With the release of Pirates of the Caribbean At World’s End makes me long to play Sid Meier’s Pirates. I have the game but have never really played. When I got it, my PC was acting funny, so I put it aside and never picked it up. My husband played it some, and it looked like a lot of fun setting sail on the high seas. It makes me want to check into some Caribbean cruises and have our own adventure at sea.

There’s more to the game of Pirates that sailing. There is also a social element of the game where your character has to win the trust of some influential people. Hopefully I can get it reinstalled on my new hard drive and play some once we return from our weekend trip.

One of my favorite aspects of The Sims 2 is shopping for new stuff. It’s so easy to buy if you have the money. There’s no shopping around at different furniture stores for just the right couch. It’s all located in one spot. If only it was so easy in real life.

There are many expansions to the Sims 2 that add new things to buy. You can also register your game with EA and have access to free Sims 2 downloads of objects, houses, and Sims. Shopping in the Sims 2 is fun especially when you can afford the nicer items. Too many high-end items and the Sims will not like average items. It’s amazing how money and nice things can make your Sims snobs.

I do enjoy shopping for new items for the Sims. It’s so easy and fast unlike shopping in the real world.

Cake Mania is a fun casual game for the PC and the Nintendo DS. Help Jill reopen her grandparents’ bakery. To do so, you will need to meet your daily goals and upgrade your cookware as soon as possible. Having a top of the line oven as well as better icing stations will help you knock out more cakes in record time.

When upgrading, don’t dismiss Jill’s shoes. Improving her footwear will help her move faster around the bakery. One upgrade that I find not as useful is the TV. It is suppose to help to keep your customers happy. You have to change the channel to find something they like. Also, the TV will go to static, and you have to tune it. It’s just a hassle. I would rather just concentrate on baking cakes than babysitting the television.

Cake Mania upgrades to improve your ability to make more cakes and serve more customers. As soon as you can afford it, upgrade and make Jill’s life a little easier.

The latest comic book series to make the leap to video games is Sin City. Red Mile Entertainment will be in charge of bringing Frank Miller’s graphic novels to the gaming world. Red Mile will have exclusive worldwide rights to the Sin City franchise when it comes to games.

Miller said he was impressed with Red Mile’s vision for a video game around Sin City. No release date or titles have yet been announced. Sin City was brought to the big screen in 2005. The movie which was mostly shot in black and white featured several stories from the Sin City world.

The hubby loves Sin City. I enjoy the comics. They are dark and are definitely for a mature audience.

This summer will mark 1 year that I’ve been making money blogging with PayPerPost. I’ve been able to do blog advertising on my website and make a little extra money for the family budget. Throughout the year, PayPerPost has undertaken some massive projects like the PayPerPost wedding or RockStartup, the web-reality show about PPP. They have added a ton of features for bloggers to make even more money like their affiliate program. Their latest software release has added an even more exciting venture that benefits for both blogger and advertiser.

It’s called PPP Direct. Now advertisers can offer jobs to select bloggers. Bloggers can install the PPP Direct badge onto their blog to attract potential advertisers. PPP Direct will allow the blogger and advertiser to hash out all the details of the post without PPP having to be involved. The best part is that PPPs fee is nominal in comparison with other paid review services that mark up the price of paid reviews anywhere from 50%-100%. Bloggers will receive more of the money paid by the advertiser while the advertiser will be less in fees and actually paying the bulk of the rate to the blogger. This is a win-win situation for blogger and advertiser.

The advertiser can showcase their product or website on the blogs of their choosing at a fraction of the cost if they went through another paid service. The blogger gets more money from the fee charged to the advertiser. Bloggers may think that they can just sell ads directly. While this may be the case, using PayPerPost where the fee is put in escrow assures that the blogger gets paid and the advertiser gets their post.

PayPerPost is constantly working to improve their service for both bloggers and advertisers. PPP Direct has promise to be a great service for everyone.

I think disorganization is encoded in my DNA. I feel so scattered most of the day that I’m surprised when I get anything done. That’s why the announcement of the DS casual game My Life Coach really intrigues me.

While My Life Coach isn’t exactly an organizational game, it is a game to help you with motivation and changing your life. My Life Coach will be developed in collaboration with a behaviorist. With its help, maybe I can over my DNA shortcomings and actually be more driven to get things done.

My Life Coach will be a series of “My Coach” casual games that will be focused on helping gamers with areas of their life. The games will be from UbiSoft who brought us the popular Petz series of casual games.

We are going to visit relatives this Memorial Day weekend. While I wish we were heading to a nice Orlando vacation rental, we will be heading the opposite direction of Florida. When we travel it always takes a day to pack. Between washing clothes and thinking of worse case scenarios to prepare for, it takes from sunrise to sunset.

I’ve been loading the laptop with my favorite games to make sure I can get in some game time. There will be game consoles where we are staying but usually games are either one player or two players. Having some casual games on the laptop will ensure I have something to do while the husband and nephew play games.

Besides Flower Shop Big City Break, I have installed a couple of demos from Big Fish Games. Since I still have my game credit I’m hoping there is one that I really enjoy and will use my credit to unlock the full version. I’m leaning towards Nanny Mania just because I’m a sucker for sim games. Downbeat also has some promise for its music and premise.

It’ll be a fun weekend seeing everyone again. I may not even have time to play video games. I will be ready if and when I get the chance to play.