At 6:00 pm this evening, I get to start bussing. I will still appear to be updating the blog, do the magic of time-shifting, but I will, in fact, be grinding away my sanity behind the wheel fo the Desert Bus.

As I do so, however, I’m glad to know that I will be joined by Russ Pitts, Editor-in-Chief of the Escapist, who will be calling to wish us well, and chat with us for a bit. Russ has been in the games press for a while, and has been a driving force in making new media more accessible and interactive for end users. He’s a great guy, and we look forward to chatting with him.

If you have anything you’d like to ask Russ about, you can post it in the comments for this post. We don’t promise to ask him anything or everything posted, but we’ll adress some questions if we have time.

Just because we are on to our 3rd night doesn’t mean we don’t have AWESOME prizes to auction off to you guys, in fact we have cool stuff for night 4 and beyond as well. So here is what we have for you this evening. Keep in mind the Catgirl Doll are the only scheduled auction.

Kathleen and Tally Catgirl Dolls @ 10:00PM PST

These dolls were created using the Baby London Star body pattern, and the rest is original make-it-up-as-you-go work. Catgirl Tally features the “Aww, muffin…” t-shirt alteration, strawberry earrings, and bacon bracelet. Catgirl Kathleen features a Desert Bus shirt and floral skirt.

Materials include fleece, felt, various cottons and polyesters, iron-on t-shirt transfers, buttons, yarn, thread and lots of love! Mostly machine-sewn, partially hand-sewn, plus a touch of hot glue.

Please note that due to small parts, these dolls are not appropriate for children.

LoadingReadyRun “Corporate” Prize #2

This is a superpack of LRR gear! It includes an after hours DVD, a Commodore Hustle DVD, a LRR button 3 pack, 3 1? buttons, and three LRR t-shirts: slacking, desert bus (original) and starburst

Signed Scott Pilgrim #4

An Autographed copy of Scott Pilgrim Gets it together, bought as a gift and donated to Kathleen, then donated again to raise money for the children!

Escapist Prize pack number 2

Ever wonder what it?s like to be a games journalist? Get a little closer to your chosen profession with the Escapist?s Games Journalist Prize pack! Everything here was donated by a REAL games journalist! Pack 1 includes: Touch Charge Kit Battery Charger, Demon Souls Artbook and Soundtrack, Guild Wars T-shirt, Guild Wars Game, Mana Potion Energy Drink, Dragon Lance Novel, Rise of the Argonaughts soundtrack, The Escapist T-Shirt, Imp Plushie

Sony executive prize pack.

Experience the high flying life of a Sony Executive with this incredible Sony Playstation jacket, Clank cufflinks, sony wallet, memo pad, business card holder and the ultimate corporate symbol – a PS2 martini shaker

So I’m going to level with you, even though it’s saying Jer is the author of this post It’s actually James. As many of you know I was at home sleeping last night, it seemed like a good idea. But during my absence something regarding the ever popular mustache (what with it be Movember) happened.

Again, I don’t know what the deal with but I think these images speak for themselves.

We have entered the realm of $40,000 and beyoooooooooond! Which means swanky new milestone pictures! Hooray!!!

Xbox 360 has joined forces with Desert Bus this year to help us make this year’s Desert Bus for Hope the biggest ever! Xbox has generously donated an Xbox games superbundle to auction off that includes some of the greatest hits from the system – Ninja Blade, Gears of War, Too Human, Crackdown and Fable 2.  We’ll be auctioning this bundle off after Stepto – XBox Live’s director of Policy and Enforcement calls in on Tuesday at 5:00pm PST, 8:00pm EST!

While most of our amazing Desert Bus guests have been calling us to chat, our next guest is the first actually show up in person!

Joel DeYoung is the Chief Operating Officer  of Hothead Games in Vancouver, and director of the Penny Arcade Adventures games. Joel is currently producing his new project, Swarm, but has taken some time out of his schedule to come hang out and drive the bus. If you have anything you’d like to talk to Joel about, be sure to show up in the chat to say “Hi” between  2:00 and 6:00 PST.

Now you see it, now you don’t! Looked at straight-on, this scarf appears to be a simple striped affair. But looked at from an angle, the LoadingReadyRun logo suddenly appears. This is the magic of illusion knitting, and the combination of black and blue stripes in this scarf makes the logo highly visible (when viewed from an angle). Notes from the crafter: “Like most of the things I make, this project started because I wanted to learn a particular technique (illusion knitting, in this case) but didn’t have a specific project in mind for myself. Making a scarf for the Desert Bus Craft-along gave me both a project and an intended recipient.”

More details here