22/8/2012 This week has been a week when I've been reminded of why I love certain things. First off: Sonic the Hedgehog. I've been playing Sonic Generations, which is a ton of fun, and perfect for the Summer. It's a bright, colourful game, which only sucks up as much time as you let it, so it's not addictive but once you really get into it, you don't want to put the pad down. It's also only this week that I figured out the correct method of playing Sonic. It's an odd thing to say as the best games shouldn't have a correct method of playing, except platform games do: you learn how to overcome obstacles in order to complete a level and in order to complete the game you collect all the items. Sonic differs slightly in that in order to get all the items/best results, you have to play a level multiple times in order to memorise the best path. Even then, you sometimes find yourself using the best path 2 or 3 times in order to complete a challenge or get all the items. No you can't do both at the same time. But this realisation was not what made me realise why I love the entire franchise/legacy/idea of Sonic the Hedgehog. That is thanks to one of the more memorable level music tracks from the games' history: Stardust Speedway (Bad Future US Version Remix). I knew that would be a good track just by the title alone, but it sounds so edgy yet gloriously happy. That is Sonic the Hedgehog in a nutshell: he is a character who is "way past cool", prepared to take on any threat (no matter how dark) and instills boundless childlike optimism and joy. No wonder it's so easy to get nostalgic over him. Second: Macs Yes I am talking about the computers, laptops in particular. I have now bought a brand new Macbook 13", it's so wonderful! It forces you to do a setup when you first open it, but, it gave me my ideal settings. Remember I am in the Czech Republic? That means the laptop's keyboard is designed for a Czech user. So, I set the language as English (UK) and the keyboard as Czech, but QWERTY Czech. I'm not sure I can ever get used to the Z being next to the T. And the Czech keyboard will come in handy: all those lovely Czech symbols in my hands!!! ^^ So what else do I love about the Mac products? Well, power chargers.Yes, really. You see, I was initially faced with a conundrum: the corner of my bedroom has a row of 3 sockets, all used (1 for my router, the other for my cable box and the final for my UK multi-adapter). My UK Mac is plugged in quite happily to the multi-adapter, so I wondered where I could possibly put my new charger plug, as that would also be European. Well, the technology behind the actual chargers has not changed whatsoever. The extension chord space for my new charger is exactly the same as the old one, so the (UK) extension chord stays and I can swap it between the 2 chargers! Genius! Also, having some European chargers means needing one less adapter when travelling.