I ended up in the hospital on Sunday getting an emergency surgery to repair a nasty hernia. I went in the morning because I was in pain but did not expect to need an operation. It was a scary night but the folks at Evergreen hospital over in Kirkland were fantastic. Everything went well and they ended up sending me home the next day. I’m in bed now recovering and I’d like to thank Kris Straub for working with Tycho to make a couple strips for you guys this week and give me a little break. Just in the last three weeks I have had the flu, horrible food poisoning and now this. I am pretty sure that if I were to leave the house today, a piano would fall on me. 2016 was a rough year but I think 2017 might actually be trying to kill me.

I mentioned that we got my son Gabe a Cozmo for Christmas. I ended up checking it out with him and playing a few games. I was so impressed with it that I actually got one for myself to keep on my desk at work. I’m a huge fan of ANKI and all the stuff they make over there. We still play lots of Overdrive at my house and I just picked up one of the new “Supertrucks” to add to our collection. Years after its release they are still improving and adding to the Overdrive experience. That’s not something you see from a lot of developers, certainly not in the “toy” space. I would say that right now Cozmo is incredibly impressive, but a bit limited in terms of what you can do with him. Just like Overdrive though I am certain the folks at Anki will be updating and adding to his tool kit as time goes on. I really like Cozmo but even more than that I like supporting a company like ANKI that seems so dedicated to making beautifully designed, fun, and creative toys.

As you can imagine I am laid up in bed as I recover from this surgery. I ended up hitting Hulu this morning looking for Documentaries to watch and I found Fursonas. I don’t know what the feeling on this film inside the community is, but as an outsider I found it really fascinating and well done. Rather than focusing on the “Shock” value of people in animal costumes, this documentary was really about the people inside the suits. I thought it was great. I’ll probably be recovering for a couple more days at least. If you have any other good Documentary recommendations send them my way.

Thanks for all the well wishes on Twitter and in my email. I really do appreciate it. Also thanks again to Kris for stepping in on such short notice and giving me some time off to get better.

-Gabe out