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.