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A Comment About My Job
The amount of effort required to maintain or fix a computer increases in geometric proportion to its age. This week, I am attempting to rescue a 10-year-old SQLBase database. It's been nice knowing you all.
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Proving Sabean Right
For several years, Giants GM Brian Sabean had a simple defense for this strategy of signing older free agents every year to "fill in" around Barry Bonds. He said that he really couldn't just tear the roster down and rebuild because Giants fans would not stand for it. Giants fans expected a contender every year, and didn't have the patience for actual rebuilding. Well, the Giants are finally rebuilding now. They're making sausage, and we have to watch, and we all know it isn't pretty. From what I heard about the first home game, the crowd booed several players before and during the game. I think this is just proving Sabean right. I don't like seeing the horrible baseball our team is playing any more than anyone else, but perhaps we need to cut these guys some slack. The Giants should get some kudos for reversing course and recognizing Barry Bonds' home run records with a couple of plaques at AT&T Park. This proves that they do listen to the fans and the media (Bruce Jenkins at the Chronicle, thanks for the suggestion which the Giants evidently took). Since they are listening, let's give them the right message -- rebuilding is good, it's necessary. It's long overdue, and it's ugly, but it's the right path. The Giants are going to hit rock bottom this year, but at least the worst will be over. Hold back on the booing. Thanks. |
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BEST. NEWS. EVER.
Caffeine helps prevent Alzheimer's. I will be the sharpest 90-year-old EVER.
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2008 San Francisco Giants: Enjoying a Bad Time
Baseball season starts on Monday. In unrelated news, I have a dentist's appointment on Friday. No wait, these are related. I'm really looking forward to the dentist far more than I'm looking forward to the Giants season. (Oh, do I even have to give the punch line? Okay -- the dentist offers novocaine, that's why!) The conventional wisdom on the Giants this year is universal. They stink. How much do they stink? Well, Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus called them something like "Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and 23 Fresno Grizzlies." Now, I have to take exception to that. The Fresno Grizzlies, in case you hadn't noticed, beat the San Francisco Giants in a baseball game the other night. Sheehan is obviously giving the Giants far too much credit. I could go on, but that's not really the point. Let's take it for granted that we're in for a long season filled with losses and ineptitude. The question is, as a fan, what do you do in the face of such of a disaster? If you're really a fan, you can't just not watch. The mark of the true fan is the utter inability to ignore the team, come better or worse. It's like when a brother, or a cousin, or perhaps an occasionally amusing and fondly remembered stepsister ends up on "Cops." Or worse, MySpace. While every fiber of logic and pride would demand that you distance yourself from the fiasco, it's simply not an option. Said embarrassing relative is a part of your life, and always will be. You could no sooner turn your back on that person than you could admit to paraphrasing a presidential candidate's speech! Therefore, you must watch. I figure, if you're going to watch anyway, you might as well find a way to enjoy it. Admit it. There's a bit of a thrill in witnessing something that is bad in an epic, clumsy way. Take any "Highlander" movie, for example. (Or, for you older fans, any of the movies of Ed Wood. Or, for you teenagers, any of the recent movies of George Lucas.) It's not well done, not at all. Yet there it is, loud and demanding your attention. "Here I am, a commercial piece of professional film-making. Please watch me and be impressed by my...whatever it is I thought I had to offer." All you can do is watch it trip and stumble over itself, unashamed, or even unaware of its own faults; and you feel your mind expand as you realize that there are levels of badness that you hadn't even stopped to imagine. Then you smile and laugh from the sheer lunacy of the world and the people in it. Later, you tell your friends about its awfulness, and you all have a great laugh. A baseball team that could lose 120 games (and yes, I'm serious, but I'll get back to that momentarily) is like "Highlander 2"...in its original, theatrical cut, where they were really aliens after all, and...well, never mind, just go see it if you want to know. You keep hoping it gets better, but you're very impressed that it never does -- and for years later, you enjoy telling your friends about just how hideous it was, and you all have a great laugh. Now, I don't approve at all of rooting for your team to lose. I certainly won't be doing that. I will root for them to win every game. I just don't expect that to happen very often; maybe forty percent of the time, if all goes well. In that forty percent, Cain or Lincecum should give the team a really good chance of winning. Cain is liable to throw a no-hitter any particular start, and I can't wait to see that. Yet, the Giants have a horrible track record keeping young pitchers healthy and productive. What if Cain breaks something? What if Lincecum gets sucked down the shower drain? If one of them goes down for the year, it could cost the Giants 10 wins. If both of them somehow vanish, then the Giants could give the '62 Mets a run for their money. And herein lies the real key to enjoying the upcoming season by your "All Outs, All Season" Giants -- lowering your expectations as far as possible. Worst case, for years afterwards you'll enjoy telling your friends just how pathetic the 2008 Giants were, and you'll all have a great laugh. Really. |
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Gamefly vs. USPS
Everyone has heard of NetFlix. We've subscribed to that for about a year, perhaps. The service is great. The movies get here fast, and when we mail them back, no problems. We're really happy with it. There's a similar service for video games called GameFly. I've subscribed to that for about two years now. Like NetFlix, they mail you video games, you keep them as long as you want, and mail them back when you're done. Exact same procedure. Only, GameFly is cursed when it comes to returning the games. I don't want to go back and count exactly, but at least half of a dozen of my rentals never made it back to GameFly after I mailed them back. I've mailed them from work, I've dropped them in USPS mailboxes, and I've taken them directly to the post office. It doesn't matter; returned games get lost at about the same rate. You might think that this is leading to a conclusion that GameFly stinks. Absolutely not! They are absolutely fantastic and understanding about this problem. I have not been charged for any of these lost games. They simply ask that I let them know if they don't acknowledge a return after a week or so. You'd think that after half a dozen lost games, they'd get upset. Nope. I suspect that I am not alone in this little problem; when I reported today's lost game, they asked me to perform the additional step of filing a complaint with the USPS inspectors. That tells me that they're having to deal with lost games more than they'd like. I'm personally embarrassed at how many of my GameFly rentals get lost in the mail on the way back. I would hate for anyone to think that I was stealing them. I hope that GameFly and the Post Office get to the bottom of this; I suspect this is simply a theft problem somewhere in the USPS system. In any case, I'll continue to happily subscribe to GameFly, and recommend the service to others.
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We're the Featured Family!
Wow, lots of things happening at once on the adoption front. First, and by surprise, our agency has made us the Featured Family for the Western region! We had heard this was happening, but we were told it wouldn't start until the 28th. But here we are! For the next two weeks, everyone who visits the site will see us and have a handy link to our website. Oh, right, the website...sheesh, for two years we barely touched that. Good thing that Amy had been working on a new design -- a design which was posted TONIGHT! It was a mad scramble for us to finish the text and choose the new photos, but we did it! Amy did an amazing job with the new design. It's so much warmer and nicer than what I cobbled together originally. We really think this is much more representative of who we are, and what we're like. You'll see that the new site has links to both of our LiveJournals, as well as our public photo albums. We plan to load new photos frequently, so keep checking there for updates! Whew -- it's been quite a job so far. If you're reading this after visiting our site, first, thank you very much for looking. We've been incredibly nervous about the site, and everything, for a long time. Today really feels like a new beginning in our efforts. Now we just have to trust that the right people will find us, and like us! If it's meant to be, then nothing can stop it. Thanks again, Amy!! It's such a great site.
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D&D 1980 vs. D&D 2008
I'm just ganking this from a post I wrote on EN World. Quote: Originally Posted by Campbell 'Kill dudes and steal their stuff' isn't really that strong of a defining trait for a role playing game. A large number of RPGs which are not D&D also emphasize combat and looting. Even those games that don't emphasize pillaging tend to have a good deal of murderizing. As far as classic game play goes I see some elements of 4e that are tacit rejection of classic tropes. While D&D has always been driven mostly by game play elements, D&D game play as conceived by Arneson and Gygax focused on a structure that was reminiscent of extended war game campaigns where attrition, logistics, and preparation played a much larger role than they do in 4e. Classic play also focused more on adventuring and world building than the current paradigm does. World fidelity was considered a crucial element of play. There wasn't very much attention paid to the creation of a satisfying narrative or action oriented play. Some critical components of classic play include: * Adventurers lived in a dangerous world where life was cheap. 4e basically embraces a more action adventure oriented approach that assumes a certain degree of PC protagonism. It also places the importance of the creation of a satisfactory narrative above world building and modeling. Additionally there is further emphasis being placed on each individual encounter serving as challenge (tactics over strategy). It continues a process that started with AD&D 2e material and continued with 3e. The difference this time is that Wizards has basically abandoned the incremental approach. They are creating an edition that matches their vision of the way D&D should be played without looking back and taking half measures. They did not construct a list of sacred cows this time around. That is a huge difference. Outstanding analysis. Spot on. This may be one of the best summaries of the differences in play style between 1980 and 2008 D&D ever written. I would add one other thing: an overall goal of immersion into the game world, which meant that the players would be much more in the dark. There was a reason Gygax put most of the combat and other rules in the DMG -- the less the players worried about that, the more time they would have to interact with the game world. The theme of D&D was going somewhere unknown and dangerous and coming back to talk about it. A sense of mystery was *crucial.* The more I think of it, the more logical my love of the Amber DRPG is. It also embraces that approach -- the rules mechanics are completely invisible to the players, which means they have no choice but to immerse themselves in the worlds they explore. Also, Amber is all about uncovering deeper mysteries.
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I'm having trouble gathering my thoughts about how large of an impact Gary Gygax had on my life. Partly that's because I've spent 28 of my 40 years as a "gamer," so it's hard to remember what life was like before I discovered Dungeons & Dragons. Before then, I still loved to play games of all kinds. My parents encouraged my brother and I to learn by playing classic "family" board games and card games. I had (and still have) a small stack of Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers boardgames like Monopoly, Risk, Stratego, Payday, and the like. I knew how to play a billion variations of solitaire, cribbage and our family's version of dominoes. We were introduced to video games in 1978 or so when my dad borrowed an Atari from someone. I guess I was a bit of a precocious kid when it came to games. It wasn't long before "kid's games" became too limiting for me. I recall creating complicated 3-D wargames from shelf paper and other easily found household items. I had no conception that there were games that weren't for kids, I think. I just knew that nearly all the games I had were a bit simple for me. Mentally, I didn't feel like a kid, or at least like their target audience. I wanted something aimed for my level, as I saw it. Sometime in 1980, an elementary school friend named Joe showed me a totally different and new kind of game. Well, it was a book, and he said it was a game. The book was the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook, by E. Gary Gygax. It was this hardcover book with over 100 pages, and it was a fantasy game. Fantasy was good -- I really enjoyed The Hobbit. (I wouldn't read The Lord of the Rings until a little later.) I'll be honest, I didn't really get what the game was about at first. Just reading it, I got the idea -- the players pretended to be heroes of fantasy, exploring dungeons and fighting monsters. Cool. But how? I pored over Gygax's prose, finding all sorts of words I'd never seen before, new abbreviations like "q.v." and "i.e." and "e.g." and frankly, I was in way over my head at first. That's why I loved it. For the first time, I had a found a game that wasn't aimed at kids. It didn't talk down to me like a kid's game. It challenged me, and promised to reveal more of what it was about, if only I'd expand my mental limits. Gygax wrote as if he knew there was great fun to be had, and part of that fun was in the learning. Naturally, I wasn't going to be satisfied until I tried the game, and figured it out, and mastered it. Dungeons & Dragons proved to be that game I had always looked for. Infinitely complicated, infinitely expandable, filled with infinite possibilities, it opened up the world of "grown-up" games once and for all. I wouldn't have to stop playing games just because I was getting older. The games could grow with me. Frankly, I don't think any other writer could have captured my gaming eye the way Gygax did. Gygax, more than anyone else, got that mystery was a great part of the fun. Telling everything up front meant spoiling things, somewhat. The joy of RPGs is just as much learning and exploration as it is combat and socializing. Someone should keep the mysteries, and always leave the players hungry for more. The players don't need to know all the rules up front -- better for them to concentrate on the experience of their characters rather than rules-fiddling. Let the referee apply, enforce, or make up the rules as needed. As long as the players can suspend disbelief, the game works. Modern RPGs seem to be forgetting that (and don't get me started on this new so-called "4th edition" of D&D), but E. Gary Gygax knew. And now he's gone, and he's taken the rest of his mysteries with him. As a tribute, I'm thinking of breaking out those old Advanced D&D books, inviting some friends over, and giving them some mysterious, dangerous, alluring subterranean place to explore...just the way Gygax imagined it.
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RIP Gary Gygax
One of the fathers of Dungeons & Dragons has passed away. Longer post later today.
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Oh No, They Say He's Got To Go...
One week and three hours from now, I will be running "CRAWZILLA!!!" at Dundracon (this being a role-playing scenario using the Creeks & Crawdads system). Tonight I am doing important research. Well, watching several Godzilla movies over cocktails. I love my hobbies...
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Sunny and 48...
Okay, it's cold. But it was sunny. I took a walk at lunch for the first time this year. Damn, I'm old and out of shape again.
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February...huhwha?
Wow, it's February already! January was a blur. It seemed like the entire month was just cold and rainy, with way too much working and not enough...oh wait, it was. February is one of my favorite months. Dundracon is usually the big highlight, and this time should be no different. The Shield Conference, which had been in February the last few years, is going to be held later in the year, which makes it easier on my pocketbook if nothing else. Pitchers and catchers report later this month, which is always music to my ears (even if the Giants are going to resemble a teenaged garage band more than a finely coordinated symphony orchestra this year). Finally, it has to stop raining sometime this month. I mean, it has to. And it should get warmer too. Yeah. It's been a long week. I'm sure I'll feel more enthusiastic about things next week. |
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In two weeks, we're going to Dundracon. Every year, Jim and I haul a few boxes of surplus gaming crap to sell at the flea market there. Jim could probably fill the entire flea market just with his excess crap, honestly -- he's a collector on an extreme scale, and I'm far more picky. I am also far more ruthless than he is about getting rid of old dusty gaming stuff. Our apartment is small, and we constantly need space. I don't have much compunctions about selling books and games I haven't even looked at in years. Well, over the last few years, I've really winnowed out all the chaff when it comes to books, boardgames, and even dice. (Last year, Dawn and I sent a box full of excess dice and other things to our soldiers in Iraq, who I hope are having fun with them.) Since I won't have much if anything from those categories to get rid of this year, I figured it was time to look at my miniatures collection and sort out the old crappy stuff from there. In my head, I figured I could easily lose a couple hundred 25mm figures and not miss them. After all, they're just sitting in boxes in the closet, and it's really unlikely I'll ever paint them, right? Tonight I started sorting. I pulled down the boxes I had in mind, and started sorting. About five minutes later, I realized I was fooling myself. I wasn't going to get rid of a couple hundred miniatures. Box after box, I distinctly recalled exactly why I bought each one, and I felt the desire to paint each one all over again. You see, I'm a lot pickier than Jim. When I buy a miniature, it's because I really really like it. I don't just buy stuff just to buy stuff. It's crazy, but my collection is relatively small and relatively focused. In the end, I did find maybe thirty figures that I wanted to take to the flea market. I may change my mind about half of those. I have more boxes to go through, but I think that task is going to be fruitless. I'm going to keep them, and store them forever, most likely. At least they're small!!
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needs moar minyunz
My assistant's out sick today, which means that I'm running the whole IT department by myself. This could be a really really busy day. When he's gone (which is rare -- he rarely takes vacations and rarely gets sick), I send everyone an e-mail letting them know that we're short-handed. Of course, I'm hoping that everyone holds their non-urgent help calls until he gets back, but that's wishful thinking. So today I'm just clearing my schedule of anything that requires me to concentrate for more than five minutes at a time. We'll see how it goes...
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Monday Night Boardgames
Well, it's not quite "Monday Night Football" with the huge ratings and Hank Williams Jr. singing "are you ready for some boardgames," but we've got a nice new tradition going here. My wonderful wife dwnie and always incredible btralmnd talked me into setting aside Monday nights for playing the many boardgames that fill our closets. I was reluctant at first, thinking that the two hours we have on any weeknight wouldn't really be enough. Dawn and Amy convinced me it was enough to play one game of something, though, and I'm glad they did.Over the last three weeks we've played games that were either totally new to all of us, or hadn't seen the light of day for quite some years. Tonight we dug "Starfarers of Catan" out of the back of the closet and played it. It's the classic Catan-style game, only with a ton of 3-D plastic pieces, including some large and very cool rocketships that double as dice! It takes a bit to set it all up, but once you get started, it's just as addictive as any other Catan game. I really hope that we keep this up for months and years to come. It's great to see Amy for dinner and to share games more frequently, and should we ever add a kid to the mix, we'd love to make games a regular part of his or her life. Next week: Red Dragon Inn, the game that's about what adventurers do after they're done adventuring for the day....
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I've been home sick the last few days with the flu. While I was taking a nap this morning between 8 and 10, something happened that makes me feel a whole lot better.
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I just dreamed I watched the preview for the best episode ever of "My Name is Earl." Earl gets arrested for stealing somebody's biscuits. Alan Rickman, as Severus Snape, plays the sherriff or the judge who imprisons him. Samuel L. Jackson also guest-stars, because he's in everything. Also guest-starring: Tim Roth, as the voice of a monkey.
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Good Times
I had a really nice day yesterday. Slept in a bit, then woke up and stumbled through some chores and my first-ever games of DDR. (No one was injured and nothing was broken, so that was a smashing success.) Then, after achieving full consciousness, I picked up Amy ( btralmnd) and we had a lovely afternoon of shopping, photographing miniatures, and hanging around. I remarked to Amy that as much as we talk, I don't actually get to see her facial expressions very often, since usually we're talking through the Internet. (That, and she has a bad habit of living thousands of miles away every few years.)Dawn ( Then back to our house for one of the longest D&D games we've played in a long time, and just because it was raining, afterwards most of us went to Denny's to wind down and chat some more. I dropped Amy off at her place a little before one, then came home and played some Lord of the Rings Online with Dawn for an hour before finally crashing. Now that's what a day off is supposed to be like, dammit. Thanks to everyone who made it so much fun! Oh, speaking of time... this clock is really cool. Simple, yet I could stare at it for a long time. Thanks to my dad for sending me the link. |
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Ten Sequential Facts About Me
1. While computers do not intimidate me at all, power tools confuse the hell out of me. 2. Despite #1, I used a power drill to screw our front room bookcase firmly to the wall tonight. 3. I didn't do #2 because of the recent magnitude 5.6 earthquake in San Jose. I did because we just bought a Dance Dance Revolution game for our Playstation, and I was afraid our "exercise" would knock it over. 4. I used to mock everyone who played DDR. Those people are in better shape than I am, so I think they win. 5. I don't mind admitting I am wrong, as long as no one is listening. 6. Since I usually play the radio too loud, I suspect no one can hear me talk anyway. 7. Approximately twice a year, someone asks me if I work in broadcasting. Apparently, I have that kind of a voice. 8. I'm pretty sure that I have a "face for radio," so TV broadcasting would be right out. 9. If I had a choice, I'd much rather write for TV or radio than be an announcer. I always sound better when I can edit myself first! 10. On the other hand, if I were to become a comedian, I would have to do all improv, just because. I don't know why.
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distressed
giddy
embarrassed
thankful
contemplative
sad
sleepy