I awoke to find
A giant head next to me;
Darkness and blankets.
[Seriously though, it was freaky. I tried to take a photo but my poor digital camera doesn't have the ability to extend the exposure long enough to get a good picture in the dark.]
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Daily Haiku - September 29, 2012
The moon is so bright,
A spotlight for half the earth.
Do not miss your cue.
A spotlight for half the earth.
Do not miss your cue.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Grandparents: Part 1
Of my two sets of grandparents, I knew those on my mother’s side the best. This was in part because they were around longer than my father’s parents were and because when we did see them, we got to see them for longer periods of time.Our most frequent visits took place at the cottage in Maine, during the summer breaks from school. We’d usually be up there for two weeks, wherein I’d get to play Spite and Malice with grandma and do the occasional fishing trip with grandpa. If not there, we’d visit my grandparents at their seaside home in Georgia, and later when they had retired, in Florida.
Before all of this though, my grandparents traveled quite a bit thanks to my grandfather’s work as a pastor. They went from Pennsylvania to New York to Puerto Rico to Tennessee to India to Alexandria to Georgia (U.S.) to California and back again to Georgia. Having been fortunate enough to travel overseas a bit myself, I would have loved to have heard their stories.
They raised four kids (three boys and one girl) over this span, each five years apart, with my mother being the youngest of the group. My grandmother briefly performed with a traveling vaudeville show. They lived near Albert Einstein while my grandfather was a graduate student at Princeton and would often see him about town. My mother shared one of my grandmother’s memories of him:
“She once saw Einstein walking down the street eating an ice cream cone and walking with one foot on the curb and the other in the street and he was obviously enjoying bobbing up and down as he went from the higher curb to the lower street.” Oh, Einstein, you so crazy!
Sadly, both of them passed away before I was mature enough to have obtained an appreciation for my family history, so I only learned of their adventures second-hand through my mother and her older brothers. My grandfather left us in 1998 during my first year in college and I didn’t make it down to the funeral. Four years later my grandmother passed away as well, but not before I had a chance to visit her one last time with my family.
She was in her 90s by then, and was in a lot of pain. She was on medication at the time, but it could only help so much. When the pain got bad enough she would disappear momentarily, as if someone had switched the radio to a different station. I distinctly recall during that last visit when we had a meal at the retirement home dining hall, and she suddenly began playing Spite and Malice with her silverware. It only lasted a moment; she mentioned something about needing more hearts and then she was back, with a quick wink of the eye to assure me she was okay. She was a strong woman and clearly didn’t want anyone to worry about her.
I don’t know for sure when, or if, I’ll have children. While marriage is becoming a more realistic concept for me, children are probably still a long way off. But if there was ever an argument to make for having children sooner rather than later it would be to ensure that they would have a long time to get to know their grandparents. I was fortunate my grandparents were around for as long as they were and it would be a shame if my children weren’t afforded the same luxury.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Slow but steady wins the race
The Peach Cake comic is still actively being worked on, but I'm being terribly distracted by Borderlands 2. It fortunately does not contain that "one more turn" hook that Sid Meier's Civilization series does, but it has still managed to eat up a great deal of my spare time.
In other news, I just finished the sixth book of the Temeraire series, Tongues of Serpents. If you're not familiar with the series, think British history during the Napoleonic wars, but with dragons. It's as awesome as that sounds, though the series has the strange trend of all the even numbered books being decidedly void of action. That's not to say they aren't good, just not as action-packed. Having said that though, this book was easily my least favorite of the series. Not only was the action lacking, there wasn't anything particularly interesting going on to fill the void. Hopefully the next book will get things back on track.
Also, SECRETS. Hopefully I'll have something exciting to tell you in the next week or two.
In other news, I just finished the sixth book of the Temeraire series, Tongues of Serpents. If you're not familiar with the series, think British history during the Napoleonic wars, but with dragons. It's as awesome as that sounds, though the series has the strange trend of all the even numbered books being decidedly void of action. That's not to say they aren't good, just not as action-packed. Having said that though, this book was easily my least favorite of the series. Not only was the action lacking, there wasn't anything particularly interesting going on to fill the void. Hopefully the next book will get things back on track.
Also, SECRETS. Hopefully I'll have something exciting to tell you in the next week or two.
Daily Haiku - September 26, 2012
Three sets of twelve reps
Pull, release, pull, release, pull
Is it over yet?
Pull, release, pull, release, pull
Is it over yet?
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Daily Haiku - September 24, 2012
Change comes regardless
So take the reins and lead it
Lest you go awry.
So take the reins and lead it
Lest you go awry.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Daily Haiku - September 20, 2012
Thinking of grandma
And playing Spite and Malice.
Gone too soon, too soon.
And playing Spite and Malice.
Gone too soon, too soon.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
The links that bind
Earlier this week my department finally started upgrading the office computers to Windows 7 and Office 2010, which by the way is crazy weird coming from the 2003 version, and in the process I lost all my Firefox bookmarks.
The greatest of these losses were the recipe links, but a number of them came from blogs that I regularly follow so it shouldn’t be too hard to find them (I hope). I also lost my web comics, but since those get visited on an almost daily basis it wasn’t hard to repopulate them. That said, it was still a bit of a scare so I figured I’d take a moment to list them here in case of future catastrophes and also because they are awesome websites and you should visit them.
Web comics:
Battlepug: Fantasy series co-starring a giant Pug.
Buttersafe: one-shot random stick-figure humor.
The Order of the Stick: Fantasy Stick-Figure series.
Girls With Slingshots: Rauncy, funny ladies series.
Guilded Age: Fantasy series.
Gunnerkrigg Court: Fantasy/Steampunk series.
Muliplex: Series about folks working in a movie theatre.
Next Town Over: Steampunk western series.
Penny Arcade: One-shot geek/nerd humor.
PVPonline: Geek series.
Questionable Content: Good stuff. About 20-something crowd.
Scary Go Round: Those brits do some damn good webcomics.
String Theory: Crazy scientist with black eyeballs.
The Abominable Charles Christopher: A softhearted snowman with beautiful artwork.
The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: He is a doctor and a ninja.
The Non-Adventures of Wonderella: If superheroes were less heroic.
The Trenches: Co-produced by the PVPOnline and Penny Arcade folk, dealing with video game testers.
xkcd: Science/math one-shots.
Food Sites:
David Lebovitz: A famous dude who knows food.
Foodbeast: General food news site.
Macheesmo: Food recipe blog.
Serious Eats: General food news site.
Smitten Kitchen: Food recipe blog.
The Pioneer Woman: Food recipe blog.
What We're Eating: Food recipe blog, though it's rarely updated these days.
The greatest of these losses were the recipe links, but a number of them came from blogs that I regularly follow so it shouldn’t be too hard to find them (I hope). I also lost my web comics, but since those get visited on an almost daily basis it wasn’t hard to repopulate them. That said, it was still a bit of a scare so I figured I’d take a moment to list them here in case of future catastrophes and also because they are awesome websites and you should visit them.
Web comics:
Battlepug: Fantasy series co-starring a giant Pug.
Buttersafe: one-shot random stick-figure humor.
The Order of the Stick: Fantasy Stick-Figure series.
Girls With Slingshots: Rauncy, funny ladies series.
Guilded Age: Fantasy series.
Gunnerkrigg Court: Fantasy/Steampunk series.
Muliplex: Series about folks working in a movie theatre.
Next Town Over: Steampunk western series.
Penny Arcade: One-shot geek/nerd humor.
PVPonline: Geek series.
Questionable Content: Good stuff. About 20-something crowd.
Scary Go Round: Those brits do some damn good webcomics.
String Theory: Crazy scientist with black eyeballs.
The Abominable Charles Christopher: A softhearted snowman with beautiful artwork.
The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: He is a doctor and a ninja.
The Non-Adventures of Wonderella: If superheroes were less heroic.
The Trenches: Co-produced by the PVPOnline and Penny Arcade folk, dealing with video game testers.
xkcd: Science/math one-shots.
Food Sites:
David Lebovitz: A famous dude who knows food.
Foodbeast: General food news site.
Macheesmo: Food recipe blog.
Serious Eats: General food news site.
Smitten Kitchen: Food recipe blog.
The Pioneer Woman: Food recipe blog.
What We're Eating: Food recipe blog, though it's rarely updated these days.
Daily Haiku - September 19, 2012
Filing Room is clean,
But still as full as before.
Who keeps adding stuff?
But still as full as before.
Who keeps adding stuff?
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Daily Haiku - September 18, 2012
Chewy sandwich roll
Stop squeezing out your filling
Every time I bite
Stop squeezing out your filling
Every time I bite
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
What we’re playing: Kill Doctor Lucky
I like the concept of Kill Doctor Lucky. Essentially it’s the flipside of Clue; instead of trying to hunt down the murderer you ARE the murderer, attempting to knock off the good old Doctor. But while the idea is funny and original, I think the execution of it falls just short, which is why the game has only seen play five times in the ten months that I’ve owned it (three times when I first got it and twice on this previous Sunday).
Here’s how the game works. You’ve got your standard Clue-esque board made up of a house filled with a variety of rooms and hallways. Doctor Lucky is randomly given a room to start in and then begins to wander around his house in a predetermined pattern. Meanwhile, the players are attempting to kill him, which required them to be both (a) in the same room as the good Doctor, and also (b) out of the line-of-sight from any other player on the board. If such requirements are met, the player can attempt to off the old man, but the other players have an opportunity to stop him/her from doing so.
How does this all happen? Each player starts the game with a hand of six cards, pulled from a deck that is broken down into four categories: Move cards, Room cards, Weapon cards, and Failure cards.
Move cards: you may move yourself or the Doctor a number of spaces equal to the amount listed on the card (1, 2 or 3).
Room cards: you may move yourself or the Doctor directly to the room listed on the card.
Weapon cards: for each attempt on the Doctor’s life, you may use a single weapon card to increase your attack damage. Some cards do more damage when used in a specific room (i.e., Bad Cream is normally worth 2 points of attack, but if used in the Sitting Room it is worth 5).
Failure cards: when another player makes an attempt on Doctor Lucky’s life, the remaining players may attempt to thwart him by playing failure cards (value ranges from 1-3).
On a given player’s turn he or she may take the following actions:
1) A free move (1 space); must happen before attacking the Doctor.
2) Play any number of move cards; must happen before attacking the Doctor.
3) Play any number of room cards; must happen before attacking the Doctor.
4) Play a single weapon when attacking Doctor Lucky (if in the same room and unseen by other players).
5) Draw a card (if no cards were played turn and an attempt was not made on the Doctor’s life).
There’s more to it than this, but I think it’s enough to give you the basic gist of the game. The problem is the game only works with a very select number of players. The box states it works with three to seven players, but having attempted it with three, four, five and six players I can tell you it only really jelled with five. Less than that and the game ends very quickly; more than that and the game drags on (because it’s almost impossible to be out of sight from the other players to attempt to kill the Doctor). And even with the two five-player games we played Sunday, the second one dragged on. :\
Again, I really, REALLY like the concept of the game, but it just doesn’t work well enough to get repeat playtime in my group, so I can’t recommend picking it up yourself. Still, if you get a chance to play it, I’d certainly give it the old college try.
Here’s how the game works. You’ve got your standard Clue-esque board made up of a house filled with a variety of rooms and hallways. Doctor Lucky is randomly given a room to start in and then begins to wander around his house in a predetermined pattern. Meanwhile, the players are attempting to kill him, which required them to be both (a) in the same room as the good Doctor, and also (b) out of the line-of-sight from any other player on the board. If such requirements are met, the player can attempt to off the old man, but the other players have an opportunity to stop him/her from doing so.
How does this all happen? Each player starts the game with a hand of six cards, pulled from a deck that is broken down into four categories: Move cards, Room cards, Weapon cards, and Failure cards.
Move cards: you may move yourself or the Doctor a number of spaces equal to the amount listed on the card (1, 2 or 3).
Room cards: you may move yourself or the Doctor directly to the room listed on the card.
Weapon cards: for each attempt on the Doctor’s life, you may use a single weapon card to increase your attack damage. Some cards do more damage when used in a specific room (i.e., Bad Cream is normally worth 2 points of attack, but if used in the Sitting Room it is worth 5).
Failure cards: when another player makes an attempt on Doctor Lucky’s life, the remaining players may attempt to thwart him by playing failure cards (value ranges from 1-3).
On a given player’s turn he or she may take the following actions:
1) A free move (1 space); must happen before attacking the Doctor.
2) Play any number of move cards; must happen before attacking the Doctor.
3) Play any number of room cards; must happen before attacking the Doctor.
4) Play a single weapon when attacking Doctor Lucky (if in the same room and unseen by other players).
5) Draw a card (if no cards were played turn and an attempt was not made on the Doctor’s life).
There’s more to it than this, but I think it’s enough to give you the basic gist of the game. The problem is the game only works with a very select number of players. The box states it works with three to seven players, but having attempted it with three, four, five and six players I can tell you it only really jelled with five. Less than that and the game ends very quickly; more than that and the game drags on (because it’s almost impossible to be out of sight from the other players to attempt to kill the Doctor). And even with the two five-player games we played Sunday, the second one dragged on. :\
Again, I really, REALLY like the concept of the game, but it just doesn’t work well enough to get repeat playtime in my group, so I can’t recommend picking it up yourself. Still, if you get a chance to play it, I’d certainly give it the old college try.
Daily Haiku - September 17, 2012
Release Day issues
Why can’t I play Borderlands?
Curse you, computer!
(P.S. If you are stuck in the .NET install/fix loop, try running the Steam executable file as the Administrator. You can do this by right clicking on the file and choosing the ‘Run as administrator’ option. Worked like a charm for me.)
Why can’t I play Borderlands?
Curse you, computer!
(P.S. If you are stuck in the .NET install/fix loop, try running the Steam executable file as the Administrator. You can do this by right clicking on the file and choosing the ‘Run as administrator’ option. Worked like a charm for me.)
Friday, September 14, 2012
Daily Haiku - September 13, 2012
I dreamt of earthquakes
The world crumbled around me
What life lies below?
The world crumbled around me
What life lies below?
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Food + Redditt = Delicious Hilarity
I love to cook. I also love Reddit. Fortuitous then that there are subreddits allowing me to meld these two wondrous joys into a single delicious entity, not unlike chicken and whatever chemical compound Panda Express has passed off as ‘orange sauce.’
One of the relatively newer subreddits, FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUD, attempts to combine the humor of rage comics with recipes, usually to hilarious effect. I threw my hat into the ring ages ago with one of my favorite recipes, Ginger Ale Marinated Pork Loin (this is the actual recipe, not the comic), but then never followed up even though I had a great time making the comic.
I'm finally getting around to rectifying that oversight with a peach cake recipe, but in the interim I thought I'd share my original creation, as I'm very proud of it. Due to the sheer size of the image (475x5920) I'm just going to link to it, instead of imbedding it into the blog.
One of the relatively newer subreddits, FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUD, attempts to combine the humor of rage comics with recipes, usually to hilarious effect. I threw my hat into the ring ages ago with one of my favorite recipes, Ginger Ale Marinated Pork Loin (this is the actual recipe, not the comic), but then never followed up even though I had a great time making the comic.
I'm finally getting around to rectifying that oversight with a peach cake recipe, but in the interim I thought I'd share my original creation, as I'm very proud of it. Due to the sheer size of the image (475x5920) I'm just going to link to it, instead of imbedding it into the blog.
Daily Haiku - September 12, 2012
Board games can be fun,
But frustration not so much;
Let’s play Find the Zen.
But frustration not so much;
Let’s play Find the Zen.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Daily Haiku - September 11, 2012
Curse you Louisville
The bane of bar trivia
You’re not that big, town.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Long term time travel--worth the trip?
I admit my opinion may be limited by my practical nature,
but it seems to me that going way back in time (i.e. years or more) would have
a LOT of downside. Say I want to go back to before Apple stock went
crazy so I could cash in and become a millionaire today.
For the sake of this argument, let’s go with January 2003,
where the stock was still selling for about $7.50 per share (roughly 1.14% of
the current value of $660) and that you had enough money back then to make it
worthwhile (in reality I would have only been able to buy about 300 shares,
netting me a meager $195,750 pre-taxes).
Now I just have to wait a decade and I’ll be set for life, assuming I
don’t cash out earlier. What could
possible be wrong with this scenario? I’m
glad you asked.
Having now set things in motion you merely have to relive the next ten years of your life. Now this is great if those ten years sucked
and you’re happy with anything or everything potentially changing, but if life
was pretty sweet you’ve got some problems.
Namely, you’re burdened with ten years of memories that never happened. Trying to duplicate those years to properly
set up and maintain all the relationships and experiences that you accrued over
that time seems really difficult.
Imagine accidently referencing some shared experience or some
personal piece of information someone hadn’t told you yet. Say you’re talking to your future girlfriend
or wife, and mention some little known fact from her childhood that she told
you years into the relationship. It
would be really creepy, right? Maybe it
would freak her out and ruin your chance to have that relationship. Now it’s always possible you could excuse it
as being confused or a strange coincidence.
But what if it kept happening on and off over the months or years? That could damage or completely ruin
friendships that you had come to cherish.
Just not worth the risk to me.
Short term time travel has a much smaller risk-reward ratio
though and I would totally go back a few months in time (even more than once) in
an effort to tweak my choices for maximum awesomeness and/or moderate financial
gain.
So in closing, if anyone has a time machine I can borrow I
really appreciated it.
Daily Haiku - September 10, 2012
Thinning out the herd
Digital files fall in droves
Sub-par memories.
Digital files fall in droves
Sub-par memories.
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