Gromnir

tell 'em you are an attorney. is a functional get out of jury duty card. is no law which prohibits an attorney being part o' a jury, but you can guarantee either defense or prosecution or plaintiff will want you gone. keep in mind, only works if you are an attorney, and we do not recommend law school and passing bar just to get out o' jury duty. today were weird for us. we saw our money guy at his office, which we do at least twice a year. the person handling our portfolio is relative new to us-- has only been last 2.5 years. previous advisor retired. weirdness is 'cause the guy handling our dough frequent refers to us as "young man." "how have you been, young man?" "have a seat, young man." etc. thought this were funny 'cause we estimated our advisor were in his late 40s, and Gromnir turned 50 this year. sure, when we go to ___________ 's office, we tend to dress down. no suits and expensive shoes. jeans. hoodie. hiking shoes. maybe casual makes us look a bit younger? a bit. didn't correct him the last couple years 'cause we were somewhat amused, but today we decided to question the, "young man" bit. pointed out how we were confident that we were near his age or even older. guy were shocked. seemed to think Gromnir is thirtyish. okie dokie. other weirdness were when the advisor mentioned senator warren. we were expressing a desire to shift our portfolio away from so many tech-heavy offerings and also to get better representation from fixed term stuff. outta nowhere, money-guy opines how half our portfolio disintegrates if warren gets elected. bit o' hyperbole, but he has a point. doesn't stop with warren though. starts talking impeachment, presumable 'cause o' impact on markets. talks 'bout trump and due process and unfairness. *sigh* we made a minor correction on legal presumptions, but tried to mollify by observing how we believe there is zero chance senate would convict. w/o enough public support, too few republicans would flip at a senate trial. we were glad when the trump stuff ended. we had to work hard to talk down the guy sitting across the desk from us. weird. have been able to avoid most similar nonsense in rl, but caught us off guard. HA! Good Fun!

HA! Good Fun!

iwd is still our all-time favorite soundtrack, but inon zur's work on iwd2 has a few individual tracks which is 'mongst all-time best. HA! Good Fun!

is likewise notable pledges weren't a problem for deadfire in spite o' chrisA absence from obsidian and his friction with former employer. deadfire fig pledges show there were a substantial core following for poe and much anticipation for a sequel, in spite o' chrisA and his attempts at self-immolation-by-internet. am suspecting the problem for obsidian and deadfire were all those other folks, the more casual gamers who didn't know if fig were a fruit, flower or a crowdfunding campaign, folks who woulda' been less likely to know or care 'bout individual obsidian developers. the hardcore folks, divided by poe, nevertheless spent more on deadfire crowdfunding efforts in spite o' smaller numbers. sadly, obsidian did not recognize warning signs. what is clear is that many folks who bought poe1 did not buy poe2. assume chrisA were a major cause o' a massive falloff in sales is fanciful and correlative speciousness at its worst. that said, we don't have any clear evidence for any other theory o' sales drop off neither. doesn't make the chrisA theory any less ridiculous. HA! Good Fun!

quick side note: am not believing obsidian were wrong to breakaway from bg2 mechanics, and in some respects, style. nostalgia were only gonna carry poe so far, particular as bg2 nostalgia were a deeply personal and fluid concept, at least it were 'mongst those providing feedback on the boards. those essential aspects o' bg2 which made bg2 liked were not uniform 'mongst consumers. worse, often times the things people liked 'bout bg2 were not necessarily part o' that title, but were nevertheless what folks remembered 'bout bg2. as such am suspecting if obsidian recreated the ie engine as best they could, with updated graphics, and created a 2018 near clone o' bg2, many o' the bg2 fans woulda' complained 'bout the game being derivative and antiquated. an idealized bg2 were what many poe fans wanted, but am not sure what such a game would be, or if it would be successful. likes and dislikes not need be reasonable or rational. such feels is real nevertheless. our point is not that obsidian were wrong in their development scheme. am honest not certain how deadfire coulda' been created to have more broad appeal and reconnect with those fans who were disappointed with poe. regardless, am believing obsidian misjudged who were the likely purchasers o' deadfire. during deadfire development, obsidian were focused on improving the gaming experience for those who purchased and enjoyed poe. the stuff obsidian worked to improve 'pon in deadfire were only gonna solidify the approval o' those who already liked poe and would further discourage those who were annoyed by poe's lack o' bg2 qualities. reviews were excellent for poe and sales were impressive, so am believing obsidian were reasonable in under estimatimating the number o' purchasers who were underwhelmed by poe. regardless, am believing there were a real misapprehension 'bout who wanted deadfire. HA! Good Fun!

am largely repeating what we said elsewhere... marketing is the frequentest excuse for why a good game sold poor. is a pleasant illusion 'cause it means the game you liked were still good, and it also means the developers you approve o' did nothing wrong. cheap. easy excuse which shifts blame. deadfire were the wrong game if goal were to improve sales o' poe. poe2, from start o' development, were making clear that design philosophy were refinement o' poe-- those who liked poe would get a better game in poe2. that were the problem. poe were selling ie game nostalgia, and too many folks who played poe did not get the bg3 for which they hoped. hardcore crpgs is an admitted niche genre. hardcore fans tend to become more polarized over minutiae than ordinary fans. unfortunate, deadfire developers narrowed appeal o' their title by letting those who were disappointed with poe failure to be another bg2 know that deadfire would be even more unlikable. as somebody who enjoyed poe, deadfire design were targeting Gromnir. save for a few mechanics issues, we appreciated deadfire improvements. yes, we did have more than a couple narrative concerns, but such has been belabored ad nauseum and were not, we believe, contributing to underwhelming initial sales. deadfire were made for folks such as Gromnir. liked the first game and wanted the sequel to refine what were done well in poe. the problem is, there were too few Gromnirs... which is pretty much insane. should never be more o' us. but again, deadfire were appealing to an already niche genre and developers made clear the game were gonna be even more exclusive than first title. diminished sales, in retrospect, should not surprise. HA! Good Fun!

we spent more hours than wormerine playing poe2... many more, so am not one o' those who were disappointed with purchase or discouraged from purchasing altogether. nevertheless, after listening to post-mortem from josh, we arrived at conclusion the obsidian folks misinterpreted poe1 feedback. josh recognized how divinity: original sin 2 developers took consumer feedback to heart and improved game resulting in bigger sequel sales. obsidian anticipated similar results from following same gameplan, but there were a fundamental misunderstanding 'bout poe criticism. beyond the inevitable and insurmountable too hard/too easy complaints, next most common critique o' poe were almost never stated open and honest. real biggest complaint o' poe were: it isn't bg2. any significant design choice which altered bg2 "standard" polarized the community. the developers had no desire to replicate perceived errors o' bg2 in poe or poe2, and so the "it ain't bg2" complaints were largely dismissed. poe were, relative speaking, a hardcore crpg; a genre for which there were significant, but nevertheless niche appeal. the developers o' poe2 chose to refine poe by giving folks who liked poe more o' what they enjoyed in the first game-- a reasonable and rational approach given the obsidian conclusions 'bout dos2 development. unfortunate, the developers o' poe2 were misinterpreting feedback at a fundamental level. by focusing on demands and criticisms o' those who liked poe, obsidian failed to recognize that they were narrowing the appeal o' their title rather than expanding... which, for the most part, were good for Gromnir. most o' the bg2 nostalgia demands were nonsensical. per kill xp rewards, pre-buffing and hard counters were not what made bg2 a popular game, but folks clamoring for such were making known just how much they wanted poe to be bg3. obsidian developers didn't understand this feedback, and am personal glad they ignored such, but regardless, the developers were somehow blind to fact they were making poe2 appeal more exclusive rather than inclusive. oh, and there were narrative issues in poe2 which we have discussed ad nauseum elsewhere, but am not convinced such were the downfall o' poe2 insofar as sales is concerned. nope, the reason why poe2 underperformed in terms o' sales were 'cause it weren't bg2, or at least not bg2 enough. HA! Good Fun!

didn't wanna start a new thread and couldn't think where such a post would be more appropriate. in any event, is 11:38 pacific time, so is still veterans day, which means we couldn't go to the bank today. more important we wish to express our gratitude for any and all who have served their country honorably as a member of the armed forces. thank you.

general policy for us to not buy until after at least the first major patch, and is likely we wait six months. get a more stable and likely encehapened game. is the norm for games to be buggy at release, so why buy at release? no downside to wait. am not gonna be the guy who habitual complains 'bout games being buggy in spite o' buying such games day 1. you learn lesson the first time, yes? yes? exception: crowdfunding. if we contributed to game development, then is kinda too late to wait for post patch reviews to decide on a purchase. HA! Good Fun!

am curious, but similar to bug, we will wait for a few patches 'fore paying and playing. sidenote, disco elysium sounds like an alternative title for xanadu. HA! Good fun!

can always use more prunes. kidding. sweeter wine might not be an ideal choice 'cause the sugar is added in part to take edge off the acidity from the wine. if cane sugar is problematic, you can turn golden raisins into a paste. maybe thin the paste with your wine before adding. won't affect the aesthetic o' the dish and you get natural sugar with a mild additional flavor which should be complimentary. HA! Good Fun! ps if you like the bite from the wine and vinegar, then ignore our suggestion.

first you claim the democrats are "evil and want to enslave people." nevertheless, you then see a problem in both sides attempting to demonize the other. ... hoonding does purposeful. you do by accident. funny v. sad. HA! Good Fun!

we always think ella when we hear summertime. one more, just 'cause it is a fave. HA! Good Fun!

got unseasonal gorgeous weather here in norcal. am gonna enjoy outdoors... outdoors away from our home. we got an enormous carob tree in our backyard which provides admirable shade and doesn't need much water. enormous is kinda understatement. current sounds as if we are living under power lines 'cause o' all the bees pollinating the carob. is perfect kinda foliage save for one small detail: it stinks. when the carob is in bloom, it has a genuine foul odor. what kinda tree blooms in autumn anyways? *shrug* if you are curious, you may google what stink carob is often compared. chances are you wouldn't believe us. regardless, we need to put some distance 'tween our self and casa de Gromnir during daylight hours for as long as temps are nice, 'cause am not gonna wanna open our windows at back of the house for the next week or so. HA! Good Fun!

given how easy it were to get tank and dps gear, am thinking we will do a heals before we burn out again. swtor don't have crates check spec until they are opened, and they are tuned to gear level regardless o' kinda gear. guardian in 306 dps gear will get 306 tank gear as long as he/she is current spec'd as tank. as soon as we hit 300 gear, we changed spec to tank when we opened crates. esseles runs provided our dps. am not particular worried over augments at the moment. crafting is typical wonky following an update. as such we will focus on wringing as much juice as possible from artifact cell graft market before situation stabilizes... though we were complete focused on gear grind the last couple days so for all we know the market has already changed. however, is second week in november and we got clear skies and temps near 80 degrees in the sac valley. with 1 day remaining in billing cycle, our electric costs for the month is under $40. no a/c. no heat. is ideal weather and temps and so am gonna get outside and enjoy rl while weather remains idyllic. would be criminal to play swtor given how beautiful it is at the moment... which is rare 'cause where we live is always too hot or too wet or too foggy or... HA! Good Fun!

funny. no, what you wrote is hardly humorous, but occurred to us the post you made sounded like the typical @HoonDing drive-by, but meaning would be complete reversed in such a case. HA! Good Fun!

the idea that because the democrats are partisan the impeachment investigation is inherent flawed is bordering on asinine. is irrelevant given the testimony. is red herring. so what if schiff is a democrat? so what if the whistleblower voted democrat? you are buying into the partisan narrative if you think such stuff is at all important. that the wh prevented the whistleblower complaint from reaching Congress is NOT a partisan observation-- is a fact. delivery o' military aid and a meeting between the Presidents o' the US and the ukraine being contingent 'pon ukraine investigation o' 2016 election conspiracy theories has been described by multiple trump administration officials and career bureaucrats. again, fact. label facts as somehow partisan and then excuse dismissal o' such facts is one o' the hurdles we, as a nation, need get past if we are gonna put this self-destructive polarization behind us. 'course the obstruction of justice events (multiple and egregious )and entanglement with the russians stuff from the mueller report were also facts and somehow folks nevertheless described in terms of "witch hunt." HA! Good Fun!

update: yesterday we managed to reach gear 306 for our guardian--tank and dps. we don't have augments or ideal tacticals for tank. we don't yet have ideal set bonus gear neither. even so, less than two full weeks o' mostly esseles runs (+ the 2 mek-sha heroics and 6 onderon dailies) and am at 306. all we need to finish the trifecta is heals gear. coulda' cut total time by /14 to 1/3 if we had used a shadow instead o' a guardian. coulda' stealthed esseles for ultra-fast speed runs. am not a big fan o' grindy, but am nevertheless thinking 10ish days is too fast to get to 306 for two roles. HA! Good Fun!

gd concerns is baffling to us, but it is the narrative being presented at fox and conservative radio outlets. whatever "antics" gd references, they is wholly irrelevant to whether or not the trump admin attempted to block a whistleblower complaint from reaching Congress and the question o' whether the administration were leveraging military aid and presidential meetings to bring about wholly political motivated investigations o' a political rival. the whole "closed door hearings" nonsense is utter bs and am not certain how it gets so much mileage. investigations at almost any level is having a level o' secrecy. for chrissakes, could you imagine how stoopid it would be if cops investigating murder had to let their primary suspect see all the information the cops were gathering? even as to investigations o' the chief executive, mueller and starr investigations were not public affairs. the nixon investigation didn't start public. difference in 2019 is 'cause o' desire to move forward fast, Congress is not utilizing a special prosecutor or fbi to do the investigation. the due process arguments made by trump defenders is utter bs, not only 'cause impeachment ain't a criminal proceeding, but 'cause impeachment is analogous to an indictment, and the investigations which precede the indictment tends to be secret for obvious reasons. due process stuff being raised and echoed by gd is applicable IF there is impeachment. the only thing we can see worthy o' criticism thus far insofar as the inquiry is schiff not being honest that the whistleblower had contacted the committee before the IG went public with his concerns 'bout the WH's wholly unlawful attempts to impede the delivery o' a credible and urgent whistleblower complaint to Congress, but even then, the whistleblower complaint has been corroborated by multiple first hand sources. even if schiff authored the complaint himself, o' which there is no evidence and a strong denial from whistleblower's attorney, the complaint itself has already been validated by multiple offers o; testimony from firsthand witnesses. however, schiff were untruthful, and we woulda' thought better o' the process if he recused self. regardless, that singular act o' dishonesty or "alternative facts" by schiff is the only meaningful critique we have for process thus far. is just another example o' "read the transcript" t-shirts mentality. facts and reality not matter. conservative narrative ignores reality in favor o' what should be comical transparent gaslighting. HA! Good Fun!

is worse. rand implies he knows the identity o' the whistleblower, whom he describes in villainous terms. the thing is, rand then exhorts the media to make the whistleblower's identity public knowing full well such is illegal. *shrug* we can't imagine this stuff. "read the transcript" t-shirts being sold to and worn by trumpers? HA! Good Fun! ps not funny, but President is not subject to fed whistleblower retaliation laws as written. trump could divulge w/o any consequences save possible civil litigation if "harm" (not limited to physical) comes to the whistleblower.

good luck with that. Gromnir is the guy selling 'em in bunches o' 5 or 10, and we sell 20-30 per day. am the current basement on price save for a few single unit outliers. blame us for ruining the market, but am satisfied with our returns given minimal effort. been doing for six days and will keep up the pressure for as long as we can. those three companions at 50 is finally earning their keep. repeated esseles runs has us at gear 298 with a few 300 pieces and a nice pair o' tacticals. not certain how much will we have to push onwards, but at least full 300 before taking a break. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing you are kinda joking, but to be serious for a sec... am not believing millenials believe all their problems is unique and new. collective they reflexive run to google and look to see what syndrome or disorder from which they suffer, so am suspecting they know what they feel ain't unique. nope, difference is gd and Gromnir grew-up knowing most major life issues had to be handled personal and by pulling self up by bootstraps... or whatever. ... am not thinking millenials is complete wrong to wanna search for solutions to problems gd and Gromnir knows is just a fact of life. only way folks is gonna find solutions is if they is looking for solutions. is a long time past that Gromnir's generation threw in the proverbial towel, so you can forget getting a better resolution from us on life problems. alcohol. drugs. marriage-then divorce-marriage cycle. is a host o' misery inducing support aids previous generations keep using to little benefit. in the spirit o' fully self-aware, hasty and overbroad generalization, our problem with millennials is they look to google for answers. they look to what their social media friends says they should do. they expect somebody else to have a pill or process for fixing all their problems. believing there is a fix for each o' life's ills is not a bad thing. expecting somebody else to provide the fix is bad. maybe the next generation gets it right? *descends from soapbox* HA! Good Fun!

you exist, but "the normal generation," is a lackluster label. feel joy that your generation is current the nondescript and plainwraper normalcy which forms the basis 'pon which all other generations is measured. HA! Good Fun!

steak. have a tenant who has been having difficulty making rent, but he is a butcher, so we have more steak than we could possible eat in a year. steak and eggs for breakfast. petite filets for dinner. got mostly the filets and sirloin, but a few boneless and bone-in ribeyes as well. am preferring our ribeyes bone-in, so today we used a nice thick boneless ribeye for steak sandwiches. cut ribeye into thinish strips (cross grain) and liberal dose with our proprietary blend o' salt and spices, which if am being honest is a knock-ff o' lawry's. is actual easier to cut steak proper if is having been frozen and then mostly defrosted. the steak we had were not frozen, so we had to use our good mac knife. whatever. quarter a good sized onion and slice as desired. slice whatever mushroom type you prefer. cook and brown meat in cast iron skillet. have been using coconut oil o' late. not heart healthy though. *shrug* remove meat from pan when is mostly done. now is a good time to toast whatever bread you will choose. is not a sloppy wet sandwich, but there is fluid, so butter or mayo works well as choices for your bread toasting. nice crust will prevent your bread choice from instant soaking up liquid and turning into a gloppy mess. turn down heat a smidge and in same skillet, brown the veggies. should be enough oil in skillet to brown veggies, but a little butter never hurt, eh? when veggies is mostly doneish, return meat to skillet and then pour in worcestershire. have never measured, but pour in a bit more than looks reasonable and you should be fine. deglaze pan and let reduce a fair bit. remove skillet from heat and add a tablespoon (or more) of butter. stir. meat, onions and mushrooms should be covered in a dark and near molasses thick sauce. results is a sandwich to make any cardiologist shudder. so full. we now need a nap. HA! Good Fun!

finally saw avengers 'bout a month ago. wanted to make sure we saw captain marvel before endgame, but took us a long time to get around to see captain marvel. next on our watch list is tv stuff, though is via netflix discs. have been meaning to see true detective's 3rd season for some time. only two movies we wanna see from 2019 which ain't current in theatre is tigers are not afraid and an elephant sitting still. am not a horror fan... at all, so is always weird when am looking forward to a movie such as tigers. am certain the trailer were already posted, but am too lazy to find and link, so... am suspecting an elephant sitting still will require us being in the right frame o' mind to appreciate... which sounds like a criticism, but isn't. we see "the world is a wasteland" appear in a trailer for a movie and 99.9% o' the time our reaction is gonna be to wanna punch the director and/or writer in the face. am nevertheless intrigued, but am knowing we gotta be a bit less our ordinary curmudgeon self if am gonna give it an honest viewing. HA! Good Fun!