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Looking For Quacks In The Pavement

  • No, but I did something good anyway.

    I cleaned, today. Laundry, vacuuming, garbage, tidying. That’s why I didn’t get any work done on the anime site.

    That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Rumors that computer gaming and anime viewing had anything to do with my lack of website work are wholly unsubstantiated, I assure you.

    Ahem.

  • The Day The Second Disc Burned

    Today I burned the second of five DVDs in a series of VHS-to-DVD transfers made possible thanks to a wonderful person who found the tapes and loaned them to me. I need to play-test the disc on my entertainment center, but I’m generally hopeful since I now know how best to process these things.

    I also played Heroes of Might and Magic IV with my son for a few hours. There’s a soft spot in my heart for the Heroes line of games, as well as a smaller soft spot for some of the regular M&M series. We had a pretty good run, and hope to finish the game off in the next visit or so.

    No, really, I think that’s all I got accomplished today. Tomorrow? Prep work on the anime site. (Astute readers will remember I promised something along those lines a little while ago…)

  • I didn’t expect it, just as they say.

    This sort of thing may not be why I love my job, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.

    I did something nice, and promptly, for the folks in the KGON studio. A few minutes later, this appeared on my desk!

    Okay, so sure, I already had the first season on DVD. Er, and let’s not dwell on the fact that I also got that for free from the, er, radio station, albeit a few years ago. One also shouldn’t dwell on the fact that it was only available to plunk down on my desk because they ended up not giving it away to a listener. But dammit, I’ve been drooling over DVDs of the entire series for years, and that’s no small chunk of change, so I’m hardly one to quibble over insignificant details.

    So, it’s true. Nobody, and I mean nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. I sure as hell didn’t!

  • Madcap Citybuilding Fun

    Among the things the kids and I got up to over the course of last weekend while I was staying at their place was a fun-filled game of Carcassonne. Now, this is one of those games where there are two stages of scoring. Someone who’s far and away in the lead during the main part of the game can get screwed when it comes time to add up partials, farms and trade goods. Case in point:


    Alex was blue, Erica was red and I was yellow. He had the trade goods advantage (yes, those are his barrels and textiles at the bottom of the picture) but only one little chunk of farmland. Erica had equal share of The Unfinishable City with me, but I managed to connect both of my farmers, thus cutting her out of that scoring opportunity entirely. (Alex helped, mind you. He didn’t realize until later what a bad idea that was. Heh.)The Unfinishable City? Oh yes, indeed. Let me show you:


    This is what happens when the time-honored tradition we call “horning in” is taken to its (il)logical extreme. I started a city, then put my builder on it. Erica positioned herself to horn in on it, and added her builder. Once she succeeded at that, I horned in again to take control of the city, which was followed by her doing the same yet again. She actually tried to get a third meeple into the fray, but it sat on what became the two-point micro-city, because of the straight-through city piece (with the shield) I played above it.Eventually the whole thing became a place to sink city pieces that couldn’t really go anywhere else usefully. By the time the place looked like what you see here, we had only about sixteen tiles left in the bag. No, that thing wasn’t going to be finished, even had I wanted it to be finished.

    Ah, I love Carcassonne

  • PDXB. Oooh, scary.

    We’re gathering at Backspace, downtown, this Friday evening. Right? Right.

    C’mon, you know you wanna. How can you pass up cool company like the PortlandBloggers gang?

  • Transit Trial

    Lesson learned: Sometimes the #9 Powell does not become the #9 Broadway. As near as I can tell, that not-becoming takes place if it’s after dark and the bus in question sails through downtown near the top rather than the bottom of the hour.

    And thanks to the MAX light rail’s after-dark schedule lately, walking became a better choice than waiting around in the cold, considering how close to the Broadway bridge the #9 ended up dropping me. But hey, I got some exercise in this evening.

    Walking, that is. Get your minds outta the gutter, folks.

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