Aug 2012 – Dec 2012

Here’s my gaming setup.  I am a fan of having multiple monitors

Pictured in the front is the Surface tablet I won at the Facebook hackathon.

It’s also where Nicholas works hard to make me money.

It was like a 9 hour drive to get there, but Nicholas and Pokin won first place and I got my paws on a Microsoft Surface tablet as a result so I guess it was worth it.  I deserved that tablet since Nicholas used my Facebook account to do his demo since he didn’t even have one of his own.

I was mostly left to my own devices in the car but at least Nicholas had the foresight to bundle me up warmly in a scarf.

And anyway when no one was looking I snuck into Facebook and helped myself to some chocolate.  My Assassin’s Creed style scarfing helped me stay stealth.

No not my pet dog Cuddle Pup.

It’s the tin right in front of me..

That’s my bear tin.

Whenever Nicholas sells something on Craigslist or earns some kind of money, I make sure to take prompt ownership of any cash generated in those transactions.  After all, of course any money Nicholas generates selling things must have been intended for my tin.

And that tin is very important.  I use it to fund my investments.  Investments like the one I made into Nicholas’ business.   I was his first investor and I put a full $500 into his business.  So I’m keeping a close eye on him.  I expect to be paid back.  With interest.  And gaming.

Well by ordering him a cake, I meant I directed Pokin to find a supplier, communicate my preferences and handle the payment.

Naturally I ordered a chocolate cake.  Well technically red velvet but it had chocolate in it.

I even quality-control-tested the bed for him.

What’s that again?

Yeah that’s right, I’m a thoughtful bear.

To be honest, I have no opinion on flowers.

But this one time, Nicholas brought home some flowers.

Naturally I figured they were for me so I went to check them out.  Turns out they were for Pokin.

So I’ve decided I still have no opinion on flowers.

And then, just like that our France trip was over and one morning I found myself on a bus shuttle headed for the Marseille airport.

I decided I wanted the window seat.

So I took it.

At least Nicholas still had the privilege of sitting beside me.  Plus I reminded myself about the train incident.  I deserved the window seat this time.

I was excited to go on my first european train ride.

I thought I’d be writing all about the scenic country side and how Nicholas and I were bonding over our travels together.

Instead I’m writing to say that Nicholas stuck me in a net.

That’s right.  My supposed best bear bud stuck me in a net for our first-ever-train-ride-together-in-europe.

There will be payback.* *

After my near brush with death, I found myself in a country home in Uzes.

Since I couldn’t get wifi in my room for gaming, I was forced instead to climb bushes, drink hot chocolate and sit by the pool.  I guess that’s not such a hard life.

In an olive bush:

Sipping hot chocolate:

Chill-laxing by the pool:

There I was, with my best bear bud and a car full of other humans driving from Thonon to Uzes across the country of France.

I was being a responsible bear and I buckled in.  But there we were, in the middle of nowhere at 3:00am in the morning when the car blew out a tire.

I just tried to pretend like it didn’t happen and tried to go back to sleep but you must understand a bumpy road with a blown tire is very uncomfortable for a small bear like me.

If it had happened when we were still actually on the highway like we were the previous 5 hours of the journey I wouldn’t be writing this post but thankfully we had just gotten off the highway and so it just meant we ruined the car driving metal on gravel the rest of the way to our destination.

So instead I get to write about the time Nicholas almost killed me.

Well I had nothing better to do since they didn’t have wifi for gaming so I took Nicholas’ boarding pass.

Serves him right for not getting me my own seat on the plane.