Bumper Stickers

Normally I'm not a bumper-sticker kind of person. However, I'm very tempted by this one.

Pizza and rat bashing together at last

I played Everquest for more than 2 years off and on. I started when it launched. I had horrible alt-itis, and could never play one character exclusively. Which means that even though I played for 2 years, I never got a character over level 25.

When I was strongly addicted I would come home from work, fire up EQ and play until after midnight. I'd get up, go to work, and repeat the whole thing all over again. Weekends were entirely consumed. There were several nights where I would either pick up something on the way home, or I'd order pizza.

Now I've kicked the Everquest habit (and moved on to other habits like City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, and Dark Age of Camelot), those wacky folks at Sony Online Entertainment have made it even easier to deal with the monotonous real life problem of ordering food while you're playing EQ. You can actually order pizza online.

As a gamer, I think this is awesome. Feeling hungry? /pizza

I can only imagine where this will lead.

ZIM

Action figures of spooky doom!

Movies

Eunice and I have seen a couple of movies lately that are worth talking about.

First, Eunice and I rented The Butterfly Effect. We had wanted to see it when it was in theaters, but we never got out to. I hadn't seen any ads for it other than at previews to other movies, which is usually a good sign. I've found that the suck-itude of the movie is almost always directly proportional to the size of its ad campaign.

Anyway, on to The Butterfly Effect. The title refers to chaos theory, which states that a nearly imperceptible change can have massive effects. A butterfly flaps its wings in central park and the coast of Indonesia is hit by a massive tornado, which to me shows butterflies to be a menace on global proportions, but maybe I missed a point.

Anyway, Evan, Ashton Kutcher's character, finds out that he can travel back in time to specific points in his life. The movie is all about him trying to fix various things with a "small" change, and then seeing what happens. Everything hangs together well. Everything is important. It's very well written, and I have new respect for Ashton Kutcher. A word of warning though --some pretty messed up things happen. Evan and his friends don't have a very nice life.

It appears that the second move will have to wait for another post (which will hopefully come in less than a week this time...).

RPG Nirvana

I think I can say, based solely on the name, that this is the BEST RPG EVAH! I don't think it gets any cooler than that. Monkeys. Ninjas. Pirates. Robots. Yup, all the coolness is there.

Previously I thought the award would go to Ninja Burger (also based solely on the name). I mean, it has Ninjas. And they do food delivery. How could you go wrong with that?

For Freedom!

I was a big fan of the PC RPG/strategy hybrid Freedom Force. It had some issues, but overall I thought it was a great game. I have two requirements for any game that claims to simulate superheroes, and FF actually fulfilled two of them.

First, the surroundings have to be breakable. As a hero, I want to be able to knock holes in walls, topple buildings, and generally reshape the terrain by force.

Second, my character should be able to tear up chunks of scenery and use them to pummel bad guys.

Third, my character should be able to knock bad guys through scenery. If I can't knock some blockhead through a building, it's not a superhero game.

So, if I can't tear a street light out of the ground and use it to whack some bad guy through a building, it's not a real superhero game. To date, there have been no real superhero games available on the PC. FF has come the closest. It does let me destroy the scenery, and use chunks of it to pummel bad guys.

Anyway, ever since I played FF, I've been looking forward to a sequel. It appears that I won't have to wait much longer, because you can already pre-order Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich. I haven't pre-ordered it, because I'm not usually a pre-order kind of guy. What is neat about this is how developer Irrational Games paid for the project.

I think it's really cool that they're self-funded. Having worked for both a self-funded publisher and a company that relies on publishers to pay for everything, I can say that from a worker-bee's perspective self funding is much nicer. The big issue for me is having creative control. If you are self funded, you don't have a publisher telling you that they just played Tetris, and they want some of that falling brick action in your RPG, or worse yet they decide your RPG won't sell because RPGs aren't hot right now, and can't you just turn it into a Starcraft clone? But don't forget the falling bricks.

Earthsea

I got A Wizard of Earthsea for Christmas. I had heard that it was a classic of fantasy literature and I'd seen Monte Cook refer to it as an inspiration for Arcana Unearthed, so I was interested. I had also seen the advertisements on the SciFi Channel about the miniseries, so I figured now was a good time to read the book.

It's a good thing I missed the mini-series, because I really loved the book. The author herself talks about what went wrong with the miniseries, and it makes for an interesting read. I think I'm going to have to see the series myself, just to see how awful it actually is.

It just serves to remind me how few people in the movie/tv industry "get" fantasy, or comic books for that matter. It just seems like most fantasy we see in movies and on tv is crap. There are some notable exceptions of course, but by and large the fantasy movies we see measure up to the likes of the Dungeons and Dragons movie.

WoW has taken over my life

So it occurred to me this morning that I hadn't updated for a while. Apparently "a while" means "more than 2 weeks."

I've been playing World of Warcraft. Occasionally Eunice manages to pry me away to play City of Heroes with her, or to watch a movie, but mostly I just play WoW.

I had these grand plans for the new year. Work on and eventually run a new campaign. Write some code at home. Spend more time with Eunice. Read more technical books. Yet what do I do every night when I get home? Play WoW. It's not even like I can keep up with my buddy, who started earlier than I did and plays more than I do.

Oh well, I am at least having fun.

I was intrigued by the Warrior class. Normally I like playing hybrids. Straight up warriors are boring. Gameplay usually consists of running in, hitting the auto-attack button and then making yourself a sandwich. Or at least that was true in the original Everquest. The hybrids always held so much more interest for me. They offered more options.

Warriors in WoW are different. It's a difficult class to play, and I'm pretty sure most of the Warrior community doesn't understand that. At least that's the impression I get from reading the Warrior boards. Then again, according to the warrior boards I'm not in the bad spot for warriors yet. Depending on who you believe, warriors either always suck, or they're fine until 20 and then suck, or they're fine until 35 and then really suck. I'm only 27, so by most accounts I don't have the necessary experience to comment.

Anyway, Warriors are hard to play. All of their special abilities use Rage, which builds up during a fight. You get rage by hitting things and being hit yourself. Sadly, you don't get rage from missing --only you as a player get that. I'm sure there are some warrior issues, but for right now the class seems fine to me.

And how do you tell a good warrior from a bad one? The bad warriors always have a lot leftover rage at the end of a fight --they don't use their special abilities much, if at all. It's very easy to be a bad warrior.

I've rambled enough about WoW for now. I think I want to talk a little bit about A Wizard of Earthsea, but I'll save that for a different post.

Back in NOVA

We're back from our vacation romp in Illinois.

Actually, we've been back for about a week now.

Highlights include:

• Wonderful visits with family and friends
• Being sick in Illinois
• Recovering in Illinois, only to have Eunice fall prey to something that strongly resembles the plague here in VA
• 4 different Holiday parties
• Learning I can sleep reasonably comfortably in a recliner
• Remembering how nice it can be to be mostly unplugged
• Finishing up last minute details with Eunice's new school.
• Getting home and playing World of Warcraft for ridiculous amounts of time (I'm level 20 now thank you very much)

It was quite the Holiday.

I'll save the new years resolutions (or lack thereof) for a different post. Right now I have to get ready to get back to work.

'tis the season for traveling

The plans are made and the car is almost packed. Or it will be after the Holiday Party tonight. Eunice and I are almost off (some might say way off) on our way home to visit family and friends.

EA gets exclusive NFL contract

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/12/13/news_6114977.html

As someone I work with said, "Hope you liked Madden 2005 because that’s all you’re getting!"

On one hand this doesn't affect me directly. I don't play most sports games. The closest I get is SSX 3, which I broke out again recently. If I were a player, my concern would be for the quality of the game. I mean, competition fosters better products, or at least that's the theory.

The Holiday Spirit

So there I was at the mall. I went into my local EBX to sell back a game I wasn't going to play any more and get Eunice a gift. As I expected, the store was packed. They did, however, have 3 people working registers and one or two more on the floor, which is a lot of the tiny space they have.

Having 3 people on the register seemed to be working, because there wasn't a line. I walked up and asked what I could get for my copy of Fable, and if they had any copies of The Sims 2 left (she already knows she's getting the Sims 2, so it's no big secret).

The guy I had helping me was wound up pretty tight. I don't' know what his problem was. Maybe he'd been working too long. Maybe his shoes were too tight. Or maybe he was just having a bad day. Whatever the reason, it was almost like watching John Cleese do Basil Faulty, only not funny.

Adventures in Driving part 2

I know I've ranted about how bad people drive around here, but I have to add one or two more things.

After Eunice and I left the Saturn dealership, we went to the mall.

Yeah, a trip to the mall two weeks before Christmas. It wasn't the brightest of ideas, but Eunice needed to do some shopping, and I had promised to take her.

On our way there I was sitting in a left turn lane, about halfway into the intersection at a green light, waiting to turn. I moved far enough into the intersection to let the guy behind me in as well, so he would also be able to turn on that signal. Apparently I was taking too long. Rather than lay on the horn, he gunned his engine and made the turn before I did.

Driving here terrifies me. I joke with Eunice about how at least 75% of the other drivers must be drunk, and how I can't blame them. Driving here makes me want to take up drinking.

The mall itself was less crowded than I thought it would be. Parking wasn't a big deal. We did have to wait about 20 minutes to have lunch at 1:30, but that was about the worst of it. Well, that and the line for Santa that happened to be where Eunice and I agreed to meet after shopping.

We headed back out to the car after we both picked up a few gifts. Traffic was heavy enough that I decided to go the long way around the mall, rather than attempt the left turn of doom(tm).

Just driving around the mall towards our nearest reasonable exit, we had one crazy woman turn right from the left hand lane, one crazy man turn in front of us without signaling (or waving), and we nearly came to a 4 way standstill because people need to try and cross several lanes of traffic when there obviously isn't room for them to do so.

It's not enough that the roads around here look like they were laid out by drunken apes. The apes apparently also teach people how to drive.

Vehicular Fortitude Part 2

We just got back from getting the car fixed (and a little holiday shopping, but that's a tale for a different entry).

It wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I went in expecting to pay over $1000 to fix the windows, including parts and labor. They offered us an experiment. The correct way to fix the car was to fork over $1k and have them install 2 new window motor assemblies. The motors themselves were fine. It was the plastic guides that broke, but for the model of car I drive, Saturn doesn't make just the plastic guide.

It turns out that the plastic guide for my car is sufficiently similar to the plastic guide for a different model, which can be ordered. So, for about $450 they installed 2 new plastic guides. So far the windows work fine. Of course, the motors may die tomorrow, but that's the risk we were willing to take.

So, Saturn gets a big thumbs up this time around for going the extra mile.

There was also one small problem.

When we got our car back, we noticed several new scratches on both doors. So, I grabbed the guy we'd been talking to and complained. Not a lot of complaints mind you, because he had saved me $500, but still, I don't expect the car to be damaged when I get it back from being repaired.

Anyway, I'm taking the car back in this week and the guy we talked to promised to get someone to try and do something about the new scratches.

All in all, it was a good experience. I wish the car hadn't been scratched up, but really, I can't complain too much.

The tinkering has started

In celebration of my early rise this morning I fiddled with the template for the blog. I successfully figured out how to put up a links section.

ph34r m3

Of course, any minute now this blog will come crashing down around my ears. The servers will actually be on fire, no doubt.

Up and at 'em!

For the past month I've been tired. I've overslept my alarm more than once, fortunately never by much. Last week when we had to take the car in at oh-dark-early I asked Eunice to make sure she set her alarm, just in case I overslept on mine. I'll ask her to do that tomorrow too.

But this morning?

This morning I was up and wide awake at 5:15. No sleeping in to a luxurious 7 a.m. here, no sir!

Oh well. I'm sure I'll pay for this early morning burst of energy later today.

Vehicular Fortitude

I like my Saturn. It's fun to drive.

Lately, my Saturn hasn't liked me.

First, there was the 60000 mile checkup. That one was expensive. During the checkup they found a problem with the rear brakes. I could either fix the problem then or wait. Waiting could cost exponentially more money. So, I bit the bullet and fixed the car, to the tune of $850 for the checkup and brake work.

The next week, on the way to see Ellie the Service Engine light came on.

I waited for Thanksgiving to pass. Ellie visited. That was nice.

While she was visiting the passenger side window got off the track. We managed to get it back on track and haven't moved it since.

So, last weekend I took the car in at oh-dark-early to get the service engine light and the passenger side window both fixed. I had to replace a sensor on the tail pipe. $250. The window requires a new part. Once the clip goes, you have to replace the motor.

$450 for the part. That doesn't include labor.

So off we went for breakfast. After breakfast the service engine light came back on. Less than an hour after we left the dealership. So, back to the dealership we went.

They looked at the car for 2 hours. They couldn't get the light to come back on.

Sigh.

So, Monday morning bright and early I go to take Eunice to school. Eunice decided she wanted some tasty McDonald's goodness for breakfast, so we hit the drive through. I rolled the drivers side window down, and it collapsed.

The drivers side window clip broke.

We managed to get the window back in place, but I have to have both window parts replaced this weekend.

$2000 in repairs in 4 weeks.

Sigh.

Whoah

Whoah

Rumor Mill

I don't know if this memo is real or not.

I do know that it wouldn't stop me from looking for a new job if I was working the kind of hours that have been discussed in various forums.

I also know that software management doesn't necessarily need to be a black art.

There are books on the subject. Books written by smart, experienced people. There are those in the software business that "get it." At least one is even in the gaming industry.

Adventures in Driving

This place terrifies me on a daily basis.

People here can't drive. Actually, they just don't drive well. Ok, they're maniacs.

Coming from the west, traffic through Pennsylvania is sane, even nice. People are courteous, for the most part. Then you hit Maryland and everyone turns crazy. The craziness continues down into Virginia. I can only imagine what DC is like. In my mind's eye I see blind clowns driving unicycle into monkeys, who then get mad and throw poo everywhere.

Maybe I need to have my mind's eye checked.

Some of the worst drivers have the largest vehicles. It's like having an SUV or ginormous pickup truck gives you the right to drive anywhere at any time.

Just this weekend I had someone in a through lane stop and try to backup to the end of the turning lane to try and turn. People run stop lights and stop signs all the time. I had one coworker advise me to just change lanes when necessary --don't signal, otherwise the other drivers will never let you in.

And did I mention the hysteria that happens when it snows? The entire area shuts down. Three inches of snow and the sky must be falling.

What really amazes me is the police presence. Every day I drive Eunice to school I see at least one police car or motorcycle, usually more. I'm not terribly good at spotting the unmarked cars --I'm sure there are several of those. Yet with all this police presence, the driving is still awful.

I'm reminded of our old Doberman, Spock. Spock was huge, even for a dobie. He eventually discovered that he could vault over our 4 foot tall fence without any real trouble.

We tried to break him of this habit in a number of ways. We actually got a special collar that would give him a little shock whenever we pressed a button. The idea being that we would shock Spock when he did something bad, like stand on or jump over the fence. The downfall of this plan was that it required constant supervision.

Naturally, all this collar taught Spock was that he shouldn't stand on or jump over the fence while we were watching.