we met dad and andrew for dinner last night at the cafe. it’s a great little european feel place around the corner from the apartment. the owners and staff are really nice, and they’ve provided plenty of meals for us on late nights. most nights they’re open until 2am, so it covers our schedules well.

andrew heads back to the states today, where mom will pick him up in san francisco before they head back to logan. he just turned 16, so any of you who will be on the roads while he’s getting his license, you may want to keep an eye out! actually, i have a feeling he’s spent plenty of time behind the wheel in video games – do you think that it will make any difference?

speaking of which, i remember a conversation where i told alicia that my experience playing counter-strike had increased my peripheral vision and trained me to recognize the capabilities of a small arsenal of weapons. if there was ever an urban conflict where i had to do something heroic, at least i would have some idea of where to start, right? she just laughed and shook her head.

seriously though, i really believe that some of these games can teach valuable lessons. for example, in the case of multiplayer online games, you often are a member of a team where you must instantly bond enough to form a strategy, lead an attack, defend against other attackers, and complete an objective. this requires some social skills, planning, mastery of personal strengths and recognition of weaknesses. many of these skills directly correlate with business principles. here’s a recent wired article which discusses the impact of video games on iq.