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Have you ever played SimCity or The Sims? Even if you haven’t, you undoubtedly have heard of them. They are games that don’t really have an “end” per se, but they do have such incredible depth that it is amazing to explore all that the game has to offer. They also have one other thing in common, they were both created by Will Wright.

Enter Spore. This is a Will Wright game that has been in development since 2004 and that will release on September 7, 2008 in North America. Although I never really got into The Sims, I was a huge fan of Sim City. I tend to have a geeky/technical bent, but I also love to design and explore. Add that to my endless need for competition, and you can see why I tend to like these types of games. And, if I have been sufficiently convinced by the marketing hype, I think that Spore is going to be an amazing game.

So, what is Spore? It is like five games in one. (And it better be, since it took years to develop.) Here is a brief rundown of the five stages:

• You start off as a single-celled organism in a tidal pool.
• You cell emerges onto land as a creature.
• You creature forms bonds with other creatures and forms a tribe.
• Your tribe becomes modern and develops into a civilization.
• Your civilization launches into space, exploring other planets and galaxies.

Some people have criticized the game for promoting evolution. I think it does just the opposite. It requires a God (you) to actually create your creature. Without intervention, this random assortment of cells would have never formed into a complex creature.

What astounds me the most is the sheer size of the game. Once you reach the space stage, you can interact with the creations of other players on over 500,000 planets. That’s insane! You can even browse the database of other creatures and their creations (vehicles, weapons, spaceships) and use them yourself.

If you want to get a free taste of spore, download the Creature Editor. It allows you to create and save creatures just like you would in the Creature phase of the game. It’s fun!

I highly recommend you check out each of the videos below to see exactly how Spore will play out. As for me, I think I’ve already convinced myself to buy it when it comes out tomorrow.

Cell Phase

Creature Phase

Tribal Phase

Civilization Phase

Space Phase

I don’t like college football. Talk to me when there are playoffs.

I’m glad Tennessee lost. They can stop hoping until next season.

Can Vijay Singh only get hot when Tiger is injured or retooling his swing?

Thanks to Fae, my grass is green again.

I think discipline is better than motivation.

We start the Dynamic Marriage class tonight. I hear it’s better than the Static Marriage class.

I sold another $300 worth of O HELL NO stuff last month.

Google Adwords sucks. It takes over a month to get your ads approved.

The avocado eggrolls at Cheesecake Factory are amazing.

It’s been over six months since we moved, and we still have packages for the prior homeowner sitting on the front porch.

Our foundation is slipping. Major uh-oh. Thankfully, this part of the foundation is under warranty.

One of my fantasy football team names is The Screaming Rubber Chickens.

The other is Victorious Secret.

I’m debating on whether or not to purchase Spore when it comes out this Sunday.

There are always cops at Exit 25 on I-40. Always.

I have to go to a driving school in the next two weeks. I can’t wait. (Sigh)

Sarah Palin was a good choice. I think.

It’s annoying when people IM you and say “hey” and won’t type anything else until you acknowledge their greeting.

Traitor was a good movie.

The new Chicken Strips at Chick-Fil-A are awesome.

August 22nd, 2002 – Michael asks Hallie if she would like to start dating. Michael gets rejected.

August 25th, 2002 – Michael asks again. Hallie accepts.

August 30th, 2002 – We go out on the first date.

It’s been six years! Worth every moment. I love you Hallie!

Why is it that I get my periodic accountability emails from Eat Better America (the ones I signed up for at the beginning of the year to keep me accountable to my goal of eating healthier this year) right when I’m sitting in front of my computer eating the most unhealthy thing I’ve had in weeks??

Oh, and just for kicks and giggles, that interview we’ve been talking about the last couple of days…I SO GOT THAT JOB!

Worthy is our God of all praise and glory! Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support!

Now back to my lasagna…

I listened to Obama’s entire acceptance speech. I listened to no commentary before or after.

He is good. He is very smooth and polished. He even, at times, sounds like a conservative. He pushed for more personal responsibility from fathers. He asked for more accountability from schools and teachers. He promised lower taxes to the working class. He wants a balanced budget. These things are awesome.

I firmly believe that Barack Obama believes what he says. I believe that he does love this country.

But if you listened closely, what did you really hear? Barack thinks that every American deserves a top-notch education. He believes that every person deserves top-quality health care. He believes that it will be his job to make sure that companies provide more time off to workers and that they are penalized for shipping jobs overseas.

Oh, and he’ll pay for it all by taxing the best and brightest in America.

Doesn’t that sound more like Robin Hood? Tax the rich and disperse the money through government programs to everyone. That’s standard liberal thinking. It penalizes those that succeed. If we tax the high performers in this country, we severely limit the growth of the very people Obama wants to help. Companies should never be penalized for having huge profits–as that is what drives growth in our economy.

Many Christians are even starting to support Obama, as they see the Democratic party as the ones that will actually help hurting people. But we have to change the way we define help in this country. Help does not mean money or insurance or programs. And help certainly doesn’t mean that you deserve anything. The conservatives–and not necessarily John McCain–understand this.

If we remove the restraints of taxes and government, the American people will have more money and time to help those that are hurting. You see, it’s not the government’s job to help people, it’s ours. And it’s the government’s job to make that as easy as possible for us to do.

That’s what personal responsibility truly is. Obama’s definition is only about 80% truth, which makes it a bold-faced lie. It’s evil and it’s wrong.

Obama, your plan will not succeed. Your type of change is not welcome here.

When interviewing, it is imperatve that you understand why a particular question is being asked.

For example, the most popular interview question around is “Tell me a little about yourself.” The smart interviewee knows that this isn’t a time to talk about enjoying long walks on the beach or a 3 minute description of why you liked elementary school. Rather,it is a time to give a brief and powerful summary of who you are as it relates to the position you are applying for.

Other interview questions are much easier. If you are asked, “What excites you about working in this field?” they really mean, “What excites you about working in this field?” Hopefully you would have a good answer for that one.

Yesterday, Hallie got asked a very tough question. “Tell us why we should NOT hire you?”

What could they mean by that? Here are some thoughts:

• Can you tell us a way in which you may struggle if you get this position?
• Are you stupid enough to tell us that you aren’t qualified for this position?
• Or, a twist on the classic, “What is your greatest weakness?”question.
• Does any part of the job description scare you?

All of these are things that I could perceive people thinking when they are asked this question. And they would all be dead wrong.

Hallie correctly identified the true meaning of the question and it just may have clinched her the position. Here is the real question being asked:

“We have evaluated your resume and we believe we understand your qualifications. But do you really want this job? Will you be passionate about working here? Is this just another job for you? Please, give us a compelling reason to want you.”

In the next 60 seconds, you can either deliver a passionate, heartfelt message about why you would love to work for this particular company.

Or, you can choose to talk about how you believe you are well qualified (again) and how your weaknesses will not be a problem in the position. Good luck with that.

Congratulations to Hallie for picking up on this in real time!

Tonight one of us will be preparing for an interview. Since Michael loves his job, I’ll leave it up to you to guess which one of us it is. There has already been a phone interview which consisted of 40 minutes of straight questions. There were the usual questions like, “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” and “What’s your ideal job look like?” But there were also some really tough questions like, “What’s been your most recent spiritual attack?”

That was the phone interview. Now we face the face-to-face interview (no pun intended) with four people: the supervisor of the department, the head of HR, an HR specialist, and a wild card employee. Slightly intimidating. I’m out-of-my-mind-nervous.

There is some debate in the Finney household about whether or not preparing and rehearsing helps or hinders someone in a interview. However, I find that rehearsing a little bit gets me in the language and mood of an interview, which in turn calms me down, allows me to think more clearly, and produces a better interview. And I really hate the curve ball questions since I don’t think very well on my feet. So the question of the day is:

What are some really tough interview questions that you’ve heard of or been asked yourself?

Thanks in advance for your help. Getting this job will be a team effort!

GO TEAM!

In the meantime, enjoy these funnies:

I have a pet peeve: I hate the little sayings churches put on their signs in front of their buildings. Here are some examples, several of which I have actually seen recently at some churches around Nashville. 

If Jesus is in your heart, notify your face.

GPS: God’s Plan of Salvation

You think it’s hot here? Just wait!

Dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives.

Eternity: Smoking or Non-smoking? 

Evangelism at its best. Words cannot express how much signs like these just irritate me (Michael can testify). What is the purpose of these blasted signs? My assumption is that these churches are trying to get people, believers and non-believers, to come to their church. If that’s the case, these people should really take some courses in advertising. These silly sayings are either over-the-top corny or extremely condemning, but never in my life have I read one and thought, “Oh man, if I could only go to that church!” or “Oh I just want to know God more!”

Alas, right across the street from our neighborhood sits a tiny, tiny church. It can’t have more than 5 members, because more than 5 people can’t fit in their little building. However, despite the ragged condition of their building, they have recently installed a brand new church sign out front. Here is exactly how the sign reads (not kidding):

Blessed are the dead.
Rev. 14:10
Tychicus
Col 4:7

What does that even mean? Blessed are the dead? You’ve got a church sign, an opportunity to tell the world anything, and your first saying on your brand new sign is “blessed are the dead”? That’s the best you could come up with?

What about you? Does this bother you as much as it bothers me? What silly church signs have you seen or heard of?

I have already told you about the 12 hours of customer service phone calls and the resulting $2,000 bill. Of course, they refunded the excess charges, bringing the bill to a more managable $133.00. Even though I didn’t think that a customer should have to pay a monthly service charge for what I had been through,  AT&T apologized, but didn’t see things from my point of view. Even though I was very unhappy with the service I had received, I realized that I needed to pay the $133.00. I scheduled the bill to be paid through our Mvelopes service.

I am a frequent reader of the Consumerist. One of things they talk about frequently is the Executive Email Carpet Bomb, or EECB. This is where you email some high level executive(s) to see if someone can help rectify your problem. So, I decided to fire off an email. I got the following response today:

First let me tell you that I apologize for your negative experience.  I recognize you as a long-term loyal customer.  I have been able to review your account and have as a courtesy issued a monthly service credit to your account.  Your account balance is now $0.00.  Please let me know if this resolves your issue.

Yay! I am now a satisfied, happy customer. Two observations:

1. The standard customer service reps at AT&T are not empowered to help the customer. Only at the executive level was I able to receive a high-touch level of service. This was even true of technical support, where the 2nd-tier CSRs were the only ones that could fix my account troubles.
2. AT&T must learn how to empower their customers. Even though I am locked in to a two year contract, I have the ability to persuade potential AT&T customers.  I am typically an early-adopter of new products and technology. As such, many people have asked me about my iPhone experience. Throughout my ordeal, I have been blogging as well as sharing the details with many friends. Everyone was completely baffled at AT&T’s incompetence, especially when they learned of the $2,000 bill. I even had a couple of friends tell me that they will not go with AT&T simply because I have warned them about their customer service. I recognize that technical and billing problems happen. However, AT&T could have made this a positive experience throughout the entire ordeal. Instead, the only happy part is the ending.