I’m prone to distraction. This is no surprise to those who know me. I often have several projects that I’m working on in varying stages. There are a lot in the information gathering stage and a few in the mulling over stage. I will also start collecting materials needed until I hit a critical mass of materials acquired, time crunch, and inertia. Once I start, I’ll work away until I either hit a snag – where I need something I don’t have or can’t get, or until I have to put things away to make room for either guests or holidays.
With access to the internet on my breaks at work, I am often coming across many interesting sites that grab my interest. Those sites often have links to other sites, and my time goes by quickly. These can quickly lead me to pile up new projects.
Case in point, I recently came across the western Rules With No Name and a site with scenery for western games. This quickly moved onto my information gathering and mulling stage. I already have some western figures but will check what I need once I read through the rules. I'll also see about making some buildings.
http://files.boardgamegeek.com/geekfile_view.php?fileid=4739
http://www.circagames.com/Resources/triggernometry.html
This dovetails nicely with the Gold Rush game I have been mulling over since I came across it before last Christmas.
http://www.erichotz.com/white_gold_main_1.html
Monday, April 14, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Aging and time
Another neat thing about aging is how it distorts your perception of time.
Think about it, when you were 10, a year was 1/10 of your whole life or 10%.
Even at 15, a year would still be only 1/15 of your life or about 6.7%.
When you are thirty, that year of time has shrunk down to 1/30 of your life or just over 3.3%.
At forty, it drops to 1/40 of your life or 2.5%.
At sixty, an entire year is now only 1/60 or 1.7%.
This effect magnifies with shorter periods, like months, over the same lengths.
This is why time seems to move much faster as you get older; because the same lengths of time are getting increasingly smaller compared to your full experience of time.
Think about it, when you were 10, a year was 1/10 of your whole life or 10%.
Even at 15, a year would still be only 1/15 of your life or about 6.7%.
When you are thirty, that year of time has shrunk down to 1/30 of your life or just over 3.3%.
At forty, it drops to 1/40 of your life or 2.5%.
At sixty, an entire year is now only 1/60 or 1.7%.
This effect magnifies with shorter periods, like months, over the same lengths.
This is why time seems to move much faster as you get older; because the same lengths of time are getting increasingly smaller compared to your full experience of time.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
hey mac?
My computer is starting to go. It was a Frankenputer cobbled together by our friend JP close to a decade ago (7 years ago at the least). It’s done well considering that we’ve been running it nearly constantly for the last 4 years. We’ve replaced the power supply twice, added a dvd burner, and I finally added a newer video card last year. Lately, it’s been freezing up and needing to be rebooted.
At the time we built it, we had suped it up as much as we could with a full gig of RAM and 20 gig of hard drive space. This may seem like a tiny hard drive now but we still haven’t filled it. We just don’t download music or movies. I do want to get in and start some home movies though.
My mom recently went through the upgrade with her computer and has a beautiful HP Pavilion Media Center. If we had the money, I would probably buy the same model. That said, since we missed our window of opportunity to get a computer that isn’t loaded with Vista, we’ll probably end up getting a mac. I finally spent a bit of time on the http://www.apple.com/dotmac/ site and am more convinced that this will probably be the way to go.
We’re not big gamers. We do like Diablo, Heroes of Might and Magic, and Monkey Island. We finally saw Hellgate and will probably get it. I’ll definitely take a good look at Dawn of War and another look at City of Heroes when we’ve upgraded. As long as we can co-run Windows to run the older games, we should be okay.
Looking at the site, we may just start with a macmini and see how that works out for us.
At the time we built it, we had suped it up as much as we could with a full gig of RAM and 20 gig of hard drive space. This may seem like a tiny hard drive now but we still haven’t filled it. We just don’t download music or movies. I do want to get in and start some home movies though.
My mom recently went through the upgrade with her computer and has a beautiful HP Pavilion Media Center. If we had the money, I would probably buy the same model. That said, since we missed our window of opportunity to get a computer that isn’t loaded with Vista, we’ll probably end up getting a mac. I finally spent a bit of time on the http://www.apple.com/dotmac/ site and am more convinced that this will probably be the way to go.
We’re not big gamers. We do like Diablo, Heroes of Might and Magic, and Monkey Island. We finally saw Hellgate and will probably get it. I’ll definitely take a good look at Dawn of War and another look at City of Heroes when we’ve upgraded. As long as we can co-run Windows to run the older games, we should be okay.
Looking at the site, we may just start with a macmini and see how that works out for us.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Rust be gone?
So we had got the car back a week ago Saturday. It had taken a week longer than they had told us it would but the rust does indeed seem better. They said that they had to cut out a piece and replace it. We’ll see how well it holds up. So far, it’s been a week and it seems okay.
On the upside, the small car we had for the two weeks was much better and cheaper on gas.
On the upside, the small car we had for the two weeks was much better and cheaper on gas.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Birthday plans
My birthday falls at the end of June. In some ways it was nice. It split the gifts nicely 6 months apart from Christmas. But because it was mostly after school ended for the summer and we were usually on holidays, I didn’t often have birthday parties near my actual birthday. Even today, I don’t usually make a big deal of my birthday.
This is one of the bigger years as I turn 40 this summer. Shan’s wants to know if I want to do anything special. I believe we had a bunch of friends together for my 30th and we went miniature golfing at the park. It was a good time. It was also before most of us had kids. The extra broodlings have an effect on what we can do for the party.
I’ve been trying to think of anything special to do for my 40th and haven’t been able to come up with anything. I thought about watching a movie but nothing really stands out – in a format with our setup. There’s nowhere special that I want to go or see. I thought about getting together and doing a big Apocalypse battle but we don’t have anywhere near enough troops. I toyed with the idea of a Cthulhu live LARP but it seems like too much trouble in too short a time.
Any of the big games that we might play (like Fortress America, Diplomacy, or Circus Imperium) we don’t really have a great set-up yet – which is also why we don’t play those more often. The bigger, upsized games (like Canvas Eagles, Pod Racing, or Assault on Hoth) take even more room which is why we usually play them at Wincon.
I've been mulling it over and I’m still looking at the possibility of upsizing RoboRally, Classic Battletech, Battletech: Solaris VII, Adeptus Titanicus, or even Car Wars and maybe playing in the backyard. We'll see.
This is one of the bigger years as I turn 40 this summer. Shan’s wants to know if I want to do anything special. I believe we had a bunch of friends together for my 30th and we went miniature golfing at the park. It was a good time. It was also before most of us had kids. The extra broodlings have an effect on what we can do for the party.
I’ve been trying to think of anything special to do for my 40th and haven’t been able to come up with anything. I thought about watching a movie but nothing really stands out – in a format with our setup. There’s nowhere special that I want to go or see. I thought about getting together and doing a big Apocalypse battle but we don’t have anywhere near enough troops. I toyed with the idea of a Cthulhu live LARP but it seems like too much trouble in too short a time.
Any of the big games that we might play (like Fortress America, Diplomacy, or Circus Imperium) we don’t really have a great set-up yet – which is also why we don’t play those more often. The bigger, upsized games (like Canvas Eagles, Pod Racing, or Assault on Hoth) take even more room which is why we usually play them at Wincon.
I've been mulling it over and I’m still looking at the possibility of upsizing RoboRally, Classic Battletech, Battletech: Solaris VII, Adeptus Titanicus, or even Car Wars and maybe playing in the backyard. We'll see.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Aging
I’m old. I’ve always been able to admit it. When you are young, even in High School, old is anyone 25 or older. Most people keep adjusting that date back as they approach it. When they turn 20, they make old 30 or older. When they get to 30, old has become 40 or 50. When that age is reached, old gets slid back to 70 or 80.
Not I. Even as I passed it, the quarter-century mark clearly delineated the Young from the Old. Crossing the half-century mark moves one into the Very Old age group. Anyone able to survive against entropy and make it into the three-quarter century mark becomes Ancient or Venerable.
When I was young, the big dates were always close together. At 5, you start school. At 10, you are in the double digits. At 13, you become a teenager. At 16, you can get a drivers license. At 18, you can drink and vote. At 20, you are no longer a teenager. At 21, you are able to drink across all the States. At 25, you cross the first quarter-century mark and are no longer young. After that the only dates that are big are 30, 40, 50, and then 55/60/65 depending on when you retire. In between those dates, I have to do the math to figure out how old I am – let’s see current year minus year I was born equals age.
Not I. Even as I passed it, the quarter-century mark clearly delineated the Young from the Old. Crossing the half-century mark moves one into the Very Old age group. Anyone able to survive against entropy and make it into the three-quarter century mark becomes Ancient or Venerable.
When I was young, the big dates were always close together. At 5, you start school. At 10, you are in the double digits. At 13, you become a teenager. At 16, you can get a drivers license. At 18, you can drink and vote. At 20, you are no longer a teenager. At 21, you are able to drink across all the States. At 25, you cross the first quarter-century mark and are no longer young. After that the only dates that are big are 30, 40, 50, and then 55/60/65 depending on when you retire. In between those dates, I have to do the math to figure out how old I am – let’s see current year minus year I was born equals age.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
April 1 pranks
As always, be wary of any emails or news on this day. Be especially wary of emails or posting from March 31 as well as revelers on the other side of the world hit April 1 before you do.
Watch out for the emails about the horrors of DHMO (or as you and I might call it - water).
http://www.dhmo.org/
Check out the http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/ and if you hit anything you're not quite sure of, there is always snopes. http://www.snopes.com/
Take care of yourselves and I'll post more goodness later.
Watch out for the emails about the horrors of DHMO (or as you and I might call it - water).
http://www.dhmo.org/
Check out the http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/ and if you hit anything you're not quite sure of, there is always snopes. http://www.snopes.com/
Take care of yourselves and I'll post more goodness later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
