Madden NFL 2004 has won The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences’ Computer Sports Game of the Year. This is the second year that we’ve won. It’s a little sweeter this year since I was the lead programmer. There’s not too many other games in this category since PC sports games are on the decline. However, it is still an honor to win. We wouldn’t have gotten this recoginition without the help of the Madden Console team. We also wouldn’t have won without the hard work of the two other main guys working on Madden PC: Tim Cowan and Tim Spangler. Both of these guys poured their heart and soul and really believed in the PC product and bringing the console expereince to the PC.
For October we had lots of activity. Emily has started to walk as her primary mode of transportation. She is much more interactive and greets me at the top of the stairs when I come home from work every day.
On October 9th, Jennifer and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. We got a baby sitter and went out to eat at the Melting Pot restaurant.
On October 11th, Jennifer and I pretended we were not married to see if it would help the Texas Longhorns beat the University of Oklahoma. The Longhorns haven’t beat OU since we were married in 1999. It didn’t work. Texas lost 65-13.
On October 14th, we all went to Disney World’s Not So Scary Halloween. This is where they open up the part in the evening and all the kids get to wear the costumes and get candy. Both Abby and Emily had lots of fun riding the Dumbo and Tea Cup ride. According to Abby, she was dressed as “a princess” and Emily went as “a fairy”.
On October 18th, we went to the Electronic Arts-Tiburon Fall Festival. There was a hamburger cookout and there was games and rides for the kids. Abby had fun on the giant inflated slide and the merry-go-round. She also showed off her monkey bar skills on the playground.
October 25th, was the Winter Park First United Methodist School Fall Festival. This was a fund raiser for Abby’s school. There was clowns, pony rides, games, and other activities. Abby had lots of fun.
October 26th, George & Heather flew down in order for us to go to the Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers football game. The game wasn’t that exciting as the Cowboys were easily defeated by the Bucs 16-0.
For Halloween Abby had a Halloweek party at her school along with a costume parade. Later the girls came up to where I work and we did our trick-or-treating at Electronic Arts-Tiburon. The “princess” and “fairy” collected way too much candy wandering from cubicle to cubicle.
August was full of activity since I had extra time off from work since Madden shipped last month. Emily has started to stand up when holding on to something. She tries to walk, but usually stumbles. Abby and Emily have started playing together, but Abby usually plays too rough.
On August 2nd we joined the Central Florida YMCA in Winter Park in an attempt to get into shape and so Abby could take swim lessons. She loves going to the pool and we thought it would be a good idea to teach her to swim.
On August 8th George & Heather Galindo came to visit and we all went to Miami to see the Miami Dolphins vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers pre-season football game. Jennifer’s mother flew over to stay with Abby and Emily over night. The following Monday, George, Heather, and I went down to Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex to watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during their training camp.
On August 12th, Madden 2004 was released. So far sales have been doing good. I’ve heard that sales are up from last year.
On August 15th, I won tickets from work to go see the Miami Dolphins vs. Jacksonville Jaguares. Becuase we couldn’t fine anyone on such short notice, I went to the game myself.
August 19th was Abby’s first day of pre-school. She was very happy to go and has enjoyed going. She is going to pre-school at our church, First United Methodist of Winter Park. She goes two days a week for 3 hours. She really enjoys it and can’t wait to go again.
On August 25th Jennifer, Abby, and I went to Blizzard Beach, a water park at Disney. We floated down a river in a innertube, went down water slides. Abby loved every minute of it. She keeps asking to go back to “Mickey’s Water”.
Welcome to the new French Family site. This is an overhaul of our old site which only displayed pictures of our daughter, Abby. We’ve expanded it to keep all of our family and friends up to date on what is going on.
The main reason for the overhaul is the major event of us moving from our home in Austin, Texas to Orlando, Florida. Since we will be even further away from our friends and family, I decided that we would create a web site which would keep everyone up to date on what it going on in our lives. There are two major events that are going on.
First, we are expecting another child in January. Currently we do not know if the new baby is a boy or a girl, but we return to the OB on October 29th to have another ultrasound. Keep looking back here for more updates about the new baby.
Second, my company, Electronic Arts – Tiburon, is relocating us to Orlando, Florida. It’s not very good timing with the new baby and all, but Jennifer and I both feel that it is the right move for job security reasons.
Well, hope you enjoy the new site. We will be updating this site much more often than the old one and we will be soon spicing it up with new pictures.
Frenchville 
