Enoch

Parents showed up this weekend with a carload of hand-me-down baby stuff that my niece has outgrown. Dad and I worked on electrical and handyman stuff (upgrading some ancient outlets, installing a ceiling fan, cutting up my old office desk and using it as material for new closet shelves), while my wife and mother assembled baby equipment and laundered tiny clothing. So the kid's room is coming together, and overall baby-preparedness is rising. The downside is that I am posting this from my new home office & gaming PC location in the basement. Edit: Oh, and if anybody recalls the drama last week with the cell phone I ordered that never arrived? Turns out that it was not stolen-- FedEx simply took a full week to make an "overnight" delivery, and lied about it on their website.

Yeah, it's been pretty lousy lately. My commute includes a 3/4 mile walk to the subway station, and a block or so to my office on the other end. I've never been one for jogging, but in single-digit temperatures (Fahrenheit; that's -12 to -18C), I walk very fast. I also need to buy a better hat.

Texas getting that bad, huh?

Eh. The journey is more important than the destination in my book. Long-axis plot development is well behind character writing, level design, encounter design, world-building, and atmosphere on the list of things I look for in this kind of game. And ME2 was easily the strongest entry in the series in those areas. The point that ME3 suffered because of ME2's failure to advance the ball, story-wise, is a fair one, but it doesn't change my opinion that ME2 was still the highpoint of the franchise to-date. If the plot arc was too underdeveloped for Bio to wrap the series up in a satisfactory manner in ME3 (and it probably was), they should've stretched it into a 4-game series.

I'd also suggest that a present-day perception of 35+ year old vehicles is pretty heavily influenced by survivorship bias. The cars that are still around today are the good ones, but the manufacturing standards in Detroit in those years were notoriously inconsistent-- there was a very high "lemon" rate. The ones that didn't roll off the line on a good day have long since been scrapped.

I don't think I'm patient/compulsive enough to enjoy Don't Starve for long. The worlds are fun to explore, full of entertaining and humorous surrealism, but the base-building that you probably need to do to survive for long just takes too much attention to detail. It'd be another thing if I could pause the game and peruse the various item-construction recipes-- doing so while the clock is ticking means that I miss things, which edges the game more towards frustration than fun. (Also, damn those tiles with the construction recipes are low-res. It can be tough to make out, say, how many rocks are needed for a fire pit, and it's not my monitor resolution.)

Yeah, my expectations were never that high, plot-wise. I mean, the plot to ME1 was basically Crtl-C'ed from Michael Bay's powerbook. The narrative strengths of the first 2 games were purely in cheesy heroic wish-fulfillment. (The endgame cutscenes never fail to make me laugh at how over-the-top the ego stroking gets.) I was expecting that the 3rd would have more-of-the-same, but that's far from the primary reason why I play these games. Part of me is glad that they got tired of militarist hero stories and tried something new. Unfortunately, the execution was botched to a degree that is hard to ignore, and springing that on the player in the 3rd installment just doesn't feel fair. To the extent that they wanted to do a "down" ending, the middle chapter was the place to put it. Interestingly, the area where they did seem to do their planning is in the character relationships. Bioware "romance" fans got a nice little melodrama out the ME1 sex-recipients being absent in ME2 (and replaced by other tempting targets), but returning in the 3rd game. Also, what was Chris A.'s comment post-KotOR2 about how he was never going to attempt an Empire Strikes Back ending in a video game again?

I did the same thing when I played it, and was infuriated that the last save point was just before jumping into the beam-thing on Earth. Stumbling forward very slowly down long corridors is not a fun way to end a video game that is mostly about being a kickass sci-fi commando. Doing it twice, doubly so. As you might see if you look back at the earlier part of this thread, my bottom line on the game was similar-- apart from the plot nonsense it was a good game, but not as good as ME2 was. The 3rd game had less enemy variety, less encounter-design variety, and fewer and less-interesting companions. But the core formula of pausable 3rd-person powers/guns combat, paired with in-depth character-focused dialogues and solid sci-fi world design remains enjoyable. Pretty much could've written this myself, but I didn't feel like there was less variety in encounters... but I did find the ending from Thessia onwards (Horizon was good, but Thessia, earth and the ending were pretty dire) very disappointing. Agree that fewer companions was another critical failure, even if the citadel dlc patched something back in. Remains the biggest gaming disappointment I have endured. And that includes not getting NWN to ever work properly. The bit about encounter design is, I think, the influence of the multiplayer. The default "big fight" was defending an area against successive waves of opponents-- just like the multiplayer setup-- and it felt like they went to the well with that a few times too often. There were some variants in environment and opponent, like the run to summon the sandworm at the end of KroganPlanet or the fight inside the gun barrel of the Geth ship, but apart from the Leng fights (of whom the less is said, the better), the game lacked for interesting setpieces. (The Geth TRON mission was pretty cool, though.) And ME2 had lots of both of those. The sun on Haestrom, the prison warden's shielding system, the biotic-enabling toxin on Samara's recruitment mission, the thresher maw fight, the moving platforms on the Collector ship, the 2 great boss fights in the Shadowbroker DLC, etc. Hell, ME2's main boss fight was a hilariously lame concept, but at least there was some kind of unique combat challenge at the end. I confess that I don't remember Horizon very well, but I'll certainly agree that Priority: Earth was a slog. But, as I said, it wasn't all bad. I've actually been working myself up to playing it again, with Leviathan and Citadel installed. The question is whether I go into ME3 with everybody alive. I'm somewhat tempted to engineer Tali's exile and/or death in ME2, which would free me to treat the Quarians as pure villains in ME3.

I did the same thing when I played it, and was infuriated that the last save point was just before jumping into the beam-thing on Earth. Stumbling forward very slowly down long corridors is not a fun way to end a video game that is mostly about being a kickass sci-fi commando. Doing it twice, doubly so. As you might see if you look back at the earlier part of this thread, my bottom line on the game was similar-- apart from the plot nonsense it was a good game, but not as good as ME2 was. The 3rd game had less enemy variety, less encounter-design variety, and fewer and less-interesting companions. But the core formula of pausable 3rd-person powers/guns combat, paired with in-depth character-focused dialogues and solid sci-fi world design remains enjoyable.

Don't Starve. I'm not starving, but I think I'm going insane. (The brain in the circle is some kind of sanity level, right? I lose some when I do things like eat monster meat, and a low level makes night time entertaining.)

Fried pork chops, cheddar grits, and steamed broccoli. The chops got docked (i.e., cut small notches in the non-bone side to prevent it from "cupping" up as heat is applied to the bottom) and seasoned heavily with garlic powder, onion powder, ground mustard, ground ancho, cumin, paprika, cayenne, salt, and black pepper. Then dredged through flour, let to sit for 10 minutes (the salt will cause the flour to moisten with time), then dredged again. Get about a quarter-inch-depth of oil hot in a pan, then fry them, 4+ minutes to a side, depending on thickness. Pat dry, let rest a bit, and eat.

So it seems that the new phone I ordered earlier this week was delivered to my front door yesterday, and was not there when I got home. We've had plenty of expensive stuff delivered here without a signature requirement over the last 5 years, and nothing has ever gone missing before. Now, Fedex's tracking can sometimes be dodgy, in that they often rely on local USPS to do the "last mile" of shipping, and this isn't reflected in their online tracking. But USPS has now made another round since then, and Fedex's website did specify that the item was left at the "front door" at about 1:30 Friday afternoon. So, although there's a chance that Fedex's delivery site is an auto-filled default and that the Saturday mailperson was lazy and left the packages to be taken care of on Monday, it is quite likely that the box did make it to our house. And I'm having some mild social anxiety about dealing with it. Do I call the shipper, the manufacturer, the network carrier, my homeowner's insurer, and/or the police? Who has the time/patience to figure that out and do it? A large part of me would rather just pay the money to order a new one and forget about all this. (Oddly enough, there was a different package waiting on the porch when I got home. But it was a UPS delivery, and they typically come rather late in the afternoon around here.)

I tend to pick the most old-timey names that come to mind. I played a Doris, a Melvin, and a Eustace in F:NV. I played ME with ladies named Mavis and Beatrice. (Also, see handle.) Although with characterization-lite games like old-school M&M, I often go for aptronyms. Barbarians named Smashy; Clerics named Preacha; Rangers named Nature Boy; Ninjas named Awesome...

Heh. M&M 3-5 had that same difficulty-level nomenclature, and I could never remember which was which. Edit: Playing some Mass Effect 2. The series' major flaws that have all been hashed over far too much by now (e.g., the long-axis plot arc; the unquestioning lionization of military heroism with all civilian support/control unfailingly characterized as villainous; Bioware "romance" scenes), but it also has some fantastic smaller-scale moments, most of which are in the 2nd game. And the gameplay is fun when I play one of the classes that suits how I prefer to do this kind of game (i.e., powers-focused, with heavy pause use).

Today I was rather saddened to learn of the death of a co-worker whose retirement party I had attended less than 2 weeks ago. He got 5 whole workdays out of retirement before a fatal heart attack. Was a fantastically nice guy, and had no outward signs of illness-- he had always seemed to me as rather fit for a guy who was probably in his mid-60s. On the other hand, the wife and I went for a checkup today, and everything appears to be going well. We're a scant 6 weeks from her due date. The ultrasound tech was able to get a fantastic 3-D image of our son kicking himself in the face. (Or maybe he was scratching his eyelid with his toe?)

It's not a laudable decision when it's the result of caving in to the demands of a special interest group. This presumes that one can reliably distinguish "caving in to" from "earnestly agreeing with the outlook of." (Or "special interest group" from "segment of our target audience who has not historically been catered to.") It's been established for decades that unrealistic physical appearance ideals do have negative effects on the well being of many people. Presenting "only people who look like X" rather than "people who look like a broad cross-section of the population" has been endemic in film, TV, magazines, etc., for a long time, and the complaints about it have been going on for almost as long. As videogames both grow past technological limitations ("We only have enough RAM for one male character model and one female character model") and grow into a more mainstream entertainment, they're entering that conversation.

I'm guessing the caster was Silke, on Garrick's short quest in Beregost?

I usually go to a fancier shop to buy fish, but the plain ol' grocery store had some cuts of wild-caught Alaskan sockeye that looked good today. Roasted that hot & fast with minimal seasoning. Prepared some brussels sprouts in my usual way (half, sear, add minced garlic & beer, steam until fork-tender, finish with butter, salt, and pepper), but towards the end, I added a dice of some leftover baked potato I had in the fridge. Nice.

I imagine that this decision is largely about balancing the flavors of attacking (and, consequently, the related attributes and the attributes and items that resist these attacks). Consistent damage v. Critical chance v. Interrupt chance. Depending on the scope of interruptable limited-use abilities (which seems to be broader than D&D spells, including things like melee-class special attacks), an interrupt sapping a longer-term resource might make interruption-heavy strategies a bit too appealing. (Or make interruption-prone enemies a bit too powerful. We all know that the most dangerous attack that the BG2 dragons had wasn't the breath weapon-- it was the wing buffett.) I suspect that making an opponent effectively lose whatever time it put into that action (and a small recovery period after the interrupting blow lands) is going to be a valuable enough advantage to make pursuit of it worthwhile.

Recent progression with the Ear: Medication was first applied yesterday afternoon. Re-applied this morning. Over that time, the frequency/intensity of the pain produced actually increased a bit. (Other symptoms like swelling and deadened hearing have been consistent.) Unfortunate, but these things take time, I guess. About an hour ago, the ear's condition changed from "intermittently painful" to "intermittently painful, and constantly itchy." I know this is probably a good sign in terms of treatment, but holy hell is it a step back in terms of my mental state and general demeanor. The doctor advised me to keep a wad of cotton in the outer ear for a few days to stop the medication from dribbling out onto my clothing, but I now think the primary motivation was to keep me from scratching. I also need to figure out a way to keep my ear dry while washing my hair. This morning's attempt was a rather complete failure.

So it turns out that the problem in my ear was not, in fact, a ball of gunk that got shoved deep in there. It's a fungal infection! A pretty nasty one, at that. I guess the swelling made it feel like there was a foreign body in there. And inexpert visual inspection is not especially able to differentiate fungus from earwax. The psoriasis (which I've had for years) was almost certainly an indirect cause, as itchy ears lead to scratching and the introduction of pathogens. And all the rinsing I had been doing to try to soften and flush out what I thought was in there only contributed to making my ear an ideal fungal habitat. Well, "use these drops, keep it dry, and see me again in a week" isn't the worst of possible outcomes, I guess. Although it would've been nice if the doctor could've just yanked one thing out and made me feel better instantly. @Woldan, I'm pretty sure it's psoriasis, based on duration, family history (my grandfather has the exact same thing), and the opinion of the doctors who have examined me over the last half-decade. It also responds well to topical steroids.

The Nurse Practicioner at the clinic took a look at my ear and decided it was too complicated for her. (Although I did get an immunization that I had been putting off, so it wasn't a total waste.) I now have a mid-afternoon appointment with an actual doctor. The ear is annoying, but at least it's now getting me a full sick day, rather than just coming in a few hours late.

So, I get mild psoriasis in my ear canals. They get itchy, I scratch them, pieces of dead skin fall out, etc. I have a topical steroid lotion that I was prescribed years ago, but I was cautioned against using it too much, so I tend to let it get really bad before I get that out. Anyhow, last Friday morning, as I woke up and was still in a fog of low awareness and warm-in-bed contentedness, my left ear was fantastically itchy. And, lacking the judgment that would come with being fully awake, I scratched the hell out of it, digging my pinky finger in there as far as I could. Afterwards, my ear felt funny, like I had water in it that I couldn't get out. It seems that such forceful scratching mashed up a hunk of sloughed-off dead skin with some earwax (and maybe a bit of blood), and shoved said item deep within my ear. It wasn't too bad, though, and this kind of thing has resolved itself before. (I.e., it fell out after I took a shower the next day.) In this case, it hasn't. And, indeed, my attempts to remedy this have made it worse. I was at my parents' house this weekend, and when I told them about this, my father ran and got a little bulb syringe, telling me that a few minutes of gently squirting hot water up there would shake the stuff loose. Maybe I squirted too hard or something, because that just seems to have pushed this further down. (It worked really well in the good ear though-- an impressive bit of earwax came out.) Now I can hear the blood flowing through my ear, and I get a little bit of ear pain from time to time depending on the angle at which I'm holding my head. I am presently waiting until the local clinic opens so that I can stop by and see if there's anything they can do for me.

My favorite version of "Mood Indigo" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLVpJqNIRHo

In my book, no Bond theme has topped Tom Jones: