I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas. I know I did, even though this is definitely the time of the year that I miss family and friends back in Michigan the most. We spent the day quietly at home while Miranda played with her new Barbies and magnetic "paper" dolls. There was plenty of time spent on the phone with family and it sounds like all are doing well.
This year for Christmas, our dinner and meals went a little astray. Breakfast was french toast in pear sauce with venison sausage. Lunch/Dinner was ham, spinach dip, bread, and carrots. That didn't come off so well. The spinach dip was off. The ham was ok. But Miranda ate well minus not wanting french toast. Sometimes I wonder about what she likes to eat. She is really a carnivore.
Before too much longer, we will be starting 2010. I always wonder what changes there will be in this new year. I know some of my friends will be facing their own changes as some expect children and others continue their education. Some will be focusing on new jobs and others will be getting into their stride in their current jobs.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Review: The Last Remnant
Non-game related... LIONS WIN. Wasn't pretty, but really I don't care when a win is a win.
Recently finished playing The Last Remnant and I was impressed by the game. The game is classified as a JRPG. You take on the role of Rush, who seems to fill a typical lead character: young, male, not bright, impetuous, and brave. It starts with Rush's sister getting kidnapped and he must now head out to rescue her and happens into a battlefield. You meet up with a group of individuals that pull you into much bigger problems happening in the world.
The characters are interesting. The story is interesting. The battle system is also interesting.
The characters range through a bunch of types. The game takes time to setup up side quests for a large number of unique leaders. These side quests are used to tell the individual stories. One of the stories I enjoyed was that of Loki. Loki's story is that of a despicable bandit who is offering his services to bid. But once you have put him into your squad you get a chance to talk to him and find that he was born under a bad sign and the whole village treated him as a bad egg. Over time he engaged in more and more atrocities, until he happens upon a blind girl who he decides to help when she blindly offers friendship. He is now on a mission to correct her eyesight which he needs your help to do so.
The story starts simply, but expands. The world is filled with these items called Remnants that are able to do incredible and magical things. Remnants seem to be a combination of magic and futuristic items. So there is this guy called The Conqueror who is forcibly gathering Remnants in his bid to join the political congress. But things are not always as they seem. Rush's family is special as is Rush himself. What bothered me but also intrigued me was how you were kept guessing as to what was going on in the world. There was just a lot of mystery.
The battle system is pretty different for me. Instead of running 3 to 5 single players, you end up controlling between 3 to 5 groups of individuals. These unions each have a formation, one or more leaders, and soldiers. The leaders and soldiers each have individual skills and abilities, but in the union their health and ability points are pooled and they act in concert. It can get pretty frustrating at time as you don't tell them what to do specifically, but instead give them very general commands as to what you want them to do, not helpful when the group is in dire need of health and that is not an option. You get up to 5 options which can feel pretty random.
One beef with the game is you really feel like you don't have any control of how your characters progress. I think this leads to your characters being week on the first playthrough. Given my limited time to play games being a father and all, I turned to the Last Remnant wikia to help make the most of my character ability progression. The other beef I have is with the amount and length of load times. I spent around 150+ hours on the game over the last 9 months and probably have a couple of hours (or 10s of hours) waiting for the load screens.
Otherwise, I am impressed.
Recently finished playing The Last Remnant and I was impressed by the game. The game is classified as a JRPG. You take on the role of Rush, who seems to fill a typical lead character: young, male, not bright, impetuous, and brave. It starts with Rush's sister getting kidnapped and he must now head out to rescue her and happens into a battlefield. You meet up with a group of individuals that pull you into much bigger problems happening in the world.
The characters are interesting. The story is interesting. The battle system is also interesting.
The characters range through a bunch of types. The game takes time to setup up side quests for a large number of unique leaders. These side quests are used to tell the individual stories. One of the stories I enjoyed was that of Loki. Loki's story is that of a despicable bandit who is offering his services to bid. But once you have put him into your squad you get a chance to talk to him and find that he was born under a bad sign and the whole village treated him as a bad egg. Over time he engaged in more and more atrocities, until he happens upon a blind girl who he decides to help when she blindly offers friendship. He is now on a mission to correct her eyesight which he needs your help to do so.
The story starts simply, but expands. The world is filled with these items called Remnants that are able to do incredible and magical things. Remnants seem to be a combination of magic and futuristic items. So there is this guy called The Conqueror who is forcibly gathering Remnants in his bid to join the political congress. But things are not always as they seem. Rush's family is special as is Rush himself. What bothered me but also intrigued me was how you were kept guessing as to what was going on in the world. There was just a lot of mystery.
The battle system is pretty different for me. Instead of running 3 to 5 single players, you end up controlling between 3 to 5 groups of individuals. These unions each have a formation, one or more leaders, and soldiers. The leaders and soldiers each have individual skills and abilities, but in the union their health and ability points are pooled and they act in concert. It can get pretty frustrating at time as you don't tell them what to do specifically, but instead give them very general commands as to what you want them to do, not helpful when the group is in dire need of health and that is not an option. You get up to 5 options which can feel pretty random.
One beef with the game is you really feel like you don't have any control of how your characters progress. I think this leads to your characters being week on the first playthrough. Given my limited time to play games being a father and all, I turned to the Last Remnant wikia to help make the most of my character ability progression. The other beef I have is with the amount and length of load times. I spent around 150+ hours on the game over the last 9 months and probably have a couple of hours (or 10s of hours) waiting for the load screens.
Otherwise, I am impressed.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Lions are the worst team in the NFL
I thought we might be getting better. I was wrong. We are the worst. Not a good feeling as a fan.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Book Review: Glasshouse
Glasshouse by Charles Stross tells the story of Robin/Reeve in a world where intelligent beings have reached a point that traveling through space is as simple as sending packets across a router. You can live forever, but there are still hazards that could kill you or worse, steal your identity. Robin has recently gone through a procedure to remove large segments of his memory. This is a pretty common procedure for people. Robin believes he has specific horrible events that he needs to remove either from recent virus wars or some other traumatic feature. As part of his recovery, he has decided to enter an experiment that should help him find new focus and life. Instead he finds himself in a prison run by the things he is trying to forget.
I have found this sequel to Accelerando to be a good read. Mr. Stross has taken basic networking concepts and applied them to the life and movement of humans in the future. When you can take a backup of who you are now, you definitely would live your life differently. In addition, the problems you face are drastically different when you start learning of viruses and firewalls. He takes the idea of hacking to body types, memories, behavioral reward systems, and transport worm holes.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Football season blues
Week 6. The point in the season that marks the last trades that can occur for the year. Their have been a couple big trades in the first 6 weeks. I am not sure if we will see one more as the deadline is Tuesday. A number of the analysts have put together their lists of players that could use a change in scenery or teams that should do what it takes to put talent in place to make a run at the playoffs. There is nothing the Lions can or should do. To many missing pieces and all they can trade is draft picks. And because of the needs, the draft picks are could be useful to the Lions, unless you can grab a real winner in a trade.
So the Lions lost today. They did get a win a few weeks ago so that I would buy my Lions hat. But this loss was particularly painful. They were shut out in a divisional contest and continue to allow opposing quarterbacks some franchise best days. Even with the porous Green Bay offensive line and the plethora of penalties, the Lions couldn't even score a point. I like the calls to not go for 3 and head for a touchdown. In the situations they were in, they correctly decided to try. Although I really question a sweep on one short yardage situation instead of running a dive or qb sneak.
I really like my football Sundays but I do have somethings that annoy me. First off, why are their still blackout rules? Not just economic reasons, you would think that it would help the NFL and the broadcasters to be able to run multiple games at the same time. Second, why is overtime they way it is? Why not just play 1 more quarter? Or do away with it, and deal with the tie. I have probably griped about these already, but they just continue to be an irritation along with rookie pay, collective bargaining agreements, and other issues that could risk alienating the market. If we see a lockout or strike next year, it would severely dampening my enthusiasm for the sport, and that has me most worried.
So the Lions lost today. They did get a win a few weeks ago so that I would buy my Lions hat. But this loss was particularly painful. They were shut out in a divisional contest and continue to allow opposing quarterbacks some franchise best days. Even with the porous Green Bay offensive line and the plethora of penalties, the Lions couldn't even score a point. I like the calls to not go for 3 and head for a touchdown. In the situations they were in, they correctly decided to try. Although I really question a sweep on one short yardage situation instead of running a dive or qb sneak.
I really like my football Sundays but I do have somethings that annoy me. First off, why are their still blackout rules? Not just economic reasons, you would think that it would help the NFL and the broadcasters to be able to run multiple games at the same time. Second, why is overtime they way it is? Why not just play 1 more quarter? Or do away with it, and deal with the tie. I have probably griped about these already, but they just continue to be an irritation along with rookie pay, collective bargaining agreements, and other issues that could risk alienating the market. If we see a lockout or strike next year, it would severely dampening my enthusiasm for the sport, and that has me most worried.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Life happens
Well, let's see if I can summarize some of what has happened. Ben and I headed to PAX a few weeks ago. Wow, it was fun. I was impressed by how the Washington State Convention Center was able to handle the amount people there. Lots of stuff looked really impressive, some you expect (stuff from Blizzard) and some that was a surprise to me (Torchlight Games). We went all three days which is a first for me. We went to see Bill Amend's talk, Wil Wheaton's talk, also a talk on game design strategy and failure in games as part of design. Otherwise we spent some time in the table top area playing board and card games. Got to hang out with Eonflare as well. As for concerts, we stuck around till JoCo played on Saturday night and that was a lot of fun.
Then I spent a week sick. Very, very sick. But I was able to effectively quarantine myself as the rest of house was able to stay healthy.
This weekend finds me home with Miranda while Michelle is at a knitting retreat. We have done some coloring, reading, running around, legos, dancing, and movies. She seems to be bearing up well with mom being away.
Oh yeah. The Lions decided to end a 19 game losing streak avoiding the record. They seemed to want to give it away, but held on to find new life and new opportunity. WOOT!
Then I spent a week sick. Very, very sick. But I was able to effectively quarantine myself as the rest of house was able to stay healthy.
This weekend finds me home with Miranda while Michelle is at a knitting retreat. We have done some coloring, reading, running around, legos, dancing, and movies. She seems to be bearing up well with mom being away.
Oh yeah. The Lions decided to end a 19 game losing streak avoiding the record. They seemed to want to give it away, but held on to find new life and new opportunity. WOOT!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Lions' bets
Still sick. Not H1Nerd1 from PAX. Just the plain old flu.
If the Lions post double digit wins, I will buy a Authentic Jersey with the team MVP.
If the Lions avoid the record consecutive losses, I will buy a Lion's hat.
This year I am trying to avoid the negative bet that I made last year, so this is my way of trying to keep it positive.
If the Lions post double digit wins, I will buy a Authentic Jersey with the team MVP.
If the Lions avoid the record consecutive losses, I will buy a Lion's hat.
This year I am trying to avoid the negative bet that I made last year, so this is my way of trying to keep it positive.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Passing on the affliction?
So far I have finished two fantasy drafts for fantasy football season. I am sure all of us feel that we could put together a team that would be successful, but that isn't really why I play. I play because for many years now, I needed something else to help Sunday be fun again while Detroit was trying to figure out that Matt Millen was not the right solution for creating a winning season. It gave me people to watch and celebrate when they did something successful, which was really in short supply with the Lions.
Now I am faced with a dilemma. I can pass on this unhealthy love of a bumbling team to my daughter or let her go down a different path. Michelle's family is generally a Green Bay family, so that is one option. Another is the Seattle Seahawks. I am not a particular fan of either. And how do you influence the team they adopt? Is it peer pressure? Is it watching a parent cry in their hands when there team suffers a crushing defeat? Maybe I really don't have a say in the matter.
That said, I do have a group of players I can cheer for. I have a couple leagues, one standard yahoo public league (Adrian Peterson, Steve Smith/Car, etc) and then my custom league. This is the first year that I have tried the individual defensive players instead of the team defenses. I ended up picking up my defensive players starting in the 6th round. I might have been able to hold off longer, but I had some defensive players that I definitely wanted on my squad. The worst part of it was 4 of the 10 teams were unable to show and Yahoo does a poor job of ranking defensive players. It should be simple to apply league scoring rules and show the number of points a player racked up last year. Rank on that and you at least have a good idea of where that player should go.
It should be fun this year. Lots of new things to try and lots of teams to keep an eye on during the season.
This years Lions prediction: 4 - 12. Also I predict that they set record for consecutive losses (even though they are really only 3 away...).
Now I am faced with a dilemma. I can pass on this unhealthy love of a bumbling team to my daughter or let her go down a different path. Michelle's family is generally a Green Bay family, so that is one option. Another is the Seattle Seahawks. I am not a particular fan of either. And how do you influence the team they adopt? Is it peer pressure? Is it watching a parent cry in their hands when there team suffers a crushing defeat? Maybe I really don't have a say in the matter.
That said, I do have a group of players I can cheer for. I have a couple leagues, one standard yahoo public league (Adrian Peterson, Steve Smith/Car, etc) and then my custom league. This is the first year that I have tried the individual defensive players instead of the team defenses. I ended up picking up my defensive players starting in the 6th round. I might have been able to hold off longer, but I had some defensive players that I definitely wanted on my squad. The worst part of it was 4 of the 10 teams were unable to show and Yahoo does a poor job of ranking defensive players. It should be simple to apply league scoring rules and show the number of points a player racked up last year. Rank on that and you at least have a good idea of where that player should go.
It should be fun this year. Lots of new things to try and lots of teams to keep an eye on during the season.
This years Lions prediction: 4 - 12. Also I predict that they set record for consecutive losses (even though they are really only 3 away...).
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Book Reviews: Charles Stross
Recently finished a bunch of books between illness and vacation.
Halting State was a tremendously fun book. The book is about a couple of geeks. One is a computer geek, one is an accounting geek, but both enjoy games and other forms of geeky entertainment. The story starts when an online bank in MMORPG bank is robbed. A jumpy marketing executive gets the police involved and suddenly you have the risk of currency collapse in this world. It only gets worse when at the root of the problem, this type of robbery should be impossible and that the fact it has occurred has very real implications to all things networked which in the near future work is everything.
I found the characters to be fun, interesting and engaging. The world itself is a delight with its blending on online and offline elements. It is not as ground breaking as Snow Crash or Neuromancer but takes those same rough concepts and updates them with the most recent state of the art and extrapolates it. The story has a few good twists in it and carries quickly through from scene to scene, rarely feeling like it is dragging. The story is told through a couple points of view which can be a bit disjointing but is fun. For me, I had to just get through the police officer scenes which were not as interesting to me, but they were not bad either.
In terms of Charles' other books, this has more the feel of the occult-geek books but with a science fiction settings. You have a spy versus spy story with plenty of action similar to Jennifer Morgue and Atrocity Archives, but without the Elder Gods.
Singularity Sky is set in the far future world where humanity has been spread through the universe but not as you would expect. The universe is policed by the Eschaton to keep causality events from occurring. And some of those far flung pockets of humanity are pretty dumb.
Enter into this an engineer for hire who specializes in singularity drives (mini black holes that are spun for energy and propulsion) and a special operative who specializes in diffusing situations where governments are tempted to use those banned causality violating events. A minor backwater world is "invaded" by The Festival, a group of AIs that rain down factories and gifts in exchange for information. This backwater world is controlled by a regional galaxy government that is focused on restricting information and controlling the population. The government decides to take their world back by sending a armada far into the future and then back again in an effort to sneak past the Eschaton's monitoring.
The books set in this universe are a bit harder to read. They are set in a far different world and a lot of time is spent describing it. The story feels choppy and will burst forward with lots of stuff happen and then halt to describe an aspect of the world. The story when it is moving is interesting but that when it stops it just is painful. The characters are fun and interesting as well as some of the science aspects.
Iron Sunrise is the sequel to Singularity Sky. You have our two intrepid policing agents again but are introduced in more detail to Herman (a non-present character in the first book) and Wednesday, a teenage girl who has lost her home planet and feels the outcast in her surroundings.
Another of the pockets of humanity is suddenly destroyed setting off a set of events involving 40 year bombs and terrorism of populations. Rachel, Martin, and Wednesday must stop the new Aryans (ReMastered Race) from destroying the many lives and worlds protected by the Eschaton.
Yup that is pretty much it. The story is as engaging as the previous book while going a little deeper. The major pain is the beginning of the book which is terribly disjointed but this soon fades away as the story picks up and we engage with the characters and find out more to the mystery of who the ReMastered are as well as more about Herman as well. If you could get through Singularity Sky, then you will probably enjoy this one more, just fight through the slow beginning.
Halting State was a tremendously fun book. The book is about a couple of geeks. One is a computer geek, one is an accounting geek, but both enjoy games and other forms of geeky entertainment. The story starts when an online bank in MMORPG bank is robbed. A jumpy marketing executive gets the police involved and suddenly you have the risk of currency collapse in this world. It only gets worse when at the root of the problem, this type of robbery should be impossible and that the fact it has occurred has very real implications to all things networked which in the near future work is everything.
I found the characters to be fun, interesting and engaging. The world itself is a delight with its blending on online and offline elements. It is not as ground breaking as Snow Crash or Neuromancer but takes those same rough concepts and updates them with the most recent state of the art and extrapolates it. The story has a few good twists in it and carries quickly through from scene to scene, rarely feeling like it is dragging. The story is told through a couple points of view which can be a bit disjointing but is fun. For me, I had to just get through the police officer scenes which were not as interesting to me, but they were not bad either.
In terms of Charles' other books, this has more the feel of the occult-geek books but with a science fiction settings. You have a spy versus spy story with plenty of action similar to Jennifer Morgue and Atrocity Archives, but without the Elder Gods.
Singularity Sky is set in the far future world where humanity has been spread through the universe but not as you would expect. The universe is policed by the Eschaton to keep causality events from occurring. And some of those far flung pockets of humanity are pretty dumb.
Enter into this an engineer for hire who specializes in singularity drives (mini black holes that are spun for energy and propulsion) and a special operative who specializes in diffusing situations where governments are tempted to use those banned causality violating events. A minor backwater world is "invaded" by The Festival, a group of AIs that rain down factories and gifts in exchange for information. This backwater world is controlled by a regional galaxy government that is focused on restricting information and controlling the population. The government decides to take their world back by sending a armada far into the future and then back again in an effort to sneak past the Eschaton's monitoring.
The books set in this universe are a bit harder to read. They are set in a far different world and a lot of time is spent describing it. The story feels choppy and will burst forward with lots of stuff happen and then halt to describe an aspect of the world. The story when it is moving is interesting but that when it stops it just is painful. The characters are fun and interesting as well as some of the science aspects.
Iron Sunrise is the sequel to Singularity Sky. You have our two intrepid policing agents again but are introduced in more detail to Herman (a non-present character in the first book) and Wednesday, a teenage girl who has lost her home planet and feels the outcast in her surroundings.
Another of the pockets of humanity is suddenly destroyed setting off a set of events involving 40 year bombs and terrorism of populations. Rachel, Martin, and Wednesday must stop the new Aryans (ReMastered Race) from destroying the many lives and worlds protected by the Eschaton.
Yup that is pretty much it. The story is as engaging as the previous book while going a little deeper. The major pain is the beginning of the book which is terribly disjointed but this soon fades away as the story picks up and we engage with the characters and find out more to the mystery of who the ReMastered are as well as more about Herman as well. If you could get through Singularity Sky, then you will probably enjoy this one more, just fight through the slow beginning.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Snippet
Went to michigan. Saw friends and family. It was fun. Came home. Got sick. Not fun. Otherwise terribly busy.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Movie Review: Dorkness Rising
Recently watched a "Nerd" movie called, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. Basically it follows the work of a DM/Writer trying to put together a test campaign with a group of guys at the local game shop. Needless to say that it picks up at the most recent attempt at the campaign and it ends in the death of the party. There is a suggestion to add more people than just the 3 guys currently playing so they grab one of the guy's ex and end up with a NPC as well since they could not find a fifth.
The story takes place both in the real world as well as in the game world. The special effects work is kept fairly light. The acting is a bit over done at times but really works in poking fun at some of the weird moments that happen when people game together. The characters are generally likable and you get conflict at multiple levels. It's hokey but altogether fun as well.
If you like card or board games (new style) or read books of a fantasy slant, this you will probably enjoy this movie. It is a niche movie that fills the role nicely.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Book Review: The Difference Engine
The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling was an interesting alternative history book. After reading Pattern Recognition, I was not sure if I would like this book, but it was shown to be one of the highly recommended science fiction works. I believe this falls under the steam punk genre, but really I am not an expert in genre definition. There is steam, but not so many punks.
The world of The Difference Engine is set in and around 1850 Britain after Charles Babbage and the mental elite have setup a meritocracy in England around the enterprise of their steam powered computation machines. The United States do not exist other than in a pocket of the Northeast, except for the Manhattan Commune. The South is it's own country along with Texas. Germany is a scattered set of nation states and Britain and France are deep allies.
The story is centered around 3 main characters that have come into contact with a set of punch cards, but the story is not really about those cards (or if it is, I start worrying about the depth of story). The story starts with that of a fallen woman, whose father lead an anti-technology movement but was executed for those beliefs. Next you follow a paleontologist who is attempting to navigate the world of Britain's savant aristocracy. Finally you follow a British spy who is primarily interested in keeping the world that Britain has created and cultivated in existence.
The most interesting thing for me was the section around Thomas Mallory, but I really liked the special policeman that is assigned to help keep him safe and protected. The story is meandering and seems to just hint at these menaces hovering at the periphery. His portion of the story takes place during the most overt of the conflict, the rising up of the communist ideals against the meritocracy.
Overall this has been under consideration by some of my friends as must read science fiction. I don't think I would do that, but it is something that I can recommend as fun reading.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Sleep Stomach
Week did not go quite as I would have liked. I ended up with the stomach flu during the week which when coupled with the amount of work I am trying to get done, does not make it any less stressful. Miranda has decided that sleep is also optional making it optional for me as well. Well that was only last night. The night before she slept 12 hours. So overall I guess I can't complain other than I stayed up late the night she slept and then she stayed up the night I wanted to sleep. 7 hours sleep total for the weekend.
Finished reading The Difference Engine by Stirling and Gibson. It was good and I will likely put up a full review soon.
Um, that is it...
Finished reading The Difference Engine by Stirling and Gibson. It was good and I will likely put up a full review soon.
Um, that is it...
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
EA... NCAAF 10
Ok... I just got a note that basically says you can unlock anything or start with an advantage by bribing EA. Seriously.
Want to start Road to Glory mode with a 5 star DT or DE? 100 points (or 50 cents) will get you what you want. The same can be said for DB, WR, RB, LB, and QB.
Ok, so you can spend a little dough and get a head start on your first person football mode. No big deal, it's only 50 cents. At least Dynasty mode is pure... right?
Nope.
Adding new pipeline states is crucial for adding good players and it is normally hard to get, but now can be easily had for 150 points. Unlock new promises will also make it easier to recruit and set you back 180 points. For another 150 points, you can get bumps to your pitches which also boosts your ability to sell on recruits. How about a recruiting advisor to help with your decsisions for 120 points (I do find this to be the least offensive). Or maybe you want to know what your rival teams are focusing on recruiting for 120 points.
Want to download team rosters? 800 points ($10) will unlock all the team building and downloading slots.
Between seasons, you want to keep the best and train them up. Spend a little bit of points (180) to always max out your training. Or maybe you want a boost for retaining them for their senior year for 180 points.
Your stadium can give you an edge. Why not give that a boost too for 120 points.
But why go ala carte? Grab the whole set for 1000 points (or roughly $12).
Someone paying to cheat at games is not really new. Some folks just want to win more than to experience the challenges. That isn't what is really frustrating about this. What is a joke is that if you want to compete online, you will need to buy these packs as the folks you will play dynasty against online will have these.
Want to start Road to Glory mode with a 5 star DT or DE? 100 points (or 50 cents) will get you what you want. The same can be said for DB, WR, RB, LB, and QB.
Ok, so you can spend a little dough and get a head start on your first person football mode. No big deal, it's only 50 cents. At least Dynasty mode is pure... right?
Nope.
Adding new pipeline states is crucial for adding good players and it is normally hard to get, but now can be easily had for 150 points. Unlock new promises will also make it easier to recruit and set you back 180 points. For another 150 points, you can get bumps to your pitches which also boosts your ability to sell on recruits. How about a recruiting advisor to help with your decsisions for 120 points (I do find this to be the least offensive). Or maybe you want to know what your rival teams are focusing on recruiting for 120 points.
Want to download team rosters? 800 points ($10) will unlock all the team building and downloading slots.
Between seasons, you want to keep the best and train them up. Spend a little bit of points (180) to always max out your training. Or maybe you want a boost for retaining them for their senior year for 180 points.
Your stadium can give you an edge. Why not give that a boost too for 120 points.
But why go ala carte? Grab the whole set for 1000 points (or roughly $12).
Someone paying to cheat at games is not really new. Some folks just want to win more than to experience the challenges. That isn't what is really frustrating about this. What is a joke is that if you want to compete online, you will need to buy these packs as the folks you will play dynasty against online will have these.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Happy Anniversary
8 years. Doesn't seem that long ago really. But we have been out here just shy of 4 years. Miranda is over 3 years old. I guess there are years and events the fill the time, but it all really doesn't feel that long ago.
Michelle, when I married you, I had no doubt that you would be able to make me happy. I only hoped that I could do the same for you. Today I know that you have made me happy and that the reason the years have seemed short is because I have enjoyed them so much.
I am glad you are back from Michigan. I am glad we could have some thai food with friends. I wish the chocolate cake thing had been better, but experimenting with baked goods is always asking for trouble. I hope you like the coffee grinder, cause I think the copper sculpture is pretty.
Michelle, when I married you, I had no doubt that you would be able to make me happy. I only hoped that I could do the same for you. Today I know that you have made me happy and that the reason the years have seemed short is because I have enjoyed them so much.
I am glad you are back from Michigan. I am glad we could have some thai food with friends. I wish the chocolate cake thing had been better, but experimenting with baked goods is always asking for trouble. I hope you like the coffee grinder, cause I think the copper sculpture is pretty.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Happy Fourth of July
Also happy First of July for Canadians. July has come in with a little bit of heat. The warm weather is right up some people's alley, but not so much for me. I like things to be on the cooler side. Spent this year's Fourth playing some Munchkin Booty with some friends on ours. I couldn't scrape together a win but it was still fun. Made some lunch of grilled chicken wings which turned out good as well as throwing some walla walla onions in with asparagus in tin foil for the grill. Messy but good.
Lately I have been pretty busy with work but have managed to squeeze in some time to game. Finished Saints Row 2 recently with Ish. A ridiculously fun game. It is completely over the top criminal behavior that just runs to the crazy side. Add a dash of co-op and you have a really great time. Graphics are good and the game play is straight forward. Plenty of side missions/activities to go with the main mission so there is always something to do. Pretty much all I have left is some races, the DLC and some online...
Also finished Heinlein's "Have Spacesuit - Will Travel". Very typical R.A.H. juvenile. I enjoyed it. Next looking at the Difference Engine by Sterling and Gibson.
Also recently got to try some new card games. First up was Anima. This is a card game that attmepts to mimic a JRPG. You control a party of characters that are out to save the world from a great evil, but you are racing other parties trying to save the world as well. One wonders if you should be competing to save the world? But the game is fun and the mechanics are pretty simple and neat. You have an initial mission that has you exploring the world and having random encounters in order to build your party and also complete that mission. Once that is done, you uncover the final mission and attempt to complete that. Ben and I have been working on some slight variations and found some pretty neat ideas for extending the game (base play is about 40 minutes) and also making it a bit more dynamic. It does has some balance flaws around party size and how quickly you can get to full party, but overall I can recommend it.
The other game is Arkham Horror. I went searching around for a board or card game that you can play in a co-op fashion. The adversarial games are just rough on me as they generally make Michelle pretty upset which means I lose arm hair. This one is pretty dark in that you and a group of friends trying to stop and ancient unspeakable horror from destroying the land. So far, Ben and I have only given it a single pass which took about 5 - 6 hours. And we lost. But still had fun in the process. I am definitely looking forward to trying it again and hopefully with more people so that we actually have a chance at clearing out the baddies.
Also, please can it rain? Although with Ish coming out to visit, I think we are guaranteed some rain. :)
Lately I have been pretty busy with work but have managed to squeeze in some time to game. Finished Saints Row 2 recently with Ish. A ridiculously fun game. It is completely over the top criminal behavior that just runs to the crazy side. Add a dash of co-op and you have a really great time. Graphics are good and the game play is straight forward. Plenty of side missions/activities to go with the main mission so there is always something to do. Pretty much all I have left is some races, the DLC and some online...
Also finished Heinlein's "Have Spacesuit - Will Travel". Very typical R.A.H. juvenile. I enjoyed it. Next looking at the Difference Engine by Sterling and Gibson.
Also recently got to try some new card games. First up was Anima. This is a card game that attmepts to mimic a JRPG. You control a party of characters that are out to save the world from a great evil, but you are racing other parties trying to save the world as well. One wonders if you should be competing to save the world? But the game is fun and the mechanics are pretty simple and neat. You have an initial mission that has you exploring the world and having random encounters in order to build your party and also complete that mission. Once that is done, you uncover the final mission and attempt to complete that. Ben and I have been working on some slight variations and found some pretty neat ideas for extending the game (base play is about 40 minutes) and also making it a bit more dynamic. It does has some balance flaws around party size and how quickly you can get to full party, but overall I can recommend it.
The other game is Arkham Horror. I went searching around for a board or card game that you can play in a co-op fashion. The adversarial games are just rough on me as they generally make Michelle pretty upset which means I lose arm hair. This one is pretty dark in that you and a group of friends trying to stop and ancient unspeakable horror from destroying the land. So far, Ben and I have only given it a single pass which took about 5 - 6 hours. And we lost. But still had fun in the process. I am definitely looking forward to trying it again and hopefully with more people so that we actually have a chance at clearing out the baddies.
Also, please can it rain? Although with Ish coming out to visit, I think we are guaranteed some rain. :)
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Ahh Father's Day
First going to start off with a thank you to my Dad. More than just supplying me with about 50% of my genetic material, you have instilled in me a set of values and priorites along with a strong sense of respect and responsibility that I appreciate.
I tried to get Miranda to draw with me and make a Father's day card for grandpa, but no luck. For the first time ever, she totally didn't want to draw. So bizarre. My Father's day has been uneventful. I like it that way honestly. Michelle and Miranda were kind enough to pick up a Lego video game for me as well as picking up Munchkin Booty, the Pirate Munchkin game. Woot! Now just have to set aside some time to try both out. It is a little hard to play card games with Miranda but we'll get there someday. Michelle and Miranda were playing "Go Fish" the other days with some adjusted rules. Basically creating a matching game out of it with the cards face up.
Miranda is getting better with her letters. She can recognize a bunch of them when she sees them. She loves her Thomas the Tank Engine flash cards with one side containing the letters and the other side containing one of the trains or some train related item. School is out for her so she can enjoy more time with Mom.
Recently finished Singularity Sky by Charles Stross. Will have to do a write up on that one. Game wise, I have been playing Last Remnant and Saints Row 2. Mostly just doing some cleaning in my free time though.
I tried to get Miranda to draw with me and make a Father's day card for grandpa, but no luck. For the first time ever, she totally didn't want to draw. So bizarre. My Father's day has been uneventful. I like it that way honestly. Michelle and Miranda were kind enough to pick up a Lego video game for me as well as picking up Munchkin Booty, the Pirate Munchkin game. Woot! Now just have to set aside some time to try both out. It is a little hard to play card games with Miranda but we'll get there someday. Michelle and Miranda were playing "Go Fish" the other days with some adjusted rules. Basically creating a matching game out of it with the cards face up.
Miranda is getting better with her letters. She can recognize a bunch of them when she sees them. She loves her Thomas the Tank Engine flash cards with one side containing the letters and the other side containing one of the trains or some train related item. School is out for her so she can enjoy more time with Mom.
Recently finished Singularity Sky by Charles Stross. Will have to do a write up on that one. Game wise, I have been playing Last Remnant and Saints Row 2. Mostly just doing some cleaning in my free time though.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Book Review: Team of Rivals
This book took quite a bit of time to get through. It tells the story of the Lincoln administration during his terms as president. It goes through the political and personal histories of those involved and then plots how they worked together during those years. The book is well written. I enjoyed how the chapters were put together. The first few chapters talked about the individual people at the same times in their lives (as the members of the cabinet were of different ages, you could not have the same time period). As we got closer to the time of the presidency though you saw the timeline grow together. Each chapter would contain multiple 2-5 page sections that generally focused on a single issue or individual. This shortness lead to it being relatively easy to read, but at the same point, it didn't really give you a ton of depth.
The story of the Civil War and the time of Lincoln are known by all Americans, but it is well told in this volume. I recommend it just for one of the main points of the book, which is through differences of opinions and open discussions can we achieve the best possible results. Lincoln's cabinet was made up of individuals from both sides of the issues and it was through discussion and disagreement that some of the best policies and execution of those policy existed.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Visited Michigan, picked up the flu
Ug.
So two weeks ago was my friend, Jim's, wedding. I was part of the wedding party show I flew in a couple of days early and helped Jim and Heather put together the wedding, keep everyone sane, and just hang out with my best friends from high school. As usual, sleep was not a huge priority.
I arrived and AY picked me up from the airport in Lansing. We grabbed some pizza and beer while at the Crystal. Talked video games (Fallout 3), Red Wing's hockey, and just caught up. Aaron was my best man in my wedding, but we just haven't kept in contact like we should. I am going to endeavor to do a better job of that going forward. Finishing the night we played some hockey when Jim got home.
The next day was the bachelor party. Jim's favorite activities are golf and poker so that was the plan for the day. Five of us heading about 40 minutes out of time to golf. Two of us had never been golfing before so it was bound to be an interesting day. Poor AY got stuck with the two of us who had never golfed while Jim and the best man, Rob, headed out ahead of us. Jim and Rob were able to make it through all 18 holes while the 3 some were only able to get through 9 holes. Wow do I suck. After that, we hit Legends where Jim and I each bought a box of football cards hoping to score the latest rookie sensation as an autograph or piece of Jersey. Either way, we both drew blanks on this one. Ouch. Which left us with perfect time to head over to a charity poker tournament. Jim did best of any of thus ranking 7th, but was not able to get his draws. I was first out, but again this was a first for me and I got a little bit anxious when I had a couple of decent hands and then those. We finished the evening with a little two on two hockey. It was a lot of fun.
We all spent the next day getting things for the wedding finished up. Heather's sisters were running the decorating of the reception hall with Rob and AY. Jim and I went to pick up the tuxes and also pick up a bunch of other random things we needed from party stores and the like. Afterwords was the rehearsal and dinner, which was some phenomenal food. And then back to the hall for some final touches to the reception hall.
The wedding itself was very pretty. The bride looked stunning. The groomsmen looked bored. The maid of honor looked ready to get the show on the road. There were lots of folks at the wedding and reception and it all went well. Only one minor glitch which was the loss of the ringbearer pillow, which in the tradition of something going awry at a wedding is a pretty light one. Photographs before and after the wedding which I am still waiting to see. Reception started a bit later than we wanted with the amount of photos and travel time. Jim was a little disappointed with the reception. I am sure he pictured it being the big party of weddings past. I thought it was a good reception, but it was not a huge extravaganza. Memorable moments for me was when Jim sang a song for Heather, as Jim did such an excellent job on it, and also as all the groomsmen ditched their shoes for something more comfortable.
When it was was all over, basically we had the wedding party and Jim's parents cleaning up the hall. It took till pretty late. Jim, Heather, and Rob headed off for Detroit as their flight to Aruba was the next day, while AY and I headed to Stevie's hotel to crash before my flight out the next morning. 1 hour of sleep and sitting next to someone coughing probably led me to my last two weeks of sickness, but it was a trip well worth it.
So two weeks ago was my friend, Jim's, wedding. I was part of the wedding party show I flew in a couple of days early and helped Jim and Heather put together the wedding, keep everyone sane, and just hang out with my best friends from high school. As usual, sleep was not a huge priority.
I arrived and AY picked me up from the airport in Lansing. We grabbed some pizza and beer while at the Crystal. Talked video games (Fallout 3), Red Wing's hockey, and just caught up. Aaron was my best man in my wedding, but we just haven't kept in contact like we should. I am going to endeavor to do a better job of that going forward. Finishing the night we played some hockey when Jim got home.
The next day was the bachelor party. Jim's favorite activities are golf and poker so that was the plan for the day. Five of us heading about 40 minutes out of time to golf. Two of us had never been golfing before so it was bound to be an interesting day. Poor AY got stuck with the two of us who had never golfed while Jim and the best man, Rob, headed out ahead of us. Jim and Rob were able to make it through all 18 holes while the 3 some were only able to get through 9 holes. Wow do I suck. After that, we hit Legends where Jim and I each bought a box of football cards hoping to score the latest rookie sensation as an autograph or piece of Jersey. Either way, we both drew blanks on this one. Ouch. Which left us with perfect time to head over to a charity poker tournament. Jim did best of any of thus ranking 7th, but was not able to get his draws. I was first out, but again this was a first for me and I got a little bit anxious when I had a couple of decent hands and then those. We finished the evening with a little two on two hockey. It was a lot of fun.
We all spent the next day getting things for the wedding finished up. Heather's sisters were running the decorating of the reception hall with Rob and AY. Jim and I went to pick up the tuxes and also pick up a bunch of other random things we needed from party stores and the like. Afterwords was the rehearsal and dinner, which was some phenomenal food. And then back to the hall for some final touches to the reception hall.
The wedding itself was very pretty. The bride looked stunning. The groomsmen looked bored. The maid of honor looked ready to get the show on the road. There were lots of folks at the wedding and reception and it all went well. Only one minor glitch which was the loss of the ringbearer pillow, which in the tradition of something going awry at a wedding is a pretty light one. Photographs before and after the wedding which I am still waiting to see. Reception started a bit later than we wanted with the amount of photos and travel time. Jim was a little disappointed with the reception. I am sure he pictured it being the big party of weddings past. I thought it was a good reception, but it was not a huge extravaganza. Memorable moments for me was when Jim sang a song for Heather, as Jim did such an excellent job on it, and also as all the groomsmen ditched their shoes for something more comfortable.
When it was was all over, basically we had the wedding party and Jim's parents cleaning up the hall. It took till pretty late. Jim, Heather, and Rob headed off for Detroit as their flight to Aruba was the next day, while AY and I headed to Stevie's hotel to crash before my flight out the next morning. 1 hour of sleep and sitting next to someone coughing probably led me to my last two weeks of sickness, but it was a trip well worth it.
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