Wednesday, November 21, 2001
It’s almost Thanksgiving. I’ll bake an apple pie tonight as my parents do the rest of the work. Meanwhile, I stumbled upon a wonderful little humorous essay called “Little Wars” by H.G. Wells, about how he and several friends became obssessed with playing wargames with tin soldiers. Contrary to Wells’ dark SF writing, this plays with convention and presents his play with tin soldiers as though it were […]
Tuesday, November 20, 2001
A few tidbits today: For the first time in…well…years, I’ve been spending a significant amount of time gaming lately. The object of my affection is Ragnarok Online, a massively-multiplayer online community and game, using artwork similar to Final Fantasy IX‘s. It’s still in alpha, which means it’s still free. A priest of Ragnarok I can’t get used to the idea that I’m actually playing a computer game for more than half an hour at a time. I used […]
Monday, November 19, 2001
Some actual content: Last night I watched the second and final DVD of the Ah My Goddess! OVA. It was surprisingly good; they managed to pull off a movie-scale story in about 70 minutes. Clearly, this was their Tenchi Muyo! in Love (I or II). As I discovered from the first disc, the best part of the experience was re-watching the disc with the commentary track turned on, where the producers and voice actors pretty much MST […]
Saturday, November 17, 2001
This has been a surprisingly productive day. It’s just past 2:00, and I’ve already taken care of my weekly backups, bought replacement coaxial cable for our den, and finished winterizing the pots in my garden. Weird. Right now I’m working on Landscape, trying to add a few features and make it so that it can be used as a replacement for the default desktop. I like the idea of providing for radically different ways of using computers. […]
Friday, November 16, 2001
The quest is finally at an end! After trips to both Radio Shack and Best Buy yesterday, I’ve finally managed to correctly wire up our new widescreen TV and home theater system. Cable TV works, the VCR works, and (most importantly for me) the DVD player works. ‘Tis a great conclusion to my journeys, verily. Unfortunately, the celebration went a bit overboard. My parents and I re-watched Galaxy Quest (what a wonderful film), then I watched […]
Thursday, November 15, 2001
I feel so ridiculously, completely inadequate. See Saalon’s diary entry for today, and Brennen’s big November 13 entry. How can I possibly measure up to that? I’m just recording a few of the events of my life here, in paltry plain English. So. What mundane events can I report? After laying out another USD $80 at Radio Shack last night for various cabling, I managed to get the the giant TV working, though […]
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
Well. I’ve never had this happen before, and I’ve no idea how to respond. Saalon reports in today’s diary entry that he’s now ready to start writing Wine. All the pieces are in place, except for one thing: He’s frightened to death of it. He’s never written anything like this — a lengthy work that requires my review and approval, and that I’ll pay him for — and that gives […]
Tuesday, November 13, 2001
Well, this should be interesting. My parents finished redecorating our den, which now has a new floor and ceiling, the old panelling has been removed and the walls painted, etc. The den also serves as our TV/media room, and I think I’ve convinced my Mom to go out tonight and buy a widescreen flatscreen TV from one of those warehouse grocery stores. I volunteered to pay for a high-quality sound system, if they’d get […]
Monday, November 12, 2001
It’s amazing to me, how one person’s actions can influence others’. Both Brennen and I have committed to update our diaries more often, afer reading Saalon‘s daily, deep, fascinating entries over the past week. One man’s actions. Cool. What’s going on in my life? Well, my schedule is beginning to become a routine. The schedule is something that’s always intimidated me, because I’ve worried that either (1) […]
Sunday, November 11, 2001
It’s amazing. I can confidently make a list of important tasks that I need to accomplish, and I can purpose to get them done. But when it comes time to actually complete them, I can find so many other things to do instead. For example, last night I wrote a list of ten important things that I’ve been putting off: making a dentist appointment, getting a tune-up for my truck, and so on. Now that […]