Category: Life

  • Gaming for fun and… um… more fun.

    I’ve been playing more Diablo II again lately. I cannot resist the temptation to reach that “one more” level or waypoint or completed quest.

    My current focus is on Barak, my werebear Druid. As of this weekend, he’s one of the only characters with which I’ve killed Diablo in solo play. (Yes, I’m a great big wuss. Quell surprise.)

    We invited the Bourgos over last night for gaming and general family chaos. Amy and Michael and Wendi and I tried to remember what our “group-game” Diablo II characters were, then tried to remember how to play D2 effectively as a foursome. We made a lot of progress into Act 3 Normal, but Michael and I are chafing at the long wait ahead of us before we can use our best skills. (A werewolf Druid and a Javezon are both nearly useless until at least level 30, when Fury and Lightning Fury become available respectively.)

    I suggested that we should get our best-of-the-best-of-the-best-sir characters from our respective homes for a superstar romp through Act V or maybe the Cow level. We’ll see what happens with that, as well as Michael’s idea to bring over his wheel for some head-to-head Need For Speed V competition. (Some challenge that will be. His wheel versus my gamepad should be no contest at all!)

    Ah, I love multiplayer gaming. Who says that computer games cut us off from social interaction? “Hey, I wanted that amulet, you @#$%!” “Geez, stop hogging all the (gold, gems, runes)!” “Argh, I’m *#^%ing dying over here, help!” “Where are you guys?” “Would someone throw me a Town Portal please?”

  • Happy Birthday, Mrs. Ball

    Sure, tomorrow is Independence Day. Whoop-dee-doo. Today is my sister’s birthday!

    Happy birthday to you
    Dressed in Navy blue
    Quarter-century old now
    And we’re so proud of you!

    Send Christine Ball your best birthday wishes at birthdaygirl@greyduck.net. (Note: This email alias will disappear in a couple of days to foil spambots.)

  • Welcome back, friends

    If you can read this (which may be one of the more inane phrases in the entire English language) then I’m happily back online and on my new server. There are still a few little quirks to work out, but for the most part things are under my control once again.

    Yay!

  • If it weren’t for lousy luck, I’d have none at all.

    File this one under “The Joys Of Mergers And Acquisitions.”

    Invite.net has been sold to BizLand.com, which doesn’t support several of the key features that brought me to Invite.net in the first place. I got an email today that states that first thing next week my website and email will be transferred to BizLand’s servers.

    There’s a very good chance that this site will completely break when that happens. The best-case scenario is that the existing journal entries will display but comments and a lot of the “extras” here won’t work (not to mention some of my security settings), I won’t be able to add new journal entries, and there won’t be a damned thing I can do about it since SSH shell access isn’t an option with BizLand.

    My current plan is to have Europa, the dial-up provider I’ve used for many years now, point the domain at a box I need to build here at the office. It’s not the best solution, but at least this way I’ll control the box in its entirety. This is also going to cost me a little more. Such is life.

    Ideas and contacts are welcome. Be warned that this may be my last journal entry until I get this thing moved elsewhere. No point adding entries that may get lost anyway. Grr.

  • A pleasant day off

    Sleeping in. Waking up at my own pace. Breakfast at the Original Hot Cake & Steak House. Going shopping at WinCo with the Wendi and the Palm m105. Buying the Harry Potter DVD. Playing 4×4 Evolution. Puttering around on the Internet.

    That’s my day so far, and I’m sticking to it. Oh, and Wendi really admired the shopping list software’s usefulness at the store. You can stop snickering now.

  • Party at the Kerezman abode

    In a move right out of the Twilight Zone, we’re going to be hosting the cast party tonight for that dessert theater thing that Wendi and the kids are in. Yep, I actually had to clean the computer room to a presentable level.

    Hopefully this will be a bright spot in an otherwise dreary weekend, as I expect to spend all day Sunday and Monday here at the office doing the server storage migration. Ick.