[ZeroZ95]

Good question...I've been wondering the same thing myself. I plugged in my joystick yesterday for the first time in 5 weeks and flew for 10 minutes so I could chat with some new applicants before bringing them on board. Sad but true, I did the math this morning trying to figure it out myself...where have I been? The short story is that I've been asleep. I'm a stay-at-home dad and my son is growing up and sleeping less. "I'm busy" always sounded like a cop-out to me when it came from other people.

My boy used to sleep from 8p-8a plus a 3 hour afternoon nap. In those 15 hours of his sleeping, I usually spent 2 hours hanging out with my wife until she went to bed, then I had 13 hours in which I could sleep and fly Jumpgate during Tues-Fri (I've hardly ever played on Sat-Mon, my wife's days off...only if there's some scheduled special event will I choose hanging out in a video game over hanging out with my wife...not to mention the high number of weekends we spend out of town).

Anyway, in the last 6 months my son has dropped the nap from 3 hours to 2 to none at all, he stays up later at night and wakes up a lot earlier in the mornings. That usually leaves me about 8-9 hours for sleep+Jumpgate, and after chasing my 3.5yo around all day, I'm ready for 8-9 hours of sleep.

The nature of Jumpgate is that you just can't take 15-30 mins of free time and fly and accomplish anything (unless there's a FM going on where you can do 1 or 2 quick runs). I am around my PC a lot for quick stuff like checking forums, so you can always catch me on YIM or ICQ if you need me.

[feldman]

You got to hate a man that has his priorities in order!

[Algore]

Teach/train him to enjoy watching his Daddy playing Jumpgate

[sentinels]

man, i certainly don't envy you and i'm dreading the day when my boy gets to that age.

[QrazyKermi]

It's only a short ride until they start playing games WITH you. My son was playing C&C Generals at 4. Since then he's played Jumpgate, TA, Warcraft 3, Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, WoW, and C&C 3. They provide a great excuse for more computers, more upgrades, and spending more "quality time" with them.

[ZeroZ95]

Yep....I've always been looking forward to my little co-pilot becoming my wingman. Maybe by the time Jumpgate Evolution becomes a reality...

And...where am I this weekend? Building my boy something like this, but with a few design tweaks to make it a little cooler. My father-in-law fortunately will be providing the bulk of the required skill and lumber (cut from logs he cleared from his land when he built his farmhouse).

[QrazyKermi]

That looks like a fun project! Good excuse to buy a butt-ton of power tools too

[ZeroZ95]

So, I've been working on the bunkbed all day Sat, Sun, Mon and Wed (Happy 4th!). Should finish construction on Sat then varnish on Sun. They look better and have taken longer than I imagined.

[sentinels]

i hope you've constructed a built-in monitor panel swing arm so the kid can play in bed.

[Ambrosius]

Don't worry, Z . . . soon enough the Boy will be a teen-ager. He'll grab the car keys and head "out" -- and you'll have plenty of time for Jumpgate again . . . while you sit up late worrying about him.

[QrazyKermi]

Originally Posted by sentinels

i hope you've constructed a built-in monitor panel swing arm so the kid can play in bed.

Pfft... Obviously you don't love your kids. A real caring dad would install a minimum of 4 LCD's to provide at least a basic surround environment for his son. Anything less would just say "Kid who's name I don't care to remember, you're a mistake, a waste of space and a burden. Here's something less than 4 LCD's to show how little you mean to me."

No pressure though, Z...

[ZeroZ95]

So, we finished the bed and got it into his room on Monday. It really is cool. We went from cutting down the trees to milling and planing the lumber all the way to finished and in his room in about 6 days, roughly 100 man-hours. The stairs/dresser is my own design and is just the coolest.

Where am I now? My parents are visiting now. Then on Tuesday, I go out of town for 8 days.

FWIW, I don't blame anyone for leaving Solidarity to join a squad with more active pilots (and leadership) or a squad that is a closer fit for their play style.