Pokémon 2000: 12/20/06
Sean has been watching every single Pokémon movie he can get his hands on at our local video store. "Texaswren" a Bookcrossing friend knows Sean likes Pokémon and sent him two books, one of which is the adaptation of Pokémon 2000. I read the book this weekend while Sean was "following" Isabel the crocodile hunter.

Pokémon 2000 is clearly designed for young readers with its limited vocabulary and large, clear font but it also has some important pages for clueless parents of young pokémon trainers, namely a seventeen page introduction to the world, the characters and the various pokémon types. After that the story unfolds pretty much as it is shown on screen, though simplified. The book chooses to stick more closely with Ash than the film does so some scenes from the film are missing in the book. It also includes some nice color stills from the movie.

Overall I enjoyed the book and Sean has enjoyed it as well. The story is short enough for Sean to sit through with enough words he recognizes for him to help with the reading and yet it is complex enough to keep him interested.

Gratitude #20: Christmas Bonus
I want to say a huge thank you to Rob and Jo today for the lovely bonus included in my Christmas card. It took me a week to decide what to do with it. Ian ultimately came up with the perfect idea: upgrading Photoshop! I've been using Photoshop 5.5 since I upgraded back in 1997 or so from 3.0. I have really wanted the new features for years (custom shapes, the new brushes, etc.) but haven't been able to justify the cost. Photoshop was the perfect Christmas gift. Yay!!!

To make things even more fun, Ian pitched in the extra to get the entire "Creative Suite" so I now have the current versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, In Design among others. The only surprise was that I had to add some RAM to my machine before the suite would install. So now I have a faster machine running the current versions of my favorite programs. Squeeee!!!!!

Part of my delay in posting today is from the long time spent upgrading the RAM, installing the RAM, installing the programs, and finally activating them all. It was well worth the time. I guess I'm good for another ten years.

 

Steps: 10000