KerryAndGabe.com

Gabe and I tend to buy the things that we want when we want them, within reason. We decided that we didn’t need anything for our birthdays this year. Then my birthday came and went without much fanfare (except all the fun Facebook greetings!). Even with a dinner outing the next day, it didn’t feel quite like my birthday. Gabe kept asking me, “are you sure you don’t want me to get you presents?” and I finally said that I would, in fact, like some presents. So, when I went to the Mothers and More meeting, Gabe went shopping. I think he was motivated by the fact that this would mean that *he* gets presents in less than a month! I received several books from Gabe and his mom for my birthday.

These are the newest additions to my library:

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld: I have been unsure about whether to give this series a try after hearing some mixed reviews. I decided that I would probably like the series. Should be an easy read as this is another teen read. This is by the same author of The Midnighters series, which I enjoyed.

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult: I’ll read pretty much any Jodi Picoult, despite the depressing nature of most of her books! I suggested this one to book club, but I’m not sure whether it will become an official selection. I’ll read it at some point either way.

Flyte / Physik by Angie Sage: These are the second and third books of the Septimus Heap series. I bought the first one a little bit ago, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. Gabe took a chance that I was going to like the first one, and I think that I will. If I can ever get a handle on book club selections, then these will be quick reads.

I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis: This is another novel that may be a future book club selection. I have heard good things about it, and after my first experience with Pillars of the Earth, I decided I was a fan of historic fiction.

A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel: A long time ago, I was visiting with my friend Melissa, and she was reading this book. I read the first page or two and decided that I wanted to read it at some point. I like to read some memoirs now and then.

On Facebook, I have received a ton of requests for stupid applications, games, quizzes, etc, etc. Most of them, I have ignored. I believe that I ignored requests for PackRat numerous times, but one of my friends convinced me that I should give it a try. I added the application. I said, “I don’t get the big deal, this is dumb.” A few hours later, I was hooked! Gabe and I have been spending all of our “free” time (and some that is not so free) playing PackRat for the past several days. Laundry and dishes are being neglected. Clutter is piling up everywhere, even worse than normal. Books are getting dusty. The DVR is starting to delete unwatched shows. I’m even WAY behind on my feeds in Google Reader. Even the internet is being neglected! Don’t worry, the baby isn’t being neglected (though usually one of us is playing while the other is tending to the child!).

So…what is PackRat? Well, there’s no way that I can describe it that will make it sound “awesome” to you. As I said before, the game sounded lame to me until I started playing it. Gabe mentioned that it reminds him of Animal Crossing, which we used to play quite often on the Nintendo DS (and has me interested in getting Animal Crossing when it comes out for the Wii later this year!). Basically, it involves collecting sets of cards. You can obtain cards by stealing from your friends or “rats” (bots who also have card collections), buying them in the marketplace, combining cards in your “pack,” and finding cards that pop up on your screen randomly. I will warn you that most people play cooperatively. Stealing from your friends without permission is generally frowned upon, so don’t do it!! Playing cooperatively with your friends works quite well, actually. Several of us are usually online at the same time, messaging each other back and forth about the cards that we are trying to collect. Usually, most of us are working on different sets, so we are happy to help others!

The cards are quite pretty and sometimes amusing as well. Apparently, new sets are introduced and old ones are retired from time to time, so the availability of certain retired sets is very limited. The card collections cover a variety of interests, so you can pursue whatever set appeals to you at the moment. Currently, I’m trying to complete the Rat Pack set, which is a collection of casino and Vegas themed cards. It’s a difficult set to attempt, so I definitely do not recommend it when you first start playing! Gabe is working on Papa Louie’s, a pizza themed set.

I plan to write post soon with a “beginner’s guide” that should help newbies get started. We’ve only been playing a few days, but we have been playing quite intensively! It doesn’t take very long to figure out what is going on with the game, but it is a bit confusing about what to do when you first begin.

The PackRat Wiki is VERY useful for completing sets. It will let you know where to find particular cards as well as which cards combine together to make other cards.

Currently, we are both quite obsessed with collecting our PackRat sets. I’m sure that the obsession will die down over time, but for now we’re having a lot of fun with it!