30Sep2006 1727:
The big news this week is, I guess, that my thesis experiment earlier this summer yielded results that are not only statistically significant (thank you, Excel!) but also quite certainly positive. Hooray, my game does not make students dumber!
Man oh man but I keep on loving Avatar. It hits all the right notes with script and animation, a critical balance of Nickelodeon slapstick and actual writing. Definitely the best cartoon on Nick right now, and maybe the best of this young century...although it faces some tough competition in that regard.
In shocking news, the venerable Diablo II has been all but forgotten in my newest foray into the world of online clickclickclickclickclick: Guild Wars. It helps that I have a crew of people to play it with and that I haven't been finding the same magic items/spells for six years. It also does interesting things with limitations: you only take 8 skills out into the field with you, your character attribute points are strictly rationed, damage numbers hover in the mid-50s while health is in the low hundreds. It prides itself for hinging on player skill rather than abstract numbers and ratings...which means I needed to upgrade my video card for a smooth framerate and the DSL connection is pretty much a must. You can't play the game by unloading one huge spell over and over into the goblin hordes; you need to see what's happening at every second of the battle.
21Sep2006 1732: High in Saturated Fate
While preparing my SPAM on sourdough dinner iTunes 7 played Spam, I Love You Always Forever, and Grease.
It has just been brought to my attention that the overpowering saltiness of SPAM is mitigated somewhat by parmesan cheese. Use this knowledge only for good. It has been my secret shame that -- SPAM fan though I am -- I cannot eat a whole can at a sitting. Fried, raw, cubed and cheesy...it does not matter. The salt eventually gets to me. I, who wrote every class paper of my junior year of high school on SPAM. I, who still remembers shit like "Kenneth Daigneau won naming rights to SPAM in a contest; the winning entry is a portmanteau of Spiced Pork and Ham." I, who didn't even have to look up the spelling on "Daigneau". Damn my non-Hawaiian ethnicity!
Now iTunes is playing Swiss Colony Beef Log. Close enough.
17Sep2006 1723: The Move is Over
...but I'm still moving slow. The housewarming went well, to the tune of about 6 liters of wine. Very well. And when a fuzzy-headed blah-feeling Sunday seems to hold nothing but the NFL as viewed through a blizzard it's good to know that an entire stadium of strangers can come together in common cause to celebrate lostness. Those guys at Improve Very Where are awesome, I spend hours lost in their archived reports every time I go. Don't quite understand their name, though.
16Sep2006 1108: A Good Day
So now we know. If the new Zelda doesn't involve minutes-long hands-off treks across an ocean, I will be picking this up launch day and rubbing it all over my body.
On top of that Avatar is back for the next two weeks. The episodes last night were mindblowingly awesome: giant steampunk drill and a little girl-on-girl action!
The impetus for listing all of this, the breaking point, is the new issue of Platinum Grit.
Housewarming tonight, and I think I'm ready!
10Sep2006 1735: Game Over
I know the image over there says that the Earth is not destroyed, but it might as well be. We humans have reached the pinnacle of our civilization. All we can do from here is a long slow slide into mediocrity and the cold embrace of the grave. When the last few tribes of savages huddle around the fire and tell stories of the Golden Age in which we now live, they will speak in hushed tones of the Knights of Cydonia. All art, culture, and technology has been building to this one shining moment, and we reap the fruits of our forefathers in a six-minute melange of cowboys, lasers, guitars, and kung fu.
I can die happy.
03Sep2006 2006: Nickel Tour
Finally unpacked the last box, so I felt good taking pictures.
- Bathroom, remodeled in 2004. Dual shower heads, dual sinks, and heated ceramic floor.
- Spare room. Trophy case is out of frame to the left. Not sure what to do with this room.
- Living room with some familiar furniture. Eventually I will get a real entertainment center. Note the extreme treesiness of the view out my patio doors. This shot was taken from the...
- Kitchen. New fridge, newish microwave. Way too many cupboards.
- Office, one of the rooms that got painted. This shot shows off the built-in cabinets. About half of that will ever get used.
- Master bedroom. Second room that got painted. Yes, ladies, that's my bed...and nothing else. What you don't see is that my bed is centered in the room directly under the ceiling fan. It sounded like a great idea but it really just dries out my eyes.
