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My talented wife Anne has created an on-line gerage sale.
Your invitation for Anne’s graduation! Anne is getting her bachelors in computer science this weekend to celebrate we are hosting a couple of gaming events on the weekend of March 27th. Friday the 27th is games and Lasagna night @ 5:00 PM to LATE · Gamers and non gamers welcome · Board games and card games will be played, bring a favorite if you like · Console games like Rock Band 2 are also on tap · Sigfried will run some 4E demo games (volunteer DMs also welcome!) · Movies, Anime, and drinks are on tap · Find out if the cake is a lie · Party starts at 5pm Sunday the 29th is LAN party and pancakes day @ 8:00 AM TO LATE · Come early, bring a computer/console, and settle in for a long day of computer and/or console gaming. · You are welcome as early as 8am and can stay until the wee hours of the night · We have a couple older systems available for those not wanting to bring a rig · Bringing a hub and network cable if you have one is encouraged, although we also have wireless · Pancakes will be provided in the morning, food will be summoned for lunch and dinner · Console and handheld gamers are also welcome although screen space is somewhat limited · Please RSVP for Sunday Where is it? Our house is at 14510 12th Ave NE Shoreline, WA 98155 206-245-6278 or 206-465-6315 KEXP Fund Raising Anne did her senior internship at KEXP, a great local radio station. She requests that family members wishing to offer money as a graduation gift instead donate to KEXP. At the party we will also have a KEXP donation box. KEXP buttons and bumper stickers abound! Free KEXP Vol 4 CD & KEXP Shirts to the top 4 donations above the $80 range.
Why Capital One is a good Credit card company
Pretty much at every turn they have been cool and surprised me with their excellent service while every other card I have has been basically neutral or somewhat deceptive. post a comment
Generaly stress doesn't bug me too bad. I have stuff to do, I do it, or I chill a bit and then do it. Except for whan I'm relaxing I feel about the same general level of stress and anxiety most of the time which is a bit but certainly not enough to really bug me out.
The Obama inaguration was nice. The CEO at MRS gave us leave to watch it during work hours, were a pretty leftie kind of office which I find a bit embarasing and comforting at the same time. I usualy try to leave politics to the internet or the rare soul who likes arguing about it. It was cool to see a president give a speach I could imagine myself giving and saying the kinds of things I often say when roused to patriotism. I hope he does great things.
Its been ages since I blogged, please forgive me. :)
My company, and I are looking for a strong software tester. If you think you might be interested or know someone who is, the details of the job are behind the cut... (assuming I figure out how to do that...)
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( Details here! )
I just got done with almost a full week off of work (I popped in the office for a few hours to pack things for a building move). It sure was nice to chill a week, although really mostly what I did was catch up on video gaming and hanging about with my lovely wife. Good times. I had thought to do more project work but I really didn’t feel motivated for much more than a few hours of it. Anyhow, I’m in my new office for the first time. Actually it’s a cubical now, but for me it’s pretty much the same difference. I’m not a deeply private person and I provide my own distractions if others don’t do it for me. Anyhow the new building is much more corporate but also much nicer all around. It feels very professional and a little exciting. I’m actually very fond of new and unfamiliar surroundings. I think it’s one of the things that drives my love of games as I like exploring spaces and learning the way things work there. It was fun exploring the new space, a little bit like having a new job. Speaking of which, I applied for a new position at my office. It’s called a Program manager and is a bit more of a project management kind of gig rather than a pure coding job. It really is more my kind of deal as I program as a means to organize information rather than out of a love of code itself. I’ll know in about 2-3 weeks if I get the position.
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Wizards of the Coast made their new license for publishing 4th Edition material available this week along with the accompanying system reference document. I like 4E and I was looking forward to the license release but having seen it I am sorely disappointed. When WOTC made the third edition they took the revolutionary step of publishing the rules under an open license called the OGL , and they licensed a logo for it under the d20 license. It let anyone publish their own D&D supplements and adventures so long as you followed a few basic rules. By using the license you similarly gave permission to others to use and build on your work. WOTC kept all their most of their supplemental material off limits, but the core game was there for everyone to play with. Well this time they have drop kicked the whole “open” aspect and gone with a more traditional kind of license allowing people to publish 4E supplements. While that is still more than what most game publishers offer, there are a number of devils lurking in the details of the license. For starters it essentially punts any obligation on wizards part and proclaims its subject to change at any time without any notification and gives WOTC broad digression in determining what is or isn’t allowed under the license. A troubling clause for many publishers is that any “conversion” of a project published under the OGL must be discontinued to publish a version of it under the GSL (game system license). Again WOTC reserves the right to judge what is a conversion and what is part of the same product line making this a potential danger for any company that has been successful with 3E products but would like to make 4E ones. But the big killer for me is the SRD (system reference document) which has gone from a nearly complete set of core rules to a mere list of terms and game components. Instead of being able to incorporate the game rules into your publications you are merely allowed to make reference to them. Compared to the SRD of old, the new one is a useless pile of shit. Even in comparison to no SRD at all in has almost no value of any kind other than to name the things you cannot describe. What was once a fantastic gift to fans is now a barbed wire fence for publishers. I can see how the license will still allow certain kinds of publications to be made, and I don’t think it is utterly worthless or believe that WOTC is eager to shut down independent publishers, but it is a big step backwards and extremely unattractive to fan projects. It is attractive to me as a non-profit content maker to simply give them the big metaphorical middle finger. It’s especially disappointing because I really like the rules system they have put together this time.
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I’m delighted to see Obama get the tentative nod as democratic nominee. Politics rarely seem to choose the kinds of candidates I support, but this year both parties picked my favorites among their contenders. I’m solidly behind Obama but I’m very much looking forward to debates between the two. No doubt there will be plenty of BS but there will be some jewels of thought and debate in there under the spin. I think that in the end, Obama will win and if that happens it will be a pretty amazing moment. I’m trying to plow through the 4E rules between all the other stuff I’m up to. It’s very interesting and I think I quite like it. I’m unsure how flexible the new class and powers systems are as they are currently presented. I’ll need to actually play to find out. But many of the other new mechanics seem very smart to me. Many have complained that the rules are too cold and without flavor. But for me the flavor has always been separate from the rules. My experience is that the art and context is what sets the stage for imagination, and not the mechanics which serve two rolls: a framework for the story telling, and simply a mechanical game to play. I think as a game, the new rules are pretty good. I now have a mac and an ipod touch on my desk at work. We are looking at doing some iphone development and those are the tools of the trade. I’m excited as I got my start on macs and it’s been a long time since I played with one. The only down side is its one more “hazards unknown” kind of project that lately has made work kind of unproductive and frustrating as I fumble around in territory that isn’t my usual domain.
Well, I’ve been busy so I haven’t dipped deep into any game but I try to go to game after 10pm for at least an hour and I’ve squeezed in a bit of gaming elsewhere so I’ve tried out some new stuff. DDO: Looking forward to next module with monks, still haven’t hardly played much of the last one… Age of Conan: Played a few hours. Looks pretty, neat story/setting, average game play for an MMO. NeverWinterNights 2: Finished main story with Anne and just started sequel. Great game, playing solo with evil character as well and about 1/3 the way through. Starcraft the Board game: Got to play this at a friends. Really well designed IMO and lots of fun. Manages intense combat and strategy in a game under 4 hours (with 3 players) by getting you right into the action from turn 1 and having a decisive game mechanic for winning. D&D 4th Edition: Got a bootleg copy and am reading the rules. It’s very different, almost more so than 3.0 was from 2.0. D&D 3.5: Had a good session a couple weeks back, always fun for me. Pendragon: Final (or semifinal) session coming up next week. To arms!
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Ah summer is nearly here and with it a bit more free time for Anne and I. I’m planning on trying out my Sunday Sabbath 2.0 for the summer. If you missed the original post the idea is to pick a day and to make sure you get a good bit of relaxation on that day of the week. I’m not sure if I’m doing it every week, but possibly every other week or every week there arn't special sunday plans. So much like the religious Sabbath this one’s got some rules that I’ll be trying to follow #1. No work or chores which are anything other than fun stuff you want to do #2. No driving more than 5 miles and no going out to do errands #3. Sleep in and go to bed early #4. No schedules or alarms or timers of any kind, just ignore the clock (other than rule #3) #5. Keep cooking to a minimum #6. Encourage people to visit and share in the slackerdom
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So I was thinking today… I was feeling pretty zippy thanks to recovering from a cold and getting lots of bed rest for a day. I have that lots to do so little time feeling, instead of the lots to, would rather play a game feeling I usually have J. So I had a though that perhaps the whole Sabbath day concept is a pretty good idea from a purely humanist perspective and that it came up out of some common wisdom (as with many religious ideas). Pick a day (Sunday seems the best in M-F work life). Do nothing you feel obligated to do, only things you would find fun and relaxing. Sleep in and go to bed early or at least take a mid day nap (whatever works best for your natural cycle but definitely get at least 3-4 hours more sleep than you normally do. Depending on who you are rules could vary. For me it would also be a space of time for casual socializing. No long trips or parties, just having friends round or visiting nearby friends in the middle of the day. You can do chores but only if you think it’s fun and relaxing to do them. I’m thinking it would be hard to arrange at first but you could settle into it and it might just make life more pleasurable and help you be more productive the rest of the week. If you have a family you would have to get everyone on board for it of course.
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I’m not sure I can do it myself these days but perhaps… At any rate I thought it was worth sharing and wondered what others thought.
Not a lot. I've got a nasty little cold at the moment, trying to sleep this bad boy off with small bouts of wakefullness to cram food and take care of nessesities.
Zobeck Game This one wrapped up the current story although the group vows to start up a new story once we can get a workable version of 4E. It was a great game with great folks. My Dwarven battle mage, Malkus, turned out to be quite the hero as he and his companions managed to lift the siege of Zobeck after many adventures and trials. He by persistence to get the powers to be accept that he was a Gryphon Knight and not a mere Gryphon Scout thus ensuring his legacy as the founding member of that soon to be glorious order. Pendragon My portly and un-pious but otherwise very knightly knight, Sir Havenor and his companions succeeded in their quest to save king authors kingdom by recovering the mystic whetstone so that sir Gwain could defeat the grey knight. Now we are riding to the tournament of dreams for a little jousting and intrigue. It’s been quite a fun and laid back game with some very amusing players and GM. Age of worms My evil monk was reincarnated as an elf and decided that he was no longer feeling quite as evil. (He had lots of issues with his past and parents and he now feels like he’s got a chance for a new and different life.) We are in the midst of a gladiatorial tournament while trying to investigate the nefarious deeds of the arena master. And yet over all this hangs a prophesy that when we win the tournament a great cataclysm will take place.
Politics I went to our legislative district caucus as an Obama delegate and Anne went as an alternate and was sworn in when a spot was available. It was quite interesting and ultimately a lot of fun. People were very excited and it was a crowd of folks that have strong opinions and like to speak their minds. The Obama camp had lots of political fist timers and populist types. The Clinton camp were more the experienced pragmatist, women with strong stands on women’s issues, and a smattering or folks with strong views on health care. I ended up sitting in what was unofficially the Clinton side of the auditorium so I got a nice sample of the folks there to support her. Gaming The number one game for me at the moment is Neverwinter Nights 2. I couldn’t play it on my old machine without great frustration, but it is quite fun on my new system and it’s a game Anne and I can play together. Other stuff I’m rolling out to a Linux fest this weekend with Brett and Sarah. It should be fun although I’m not any kind of Linux enthusiast. I like the ethos but I don’t generally like to tinker around with my computer these days.
Life in Sigland marches ever forward! I’ve been busy lately, that’s not especially new. I’ve always struggled between a desire to have some ambition, a deep seeded love of being lazy and relaxed, and a sense of commitment to others and to things I enjoy. So there is always a tug of war between “Wouldn’t it be great to do X!” “I need to make sure I get Y done.” and “I’d like to just spend a whole day playing video games once in a while.”
The wife: Ann got some awesome grades this quarter after a metric ton of work by her and a fair bit of support from me. I’m quite proud considering how brutal her classes were. The Computer: So we splurge and get new computers, build it yourself action. Very cool but I’m a newb so things don’t go so smooth for me. It starts with a struggle to get the CPU fan in place and cooling the CPU properly. I get it built, start installing and odd errors start happening. Seemingly at random the thing blue screens with various issues. Huge thanks to my intrepid wife and my good friend Dennis for saving my techno bacon! post a comment
So I got a sweet new computer (make it yourself style) but it isn’t behaving so well for me and ate up a lot of sleep and chill time trying to whip it into shape. (Note that whips are not especially effective, must try candy next time.) With help from my able wife who got her computer working after only two tries, I think I am on the cusp of computer functionality. It’s a sweet ride but not a gentle one. A friend organized a 5pm to 2am night on the town as a kind of grown up prom event and kindly invited Anne and I. We got dressed up and partied all night long, Dinner, Pool, Dancing, and the inevitable crash at Beth’s Cafe. Lots of fun and good company but Anne fell ill the next day. Still, worth the price paid in cash and health. Diet time is here again. The last one ended rather early and extravagantly as finals loomed and life became a blur. I’m going hard core, no excuses, no deviation, Atkins for a while and probably with some honest to goodness exercise thrown in. (Oh ya and trying not to dehydrate myself :P) I shall be a tower of iron will and bastion of good judgment!
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You can’t really say enough good things about Gary Gygax in terms of geekdom. I never met him but he never felt very far away. I was the icon and the spirit behind a game that has shaped a good deal of my life and who I am. There were of course many others who put their soul into it, including myself, but we all walked a path that in many ways he walked first. I don’t believe in life after death or resurrection or the like. But I do think that everyone and everything has a soul of sorts. It isn’t a ghost or spirit but the force of their life felt by everyone and everything around them. As you live your life it touches everything and ripples out entwining and changing the souls of others in an endless wave. So for me, Gary Gygax’s soul has been a companion of mine for some time. His spirit and imagination has shaped so many parts of my life it would be impossible to separate and identify them. It will go on that way long past his death, and I’ll be passing it on to everyone I know as well. I’m rarely sad when someone dies after a life well lived. I don’t think there is anything more you can ask for in this world. I feel good that every time I roll some dice and play with my friends that I’m keeping his spirit alive in the world.
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