Generically Uninteresting

Suckitude and Awesomeness

2008-05-27T00:17:00.002-05:00

Last Tuesday, I spilled Coke all over my laptop during gaming. I cleaned it out as quickly and as thoroughly as I knew how. Unfortunately, it was not sufficient. I left backing up my data overnight, just in case. I woke in the morning to see a black screen reading, "Operating system not found." And none of my data had been backed up.

Turns out I fried my hard drive. Scorch marks and everything. My data was not recoverable. I lost my campaign notes, character sheets, movies, TV shows, e-books, thousands of image macros and pages of manga, and a hefty chunk of my thesis. Suckitude.

The awesomeness is that the only thing fried was the hard drive. I picked up a new 160 hard drive for $78 and reinstalled my OS and it runs fine. The keyboard is still a little tacky and some keys are stiff, but $78 is vastly superior to the cost of replacing the whole laptop. Especially when unemployed.

Well...

2008-05-14T14:23:00.001-05:00

Today was unexpectedly difficult. I attended the funeral of my Mom's cousin. I didn't know him terribly well, but they had been very close. He has three kids, all about five years apart. Matthew is ~16, the same age I was when Dad died. It's so easy to see myself in him. What a stupidly hard age to lose a parent.

The eldest, Rebbecca, is getting married in June. Her Dad won't be there to walk her down the aisle. She bore up under the pressure well today and took excellent care of her little sister. She broke down at the cemetery though. It was planned poorly, and the family didn't get a chance at the grave by themselves. Her breakdown was embarrassingly public. I hope she wasn't embarrassed or ashamed. She shouldn't have been.

The hardest moment in my life was after the graveside service for Dad. There is nothing, NOTHING, so horrifyingly final as watching Dad's casket being lowered.

Eh

2007-02-16T16:31:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I posted. I had intended to update everyone on events that have transpired since, what, October? November? But that can wait.

I shall be on B.net this evening. East, as AlferdPacker or possibly sarah_f. See you there.

Roughly New Year's...

2006-10-27T14:28:00.000-05:00

This would probably work better as an e-mail. But I don't really feel like opening Gmail.

The last couple of years there has been a gathering of sorts around New Year's. Roughly.

I'd like to do it again. The weekend of Dec. 16th is a good time if people are available. But we're reaching the point where plans are actually having to be made.

It has been a while.

2006-10-19T10:09:00.000-05:00

So much for updating at least once a month. Ah, well.

Actually, quite a lot has happened since I last updated. But we shan't go into that at the moment.

There was something I wanted to say when I opened this tab, but I'll be damned if I can remember what it was.

In the meantime, you should all go check out Pandora Radio. It's definitely worth the time.

Re: Teacher firing in TX

2006-10-04T11:21:00.001-05:00

The teacher who was allegedly fired because of students seeing nude art during a sanctioned field trip has been mentioned many places of late. The school board has been lambasted in the news and in people's blogs. However, things may not be as simple as all that.

This is found on NH Public Radio site.
http://www.nhpr.org/aggregator/sources/2?page=5

From: Shana McKay-Wortham [McKayS@friscoisd.org]
To: Christopher Cantwell
Date: Thu Sep 28, 2006 01:15:32 PM PDT
Subject: Re: In Regards to Sydney McGree

In case you want more information.

A school district is at an extreme disadvantage in the area of personnel matters due to issues of employee privacy and ethical considerations. However, since an employee of the district has chosen to express her concerns publicly in a hearing and in the media since that time, it seems fair that a school district can at least point to facts that were stated in that public hearing. Much has been misrepresented.

This is not about a field trip to an art museum. The timing of circumstances has allowed the teacher to wave that banner and it has played well in the media. FISD is a strong supporter of the arts and the Dallas Museum of Arts – our art program is rich and award-winning.

At issue here are performance concerns and the ability of a supervisor to address these concerns. As early as May 2005 the principal verbally brought to the attention of the teacher that there were some areas for improvement. She suggested at that time that a field trip experience might be a way to strengthen the art program and the Dallas Museum of Art was discussed as a viable option – it was not mandated as has been reported.

During the spring of the next school year, 2005-2006, when the teacher began planning the field trip, the principal suggested that the field trip be delayed until the next school year because she was concerned that the planning process was not sufficient.

When the teacher received her evaluation conference, which was in mid May and after the field trip, some issues of concern, unrelated to the field trip, were discussed and the teacher stated that she didn't think it was fair to evaluate her on expectations that had not been clearly communicated to her in writing. The principal did then document the performance areas that needed to be addressed – at the teacher’s request – but the documentation was not brought on by the field trip; the field trip was not a catalyst for anything or the final straw to get her in "hot water." She was never told there would not be a next year for her or that she was not “Frisco material” as has been reported. No teachers’ job status would be jeopardized based on students’ incidental viewing of nude art.

After the memo was provided as requested, the teacher did file a grievance and also asked to be transferred if there was an opening in the district. The transfer was denied because the central administration felt that if you allow a teacher to transfer after a supervisor has given them guidelines for improvement then you have weakened a supervisor's ability to address performance issues by essentially giving the teacher an "escape hatch" to avoid meeting the expectations of the supervisor.

What is getting lost here is that this is not about a field trip, censorship, or a parent complaint. It is not about age, tenure or salary level as has also been suggested in the media. This is about a school administrator working to help an employee improve her job performance and to improve the educational experience of students. Even someone who has taught for a long time can still have opportunity for professional development. Teachers were never directed to “ostracize” her as has been reported and she was never directed to not discuss her “plight.”

As an aside, the Star Award that is being mentioned in the context of the teacher being an award-winning teacher or Star Award Teacher of the Year 2004 is a recognition that took place periodically in the local paper because a local business wanted to sponsor the monthly ad to show support for teachers in the community – someone from each campus was usually represented. There was no set way employees were chosen at each campus for this ad. Some campuses went by tenure for inclusion, others selected based on something that had occurred that month. Teachers were recognized, as were volunteers, custodians, receptionists, others. FISD does not conduct the Teacher of the Year program. At this time, the teacher has been placed on administrative leave with pay. The Administration and the Board felt that this was the best action for all concerned. A recommendation for the non-renewal of her contract will be forthcoming from the superintendent.

Here we go.

2006-08-10T07:52:00.000-05:00

The fun begins shortly. I'd really rather not be here today.

Stressed out...

2006-08-09T10:06:00.000-05:00

By this time tomorrow, I may not have a job anymore. Lay-offs at work. The axe falls tomorrow morning. Needless to say, the atmosphere at work isn't exactly conducive to getting work done.

So... stress.

In under the wire...

2006-07-27T13:55:00.000-05:00

My goal was to update this at least once a month. Fortunately it's been a little under a month since I last updated this thing. Not that nothing has happened in that time. In fact, quite a bit has happened. But nothing I ever got around to telling you guys about. Obviously.

So. I agreed to work overtime this Saturday. Extra money is always a good thing as is looking good to your manager. And since the temperature on Saturday is supposed to be around 100, I figured it'd be a great idea to sit in an air-conditioned building and earn some money. Now I learn that they're turning off the water and air-conditioning this Saturday the entire time I'll be there! Great.

Also, Monster House is far superior to both Superman Returns and PotC2.

Superman Returns

2006-06-28T09:06:00.000-05:00

Suffice it to say, the movie is worth seeing. I had my problems with it, as I do with any movie. But they were minor and the movie was enjoyable. Far more so than X-Men 3: The Last Stand.

In fact, if you like Superman less than X3, I might go so far as to suggest you're less of a man than I am. I might even suggest that you've taken to drinking turpentine and eating paint chips as a recreational past time.

Starcraft and Naruto 123

2006-06-02T16:31:00.000-05:00

No, they aren't related.

But I should be online tonight in Sargent.

And I managed to get through episode 123 today. It's getting a little redundant, but it's still entertaining. We'll see how far that lasts.

Paintball tomorrow. I need to find my contacts.

More Starcraft

2006-05-31T16:38:00.000-05:00

I hate posting single links and not really commenting. That said, this is awesome.

Terran Rush kekekekeke!

Starcraft: tBG

2006-05-19T14:18:00.000-05:00

Playtesting for the Starcraft boardgame has begun. You can read a little bit about the process at FFG's Rant Page. It's a very pretty game. It's the base game only, no Brood Wars units; although I'm sure they'll be included in a later expansion. But there's so much stuff in the base game that you don't really miss them.

So very, very, fun. I'm looking forward to the finished product.

Naruto 78

2006-05-19T13:36:00.000-05:00

First things first. Naruto isn't a great anime, but damn if it isn't entertaining. What a great combat move. All to set up One Thousand Years of Pain. Brilliant.

What the hell do you mean this is where the Naruto Chronicles begin? We're 78 episodes in! (In case you can't tell, I'm watching the episode right now.)

Frikken' frogs. They're as bad as the random old men in Love Hina. Man, those guys annoyed me. And really, that's a toad. And what about all the picnickers in the woods? Do they just get trampled, willy-nilly?

At least it wasn't the sexy transformation.

Fallout from the last entry

2006-05-11T20:07:00.000-05:00

As a result of discovering YouTube has complete anime episodes, I've started watching Naruto. Sorry Cliff, the copy you burned for me never liked my computer. I'm up to episode 30. And I've only been watching at work in the last week. Not good.

2006-05-04T11:36:00.000-05:00

I'm finding remnants of Fufei online. Found his fansub of Hikaru no Go on YouTube. Which I shouldn't be doing at work, but damn I'm tired. I'm trying desperately to stay awake.

Now I'm tempted to find other anime episodes and watch them at work. The problem being that fansubs require more attention than most TV. Ah well.

Humph...

2006-04-19T17:36:00.000-05:00

And I thought Firefly was short lived.
Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos

Ah... LiveJournal

2006-04-18T19:11:00.000-05:00

This post would really belong there as it's kinda ranty and whiny. Let me tell you about my crappy day.

I scheduled a doctor's appointment for this afternoon. The delightful reason for this is the aches and shooting pains I've been getting in my wrists during work. Joy. So, I leave work and merrily begin on my way to the clinic. Starting my car, I discover that I'm down to a quarter tank of gas. No problem, I've got time to stop for gas. Oh wait, I don't have money for gas since the price has gone up 20 cents a gallon since this morning. Fine, I'll get it later.

Upon arriving at the front desk of the clinic, I discover that my insurance card has somehow vanished from my wallet. Well, isn't that peachy? Oh well, it doesn't really matter since my appointment isn't at this clinic. It's half an hour away. Splendid. So shall I drive 1/2 an hour to an appointment I've missed, lacking my insurance information? Or should I reschedule? Again. Aargh!

Ah well, to console myself I bought myself a treat. I got Bubble Tea at the Boba Cafe. Quite good, much better than I was expected. Which was good since I had to go back to work.

Now that I've written it out, it doesn't seem so bad. But it was incredibly frustrating. Still is, but I'm not about to empty my workplace anymore.

Behold, I come.

2006-04-17T16:55:00.000-05:00

Well, to some of you anyway. I'll be swinging down to Indiana this weekend to visit my sister. So if you're in Madison or Chicago and want to get together, let me know. I'll be heading down Thursday or Friday and back up Sunday.

So again, if you're available, let me know.

Look upon my works and despair

2006-04-04T15:46:00.000-05:00

I think I need to develop a standard way of formatting my entries that I actually like. The previous entry appears as a monstrosity that could only have been birthed from the deepest levels of hell by the most twisted of individuals. To gaze upon it is to risk madness and despair unlike any the world has seen.

Perhaps I exaggerate. To sum up, I don't like the way it looks.

Much thought and consideration shall have to take place before I update again.

The best laid plans and all that.

2006-03-31T15:10:00.000-06:00

I had planned on posting about various activities I've been doing of late. But this grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go.

http://www.local6.com/news/8345157/detail.html

Several parents in Apopka, Fla., are upset over a surprise school "Holocaust" project that some say tormented children, according to a Local 6 News report.

Local 6 News reported that eighth-graders with last names beginning with L through Z at Apopka Memorial Middle School were given yellow five-pointed stars for Holocaust Remembrance Day. Other students were privileged, the report said.

Father John Tinnelly said his son was forced to stand in the back of the classroom and not allowed to sit because he was wearing the yellow star.

"He was forced to go to the back of the lunch line four times by an administrator," Tinnelly said.

Tinnelly said the experiment upset his child.

"He was crying," Tinnelly said. "I said, 'What are you crying about?' He said, 'Daddy, I was a Jew today.'"

Other parents and children shared similar stories, Tinnelly said.

"They were told that they could not use the water fountains," Tinnely said. "There was even a sign supposedly at one water fountain (saying) if you're wearing a yellow star , you can't use this water fountain."

"This was supposed to be a creative way to teach the horrors of the Holocaust but unfortunately it has sparked controversy and more importantly it has sparked conversation," Reznick said. "We have now heard from nearly a dozen parents (who are) very upset."

Tinnelly said he believes it is important to teach the Holocaust, but apparently little was learned during the experiment.

"I tried to talk to my son and I asked all of these questions and the only thing he said is, 'Daddy, the only thing I found out today is I don't want to be Jewish,'" Tinnelly said.

"Children were selected to be persecuted or privileged, some not told the rule," Local 6 reporter Gerald Reznick said. "Parents tell Local 6 they were not told prior to the school-wide experiment."

"Teachers felt that it would have defeated the purpose to tell the students ahead of time because that would have prepared them," Principal Douglas Guthrie said. "Students came in and all they got was a star."

"This was supposed to be a creative way to teach the horrors of the Holocaust but unfortunately, it has sparked controversy and more importantly, it has sparked conversation," Reznick said. "We have now heard from nearly a dozen parents (who are) very upset."

Local 6 News aired a statement from The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida; "Of course, we applaud Apopka (Memorial) Middle School's effort to engage in Holocaust education with the hope of a tolerance education component in the classroom. That is the mission of The Center to teach tolerance through Holocaust remembrance and education. However, we do not encourage nor train teachers to engage in simulation exercises."

Guthrie admitted that he would do some things differently in the exercise because of complaints but said some kids got the message, Reznick said.

"They need to know, we don't want history to repeat itself," Guthrie said.

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. "Daddy, I was a Jew today"

Well...

2006-03-19T19:22:00.000-06:00

I now have a 16 year old asian admirer. Of course, he thinks I'm a 22 year old girl. I've missed StarCraft.

Now that it's been announced...

2006-03-14T17:03:00.000-06:00

I guess I can talk about it a little. FFG has announced that they will be developing and releasing a Starcraft Boardgame.

I've got mixed feelings about this. As most of you know, I love the computer game. A lot. The idea of a boardgame based on it fills me with glee and horror. I like the designer and have enjoyed many of his games, hence some hope regarding the project. But the description of the game from FFG's rant page fills me with dread.

"It features a large central game board depicting the Starcraft galaxy, as well as nine separate smaller boards that each represent a specific planet in the Starcraft universe. Players will control the familiar Terran, Protoss, or Zerg space and ground units in a bid for domination of these nine worlds."

We'll see.

Whoops, my bad

2006-03-14T16:59:00.000-06:00

I really should know better by now. Anytime I complain about something, the Universe sees fit to correct the problem. The difficulty lies in the Universe's slow response time. Generally the circumstances reverse themselves at a most inopportune moment. I want to roll higher in Risk and complain about not doing so. The Universe decides to see to this error during a game of Axis & Allies. I complain about not having any winter this year and no snowfalls worthy of the name. I wake up the next morning and there's a foot of snow on the ground and it's still coming down. So, sorry for the traffic Twin Cities residents. My bad.

A Common Theme

2006-02-23T17:11:00.000-06:00

I'm thinking that a lot of these upates are going to follow a pretty common thread. That's not really surprising as I really don't vary my schedule at all. Wednesday nights I play boardgames from ~7:30 until roughly midnight. Saturdays, I might get together with Jason and play Magic or Twilight Imperium Armada. Saturdays are generally 2 person days. Sundays, I game with Dan, Jason and some guys they know. We typically run a Shadowrun campaign, although it varies slightly. We just started a World of Darkness campaign and last week we played Shadows Over Camelot instead of running a roleplaying session.

And that's pretty much all I do. I work and I game. I bought a Gamecube not too many weeks ago, but I haven't even really gotten a chance to use it.

I've been writing this over the last hour at work, and I've kinda run out of steam. I'll talk about Battlestations some other time. It's definitely worth talking about.

One final note before I end this. Kevin said something last night about doing things online so that people would see them and think you're cool. I can definitely see that. On the other hand, I'm not really writing this for an audience. At least not one I have in mind. It's more of a catharsis for me at work. I'm using it as a diary. It has the advantage over a paper diary in that I can use it at work and look like I'm working.

Gaming

2006-02-09T13:56:00.000-06:00

As I may have said earlier, I play boardgames every Wednesday evening. Last night's group was smaller than usual with both Dan and Kevin bowing out for the evening. Jason brought A Game of Thrones with but we decided to hold off until Kevin could join us to play.

So we ended up playing Axis & Allies. It was the first game I've played to completion with the new edition. It's very different, there have been a lot of changes. Necessary ones, but a lot of them.

I was going recount the game in detail, but I got distracted by something else. What was it again? Oh yeah, work. In any event, the game was pretty short. Matt played the Allies, Jason was Japan, which left me with Germany. Russia came into Germany pretty heavily on the first turn and the Germans did little to stop them. Germany took back 2/3 of the land Russia claimed and ferried Rommel to N. Africa. Britain then took W. Europe. Which was particularly devastating as we were playing with National Advantages. Britain was allowed to place 3 free infantry in France.

The game continued for a few turns in this fashion. Germany fighting off invasions on both fronts looked and built more like Russia than Germany. Through the sacrifice of the German navy and Luftwaffe, the Allied transports in the Atlantic were destroyed, buying valuable time to reclaim the Eastern Front.

During this, Japan was doing extremely well in the Pacific. Japan claimed a British Industrial Complex in India on the first turn, and expelled the Americans from China within two turns. America began building an invasion fleet to invade the Home Isles. Russia over extended and collapsed back to Moscow and Karelia, leaving much of E. Europe open to German blitzing. Great Britain's fleet began to loom ominously in the Atlantic while the Americans sat just outside of Japan. Russia attempted to rebuild to prevent a German takeover but ended up losing a vital production area in Karelia to the Japanese of all people, essentially removing them from the game. America attempted an uphill battle to invade Japan proper. With the survival of a single transport, victory would be assured as the Japanese army was fighting in the mainland. Unfortunately for the good ol' US of A, the dice weren't with them and they were ignominiously defeated. The Allies conceded, bringing the game to a close in 3 1/2 hours. A good time for Axis and Allies.

Overall impressions, the changes to the balance between Axis & Allies was sorely needed. Axis still start in something of a hole, but not so deep of one. Lucky dice rolling on the part of the Axis is enough to generally balance the two sides.

I planned to talk about other things, but they slip my mind. Ah, well.

Abbreviated List

2006-01-27T16:24:00.000-06:00

Here's a list of links to the things I wasted time on today.

Dr. McNinja
Forumopolis
Hand-eye Coordination (My record so far is only 24 seconds)
The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

The Boys Next Door

2006-01-21T12:30:00.000-06:00

I went to the theater last night. The play was The Boys Next Door, a play about a group of mentally handicapped guys living in an apartment together and their social worker. An very good play, and excellently acted. The actors were very believable and did an amazing job with what looked like a very difficult role. Generally, I don't care for plays that have a point, let alone ones that tell you what the point is, but this was done well enough that it didn't bother me.

And from the comments I overheard from the rest of the audience, it seemed as if they needed the extra little prod about the play. I don't think they had any real conception of what retardation is. They seemed to be expecting them all to be "cured" by the end of the play. Weird.

Gremlin Theatre

So Tired...

2006-01-19T13:12:00.000-06:00

The reason for this is, of course, gaming last night. Played what appears to be a pretty awesome new game called Battlestations. It's a space RPG in boardgame form. Not a dungeon crawl like Space Hulk or Doom, but an actual RPG. (For those that don't know, Descent is the upgraded version of Doom.) Anyway, so far a very cool game. We didn't get through the first mission due to how long it took to get through the rules, but we plan on continuing the mission next week. If the game lives up to its initial promise, this might be something we play on a fairly regular basis, continuing the campaign.

I had intended to write a short summary/review of the game, but I'm tired. So here's a good
general overview of the game. And here's a more detailed breakdown of how the game actually functions during a round.

These RPG boardgames are really something I've come to like quite a bit. They have a lot of the things I enjoyed while playing miniatures, without the time or financial constraints. I don't have to but several sets of miniatures and paint them in oder to have a rewarding experience. Playing with other people's miniatures always feels slightly hollow. You're not really playing your figures. You're playing someone else's. In Descent or Battlestations, your character isn't reliant upon a miniature. Your character is the concept. The unique set of skills and abilities, that you can take anywhere someone is playing that game. I like that RPG aspect.

Speaking of RPGs, I've decided I like FFTactics better than FFTactics Advance. I don't like how skills are tied to weapons. In order to learn new skills, you need to equip new weapons, more powerful than the previous ones. I don't like it. I generally pay very little attention to my gear in RPGs, preferring to use underpowered items for much of the game. It makes the battles more difficult, and allows me to swap in more powerful items in crucial battles to make them easier. I don't like all the micromanagement of equipping gear to learn skills.

The Start of a Tradition

2005-12-20T15:02:00.000-06:00

Or at least a common occurance:

What I Did Today Instead Of Working

Made this list
Read several webcomic (list to follow when I'm bored again)
Posted on FO
Read the 'Geek
Lurked on several other forums
Finished reading The Apocalypse Troll (decent read)
Stared into space
Ate large amounts of candy
Planned my time off
Called the Source about my game order

Hrm... I'm going to have to be more specific in the future if I'm going to do this regularly.

The previous notwithstanding...

2005-12-20T08:40:00.000-06:00

I'm probably going to link here. Actually, I already have. So that was a little redundant. I'm not going to point out the links here.

So... still at work. Or at work again, depending on your point of view. I think I go by the former. Work takes so much time from the day. The majority of the tme I'm not at work, I'm asleep. So really, if you're defined by what you do, then I work. Or waste time. The latter is probably the most accurate of all. Hence my updating here instead of actually getting work done.

On an actual blog-worthy note, Kevin is loaning my a company copy of Fury of Dracula to use over the holidays. My name is on page 29 of the rule book. It makes my day better just thinking about it. So I'll be able to get a game in with the family before Christmas, which will be nice.

I've been thinking about purchasing Descent: Journey's in the Dark after I finish my Christmas shopping. It's too expensive for one of my siblings to get me as a gift, so I'm safe on that front. But I think it'd be something fun to play over New Year's. I could just borrow it from Jason, but if we each have a copy, then we can even larger dungeons. Or I could just resign myself to the fact that our group doesn't really need more than one of a game so I don't need to buy boardgames anymore. At least not unless I get them as soon as they come out.

Of course, I can take that $80 and apply it to a Gameboy DS. I have to admit the idea is appealing.

Lunch time.

First Post

2005-12-19T14:09:00.000-06:00

Well, here it is. My blog. Let's see how long it takes for people to find this without being linked here. I'm quite excited about this.

But before I am run away with my feelings on this subject, perhaps it will be advisable for me to state my reasons for keeping a blog -- and moreover for coming to the Internet with the design of selecting a blog, as I certainly did.

My reasons for blogging are, first, that I thikn it a right thing for every person in easy circumstances (like myself) to set the example of blogging in his community. Secondly, that I am convinced that it will add very greatly to my happiness; and thirdly -- which perhaps I ought to have mentioned earlier, that it is the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble thing whom I have the honour of calling my imagination. Twice has it condescended to give me its opinion (unasked too!) on this subject; and it was but the very Sunday night before I went offline -- between webcomics, that it said, "John, you must blog. A man like you must blog. -- Chuse properly, chuse one for my sake; and for your own, let it be an active, useful sort of service, not too pretentious, but able to be customized in good way. This is my advice. Find such as service as soon as you can, put it online, and I shall visit it.

I could go on, but that reeks of laziness. I harbor no illusions that anyone reading this blog will get the reference above, but it amuses me. Besides, I'm still at work and should by all rights, be working. Eh.