Woo, an extra day!
So, it's confirmed. I get to go play with the new Open MRI machine next Tuesday.
It's really lame - they're doing a thoracic AND a lumbar study, so I get to go lay there for like, two and a half hours.
I need to find and download some audio books that I can listen to on my MP3 player - and pray that my MP3 player won't be toasted by the gigantic electromagnet.
So, I've been getting some progresively worse back pain since the accident, and I've been to the doctor several times.
After getting back from Depoe Bay this evening (and being in complete agony from the drive, and all the awesome stretching and contorting that was layered on top of the already existing pain from the accident), I stopped by Urgent Care AGAIN.
Tonight, they finally decided to send me in for an MRI. I'm supposed to get a call tomorrow telling me when and where.
Not looking forward to being stuck in the tube again. Hopefully, I'll be able to finagle a session in the company's new Open MRI, designed for livestock and fat people.
Sweet!
So, for the first time in about 3-4 years, I'm doing the weekly on-call deal for the server support part of my department...
It's not too bad of a gig, I get paid an extra few hundred for answering the phone in the middle of the night, and I only have to do it for one week every 2-3 months...
My fist call tonight was rather ego-assuring, as well. I haven't played with servers for a few years now, and I don't do server stuff anymore. Couple that with the fact that I have virtually no knowledge of our architecture or the organization of the server farm, and that adds up to some potentially fun times.
Anyhow, I got a call, some app wasn't functioning, I remoted into a machine, found what appears to be the logical issue (a service failure), and fixed it. Presto, the application works!
Damn, I'm good. Zero documentation referenced, just flying by the seat of my pants.
Woot!
So, regular unleaded is topping $3.00/gallon in some places around here.
Obviously, nobody wants to pay more for gas, but I've been spoiled by the Vic - a full tank on the Vic gets about 25 miles more than a full tank on the Explorer (325-ish vs. 300-ish), but the Vic's tank is only 17-18 gallons, compared to the Explorer's 21-22 gallon tank.
That translates to roughly $10-$15 less per fill-up of the Vic over the Explorer, which I haven't gotten used to, so it's always a pleasant surprise when I top off the car, as I'm expecting the normal $55-$65 price tag.
Of course, with my car in the goddamned body shop (hopefully done in a couple weeks), and what's been turning into some regular trips to the coast in the truck, I'm finding myself dumping that much more into the tank lately.
Totally awesome.
The other part of driving the Explorer that currently sucks is that I desperately need new tires. About three years ago, I put some Les Schwab "Wild Country" Mud/Terrain style tires on the beast, and they were pretty damned fun for a while, but they've progressively gotten louder as they've worn, and I think they've worn unevenly.
The uneven wear appears to be causing an awesome shudder in the vehicle, varying in magnitude depending on the quality of the road being driven on.
It's also possible that it's got an alignment issue...
I could go buy new tires for the pig, or get it aligned,but I have some plans for the Explorer.
Ultimately, I want to put a 4" suspension lift on it, which would require an alignment, and which would enable me to put 33" tires on it - a size that won't fit right now.
Knowing how things always work out, as soon as I spend the money on an alignment and some new 31" tires, I'll have an unexpected windfall, and be able to get the suspension lift, having essentially wasted the money on the alignment and smaller tires.
Hence, I'm suffering with how things are.
The Vic, it doesn't have any of these problems. It's got decent tires on it, and it drives all nice and quiet and smooth. It's an EXTREMELY nice ride over to the coast and back in that thing.
I hope I get it back soon...
So, I finished that book, and went over to the Baen Free Library.
If you don't know about this, you're seriously missing out.
Baen consistently publishes some excellent Sci-Fi stuff, and they've taken the increasingly successful marketing tact of allowing a lot of their authors to provide free access to quite a few books.
I recently read "Fallen Angels" which is excellent, and am starting on "The Multiplex Man".
The best part is, these authors all appear to share a similar world view as myself, which is great - I mean, I always knew that the anti-gunners were psychotic, and the environmentalists were nutjobs, but it's great to read some entertaining fiction by some prominent authors that show the same thing.
Check it out if you're looking for something to read. I own "1632" and "1633", but they're available there for free, so read them!!
You know, it's pretty damned cool when you're reading what's shaping up to be a pretty decent sci-f yarn, and you discover that the author is both pro-gun, and reasonably knowledgable about them, as well.
I was browsing the sci-fi section at a local used bookstore, and chanced upon a novel entitled "Bobby's Girl" by J.D. Austin.
The cover text sounded good, so I snagged it.
Good choice!
I'm about halfway through it right now, reading it as I get a spare moment here and there, and it's pretty damned good.
I'm even happier, now that I discovered there's a sequel shown on Amazon, and the author has written some other sci-fi stuffs, too.
Good times.
So, the other insurance company sent someone out to the body shop that has my car, to perform an estimate.
The estimate is missing a fender and the associated labor/paint there, but even without that, we're up to about $4600 damage.
Awesome.
They haven't accepted liability yet, so my car continues to sit.
Lame.
Campus security may be given gunsBy Staff Reporters
The 2009 legislature may be asked to allow campus security officers at public universities to carry weapons, a Republican state legislator says.
“I’m gratified to see the governor and higher education executives have finally seen the light on beefing up campus security in Oregon,” Rep. Linda Flores , R-Clackamas, said ina statement Friday.
She referred to new developments this week.
Friday the State Board of Higher Education discussed changes in state law during the 2009 legislative session which would allow campus security officers at public universities to be fully trained and carry firearms, according to Flores.
Earlier in the week, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed an executive order creating a Task Force on Campus Safety in Oregon.
“Three more lives were lost in a shooting incident at Louisiana Technical College today,” Flores said, “another tragic reminder for all of us that we need to do more to protect our students, faculty and visitors on our college campuses.”
For the past year Flores has been pushing a proposal to elevate “special campus security officers” so they can have more authority and the authority to carry handguns. They are currently prohibited from carrying weapons on school grounds.
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Flores pushed for passage of House Bill 3318. She said it was bottled up in committee last year in part because Oregon University System executives testified against it.
HB 3318 was brought to the floor for a vote and was approved 39-18 but died in the Oregon Senate.
Over the past month, public safety meetings have been held at the state’s seven universities. Flores said the higher education board may have now reversed its position and might allow campuses the option of enhancing their police departments.
Currently, Oregon State University contracts with Oregon State Police in addition to using campus officers. At the University of Oregon, Eugene police have an agreement to provide some law enforcement services, but there are also university officers.
The governor’s executive order reads in part: “Oregon campuses must have appropriately equipped and trained emergency responders available and prepared.”
The new task force is also charged with reviewing, “training of law enforcement officials and first responders to crisis situations,” among other items.
Now, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't firearms already banned at Oregon's public universities?
If they're banned, then nobody can bring a firearm on campus, because it's against the rules.
If nobody brings a firearm on campus, then why would campus police need firearms?
And D&D 4th Edition is going to fix that...
Among the many flawed design concepts of 4th Edition, one of them is to reduce the so-called "Christmas Tree" effect - that is, characters with magic items all over them, like ornaments on a Christmas Tree.
From the article on WotC's page:
One of our goals in 4th Edition was to reduce characters’ reliance on magic items. The most important portion of this goal involved removing a lot of the magic items that were essential just so your character could feel effective, like stat-boosting items, amulets of natural armor, and the like. We also felt like these items weren't as exciting as magic items should be, yet characters depended on them heavily to feel adequate in proportion to their level. We felt that the cool stuff a character can do should come from that character’s abilities, not his gear.
I can't cite one player I've ever met who felt as if this was a problem. WotC representatives swear up and down that they're not trying to make the game all superhero-ish or anime, but the whole idea of downplaying ability-granting or ability-boosting magical items in favor of having those features inherent to your character kinda gives the opposite idea.
But, that's besides the point. They want to eliminate the concept of your character being weighted down by a ton of magic items, and them want all of your special abilities and buffs to come from your character, not his/her gear.
So, here's the designer's character, playtesting that particular revision in the mechanics:
ExampleHere’s what my 11th-level gnome warlock, Dessin, is wearing right now:
Implement: +3 rod of dark reward
Armor: +3 leather armor
Neck: +2 cloak of survival
Arms: Bracers of the perfect shot
Feet: Wavestrider boots
Hands: Shadowfell gloves
Head: Diadem of acuity
Rings: None right now, sadly
Waist: Belt of battle
Wondrous Items: Bag of holding
Yup. They've sure succeeded.
Of course, this particular little blurb is rather telling:
About the AuthorLogan Bonner joined Wizards of the Coast as in 2006 as an editor on Dungeons & Dragons. He had no experience in the industry prior to joining WotC, and marvels that his clever ruse has lasted this long. After doing some class design work for 4th Edition on the side, he joined the mechanical design team. His previous editing products include Magic Item Compendium and Monster Manual V, and he wrote about half of Eberron Survival Guide, which releases in March '08.
WotC is entrusting the design and development of their flagship title to an artist (not a writer!) with zero industry experience in game design. Brilliant.
The current phase in our enterprise-wide WLAN deployment has me traveling out to Lincoln City quite a bit these days - a trip that turns out not to be such a bitch when I've got a co-pilot to BS with.
A few months back, I ended up living out of a hotel in Lincoln City for about eight weeks, covering the site until we hired a permanent staffer there. Getting tired of fast food, I discovered Andaman Thai Cuisine.
Now, I'm a HUGE fan of Thai food, and one of my big laments is lack of a quality place locally. Sure, there's Thai Lotus in Keizer, but that's about 30-45 minutes away.
Corvallis has Cha-Da, which isn't bad, but isn't really all that great. Albany used to have Little Bangkok, which was kinda sucky, and ended up being sold.
I had high hopes for the new owner, Aown Letourneax. Aown is a hell of a cook, and a complete sweetheart. She used to work at Thai Lotus in Keizer, until she and her husband Bob bought Little Bangkok in Albany, remodeling and renaming it Thai Tip Restaurant.
Sadly, a fire destroyed that place only two months into it's new life. Insurance was supposed to have covered everything, but at last glance, the space is now for lease, so it doesn't look like it's going to return.
Anyhow...
I make a point to try out every Thai place I can find, and one of the things I judge the restaurant by is it's Tom Kha Gai.
If you haven't had this soup, you're missing out. Coconut milk, chicken, mushroom, onion, all kinds of good stuff. It is, quite probably, one of the BEST dishes in any cuisine.
Back in October, I got a chance to get over to Andaman, and ordered some soup. The waiter suggested a side of their rice with it, something I've never ordered before, but I was kinda hungry, and it sounded good, so I got some.
Expecting a side of white rice, what I instead got was this nifty side of rice, shaped in a steamer producing a star-shape, with the top half white rice, and the bottom half black rice/forbidden rice. VERY cool!
Thanks to Andaman, I can't order Tom Kha Gai without a side of rice now. It so perfectly complements the soup, mixing it in, absorbing the coconut milk.
It's a damned good thing I'm going back to Lincoln City this week. I need to steal their recipe - by far, they're the best Thai I've had.
So, I was flipping my stereo from CD over to XM on the drive home last night, and I paused on AM for a bit, catching dumb "conservative" radio cunt "Dr." Laura Schlessinger on 1190.
The "doctor" was admonishing a single mother for neglecting her child - neglecting the child by putting the 2 year-old kid up with it's grandparents while the girl went to school to finish her degree so that she could get a decent job to support herself and the child.
She continued her tirade, chastising the mother for putting her desires before the needs of the child, how selfish the mother was, and how her responsibility isn't school and a job, but to take care of the kid.
Holy fucking shit, what kind of goddamned brain case is this?
If this is the example that some people are presented as conservative, no wonder people think that anyone with "conservative" values is a maniac.
This radio whacko is, essentially, advocating that the mother abandon higher-education and assume unemployment, rather than daycare with the grandparents.
Exactly how would she accomplish this? The only way I can think of is via the socialist entitlement programs like welfare and food stamps.
Yeah, that's a great idea - promote the idea of becoming yet another leech, rather than self-sufficiency.
God DAMN.
The Libertarian Party needs to pull it's head out of it's ass, and field some real candidates, and soon. We're never going to get anywhere with Retarded Gary Busey or The Greatest American Hero.
Many moons ago, one of the members of our gaming group found a pirated copy of this nifty little program called "e-Tools".
e-Tools is the updated commercial version of the rather crappy Character Generator demo CD that was bundled in the D&D 3rd Edition Player's Handbook.
Playing with this pirated version showed e-Tools to be a rather useful piece of software, so several of us decided that we were going to support the authors, and purchase the program.
We discovered more good things about it - the company who did the update, Code Monkey Publishing, held a license from Wizards of the Coast to produce datasets for the e-Tools program - the digital mechanics of expansion books for D&D.
We were duly impressed - this meant that, not only could we create characters from the core books, but we were also able to use the software to manipulate data from books that we had purchased the datasets for.
Some of us purchased quite a few of these datasets, expanding the application quite a bit.
(On a side note, this just further reiterates my attitude on so-called copyright violations. We've all been regular visitors to the WotC website, and never saw ANY kind of adverts for the new version of the software. We didn't know it existed. Had it not been for the evil, nasty pirate who put the software out there, and one of our gamers Googling for D&D stuff, we'd never have known about it. A subsequent download and the ability to fully demo and evaluate the product resulted in them making money several times over from the members of our gaming group.)
Then came the November of 2006, and WotC decided that they didn't want to maintain the license they had granted CMP, and CMP was thereby prohibited from any further sales of the software or datasets.
Shafted.
Great.
There were plenty of datasets that we didn't own (hadn't gotten around to purchasing), not to mention, WotC was still publishing material for D&D 3E/3.5, of which we'd never see a dataset for...
Awesome. Thanks, guys!
WotC did allow a 2 year "grace period" on existing datasets - CMP was allowed to maintain them, performing bug-fixes and editorial cleanup (typographical errors, missing data, etc.).
Just one problem - to date, they haven't published any kind of bugfixes. Plenty of the datasets are full of errors, and many of them are missing the support files (Help files, etc.) that they should have with them (and should have had when they were sold).
No matter - CMP keeps promising that they'll get an update out.
WRONG.
If you're familiar with CMP, and their history of doing business over the last year or so, then you'd know that they're big on promises, and short on delivery.
RPG Foundry, the supposed successor to e-Tools has been in development and being promised to people for nearly two years now, with nothing, not even a screenshot of the development version, to show for it.
Today, CMP announced that an update for the e-Tools datasets likely won't happen, because they're too busy working on RPG Foundry (yeah, right!) and other projects.
e-Tools Updates coming...? We've honestly been looking at whether this is a worthwhile thing or not to do. Not because of the myriad typo fixes, but just the time involved with packaging them up and getting them out to the store, which takes a considerable more amount of time than the bug fixes.We're still wanting to get at least one update out before the 2yr mark this November, but honestly it may not happen because of other things, like RPGF, ToIK, and a few things we can't discuss right now.
Shaft number two.
See how that works? All of us e-Tools customers have already payed CMP (many of us in the several hundred dollar range), and publishing an update doesn't make them any more money, so, we can all fuck off.
Sadly, this seems to be par for the course - the attitude displayed by the mouthpiece for CMP is that he's doing you a favor simply by existing.
Customer service takes a backseat to the half-assed projects they hope to make them some money - the perpetually-in-development-never-to-be-released RPG Foundry, the hack e-publication of "Tome of Infinite Knowledge" (an electronic compilation of all published-under-the-OGL material they can get their hands on, rather than any actual original work), and the "Shaedraeth Player's Guide", the fantasy heartbreaker wanna-be campaign setting with far too many "hip" vowels in it's title.
What a load of shit.
On the one hand, I think it sucks that the Wazis ended the licensing agreement with CMP - on the other hand, given their horrible business ethics and complete lack of customer service, fuck them.
You know, I'm sitting here, and I've realized something - even though my living room is nearly 400 sq feet, we need more.
As it stands right now, we've got the entertainment center, which takes up a bunch of space, and isn't going to shrink anytime soon. We're likely going to LOSE some space when I eventually upgrade to HD.
We've got a couple of PCs out here, which aren't really used a bunch, but as soon as I move them and break down the desks, we're going to want them up for a LAN party.
There's the R2-D2 printer - an HP LaserJet 9000dtn...he doesn't get used often, but he's so ultimately cool...I've got an offer from someone to buy him, so...we'll see. Maybe I can trade him for a duplexing Color LaserJet, like a 3800dn or a refurbed 4650dn - it'd be REAL nice to have a color laser again...
Anyhow - we've got a nice big livingroom, but we use the space.
I'd like to have something that I can bring the NeoGeo and my Mortal Kombat 2/Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 cabinets inside, as well as having some space for the showcase cabinet that I want, and the two converta-cabs that I've got.
Maybe I'll have to re-think my living arrangements. Maybe I can turn my bedroom into my office, my storage room into my bedroom, and my office into a den that the arcade stuff can go into...
That might actually work...
