kaedwen

Rock Band

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:17:30 GMT

We found "Skullcrusher Mountain" on Rock Band the other day as part of a PAX song pack (along with songs from MC Frontalot and The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets). I thought about posting something for the other Coulton/MC Frontalot/Rockband fans out here, but forgot about it.

I looked it up today and found that Harmonix is donating proceeds to Child's Play, so it's even better than I thought:

http://kotaku.com/5043895/pax-pack-brings-nerdcore-to-rock-band-donations-to-childs-play
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2008/09/02/skullcrusher-mountain-on-rock-band/

Not new news, but for anyone who may have missed it... :)

spore?

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:40:33 GMT

For those of you who are playing Spore and don't mind sharing content, I'd like to see it. :) I haven't put much work into most of my buildings, but have a couple creatures and spaceships that I like.

http://www.spore.com/view/profile/gleeful

I haven't done much with space yet, but have played the other stages several times each. I keep replaying the creature stage, since it's my favorite, but haven't hit the 10x achievement yet... soon though.

Kittens!

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:57:01 GMT

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anotherminorpawn/sets/72157605780421748/

We *might* have picked up a couple of kittens over the weekend. Want to get them checked out at a vet before releasing them into the rest of the house (and to terrorize our existing cats), so they're locked in the extra bathroom for now.

We don't have names yet... any advice?

fail dogs

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:55:00 GMT

Fail dogs aren't as cute as lolcats, but I still found this one funny. :)

For those of you who don't follow chess, this position is called the Fool's Mate and is the shortest possible checkmate.

colorblindness

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:17:43 GMT

Two posts in one day? The world must be ending!

GU comics recently had a comic touching on color blindness that made me do some reading. I've known I was slightly colorblind for several years, but didn't know much more than that...

However, these nifty sites provide some interesting tests and comparisons:

http://colorvisiontesting.com/what%20colorblind%20people%20see.htm
http://www.iamcal.com/toys/colors/

I'm Deuteranomalous, meaning I see fewer greens than most people. Perhaps it's a good thing I have someone to make up for the lack.

A good example of what I see is the 3rd row of circles on the colorvisiontesting site; all 3 look almost identical to me. This is probably somewhat distorted by monitor brightness and stuff though.

Apparently my superpower is seeing through some types of camouflage... which isn't really very impressive. :(

JoCo

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:10:19 GMT

Who all is planning on seeing Jonathan on Friday?

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2008/03/07/alexandria-va-030708/

We haven't bought tickets yet, but were thinking about it.

favorite lolcat

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:30:20 GMT

Since everyone else is doing it:

flickr flicker

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 05:35:33 GMT

For those interested, here're the pictures I took of Amanda's wedding:

http://flickr.com/photos/anotherminorpawn/sets/72157601978192560/

I also posted some PAX pictures:

http://flickr.com/photos/anotherminorpawn/sets/72157594292971002/

I put up all the pictures I had of Amanda's wedding, but will let her comment on them. I limited the PAX pictures to about a 10th of what I have and most of that is of Rock Band and interesting costumes.

It's late and I'm tired now...

wow time stats

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 20:52:14 GMT

As mentioned earlier, I've been playing WOW. As part of the agreement (since I had addiction issues with EG), I can't play more than I've exercised. Now, for no reason other than I'm a geek, here are some of my played stats (since Feb 25th):

Total time earned (and played): 100 hours
62 hours - DDR
27 hours - extra house/yard work
11 hours - misc (helping friends move, frisbee, etc)

I've played an average of just over 7 hours per week with the top 2 weeks tying at 15:50 and the lowest clocking in at 45 minutes. Since the original plan was to exercise an hour a day, an average of 7 hours played is just about perfect.

In other news, it's been a while since we've made it to any social gatherings (though not due to the aforementioned activity). I had a great time at catpawn and Larry's place. We need more parties in central locations (I know our place it too far out to ever be a big draw).

Also, I've finished a couple games of Scrabble against leesalogic. She slaughtered me in the first, but I managed to eke out a win in the 2nd to tie us. Seems like a good place to stop to me. :) Correspondence scrabble doesn't have the same kick that chess has for me.

Anyone planning on going to PAX?

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:38:02 GMT

We've thought about attending PAX the last couple years, but the band lineup convinced us this would be a good year to go.

No Karaoke

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 22:41:12 GMT

Since it seems that no one else will be able to make it, due to a variety of reasons, we're canceling the aforementioned karaoke outing tonight.

Maybe next time we'll all give more warning, both planning and canceling. :)

Karaoke

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 23:44:41 GMT

There's been talk about having a karaoke night at The Shade Tree (I hope I have the right address) tomorrow (Thursday) night (around 9pm).

wow

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 03:23:07 GMT

When I went to Fla a couple weeks ago, one of my cousins introduced me to WOW. As most of you know, I had a problem with EQ and we'd been staying away from mmorpgs. Somehow he talked me into playing and let me use one of his accounts for the week.

I didn't expect anevergreen to want me to play, but she said I could play as long as I limited it to no more than the amount of time I spent exercising. Fortunately, DDR counts as exercise time, so I've started writing down time played.

This past weekend, someone anevergreen works with had a videogame party. syntart showed up and I'd hoped to play a couple of songs on guitar hero with her, but the projector setup had some lag, which made playing hard almost impossible. I could play on medium, but it felt a little weird. DDR had the same issue, but didn't seem quite as pronounced. Later that evening, we switched to a different tv and it worked... not enough people there are interested in guitar hero though. Lots of Karaoke Revolution was played, but anevergreen, Zac, and werecub did most of the singing. nthebare and I ended up playing the wii in a different room to avoid being handed a mike. :)

dvls_hndmdn's B-day

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:38:30 GMT

She turns 18 today. I thought I'd share it even if she doesn't read LJ anymore. :)

Not dead yet...

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 08:45:40 GMT

I think "Vacation" has something against me. Everytime I took a few days off work last year, I got sick. I'd hoped it was just 2006, but since this is carrying over into 2007, I don't have high hopes for the new year. Sorry for not making the party, but I didn't think people would appreciate starting 2007 with the Mexican Bird Flu (or whatever).

On that note, Mazatlan, Mx was fun, even if I did get a little burnt. The worse part was getting sick halfway through (I swear I didn't drink the water).

We had a connecting flight in Denver on the way over, just before Christmas, which caused a bit of stress. Dulles had people lined up to get to Denver and Denver had people lined up to go anywhere else. Our first plane was upgraded, so we had to wait on a pilot licensed to fly it, then had to run to make the connecting flight. We made it, but out luggage didn't. Fortunately, it arrived the next day.

We spent time snorkeling in the Pacific, walking along the beach, horseback riding along the beach, trying to remember my high school spanish class, and arguing with my mother-in-law. Unfortunately, it was colder than anticipated, so we didn't do much swimming.

One of these days, I'll actually post some of the pictures and stuff... I kept trying to put off posting anything till afterwards, but I don't really see it happening in the next couple days. :(

Tarot meme

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 17:26:04 GMT

You are The Hermit

Prudence, Caution, Deliberation.

The Hermit points to all things hidden, such as knowledge and inspiration,hidden enemies. The illumination is from within, and retirement from participation in current events.

The Hermit is a card of introspection, analysis and, well, virginity. You do not desire to socialize; the card indicates, instead, a desire for peace and solitude. You prefer to take the time to think, organize, ruminate, take stock. There may be feelings of frustration and discontent but these feelings eventually lead to enlightenment, illumination, clarity.

The Hermit represents a wise, inspirational person, friend, teacher, therapist. This a person who can shine a light on things that were previously mysterious and confusing.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Edit: I should probably state that I stole this from t1tdave.

NaNo Never...

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 04:41:02 GMT

None of us have been doing well with the NaNo thing. anevergreen has been sick on top of some stress about upcoming vacation (of all things). I keep thinking about writing, but have problems with dialog and such, so end up looking at it for a few minutes, then doing something else (like play Guitar Hero).

On the bright side, while trying to help anevergreen with a work outage thingie, I found this meme:

An Outer Black Pawn

You scored 2 Power-Finesse, 2 Leader-Follower, 1 Unique-Ordinary, and 2 Offense-Defense!

You are a good soldier, the man the Man counts on. Unfortunately, he may or may not care for your well being, and so he will put you out just protect his interests. This you do without question because you are a team player. Bad news for you, because your team, the black team, tends to have to be more defensive in nature, and sometimes has to make hard choices or sacrifices. Guess who just volunteered?

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on Power-Finesse
You scored higher than 99% on Leader-Follower
You scored higher than 99% on Unique-Ordinary
You scored higher than 99% on Offense-Defense

Link: The What Chess Piece Are You Test written by Gundark27 on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

NaNo, Chapter 1

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 03:16:44 GMT

Well, I crossed 1000 words finally. That only leaves me 4000 words behind for the first 3 days. Hopefully the weekend will let me catch up a little.

Hooray for meta-fiction!

Gordon sat at the table, resting his head in his hands. He lifted his head for a moment, looked at the blank pad of paper on the table, then sighed and put his head back down. A sudden meow caused him to pick his head up and look around at an orange tabby cat.

“Not now, Sunny, I’m trying to write.” Gordon often talked to Sunny and she usually talked back. She meowed again.

“I said, not now.” She stared at him for a minute, then stalked past him into the kitchen. As soon as she was out of site around the corner, she meowed again. He heard her nudge the food dish and meow a third time.

“Alright! Alright, I’ll feed you. Is it that time already?” He stood up and closed his eyes as the blood rushed from his head and his vision dimmed. He’d been sitting at the table for close to an hour and had written nothing. He glanced at the clock as he walked over to the closet and grabbed the food from one of the shelves.

Sunny danced around his feet, almost tripping him as he walked back into the kitchen and and poured a little into the bowl on the floor. Sunny started eating immediately, purring loudly.

“At least you’re happy, little kitten.” Sunny wasn’t really a kitten anymore, but he still affectionately called her that. She’d shown up at his door as a kitten 2 years ago and he’d taken her in, unable to leave her alone in the cold.

“I should probably eat too. Where’d all the time go?” He looked around at the pile of dirty dishes on the counter. “Probably no clean dishes, huh?” Sunny ignored him and kept eating her food.

He glanced in the cabinet for a plate and grabbed a small saucer. Not quite what he wanted, but it would do. He rummaged in the freezer for a frozen burrito, unwrapped it and tossed it onto the saucer. A moment later, it was in the microwave, heating up.

He glanced around again, “I really need to clean this place up, especially if Arden is going to be here this weekend.” He found a clean fork in the dishwasher, stuck it in his mouth and started putting clean cups in the cabinet above the counter.

The microwave dinged a moment later, signaling the burrito’s readiness to eat. He finished putting the few dishes away before going to get it. Even with a few minutes to cool down, it was still hot and he blew on it as he sat back down at the table.

“Today’s the third day of November and I still haven’t written anything. If I’m supposed to write 1667 words a day, I’m already over 3300 words behind and it’s getting worse by the minute.” He ate a few bites, then put his fork down.

“Wait a moment, why don’t I write about someone trying to come up with something to write for NaNoWriMo?” He thought for a moment, then grinned at Sunny, who had finished her dinner and curled up near one of the heater vents. “At least it’ll be easy to write about.” He took another bite, then picked up the pen again.

“It’s NaNoWriMo time again,” Jack wrote, “and I still don’t have a plot. Perhaps if I write random words down, some idea will come to me.” Jack didn’t really think it would, but anything was better than just sitting there.”

Jack was a thin man, with dark bushy hair. He had a scar on his right cheek from a chainsaw accident years ago. It ran from his cheekbone directly underneath his eye to the corner of his mouth. It wasn’t really from the chainsaw, but from a limb that had kicked back as he cut it. He’d been lucky not to lose his eye.

“One hundred words already,” Gordon exclaimed happily, “and it just took a couple minutes. At this rate, I can easily catch up this weekend.”

He finished his burrito and looked at what he’d written. “After all, it doesn’t really have to make much sense. It’s not like I’m going to actually publish a book from this.”

He’d always wanted to be a writer, but never seemed to have the time, or the motivation. It really came down to motivation. He knew it as well as anyone, if he really wanted to write a book, he’d write it. National Novel Writing Month gave him a chance to dream about writing a wonderful story that publishers would fight for. The problem is, he never really felt like he had a story to tell and, because of that, November turned into a writing exercise rather than an opportunity to motivate him into writing something worthwhile.

He pushed the empty plate away and hunched over the pad of paper again, scribbling away and muttering to himself. “What if Jack is writing a story about an amateur writer? Someone trying to come up with a plot for NaNoWriMo?”

NaNoWriMo

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 01:56:10 GMT

I meant to post something a little earlier, but kept putting it off. Not sure I'll finish, since I've never gotten more than a couple days in, but maybe by posting occasional updates, and with your encouragement, I'll be able to do so.

Either way, here's my profile thingie, so that everyone can see when I start falling behind (and can fuss at me): gleeful.

anevergreen and broken_gizmo have also signed up. If anyone else is trying this, let me know and I'll be happy to provide encouragement and stuff if needed.

Not a unique snowflake

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:57:58 GMT

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
2,151
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Maybe if I were illegal, I'd be more special.

Another chess posting

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:18:12 GMT

For those who care, Kramnik won the Unified World Chess Championship in an overtime/tie break blitz game. There was some fun psychological battles going on, with Topalov's side accusing Kramnik of cheating, FIDE officials giving away video of Kramnik in the bathroom, awarding a point to Topalov when Kramnik protested being locked out of his bathroom, and more.

Here's a whole slew of articles for those who want commentary on the games and stuff.

And a little humor:
The first rule of ~~fight~~ ^chess club is: Don't talk about ~~fight~~ ^chess club!

Beer...

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:51:06 GMT

You Are Heineken

You appreciate a good beer, but you're not a snob about it.
You like your beer mild and easy to drink, so you can concentrate on being drunk.
Overall, you're a friendly drunk who's likely to buy a whole round for your friends... many times.
Sometimes you can be a bit boring when you drink. You may be prone to go on about topics no one cares about.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Silliness

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 21:25:27 GMT

I usually try to avoid doing anything that makes me look too foolish, so not really sure why I'm posting this (or why I allowed the video to be uploaded in the first place).

A couple of weeks ago, broken_gizmo pulled her camera out while I was attempting to juggle. As luck would have it, that's when I hit myself in the eye.

In other news, damage to my car is around $1500, of which we'll pay $500. More than we want, but better than paying the full bill.

We had a great time at the WOMB party, though anevergreen felt sick the next day. I didn't drink much as one of us needed to drive home, but think I had a little too much cake (that being 1 "small" slice).

Deer, Cars, and flickr

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 23:28:46 GMT

I hit a deer on the way home last night. :( The deer ran off (so must be ok), but left a little damage to the car and another "gift". I suppose I could truthfully say that I knocked the shit out of that deer:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anotherminorpawn/sets/72157594292971002/

I don't think it'll cost to much to get it fixed. Most of the damage is to the front bumper/panel thingie, though the passenger side panel is bent slightly. The tire rubs against the mud guard a little, mostly noticeable when turning. I am a little irritated that no one wants to even give a rough estimate of cost without seeing it. I understand why, I just don't like it. I wish I could sent these pictures in and have everyone return estimates.

As should be obvious from the pics, I've created a flickr account. I've added most everyone, I think, and would be happy if y'all reciprocated. :)

baaaa

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 15:32:33 GMT

I think this is pretty accurate...

You are introverted, reserved, and quiet with a preference for solitude and solitary activities. Your socializing tends to be restricted to a few close friends. Stressful and frustrating situations can be upsetting to you, but you are generally able to get over these feelings and cope with these situations. As a practical person you like to think in plain and simple terms. Others describe you as down-to-earth, practical, and conservative. You have some concern with others' needs, and are generally pleasant, sympathetic, and cooperative. You are reasonably reliable, organized, and self-controlled.

My Personality


Neuroticism	52
Extraversion	0
Openness To Experience	32
Agreeableness	54
Conscientiousness	41

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