Thanks

I did not expect to end Thanksgiving Day by filling out a police report.

Chipper

For some reason I'm feeling especially bright and cheerful today. I woke up (because I wanted to!) at 6:30 this morning, which is beyond bizzare for me. I've been so tired the last few months. When I get restful sleep, I'm good to go on about four hours. When I'm tossing and turning, I need about 8-18 hours. The latter makes getting stuff done difficult, to say the least. It's been too long since I've felt this way. It's good to be reminded that happiness doesn't always have to be an illusion.

Words

Words no longer suffice. I must act. Comfort effects no change.

I will not stand idly by and see those I care about be hurt. I will not be an observer only, but a participant. I will not be denied.

Love. Eloquence. Resolve. These are my weapons.

God help those who stand in my way.

Development

Today at work my boss took me aside and we had a serious talk for a while. It looks like things are getting dire in some ways. There's a lot of pressure to get things working again, and the apps guys are threatening to take over if we don't get out some more results. I guess they don't understand the pain involved in being handed a mess of a system which is completely undocumented. The thing is though, that there really is progress being made. It's just not terribly visible. The nice thing is that Brent (my boss) is really rooting for me. He's been shielding me from some of this heat that's coming down, which I really appreciate. And he emphasized really strongly how much he appreciates the work I do. He said he's been really impressed with the work I've done, and the experience I've brought on board here. If push comes to shove, and the apps guys take over the project, he said that he'd push back to get me on that apps team. It was an interesting conversation. Also, I'm changing my work hours from 10:00 - 12:00 and 4:00 - 6:00 Monday through Friday. That gets me more one-on-one time with Brent, and means I don't have to kill myself trying to get up for work at 8:00 AM every morning. This change should really take some stress off of my shoulders.

I knew that JParish kid was going places.

Jeremy Parish reviews WarioWare. Seriously, I knew the guy when he was still indy. Well, in that "we frequented the same geeky online forums" sort of way. Personally, I think I shall adopt a 2-point rating system as well. I like the idea. Actually, I should mention that he's now a key writer over at http://www.1up.com/ , which is one of my gaming sites of choice. But I do like that review of WarioWare.

Hobby Stops

I never really know what to write when I sit down to put a post up on this site. I promised myself when I created it that I'd avoid just putting up summaries of my days. I find writing such entries tedious and banal. I'd much rather write about things that really spark my interest in writing about them. On the other hand, so many things that go on in my life feel very personal and private to me, and I don't feel comfortable putting them up for public review. Those are the sorts of things that I converse about in person. I suppose I could write a bit about some of the hobbies I've been pursuing lately. Warhammer So I've been conned into letting myself get interested in Warhammer 40k. That Warhammer recruiting event I planned was way too successful. I picked up a codex for the Tau race, and got a Tau XV8 Crisis Battlesuit. Someone please come console my poor wallet. I've been patiently cutting, filing, gluing, filling, sanding, puttying, and spraying the little bits of plastic. I had a fair number of the tools and supplies I've needed from previous modelling projects, but needed some more to be effective. Fortunately, I found a great hobby shop named Hobby Stop up by University Mall in Orem. They're focused more on things like military models and model trains, but the supplies and prices are great. The more I read online about how most people put these things together, the more I realise how differently I'm going about it. But then, I think all of the Tau color schemes I've seen are horrendous. Some people have no taste, I suppose. Or maybe it's me with no taste, seeing as I'm going for a purple-and-green mecha scheme. I'm feeling kind of inspired by the Vanu Sovereignty, I guess. Shadow of the Colossus I rented this game the other day, and have been playing it on various borrowed PS2s. It's been a while since I've done any real console gaming, and I'm very glad that I checked this one out. This game is gorgeous, atmospheric, deep, and thoughtful. The controls are spot-on. They're simple to understand, but harbor a depth that allows for pulling off amazing stunts without thinking about them. Hmm. I think I want to go over this game in more detail soon. So I'll just say that if you've been wondering if you should try this game, the answer is yes. Twilight Imperium, 3rd. Ed. This was the board game that I picked out for myself for my birthday this October. I've not had time to play a full game yet, but that will happen this Saturday, hopefully. From what I've seen so far though, it seems to be the kind of game I've always wanted to play. The game bits are gorgeous and huge - it takes some serious table space to play. You've got all of the races from 1st and 2nd edition, as well as some newcomers, I believe. The game has had a serious rules overhaul as well. It's borrowed some of the elegant mechanics from the new-style German games like Puerto Rico. The game also has much less downtime for players. Instead of huge monolithic turns, things are split up into short actions that move very quickly among players. I look forward to seeing how it plays out in a full game.

TBA

Well, I promised a few people a post by this morning. Here it is.