I feel tired. Not surprisingly consider the amount of work I have this week as well as my inability to go to bed at a reasonable time in most cases. Tonight (Wednesday night) is the only night I have free. Ok, technically I have Friday night free, but that's usually Game Night and I canceled last week and feel bad about canceling again. I wish Game Night was at a local gaming store and there was a group of people that regularly attended so I wouldn't feel so bad about not going every once in a while.
Really it seems like lately anytime I want something to happen, it's up to me to take charge and be the person who works out all the details and shoulders most of the responsibility. I understand that someone has to, but it can get a little tiring. There's game night, there's D&D, there's various parties, there's house repairs. These are things I want to do, but I want to be the guest person. The one who gets invited and can show up and have fun. I don't want to have to be the one inviting everyone and working out timing issues and locations and activities and yadda, yadda, yadda. I know, I know, if I want to do these things the only way to make sure it happens is to actually set it up myself.
I mean, I like playing board games. I have games I haven't played yet (though not that many anymore). Unfortunately, there's no local game store/club where people can get together and play games, so I started up game night to play with my friends. But that makes it my responsibility and I know that some of my friends enjoy getting together and playing games as well. The problem is that every once in a while I don't feel up to having a game night (like say I've been working 60 hours all week), but I feel obligated to do it for the sake of others.
I enjoying playing RPG's. Dungeons and Dragons came out with a 4th Edition and I wanted to try it out. The friends I used to roleplay with still lived in the cities and I was inconsiderate of Emily and came home late a few nights, making her less than happy to see me drive up to the cities to play with them. Plus they got addicted to World of Warcraft. If I wanted to play D&D, I would need to get a group together and be the DM. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed DM'ing, but it requires a lot more work beforehand than just being a player. It also requires more during play as well. Maybe I would enjoy it more if I had created the adventure myself instead of going off of a module, but I've only just started DM'ing and I haven't played in a whole lot of games either, so I don't have much faith in my skills to do that, but that's a whole different issue. I would love to just play in a game, immerse myself into a single character instead of 100's of them.
Emily helps out quite a bit, and I love her for it. It's awesome to have a wife who wants to see me happy and helps as much as she can. But it still leaves the stuff up to me and she's not as excited about it as I am, so she has no interest in taking the lead on any this stuff.
I don't know, maybe I'll feel better after this vacation and once I've caught up on sleep.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Thunderspire Labrynth, 2
Having received the package Bairwin required, they decided to make the trip back to Winterhaven right away. They spent another week traveling the trade routes and arrived in town, much to Bairwin's surprise. He gladly paid them for their troubles and complimented them on their unexpected speed. With a little more coin in their purse, they headed back to Thunderspire.
Upon arriving, they noticed that they were treated a little differently than before. They received wary looks and were given a wider berth. A few people would quickly cross the street to get away from them. Nachi seemed to take some enjoyment of this new treatment and scared a few passerbys. At one point, Sophana caught what looked like Brugg chuckling out of the side of his mouth when seeing this.
Saul wanted to get a magical item he had in mind so they went to shop at House Azaer. He didn't have nearly enough gold to pay for what it, so he performed a ritual to create fool's gold and entered the store with Nachi, and Sophana. They met Noristo, a young tiefling merchant with a sly smile, and were able to pass off the fake gold as real gold and left with their new goods. Soon after Allyria and Tasil entered to look around. Allyria unknowingly caught the eye of Noristo, who offered to personally help moisturize her tail. Allyria turned red (which is quite a feat for a tiefling) and stumbled out the door with Tasil close behind snickering.
The group decided to question the duergar in the Grimmerzhul Trading Post about a letter they found in the Bloodreaver's hideout. Nachi attempted to intimidate his way into some information and while everyone was distracted Tasil stole one of the bracelets on display. Nachi's attempts were met with near-open hostility and they decided to take a different approach. Nachi went up to Brugg and informed him that he had proof that the Grimmerzhul clan is purchasing slaves and that he might want to get the mages involved. Brugg informed him that while he respects the group after hearing some of the rumors about them, unless there's something happen within the Seven Pillared Hall, he and the mages don't care what happens.
Finding no help, they decided to take matters into their own hands. They returned to the Chamber of Eyes (the Bloodreaver hideout) to find it empty and tracked the slaves from there. With the help of some teamwork, Sophana is able to track them through the tunnels until they ended at the Horned Hold, a minotaur fortress that the Grimmerzhul converted into a stronghold. It consists of three parts connected by bridges over a deep chasm.
Upon arriving at the entrance they were greeted by some orcs inside the gated entrance. After dealing with some crossbow shots and spear stabs, Nachi teleported past the gate in the hopes of finding a lever to open the door. Unfortunately all he found were some angry orcs and a duergar guard, who quickly surrounded him. The rest of the party was left outside, fighting as best as they could through the gate while Tasil attempted to unlock it. Nachi got knocked unconscious numerous times before everyone was able to take control of the room. After a short rest and some healing, the party took a look around at their surroundings. They found a hall with a few locked doors and examined the rooms behind said doors. One of the doors opened into a armory, which they proceeded to ransack. The other doors opened into empty barracks with footlockers filed with nothing but clothing and hygiene products, much to the disappointment of Tasil.
The next door held back the sounds of roaring fires and hammers hitting anvils. The party gathered their courage and burst through the door to meet a couple of duergars and orcs working in a blacksmith area being directed by a large duergar covered in soot carrying a huge hammer and barking out orders. Within no time a fight broke out with the smithy flinging spells and slurs in equal measure. It was a hard fought battle, but in the end the heroes won out.
They searched the area and took what finished weapons they could find. They also stumbled upon the smithy's bedroom and were surprised to see an ornamental scepter that resembled the one Gendar talked about. Other than that they found little of value.
Having dealt with two groups of foes, everyone was feeling a little worn out and decided to take their chances and sleep in a small abandoned room off of one of the barracks they discovered. Saul magically locked all the doors they had explored and the group went to sleep with Nachi going into his trance to keep an eye out. Within the first hour, Saul was awakened with the knowledge that one of his locks had been broken. He quietly crept up to Nachi to let him know what was going on. Hour after hour another lock was broken, some leading to their room and some leading away. The rest of the party needed 8 hours to be fully rested and it wasn't until the ninth hour that the duergar search party unlocked the door leading to them. With everyone else well rested, the party sprang to the defense, taking out duergars left and right. Nachi and Tasil were able to take out an invisible scout before he could warn the rest of the hold. Together they decided to head down the hall the scout was head toward and find the slaves.
Upon arriving, they noticed that they were treated a little differently than before. They received wary looks and were given a wider berth. A few people would quickly cross the street to get away from them. Nachi seemed to take some enjoyment of this new treatment and scared a few passerbys. At one point, Sophana caught what looked like Brugg chuckling out of the side of his mouth when seeing this.
Saul wanted to get a magical item he had in mind so they went to shop at House Azaer. He didn't have nearly enough gold to pay for what it, so he performed a ritual to create fool's gold and entered the store with Nachi, and Sophana. They met Noristo, a young tiefling merchant with a sly smile, and were able to pass off the fake gold as real gold and left with their new goods. Soon after Allyria and Tasil entered to look around. Allyria unknowingly caught the eye of Noristo, who offered to personally help moisturize her tail. Allyria turned red (which is quite a feat for a tiefling) and stumbled out the door with Tasil close behind snickering.
The group decided to question the duergar in the Grimmerzhul Trading Post about a letter they found in the Bloodreaver's hideout. Nachi attempted to intimidate his way into some information and while everyone was distracted Tasil stole one of the bracelets on display. Nachi's attempts were met with near-open hostility and they decided to take a different approach. Nachi went up to Brugg and informed him that he had proof that the Grimmerzhul clan is purchasing slaves and that he might want to get the mages involved. Brugg informed him that while he respects the group after hearing some of the rumors about them, unless there's something happen within the Seven Pillared Hall, he and the mages don't care what happens.
Finding no help, they decided to take matters into their own hands. They returned to the Chamber of Eyes (the Bloodreaver hideout) to find it empty and tracked the slaves from there. With the help of some teamwork, Sophana is able to track them through the tunnels until they ended at the Horned Hold, a minotaur fortress that the Grimmerzhul converted into a stronghold. It consists of three parts connected by bridges over a deep chasm.
Upon arriving at the entrance they were greeted by some orcs inside the gated entrance. After dealing with some crossbow shots and spear stabs, Nachi teleported past the gate in the hopes of finding a lever to open the door. Unfortunately all he found were some angry orcs and a duergar guard, who quickly surrounded him. The rest of the party was left outside, fighting as best as they could through the gate while Tasil attempted to unlock it. Nachi got knocked unconscious numerous times before everyone was able to take control of the room. After a short rest and some healing, the party took a look around at their surroundings. They found a hall with a few locked doors and examined the rooms behind said doors. One of the doors opened into a armory, which they proceeded to ransack. The other doors opened into empty barracks with footlockers filed with nothing but clothing and hygiene products, much to the disappointment of Tasil.
The next door held back the sounds of roaring fires and hammers hitting anvils. The party gathered their courage and burst through the door to meet a couple of duergars and orcs working in a blacksmith area being directed by a large duergar covered in soot carrying a huge hammer and barking out orders. Within no time a fight broke out with the smithy flinging spells and slurs in equal measure. It was a hard fought battle, but in the end the heroes won out.
They searched the area and took what finished weapons they could find. They also stumbled upon the smithy's bedroom and were surprised to see an ornamental scepter that resembled the one Gendar talked about. Other than that they found little of value.
Having dealt with two groups of foes, everyone was feeling a little worn out and decided to take their chances and sleep in a small abandoned room off of one of the barracks they discovered. Saul magically locked all the doors they had explored and the group went to sleep with Nachi going into his trance to keep an eye out. Within the first hour, Saul was awakened with the knowledge that one of his locks had been broken. He quietly crept up to Nachi to let him know what was going on. Hour after hour another lock was broken, some leading to their room and some leading away. The rest of the party needed 8 hours to be fully rested and it wasn't until the ninth hour that the duergar search party unlocked the door leading to them. With everyone else well rested, the party sprang to the defense, taking out duergars left and right. Nachi and Tasil were able to take out an invisible scout before he could warn the rest of the hold. Together they decided to head down the hall the scout was head toward and find the slaves.
Got the time?
This week is going to be busy. I'm working at least 1 job every day this week, starting this past Sunday (Just Food: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday; Monster Games: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday). Plus we're taking a week long vacation next week, so we need to prepare for that as well. You know the usual packing and cleaning and preparing that goes on before any long trip.
I learned a great tip about Facebook. Did you know that there's a way to hide status updates of people you don't care to hear from? There is. I don't know how long it's been there but I've been wanting this for a while. Just hover your mouse over one of the unwanted updates on your home page. A little box titled “Hide” will appear in the top right corner of the update's box. Click on the “Hide” box and select “Hide ___” where the person's name is in the blank and you're done. Now you'll never have to see the person's updates again, unless you really want to. This is great, now I 'm more likely to see updates from people I want to see. Yea!
I learned a great tip about Facebook. Did you know that there's a way to hide status updates of people you don't care to hear from? There is. I don't know how long it's been there but I've been wanting this for a while. Just hover your mouse over one of the unwanted updates on your home page. A little box titled “Hide” will appear in the top right corner of the update's box. Click on the “Hide” box and select “Hide ___” where the person's name is in the blank and you're done. Now you'll never have to see the person's updates again, unless you really want to. This is great, now I 'm more likely to see updates from people I want to see. Yea!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Fun times?
Last night I had the largest single transaction I've ever dealt with come through. It totaled $1825.95. It was a whole butt loads worth of special orders for Farm House. That check was over half of my whole nights total. Crazy huh?
The facebook app for my iPod touch stopped working, because they updated it so that it required the iPhone 3.0 upgrade, which I hadn't purchased yet. But it seems like more and more apps are requiring it to work now, which is annoying since Apple is charging for it. So I broke down and bought the upgrade. Surprisingly, the upgrade only costs about $6 instead of the $11 it used to be. I still think it's crazy that they're charging for it, but whatever, I ended up buying it didn't I? I really hope it makes my iPod run better. The annoying thing is that I started this in the morning and it took a half hour just to download it, then it had to update the iPod and because of the update, now it has to restore it, which means uploading all the apps, videos, and music files I originally had on there. That's close to 30 gigs worth of stuff. I ended up just leaving it at home to finish while I went to work. Hopefully it will be done by lunchtime. It's going to be weird not having it for the day.
I'm not sure if you heard (or if you care), but Connor is sick so the “party” at Kathie Smith's is canceled. I hope Connor starts feeling better and I'm sure Kathie will host another party when the timings right. In the mean time, Susan's offered to have Game Night at her place. I think that'll be nice, I know she enjoys playing games, but can't make it out since someone has to keep an eye on sleeping kids. So for tonight, Game Night will be held at the Beeby's.
The facebook app for my iPod touch stopped working, because they updated it so that it required the iPhone 3.0 upgrade, which I hadn't purchased yet. But it seems like more and more apps are requiring it to work now, which is annoying since Apple is charging for it. So I broke down and bought the upgrade. Surprisingly, the upgrade only costs about $6 instead of the $11 it used to be. I still think it's crazy that they're charging for it, but whatever, I ended up buying it didn't I? I really hope it makes my iPod run better. The annoying thing is that I started this in the morning and it took a half hour just to download it, then it had to update the iPod and because of the update, now it has to restore it, which means uploading all the apps, videos, and music files I originally had on there. That's close to 30 gigs worth of stuff. I ended up just leaving it at home to finish while I went to work. Hopefully it will be done by lunchtime. It's going to be weird not having it for the day.
I'm not sure if you heard (or if you care), but Connor is sick so the “party” at Kathie Smith's is canceled. I hope Connor starts feeling better and I'm sure Kathie will host another party when the timings right. In the mean time, Susan's offered to have Game Night at her place. I think that'll be nice, I know she enjoys playing games, but can't make it out since someone has to keep an eye on sleeping kids. So for tonight, Game Night will be held at the Beeby's.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Busy?
Things have been going good here, a little hectic but good. It seems like we've been getting all these little windfalls lately. It's nice. Things are moving in a good direction at a noticeable pace. It's like all the work and hardship we've dealt with over the past years is stating to pay off. It's a nice feeling.
I have been working a lot the past few weeks. Way more than I was expecting or hoping. I hear they're hiring a few more cashiers so maybe I'll be working a few less hours. I will say that business has been good at Just Food, at least from my perspective. Maybe it's just the hours I work, but it seems like it's always busy.
I'm still loving Batman: Arkham Asylum. I was telling Isaac that I haven't been this engrossed/obsessed in a game since Bioshock. On the other hand, I still have other games to play as well, but I probably won't get to them until I'm done with Batman. I really need to finish Half Life since the Rebel FM Game Club this month is Half Life 2 and its subsequent episodes. I told myself I would play Half Life before playing its sequel, and I started that a month ago and got maybe halfway through but never finished. Now I have a strong incentive to do so.
I really like their idea of a Video Game club, like in place of a book club. The group plays a particular game either all the way through or to a checkpoint and then gets together and discusses their thoughts on it. I guess that's why I like listening to the Game Club podcasts. I think it'd be more fun to be in a group instead of vicariously listening to one, but right now I can't even keep up with the book club I'm in. I don't really need to add more things to my schedule.
Oh, Game Night is going to be at Kathie Smith's house. Apparently a Mamma Mia night is being held there at the same time. I figure the game night part will entertain the people who have no desire to watch Mamma Mia. I'll have to figure out what games I have that either correspond to some degree with that movie or at least can be played while a crowd in the other room sings songs. Either way it should be fun, right?
I have been working a lot the past few weeks. Way more than I was expecting or hoping. I hear they're hiring a few more cashiers so maybe I'll be working a few less hours. I will say that business has been good at Just Food, at least from my perspective. Maybe it's just the hours I work, but it seems like it's always busy.
I'm still loving Batman: Arkham Asylum. I was telling Isaac that I haven't been this engrossed/obsessed in a game since Bioshock. On the other hand, I still have other games to play as well, but I probably won't get to them until I'm done with Batman. I really need to finish Half Life since the Rebel FM Game Club this month is Half Life 2 and its subsequent episodes. I told myself I would play Half Life before playing its sequel, and I started that a month ago and got maybe halfway through but never finished. Now I have a strong incentive to do so.
I really like their idea of a Video Game club, like in place of a book club. The group plays a particular game either all the way through or to a checkpoint and then gets together and discusses their thoughts on it. I guess that's why I like listening to the Game Club podcasts. I think it'd be more fun to be in a group instead of vicariously listening to one, but right now I can't even keep up with the book club I'm in. I don't really need to add more things to my schedule.
Oh, Game Night is going to be at Kathie Smith's house. Apparently a Mamma Mia night is being held there at the same time. I figure the game night part will entertain the people who have no desire to watch Mamma Mia. I'll have to figure out what games I have that either correspond to some degree with that movie or at least can be played while a crowd in the other room sings songs. Either way it should be fun, right?
Saturday, September 12, 2009
NVG Day
First off, Happy National Video Game Day!
I woke up this morning, after going to bed late from gaming at Scott's, and helped Cherish and Melanie and Emily set-up their craft tent in Central Park. Every time I see their set-up it seems to get nicer and nicer. They have some nice stands to display their cards and paintings. We arranged and priced Emily's larger ceramic pieces. They also have buttons, and cards, and necklaces. I would suggest at least checking it out and saying hi. Emily will probably be there from time to time. They are located at the corner of Winona and 3rd.
I won't be there much because I have to work from 3 to close. I've been told that it's slow at the coop during Jesse James Days, but this year doesn't seem to be the case, at least it wasn't on Thursday. We'll see how today goes. For now, I'm going to try to catch-up on some sleep before I have to go. Hopefully I can get some Batman in today.
I woke up this morning, after going to bed late from gaming at Scott's, and helped Cherish and Melanie and Emily set-up their craft tent in Central Park. Every time I see their set-up it seems to get nicer and nicer. They have some nice stands to display their cards and paintings. We arranged and priced Emily's larger ceramic pieces. They also have buttons, and cards, and necklaces. I would suggest at least checking it out and saying hi. Emily will probably be there from time to time. They are located at the corner of Winona and 3rd.
I won't be there much because I have to work from 3 to close. I've been told that it's slow at the coop during Jesse James Days, but this year doesn't seem to be the case, at least it wasn't on Thursday. We'll see how today goes. For now, I'm going to try to catch-up on some sleep before I have to go. Hopefully I can get some Batman in today.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Yea!
Defeat of Jesse James Days is upon us. Em's sisters will be selling their crafts here, so stop by their tent and check it out. Emily will probably have some of her pieces there as well, though maybe not as much she would like, since we didn't take the time to go through and price some of her bigger pieces.
Time has gotten a little more valuable as of late, what with my second job and all. I don't think it will be as stressful as the last time I had a second job (which was what, all of 8 months ago?). This time our financial decisions were all made to get us ahead, instead of attempting to maintain. In fact, it's more like to accelerate our getting ahead, because we were on track to make some headway. Now though, I have a second job, Emily's working full time again, we refinanced the house for a lower mortgage payment, and we have a paying roommate again. I think if we keep this up, we might actually be out of debt in the next year or two, including our student loans. We should also have built up some savings by then as well. Yea!
We're (or at least I'm) still trying to get Friday Night Game Nights to be routine. That's step one. Step two is to start having it at other people's places. This Friday night a coworker of mine, Scott, is planning on having it at his place. He has a nice open place and a closet full of games. Then on the 18th, the plans are to have it at Kathie Smith's. She can't come to our place because she's allergic to cats. Double Yea!
Oh, and if you haven't gotten it yet, get Batman: Arkham Asylum. It's awesome. It's a 3D version of Super Metroid (a game I've been told that all games are based off of, but this one more so) starring Batman with a story straight out of a massive batman comic book arc and voiced by the awesome actors from the original animated series. I am loving this game. It speaks to me on so many levels of geekdom. Triple Yea!
Time has gotten a little more valuable as of late, what with my second job and all. I don't think it will be as stressful as the last time I had a second job (which was what, all of 8 months ago?). This time our financial decisions were all made to get us ahead, instead of attempting to maintain. In fact, it's more like to accelerate our getting ahead, because we were on track to make some headway. Now though, I have a second job, Emily's working full time again, we refinanced the house for a lower mortgage payment, and we have a paying roommate again. I think if we keep this up, we might actually be out of debt in the next year or two, including our student loans. We should also have built up some savings by then as well. Yea!
We're (or at least I'm) still trying to get Friday Night Game Nights to be routine. That's step one. Step two is to start having it at other people's places. This Friday night a coworker of mine, Scott, is planning on having it at his place. He has a nice open place and a closet full of games. Then on the 18th, the plans are to have it at Kathie Smith's. She can't come to our place because she's allergic to cats. Double Yea!
Oh, and if you haven't gotten it yet, get Batman: Arkham Asylum. It's awesome. It's a 3D version of Super Metroid (a game I've been told that all games are based off of, but this one more so) starring Batman with a story straight out of a massive batman comic book arc and voiced by the awesome actors from the original animated series. I am loving this game. It speaks to me on so many levels of geekdom. Triple Yea!
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
My new busyness
This was a busy weekend. On Friday we had another game night and played Battlestar Galactica again. The key players were Baltar, the Chief, Starbuck, and Tigh. It started off a little rocky and Chief and Baltar jumped up to accuse the other. Galactica was surrounded by cylon ships and another basestar had just arrived. Luckily, Galactica was able to jump away before things got too dangerous. Repairs were ordered and quickly completed, and with no pressing concerns, everyone decided to hunt for the cylon spy. The committee threw the Chief into the brig and then, to be safe, threw Baltar in as well. Both professed their innocence the entire time they were trapped in there. After another jump, Chief showed himself to be a cylon sympathizer and was subsequently rescued and taken to the cylon fleet. Meanwhile, unknown to all, Tigh was awaken as a cylon sleeper agent. As acting Admiral, Tigh declared martial law and named himself as the President. With a cylon in both positions of power, it was only a matter of time before the humans ran out of resources (specifically fuel) and lost, one jump away from reaching Kobol.
Saturday we slept in some before heading to Just Food to enjoy the Harvest Festival. It was a fun little time and we tried many tasty treats for various vendors. Unfortunately we arrived too late to take full advantage of the pressed art station. Afterwards we headed over to the Beeby's to play D&D for the rest of the day. I'll post how that went separately. Then around 10 o'clock we went home to go to bed.
Sunday was spent lying around and getting a few chores down. I spent some time playing more Wheelman as well as Shadow Complex. I was still a little tired, so after a quick shopping trip to Just Food, I took a 30 minute nap, which turned out to be an excellent idea. We volunteered to help with the Just Food reset, and our shift started at 9pm. We helped move things off of shelves, build-up and rearrange shelves, and then put items pack onto shelves.
Monday I went to work at Monster Games at 8am and then went to work at Just Food at 4pm and stayed there until close, which was until about 10pm. It was a long and tiring day. I'm still a little tired.
Saturday we slept in some before heading to Just Food to enjoy the Harvest Festival. It was a fun little time and we tried many tasty treats for various vendors. Unfortunately we arrived too late to take full advantage of the pressed art station. Afterwards we headed over to the Beeby's to play D&D for the rest of the day. I'll post how that went separately. Then around 10 o'clock we went home to go to bed.
Sunday was spent lying around and getting a few chores down. I spent some time playing more Wheelman as well as Shadow Complex. I was still a little tired, so after a quick shopping trip to Just Food, I took a 30 minute nap, which turned out to be an excellent idea. We volunteered to help with the Just Food reset, and our shift started at 9pm. We helped move things off of shelves, build-up and rearrange shelves, and then put items pack onto shelves.
Monday I went to work at Monster Games at 8am and then went to work at Just Food at 4pm and stayed there until close, which was until about 10pm. It was a long and tiring day. I'm still a little tired.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wheelman
I've been playing Wheelman lately. I haven't gotten extremely far, in fact there are a few side mission types that I haven't unlocked yet. So far it's been pretty fun. It's like a simplified GTA 4 but with more emphasis on driving. I've been enjoying the driving combat. You can hit the right stick while you drive to slam the car in that direction, which can push other cars into walls or obstacles.
Here are some things they get right. The car combat action is fun. It's frenetic and you find yourself driving through all kinds of breakable objects, fighting back and forth, and it achieves the cinematic recluse driving scenes that they're going for. The PDA/map page is great in the fact that they let you just start a mission from there; no need to drive all around town to get to the starting point. The dialogue is nothing spectacular, but then again you don't go to an action movie for the words of wisdom. The voice acting is good, for the parts they were given.
Sounds like a fun game right? Well it is, but it's not a great game and it's because of the small things they miss. Little things that add aggravation and detract from the fun. One thing I could not believe is a problem with the y-invert option. Now, I had this problem in the demo, so I wasn't too surprised to still see it in the game. Here's the issue: in the options you can select whether the y-axis is inverted, like most games, but when you do any of the car-shooting special moves (either spin the car and in bullet time shoot at cars that were behind you, or just go into bullet time to shoot a blockade in front of you) the game has decided not to pay attention to your y-axis choice. This is ridiculous. If I want the y-axis inverted, I want it that way ALL the time, not just when I'm running around with a gun (which doesn't happen nearly as much as the driving, it is called Wheelman).
Another thing that's off-putting is you get emails after every story mission. They don't really add anything, it's just a reminder of what you have to do next. The problem is that to read emails you have to pull up your map and hit another button. Of course, while you're looking at your map there's no way of knowing if you've gotten any new mail. Combine this with the fact that after every mission, they take you to the map to show you where you're new mission is located, and you have an annoyance. This means you'll finish a mission, be in the map screen, see where your new mission is located, exit, and then be told "You have new email!" Now you have to go back into the map, and then from there go to the email screen where your email will basically say "You have a new mission!" There's no need for this. The only reason to have it is to try to disguise the map as a "PDA" screen. That's kind of pointless in my mind. Just keep it as a map, it shows where the next mission is, I don't need another reminder.
Another issue I have is the AI for street racing side missions. I enjoy some of the street races but the way it's set-up, it seems like it's me versus the pack and not a street race where everyone is fighting for first. When I'm in the middle of the group I get smacked around like nobody's business. But if I'm in the back, I don't see any of the cars slamming each other. With each other they'll play nice, but for me they try to shoot out my tires and slam me into walls. That is definitely not an example of taking care of the player.
Speaking of side missions, I can say that I approve of the way they have been doling them out. At the early point that I'm at now, they have been giving me a story mission that is basically the form of the new side mission. Once you complete the story mission, the side missions open up, all of them of that type in that area. I think that's just bad pacing. What I would have done is open the first side mission of that type, maybe two. After those have been completed, the player need to race another story mission. After that they have now unlocked a few more side missions of the old type as well as the new type. Just keep repeating this process until all side missions have been unlocked. This way the player switches back and forth between story missions and side missions. I understand that some people may enjoy the side missions more than the story mission, but the point of the game is the story, let's try to keep them down that path.
Bottom line, this game is a fun game and has some interesting takes on the criminal driving game, but it definitely has some missteps along the way.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
When It Rains It Pours, But It Also Brings Flowers
As you may have heard, earlier this month things were just going crazy, financial-wise. The car broke down and took weeks to fix. Some unexpected bills popped up and to top it all off, Emily's Paypal was hacked and charged a little over $1500. Now, however, things seem to have turned around. We got the Paypal charge refunded; Wells Fargo reversed all of the overdraft fees they charged; I got a second job at Just Food; and we just recently refinanced our house so that we have a fixed 30 year mortgage with no balloon payments and on top of that it's for roughly $35,000 less than the previous one and is going to save us about $200 a month in mortgage payments. It's been a relief. Now we can start getting ahead instead of just treading water like we have been for a while.
Last weekend I played paintball with a couple of co-workers in this big wooded field. It was a blast and a big difference from running around between plywood boards. We played for quite a while, and being the dumbass that I am, I never thought to put sunscreen on and burnt my face and head. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it certainly wasn't necessary. It's now starting to heal (i.e. peel), another scene of recovery.
Last weekend I played paintball with a couple of co-workers in this big wooded field. It was a blast and a big difference from running around between plywood boards. We played for quite a while, and being the dumbass that I am, I never thought to put sunscreen on and burnt my face and head. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it certainly wasn't necessary. It's now starting to heal (i.e. peel), another scene of recovery.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
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.
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?
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?
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, August 07, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
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!).
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!).
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