until 11. When we were done, we finally made good on our promise to Miranda that when she grew taller than Tammy, we would take her to Red Lobster. Of course, we’re only a year late.

At home, I set up the game controller, and bought Minecraft for the Apple TV. The kids each grabbed iPads, and we played for a few hours. Normally, we play on the XBox 360, with each person getting about 1/4 of the TV screen. I have to sit on a bean bag chair to be close enough to see what’s going on. I thought that having the 50″ screen to myself and the kids each having a high-resolution screen in their laps would be an improvement, but I’m not sure it was.

• Playing on the Apple TV needs some work to make it as easy as with the XBox. In particular, the crafting is more like the PC version, and that’s not easy to do with a game controller.
• There is a certain something to having all of the screens on the TV, where everyone can see them.
• Unless she used an iPhone, there aren’t enough iPads for all four of us to play.

Maybe if it was split-screen on the Apple TV, and we had four controllers it would work. I think it’s more of a testament to how much Mojang got right on the XBox version than the weakness of the Apple TV version. I hope in time they improve it, because the XBox version is limited and probably not going to be updated for much longer.

Today would have been Mom’s 70th birthday. Happy birthday, Mom. 🎂