Florida, Hawaii, Southeast Michigan and the Assassin's Creed or How I Spent My MLK Day

Southeast Michigan is a lonely place these days. My parents are in Florida, my girlfriend is in Hawaii and I am fending for myself on a three day weekend. It's not all bad though. I got a great 10 mile run in on Saturday. The snow made the run particularly challenging. Each step involved a little bit of a slip on the snow and ice and extended my run by about 10 minutes (and a few hundred calories). An hour and a half in 20 degree temps certainly makes one feel isolated and for the portion of my run in the back roads of the area, that feeling of isolation was very real, and great. :)

On the other end of the weather spectrum, take a gander at this pic my girlfriend just sent me.



And...back to reality.

On holidays, I usually try to watch a show to learn a little more about why I have the day off. That didn't quite work out today because I had a two hour special on Andrew Jackson I had recorded on the DVR. So, instead of a special on MLK, I learned quite a bit about the down side of Jackson and the removal of Indians. Bringing this post back to geography, it was interesting to learn about the impact geography had on two famous Jackson battles, The Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the Battle of New Orleans. Using land for a strategic advantage is as old as war but, for me, this was a great reminder of how Geography shows up every day in our lives.

Everyone being out of town does give me a little time to spend on hobbies, research, reflection and of course, VIDEO GAMES! I went with Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. I was particularly intrigued by the map of the Roman world included in the official guide. You might think of guidebooks as cheating, I think of them as a way to fully immerse oneself in a game, and in this case, a new world. With a couple of hours in the books, the expansive world the game is played in is quite entertaining. The game does a great job at incorporating monuments, areas and characters inspired by real life.

Here's the map that lured me in!