Oregon Trail Redux

In true Colorado fashion, the city is shut down today by the PROSPECT of weather. I would love to think that as a semi-mountain community, we would be more capable and resilient to weather extremes but sadly, we are pathetically fearful of precipitation. I digress; that is topic for another post.

With the office largely empty, there is no one better to ask for time-wasting, online activities than my co-worker Kacie. This isn't due to Kacie's propensity to waste work time, but rather her off-hours commitment to all things techie. As a Mac person she immediately suggested that I check out the online version of Oregon Trail which plays exactly like it did on the old Apple II. By attacking this new workplace challenge, I wasted much of the morning (though I really had nothing else to do since all the bosses are gone today). I made the rookie mistake of trying to ford a deep river about 7 steps into my journey and lost 2 of my traveling companions (sorry Paul and Sarah), otherwise I might have safely carried my whole crew the entire distance. Unfortunately, I am probably about as good at O.T. hunting as at real hunting, which is to say mediocre.

Nonetheless, I endeavoured to persevere (I love that obscure quote from The Outlaw Josey Wales), and finally made it to the promised land around 11am this morning. While I felt vindicated that I made the correct choice in pushing hard and saving no money, I didn't think this was a noteworthy accomplishment until the game asked meto input how I would like my name to read on the Top Ten list. That's right, I have been semi-immortalized as the #4 finisher on the Internet Oregon Trail game.

So, to all my elementary school teachers who said I'd never amount to anything; read it and weep. Success in this arena must be vitally important or they wouldn't have had us participate during our valuable school hours between recesses, right? If you doubt that a man from such humble beginnings (that being my grade school results not my parentage) could rise so high in ranks of obsolete, supposedly educational, 3-color computer games, go to the site and select See the Oregon Top Ten. I am listed as adventurer-level traveler Fat Matty.

Once you get to this site, you will have a hard time resisting the urge to play, if for no other reason than to beat my score and rub it in my face. Further, once you have done this and channeled your inner 10 year-old, you must check out the kickin' apparel available for us Trail Masters online.

Times have changed and years have passed but there's no reason to become an adult yet.