My Face When...

You arrive at work today and check your messages to find that your boss has indirectly called you out to the rest of the management team.  The message implies that you don't work hard enough and are too incompetent to follow directions.  Upon reading the message, you are dazed (save ends).  After saving, you are angered and take a -5 penalty to all CHA checks for the remainder of the night.


All my rage!  I don't guess I should be surprised, though.  I should have known by now not to trust anyone (at work) with even the most petty comments.  Our store is competing with another store under the same ownership, so the competition should be pretty intense.  I made a comment to a friend who works at that store, that I thought his store would win.  That comment made its way back to my store and the GM, after which she made the implication that I just needed to work harder.  This was the final straw.

Tomorrow before work, my supervisor is meeting with me and the GM.  With any luck, the situation will be resolved.  If I need to transfer to a different store, then so be it.  I'm tired of being the one to actually enforce policies, then get chastised for enforcing them!

My PS3 has made such an outstanding impression that I see no need to keep my 360.  The one thing the 360 does better (games), is the one thing I don't have time for.  Netflix on PS3 is better, the internet on PS3 is better, and I don't have to pay a yearly fee to use either of those.  Yesterday I used it to play one of my YouTube videos for some friends without having to crowd around a computer monitor.  I also used it to get "Like a Boss" stuck in my wife's head.  Thanks PS3!

Kennedy can't stop getting sick.  She had tubes put in and now she has bronchitis.  I hope she doesn't end up as sick as I was as a child.  If so, we're in for some difficult years.  On a positive note, the doctor said her ears are looking great, and her speech has improved dramatically since the tubes!

Oh, and Nigel still hasn't had his final night.  We ended up doing some prep work for my d20 Modern campaign, which I'll write about next time.  We took a pretty unorthodox method of character generation, but then, this is going to be a pretty unorthodox campaign.

Puppy Love

You weren't prepared for this.  You knew eventually your daughter would grow up and start liking boys, but you weren't ready this early.  Being caught off-guard, you take a -2 penalty to all dice rolls for the duration of the first day.  The penalty continues each day after, save ends.

Kennedy has recently become very good friends with our friends' son William.  It all started at Taco Bell when he tried to give her the rest of his quesadilla.  I guess she takes after her daddy.  The fastest way to her heart is her stomach!  Too bad these were a little late for valentine's day.  Although, yesterday she was getting smooches from another friend's son.  Shh, we haven't told William yet.  We want to break it to him softly.

I feel the need to re-review the Netflix streaming video service, this time for the PS3.  Since we got the PS3 roughly a week ago, we've watched quite a lot of video, and not once has it paused playback due to "changed bandwidth" or because my internet connection had slowed.  And just before I got the PS3 I called NewWave and had my internet speed reduced to save a bit of money.  I don't believe that my internet connection suddenly got better, which leaves me to conclude that there is a problem with streaming Netflix on Xbox 360.  With the Blu-ray and DVD upscaling, and a superior Netflix experience, the PS3 is quickly becoming the "always-on" console.  The 360 will still be used for gaming, but it will finally be getting a well-deserved break.

        

On a related note, a local video store has been having a going-out-of-business sale for a week or so, and I finally made it out there to see what they had left.  The game selection was pretty slim, but I managed to snatch the original Phoenix Wright for DS for ten bucks.  I also grabbed Kick Ass, Slumdog Millionaire, and Precious on Blu-ray.  Three Blu-rays and a DS game ran me forty-two dollars.  Thanks to services like Netflix and Redbox, I got a sweet deal, and several people are losing their jobs.  Capitalism at work, folks.

I have today and tomorrow off work.  The first of my two goals is now accomplished (writing a blog).  The other goal is to finish the backstory for my d20 Modern campaign.  Wish me luck!

Blame Angry Birds

You meant to write a blog yesterday, but you played Angry Birds.  You meant to write a blog today, but you played Angry Birds.  Each day going forward, make a Will save.  If you fail, you lose two hours to the game.  If you succeed, you may turn off the game and do something productive.


We recently got our tax return, and I got my wife an iPhone.  Once my iTunes account was linked, I bought Angry Birds.  I meant to blog.  I meant to work on my RP.  I'm blaming Angry Birds for my failure to do these things.  It is a great game though, and the price can't be beaten.  One dollar for a game that will easily be played for twenty hours is a steal.

The iPhone has also been great for Kennedy.  Being able to instantly pull up Elmo videos in a waiting room is a godsend.  Although, anyone using online video for their kids should avoid youtube and hit up some kid-friendly alternatives like Kideos or ZuiTube.  We've had too many instances of opening a Sesame Street or Spongebob video only to have it open with and elaborate string of swearing.

We also got a PS3, mainly for the Blu-Ray Disc capabilities.  Our DVD player was on its last legs and with PS3 I won't need to pay a yearly fee just to use Netflix on a console.  Setup was a breeze and the infamous updates weren't nearly as egregious as they were made out to be.  From opening the box to having a working PSN account took less than forty-five minutes.  Aside from the ridiculously lightweight controllers, I think I will like this console.  I'll probably also eventually get a game for it...

Kennedy is crawling forward now, so we got a baby gate and a new, secure entertainment center.  Nights have been a pain lately, and she is scheduled next week to have tubes put in her ears.  Hopefully that will make her feel better so she will actually sleep.  Should actually be updating more often now that the newness of Angry Birds has dies out.

Ignominious is a Fun Word

You exit the building and see the car you were told about.  You approach the vehicle slowly and feel your stomach begin to lurch.  You sense something innately wrong with the inhabitants of this car.  As you near the driver's side door, the window rolls down.  Billowing smoke roils out from the open window.  While trying to manage your own breathing, a chilling sound alarms you: tiny coughs from the backseat.

These ignominious parents were smoking in a car with a baby with the windows rolled up.  These aberrations of the gene pool could be on a competitive level with your nemesis, Negligent Mother.  Will you confront these ne'er-do-wells or simply perform the business you were sent for?

 In case you couldn't tell yet, I get irritated at parents who don't care about their kids.  I noticed things before Kennedy was born, but now these poor decisions are marked with a huge neon sign proclaiming, "MORON."  As the DM said, these people could've given Negligent Mother a run for her food stamps.  The poor little girl was strapped in her car seat while the parents puffed away and there wasn't a thing she could to but cough and cry.

The recent snow we received was certainly a nice change of scenery.  We took Kennedy outside for just a couple of minutes so she could see and feel it.

I don't believe she quite knew what to think about the whole situation.  Maybe there will be snow next year as well and she can do some sledding.

After several grueling sessions, I managed to finish the main segment of Super Meat Boy on Xbox 360.  The game is a throwback to 80's and early 90's style platformers.  In other words: infuriatingly difficult.  As Meat Boy, your quest is to save Bandage Girl from the evil (or possibly misunderstood) Dr. Fetus.  Scattered throughout the worlds are bandages to collect and Warp Zones to find.

Collecting bandages will unlock new playable characters to use in the game.  Certain Warp Zones will also grant you a new playable character, but only after completing the zone.  Other Warp Zones are in the style of Atari, Game Boy, or early NES or Master System games.  These zones remind you of how far gaming has come in the past twenty-five years, as well as how far it has fallen.  Too many games today boast gorgeous processor-intensive graphics, while the story and gameplay suffer.  Final Fantasy XIII, I'm looking at you.

Super Meat Boy has been an enjoyable trip through memory lane, and I'm not quite ready to turn it off yet.  Each of the main worlds also has a dark side, with modified and even more difficult versions of the light-world levels.   These are the levels that make me think of the internet cult-hit, I Wanna Be the Guy, know for its sadistic difficulty.  I would recommend both games in a heartbeat.

Nigel's Inaugural Night

You just got off work late on a Saturday night, the night that used to be reserved for your gaming group. The Storyteller in the newest campaign texts you saying you should stop by.  It will be after eleven before you would get there, and you have to be back at work at ten in the morning, with a forty-minute drive.  Even if you intend to only stay for a few moments, you know you'll end up there for at least an hour or two.  


You have a choice to make.  Is the gaming and camaraderie that you have missed so much as of late worth the potential lack of sleep when you have to drive relatively early tomorrow morning?


Yes, it was.  Saturday night I stopped by to hang out for a few minutes with the group, and ended up staying almost two hours.  It usually happens that way.  I got to run my new character for the first time, a Lasombra named Nigel.  He is the childer of another of the PC's, and he will be the first character I've played where intelligence is the weakest attribute.  With any luck I'll be able to go and game for at least a couple of hours each week after work on Saturday.

Kennedy went back to the doctor today, and the fluid is still present in one of her ears.  She got referred to a specialist, the same one who put tubes in my ears over twenty years ago.  I don't like that she's probably going to need them, but if it helps her hear and be comfortable, then I'm for it.  Last week she was eighteen pounds, eleven ounces.  Today she was nineteen pounds, two ounces.

We're trying something out tonight to see if it helps Kennedy sleep.  I have my netbook set up in her room streaming classical music from the WKMS website.  She went to sleep pretty quickly in the car after the doctor's appointment while I had classical music playing.  If this doesn't work, I'll try Rainy Mood next.

I think next time I'll write a review for the Xbox Live Arcade game Super Meat Boy.