Not of This Earth

Schrodinger's Wolfman

2008-08-04T12:21:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in a while. I need to post about how France is awesome. Yes, France.

Until then, enjoy Schrodinger's Wolfman.

XNA Games for sale on an XBox near you

2008-07-22T15:51:00.002-05:00

I've been watching the XNA news for a while. I haven't yet made the time to seriously play with the XNA Framework itself, but I love the idea. It's very cool that hobbyist programmers have a relatively easy way to write games for the XBox 360.

Soon the hobbyists will be able to sell their games on XBox Live.

That rocks.

Great questions

2008-07-21T10:20:00.002-05:00

There are some great questions, worthy of being asked over and over again.

Last night I watched American History X. Ed Nortan gives an amazing performance. In it, Avery Brooks' character Bob Sweeny poses one such question:

Has anything you've done made your life better?

New Laptop for work

2008-07-14T10:04:00.003-05:00

I am currently working on site. They gave me a new allegedly-portable laptop. Check here for the speculations!

Mom's Eulogy

2008-02-26T09:34:00.002-06:00

I've been silent for a while now because I haven't been sure how to follow up my last post. Somehow, posting about Super Mario Galaxies or my D&D campaign seems inappropriate.

My mother recently posted Mom's Eulogy. You can find it here:

http://mammahead.blogspot.com/2008/02/remembering-mom.html

Video for my Grandmother

2008-01-02T12:40:00.000-06:00

Slideshow for Mom

Add to My Profile More Videos

Mary Noble

2007-12-21T09:12:00.000-06:00

About 3 weeks ago my grandmother passed away on her 88th birthday. It was very sudden. The night before we were all talking and laughing at dinner as normal. That morning she got up, got dressed, and made her bed. She never went anywhere without making her bed.

We all loved my grandmother very much, and we all miss her. She was an amazing woman who had an amazin life. She left home at 17 to get a job to help support the farm. She was working as a switchboard operator in LA on the day the Japanese bombed Perl Harbor. She ran a college bookstore that made a tremendous amount of money.

She saved everything. She had ration books from world war 2. She kept every card her husband ever gave her. She had my mother's Kindergarden report card.

We had a memorial service for her last week with just a few local friends and family. My sister made a great video using pictures from my grandmother's (extensive) collection. I hope to have it linked here at some point, but we're having some trouble getting it on the intarwebz.

I loved my grandmother very much, and I miss her.

Mr. T and Shatner vs. World of Warcraft

2007-11-20T16:15:00.001-06:00

I didn't know you could fit that much awesome onto a web page

Goodbye old man

2007-11-20T16:03:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we had to put our dachshund to sleep. His health had been deteriorating for some time.

Dachshunds make wonderful pets. They have a lot of personality. They're awfully cute. Due to the way they are built they also tend to sound a lot bigger than they are. You can even race them if you want to.

When they get older they tend to become grumpy old men.

I'll miss you old man.

When I get to be a criminal mastermind

2007-11-12T17:24:00.001-06:00

I am totally hiding spreadsheets in videogames.

Autobots wage their battle...

2007-10-15T18:32:00.000-05:00

...to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons.

In our microwave.

At least, that's what Frangelica told me. Last week our microwave broke. Today we had a repair guy in to look at it. He told Frangelica that the Megatron wasn't getting enough power from the Transformer, and we'd probably need a new microwave.

Stranglehold part 2

2007-10-06T22:39:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to replay Stranglehold on the "normal" difficulty setting. I managed to make it to Chicago.

Stranglehold isn't the game in my head. It isn't the game that the demo promised. It appears to be a game about moving forward slowly and using cover. At least, that's what it is in the higher difficulty settings.

At this point I'm not really sure what it's trying to be. It's not the crazy stunt game I thought it was. It's certainly not Gears of War. It's trying to be more cinematic than that.

I think at this point it's a game I need a break from before I get frustrated enough to take it to EB and trade it in, or put it up on half.com.

Stranglehold

2007-10-04T16:55:00.000-05:00

I recently finished playing through Stranglehold. I wanted to like it a lot. It reminded me of Max Payne, in that it was probably the best action movie I played through this year. However, Max Payne was a better game, even with the really annoying dream sequences. For those of you who haven't played it, Max Payne is an awesome shooter that makes you feel like you're playing through an action movie. Except when you're in one of the two dream sequence levels, where the game becomes a bad platformer and is about as much fun as getting a root canal.

Now then, when Stranglehold is good it's awesome. You get to play as hard boiled detective Tequila (voiced and modeled after Chow Yun-Fat). The slow motion effects are great. The game even gives you style points for effective kills. The environment is full of destructible objects, some of which you can use to kill bad guys (for crazy amounts of style points).

It also has more than it's share of bad points.

At it's core, Stranglehold is about killing hordes of bad guys while doing cool stunts. When Stranglehold focuses on that core it's a lot of fun. When it strays from that core it's frustrating and very not fun.

One of the most frustrating levels has trip lasers all over it. What's a trip laser? It's a laser that is attached to an explosive. If you cross one you die. Congratulations, restart the level. It's the first level where you really have to be careful about where you put Tequila. One misstep and boom, yer dead. Up to that point the game has trained you to be mobile. Slide on carts. Slide down banisters. Leap through the air. And then it kills you on the trip laser level.

After a while someone decided that Stranglehold needed to be more like splinter cell, in that you need to be sneaky and inch forward to live. Again, this goes against it's fun core. The level in the ruins towards the end of the game is particularly bad. The game puts you in what looks like it was an urban war zone before you got there. Most of the level looks the same, and the spaces are very confined, so not conducive to crazy cools stunts. It is conducive to having a ton of guys shoot you from cover, however.

Stranglehold also sometimes becomes a "hunt the foozle" game. The bad level here actually comes pretty early. The game drops you off on an island, and you have to hunt down and destroy several drug labs. Several hidden drug labs. In a large area that's hard to get around in, in part because every area looks like every other area.

So when the game is cool, it's very cool. And when you hit some of the more frustrating levels it makes you want to repeatedly punch the designers who are responsible.

If there's a lesson to be learned here it's this: Stick to the fun core. Get rid of anything that doesn't relate directly to the fun core of your game.

A second lesson might be: Chow Yun-Fat greatly raises anything's level of awesome.

The many talents of ninjas

2007-09-26T09:31:00.000-05:00

It turns out that not only do ninjas flip out and kill people, they answer questions and even rob gas stations.

Iron man movie

2007-09-11T16:02:00.000-05:00

I just tracked down the trailer for the Iron Man movie (due out next May). It looks pretty cool. Not as cool as transformers, but still pretty cool.

Ptolus Evolved updates

2007-08-30T22:58:00.000-05:00

I just posted a mountain of information to the Ptolus DMing messageboards.

We'll see if I'm laughed off the intarwebz.

Back again

2007-08-30T12:12:00.001-05:00

Well, that went quickly. I just noticed I haven't blogged in two months. I'm clearly not doing too well with those resolutions.

In the last two month I have (in no particular order)

Worked like crazy to hit a deadline
Missed that deadline anyway
Gone to Gen Con
Caught a case of the creeping con crud
Played a few XBox 360 demos
Started my Ptolus Evolved campaign --we made up characters last week!
Seen the movie Stardust
Seen Transformers for the 2nd time
Bought a copy of HeroLab and started modifiying it for use with Arcana Evolved
Read some of the stuff I got at Gen Con (mostly the free adventures from Goodman Games)
Starting reading the last Harry Potter book
Finished it by listening to it on CD

Also, for the record, the Stranglehold demo is awesome. The game looks to be so awesome as to be unfair to other games. You're playing through a John Woo action movie as Chow Yun-Fat. How can that not be awesome?

Transformers: The Movie

2007-07-05T23:49:00.000-05:00

I just got back from seeing Transformers.

This movie is so awesome it's unfair to all the other summer blockbusters.

Seriously.

On a scale of 1 to awesome

2007-07-02T12:47:00.000-05:00

The self destruct button ranks right up there with the USB Missle Launcher.

Our Domestic Explorer

2007-06-29T22:41:00.000-05:00

Harley strikes again!

Frangelica and I have our own space --we've taken over the basement of the new place. The basement has acoustic tiles in the ceiling. We put Cinnamon's litter box in a closet. The closet doesn't have a ceiling.

See where this is going?

Yesterday I pulled Harley out of the ceiling.

So awesome.

The Martian Has Landed

2007-06-28T09:08:00.000-05:00

We're in our new place in Kansas. We have all of our stuff. We still have 2 rooms left to paint.

Also, Live Free Or Die Hard is awesome. It's exactly what it needed to be --nothing more, nothing less.

Welcome to Kansas

2007-06-16T21:06:00.000-05:00

Recently we've allowed evolution to be taught again!

So far I have seen a giant inflatable ape, a giant inflatable dinosaur, and a giant inflatable toilet.

Yes, a giant inflatable toilet.

So awesome.

Game collection

2007-06-06T09:22:00.000-05:00

I just sold a big chunk of my RPG collection. The deal worked out to $1.78 per pound cash, or $2.32 per pound if you include the store credit I'm getting for the shipping costs. If I had taken the store credit only deal it would have been $3.24 per pound (including the extra credit from shipping).

For the record, I'm happy with it. Everything I sold is stuff that I haven't used in quite a while, if ever. I'd rather the games go to someone who will use and enjoy them.

Computer opposites

2007-05-31T17:04:00.000-05:00

We're lucky we weren't sucked into some kind of PC/Mac vortex.

Dire Boar

2007-05-31T17:01:00.001-05:00

Or possibly something out of Princess Mononoke.

Regardless, I vote that we give Alabama back to the animals before they take it back en masse.

Here's the story.

And now for the hard part

2007-05-29T17:05:00.000-05:00

I really wanted to title this post, "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb" for no good reason, other than that batman quote has been one of many random things running through my head for the past few weeks.

A lot has happened since my last entry. We've sold the house in Illinois and bought a new one in Kansas. The block is finally lifted and we can start working on the impending doom that's been, um, impending for a while. That is, we finally get to start packing.

Naturally, we sold the house as soon as I left to go back to Virginia for a couple of days. When I got on the plane the house had not sold. When I stepped off the plane it had. Had I known that in order to sell the house I would have to leave the state I would have left long ago.

Otherwise Frangelica had a birthday. We threw a party for her a few weeks after the fact. By "we" I mean "I paid for a chunk of it and Frangelica made all the arrangements, including getting the decorations, setting up the decorations, and inviting everyone."

In the meantime I've been reading a ton of books. I've chewed through at least 6 in as many weeks. I recently started on the Dresden Files series. I picked them up because of the show on the sci-fi channel. While I like the TV show, the books are better. That's not a surprise. I haven't seen the whole series, though, just a few episodes. I'm up to book 4.

Oh yeah, apparently there's going to be a RPG.

I've also been chewing through various Warhammer books (the fiction kind, not the gaming kind).

Anyway, I haven't been posting because my stress level has been high, and I just haven't felt like being on the PC much.

At least now we can get started with moving. As of mid June I'll be a Kansas resident once again. I'm looking forward to it.

Oh yeah, in a couple of weeks I'll turn 4 years past unemployable.

This also means that I need to get to work on a new Ptolus game.

Off to pack!

Yet more showings

2007-05-15T21:12:00.000-05:00

It's nearly a month since my last post and still no offers on the house. Showings have been crazy though. Tomorrow, for example, we have 3 scheduled. Now if we could just get someone to make an offer...

Furniture Fortitude

2007-04-16T17:17:00.000-05:00

Two posts in one day. It' clearly a sign of the apocalypse.

When Frangelica and I moved out here we put our fancy new sofa and chez lounge in storage.

Naturally, it flooded, and the cushions have some water damage. I didn't have them professionally cleaned. The pieces themselves have stayed in the storage facility. It doesn't have any standing water in it or anything, but it is humid.

Today I called to see about getting the cushions cleaned. After all, I sprung for the warranty.

Problem 1: The chain we bought the pieces from (The Room Store) doesn't have any stores where I live now.

Problem 2: The warranty doesn't cover flooding damage, nor does it cover damage caused in storage.

Problem 3: They discontinued the pieces, so we can't order new cushions.

Right. Expensive (to us) furniture potentially down the tubes.

Our options at this point are:

Get the pieces (and cushions) cleaned and hope for the best.
Clean the pieces and try to find some other way to replace the cushions.
Trash the pieces and start at square one

I've talked to a professional furniture cleaner and he suggested at the very least replacing the cushions. He said that if mold is deep in the cushions they can't get it out.

I don't like any of the options. I think option 1 is out because I have allergies and I don't want to risk mold being in the pieces/cushions. Option 2 is also risky because of there possibly being mold in the pieces themselves. Option 3 makes me sad because we really liked those pieces and they were a bit pricey (for us).

Decisions, decisions.

Crazy Realtors

2007-04-16T13:53:00.000-05:00

The house has been up now for a couple of weeks and we've been showing it like mad. Last weekend we had a lot of showings.

Saturday morning we had someone over to clean the house to prepare for an open house on Sunday. At 9:30 I got a phone call from the realtor. The nice woman asked me if anyone had contacted me about a showing at 10:15. I said no. I told her we had someone there cleaning the house and as much as I wanted to say yes, we couldn't possibly be out of the house in 45 minutes. However, if she wanted to come see the house at noon that would be fine.

The nice lady from the realtor hung up. I was expecting a call back about a showing.

Instead, at 10:15 we get a knock at the door. It's the Crazy Realtor (whom I will call CR --she's not the same person who called me). CR is there with a couple in tow. Could they please see the outside of the house? CR said the couple was trying to decide between our house and one other, and they wanted to decide today. My mother told her we were in the process of cleaning the place, and she could look at the outside all she liked. If she wanted to come back at 11, she could see the inside. CR agreed.

We scrambled and managed to get the dog tranquilized, got the house clean, and sent my Grandmother off to her hair appointment.

When we returned at about noon there was no indication that CR had been there. Realtors are supposed to leave cards when they show the place. We don't know if CR showed up or not.

So, my mother calls our Realtor, Darcy. Darcy is great. We're very happy with her.

Darcy said that CR is known for muscling her way in to showings --for saying anything she has to in order to get her folks in to see houses, including that there might be an offer on the table shortly. Not only that, but CR had called Darcy Friday night to set up the showing and Darcy told her no, and that she could come back on Sunday between 2 and 4.

So CR called the office directly. When we said no then, she just showed up and told us a story about a possible offer.

Right. We won't be holding our breath for that particular offer.

Sunday we had 2 showings and an open house. The first people were late getting to the house --they showed up an hour and a half late to look at the house. We had already left and come back, and I was out scavenging for lunch for everyone. But it's all good. They looked at the house with Frangelica, my grandmother and our two dogs on site. They stayed for all of 3 minutes. One person didn't get out of their car.

We won't be holding our breath waiting on that offer either.

The other showing and the open house went very well. The open house was supposed to go from 2 to 4, but everyone didn't clear out until 4:30.

Hopefully we'll hear something soon.

Everyone cross your fingers and hope for a good offer.

And while you're at it, hope for less Crazy Realtors.

Selling a house

2007-04-01T20:38:00.000-05:00

The house finally went up yesterday.

I have been around when we sold houses before but I don't remember much from the experiences. Just getting this house ready to sell has been painful. We have cleaned, sorted, and packed a crazy amount of stuff.

What I find most stressful now is keeping the house in a "model" state. "Model" means "unlivable." That is, we can't have anything personal --no family pictures, etc. We can't have anything that illustrates a shortcoming of the house.

For example, our tiny bathroom has a tiny shower. The tiny shower only has a soap dish. It doesn't have any room for things regular humans need --like shampoo and conditioner. So, we have to keep our hair care products in a box, and only take them out when we shower.

All of us here are really hoping the house sells soon. We joke about the "model" house and the "fictitious family" that lives there. The fictitious family doesn't have hair, for example. The fictitious family has one cat (not 2 cats and 2 dogs). The fictitious family doesn't read, or at least doesn't have many books. Bookshelves, after all, are used for tasteful displays of cute but generic chotchkes.

I don't know how long my sanity or my job can take this. Working at home and showing a house are not really compatible. Still, the house only went up yesterday. We have already had one couple come look at it. Someone else is coming tomorrow morning. Hopefully the house will sell soon and we'll be able to start moving forward with the rest of the packing and getting a new house.

Boo for packing!

2007-03-04T18:22:00.000-06:00

I made a lot of progress this weekend. I have 3.5 fileboxes of books, DVDs, and games listed on half.com. I have another 3 or 4 file boxes worth of books that are outright going to Titan Games. I also have a small pile of CDs that are going to CD Source. And I have a few book boxes worth of stuff that's packed away and ready to move.

Damn, I have a lot of stuff. And most of this is out of storage. I still have the stuff in the house to go through. The stuff in the house has to be sorted and packed in the next week and a half. The rest of the stuff in storage needs to be sorted and re-packed sometime after that.

I also found out that I can comfortably fit at least 18 file boxes in my car and still see clearly out all the windows.

Now, I'm tired. I'm going to do something brainless for a while. Maybe Neverwinter Nights 2, or Reaxxion.

Kansas City Bound

2007-03-04T18:21:00.000-06:00

It's official. My mother has a new job in the Kansas City area, and Frangelica and I will be headed out there. My mother is leaving in mid April, and Frangelica and I will follow after either the semester is over or the house here sells, whichever comes later.

I'm looking forward to moving back to Kansas. I lived there for a long time. So much so that I tell people that's where I'm from, even though technically I was born elsewhere. Kansas just feels like home.

Fortunately it appears that I'll be able to keep my job, so long as Kansas has modern amenities like indoor toilets and the InTaRwEbZ.

Hooray for modern conveniences!

Boo for packing!

SETI at home as a security device

2007-02-26T15:27:00.000-06:00

Apparantly SETI at home hasn't found any aleins, but it has tracked down a stolen laptop.

Games

2007-02-24T16:37:00.000-06:00

I've been wanting to play a game for a while. I have a few options.

The XBox isn't usually a good option, because it's set up on the main TV for the family. I don't mind it, but that does mean that if someone else is watching TV --no Xbox for me.

I'd like to play a good RPG, but those are lacking. I purchased Neverwinter Nights 2 a while ago and have played through the first few areas a few times as different characters, trying to figure out what I'd like to play. I'll probably go back to it at some point, but I'm not sure that point is now.

I'm tempted to go back to playing World of Warcraft, only because I found out my brother plays, and I'd love to hang out more with him (but nobody tell him I said that). Of course, WoW is a time sink, and one I'm not sure I want to get involved with again. Besides, my brother is only playing through the middle of April, and last I heard he's level 32, which will take some catching up.

The sad part of all this for me is that there just isn't much I want to play, period. The last game I really wanted to play was Gears of War, and playing through about 2/3 of it on "hardcore" has pretty much burned that desire right out of me.

It's also not like I don't have other things I could be doing. I could, for example, be working on any one of my goals for this year.

But honestly, I just don't feel like it.

Showpocalypse!

2007-02-24T16:20:00.000-06:00

Last night Frangelica and I went to see our buddy Ktorrek. We had a great time as usual. Unfortunately, as soon as we got there it started to snow.

It turned into what the folks back in Virginia would call "Snowpocalypse!!!!!!" or even "Snowmageddon!!!!!!!!" (the ! are necessary). That didn't stop us from having dinner, but it did eventually stop us from coming home until this morning. Unfortunately I had to sleep without my machine, which means I only slept for about 4 hours, and only for some limited definition of sleep.

Anyway, as I type this I'm looking out a window and it seems that Snowpocalypse has followed us down from Madtown. If I were back in VA there would be panic in the streets. Except there would be snow in the streets, so really, there would be panic in the homes. And there would be a run on toilet paper and milk. Here I think we'll just stay in until the streets clear.

Welcome to the blogosphere

2007-02-20T09:09:00.000-06:00

A buddy of mine is now blogging over on myspace. He includes pictures of what he's seen driving around Kansas City. So far, this is my favorite.

You have to love holy water on tap.

Slow news day

2007-02-14T20:53:00.000-06:00

I'm a little quieter here than I'd like but that's because I'm updating my gaming blog, which at this time has a very restricted readership.

Anyway, I've listed more stuff to sell on half, including a couple of XBox 360 games. Here's the link to the store. I actually sold one of the trade paperbacks, which is surprising. I dropped the prices so that even with shipping it's less than cover price, which I'm sure helps.

I have quit playing Gears of War for the moment. I've run into a maddening snag. As I've mentioned previously I'm trying to play it through on the "hardcore" setting. Well, the mission "Belly of the beast: Tip of the iceberg" is kicking my butt. What's worse is that every time it restarts it's two minutes before I see action, with two conversations and a cut scene that I can't button through.

If I hear Cole say, "Look at all that juice" one more time I'm going to throw my controller through the TV. It wouldn't be so bad if I could save at the point right before the fight starts so I didn't have to sit through two minutes of dead game. I hate cut scenes I can't button through.

The simplified rules of economics --D&D style

2007-02-07T10:59:00.000-06:00

Be warned, the color scheme is difficult to take.

http://www.gamerchicksrule.com/content/node/15

My love for you is like a truck

2007-01-31T21:37:00.000-06:00

I did manage to get my favorite XBox 360 achievement yet, titled...

My love for you is like a truck

I don't even know why I like it so much. It just sounds cool.

Domestic Explorer

2007-01-31T21:27:00.000-06:00

Today I dubbed Harley a domestic explorer.

He constantly tries to get to places he shouldn't around the house. He is fearless. Even spritzing him with the water bottle doesn't dissuade him for long. He's sort of like Indiana Jones, only annoying and furry. And stinky.

Anyway there's not much else going on this week. I still have books up on half and none of them have sold. I think that it's going to be much more difficult to sell trade paperbacks on half than it is to sell more expensive items, because the paperbacks are relatively cheap and shipping isn't. I plan to cut the prices some more and see if they go. If not I'll donate them to the local library or the goodwill.

My diet isn't going quite as well as I had hoped. If I read my scale right I've only lost 1 pound in the last couple of weeks. This is kind of upsetting because the last time I was on Atkins I lost 30 pounds without trying. I'm wondering if my lack of exercise has anything to do with it. Since I moved out here I don't even run around the office to talk to people any more.

So, I've started walking a few nights a week with Frangelica at our local mall. The mall itself is kind of lame, but it's well lit and temperature controlled, so we can reasonably walk there when it's 10 degrees outside.

Anyway, until next time...

WATCH THE SKIES!

Ultimate Gaming Table

2007-01-24T16:30:00.000-06:00

One day this shall be mine.

Until then our kitchen table with Tact-Tiles still works nicely. Though if I were buying today I'd seriously consider flip-mats instead.

Atkins, sleep, and insurance.

2007-01-20T17:39:00.000-06:00

I will be out of the induction phase of Atkins on Monday. I'm looking forward to some fake carbs. I'll have to hit my buddy up for some of his cheesecake made with splenda.

I do have a weigh in but it's a few days old. I've lost 4 pounds so far. W00t!

Otherwise I've been busy with a DM-only blog for my Ptolus campaign. I've limited the readership because I don't want my own players snooping around. I believe Frangelica intends to start a player's blog, but she hasn't done it yet.

I'm currently having a bit of trouble with my doctor and my insurance company. I have a CPAP machine. Once again I am in need of parts. We have this clever new cat that managed to tear up the elastic that holds the mask on, and I need it replaced. You'd think I was asking for narcotics.

I've jumped through hoops and managed to get an appointment with a specialist, because my regular doctor can't give me a prescription even if I'm dying. In the meantime I located an underground organization willing to supply me with select CPAP parts. I was able to get a replacement for the elastic by leaving a large number of small unmarked non-sequential bills in a plain brown bag in a barrel under a bridge. Later I received the elastic along with a nice note assuring me that the dark stain is not blood.

In the meantime I am eagerly awaiting the specialist's call.

Clearly, the only person who values my health and well-being in this whole process is me.

Calls for Cthulhu

2007-01-13T08:56:00.000-06:00

Cthulhu is having a bit of insomnia. He's not really awake yet so we're ok.

But he does have his own call in show.

Atkins take 3, day 2

2007-01-09T19:25:00.000-06:00

I was supposed to start Atkins a week ago, but I caught the plague. Or as I like to call it, TEH PLAGUEXX0R. It worked its way through everybody, including my spinster sister. She has dubbed me "plague boy" because I was the last to have it before her.

I was all set to write my starting weight here until I found out what it was. Instead maybe I'll operate in changes. So far I'm at 0. Suffice it to say that I could stand to lose about half my current weight.

Otherwise there isn't much new to report. Last Thursday and Friday I stayed in bed and watched T.V. Daytime T.V. still sucks, but it has some high points. I'm a sucker for most of the "reality" court shows like The People's Court. Mostly I have a fascination with human stupidity. Thus, I tend to also enjoy train wrecks like Jerry Springer. Now that we're closer to Chicgao I hope to actually attend a taping some day.

I did manage to put some of paperbacks I've been reading up on half. Go buy them.

Anyway, back to the grind.

New Year, new resolutions

2007-01-02T17:13:00.000-06:00

For all my reader (Hi Mom), here are my New Year's resolutions. I haven't ever posted my resolutions before because I usually don't make them. This year I have several.

Here they are in no particular order:

Lose weight

I will get an accurate weigh in tomorrow so I know where I start. I agreed to do Atkins with my mother, but she had to go and get the stomach flu, so we'll probably be starting next week some time. I also really need to start exercising. This is much more important now that I work from home.

Beat down debt

For the past few years my debt has been going up. Starting this year it's going down.

Start accumulating wealth

I somehow managed to get a small savings account while living in VA. It's mostly gone now. I'd like to have some savings again.

Budget

Make one and stick to it. This is part of the set of things I used to do but don't any more. It's probably why I've accumulated so much debt and depleted my savings.

Write at least one video game

This is my dark secret. I work in the gaming industry and have never written a video game by myself. I started to a couple of times when I was much younger, on my TI994/a but I never finished anything.

Finish that Arcana Unearthed Item Maker I've been working on

Enough is enough. I just need to finish the darn thing. I have code for everything except the weapon and armor builder, which is the most complex bit. I'm hung up on the UI.

Update this blog at least once a week.

I really let this slide last year.

Read at least 4 technical books, or books that are designed to make me a better programmer

I did OK with this last year. I need to keep it up.

Post 12 articles to my company's internal web site

This is part of my plan for world domination.

Submit a presentation for GDC for next year

I have to list this in this year's goals because of the lead time. Also part of my plan for world domination.

Break 2000 points on my gamer card

I bought quite a few games this holiday season, including Splinter Cell: Double Agent, ES4: Oblivion (side note: technically it's TES4, not ES4 --I never liked that we abbreviated "The" even when I worked at Bethesda Softworks on TES3), and Gears of War. I'm chomping at the bit to play Gears. I'd also really like to get Lego Star Wars 2. Oh, and Dead Rising. I'm sure there will be more.

Sell or otherwise get rid of more of my stuff

EBay and Half.com worked pretty well back when we were moving to the new place in VA. Now I have a storage area with a bunch of stuff I haven't seen in 6 months. I'm sure I can find something to sell. The idea is to end 2007 with less stuff than I started with.

Start meditating again

When I was meditating regularly I felt better. Seriously.

Give up caffeine

I feel better when I don't drink caffeine. And yet I drink it by the bucket.

Keep the Ptolus game going

I have yet to have a game that's lasted more than a single (pre-written) adventure. I have a decent group and I'd like to keep it together.

That's the list. Now I need to make one suitable for printing.

Merry Christmas from Chicago

2006-12-20T21:16:00.000-06:00

So about 3 weeks ago I bought the 360.

A couple of days ago I got a note in the mail from the City of Chicago Department of Revenue. It turns out that on our quick trip back into the city to return the defective 360 to Microcenter I turned right on a red light where I wasn't supposed to.

Frangelica and I were both in the car and neither one of us saw the sign. Naturally, the sign is quite visible int the grainy photo that came with the ticket.

In theory I could contest the ticket via mail, but I think that's unlikely to succeed. They list 6 valid reasons to contest the ticket and "I didn't see the sign even though both my passenger and I looked" is not listed among them.

So, Happy Holidays Chicago.

Maybe they'll use the $90 to help repay the legal fees.

Pimp my Death Star

2006-12-12T10:05:00.001-06:00

http://www.deathstardesigner.com/

Programming board game

2006-12-11T14:47:00.000-06:00

Programming and snowboarding. Two great tastes*...

*I don't snowboard. The closest thing I get to snowboarding is SSX.

PS3 vs. Wii - Apple Style!

2006-11-27T16:38:00.001-06:00


I know I just bought a 360, but I also want a Wii (silly name aside)

Striding boldly forward into current generation gaming technology

2006-11-27T09:26:00.000-06:00

As you can see via the newly modified "about me" section, I finally gave in over the weekend and bought an XBox 360. Microcenter had a deal that was too good to pass up. A $100 mail in rebate on any XBox 360 console.

Of course, the first console I brought home had a bad hard drive, so I had to exchange it. Did I mention that microcenter is about an hour and a half away?

The new console works just fine. I played Kameo for a few hours yesterday. It's fun, but I'm not sure it's my kind of game. I'll give it a little while more and then probably move on to Full Auto.

The Dorm Room

2006-11-09T11:56:00.000-06:00

I've known about this for quite a while but I keep forgetting to post it.

My buddy D-Rod went and made a movie based on a play he wrote in college. It premiers this Sunday. Check it out!

www.dormroommovie.com

And then there were 7

2006-11-09T11:49:00.000-06:00

I've been talking about running a couple of different D&D games for a while. Since before Frangelica and I moved back out to Rockford. Heck, one of the advantages to moving back here was that I could (in theory) muster the old group. No hunting for new players, wandering if they were giant goobers or not.

The old group didn't work out. Folks were too busy. It made me sad, but it happens. I was semi-intentionally dragging my feet in finding new players, hoping maybe the old group would come together after all.

That's when Frangelica mentioned that she'd made a few friends in one of her classes. They seemed cool, and were interested in gaming.

So now, just like that, I have 7 players (including Frangelica).

We're rolling up characters this weekend. I'm looking forward to gaming again.

A halloween story in 6 words

2006-11-01T09:53:00.001-06:00

Just 6 words.

Vehicular Fortitude: The Next Generation

2006-10-22T16:48:00.001-05:00

This was a bad weekend for the car. Four new tires and a tuneup.

There went $850. Ouch.

Props

2006-10-22T15:16:00.001-05:00

That last post was brought to you with Windows Live Writer and a nifty Source Code Formatter.

Now I just need to figure out how to make my chosen template look decent with the main text window wider, so the source code doesn't look bad.

String descritions from enums in C#

2006-10-22T13:36:00.000-05:00

Anyone just looking for code can skip to the end.

My AE Item Maker has a SingleUseItem class, which uses an enum for each different kind of single use item.

public enum SUType
{
    INVALID,
    POTION,
    OIL,
    DETONATION,
    OTHER,
}

Among other things I use the enum to generate names for items. In C++, I would probably write a function to convert the enum to the string I wanted, but this isn't c++, and I wanted to try something different.

My first thought was to use the nift ToString() method. This got me literal strings for values, like "INVALID", "POTION", etc. It was close, but not really what I wanted. So I turned to my favorite search engine for help.

The results were mixed. It seems you can't actually override the ToString() method on an enum. But I did find the next best thing.

First, I add a Description attribute to the enum (you need System.ComponentModel for this)

public enum SUType
{
    [Description("Unknown type")]
    INVALID,
    [Description("Potion")]
    POTION,
    [Description("Oil")]
    OIL,
    [Description("Detonation")]
    DETONATION,
    [Description("Single Use Item")]
    OTHER,
}

Next I added this public static method in a helper class:

public class ItemHelper
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Returns the DescriptionAttirbute for an 
    /// enum.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="nType">Any enum</param>
    /// <returns>DescriptionAttribute for that 
    /// enum, if it exists</returns>
    public static string GetTypeDescription(Enum nType)
    {
        Type oSystype = nType.GetType();
        string strName = System.Enum.GetName(oSystype, nType);
        FieldInfo oFieldInfo = oSystype.GetField(strName);
        object[] rgObjs = 
            oFieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(
            typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
        foreach (object obj in rgObjs)
        {
            DescriptionAttribute oDesc = obj as 
                DescriptionAttribute;
            if (oDesc != null)
            {
                return oDesc.Description;
            }
        }

        return "Unknown";
    }
}

You use it like this:

string strType = ItemHelper.GetTypeDescription(m_nType);

This isn't perfect. For one, if you have multiple description attributes you aren't guaranteed to find a particular one first. It also doesn't handle localization at all. But this works for what I need right now.

Source Control update

2006-10-19T18:12:00.000-05:00

After a while I remembered a discussion I had with a coworker about perforce, and now I have a workaround for checking out all the files and doing a "revert unchanged."

Save the file. That brings up a few options, include "Save As." Click that.
In the file list, find the file you want and right click it.
From the right click menu, select Perforce, then "check out."
Finally, cancel and save again. You've checked out the file.

It ain't pretty, and it's not as nice as source control integration, but it does work.

ItemMaker updates

2006-10-19T17:37:00.000-05:00

I've been slowly working on the Arcana Evolved Item Maker. Very slowly.

So far I have tests for 4 different item types, but 3 of those need some refactoring. My current goal is to finish one kind of item and get that working in a UI. I've decided that the first Item type I want to tackle are single use items.

At a minimum in order to get an app together that does single use items, I need:

Tested and debugged basic single use types --DONE
Tested and debugged basic spells --DONE
Code to load spells from disk
Code to save single use items
Code to load single use items
A UI that doesn't suck

Extra stuff that would be cool:

The ability to print items you've made in nice stat blocks
The ability to sort spells by level, basic type (damage, buff, etc), descriptor, level, and alphabetically
The ability to specify multiple sorts
Some automated way to add new spells
Images

And of course, other item types.

Ultimately, I'd like my item maker to be better than the existing one.

Right now I have code that loads the spells from an XML file, but it's pretty brittle. If an entry in the spell data is missing or not in the right order it croaks.

I really have to watch myself. I'm trying, unsuccessfully, to keep things simple. YAGNI. So far I've made a SpellWriter, which writes out spell data in the appropriate XML format. I don't need it. I wrote it to play with more of the .NET XML classes. Oh well, maybe I'll be able to use it for something else later on.

At 6 you can learn Python

2006-10-19T17:16:00.000-05:00

Or at least enough python to write a game about vampires.

HAARG!

The whole thing is pretty entertaining.

Never underestimate the bandwidth of a pigeon with a 4 gig memory card

2006-10-15T11:16:00.000-05:00

Digital Squab Line (DSL) Has High Bandwidth

The latest in cube war technology

2006-10-12T15:08:00.000-05:00

Even though I work from home, I so need this:

USB Missle Launcher

Source Control and Visual C# Express

2006-10-08T18:23:00.000-05:00

I'm continuing my work on my Arcana Evolved ItemMaker after a long break.

I'm still using C#, but right now I'm considering using this app to learn .NET 3.0 / WinFX / Avalon.

I'm using Visual C# Express, which is pretty nice, but I have one big complaint.

The worst part by far is that, like all of the Express downloads, VC# Express doesn't do plugins. This means that it can't do source control integration, which is a big pain. I'm working around this right now by checking out everything when I want to work, and using Perforce's "Revert Unchanged" feature to clear out the files I didn't edit when I want to check everything in. This works for the ItemMaker, but that's only because it's trivially small now.

ItemMaker now consists of about 10 core classes, plus 6 test classes. I haven't started on the UI yet. So far, that's 16 class files plus associated project files that I check out, revert, and check in every time I make changes. And doing TDD, I make a lot of small changes.

Any software developer needs source control. Joel Spolsky covers why (briefly) in the Joel Test. Eric Sink also has a post about it. If nothing else, source control is a great undo feature. Those changes you made aren't working? Can't remember what you changed? Check source control. Is it still unclear? Revert and start over. Without source control, you don't know where you've been, you don't know exactly what changed, and you certainly can't recover easily from a bad mistake.

I won't even work on small stuff without source control. For the record, I use Perforce at home because the single user license is free. If you are braver than me, or need a multi-user source control system, check out subversion.

I'm really happy that Microsoft released free versions of its compilers, but not being able to use integrated source control is almost a deal breaker. For C# IDEs, my only other (free) choice is Mono. I'm not yet annoyed enough to make the switch.

Fun game or crazy money making scheme? You make the call

2006-10-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

Step 1: The Game of Alien Abduction
Step 2: ?
Step 3: Profit

Switching to blogger beta

2006-10-08T11:45:00.000-05:00

I just switched to the new blogger beta so I can start taking advantage of the labels and other new features. This is stuff I've wanted since a few of my buddies went over to livejournal.

THIS BLOG HAS MOVED!

2006-10-08T11:16:00.000-05:00

To:
http://martiank9.blogspot.com

The phpwebhosting address will be going away soon.

Where the wild pies roam

2006-10-08T10:13:00.000-05:00

We visited Ktorrek last friday, and generally had a good time. Except for the horrible traffic getting there, and my illness afterwards.

Around 9 p.m. I was eating tasty Mac & Cheese and Chicken. Around 3 a.m. I was sad. I blame Salmonella.

The pies, however, were excellent.

LOST season 3

2006-10-04T21:18:00.000-05:00

I just finished watching the first episode of the third season of Lost.

I haven't seen the whole second season yet, so I have no idea what's going on.

Two things come to mind.

First, wow. Lost is just cool. As usual, I can't wait for the next episode.

Second, I really dislike TV as it is now. Sitting and watching Lost I was thinking about how I need to either get a TiVo, go old school with a VCR, or just watch the series on DVD.

When we moved back to the Midwest we got TV again. I miss not having it. TV sucks away time. It's so easy to sit and stare at the pretty lights and moving pictures, and wake up 3 months later with very little else having been accomplished.

Watching series on DVD or (I imagine) on TiVo is different. You get to see what you're interested in and you don't have to watch the commercials. To me, DVD's are not quite as bad as TV, because you get to watch them on your own terms.

Anyway, I'm off to play with C# some more. No more TV tonight!

Back where it's sane

2006-09-25T22:06:00.000-05:00

Forgive me dear readers for I have neglected you. It's been nearly 4 months since my last post.

You can thank my buddy Ktorrek for giving me the kick in the pants I needed to start blogging again. He had to go and link to my blog.

A lot has happened over the last 4 months.

We landed in Illinois safely. Thanks to Frangelica's father our stuff arrived here before we did. One of my mother's coworkers supplied a variably sized hoard of helpers to unload the truck. Unlike some of my previous moves, everything arrived safely. Or so we thought at the time.

Highlights, in no particular order:

Frangelica earned her Driver's license, and for the first time ever can legally drive a car by herself
She is taking a couple of classes at a local community college
Approximately 1 week after Frangelica got her driver's license someone broke into our new car and stole her purse. Almost everything has been replaced, but it was both time consuming and expensive. I estimate a total cost of nearly $500, just so the thief could get $8 and a useless cell phone. That doesn't include time off work.
I thought I had cancelled my cell phone, but I had only put it on hold. So I got to pay Sprint for 2 months for a phone I don't have
We have a cheaper pay as we go plan. The one from sprint was too expensive for what we needed.
I ended up piecing together a new computer, because my old one was on it's last legs. The final straw was when half of the ram went south. My good friend Ktorrek put it together for me and I'm downloading crazy big data files as I type, including a copy of Visual C# Express, the Windows XNA Beta, The latest DirectX sdk, and the beta of the .NET 3.0 platform (formerly Avalon).
Frangelica's computer is mostly dead. Ktorrek is attempting some horrific experiment designed to revive it. It will end up as a Frankenstinian combination of my old computer and Frangelica's old computer.
I have returned to the east coast once to touch base. As always, my return flight was delayed. I had to spend a night with a friend before I could actually come home. Otherwise the trip went well.
Working from home is awesome.
My mother was caught in a flash flood a few weeks ago. She's fine but her car died. She bought a newer version of my car.
The same rains that destroyed my mother's car flooded our storage locker. Fortunately there was minimal damage, but I need to get our furniture cleaned.
As I expected, since I left work the push for Unit Testing has gone completely. But I still get to test drive what I do, so it's not a total loss.
I bought Monte Cook's Ptolus. I couldn't help myself. I'm trying to get a group together but it's not going well.
This website will probably change soon. I think I'm going to go with 1and1 and get an actual domain name. Frangelica might get her own domain name too. Who knows? I'll keep you all posted (hi mom!).

And that in a nutshell is the last four months.

Pitching TDD

2006-06-01T05:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I pitched TDD at work to 5 colleagues. It went very well, though the presentation went longer than I expected.

I was expecting to spend 10 or 15 minutes talking about unit tests, TDD, UnitTest++, and how I have already applied unit tests and TDD to some of the code I'm working on. I wrote up a short guide to keep myself on track. I abandoned my guide about 30 seconds in to the presentation, and ended up talking and fielding questions for about 45 minutes.

It was a pretty easy sell. All the questions were along the line of "How do you do X?" and "What about Y?" The hard sell will be to management. The whole thing will be complicated by my move back to Illinois. I'll be working remotely, whch means I won't be around to try and help TDD take hold. Still, I had to try.

I'm very excited to see how this works out.

Buying a car

2006-05-23T04:59:00.000-05:00

Recently Frangelica and I bought a new car.

The time was right. My old car was dying the death of a thousand minor repairs. We also figured out that if we bought a car right now we could avoid paying some extra Illinois taxes, at least if we interpreted the tax site correctly.

We got a flyer for a big sale. It was from some company that sells cars that I think are repossessed. Anyway, the flyer promised big BIG savings! So Frangelica and I went to check it out.

Keep in mind that I have only ever bought one car --my Saturn. There wass no negotiation, just a price sheet.

Frangelica and I headed out to the car dealership after I got off work. We both skipped dinner and just had a cookie --we thought we'd just be test driving, and we wanted to have plenty of time before the dealership closed at 9.

We were only interested in Saturn Vues. We test drove three before we settled on the one we eventually bought.

The negotiation process was... Interesting. And I'm not very good at it.

We were seated at a table. Our salesman would ferry different offers back and forth between us and the financial guy. We finally settled on a price, and then waited for an hour while the paperwork printed.

At the time I was sure that their "printer" had to have been the finest printer 1923 had to offer, given how long the process took. Later we realized that it was probably just a delaying tactic. We were both starving. Frangelica was getting sick. All we wanted to do was leave (with the new car). So when the papers arrived and almost all the numbers were different, we signed without complaint. The monthly payment was the same, which, a different salesman explained, was the important part. We were told that everything had to be accounted for in different ways, which was why the numbers didn't match the ones we had on paper from earlier that evening.

They actually invoked Enron. Since the Enron scandal, they said, they had to be very careful about how everything was written up.

Ultimately we signed and left with the new car.

We do love the car though, and ultimately that's what's important.

We also learned a few things.

Never buy a car from a guy in a cheap suit
Never buy a car from a guy that carries a plastic button around. When you pressed the button it said, "That was easy!"
Never buy a car when you haven't eaten in recent memory. We didn't get out of there until after 10 (or was it 11?) --and there were no restaurants open afterwards. We dined on a fine meal from Checkers on the way home.

I'm not sorry we bought the car. We really do love it.

However, in the future I intend to only buy from places that don't negotiate --at this point basically Saturn or CarMax.

Logic

2006-05-08T07:22:00.000-05:00

If God Hates Homosexuals, then God Hates Shrimp.

I can't argue with that.

Don't be a hater

2006-05-07T22:23:00.000-05:00

Recently I received an email with the following subject: THE AMERICAN FLAG COMES SECOND.

Normally I'd ignore something like this as spam, but a friend of mine sent it. It was an article by Michelle Malkin, about a bunch of high school kids in California where, as a protest, they hung the American flag upside down underneath the California flag. According to this site, they were protesting a proposed federal law that would criminalize illegal immigration.

As far as I can tell, the part of the article that I find most offensive was added later, as I can't find it on Ms. Malkin's site.

The offending section goes:

Pass this along to every American citizen in your address books and to every representative in the state and federal government. If you choose to remain uninvolved do not be amazed when you no longer have a nation to call your own nor anything you have worked for left since it will be "redistributed" to the activists while you are so peacefully staying out of the "fray". Check history, it is full of nations/empires that disappeared when its citizens no longer held their core beliefs and values. One person CAN make a difference. One plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one.........

It is essentially accusing anyone who is "...So peacefully staying out of the 'fray'..." Of contributing to what I guess is supposed to be the ultimate downfall of the US. It is attempting to play on people's fears of illegal immigrants.

There are so many things wrong with the above statement I find it difficult to even start tearing it apart.

As I recall, the United States was founded on immigrants. The statute of liberty has the following poem engraved on it:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

One of the wonderful freedoms we have in this country is the freedom of speech. These students were protesting a proposed federal law they felt was wrong. Regardless of whether or not you agree with them, they have the right to protest, just like Ms. Malkin has the right to disagree with them.

Freedom seems to be one of the "core beliefs and values" that the anonymous author wants to ignore, at least for illegal immigrants. Most of us are descended from immigrants (legal or otherwise).

I'm no expert on illegal immigration. However, it seems to me that people do difficult things when they feel the benefit outweighs the cost. Illegal immigrants come here to the US because conditions are so terrible where they are from that living in a van down by the river with 37 other illegal immigrants and working 100 hours a week at 4 different jobs is still better than staying where they were.

That's the "problem." Walls won't stop illegal immigrants. Making illegal immigrants really "illegal" won't stop it either.

I'm inclined to say that anyone who wants to become and American should be given the chance.

Ultimately yes, the forwarded email offends me. It offends me because some anonymous twit is trying to use fear to make me hate a group of human beings that are different from me. It offends me that people buy into this crap. It offends me that while we here in America are fairly well off people around the world starve and don't have proper medical care. It offends me that human beings treat each other so poorly.

Folks, we're all human beings. We're all on this rock together. I know it's cliche, but can't we all just get along? If the student who is hanging the American flag upside-down offends you, fine --say something. Write your congressman, write your local paper, form your own protest, do something --be heard. But don't preach hatred.

That's the news...

2006-05-02T21:54:00.000-05:00

...and we are outta here.

Frangelica and I, after a lot of discussion, have decided to move back to the midwest, where people are sane. Or at least crazy in a way we like better.

I hope to be able to talk publicly in broad generalities about a new job soon. For now, I know I'll be staying in the game business.

We're leaving the third week in June.

Frangelica has a better rundown of why we're going, and where we're staying here.

I hope to post other details soon, including the story of how we purchased a new (used) car. Until then...

WATCH THE SKIES!

Yet more crickets

2006-02-27T20:54:00.000-06:00

I know that my posting has been more sporadic lately. For a while I was regularly cranking out one or more posts a week. Not so much any more.

I've been busier with other things. I'm learning C# and test driven development. I'm doing yet more reading. I've played (and beaten) more XBox games in the past two months than I have in the two years that I've owned the XBox itself.

Right now I'm supposed to be working on an Arcana Evolved game. I'd like to have something set to go by the time Frangelica is done with her Spring Break, which is about 3 weeks from now. By that time I need to have the basics for the campaign done, and I'd like to have the AE Item Maker done too.

Of course, the pile of XBox games still taunt me. There are several yet to play.

For now, I leave you with...

INVADER ZIM!

Finally, Chewbacca speaks!

2006-02-16T07:36:00.000-06:00

http://rrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnhhhh.blogspot.com/

Software Development Approaches

2006-02-13T18:23:00.000-06:00

It's no secret that I've always been interested in different software development methodologies. To me, asking the question, "how can this be done better?" is natural. Sometimes the phrase, "there has to be a better way" practically screams in my head.

As you might imagine I have been known to proselytize different methodologies. Recently I've settled on Agile methods. The values just make sense.

Some of my friends and coworkers will note that this is an almost about-face for me, but that's a story for another time.

What I really wanted to do was introduce this article:

Characterizing People as Non-Linear, First-Order Components in Software Development

It very nicely sums up what has been rattling around in my head for quite a while. The most important part of a software development process is the people involved. The process itself is secondary.

Interesting...

2006-01-24T17:26:00.000-06:00

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/

Adventures in Test Driven Development

2006-01-21T07:41:00.000-06:00

I just finished reading Test Driven Development By Example by Kent Beck.

It looks pretty cool. In the book Test Driven Development: A Practical Guide, author Dave Astels swears that TDD will make programming fun again. I find that particularly appealing, because it's been quite a while since I thought programming was fun. Don't get me wrong, I do like my job. I like programming. It gives me a deep sense of satisfaction when I finish a feature or fix a bug. I just haven't had fun writing code since I played around on my Dad's TI-99/4A.

Anyway, I finished reading Kent's book and was keen to start using TDD, so I did something I haven't done in years.

I started writing code at home.

That's a tough thing for me to admit. Almost every programmer I know writes code at home for fun. I never did. I got enough coding done at work. At home I was all about doing other things, like hanging out with friends and family or working on other hobbies.

I have also been reading about C#. I picked it because I wanted to learn more about Microsoft's .NET platform and learn something that might help at work.

So, I started a project at home with the latest version of Microsoft's Visual C#.

For the curious, I'm using Visual C# 2005 Express for my IDE, Perforce for source control, and NUnit for the unit testing framework. I'm developing a magic item creation tool for Arcana Evolved. I don't intend to release it, at least not with any data. The data belongs to Monte Cook, and I believe one already exists. Regardless, it should be a good learning exercise for me.

Goals

There are several things I'd like to get out of this project.

Learn more about TDD
Learn about XML (no, unlike seemingly most other programmers on the planet I haven't yet worked with XML at all)
Learn the C# language
Learn how to write windows apps in C#, using windows forms
Figure out if C# could be used to write games
Evaluate C# and the .NET platform for use at work
End up with a good utility for myself should I ever finally get around to running an Arcana Evolved game again
Figure out if writing code can really be fun again

The Story So Far

So far I'm done with Spell Completion Items, Single Use Items, Charged Items, and Constant Items. Magical Arms and Armor is a beast of a different color, and so is going to take more work. I have written 91 unit tests for about 8 classes, though one class has no tests of its own.

Things I've learned so far:

Test Driven Development doesn't necessarily mean you start with a blank slate. It's good to think a bit about what you're implementing before you do it. TDD already forces you to do that by making you write tests first. You only write code in response to failing tests.
Writing a to-do list on paper really helps. It keeps me focused on the test I'm working on and lets me not worry about juggling everything I need to do in my head.
Starting out is hard. I have to remind myself to test first. See the red bar. Make the test work. Then refactor. My natural impulse is to work on several problems at once, to make changes that I "know" I'll need later. Usually I end up with too much stuff. I really have to fight the impulse to go right to the debugger.
Fake data works great for tests. I don't have to pour through the AE book looking for a spell with a particular modifier when I can just make one up.
Writing code is indeed fun again. For me, this is the most important part.

What's Next

I still have several things to do.

I have to tackle Magical Arms and Armor, which work differently than all of the other items.
I have to add a UI
I have to get real data into the system

I think I'm going to start on the UI next. I'm going to use Charles Petzold's book Programming Microsoft Windows Forms, as well as Pro .NET 2.0 Graphics Programming. Between those two books I hope to be able to figure out the basics of windows forms. I'm told that .NET makes windows programming significantly easier. I sure hope so, because writing code with MFC is painful.

I haven't yet looked into learning XML, though I should do that soon. I can only use test data for so long.

Anyway, I've joined the TDD mailing list and found it very useful. I haven't posted there yet but I'm sure I will.

I've also been bitten by the TDD bug, but that will have to wait for another post. For now, things are going very well. Programming is fun again, and like I said above, that is the most important part.

Back in, um, pain

2006-01-14T08:10:00.000-06:00

In mid December, Frangelica and I were getting ready for my company's Christmas party.

One Saturday morning I woke up and could hardly move. Getting out bed was painful. I hobbled like an old man over to the bathroom. In the time since the previous night the bathtub wall had somehow grown to nearly thirty feet tall. Or at least, that's what it felt like.

After a hot shower I was better. Not great, but better.

I sort of have a history of back trouble. My father's back has gone out a few times. It went out once when he was playing with us kids at the school playground. He went to pick my sister up and he went down. I believe the paramedics came for that one. I remember he managed to get up on his hands and knees, and then couldn't go anywhere from there. Another time, his back went out when he bent over to pick up his toothbrush.

So anyway, my dad has had back trouble. So does my mother. Me, when I have trouble it's almost always with one shoulder.

This time, however, it was my lower back. Anyone who has had back problems will tell you how painful it is, how tense you get. You spend a lot of time wondering when your back will give out next. All of a sudden, the ground seems really far away. Getting in and out of the car becomes and adventure. You hobble from place to place. People wonder if you're just a young 80, or if you really are 30.

The only things that tends to make backs get better is time and rest. Well, that and moving correctly. Lift with your legs. Don't bend at the waist without bending at the knees. Get out of bed by turning on your stomach and inching backwards onto the floor. Be really careful of where and how you sit down, because if you choose poorly you won't get back up again without help.

Anyway, that Saturday I took it easy. By Sunday things were better. Not 100%, but better. Monday passed without incident.

Tuesday, Frangelica wanted to go to the mall to get makeup for the upcoming party. We went to Sephora.

Frangelica approached an employee to ask about some mythological powder or ungent or some such alchemical concoction. The employee smiled.

Before I knew what was happening, Frangelica was swarmed. At one point, there were three employees working on her. Over the course of our visit, all five store employees helped her with something.

In the meantime, I stood up and tried not to look too out of place. Which was hard, because I was the only male non-employee in the store. And my back was killing me. That's the other thing about back problems. Walking is more or less ok. Standing is bad. I stood for what felt like hours. I would have gone outside to sit on a bench, but I knew Frangelica needed me to pay for what was looking like about one million dollars worth of makeup.

Eventually I couldn't stand it any more. I told Frangelica I was going to hobble out to a bench. The employee chirped, "We're almost done."

Foolishly, I believed her. Looking back on it, they were only halfway through.

I must say that when Frangelica emerged from the flurry of activity, she was stunning. By which I mean, even more stunning than usual.

After some small discussion we decided that the various ungents, creams, powders, tonics, and whatnot would be Frangelica's Christmas present.

By the end my back felt a little better, but only because it had gone numb.

The next day I could hardly move. Getting out of bed was a Herculean effort. Scaling the sheer walls of the bathtub was too. A hot shower didn't help.

So, off I went to the doctor. Naturally, my doctor was on vacation, though I did like the doctor I saw. He hooked me up with industrial strength Ibuprofen and some groovy muscle relaxants, told me about a couple of exercises I should do and then sent me home.

The next day I went back to work, fuzzy from the muscle relaxants.

Normally, you shouldn't take the muscle relaxants and drive. It's a bad idea. But this is Virginia (the "welcome" sign to the state says, "Welcome to Virginia. 2 drink minimum"). Being numb improved the driving experience. Sure the idiots were still there. Sure I nearly died. I just cared less.

Anyway, about a week went by and my back wasn't getting much better. Sure it was a little better, but it wasn't the amazing improvement I was expecting. I was running out of muscle relaxants. So, back to the doctor I went. Naturally, both my doctor and the doctor I had seen previously were unavailable.

The doctor I got was a small Chinese woman. "If you're not better by mid-January, come back and see us."

Right. Clearly, I forgot to mention that with back problems, everything is slow, including the healing.

Now that it is mid January, I am feeling a lot better. My back is still a little tender, but I'm almost back to normal.

New Year, New Plague

2006-01-14T08:03:00.000-06:00

Once again it's been more than a month since my last post. I apologize for that. Part of the reason is that Frangelica and I were visiting friends and family in the Chicago area.

Then we came home and got TEH PLAGUE. Again.

Clearly this whole family visit thing just doesn't work in my favor. The Grandma and the Spinster visit over Thanksgiving, and we get TEH PLAGUE. Frangelica and I get better. Then my back decides to give me... trouble. And I get a more mild version of TEH PLAGUE again, just before we drive back to Chicago, which made the drive that much more fun.

Then, just a few short days after we get back from Chi-town, Frangelica and I both get sick. Again.

I'm ready for a new, more healthy year now.

So, what's happened in the last month? I think that calls for a few new entries.

Litigation

2005-12-07T16:36:00.000-06:00

I have felt for a while that our society is over-litigious.

It started with the disclaimers you have to watch on DVDs. At first the disclaimers were just standard FBI warnings of doom. Now most DVDs I watch come with disclaimers about the extra content, specifically the commentary.

Today in the doctor's office I saw a special copy of Sports Illustrated. It had a cover that was a giant ad for Viagra. On the cover, in bold print in the lower right corner was a disclaimer that stated that just because SI put the special cover on the magazine didn't mean they endorsed whatever the special cover was selling.

A few minutes ago I was checking my email. I recently joined several mailing lists relating to game development and test driven development, so I'm getting a lot more email. One of the messages I just read had the following disclaimer, no doubt attached by the company the individual worked for:

E-Mail messages may contain viruses, worms, or other malicious code. By reading
the message and opening any attachments, the recipient accepts full
responsibility for taking protective action against such code. Sender is not
liable for any loss or damage arising from this message.

Really folks, this is just silly. All these disclaimers are getting out of hand.

Next I expect there to be disclaimers shown during movie previews, printed on restaurant menus, and in prefaces to comic books. Perhaps we should sign something before we enter a store, use a pen, or are handed a piece of paper. I'd hate to have to sue someone over a paper cut I received while reading their disclaimer.

Lost

2005-12-04T22:04:00.000-06:00

Wow.

To give you an idea of how much Eunice and I like this show, we rented it from Netflix. After the end of the first disc we went out and bought the first season. This is some of the best TV I've seen in a long time.

I would seriously consider getting either cable or satellite TV, along with a TiVO just to watch this.

Luxor: Amun Rising

2005-11-29T18:07:00.000-06:00

I sense less free time in my future.

Behold, my doom.

Chirp Chirp

2005-11-28T04:26:00.000-06:00

After two short months I'm back on the blog.

I'd like to say that I had a good excuse for being silent for so long. I could say, for example, that I had been recruited as a secret agent and have been deep undercover. I could use the somewhat more standard, "I've been busy" excuse.

The latter is closer to true. It's been a combination of busy, sick, and lazy.

Frangelica and I are currently fighting off TEH PLAGUE. We're feeling better, but I'm writing this after a caughing fit at 5 in the morning, so not that much better.

More news to come.

More adventures in cooking

2005-09-19T18:10:00.000-05:00

I'm about to make hamburgers. Once again, I'm terrified.

I have learned 2 important things.

1. Do not use the rough side of the sponge on the pots and pans we have.
2. I have a copy of How To Cook Everything, so I don't need to spend half an hour or more searching the internet for basic cooking instructions.

The sad sad tale of a cheap futon

2005-09-13T21:32:00.000-05:00

Well, chalk this one up to, "you get what you pay for."

The cheap futon we bought just broke. Several slats of pressboard served as the support for the cushion. Three of the slats buckled. One snapped into 3 pieces.

Time of death was set at 10:47 p.m.

Time from assembly to destruction? A little over 1 month.

No food poisoning yet

2005-09-12T21:10:00.000-05:00

Well, the pork chops haven't killed us yet.

I'll keep you all posted.

Chops

2005-09-12T18:25:00.000-05:00

As I type I'm in the process of attempting to make pork chops.

I'm terrified.

In case this is the last communication I have with the outside world, tell my family I love them.

leet-speak for the rest of us

2005-08-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children/kidtalk.mspx

News of the Sad

2005-08-17T06:50:00.000-05:00

Va. Laptop Sale Turns Into a Stampede

Favorite quote:

Jesse Sandler said he was one of the people pushing forward, using a folding
chair he had brought with him to beat back people who tried to cut in front of
him.

"I took my chair here and I threw it over my shoulder and I went,
'Bam,'" the 20-year-old said nonchalantly, his eyes glued to the screen of his
new iBook, as he tapped away on the keyboard at a testing station.

"They
were getting in front of me and I was there a lot earlier than them, so I
thought that it was just," he said.

The high cost of exploration

2005-08-13T18:35:00.000-05:00

Anyone who knows me will confirm that I don't have a sense of direction. One consequence of my lack of direction sense is that I make heavy use of yahoo maps driving directions. One other consequence is that I don't like to get in the car unless I have a definite destination. I'm not much for exploring.

Frankly, as long as I know where work, Best Buy, a Mall, a grocery store, a book store, and a gaming store are I'm good. Restaurants are usually around the mall and Best Buy. The mall usually has an EB Games. I can even do without the mall, best buy, the bookstore, and even the gaming store as long as I have internet access, because there's always Amazon.

So basically, I don't like to explore. I have my set of places I know how to get to, and beyond that I usually don't care. Here in Virginia it's worse, because getting around is difficult. There are no roads that go in straight lines. Most roads have at least 3 different names and intersect with themselves. Add to that the maniacs that drive around here and you can see my reluctance for exploration. Well, the maniac drivers and my fear that I'll end up someplace where all I can hear is banjo music.

Well, today Eunice and I went exploring. We were thinking that maybe we'd like it better around here if we knew the area better. Maybe we'd find some good inexpensive places to hang out. Maybe we'd find some place where people don't drive with their ass. We didn't find any of those things.

We found residential areas. We found strip malls. We found a library. We lost and then found Eunice's backup pair of glasses. All for the low low price of $2.65 per gallon.

We also found that getting around isn't nearly as difficult as I thought it was. You see, roads don't matter. Every road leads to every other road. The fact that the roads are a spaghetti-like mess works in your favor. As long as you're on a road of some kind and you have a good grasp of 5th dimensional physics, you'll make it to your destination.

Fortunately, we found no banjo music.

Great questions of our day

2005-08-03T07:15:00.000-05:00

Do jumbo eggs come from giant mutant chickens?

A New Month And New Habits

2005-08-02T07:04:00.000-05:00

As I suspected, my writing goals slacked off when Eunice returned from Chicago.

Now it's a new month, and time for some new habits. I have added some "writing time" in the evenings. I'm reading a new book (Seven Hobbits With Highly Defective House Holes, probably written by JRR Tolkein in his later years).

Eunice is getting into the act by making jewelry and trying out a new blog, though not at the same time.

I intend to use some of that writing time to work on that campaign I keep talking about.

It should be an interesting month.

New Hobby

2005-07-29T07:24:00.000-05:00

I have a new hobby, which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me.

Check it out here.

Harry Potter part 2

2005-07-28T07:36:00.000-05:00

I finished Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince earlier this week.

Wow.

I have to wait two years or more for the next book? Awwwwww man...

Harry Potter

2005-07-18T07:28:00.000-05:00

I am a Harry Potter fan, but I'm not rabid about it.

I went to Borders to pick up my copy Saturday evening. It wasn't as busy as I thought it was going to be, but they did open at midnight. I figured I wouldn't have too many problems picking it up on Saturday.

They had all the Harry Potter books hidden behind the front desk. In order to pick up your copy, you had to go check in at the Harry Potter desk to get a ticket. You could then take the ticket to the checkout counter to pick up the book. When I came in, there were seats for two at the Harry Potter desk, but there was only one person there. There wasn't a line. The checkout counter was similarly deserted.

I was browsing the sf isle, looking for something to use the 25% off coupon on that I got when I per-ordered the book when the manager's voice came on over the PA system. He said, "Attention Borders customers. We have about 150 copies of Harry Potter available for anyone who didn't pre-order. If you'd like a copy of Harry Potter but didn't pre-order, come to the Harry Potter desk for a ticket."

Thirty seconds later, the manager came on the PA system again. "All available assistants please come to the registers."

I looked over at the checkout counter. There was a line that went all the way to the door.

New Goals (Offline post 3 of 3)

2005-07-14T22:40:00.000-05:00

I want to get into writing again. Growing up I used to write a lot. I either wrote character histories or short stories based on games I was reading or playing. Once I started to write a novel. I never planned anything. I just had the urge to write, and whatever story came out, came out.

I miss that creative outlet, and I’d like to get it back.

So, the new goal is to write every day. I’m going to start at 1000 words and adjust from there. 1000 words a day, 5 days a week. I’ll give myself a couple of days off. I do need a solid number of days, preferably set days. I can’t say “as many days as I can” because I’ve been down that road before and it leads to no writing.

I can write more, as long as I hit my goal, but I can’t write less. However, if it turns out that I can’t consistently manager 1000 words a day I’ll knock it down to 500. I’ll have to try it out for a few weeks, especially once Eunice gets back.

And for the record, writing for this blog doesn’t count.

Today I hit more than 1000 words across three different files. I have started working on the background information for my Arcana Evolved game. I ultimately decided to switch from a handwritten journal to my PC for ease of editing. Unless I get extremely motivated and learn some mapping software I’ll do any maps by hand. Though I’m sure it is possible, doing maps in Microsoft Word sounds like negative fun.

I have had a few false starts before. The last real effort I made at writing was in 2002 when I banged out a short story. I’m not sure why I stopped writing at that point. I’m hoping that announcing my writing goal in a public forum will help keep me motivated.

My biggest hurdle will be, well, myself. I’m a perfectionist, and many times I let that stop me from starting something. I don’t want to do bad work in any arena, so many times I won’t start because I know the work won’t live up to my standards. I just need to remind myself that my standards are unreasonably high, and frankly, the first draft of anything isn't very good.

I will post campaign details as I can. As of this writing have decided I’ll use Ruins of Intrigue as the basis for the campaign, with some modification. Unfortunately I don’t yet have anything I can post. I want to do a player handout with house rules, character creation guidelines, and a mini-guide for Serran and The Diamond Throne.

I'd like to start the campaign in early August.

Now I just have to recruit players. Oh yeah, and do a whole lot more work on the game.

Thoughts

2005-07-13T07:30:00.000-05:00

Last night the mail consisted entirely of a free newspaper.

I picked it up, thinking "Maybe I have been too hard on this publication. Perhaps it has something useful to say."

The first headline that I saw was:

"Take A Look At The Exciting World Of Stamped Concrete!"

...complete with the !

Reading List (offline post 2 of 3)

2005-07-12T21:19:00.000-05:00

With the start of a new month and a new residence, I thought I’d start writing a semi-regular blurb here.

I read. A lot. Actually, sometimes, I don’t read that much –that is usually when I am most unhappy. I primarily read Fantasy and Science Fiction, as well as gaming related books.

I usually read one or two books at a time –one for pleasure and one for some form of self-improvement. The last three books I read were:

City of Towers, by Keith Baker.

The short version:
This is Keith Baker’s first novel, and it’s pretty good. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good read. The characters are cool (and likeable), and the action keeps moving. I know it was good because more than once I kept reading past my own personal deadline. Any book that will make me sacrifice sleep in order to find out what happens next is good.

As the back cover says, “Experience Eberron through the eyes of its creator!” I find Eberron to be interesting for many reasons, not the least of which is that it was the result of WotC’s setting search. They paid Keith approximately $110,000 to write Eberron up as a campaign world.

I haven’t read the campaign setting book, but from what I have skimmed and read elsewhere, Eberron has some very interesting things going for it. One thing I find very appealing is that most of the world is fairly low level, or uses NPC classes. That means that the PCs are special simply because they’re PCs. It also limits the use of higher-level spells. It’s difficult to get a True Resurrection when the highest level cleric in the known world is 17th level.

Anyway, I didn’t want to dive into the campaign setting itself for a variety of reasons. For one, I’m pretty much completely sold on Arcana Evolved, and the thought of going back to regular D&D is not terribly appealing. So, I picked up the fiction.

Mr. Baker’s first book is pretty good. There are one or two nits I’d pick with it, but overall I really enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to the next two. The most glaring nit is one case of “as you know, Bob” syndrome. That’s where characters say stuff that they already know and would never discuss out loud, for the sole benefit of the reader.

For example (and this specific example is NOT found in City of Towers):
“As you know, Bob, we’re both Paladins; sworn to protect innocents and the realm. Our God helps us by granting us holy abilities. And I’m not wearing pants.”

Anyway, I really enjoyed the book, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy, or wants more information on Eberron itself.

Marked for Death, by Matt Forbeck
Short Version:
This is the second Eberron book, by veteran author Matt Forbeck. In some ways I wish I had read this one first. I’m not sure where I read this (it could have been Matt’s web page, or one of the blogs I check daily), but Mr. Forbeck said this book was basically a western. I used to be a big fan of Deadlands (which Matt also worked on), and the Western fantasy Genre, so this book seemed to be a no-brainer for me.

Like City of Towers, the action keeps this book moving along, and more than once I read past my self-imposed deadline. I give this book two big thumbs up. I will definitely be reading the next two books in this series.

If you’re really hurting for cash and you absolutely had to pick between City of Towers and Marked For Death, I’d recommend Marked. Otherwise, fantasy and Eberron fans should read them both.

The Dharma of Star Wars, by Matthew Bortolin
Short version:
As you can tell by the title, this isn’t a work of fiction. It’s a book about Buddhist themes in Star Wars. Some of my friends and family know that I’ve been quietly pursuing an interest in Buddhism, and this was the latest book in a short but growing line of books I’m read on the subject.

I particularly enjoyed the author’s writing style. It was very relaxed and conversational. He was able to explain some Buddhist concepts that I didn’t yet have a good handle on. I’d recommend this book for anyone with an interest in Buddhism, as well as anyone who ever really, really wanted to be a Jedi.

That’s it for this week’s book list. I will update the book list as often as it changes, which is usually not as often as I’d like. Sadly, I don’t read particularly quickly. Speed-reading is a skill I wish I had kept up with after I learned how to do it in High School.