Thunderspire Labrynth, 1

Last weekend I played Dungeons and Dragons with my usual group, only this time we played at Alex's instead of at our place, which was nice. It's not that I mind having people over, I kind of like it, but it is nice to go to someone else's place every once in a while. Besides, it was fun seeing their new puppy running around. Here's what went down:

The adventure started with party in Winterhaven, enjoying the celebration that was going on in their honor. They had a drinking contest, which Nachi failed on the first drink. They also took advantage of Bairwin's good spirits and drunken state to buy a bunch of stuff at a big discount, although they did have to do a favor for him afterwards. After much carousing and quest gathering (stop the slavers and collect history for Valthrun), the party headed off to the Thunderspire Mountains.

They traveled along the main trade road without any ambushes, but tried to take a shortcut which ended up adding another day to the travels to Fallcrest. It was here that Hannibal decided to return to school. Since his school doesn't allow goblins, he left Splug in the capable hands of Saul. Nachi traded Aeris with a follower of the Platinum Dragon who could appreciate the power of the sword for an equally powerful weapon, but with less back story.

After a short rest, the new party headed into the mountains, all the while Nachi discussed with the party the beliefs of a follower of the Raven Queen and why his resurrection was still making him feel uneasy. He was cut short before he could explain to Sophana the intricacies of a particular ritual when a flash of lighting lit up the entrance to Saruun Khel (the ancient underground Minotaur city below Thunderspire Mountain), framed by two 50 foot tall minotaur statues. They cautiously entered and traveled down a massive hall lined with statues of demons holding burning torches. Tasil slipped from shadow to shadow while Splug cowered close to Allyria and Saul.

As they traveled deeper and further into the mountain, Tasil could make out some sounds coming from a small room in a side passage. “We could get 10 gold pieces for this halfling “That's a shame, I'm easily worth 20. I'll pay you myself.” The group ran to the halfling's rescue. They were met by a group of hobgoblins lead by a warcaster, who pulled Nachi into the middle of them. Tasil climbed up on to some empty casks and got behind them while Allyria and Saul picked the soldiers off. Sophana made sure Nachi didn't die. With these Bloodreaver gang members eradicated, they got to know Rendil Halfmoon a little more, a plucky little halfling who lives with his aunt, Erra, the owner of the Halfmoon Inn located in the Seven Pillar Hall, further into the mountain.

To show his graditude, Rendil gives them a quick tour of the Seven Pillar Hall, which is more of an underground village than a hall. They share a few ales and Erra sets them up with some lodging and delicious halfling home-cooking. Afterwards, everyone decides to make the delivery to Gendar, a drow shop owner, that Bairwin requested. They make the trade off and Gendar requests they keep an eye out for a scepter that was stolen from him. Next, they decide to do some snooping at the seedy Rothar's Taproom and get their first encounter of Brugg, the Ogre enforcer, and hear that Dwarf is upset over his lost pet.

They find Dwarf in his office at the Deepgem Mining Company and invite him to share an ale, which he promptly accepts. Over a few ales, he shares the story of missing Boar, named Bubbles, who was traveling with a group of his fellow miners when they were attacked. No one was killed, so Dwarf believes that his pet is still alive, some where in the labrynth.

After some discussion, Nachi and Tasil determine that the best route to take would be to go after the rest of the slavers. Rendil gladly gives them a map to the Bloodreaver's hideout, or at least where they're rumored to be. Sophana shows off her dungeoneering skills and gets them safely to their destination, an old temple dedicated to the evil god Torog.

The front door is locked and guarded from behind by some goblins. Tasil comes up with the plan to set Splug and Nachi up as trap, (the old Chewbacca-prisoner trick). Unfortunately, Splug was so nervous he couldn't pull it off very convincingly and the guards called an alarm. They opened the doors and out charged a Bugbear followed by a couple of goblins on a balcony to shoot arrows at them. With some teamwork, the party cleared their opponents and captured one of the goblins. Nachi tied him up, threw him over the banister, and with the help of Tasil, intimidated him into giving them the lay of the land as well as their numbers. When the goblin had given them all the information he knew, Tasil slit his throat and left him hanging there to bleed out. Allyria whispered a silent prayer for the goblin as Splug fought back the urge to throw up.

With their intimate knowledge of the area now, they made their plan of attack. Instead of coming in head on, they thought it would be smarter to attack from the sides. They sneaked down a side hall and opened the door to discover a couple of duergar's milling around a lit hearth. Everyone jumped into action, with the duergars calling for help and Nachi trying to take them out as fast as possible. Helped did appear, in the form of a warcaster and Krang, the leader of the Blodreaver Gang. Battle ensued and when the dust was all cleared only out heroes were left standing. They looted the bodies and ransacked the rooms, as they have done so many times in the past and discovered Krang's personal treasure chest containing some jewels and gold pieces.

Next it was off to the kitchen, where Sophana could hear some ruckus going on. The party set-up an ambush in an adjoining room and locked the door on their flank. It was up to Tasil to be the bait. He opened the door and viciously flung a dagger at the first creature he saw while shouting insults at them. This got the attention of everyone in the kitchen and they quickly chased after him. Half of the gang members ran directly into the room Tasil led them into, while the remaining members tried to circle around behind and one guy ran off to get reinforcements. As soon as the first hobgoblin entered the ambush, he was hit by Nachi, Splug, Tasil, and finished off by Saul.

The gang member looking for reinforcements stopped short when he entered the previous room our heroes cleaned out and saw the carnage and dead bodies littered on the ground. He quickly turned tail and ran out of the base, screaming to his comrades that Krang was dead. After hearing that, the rest of gang ran as fast as they could to get away, but Nachi and Tasil weren't about to let them get away that easily and chased down and cornered as many as they could, allowing only two to escape to safety.

The only room left was the empty slave holding room. The party split into two with Nachi and Splug covering a side entrance and the rest of the party entering through the main door. Tasil busts through the door and comes face to face to huge sleeping wolf. Instead of single handedly taking on such a beast, he decides to take care of one of the archers. The wolf isn't about to let such a tasty morsel get away and chases after. Nachi kicks in his door and almost knocks down a goblin archer in the process.

Nachi and Splug kept the rest of the Archers busy while Allyria and Sophana threw spells at the wolf and Saul created a fire warrior as well as a massive fireball to try and take down the beast. Once the giant dog was dead, it was long before they had cleared the room out. Again, the captured the last foe remaining and forced him to tell them everything he knew, before viciously ending his life.

With the hideout all cleaned out, the group takes one more look around. They find a few secret halls but no more Bloodreavers and no slaves either. They return to the Seven Pillar Hall and rest up before heading back to Winterhaven to deliver the package Gendar gave them for Bairwin.

This and That

I've been working on a post about last weekend, but it's getting kind of long. It's basically a recap of our D&D session. I'll post that when it's done. In the meantime, I've gotten a second job, again. I'm now the new cashier at Just Food. I've only started yesterday, so I can't really say how well it's going yet.

Our car is still working, so yea to that. We got a refund on that whole Paypal issue, though it hasn't transferred from Paypal to our Wells Fargo account yet, so I still have that battle to fight, but at least it's progressing along.

Games I'm interested in right now, of the video variety: Batman Arkham Asylum, Shadow Complex, Wheelman (because it was $20 at Target), Trials HD, Secret of Monkey Island, and Scribblenauts. (So little time, and now even littler)

Oh, game night at our place this Friday night. Say 7pm?

Cuteness!!!!!

Here's a tasty tidbit. And yes I know it was on the Daily Show.

Wounded

Yesterday, I was checking our bank accounts and discovered that Emily's Paypal had been hacked and some used it to purchase 8 internet security packages. Now we have a huge charge on our account that's creating all kinds of overdraft fees. We have contacted the internet website and are getting a refund and Emily's changed her Paypal password and questions and all. I called Wells Fargo to tell them of the problem and I was told that they can't do anything until the refund comes through, then they can adjust all the fees that occur from this, which I think is a little ridiculous. I can't really do anything about it though and have to hope that Wells Fargo is willing to help like they said when it comes in.

I also played paintball yesterday. It was a really hot day out and there was a lot of running around. I won a few rounds and lost a few rounds. I have a few momentos, one on my chest, a couple small ones on my arm, a gruesome one my thigh, and one on my neck. I have to say, I feel very sore right now

Visitations

Our next D&D session is this Saturday and I still have quite a few things to do to get ready for it. Honestly, I don't have to do most of these things, but this is the curse of being the DM. You keep thinking of things that would make the game fun. Plus, we're starting a new module, so there's the whole getting-to-know-it thing. But I'm trying not to stress over it too much and realize that everyone will still have fun even if I don't get all of the prep done that I want.

Oh, I'm searching to see if there's a faster/easier way to track initiative and conditions then the way I have been doing it. I've been printing out monster blocks and attaching them to index cards and writing on them and using those to keep track of initiatives and conditions. It works out pretty well, but there are usually a few conditions that get by me every once in a while. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love hear them.

Emily is recovering very well. She has had some uncomfortableness, but nothing major. She apperciates all the well wishing. Melanie, Cherish (her sisters), and Colin (her our nephew) came down last night. We ate at The Tavern, which we haven't been to in a few years because it used to be fairly bland, especially for the prices they were charging. We learned that they got a new chef, and it shows. It's pretty good now, certainly a viable option now.

We also played Bang!, a cowboy card game. Colin played the sheriff and ended up winning (Emily won as well since she was playing the deputy). He seemed to really enjoy it, probably because you pretend to shoot people and he won. I died because I set-off some dynamite and it blew-up in my face. Once you know how to play, it can go pretty fast.

All's Well, sort of

Emily had surgery yesterday. She got some work done on her women parts. It was a simple procedure and everything went smoothly. When she coming back out of her drugged stupor, she was saying some funny things, well, it was more like she was saying some things funnily. She resembled that kid on youtube. She kept asking about getting a kitten. It was cute. She's recovering well, she didn't start feeling any uncomfortableness until late last night, so we'll see how she's doing today.

Our car, however, isn't faring as well. I had to take it back in, it was doing the exact same thing, only more so now. I dropped it off again and they're going to have to replace the transmission again. Luckily they told me the last one was covered for 60 days, so there should be no extra cost. It is getting annoying though. It'd be nice to have a car that works.

Car Troubles

The car should be fixed, for reals, by the end of today. The problem was the transmission, which I was afraid of. The transmission would slip out when it idled and at times wouldn't quite catch when accelerating fast (something they caught). The total's going to be around $800, so not a cheap repair. Luckily I was able to work out a payment plan with them, so we'll be able to pay them for the repair.

I'm fed up with this car and wondering if it might be time to get a new one, but I also feel like with all the repairs and replacement parts we've added to it, maybe it'll run fine for a good long while now. It's hard to tell. Maybe, if we do get a new car, we'll keep this one as a back-up of sorts.

Difficulties

Damn it! The car wasn't fixed! It runs slightly better than before but the main problem, the reason we brought it in, is still there. Yesterday we thought we would drive to work for the first time in a few weeks, and it started acting up again. Not a happy drive. I took it back to Churchill and had Jeremy (one of the mechanics there, good people) ride with me to see what I was talking about. He thinks it might have to do with the fact that the car was idling a little low the pull of the vacuum that operates the brakes was stalling it. They looked over it all of yesterday, upped the idle RPM's and checked out the vacuum tubes. After that they were never able to get it to do it again. They tried three or four times throughout the day, but no luck. I drove it last night after work, but I couldn't get it to do it either. We decided to leave it there over night and they'll give it a try today and see if acts up again. Maybe they fixed the problem. It'd be odd if that's all it took, but as long as it's working again, I'll be happy.

Last night I finished Halo 3 for the first time with Alex, Dimitri, and Connor. Of course, they had all finished it before, so we skipped through the videos. Now I wonder if there's a way to just watch the videos, or does that not even matter? Is the story not really worth the trouble? Do the videos even explain what the hell was going on? I don't know. I don't understand the draw of Halo and never have. It's enjoyable, but I don't see the draw. Maybe I'm not skilled enough to see the cleverness of the level design, or ai, or gma edesign in general. I've heard that the game really shines once you play on a difficulty harder than normal, but I played that up to a point and then just kept dying. I didn't see how that was awesome. Is it the challenge and the excitment of overcoming such daunting odds?

Oh, we're going to have another game night tonight. I'm not saying we'll play Battlestar Galactica again, but I wouldn't be against it. I haven't told too many people about it, so we'll see who shows up.

Exciting Night

Last night we watched the most recent episode of True Blood. I can't get over Sookie, she's so aggravating. They seem to promote her as a spunky, strong woman. One of those princesses who rescues herself, but she's worse than a damsel in distress because they at least get into their predicaments unknowingly. Sookie is warned about the possible consequences and decides that nothing bad can happen and she can handle it (or even worse just runs her mouth off with no thought of who she's insulting). Then, of course, she gets into trouble and her response is to scream for help and wait for her rescue. In this last episode she was captive in this stockroom-like-cage, and one of her captures comes in to harass her and her human partner. To stop this obviously strong man she jumps on his back, instead of grabbing one of the many various items locked in there with her and smack him over the head. Unsurprisingly, he overpowers her and she starts screaming for help. If it wasn't for the side stories, we probably would have stopped watching by now. I wonder if her character is any better in the books?

We got our car repaired, with the help of our awesome neighbor Todd (who's trying to sell his house, for those looking to move to Northfield). He offered to go with me to Car Time to have them look at it, because he's been there before and can get a good deal with them. They checked it out (for $20) and discovered that the rotors were warped. The mechanic quoted us about $200 to fix it. We called Churchhill Tires, because I've been going to them lately, and they said that they could fix it for $156. That's a better deal so we figured we'd pay for the brake inspection and take it to Churchill. While we were in the process of paying them, the Car Time manager-type who was handling the payment process said that he hadn't had a chance to look over the mechanic's estimate (there were quite a few people coming in and out of there while we were there) and that the correct price is $165. Todd figured we might as well get it fixed at Car Time since we were already there, which made sense with what we knew at the time. I called Churchhill one more time, because the last time I had talked to them there was some talk about a warranty coverage possibility. After talking to them for a little bit they said they could cover it for free under the warranty. Todd had to hear this for himself, which they confirmed for him, but told us they couldn't cover anything that the Car Time people did. So we jumped up and had the Car Time people take the car down, paid the inspection fee (they said "We can't beat free"), and got it fixed at Churchhill. Since the replacement part and labor was covered, they upsaled us on better parts and it only ended up costing me about $50 ($70 if you count the inspection). Both places were curteous and I have no ill will against Car Time, but I think this just strengthed my loyalty to Churchhill.

Distractions

For some reason I've had the song "Leaving on a Jet Plane" in my head for a while now. It's a little odd.

Right now my computer is being very annoying, it keeps going slowly. I did a virus search and it came up clean, though it could be that I awoke the anti-virus programs and that's what's slowing it down now. Either way it's frustrating.

I was able to schedule the next D&D session. It's within the next 2 weeks, so I have a lot of reading to get done for this new module. There are definitely some interesting encounters later on in the module, but right now there a lot of NPCs to try and get right and remember, and a whole lot of side things to think up and take notes on. Plus I was thinking of printing up some maps and various other prop items. That reminds me, I need to get more ink for our printer.

Oh, another Emily gift: salad spinner, and she's into pretty dice as well (Yea!).

iTunes Tirade

Sometimes, iTunes really annoys me. I hear things like "Apple really takes care of their customers" or hear praise of their design choices, but I end up frustrated with them more often than not.

For instance, why do I have to manually add a new folder when I add more music? Oh, that's right, because iTunes doesn't have a "Search for new music" option because it assumes that you either purchased the music from them or ripped your cd with them. Heaven forbid you download someone's free album off the internet and want to add it to your music library easily.

And another thing, they have a nice display for album art, but shame on you if you got your music files before such things were commonplace. Now you have to hope you have the correct album, title, and artist information. If any of them are the slightest bit wrong, then iTunes can't help you find the art. And if you find something yourself, but later find something better, tough luck. You should have picked the perfect picture the first time. Now you have to do some crazy searching and hunting in the iTunes files to find that picture and remove it.

It's all very aggravating and doesn't make me an apple fan. I guess that makes me a PC.

Sunday Plans

Today looks like a busy day. We're going shopping at Costco and possibly Source Comics and Games with Alex. But first we plan on dropping off some stuff at my sister-in-laws to sell at their yard sale. Really it's just a good excuse to get rid of some of our stuff. Although we could use some extra cash.

I meant to go through our things yesterday, but I ended up getting sucked in to watching a Burn Notice marathon. I did get some laundry done and put away some clothes, so that's good right?

Well, anyways, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed because there always seems like so much that needs to get done. This is a little exacerbated by the fact that any "relaxing" activities usually end up just being another thing on my "things to do" list, so end up not feeling nearly as relaxing as I would like. I don't know when this happened. I used to just goof off and not feel as anxious as I do now. Is this just what it means to be a responsible adult? I didn't think so. Why is there always so much to do?

Battlestar Galactica play recap

Here's how it goes down. I was playing Bill Adama. Streetz played Gaius Baltar. Jessica played Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. Nathan played Chief Galen Tyrol. Scott played Saul Tigh. Alex played Lee "Apollo" Adama. So I started out as the Admiral and Gaius was the president.

When we started there was a basestar and some raiders. Starbuck and Apollo were flying out on vipers, protecting cilivian ships and shooting down the toasters. Tigh ordered our guns to attack as well. With the first crisis we discovered that there was a cylon in our midsts, and I knew it was either Gaius, Chief, or Apollo. We cleaned out most of the raiders just in time for another basestar and more raiders to show up. Galactica took two big hits before we were able to jump away (leaving a ship behind) to safety on a barren planet.

While there we repaired the ship, and dealt with food and water shortages. We also attempted a rescue mission as well. We were able to jump once again with too much trouble, but our fuel levels were now in the red.

Once we reached our new destination, empty space, Starbuck was thrown in the brig for being a cylon sympathizer. She learned her lesson, so her release was ordered. She had planned on fingering Chief as a cylon, but he revealed himself as cylon before and threw back in the brig before being sent to the resurrection ship. Soon after a basestar appeared and launched raiders and heavy raiders at us. We were able to protect the civilian ships but galactica was boarded because of it. In the scuffle, Tigh was accused of being a traitor and thrown in the brig. We finally were able to jump early out of the fight, avoiding some incoming nukes but still leaving some ships behind, and ended up in an asteriod field.

We had traveled a total distance of 7, (needing 8 to get to Kobol), but the recent appearance in an asteriod field cost us a fuel refinery ship and fuel levels were dangerously low, as well morale. Food and water were now in the red as well and we were faced with some tough decisions. Peaced was maintained and Tigh put up a protest to being locked in the brig but to no avail. With no support, he left to rot in his cell. Soon after he showed himself to be a cylon traitor and joined his kind on the ressurection ship. Humans were in a bad situation with fuel down to 1 and population down to 4. But a miracle arrived in the form of a legendary discovery, which took 1 step closer to our destination. All we needed was one more jump. Baltar rushed to the FTL control and jumped us early. We lost 2 more population in the rush, but had finally made to Kobol

Battlestar Galactica game

Last night I played the Battlestar Galactica boardgame with a group of friends. There were a total of 7 of us, but only 6 could play (plays 3-6), which was fine because Emily wasn't interested in playing for as long as she knew it would take. This is not to say that it's necessarily a long game, but it was the first time to play for all of us, so of course it would take some time before we got into the groove. I could see it taking around 2-3 hours if people are familair with the game.

The way it works is each player picks a character at the start. Then at the begining of their turn they draw the number of skill cards their character card says they can. They move to anywhere on the board they want, and complete one action (the action can be found on one of their skill cards, their current location, or their character card). After the action has been completed, they flip over a crisis card and everyone deals with the crisis. The interesting part is that someone (or someones) is a cylon (traitor) and they can attempt to sabotage the crisis and prevent everyone else from passing it. After this, Galactica may or may not move one step closer to jumping. When Galactica jumps a distance of 8 and completes one more jump, then the humans win. If they don't, for any reason, the cylons win.

It's not an overly complicated game, it just provides the players with a lot options and most of them aren't that helpful, which makes sense. Life was not fun on Galactica. It ends up being a lot of trying to choose the least awful option.

Most of the fun of this game is from the interaction between the players. All the accusations and double talk and insuations that get thrown around during the course of the game. The fun isn't really from the game mechanics (some is but not nearly as much). There is also some enjoyment from being a fan of the show, because you can make jokes about the characters you're playing and the actions they're taking.

Personally, I had fun playing it. I could see myself getting this game and playing it on various occassions. It has a lot of small pieces so it's hard to take anywhere (liek camping), but I think it's easy enough to set up where it doesn't take up a huge amount of table space to play.

If your a fan of the show and/or a fan of more social games where the fun is in large part from the people you're playing with, I would recomend this game.

Fun Times.

Paintball was fun. We played a bunch of games and are still trying to equalize the field. I did get shot in the neck, which still stings a little this morning, but it was definitely a fun time.

Speaking of fun, tonight is game night, and I'm not sure how many people are showing up tonight at 7pm. It seems like there could be quite a few. It's possible that there'll be up to 10 people or so, all looking to play Battlestar Galactica, but it only plays up to 6 players. I guess I could set-up Rock Band, or have some other game going on the side. Scott said he could bring over Wii Sports Resort, which would be another fun option. Then again, how often is it that everyone shows up you said they would right?

Oh, I thought of another gift for emily, a sewing machine.

Kung Fu Panda

We finally watched Kung Fu Panda last night. I had heard good things about it and I must say that I wasn't disappointed. I thought it was a very good kung fu movie as well as a beautiful looking animated movie. It was pretty funny and I really enjoyed the action sequences. I did feel that they didn't really get into the personalities of the Furious Five, which made me wonder why they hired big celebrities to voice them. I guess that's what the extra dvd is for, which I believe I might have seen on television before this.

Oh, while I'm thinking about it, the drawn animation was gorgeous as well as the computer. They both convade the appropiate location and time frame. I especially liked the way they had the credits scroll sideways instead of from top-down. It was details like this that really showed how much care went into this movie. I would definitely recommend seeing this if you haven't yet.

Busy-ness

Boy did my week fill up quick. Tonight is movie night with Emily, tomorrow I have paintball, then it's game night, and then its Friday (which, surprisingly is still open), and Saturday I've been invited to a friend's game night. Oh, and I also still need to read my book club book and go through our stuff to sell at my sister-in-laws yard sale she plans to have in 2 weeks. It's pretty crazy.

I came across an old friend's blog and I've been trying to catch up on old posts. I've finally done it and I'm all caught up. Yea!

Why does Tricksy feel the need to push things with her face? Really it's more like "Why does she feel the need to push things off the table/counter with her face?" because she doesn't seem to have the same face rubbing thing that Oscar has. It's annoying, especially when she breaks dishes we like, like bowls made by friends or family or glasses gifted to us. I wish I knew how to stop her. Although I think it might be due to the fact that David spoiled her with attention while he lived here.

Oh, David sent us some gifts in the mail recently. Totally unexpected! It was pretty awesome. That boy's not that bad of an egg.

Speaking of gifts, I'm going to list some gifts Emily would like so I have future reference: standing fan (preferably with remote), netbook, clothes dryer, new stove/oven, clothes washer, and that's all I have for now. Oh, no, wait, a composter as well.

Comic Con (Haiku)

Now it is over.
I did not go. Wish I had.
Hopefully next year?

Ramble on

Yesterday was fun, in a way. I vacuumed, washed some dishes, played through another chapter of Half Life (1 not 2), and had some wine and conversation with Chris and Hortensia. It was good. I did notice that I now have trouble relaxing during movies and conversations, not so much with games. I'm not sure why, but the whole time I was doing either, I kept thinking about doing other things, instead of just being in the moment, even though the moment was enjoyable. Hurm.

I have trouble sleeping. Wait, let me rephrase that. I have trouble waking. I feel like it could be that I don't get 8 hours of sleep, but if I want to wake up at 6am, I'd have to go to bed at, what?, 10pm. That means be asleep by then, and that just seems an impossibility. We usually end up getting ready for bed around then, so it's not all bad, but it's not a full 8 hours either. Maybe I should try to reschdeule the day instead. Make plans assuming that I wake up at 6:30 or even 7.

Ok, I'm calling it now: we're playing Battlestar Galactica on Thursday. Even if it is just Emily, Alex and myself. Even if, for some strange reason, 10 people show up (it says it plays from 3-6 players). We are playing it. We'll make it work some how.

Morning Pages

As I have mentioned before, I have trouble with mornings. In the book The Artist Way, they talk about morning pages to help clear your head each day. Basically you just write down whatever's in your head. It seems easy enough, so why not give it a go right? I'm not saying I'm going to do it everyday, but maybe. And it almost never will be the 2 pages it asks for either, but something's better than nothing.

Last night we played D&D. I'm the GM and we've been going through the Keep on the Shadowfell module. My players finished off the story, defeating Kalarel in the end which helped reseal the rift to the Shadow realm. I noticed I need to work on my storytelling skills. At some point they thought they had to travel to Thunderspire to stop him, but that was a hook to another adventure. Maybe they're not used to hooks popping up that lead to other stories while fighting in the middle of one. Anyways, it was a long battle but our heroes pervailed. Now I have to buy the next module to continue the story. I'll be honest, I think these early modules could have used a little more polish, at least this first one. I haven't checked out any of the more recent ones, but I hope that they're a little more fleshed out.

I know that yesterday would be considered a "fun" day and so that would make today a "work" day, but I want to play some video games. Although, I would also like to get the dishes done and vaccuum the living room. Kids can really make a mess. But then again, so can cats, so it's not like we're not used to it. You know I can probably get all of those done today without much strain.

Excitebots is here!

So, Excitebots: Trick Racing is finally out. It seems to have been recieved well. It's gotten some fairly good reviews, a couple of so-so reviews, and at least one interesting one (to me at least). This being my first game to have done any work on, I find it all very exciting. I'm glad to see that it has gone over as well as it has. Here's hoping the momentum keeps up (I'll also except it if the momentum picks-up as well).

Monsters vs Aliens

Emily and I went to see Monsters vs Aliens the other night. As an animated children's movie I thought it was ok. It's very silly and makes some off the wall jokes. The story's pretty predictable and easy to follow. It's no Pixar movie but it does provide an enjoyable time.

We didn't see it in 3D, but there were some scenes that were in there solely to take advantage of the 3D technology (a paddle ball coming towards you and things like that). Emily doesn't get any extra enjoyment out of 3D movies and they cost a bit more than their 2D counterparts.

Emily couldn't get over the fact that the main character's head (the 49 foot woman) was proportionally larger than her body and no one else had the same affliction. I chalked it up to the animators trying to make her look "cute." My favorite parts were the parts that included Stephen Colbert playing as the president personally.

All in all, if you're a big 3D fan then go see it for that; but purely for the movie, I'd say it's worth renting if you have kids, but you're not missing much if you skip it.

VGO progress

So a friend of mine at work hosts a party every year called the Video Game Olympics. A large group of us get together at a lodge for three days and do nothing but drink beer, eat food, and play video games. There are brackets and teams and trophies. TVs and projectors are set-up all over the place. It's pretty fun. Last year (the 2007 VGOs) I came in 10th and won Rookie of the Year, but this year I came in 1st in a two events (Wii Home Run Derby and Legends on Wrestlemania) and I think I have a good chance of coming in 2nd overall. It was a blast.

Prioritize

I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I have a hard time prioritizing. Doesn't matter whether it's time or money or whatever. But I am taking steps. And one of them is to stop with the facebook games. They have no real use for me. Some are fun and only take a minute or two of my time, but these games that require you to interact with them everyday and penalize you if you don't, I'm done with. That's not a fun amusement, that's work. And I saw "No more!" If I want to play a game, I can play on the Xbox 360 or the Wii or even on my computer. I have way too many games piling up that I want to play. I should put my goofing off time into those.

That's all. Let me know if you have any other helpful tips.

It's almost Thanksgiving?

Crazy, but there's like only a week or so before Thanksgiving. We're having Em's family over again, like usual, but this year my mom's coming over as well. To be honest, I feel pretty good about it. I think this year will go better than any of the others. We have a menu planned out. Th house is starting from a cleaner condition than ever. Best of all, I only have 1 job and will probably be able to take off a few days before to help cook and clean.

Oh, about that. It seems like Nintendo is pushing us to get this game done by January. I'm not sure how these things usually go, but it seems a little fast. At first I didn't think so, but as the time goes by, there just seems to be more and more that needs to be done. We'll see how it goes.

Yea-ness!

Yeah, so if you didn't hear, Emily is working full time now at Just Food and got a raise to boot. This means I'm down to working one job now. I have all kinds of free time now, though most of it has lately been devoted to sleeping.

The odd thing is, that even with more time available now, I still have trouble getting ready in the morning and getting projects done. Any suggestions?

Iron Man

I saw Iron Man the other day. And yes I am a big fan of comics and comic based movies, but I've never been a big fan of Iron Man. I don't hate the guy, I've just never really had any interest in him. The movie, though changed that, somewhat.

First off, it's a well-done fun movie. As is popular now, and for good reason, the movie focuses on the man behind the mask. This was a great way to take the movie, but that's where all the interesting parts are. Yes, I go to see explosions and special effects, but lets face it, most of them are shown on the preview so by the time I see it in the theaters, I've already seen the effect 8 times. Robert Downey Jr is superb in his fleshing out of Tony Stark, Jeff Bridges plays up the villain to almost-over-the-top perfection, and for the most part Gwyneth Paltrow displays Pepper Pots, the love interest, as a strong independent woman (at the end, for some reason, her character deteriorates into a dumb blond). Obviously I would recommend it. And for those comic book fans out there, be sure to stick around after the credits for an amazing surprise.

Bit of trivia for ya': I believe this is the first movie fully funded by Marvel's movie department, which might explain that care that went into it.

Birthday Party

Ok, so I'm planning on having a birthday bash on June 28, 2008 at my house. It'll be like a game fest. There'll also be food, booze, cake, music, and games. I've been thinking about getting a few prizes together for the events as well. I haven't finalized all the events yet, but so far I was thinking of having maybe Super Puzzle Fighter, Mario Kart, Smash Brothers, ab roller racing, Munchkin, Chore Wars, Pacman CE, and whatever else I think of. Undoubtedly, there'll be some Rock Band playing as well. Party should start around noon, award ceremony around 10pm or so and end when it's over. Mark your calendars.

Rock Band got Better?

For those of you completely out of the loop, Rock Band had an update recently that made it even better. It makes the talking sections of singing easier to accomplish and it's now much easier to perform at all of the venues in Band World Tour. But the part that excited me the most is the addition of the Rock Band store. It had been possible to download songs for the game before, but it was fairly annoying. Now you can preview a song before buying it and it's all but eliminated double purchases. Way to go Harmonix!

Overdue Overview

Let me post a quick update for those few that might actually pay attention to this:

Work - I'm working at Monster Games in my dream job as a video game designer. I'm also working another second job at the James Gang Coffee House to help pay-off some bills, but am no longer going to school. Emily's still working at Just Food, but only as an office assistant, and for very part-time. She's also working at her acupuncturists as a receptionist. They've worked out a deal where she gets acupuncture and Chinese medicine in lieu of money. It actually works in our favor this way, plus she seems to be getting healthier.

Home - We're attempting to rearrange and organize our house, but it's slow going. We're cleaning out what used to be our studio so that David has his own room (our friend David has moved in and is now our roommate). We're attempting to convert the office into more of a gaming/studio space. We hope to finish out the garage and turn that into a more workable space. Emily would like to have a more defined garden this year as well.

Fun - I have an X-Box 360 now and have been playing on it some. Alex started DM'ing a D&D campaign that we meet together for once a week; I'm playing a female half-orc Cleric. So far it's been pretty fun. Emily's started to get back into her art, hence the changes in the house. She'd like to go back to school to learn more along the lines of graphic design, but we haven't worked that out quite yet.

That's a good dose for now. I plan on trying to post once a week, even if it's random thoughts.

I GOT IT!!!

I have a new job now! YEA! I will be working at Monster Games starting October 29th. I’m so excited! I’ll be working like 2 miles or so away from my house and working on video games as well. This is so awesome. I’ll have I job I don’t hate in some regard. What a novel idea. I haven’t met everyone there yet, but so far the few people I have met I get along with really well. The pay will be close to what I’m making now; technically it’ll be slightly less, but since they don’t deduct anything from your paycheck for benefits (which I’ll have as well) it’s quite possible that I’ll be bringing in more money than before. Score! It’s like a dream come true.

My position, if I remember correctly, is Assistant Producer. I’ll be helping with the design of game: the sounds, the colors, the game features, the tracks, etc. I’m not sure exactly what my day-to-day activities will be, but I’m sure I’ll pick it up in no time. I bet with my schooling, they’ll let me update their website, because it could use some help. Maybe even their logo. Man, I can’t wait!

New job?!?

On a lark, and because I’ve started to take as much from my current job as I can, I sent a cover letter and resume to Monster Games. As it turns out, they had a postion open and they asked if I wanted to apply, so I did. I’m very excited about all of this. The position is Assistant Producer/Design Intern. Basically you try to refine all kinds of aspects of the game to make it better (eg. item placement, sound effects, item colors, terrain refinement, etc.) This is like my dream job, ok it’s almost my dream job. My dream job would pay way more and it’d be a higher up position, but the activity is exactly the same. This is too awesome.

Plus, they’re located in Northfield, so I’d get to see Emily every day for lunch at the very least. I could bike to work on nice days. I could run errands before, after, or maybe even during work. They have flexible hours, so they won’t jump down my throat for being 10 minutes late occasionally. Plus I already have a friend working there.

I’ve only had one interview so far, but that went really well. It seemed like their only issue was that the position would be step down on the corporate ladder for me, but I explained to them that was not an issue for me. I’d rather being doing something I enjoy and support but have a lesser position than be management for a company who’s practices clash with my beliefs. Call me crazy.

My only problem is not getting too excited about it all. They’ve haven’t called to schedule a second interview yet, and until they actually offer me the position, I don’t have it. But I can’t help but daydream about working there. Hell, I’ve been daydreaming about working there for at least a year now, and there wasn’t even a position involved then.

Honeymoon Camping Trip

I’m so excited. Emily and I are about to take off on our Honeymoon camping trip. We’re going to drive from Northfield, MN into Massachusetts. I think we’re spending a week at Myles Standish and then another week at Nickerson State Park. Then we’ll head back to Northfield. I don’t think we have many plans. There are a few places we want to visit, a few places we want to eat at again. If anyone’s in the area, feel free to stop by and say hey. Maybe, with enough notice we can stop along the way.

We’re also a little nervous because we didn’t exactly plan this out or save up it for it the way we wanted. We got hit hard by some unexpected medical bills beforehand. I think we’ll be able to make the most of it though. It won’t be an extravagant outing, but then again most camping trips aren’t.

It doesn’t matter really. It’ll be our first vacation away with just each other. Plus, it’s 2 weeks away from work and house projects and school. A chance to relax, rest, and get an idea for where we’re at and where we want to go. I am so looking forward to this.

OMG It’s Back!

I had to go in to work this Saturday, which was crappy because 1) it’s work on Saturday and 2) I still need to work on this massive final project for my design class. I went in and brought up Winamp to listen to the mp3’s I have on my computer when I thought, for a lark, I’d try the internet radio stations again. IT WORKED.

EGG RADIO is back on the air. I can’t tell you how excited I was to find out that it was back and that I can still listen to it at work. It’s only up in a beta/test sense, so not all the cool features are back, but that’s fine. I’m just glad to have some nice tunes to listen to while in my cube again.

YEA!

What’s going on with me?

My first semester at the Art Institutes International in Minneapolis is almost finished. I’ve enjoyed my Design class, as challenging as it is, and my Drawing class has shown me that I can draw, even if it didn’t really teach me all that much. When I get pieces back I’ll try to scan them or photo them and post them up, for you amusement.

Work has been going much, much smoother than it did last year. Maybe it just seems more relaxed because of how hectic it was last year. Maybe the weather has been perfect and provided for an evened out year. Maybe everyone has a better understanding of what to do and how to do it and isn’t running around with their heads cut off. Or maybe it’s a long quiet before a big storm. God, I hope not.

Work on our house has started again. Hopefully we can finish it up before not too long and get the rest of that insurance money. David’s been re-doing the deck, which it sorely needed. After that all that’s left is the gutters, I think.

Emily’s been doing really well with her healing. She’s been able to more things and isn’t in constant pain anymore. She’s even lost some weight. She’s become more frustrated with her job though and we have plans to get her a car. She really wants a Fit, but she’s thinking it might take too long to save up for something like that (can’t really find used Fit’s yet), so she might go another route.

We’re both REALLY excited about our planned road/camping trip to Massachusetts at the end of June. We’ve already reserved camping sites and have some loose plans of what we want to do. We might stop and see some people along the way. It hasn’t really been fleshed out that much. This’ll be our first vacation together.

That’s a quick run through of what’s been going on with us, for those that are interested.

Better than Guitar Hero?

Have you heard about this? Harmonix is teaming up with MTV and EA to take the concept of Guitar Hero to the next level. The game is called Rock Band and you can team up with up to 4 friends to create a band: drums, bass guitar, lead guitar, and vocals. You all play simultaneously either on one system or online. That’s all I know about the game so far, but I have to say that I’m down right giddy whenever I think about it. Oh, did I happen to mention that the songs will be done by the actual bands, not just covers. On top of that, there are rumors that bands will release new songs through the game. How awesome is that?

You Tube recoginition

I came across this video one morning and thought nothing of it, until it hit me that this happened at the Gameworks in downtown Minneapolis. I've been there, so I know that the stupid guy must have been hammered.

It's just kinda crazy, you're watching a video and all of sudden it becomes connected to real life. Puts it all in perspective.

Hey, at least we’re moving, right?

Ever feel like things are moving too fast and, yet, not fast enough as well? Yeah, I’ve been feeling that way. There are all these things I’m doing and all these things I want to do and all these things that need to be done. It can get a little overwhelming.

Emily’s getting better, slowly. We recently started following the Schwarzbein diet(?). I wouldn’t really call it a diet, maybe guidelines for a healthy life. Basically it’s all about 1) eating less carbohydrates and balancing meals with fats, vegetables, protein and carbs, and 2) eating more natural foods, anything you can conceivably pull, pick, milk, or hunt out in nature. Honestly, it’s not that hard to follow, as far as rules and guidelines go, discipline’s another story. We actually did this a few years ago and Emily saw some good results out of it then. It sort of fell by the wayside in the passing years, but now she’s more determined to follow it. I think it’ll be good.

Of course, since we just started following it, Emily’s a little morose. Part of it has to do with the fact that she has more cravings that she needs to control than me (coffee and sugar). I’m not perfect either, but from what I’ve gathered she’s having a more difficult time at it so far than me. She’s still going to see the chiropractor and is making progress there. Oh, she’s also gone off of birth control (NO, we are not trying to have a baby) and painkillers because of Schwarzbein as well. All of this hasn’t helped with depression yet though (it will, after a few months or so). She keeps feeling like she isn’t making any progress or being helpful. I’ll admit, she hasn’t been as helpful as she used to be, and she only feels bad about her progress because I’m running around all over the place. I guess my point is that she’s making progress and that’s what counts. Oh, and if you get a chance, show her some love.

I am currently in a holding pattern, or so it seems. The new boss of Southgate feels that we don’t need 3 managers, but we’re good people so we’re not being fired. Vickie (the general manager) does have to work more, I mean a lot more. She’s now working 5 days or 6 shifts; leaving 3 shifts to split between me and David. Suffice it to say, I’m only working 1 shift now, Sundays 11:30 to 6. This just seemed easiest, plus it’s consistent so that will help with planning and budgeting. My schooling doesn’t start until April and the agricultural business doesn’t pick-up until March. I have this free time now, but I know that it won’t last too long. At least I can get a few more songs done in Guitar Hero, right?

I’ll sleep when I’m retired, maybe.

As some of you might know, I have a lot on my plate right now and just recently, I’ve had a few more helpings piled on.

In the short term, we’ve decided to throw another Anti-Super Bowl party. I guess that’ll make this our 2nd Annual Anti-Super Bowl Party. Last year’s was a fairly small affair, and there was one attendee who seemed to be unaware that we weren’t going to watch the Super Bowl, but it was fun. This year we seem to have a few more possible guests than last year and so far no one’s confused about whether the game will be on or not. Of course, this means we’ll have to clean the house, which we’ve been doing at a very slow pace. This is partly due to the fact that Emily’s been going to a chiropractor about her back, so she’s in that whole “new pain” stage of recovery. This leaves the cleaning up to me until she can start moving again. Hopefully that’ll be this weekend. I’m sure we’ll pull it off though.

I’ve also begun somewhat of a fitness regimen. At 5:30 in the morning, every day, I get up and go to the gym to workout for a half hour to an hour. It cuts out some of my sleeping time, but it’s the only time I’ve been able to workout. True, this past week I couldn’t get to the gym every day due to my having to start visiting a chiropractor at Emily’s request, but I’m still waking up around 5:30.

In the long term, I recently applied to the Art Institute in Minnesota for a degree in Interactive Media Design. I’m pretty excited about it. It’s all about the design of, well, anything technical, whether it’s websites, or video games, or business software, or even peripherals. The classes all seem interesting and about things I’ve wanted to learn more about. I think this will be a good move in the long run. Plus, IMD majors are in demand right now, ideally allowing me to get a job doing something I like, or at least don’t feel ashamed about.

Of course, this will just eat up the rest of the small amount of free time I have now. I haven’t gone over the numbers yet, but I should be able to quit my job at Southgate (at the very least cut my hours back dramatically). The other problem that needs addressing is transportation. With me taking classes in Minneapolis, it’s not really feasible for us to only have 1 car anymore. I mean, I’m not sure if it’ll actually happen, but I could conceive of a few nights in the future where it would be smarter and just safer for me to crash at Cherish’s instead of driving all the way home, leaving Emily stranded without the use of a car for 2 days. Luckily, we’ve been paying off a lot of our bills, which has freed up some money. I just hope it’s enough. Although, with a fixed back and a car all to herself, Emily at least would have the possibility of getting a job that paid a little better.

Thinking’s an Important Part of Reading

Everybody gets joke email at work (if you don’t then you must not have any friends). The other day at work I was sent this email:

Weather bulletin; Denver

Hear!...Hear!....Good reading....Are you listening.....NEW ORLEANS.?........Take a lesson from the good citizens of Colorado.

From one of my former comrads who lives in Denver. A great example of the lack of human whining by people who have learned how to handle the weather where they choose to live. WEATHER BULLETIN

Up here, in the "Mile-Hi City", we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands, cancelled over 2000 flights which stranded thousands of passengers in the airport.

FYI:

George Bush did not come.

FEMA did nothing.

No one howled for the government.

No one blamed the government.

No one even uttered an expletive on TV.

Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.

Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.

Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.

CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snowstorm. Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.

No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.

No one looted.

Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.

Nobody expected the government to do anything, either.

No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera.

No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.

Nope, we just melted the snow for water.

Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.

The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.

Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it

to the snowbound families.

Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.

We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns.

We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".

We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.

Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

"In my many t ravels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate."

It does seem that way, at least to me.

I hope this gets passed on.

Maybe SOME people will get the message. The world does Not owe you a living.

Emails like this just annoy me. Here are some issues I have with this email.

• The part where FEMA didn’t help, I don’t think that’s a good thing, especially if you’re going to compare it to Katrina. Shouldn’t the government help when a catastrophe happens?
• I’m pretty sure that the news did report on the blizzard. They might not have been as extensive as the Katrina reports, but that’s probably because it was as a big of a catastrophe. Also probably why there wasn’t a big celebrity outcry.
• So no one looted. How are they supposed to loot when the snow has effectively barricade everybody?
• Great, you melted the snow and drank it, not exactly the same as distilling raw sewage into drinking water though.
• Pulling people out of snowbanks and asking for no money, weren’t there people boating around New Orleans, pulling people off their roof for no money?
• Stuck in a house surround by snow is no picnic, but I’d prefer that over being surrounded by toxic water with no house or protection from the wind or sun. Must also be nice to have kitchens that don’t require scuba gear to use so that you can provide food for local families in need.
• Oh yeah, and people did know that a category 5 hurricane was coming, it was just decided to be too costly to prepare for such a thing.

Don’t get me wrong, the Denver Christmas Blizzard of 2006 was horrible and many people were put through hardships and some even died because of it. It just wasn’t as bad as Katrina. Hundreds of people lost their lives and thousands of people lost their homes, across numerous states. The lasting effects are still being felt. Denver, however, is up and running again, especially when you compare it to the condition New Orleans.

Just don’t compare the two, especially when you’re trying to push your anti-entitlement agenda off on people. Sometimes, through no fault of their own, people need help. They’re not lazy, or greedy, or spoiled, or anything like that. They’re just in need of help. Either give them a helping hand or don’t, but don’t try to act righteous for not helping them.

What happened?

It’s been a while, so let me get you up to date. Christmas was good. We spent a little more then we should have, but not more than we could afford, which is good for us. We like to get people gifts. For Christmas/Birthday I gave Emily 26 days of presents, a present for each letter of the alphabet.
Apple Wine
BT Macenworth chocolates
Chartreuse liquor
Dryer balls (she wanted them)
Eiffel Tower lamp
Fancy pen (quite the stretch I know)
Godiva 2007 tin
Hangers (of the wooden variety)
Iron skillet (and coincidentally Internet)
Jewelry case
Knife (a quality paring one)
Lane Bryant clothes
Massager (handheld kind)
Northfield Arts Guild ceramic studio card
Origins ginger relaxation kit
Pillow (a full body one)
Queen size quilt
Robe
Silicon Strainer (folds up for storage)
T-shirts (Mossimo from Target, her favorites)
Utne subscription
Vest (fleece)
Wall clock (a really big one at that)
X-Men graphic novels (the 2 by Joss Whedon)
Yellow Jar: A collection of Japanese folk tales
Zen (Creative Zen mp3 player)
I started on Dec.3 and ended on Dec. 28 (her birthday). I think it was big hit.

We rearranged the bedroom and organized our clothes, eliminating another couple of bags worth. Oh Emily got me this sweet flat screen TV that we put in the bedroom, we got cable install there and I can now convince Emily to go to bed around 9 (since she can watch TV down there). We had some friends over (Salwa, Erica, David, and Hannah) during the holidays. I broke a shelf on our book case while rocking out to Guitar Hero 2, superstar style. Oh, and New Years, which we were promptly in bed by 11. We watched the countdown on the new TV. We were a little sad that we didn’t get our Conan O’Brien Midwest Countdown though. Maybe next year.
Happy Holidays and all that jazz.

Chips Ahoy!

Our first Chip Party was a success last night. We ordered a party pack of Kettle Chips experimental flavors and invited people over to try them. There were little voting cards and every one tried the 5 different flavors and rated from a scale of 1 to 5. People brought over a few things as well. There was a 4-pack of Guinness, a bottle of wine, and some stir-fry, so we weren’t just pigging out on chips all night. Not that the chips weren’t enjoyed.

While everyone enjoyed the chips, there was no big favorite flavor standing out above them all. My favorites were the Royal Indian Curry and the Island Jerk, but I thought that the Twisted Chili Lime was one of the better chili lime chips I’ve had. It just wasn’t unique enough for me to appreciate it as much as the others. The Dragon 5 Spice had some potential, but didn’t quite meet it. It was like the flavors cancelled either out. The Aztec Chocolate scored the lowest out of all of them. I think it’s because it wasn’t really flavorful enough, it wasn’t a spicy mole chocolate but it wasn’t a sweet chocolate either.

If we do this again next year, which I think we might, we’ll have to start the festivities earlier than 9:00 I think. Hopefully this will help start up game night again.

Crunch. Crunch. Mmmmm, that was tasty.

Crazy Coincidence

Last night Emily and I were flipping through channels and came across NOVA. They had a special about a family that had four members that walked around on all fours. They didn’t crawl like babies do, but “walked” bent over, using the bottom of their feet and their palms to get around. The scientific interest in them is that some believe they can help lead to a discovery of the gene that enables us to walk upright, and possibly the gene that increases our intelligence and allows for language. It went on to explain that all animals have the same set of genes. It’s the difference between which ones are active and which ones are dormant that make up all of the differences seen in the animal kingdom.

What’s really interesting is I’m currently reading the Uplift series by David Brin. These books take place in the future when humans have made contact with other alien species, and apparently there’s been a multi-billion year practice of one highly advanced species “uplifting” a much less advanced species to the same level. Of course the newly advanced species will have to repay this honor through a few million years of indentured service. Anyways, humans had uplifted chimpanzees and dolphins by the time contact was made and saved us from being “uplifted” ourselves. The whole point of this, is that right now, we are at the beginning of the process. We’re taking the first tiny steps towards being able to genetically modify a species, enabling them to speak and have higher thought processes. I love it when science and science fiction begin to meet.

Talking animals?! But who will listen?

Oh Happy Days

Things have been looking up for me recently. On the home front, things are slowly being cleaned and organized. We finally got our settlement check from my grandfather’s inheritance. With it, we’re able to pay off the remaining balances on our credit card debts. That’s huge! You have no idea how relieved and excited we are about this. Well, maybe you do. We can finally start saving up for things and making plans. We’ve even started to loosen our belts a little (in a financially regards). It’s great!

In the country, Democrats take back not only the House of Representatives (229 to 196) but the Senate as well (49 to 48). As if that weren’t enough, we finally get our first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. How ridiculous is that? Other countries have had women Presidents by now, Presidents. All of this couldn’t have been done (or maybe more appropriate, wouldn’t have been done) if it weren’t for Howard Dean’s 50-State Strategy. It consisted of fighting for every election in the US, not just the one’s that looked winnable. It’s reminiscent of Angel’s last season, but with a much happier outcome.

In the world, not sure if you heard about this, but it looks like Donald Rumsfeld (who was finally resigned, yea!) is being charged with war crimes by Germany. That’s right, Germany is charging him with war crimes.

To top it all off, I got my Guitar Hero 2 pre-order in with the red guitar controller and guitar carrying case.

Ah, life sure can be sweet.

Short stories done in six words

In the new issue of Wired, they did a small article on short stories, six words short. Apparently this was all spawned by something Ernest Hemingway wrote: For sale: baby shoes, never worn. They said he called this one of his best works. I’ll admit, it’s very good. Anyways, Wired then had some other notable creatives from TV, books, and such take a stab at 6 word stories. I thought it’d be to try my hand at it. Here’s a few that I came up with:

Oh God, I’m pregnant! By whom? (I modified the punch line to a joke I got at work).
Red rockets in flight, afternoon delight. (Ok, I didn’t come up with this one, but when it clicked in my head that this was 6 words I was very excited.)
Susan, look out behind you before . . .
Whispering willows wave to the wind.
I hope she hears me out.
Maybe the cannibals are just friendly.
Where’s Chris? Was he left behind?
Ka-boom! Then there was only silence.

Sure, it may not be Hemingway. But it sure can be fun.

Stupid Entropy

I’m not complaining, not in the least, but we got quite a bit of stuff from our wedding. There were the gifts, obviously, but also clothes for the ceremony and reception, as well as all the decorations and settings and platters and whatever else was bought for the reception. We’ve been spending most of our tie trying to clean and organize the house, with an emphasis on organizing. So far our efforts have been concentrated n the upstairs (the living room/dining room/kitchen space). I think we’re progressing fairly well.

We gave the fridge a much need cleaning out: tossing out old foods and items we’ve never touched and have no plans to ever do so. We even gave it a decent sponge bath. We’ve put away all of our gifts and taken away all the appliances they replaced to make room. Slowly but surely things are starting to come together. Unfortunately that’s the thing that’s driving Emily, my wife (it still seems a little weird saying that), crazy.
She wanted to take a week off right after the weeding so that we could spend some time together and get the house straightened out. I didn’t know all of this at the time and thought that it’d be better for me to safe my vacation time for when we had plans (I didn’t know f her plans at the time). In hindsight, I should’ve taken the week off, but by the time I realized this Emily’s schedule was already finished, which would make her trying to get the week off incredibly hard. I think we both still feel ragged and could really use a chance to just recuperate. We plan to take that week between Christmas and New Year’s off. But with those two holidays and Emily’s Birthday in between them, I don’t know how restful it’ll be. Maybe we’ll some how arrange to take a week off before then.

Wedded Bliss

The big day came and went. Man was it hectic, especially the day before and that day. That day before, there was so much running around, decorating, purchasing and setting-up. It was crazy. I just want to give a BIG thanks to everyone who helped and contributed to it all, especially Cherish, who planned and organized most of it.

The rehearsal dinner was fabulous. It was so good. Everybody was impressed with how delicious the food was. Coming from a family of foodies, that’s something. Unfortunately, Emily had a toothache earlier that day and had a quick dentist visit beforehand. She was able to join us in the dinner, but I think mixture of all the food, wine and novocaine didn’t agree with her and she got a little sick afterwards.

The ceremony was simple, short, and touching. The day couldn’t have been better. It was cool, sunny and the leaves were starting to change but hadn’t fallen yet. Emily was gorgeous and I’ve been told wasn’t too hard on the eyes as well. Pastor Judy’s ceremony was very in keeping with our values. It was very lovely.

The reception was a blast. We kept it very mellow and inviting. Dim lighting, candles everywhere. There was great food. The Golden Johnny Whiskey-seed seemed to be a big hit. The DJ kept the music playing all night and was tuned in pretty well to the dance floor. Of course it took a little time and a few drinks before people started dancing, but once it got going I think it went very well. It was great seeing so many friends and family.
I know that what you all really want to see are pictures of the whole thing. Well, here’s what I’ve collected so far. (Will be posting them onto flickr when I get a chance).

Crazy, Crazy

Holy cow, it’s almost time. A lot of what’s need is done (for example we both have clothes that fit). All that’s left are details really (for example we’re still ironing out the jewelry). Although I guess that depends on your concept of details.

We’ve got a photographer arranged now. Our neighbor Yumi is going to do it as a gift for us. She’s a professional and has done this before, so yea! We also worked out the ceremony plans. Pastor Judy is going to do it for us. Her beliefs coincide with ours so the ceremony works well for us. Plus she’s done a few these before, so no problem there. We still need to work-out our vows and write-up and print out programs. Like I said, details.

The food is being taken care of. We finalized the menu and worked out a cooking schedule. Luigi is looking for any volunteers to help with the preparation and cooking Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, if anyone’s interested. We’re also going to need some volunteers to help set-up decorations. I think we’re decorating the reception space on Friday and the Ceremony will be done Saturday morning. We do have decorating materials now, yards of fabric, neat little table decorations, candles and candle holders. I think its going to turn out great.
Other than that we’ve been trying to get the house clean. You think that since we’ve hardly been home that much that it would’ve stayed fairly clean. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. We’re hoping to get all of that done before people start showing up wanting to look around the house. I think we can do it, it’ll be tough but it think we’ll get it done.

Things Are Starting to Come Together

As the time draws near, things seem to be falling into place. This past weekend we picked up Emily’s undergarments and another shawl. We also retrieved her new glasses. While we were out, we purchased her shoes as well. These shoes are awesome. We’re both very excited about them. Her family also took her to get alterations done on her dress (which’ll end up costing almost half of what her dress cost them). Then we got some wedding rings. Nothing fancy or expensive, but they’ll do what they need to do and if we lose them (which I hear happens quite often for those first rings), we won’t be so distraught over it. We also returned 2 shawls that didn’t work while we were out. Yes, Emily let go of some shawls, bringing the grand total to 2 with material to make a third.

I’m picking up chairs this week. We’re also meeting with our officiator this week as well. We’re going to go over the ceremony and work out what we’re going to do and how and all. We found out about this a rental place here in Northfield, where we might rent all of the glasses and silverware and such. Though, that’ll be a lot of cleaning afterwards. We’re not sure if that’s how we want to go yet. I dropped off a bag of CDs for our DJ, so he has some music that we like and can get a feel for our tastes (which ranges from Hip Hop to Caribbean to Classic Rock to Hard Rock to Crooner to Alternative). I haven’t actually gotten a chance to talk to him yet, though.

We still need to work on decorations for the 2 events. Plus, I’m still not sure about the cake issue, though I won’t be surprised if Emily’s mom shows up with one. She’s been somewhat obsessed about it. Oh and there’s the photography issue as well. It might be nice to have photos of the event.

Only 10 days left.

My God That Was Good

Thursday night, we went to Fermentations in Dundas to talk with the chef/owners of the restaurant about having a rehearsal dinner there. They brought out all kinds of samples. I think there were only 3 things from the menu that we didn’t sample. Their menu’s not huge, but it was still a lot of food. Plus, they served us 10 glasses of wine, each glass of wine from a different bottle. This place is fabulous. I don’t know why we waited so long to go. The food was just exquisite. None of the wines we had were bad. Some we preferred over others, but we would have gladly had any of them. We spent quite a bit of tie just talking to chefs about plans and our opinions on the food and wines. It was so fun sitting there discussing food with other foodies. We’re definitely going there again, even if it means we don’t eat anywhere else all month just to save up for it.
We were able to work out a menu for the evening. I should clarify; we were able to come up with some ideas for the menu. We still haven’t figured out the entrée (narrowed it down to 6 options) or the dessert situation. This weekend we plan to hash it all out. Oh, and the best part was that when asked if we owed them anything for all the samples, they told us no.

Wowza!

Been keeping busy as always. Melanie. Emily’s sister took us out to get Emily some new eyeglasses. Which is a big deal since she hasn’t gotten new glasses since she began college, some eight years ago. Then we looked for fabric for her shawl (in case the other 3 we have didn’t work). After that she ended up staying at her sister’s because I was late for a party.

Some (5) friends of mine threw me a Bachelor Party. It was pretty crazy. First off, these friends of mine are all women and not exactly the shyest people. We had some pizza before we headed off to the bar. They dressed me in a dare shirt (shirt had all kinds of dares for people to do) and they themselves wore black “clever” shirts (like Mountain Dew Me). They handed me my date, a tame blow-up doll (she wasn’t naked and had no holes, but was some what articulate) who we named Lola. We went to Bogart’s where we saw Paragon play. They’re a cover band who does 80’s, 90’s, and recent hits. The singer was sporting a Thundercats shirt, so I had a god feeling about them. They were a decent, fun band. They even played a Metallica song (!!!!), and fairly well (from what I could tell). I had had a few drinks by then. I believe that the final total was 5 shots of coconut run, 3 glasses of Honeyweis, 2 Car bombs, 1 Jager bomb, and a 3 wisemen. Oh, wait, I forgot the Screwdriver at the end of the night (with 2 Advils and an orange juice chaser). I didn’t puke once that night, and I felt fairly well that morning. I was a little tired and sore. That was due to most of the dancing I did. I can’t recall how many women I danced with, but it was damn fun. For one song I would be dancing with someone and soon after someone else would cut in and then someone else. It was awesome. One of the most fun nights of my life.

We’ve been getting RSVPs back from people. It’s getting very exciting as we’re finding out who’s going to be attending. Believe it or not, we’re still trying to get invitations out to other people. They all already know about the wedding and have been informally invited. Emily would just like to formally invite them. Problem is we ran out of the materials to make more cards and we don’t really have the time or money to get more, so we’ve resorted to getting decent copies made. Emily’s having issues with it all. She feels bad about handing a sub-par invitation to someone, so we went shopping Wednesday night to get some materials to make them acceptable. We’ll see how that goes.

Speaking of acceptable, Emily tried on her dress, to compare shawls, and found out it was the wrong size. Her dress was supposed to be a size 18 but they gave her a size 20. (Actually they gave her mom and sister the dress, which is why Emily didn’t try it on before it was bought.) They’re getting it altered this weekend. Not knowing much about dresses or sewing, I have no idea how hard or costly that’ll be.

A few things we have finished: We have chairs for the ceremony and reception reserved. We have the violinists set-up to play at the ceremony (provided the weather is nice enough). The rehearsal dinner is basically done, just a few details that need hammering out. A shawl was chosen, even though we bought some fabric online for a shawl. Either way, she’ll have a shawl she can wear.

A few things we’re still working on: Rings (looked at some, but haven’t decided or purchased yet), reception music (a friend is asking her brother if he can DJ or maybe provide speakers, then there’s picking out music), Ceremony and officiant (we’re talking to a friend’s mother about doing it), Photographer (we have someone volunteering, we just haven’t worked out details yet), Decorations (not really my department, Cherish is working on that), and Helpers (we need people to help set-up chairs, take down chairs, set-up decorations, etc.).

Oh, we’re still waiting to hear about the insurance claim on the house.

Yes, Another Update

My mom came down for Labor Day weekend. That went pretty well. We went to the State Fair, which was fun. Then on Sunday we did some wedding shopping. I now have a suit for the wedding, Emily has the bottom half to her reception outfit and a couple of possible shawls, I’m pretty sure my mom has a dress as well now. At the very least she has an idea for a dress. Oh, she also bought us some household items/wedding presents. That was enjoyable. Monday we spent at home. Mom helped clean the house up some, which drove Emily crazy. We also have a possible rehearsal dinner location. I’m looking into that.

We still need to get rings, I might need shoes (we haven’t checked to see if the ones I have are acceptable), Emily needs shoes, a brooch, and she’s still on the hunt for shawls. She also is looking for new glasses.

Last night we talked to our friend Luigi about food for the reception. We came up with a list/menu of foods and drinks to be served. We like it and have something of a plan for it now. We think that the food will cost about $500 and the drinks around $200. Where the money’ll come from, we’re still working on that.

We got the majority of invitations out now. We’re making the last few to give to local peeps here. There’s a handful that still need mailing, but we need addresses for those. I’d again like to reiterate that if you are able to make it, then please do.

Our original plan for the ceremony fell through, so we’re looking at other options. That’s not nerve wracking. We still are unsure of the Wedding Cake Situation. Emily’s mom really wants to make one for us, but we’re very nervous about it. One of Emily’s co-workers is making a Scandinavian ring cake, which’ll be nice. Emily really wants a fancy wedding cake. It’s like the only thing she cares about for the wedding. Unfortunately the wedding is in 22 days and we haven’t really done any shopping for one, plus, they’re expensive. I feel bad about it, but I don’t really know what do. The wedding’s taxing us financially, what with the eating out more because of all the shopping and running around. It’s very upsetting.

This thing seems to keep growing, especially when you consider that all we were really planning on doing was seeing a Justice of the Peace and maybe having a small dinner with our immediate family. If it wasn’t for the reaction from our friends and family (All of whom seem to be really excited about this. Hell, we’ve got some friends saying they’ll be here who we never expected to make it; we only sent an invitation in the hopes that they’d send a gift.) we’d have cancelled this thing. But, we feel obligated to carry through with this (somehow) now that some many people are involved.

Show must go on, or something like that, eh?

30 Days to Go

Talk about busy. We cleaned up our yard (mostly) with the help of Emily’s parents. We filled 2 trash bags of broken material (siding, tables, dishes, lights, etc.) and 18 bags of tree branches and leaves. We still have some large piles of leaves and branches to bag up, but the majority of it has been picked up. We still need to take them to the dump though.

Last Thursday our insurance agent came by and looked the house over. From what I’ve heard, he was way better and much more amicable then what my neighbors got. He recommended that all of our siding get replaced, deck get painted, roof on the house replaced, shed get painted and re-roofed, garage door get replaced, lights replaced and included all of our things we had outside. Our neighbors said their agent was suggesting that they only replace the parts of siding that are damaged, which might save on materials but would probably increase labor costs. Part of it might be that a lot of people in Northfield have the same insurance company where as we have USAA, which is more national. He still needs to send it in to the office and they come up with the final numbers, but the process is off to a good start at least.

We’ve also finalized the invitations and gotten the first batch into the mail. We still need to address quite a few of them and mail those off. Oh, we also created a wedding website on The Knot. It’s really not that fancy or amazing, but it’s got our information out there. We’ve started working out the menu for the reception. My grandmother is going to officiate the wedding, and we’re working out the ceremony details with her. The location is reserved and some decorations have been planned and purchased (colors are blue and orange; though I’m sure there are fancier names I should be calling them). Registries are pretty done. Emily still waiting to get her gown purchased, it’s been picked out, just not bought. Then she’ll be better able to pick out jewelry, hair, shawl, and other accessories. We still haven’t picked out a suit for me yet. Oh, we’ve picked out reception music, somewhat. The plans are to hook up an ipod to a decent sound system for the reception. I think that’s it. I know there’s more we need to do, but I can’t remember right now.

My mom’s coming up for the weekend; should be good. The plans are to go to the Great Minnesota Get Together on Saturday; could be fun, if it doesn’t rain too badly. I think we might work on wedding stuff Sunday, or just hang out. Not really sure, we haven’t planned that out yet. Oh well.

Ah, one more thing to add. Last month was year end at Agriliance, so it was a mad house. Everyone was trying to get all of those projects they’ve been putting off done as well as stuff as many sales as they could before the books closed. We’ve been switching over to a new system, so the numbers weren’t as good as they usually were and management was worried about their bonuses (we were too). From what I hear, it went very well. I’ll be excited to find out about this bonus people talk about.

I need a nap.