Category Archives: General

General

General Wish List Spring/Summer 2024

Before buying things here myself, money would be used to be ready for any potential financial emergencies, such as car or home repairs, and especially for paying things off, etc., basically savings, then the items below. But if one wants, money can be given via PayPal and credit card donations can be made here, though there is a fee (not sure the percentage), (also generally 10% of all donations I get there I give to The Trevor Project (suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQIA+ youth). While cash may be more appreciated than the stuff below, I know people think cash is impersonal, so that’s what the list below is for.

Also, as this is mostly health related, I’ve got My Potential Supplements page where I talk about what I might take to make up for a poor diet.

As most of this is for my fitness wishes, so here’s my Strava profile, so when, if, I get this stuff, one can see how I do. I also believe this is my Zwift profile.

Primary Wants

Some of the below are on this Amazon wish list, though many of the cheaper more preferred choices, such as the cheaper bike trainer (even the Wahoo trainer on there doesn’t come with a year of Zwift like the ones direct from Zwift or Wahoo do), aren’t available from Amazon. However, to make it easier on some people, I put on the Amazon list what I could.

These items are mostly for my bike, a bike computer, a new watch (mine is fairly old, and the battery is draining somewhat fast), and a smart direct drive bike trainer. As of May 2024, the power meter pedals, the best way to train without a smart trainer, and has the advantage of being used outdoors, was moved up to the Primary Wants section, along with shoes that could then be used on it, as you can’t use regular shoes with it.

The smart bike trainer would come right after a new watch, but space issues is what pushes that down. Ideally, I’d use it on my computer, because to use it outside the main living space, I’d need to have a new iPad, gaming level laptop, or 32″ TV and an Apple TV (more details below, but the TV and Apple TV are probably the cheapest option after using the computer I already have indoors). Using it outside also steps up the fan requirement to be better than what I have at the moment. Like I’d probably use it near daily if I could use it on the computer, with Zwift becoming my most “played game” or used app, whatever one would want to call it. Trying to use it on an iPad or laptop outside the house’s Wi-Fi makes things complicated. Because of the likelihood of needing to use it away from the computer, the iPad section has been moved up to Primary wants, and that makes it far more portable, can use it at work, whatever, where the 32″ TV and Apple TV idea keep it limited to the patio (like I’m not carrying a 32″ TV and the Apple TV to a remote location, lol).

A New Smart Watch

My watch is getting out of date in terms of fitness tracking. It can’t track lots of activities that the newer watches can, like climbing, and doesn’t track running dynamics. Also it’s GPS is nowhere near as good as the ones here. It’s an older Garmin Venu, and the Venu 2 came out in 2021, with then on the Venu 3 out now, so an idea of how out of date it is. The Venu is more an semi entry level fitness watch than a sports watch. So the idea is to upgrade to a proper sports watch. Plus my Venu is starting to drain a bit too fast. It is still better than say an Apple Watch, but bad for a Garmin.

The “cheaper” of the new watches I want is a Garmin Forerunner 965 ($599.99). Black band or yellow band… though really, the yellow band really kicks it up. This is what I’d probably go for, even if I had the money for the Epic Pro (gen2) below, because that extra money could go for other items on the list.

While that is the more “reasonably priced” option. Going up to $899 (for the regular Gorilla glass), or $999 (for Sapphire crystal and Titanium case), one gets the brand new Garmin Epix Pro (gen2). The Epix Pro (gen2) has far more features, far more accuracy (both GPS, and fitness), and has ECG ability, though that’s more for detecting heart attacks, which while helpful, isn’t a mandatory feature yet. Like this watch is beyond amazing, and I want it as my main watch choice, but is it really $300 better than the Forerunner 965? Probably not.

Bike Computer for Bike

Okay, as of 11 June 2023, I moved the bike computer way up, as it would help a lot navigating routes when not with a group. Also I need a way of seeing my heart rate, cadence, speed, incline, and the like. For the moment, I have an app on my phone that can show most of these metrics, I just have to keep waking the phone up and unlocking it to see them. Also even though I’ve got a new phone, the battery doesn’t last as long as a dedicated bike computer below, which can go days before I’d need to recharge them. Really though, this is after the trainer, and probably after the power meter pedals below, where it becomes nearly needed.

EDIT: In July, Garmin released the Garmin Edge 1050 ($699.99), which would be my number one choice, but it isn’t on Amazon last I checked.

The Garmin Edge 840 ($449.99) is the main choice. There is a Garmin Edge 840 Solar ($549.99) that does extend the battery some, but probably not $100 more battery for my area. Like for the price of the solar 840, I could get the 1040. Like the Garmin Edge 1040 ($599.99 or $749.99 for the solar version) would be better, especially the solar version, but again, at what I’ll be doing and using it for, the 840 is the sweet spot… The Garmin Edge 540 ($349.99), which lacks a touch screen, has half the memory than the 840, and you can’t put in an address to route yourself somewhere, would be a distant choice. So the choice order basically is, 1040 Solar, 1040, 840 Solar (though again, for that much may as well get the 1040 non-solar), 840 (the sweet spot in price/performance), 540 (where the solar version isn’t worth it, but the 840 is much preferred).

Smart Trainer for Bike

So one of the main reasons I wanted a bike period, is to use Zwift, TrainerRoad, or other similar apps (more on those later). So it’d be number one on this list, but space to use it is why it’s down here. Plus to use it anywhere I can’t see the computer, means an iPad, gaming level laptop, Apple TV and a new TV, or something along those lines.

Continue reading General Wish List Spring/Summer 2024 →
General

Whatever Happened to the Chocolate Pudding Pie Recipe?

The Jell-O Brand Instant Chocolate Pudding used to come with a recipe for pie. It still says on the box, pudding and pie filling. But the box only includes the pudding recipe, not the pie one which cuts the milk.

I can’t even find the recipe on their website. They got variations of it, with Cool Whip, and Peanut Butter, etc, but not the old basic one for just the basic chocolate pudding pie.

After some searching I found this:

Directions
5 min. Pudding Directions: 2 cups of milk. Beat pudding mix and 2 cups cold milk with whisk 2 min. Pudding will be soft-set in 5 min. Makes 4 (1/2-cup) servings. Store leftovers in refrigerator.
Classic pudding pie: Makes 8 servings. Prepare as directed for pudding, reducing milk to 1-3/4 cups. (For fuller pie, use 2 pkg. [3.9 oz each] and 2-3/4 cups milk). Pour at once into Honey Maid Graham pie crust. Refrigerate at least 1 hour (3 hours for fuller pie) or until set. Top each serving with 2 Tbsp cool whip whipped topping. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Why that can’t be printed on the box anymore, I don’t know…

General

Ashes of Creation – Promising Alpha, Unfortunate Timing

So I got to play a bit of the Ashes of Creation alpha, an upcoming open world MMORPG. The eventual promise of the game, is that every action you take, can impact the world. You can help build a settlement into a city. It’s sort of EVE Online, but in a fantasy roll playing world, and perhaps not as complex… we’ll see.

To be fair, I generally don’t care for full PvP, open world MMORPGs, I prefer my games to be more theme park, like Final Fantasy XIV, which is a super great MMORPG, that I enjoy thoroughly, and I only use the Demo version of so far… World of Warcraft lost me a long time ago, long before the current player base drift.

Continue reading Ashes of Creation – Promising Alpha, Unfortunate Timing →
General

Why Isn’t January 1st on the Solstice?

First, I’m not going to be answering that question, I’m asking it, and arguing why it should have been on the Solstice (when being setup, not now), and not some random day after. This isn’t some cute way of raising the question then providing the answer, such as “why is it dark at night?” Which while it may seem a clear answer, we’re on the shaded side of the Earth from the Sun. But given the number of starts out there, that every spot you look at has tons of galaxies, even in the gap of stars, the night sky should at worst look like the Milky Way all over the place, to being even a bit brighter, even on a night with no moon overhead. There would still be night, it would still be “dark”, but it should be brighter than it is. There is of course a rather simple answer, and I’ll let you go about exploring that on your own.

This is just a simple question of why didn’t the Gregorian Calendar set January 1st on the Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice? Why some random date 11 days later? Continue reading Why Isn’t January 1st on the Solstice? →

General

On the Odd Cult of Launcher Loyalty

Okay, so there’s a game coming out next year called Satisfactory, which has been described as a first person Factorio. I’ve been looking forward to, signed up on test it, dying to test it, and all that jazz. Been following it and the news… and then a few days ago it disappeared from the Steam store, and you’d have thought the world came to the end. The developers said “They are looking into it” on the game’s Discord server, and  the community seemed to be getting in a tissy. Finally the community manager was allowed to make the announcement…

So the big news then was that the game wasn’t coming to Steam, but would be exclusive to the new Epic Games Store, and a very vocal part of the community and fan base just lost their shit as if it was the apocalypse. With many saying they weren’t going to buy the game now if it wasn’t on Steam. Even though we don’t have all the information yet, we’ll get more on Wednesday  (it’s a Friday as I type this), people are jumping to far reaching conclusions. 

Continue reading On the Odd Cult of Launcher Loyalty →
General

Thoughts on What Makes a Good Life and the Pursuit of Happiness

Generally this is a gaming blog. Occasionally I stretch into political discourse, and I used to discuss faith and religion. However, I’ve tried to keep it largely focused on gaming of late. What follows probably would normally be something I’d just post to Facebook for my friends, perhaps open that post up to the public… but I figured why not push it here for a change of pace… and then share it to Facebook. 🙂

There’s a new TED Talk video called What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness | Robert Waldinger | TED Talks

So let’s talk about a few things. Some are already pointed out in the comments, others are fresh and my own… Continue reading Thoughts on What Makes a Good Life and the Pursuit of Happiness →

General

My First Columbus Crew Match

I’ve wanted to go to a Columbus Crew game since they were formed in 1994, but it’s been the last two years as my interest in the sport itself has grown that I’ve really wanted to go, so I basically count the last two years or so of wanting to go as the real deal. Two years of wanting to go and not being able to for a variety of reasons, mostly work related. If I had the time off work, I had the kids and a two plus hour trip each way with young kids… If I didn’t have all those, it was normally really bad weather (as in thunderstorms in the area) or I just didn’t have the funds, and on occasion forgot or was busy with other things, a chance to to some board gaming with the local board game group, an important video game beta test, or whatever, including important things like spending time with loved ones. The point is, for a couple years I’ve really wanted to go but things didn’t work out.

I sadly can’t even really watch the games on TV as my TV doesn’t get that channel. I’d need a cable box for that, and I already spend enough extra on the cable for much needed Internet speed improvements. I can’t use the MLS Live app or anything like that either since I live in an area where the service is available, it is blacked out locally. I did recently find a site that often has the games showing live, though the quality leaves much to be desired. Still better than nothing.

Fast forward to recent events. On Reddit there is a sub-reddit called The Massive. There one of the users gives away extra tickets to the game, and as a bonus they are in the supporter’s section called The Nordecke (for fans of American Football, think of the Dawg Pound for the Browns). I entered, thinking there was little chance of winning, but in the end won anyhow. I finally was going to get to not only see a Columbus Crew match, but it was going to be perfect weather, there were going to be fireworks after the match as it was the 4th of July, and as an extra bonus I’d be in the Nordecke. Hopefully someday I’ll get to pay it forward, and help somebody else who wants to go.

So after spending some time with a loved one, if a bit too little time, I made the three and a half hour trek to Mapfre stadium… Continue reading My First Columbus Crew Match →

Board & Card Games, Gaming, General, Warhammer 40K Conquest

Warhammer 40,000: Conquest LCG Comes to OCTGN

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I’ve previously mentioned that Fantasy Flight Games has a new Living Card Game (LCG) coming out called Warhammer 40,000: Conquest. Needless to say I’m pretty excited about it… Perhaps not as overly geeked out as I am over Imperial Assault (see previous story), but it was one of the games I was most excited for prior to GenCon (since then Abyss has slid down a bit and Five Tribes has moved up to just below Conquest and Imperial Assault for the post GenCon stuff). Anyhow, I can’t wait for it to come out.

Sadly, I don’t have a play group to play it with. I’m sure plenty of people at the Boardgamers of Greater Akron will be playing it, but it is a bit of a drive to Akron from where I am, and I don’t know anyone local who’s into LCGs. So being able to play the game over the Internet is always a sweet deal. Sure one could use Skype and just put the webcam on the table, but that requires a playlist of people to play with a much larger table than my desk, and a few other complications. Lucky for us, there are methods of playing LCGs, TCGs, CCGs, and other games over the Internet. For card games the two main platforms seem to be OCTGN and LackyCCG. This post will focus on the OCTGN plugin, but I know there is development ongoing for a LackyCCG plugin as well (by another person than the one who did the Conquest one). OCTGN is presently Windows only (though they mention they would like to do a Mac version and touch screen version eventually), while LackyCCG is multiplatform including Windows, Mac, Linux and iPad.

Before we continue, let me note that I am in no way involved with this project, either the LCG itself (although, FFG, if you want me…lol), OCTGN or the plugin being discussed below.

So what do you need? Continue reading Warhammer 40,000: Conquest LCG Comes to OCTGN →

Board & Card Games, Gaming, General

Resistance With Regular Playing Cards

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The Resistance is one of the best games to play in a group. However sometimes you don’t have your deck with you but might have access to a deck of regular cards and the game is possible with a regular deck of cards. I’ll present some basic rule sets for playing the game with regular cards below…

The Resistance is a hidden role game for 5-10 players (it works best with 7-10). You can go over 10, but the rules presented here are for up to 10, and it becomes a bit more unwildy above 10, above 10 you are probably better moving to Werewolf, Mafia (a webcam version is popularized by Daily Mafia), Two Rooms and a Boom as they are better balanced for larger groups. Anyhow, as I was saying, it is a hidden role game. You are a member of the Resistance, fighting against an corrupt government. Each turn somebody becomes leader and decides who’s going on a mission to destroy the government. However, your group has been infiltrated by spies, who may sabotage the mission if they are on it. The number of spies depends on the number of players. If the Resistance makes 3 successful missions, they win, if the spies sabotage 3 missions they win. Continue reading Resistance With Regular Playing Cards →

General

Present State of My Digital Card Game Playing

I’ve spoken before of the Digital LCGs, TCGs and the like that I’m wanting to play. A small update on some of those.

I am still not in the Hearthstone beta. Can’t comment too much on it outside of what I’ve seen. For the moment I’m digging Infinity Wars and Card Hunter until I can get in.

I actually got in the Infinity Wars beta after all. Very good game. However I’m stuck on one of the early missions (Warpath Campaign 2 for anyone interested in helping… if I’m still stuck when help comes). Here I am playing the game (the screen cap may say Offline Now, because I likely am offline from Twitch at the moment, but it was recorded there and rather than export it to YouTube I’ll leave it there for now, anyhow the video should work.):
Continue reading Present State of My Digital Card Game Playing →

General

Digtial LCGs, TCGs and the Like of the Next Generation That I Want to Play

I’ve never been a Magic the Gathering player. I’ve had decks, but never really played.

Recently I’ve really gotten into Android Netrunner. In my opinion it is one of the best games for two people out there… but it isn’t digital… well not officially, you can play on a client called OCTGN, but for the most part you really need to be able to get to your local FLGS (favorite local game store) and play. My local FLGS in Akron, Underhill’s Games, has a weekly Netrunner event, but my car situation keeps me from making it like I would like…

Meanwhile I also have Lord of the Rings: LCG, which can be played solo… but again, not available digitally officially yet…

So digital card games are what I’ve been looking into.

The big one at the moment is Hearthstone, but that is in closed beta and I’m not in it yet, once I’m in I’ll report more and post up some videos. There are plenty of videos of it on YouTube and Twitch. Check it out. Blizzard, who made World of Warcraft, Diablo and the StarCraft (I need to get those for Ari) made this one. It seems very well done as one would expect from a first level developer like Blizzard… (Side note, I can’t wait to see Blizzard All Stars and Titan.) This is perhaps the big boy on the block, at least in the general public eye.

Infinity Wars is another big one out there in beta. I downloaded the client a few days ago, but didn’t make an account until today (Sept 1st), and sadly they just shut down beta invites… like had I signed up when I downloaded I probably could have got in, but now I’m on a 2-3 week wait. Again plenty of videos on YouTube and Twitch… to which I’ll be adding to for sure. As of the writing, they shut down new beta invites for 2-3 weeks. Had I tried to get in when I downloaded the client I probably would have been in already and making content for it…

Hex: Shards of Fate is perhaps one of the ones I’m most interested in seeing. It seems to be combining an MMO with a TCG. Yet again, closed alpha (not even beta yet). This one you can buy your way in, but I don’t know if I’m sold on the idea of buying in… I’m not clear yet on the MMO elements… what little I’ve seen seems to be just a next generation digital TCG, but I haven’t seen any of the PvE stuff yet. I’m very interested in the concept here at the very least.

SolForge I have on my iPad… I haven’t really used it yet though. I know lots of people are playing this while waiting to get in on the above.

There are a few others on the iPad that I’m not going to link to directly, but there’s Summoner Wars, Nightfall, and Ascension…

Of course Magic has its own digital version…

General

What I Would Have Done for the New Superman/Batman Movie

The way I imagined The Superman/Batman movie. Lex Luther (Bryan Cranston) reaches across the bay to Gothem’s richest citizen Bruce Wayne (now cast as Ben Affleck, though I didn’t have a casting choice in yet and I’m fine now with Affleck) in a voice of concern about this new caped crusader that nearly destroyed Metropolis in his battle with Zod (I didn’t mind the end of Man of Steel, Superman 2 had the same result, and in that one they laughed it off rather than Superman being upset about it). Batman comes over, they have a fight but they realize they are on the same time. Meanwhile Joker (no casting choices yet, I though about seeing if Mark Hamill would unretire his Joker, but this isn’t voice acting and Mark’s acting itself is what the question would be) along with my beloved Harley Quinn (also my beloved Katee Sackhoff ever since she started campaigning for it, though I might hold her off for a part in Justice League) starts causing havoc across both cities. Batman and Superman, not friends exactly, but working on the same side fight their common enemy, in the end finding that Luthor is the one pulling the strings and encouraged Joker, Luthor has something bigger planned… roll credits, tease Justice League (which is where Katee might be better cast as Wonder Woman, a tough roll to cast, Eliza Dushku would be possible, but doesn’t really fit the role as well physically, but perhaps that would be more the point).

General

This Is Water – Your Must Watch Video of the Moment

If you watch only one video anytime soon, then this is perhaps the one.

From the video description: In 2005, author David Foster Wallace was asked to give the commencement address to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College. However, the resulting speech didn’t become widely known until 3 years later, after his tragic death. It is, without a doubt, some of the best life advice we’ve ever come across, and perhaps the most simple and elegant explanation of the real value of education.
We made this video, built around an abridged version of the original audio recording, with the hopes that the core message of the speech could reach a wider audience who might not have otherwise been interested. However, we encourage everyone to seek out the full speech (because, in this case, the book is definitely better than the movie).
-The Glossary

General

The Hobbit At 48 FPS

I finally got to see The Hobbit today at the local theater in the High Frame Rate, 48fps 3D the way Peter Jackson filmed it and intended it to be seen. A bit about the movie… it’s a great movie and a must see, I’ll speak more about the movie in a bit.

The big news about the movie is that Peter Jackson filmed the movie at 48 frames per second…
Continue reading The Hobbit At 48 FPS →

General

Insane Amount of Video Game Posts

Looking over all my old posts, there have been an insane amount of video game posts… of course there hasn’t been much else going on in my life really, and most of my friends/family are on my Facebook anyhow for the more random odd things… I keep saying I should update this more often and never get to it… 🙂

General

I Hated Gym Class

Like many geeky non athletic type people, I hated gym. Add social awkwardness, thanks Aspergers, thanks, being shy to go with that lack of athletic ability and the schoolyard pick really diminishes one’s self esteem. I hated dodge ball the most, but that is another topic for another day.

Today I am going to raise my suggestion for an alternative to gym at the high school level, or at least somebody do a good video series (more on that later). I think it is important to keep gym part of the daily routine in primary/elementary school and middle school, more on those later, but in high school where you should only need 2 years worth to graduate, I think it is time to add alternatives beyond the regular gym that everyone can take. You can take 2 years of regular gym, or 3 years of the coming suggested alternate classes, or split it, 1 year of regular gym and 2 of the alternates, so there is a bonus to taking regular gym in that it takes less time.
Continue reading I Hated Gym Class →

General

Hopefully in SWTOR Friday

Well, not that they fixed my pre-order registration issues (I still can’t post to the official forums, but that is a fairly minor annoyance at least until I get in for early access and won’t be a “real issue” until the game launches), I can look forward to Early Access. There was official word posted about the remaining Early Access times:

 Posted by: Stephen Reid
A quick update on today’s invites, and a little preview of tomorrow.

Today, we invited people who had pre-ordered up to the very beginning of October (roughly). Tomorrow, we’re going to be inviting the same number of people again; that will take us up to the last week or so of November. On Friday, we’ll be inviting even more, and we’ll give you an update on that tomorrow.

You’ll see more servers coming online tomorrow, and almost certainly there will be some queuing. That was always expected. As a reminder, our plan here is to maintain healthy server populations post launch, and during the excitement of launch that will mean queues. That said, we’ll be working hard to keep those queues reasonable.

We’ll check back in tomorrow with another update.

So people who ordered up through November should be in today (Thursday, 15 November 2011) and those of us who ordered after that should be in Friday (assuming that the invites go out the same day you can get in)… of course work will cut into that time a great deal, but Sunday I am largely free.