Results of the Weekend Plans …
What to have done, what to have done …
Results of the Weekend Plans ……
Results of the Weekend Plans ……
Results of the Weekend Plans …
Friday Look at upholstery fabric for the couch and family room chair (since the former’s is ripping apart only a couple of years after we bought it, and the latter…
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Not a bad schedule. Indeed.
I suspect there are a number of wives (and a few husbands) who will hunt me down and kill me, slowly, for further publicizing this page. Hey, Doyce … wanna…
I suspect there are a number of wives (and a few husbands) who will hunt me down and kill me, slowly, for further publicizing this page.
Hey, Doyce … wanna borrow my Makita?
Just about every kid who has seen it has either asked Jim to build them one or gone home to ask their dad to build one. One neighborhood dad (not willing to build one) told his kids that they were very lucky to have a dad like him – one who was smart enough to move to a neighborhood where another dad would build a BattleMech that they could play on.
(Via BoingBoing)
Since I declared I was unfit to GM over the weekend, Margie’s D&D group decided that celebrating a Nothing Day would be a fine thing. So in the early afternoon…
Since I declared I was unfit to GM over the weekend, Margie’s D&D group decided that celebrating a Nothing Day would be a fine thing. So in the early afternoon of Sunday, the Consortium was descended upon by the Testerfolk, Rey/Juli/Tristan, and Dave & Lori.
Many games were played, including Brawl, Star Wars “Life”, Once Upon a Time, Apples to Apples, and Lunch Money. Jackie baked snickerdoodles (and chocolate chip cookies, but it was the snickerdoodles that were special), and Margie made fajita burritos for all.
It was a fine, fun day, and just what I needed. And, I gathered by the smiles, everyone else, too.
Well, let’s count coup for the week. On Tuesday, a long-time friend and colleague was, out of the blue (so far as I was involved), asked to resign. I got…
Well, let’s count coup for the week.
On Tuesday, a long-time friend and colleague was, out of the blue (so far as I was involved), asked to resign. I got to be the one to call the group staff meeting to announce it.
Yesterday I received Official Word that a coworker here, someone I hired, was going to be RIFfed, and I was going to get to be the hatchet man. Joy.
That bullet was (barely) dodged, with a lot of interventions by a variety of people (my own part in it being relatively small but, I hope, important) and the person is instead going off to work at another position elsewhere in the company. A relatively happy ending, but a pretty nasty few days.
On the other hand, today was also the day that one of my subordinates was also RIFfed out, which I was not, of course, allowed to tell him about in advance(instead maintaining a bright, cheerful tone to my phone conversations and messages, trying not to lie directly of course, but also not tell the truth). My current boss got to make the long drive to that office from his own to let him know at COB today.
Just as glad I didn’t have to do it, which makes me feel rather cowardly, penance for which was made by my sitting there this afternoon, watching the clock, wondering why I hadn’t heard anything, thinking about how, since Boss was going to be getting there late in the afternoon (just before COB, to minimize stares as he had to pack up his stuff), I’d told said employee that he should not leave early in order to go pick up something for a big birthday party he was celebrating on the weekend, but instead stick around for something I was sending him. Which, on the spur of the moment, was the best I could do.
Received a cheerful (maybe) e-mail message from him a minute ago, the deed having been done.
Not. A. Good. Week.
Already cancelled my game on Sunday, and if I wasn’t already committed for a good chunk of change, I’d be cancelling my Saturday plans. Sleeping in and spending time with my wife (not necessarily in that order) sounds more my speed.
So far as I know, no similar wrenches are planned for tomorrow. Just as well.
Forgot to mention that one reason for the late night Sunday was having a great deal of fun in the “Living Jungle,” playing an ostrich katanga. It was the first…
Forgot to mention that one reason for the late night Sunday was having a great deal of fun in the “Living Jungle,” playing an ostrich katanga. It was the first time I’d played in that setting, and it was a (you’ll pardon the expression) hoot.
Rey ran the first module (“Ten Times a Hero”) over at the Testerfolks, and as an intro to LJ we had a blast (Margie as also new to LJ, as was Randy; Juli had a third level character, and I think that Dave G. had also played before). I didn’t envy Rey trying to get that group through a programmed mini-quest, but he was quite up to the challenge.
Doyce ran the second module (over here, since Katherine was post-bedtime). Margie provided the food, natch, whipping up a tasty chicken thang for 10 from scratch. I can’t comment at all on the module (“Herd”), but everyone had an abnormal amount of fun.
Almost enough to get Margie and I sucked up into the whole RPGA thang …
We had a very nice, if “unproductive” day. Sat around with friends. Watched Farscape. Played games (including a remarkably enjoyable “Star Wars LIFE”). Ate and drank well (thanks, Margie!). Enjoyed…
We had a very nice, if “unproductive” day.
Sat around with friends.
Watched Farscape.
Played games (including a remarkably enjoyable “Star Wars LIFE”).
Ate and drank well (thanks, Margie!).
Enjoyed an unexpectedly cool evening.
Doesn’t get much better than that.
And Tamsin of WeatherPixie fame gave all us Colonists a nice evening sky to admire, as seen at the right. Good show.
Since we in the States have the next two days off for Independence Day, the Hump Day 4 is a bit of a misnomer this week. Nonetheless … (1) When…
Since we in the States have the next two days off for Independence Day, the Hump Day 4 is a bit of a misnomer this week. Nonetheless …
(1) When you’re feeling down, where is your favorite spot to go to think about things & why?
When I’m feeling down, thinking about things is the last thing I want to do.
I do my best thinking, under such circumstances, in the car, usually on the way home. I rant and rave, I shout, I give long speeches to people which I would never actually give in person, and it’s probably just as well, though it would probably do me good.
When I’m looking to duck out because I’m down, going to a consumer electronics store and browsing the games is usually high on the list.
(2) Who do you talk to when you need advice & why?
My blogging audience?
No, really, it’s Margie. Though we sometimes conflict there because I use her as a sounding board, wherein she says the wise, right, and good thing to do, and I play Devil’s Advocate for my internal insecurities and emotions and argue against her.
(3) Do you like spending time by yourself? What do you like to do when you’re on you’re own?
Yes. I read, I watch movies, I play computer games, I (sometimes) write, I blog … all sorts of stuff.
I love my wife. I love my family. I love my friends. I wouldn’t give up a single moment with any of them (except maybe with Kitten at 1:30a when she wants another sippy cup of milk). But there are times it’s nice to have some down time alone.
(4) When you need to take your mind off of problems, what is your favorite, most effective thing to do?
Fire up a first-person shooter and blow the snot out of the bad guys.
I’ve noticed, alas, that FPSs have tried to get more realistic, and to dazzle with fabulous graphics and clever puzzles. I don’t care much about the graphics, and puzzles frustrate the hell out of me. When I fire up an FPS, I want to frickin’ blow things away.
Ahem.
And, for the record, I don’t work for the Post Office. I have no idea how Randy works out his “mind full of problems.”
We left the garage door open last night. We had it open in the evening to help the garage cool off, and then forgot to close it before we went…
We left the garage door open last night. We had it open in the evening to help the garage cool off, and then forgot to close it before we went up to bed.
Remarkably enough, not only was nothing taken (we’ve done it on a few occasions before), but that list of “nothing” included two television sets stacked up by the front of it.
On a complete non sequitur, Katherine has taken to calling the D&D Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide as “Daddy Books.” I don’t know why, since Margie’s the one using them most. Of course, she is also training Kitten to say “Daddy geek!” so I shouldn’t be too surprised.
Friday afternoon turned out to be a little more hectic than originally intended, since I had to take Katherine in for a follow-up doctor’s appointment regarding her ear infection. All…
Friday afternoon turned out to be a little more hectic than originally intended, since I had to take Katherine in for a follow-up doctor’s appointment regarding her ear infection. All looks well.
Gaming Friday night was fun, as expected. Pre-game, Rey introduced us to “Fluxx,” an insane card game that is remarkably complex and remarkably simple at the same time. During the game, as might have been predicted, now that I had seen it nobody wanted to talk about the movie, except to bitch a little bit.
Prep Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning made for a successful episode of “The Justice Squad.” Plots, mysteries, and foreshadowing abounds — my favorite sort of stuff to GM. The evening closed with me loading Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force on my machine and phasering the snot out of some Bad Guys.
I failed to remember, while plotting out the weekend, that today is Fathers Day. I don’t know what that means, plan-wise. I suspect, though, it will involve kitchen-cleaning, since a 3L bottle of mead Margie was making for the camp-out next weekend exploded on the kitchen peninsula last night (before, mercifully, we went to bed — if it had waited a couple of hours, it would have been a real disaster when I arrived downstairs this morning).
I’ve got a good Dad. While they were out, I got him a Fathers Day gift, a DVD of Tora, Tora, Tora, which he enjoyed.
So that all explains the dearth of posts here over the last few days. That, and I still haven’t gotten the wireless networking working, so it’s either my computer online at home, or Margie’s. Maybe I’ll work on that today.
The Friday Five seems to be delayed (again), so I’ll just hop ahead to Bonus Question 6 — What’s the Plan for the Weekend? Friday Go pick up my new…
The Friday Five seems to be delayed (again), so I’ll just hop ahead to Bonus Question 6 — What’s the Plan for the Weekend?
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
*If we can be the Consortium, we need an equally cute euphemism for Jackie & Doyce’s.
A – Animals/Pets: Two was-he cats, Mist (grey tabby), Indy (black). B – Best Friend: Margie. C – Cohabitants: A+B+Katherine. D – Desire(s): Lots more well-remunerated free time. E -…
A – Animals/Pets: Two was-he cats, Mist (grey tabby), Indy (black).
B – Best Friend: Margie.
C – Cohabitants: A+B+Katherine.
D – Desire(s): Lots more well-remunerated free time.
E – Eye Color: Hazel, same as Margie, even though it’s different.
F – Favorite Food(s): Rum Raisin ice cream; Margie’s Pepper Steak ‘n’ Fixin’s; Tater Tots.
G – Games: Sundry RPGs; Pictionary.
H – Habit(s): Blogging; playing with my beard.
I – Interests: Writing, Blogging, Gaming, 1st Person Shooters; Comic Books.
J – Job: IT Manager for Advanced Technology & Standards for a Great Metropolitan Engineering Company.
K – Kitchen (Wonder or Blunder?): Give me a recipe and I can do anything. As long as I don’t get my teaspons and tablespoons mixed up.
L – Languages: English, a smattering of Spanish, a grunt of German, a lisp of Latin.
M – Most Valued Possession(s) (an item, not people/pets): My back-up disks.
N – Name (Named after?): “David” wasn’t after anyone in particular (I think it was popular about that time because of Eisenhower); “Christopher” after the saint, before he was rendered mythical.
O – Outfit You Love: Shorts, oversized T, bare feet.
P – Pizza Toppings: Pepperoni & Mushrooms.
Q – Question Asked To You the Most: “Dadddeeeee?”
R – Relationship/Partner: Wife, Margie.
S – Sport: (Playing) Golf; (Watching) Hockey, Football, Golf.
T – Television Show(s): B5, ST:TOS, FarScape.
U – Unsavory characteristic(s): Sloth, Avarice, Gluttony, Pride.
V – Video (Favorites): Undercover Blues; Sneakers; Princess Bride; Judgment at Nuremberg; Dogma; Manchurian Candidate.
W – Webpage (Favorite–not your own): The Bleat.
X – Xylophone (or other Instrument?): Viola, once up a time.
Y – Year Born: Year of the Rat.
Z – Zodiac Sign: Capricorn.
(Via CrazyTracy)
Friday Off to work. Nope. Up to 1:30a last night, er, this morning, writing scope docs. Change that to “Sleep in until 8, then read e-mail from office giving me…
Friday
You know, it’s pretty sad when all your plans change before you can even write them down.
Saturday
Sunday
Which RPG system are you? (Via Djinn the Spazz)…
Despite being in a crowd of rabid Star Wars viewers, playing a Star Wars RPG, which has just come out with a new rule book full of pictures and spoilers…
Despite being in a crowd of rabid Star Wars viewers, playing a Star Wars RPG, which has just come out with a new rule book full of pictures and spoilers for Episode II, I managed to escape last night relatively unscathed in my knowledge of What Happens in the Movie.
This was, perhaps, assisted by my being the last person to the game, so all of the others were already gathered in the basement, waxing lyrical about the thing. “GO AWAY!” they chorused.
So I went upstairs to let them get it out of their system. And they did. Kind of.
Of course, the evening was full of dialog like this.
DAVE G.: Doyce, did you see page 45 of the new rules?
REY: Oh, yeah. New feat: Jedi Pastry Chef.
DOYCE: [Glancing nervously over at me.] Guys! Ixnay on the Astrypay …
JULI: That was so cool …
ME: [Warningly] Guys!
REY: Like when Obi-Wan … you know.
DOYCE: [Chuckling with recollected joy, in spite of himself.]
ME: Guys! I don’t want to hear it …
REY: Hey! It flashed up there in the third preview they released for a full quarter of a second. It’s not a spoiler!
JULI: [Chuckling] That was so cool …
DAVE G.: And you get an extra +4 on Cooking Skills if you’re a Dark Side Jedi.
RANDY: [Smiles knowingly.]
LORI: I have the Pastry Scene trading card already.
REY: All the trading cards are reprinted here in this magazine, along with the recipes.
DAVE G.: But Jedi Pastry Chef has no synergy bonus with Seduction for either Rhodians or non-humans shorter than 4 feet tall.
DOYCE: What? That doesn’t make any sense. Show me.
REY: Yeah, because when Yoda —
DOYCE: [Abruptly alarmed again, glancing over at me again.] GUYS!
JULI: That was so cool …
REY: It’s not a spoiler! See, when Amidala wakes up in bed with Mace, and he serves her breakfast pastries he’s made himself, you can see —
ME: [Sticking fingers in ears] LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-I-CAN’T-HEAR-YOU-LA-LA-LA …
I got my RPGA card today. (Thanks, Doyce.) It’s in my wallet next to my Comic Book Legal Defense Fund card. I am geek. Hear me roar, wheeze a bit,…
I got my RPGA card today. (Thanks, Doyce.)
It’s in my wallet next to my Comic Book Legal Defense Fund card.
I am geek. Hear me roar, wheeze a bit, then munch on another piece of pizza.
Here’s the second half of this week’s Blogger Insider pairing between myself and the ShanMonster, this time with her questions of me. UPDATE: It’s also up at the ShanMonster’s site!…
Here’s the second half of this week’s Blogger Insider pairing between myself and the ShanMonster, this time with her questions of me.
UPDATE: It’s also up at the ShanMonster’s site!
SHANMONSTER: I see you are a comics fiend! I used to be a comic/game shop manager, a few years back, so I’ve got more than my fair share of small press publications. What are your favourite titles?
DAVE: Right now, in terms of current titles, looking at the stack sitting in front of me waiting for reviews … Ruse, Powers, Rising Stars, Dork Tower, Strangers in Paradise, Captain Marvel, Alias, Usagi Yojimbo, Exiles, Hellblazer, Girl Genius, and Barry Ween.
SHANMONSTER: Are comics dead?
DAVE: No, I don’t think so. I think monthly comics are a dying form, just as monthly serials in magazines have more or less died out, but more extended productions (“direct to graphic novel”) will take their place.
SHANMONSTER: What’s the most money you’ve ever shelled out for a comic-related purchase, and why did you do it?
DAVE: I’ve never been much for shelling out big bucks for back issues. A couple of expensive purchases (and I don’t recall the precise prices, so I can quote them) were:
SHANMONSTER: If you had to choose between comics and the internet, which would you pick?
DAVE:
AAAAAAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Probably the Internet. But I’d be very bitter about it, and complain a lot.
SHANMONSTER: What games do you play?
DAVE: RPGs, I’ve played in a D&D 3E, and am currently playing in D20 Star Wars and Oriental Adventures. And I’m currently running a supers campaign using the beta version of the Tri-Stat Silver Age Sentinels system. Other systems/settings I’ve run in include Amber Diceless (both GM and player), Big Eyes Small Mouth (various settings), various flavors of GURPS (mostly fantasy, but a little Supers), Mayfair’s DC Heroes, and a lot of roll-your-own systems, mostly fantasy-flavored.
Computer games I’m mostly into first person shooters, starting with Doom, Quake, the different HalfLife incarnations, various others. I usually do them stand-alone, because I really don’t want to get sucked into the multi-player-on-the-web thing.
Board games we usually play Scattergories, Outburst, Pictionary and Taboo when folks come over, plus a smattering of others. Uno, too.
SHANMONSTER: When and why did you start blogging?
DAVE: August 2001. It seemed like all the In People (meaning friends like Doyce, Rey, and Randy) were all doing it, and it seemed like fun. And heaven knows I never get tired of expressing my uninformed opinions on things.
SHANMONSTER: What’s the most embarassing thing you almost did (stopped yourself from doing, but realized the repercussions)?
DAVE: Gah. Hard to say, since I usually end up doing it, then blotting it out of my memory until I remember it, cringe like I was struck with a bullwhip, and try to forget it again. Really.
SHANMONSTER: Why do you suppose people are so fascinated with the boxer vs. briefs question? Have you ever heard the bloomers vs. thong question?
DAVE: I think it provides a faux sense of intimacy. What could be more personal, more intimate than underwear? I think it’s an interesting commentary on out society that (a) we would ask such questions, and (b) people would answer them, and (c) nobody would really find it at all unusual.
(And, for the record, briefs until about five years ago, at which time, being mindful of stats which show a slight percentage decrease in fertility rates for guys who wear briefs, I switched over to boxers, and have never gone back.)
SHANMONSTER: What’s the strangest search request that led to your site? Did it make you do a similar search to see what you could find?
DAVE:
“seventh heaven slash fiction”
That’s just wrong.
“hot slave princess Leia pic” was understandable, I suppose.
“mysterious tarot ipaq” isn’t, on the other hand.
Whenever I actually find one of these in my referrer logs, I always run it, trying to see where else it may be pointing (and just to figure out how it found my site).
SHANMONSTER: What is the oddest news story you’ve seen recently?
DAVE: I usually post these, so the one that comes immediately to mind is from today, when some guy from the EPA actually indicated with a straight face that filling in streams and rivers with rock and dirt from mining operations ought really not be considered a violation of the Clean Water Act.
I was going to say something very profound about this article on new research on how to combat declining memory functions as folks age, but I don’t recall what it…
I was going to say something very profound about this article on new research on how to combat declining memory functions as folks age, but I don’t recall what it was. Something about doing mental exercises and stuff like that.
(I knew D&D and other RPGs must be good for something! “Doctor’s orders!”)
“So, Dave, how was your weekend?” Friday: Getting over this damned cold. More or less over it. Watch the Kitten this morning/afternoon. Kitten is still alive. Make reservations for our…
“So, Dave, how was your weekend?”
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
“So, Dave, how’s your weekend going?” Friday: Getting over this damned cold. More or less over it. Watch the Kitten this morning/afternoon. Kitten is still alive. Make reservations for our…
“So, Dave, how’s your weekend going?”
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday: