A VILE henchman has been detected!

I spent a significant portion of my time as an 9 year old planted in front of our Macintosh's 4-inch screen, World Almanac in hand, playing Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?

I credit this game with teaching me important life lessons such as that Lima is the capital of Peru, bahts are the currency in Thailand and computer games are valid substitutes for real human friends. Sure, I probably would have learned that stuff eventually, like when I went to high school or traveled to those countries, but it was gratifying to be so well-prepared so young. (Traveling overseas later I was surprised, however, that the flights were so long since in the game you can get most of the way around the world in about 4 hours. I'll know to bring extra granola bars next time.)

In a moment that was either the purest form of boredom, a lapse in my ability to stave off childhood nostalgia, or both, Eric and I found an online version of the game last night. It's not exactly the same - it's "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego" - but it was close enough to be very satisfying: the same primitive graphics, the same tinkly midi music, the same tantalizing tidbits of history and geography. It came close to provoking that same feeling of extreme social isolation but I fought the urge to reach for a volume of Tolkien and after nabbing the suspect successfully we rode the wave of nostalgia to Simon. I must now add myself playing Simon to the list of things I can't control because given the choice between working on my resume and beating my current best score of 13, all I have to say is R-R-Y-R-B-B-R-G-R-R-G-G-G-B.

Yeah, I've had to put myself on that list twice now. What's your point?