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Shadowrun returning
So, it sounds like we’ve for enough players to actually have a Sunday shadowrun start up again. aRedbaroness has an elf adept she’s working on, specialising in some variant of killing hands. DerBlob has a Dr.Nick style streetdoc he’s building. I’m probably doing a face mage again, probably face secondary. Hopefully this time it won’t be a slippery slope into blood magic depravity. We played a round of five tribes, and apparently I didn’t explain the game very well, because people were realising midgame some of the rules. But everyone had fun, so that’s not to bad. After that, DerBlob…
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Social Media Pattern Extraction.
This morning, twitter once again suggested I follow a person who I dislike. While I haven’t seen any direct evidence that this individual is abusive and violates boundaries, I’ve seen plenty of secondary evidence, including accounts from individuals. It bothers me that because this individual has friends in common with me on twitter, or has some sort of social media profile similar to my own, twitter thinks I should connect with them. Then I started pondering something that was said the other day on a podcast, regarding Klout Score. IIRC, it was the Giant Beastcast, talking about hotel room upgrades…
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Wandering homeward
Left work more than half an hour late, after a long call with a customer who couldn’t accept that his issue was not really something we could support. DNS issues, and he can’t log into his router to change the DNS. And he’s managed to wipe the settings from his ata (analog telephone adaptor), which can easily be set up, if you can receive email, which he also can’t, though he denies this. The computer and phone didn’t ding, so he hasn’t received any email. Even though both are connecting through his router, which currently isn’t functional. Hmmm, possible connection?…
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tech woes
I haven’t been writing much lately, partially because I had a major technological failure the other day and managed to have both my Nexus 5 and my 14″ chromebook cease functioning. My ancient macbook doesn’t really have the battery to be of much use as a writing tool, if it isn’t plugged in someplace. My desktop is an option, but the chair in front of it doesn’t seem conductive to great writing. The backup cellphone, currently can’t log into wordpress, as it lacks NFC, so my security protocols won’t let it on. I could bypass that, but I haven’t really…
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Security Implementation
Yubikey and LastPass, are a pair of services that I use for storing my passwords and personal data. The Yubikey functions as an authentication token for the LastPass login, and is used to decrypt the password vault. In theory, I should consider a service where the passwords aren’t stored on their cloud, even in an encrypted format. However, I like LastPass, and I like their software. I like that their password validator seems to actually give accurate ratings to the various passwords in the vault during their security check function. Some sites will fail simple passwords that actually are very…
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Design – Combined SoaC + VPN as a secure thin client.
Earlier tonight, while discussing ideas for potential new products, I think we accidentally stumbled onto something big. Something that could be worth building. Something that could actually be worth putting together a kickstarter / indiegogo campaign for. Something that is keeping me awake, so I’m going to type it and hope that clears my head. A piece of modular hardware, built on a combination of open source software and proprietary hardware, creating something that is both extremely flexible and extremely secure. The basic concept is an office-in-a-box, a thin client based set-top box/system on a chip, with an attached hardware…
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Netflix algorithm
So, people claim that Netflix have stated that they generated the House of Cards based the fact that they saw a solid intersection between people who liked Kevin Spacey and people who enjoyed watching political thrillers. And they’re using this to generate other shows. This gives me two thoughts, the first being, we need to watch more geek shows on Netflix, rather than pirating them. This will encourage more content we enjoy being added to Netflix. The second thought, is wondering if it’s possible to manipulate these algorithms. Some nefarious individuals could construct a little program that used various methods…
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time of long shadows
Recently, I began taking steps to change some things in my life. It’s unclear what all I plan to change, but I believe that I’d like to have more options. One way to get those options is to remove the obligations I’ve got. So I began searching for someone who could pick up the slack, if I decided to retreat into the shadows. I’ve done the front and centre thing, and at some point in the last few years, when I reflected on how I was coming across, I decided to tone things down a bit, and that’s resulted in…
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Doomtown!
Saturday Afternoon, I headed over to Magic Stronghold, to check out the new Doomtown : Reloaded Organized play sessions. I was late, because of the events of the night before, and the extended period of taking care of Nikita and Guinness, over at my parent’s place. And the transit problems created by Hat’s Off Day, and the related road closures. Had I had more sleep, and had more time to properly rebuild my decks, I’d have enjoyed the game more. The deck I built, terrible design. Not enough starting influence. Maybe I should use other people’s deck designs off Doomtown…
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Summoning
There was trouble nearby, so I went to save the day. Summoned by the cries of a damsel in distress. An outcast, who has been banned from a few events, is being creeperly to a newbie. And someone who I’d brought the hammer down on, called me for backup, mostly subconsciously. I’d been in bed, reading, getting ready to sleep, but duty calls. So, I get up, throw my clothing back on and I’m out the door. I get there, and I take up a position to keep an eye on things, and check in with the girl who summoned…
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Odd Thomas (The book and the Movie)
This morning, I finished reading the novel Odd Thomas. I’d previously seen the movie, and like Horns, John Dies at the End, and pretty much every other movie that comes from a book, I’ve heard the book was better. Since I’d bought myself a kobo the other day, I’d loaded Odd Thomas onto it, and read it over the last few days. This is my thoughts, on both the book and the movie. If you haven’t seen the movie, I’d probably suggest that you see it. If you’ve got the patience for it, I think you might want to read…
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Recipe for disaster?
Minimal Sleep, Bad Dreams, and possible neuro-chemical shifts. There is a small chance that today might be my last day at my current job. It’s actually probably vanishingly small, but right now the little voice in the back of my head that warns me about such things won’t let me forget it. (No, I don’t mean I hear voices, I mean I have a recurring doubt. Excuse the turn of phrase/hyperbole.) Anyone close to me knows that I’ve got a prescription for an anti-anxiety medication, something I’ve been taking for a while, to help deal with certain things in my…
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Seeds of distrust
I have trouble dealing with passive aggressive or deceptive individuals. If I get told something second hand, whether or not I accept it as the truth depends on various factors, but if I find out that it was manipulation, and someone attempts the same play again, it’ll irk me. In theory it should anger me, but it doesn’t. It instead creates a certain comfort; establishing a pattern. And since they’ve established a pattern; they’ve given me something I could use against them, should things escalate to that level. It then becomes a question of what response is appropriate. In many…
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Advice on ants
A dying man once told me that time was like a river of angry ants, devouring our flesh and pressing ever onward, down a path we can’t accurately predict, leaving a clear swath behind them. While most of you can accept that part, it was the rest of it you’d have trouble with. It’s when you start playing with time travel that the similarities really stick out. Just like with the ants, you can try to change the flow, but they just continue to climb over whatever you toss in. Sure, with a large enough obstruction, you might cause some…
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Books I’ve read recently. 1/X
As I mentioned the other day, I picked up an ereader, with the intention of reading more. I’ve had it for a weekend and a bit, and in that time I’ve read two and a half books. I read the Dresden novel skin games, the first novel in a different urban fantasy series, the Iron Druid, and about half of the Odd Thomas book, which I’ll probably finish today. So far, Odd Thomas is very much like the movie, and I’d enjoyed the movie. I’m looking forward to the other books in the series. The Iron Druid book has a…
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Our Karma Distribution System
A while back, we decided that we wanted to figure out a way to make the karma system more interactive and more real time. We took the concept of bennies from either Dresden/Fate or Savage World, and brought it into our Shadowrun 4th Edition game. Players were given a handful of Poker chips that had their initial scribbled on it. Originally it was one chip for each player, but we later raised that amount to be one or two above the number of players. The GM took a handful of red and blue poker chips. The white ones with the…
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The arcology podcast
Dimestore and I should record some segments for the arcology podcast. We live lives too chaotic for regular podcasts, so this would be a way to test out some of the basics, and its on a topic we can spend hours discussing. Shadowrun.
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Goodreads and an ereader.
So, the other day, I decided to buy myself an e-reader. After considering a few options, I decided on a kobo. Figured I should go with the Canadian option, with all things being equal. I like the way it displays text, and I’m pretty happy with how easy it is to load books onto it, when it’s plugged in. I’ve yet to get the wireless remote loading functionality working, at least for books I’ve not bought through the kobo store. Book prices seem a bit high, but that’s probably because I figure books should be slightly cheaper without the whole…
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Tales from Tech Support…
A few years back, I was working for staffing company, on loan to a large company, in a division that provided technical support for their point of sale devices, which were installed at retail locations. The division I was in was entirely POS support, specifically for this particular retail chain. The company had some odd policies, and seemed to believe that their reputation and the chance to be convert from a contact employee into a staffer was all the incentive required to ensure productivity. The conversion rate was something like 1% per year, so I didn’t exactly agree, and I’m…
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Doomtown : Reload… I want to play it.
I really wish there was a local Doomtown league, though if there was, it would probably be happening on nights when I can’t make it out. Maybe I’ll see if I can organize something for Sunday Evenings. Conceptually, I like Doomtown. You’ve got a posse, you’re developing a town, setting up businesses, taking over businesses owned by other players, getting a bounty on your head in the process, and sometimes, you’re having shootouts. Shootouts, which are done by drawing a poker hand, with your specific dudes effecting how many cards you draw or replace. Highest hand wins, and the difference…
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Planning to see some movies.
So, in the next week, I think I’ll go see Mad Max : Fury Road and Avengers : Age of Ultron. I’m wondering if it’s worth attempting to write reviews of these, given that at this point, most people have already made up their minds about them. It would also be nice to get some company to the movies, but I don’t really know any night owls anymore.
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Some gaming, finally.
Over the weekend, Dimestore, Thike and I got together for some gaming. We had a game of Legendary Encounters Alien, where we won for a change. This was likely because Dimestore was playing the commander role and his main move was to collect up all the sergeants, allowing him to grant us an extra 2 purchase credits during our turns, or giving me an extra two damage when I was using the mercenary. It was definitely much easier than in the two player games. I think it was also less fun for me, as I was playing as the mercenary,…
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Do I have a face for podcasts?
Debating if I should learn podcasting vs youtubing, figured I’d ask the obvious question. Is it preferable to hear my voice over seeing me?
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Podcasts I listen to.
This will probably get converted from a post into a page, to make it easier to reference, but I was checking reddit today and was reminded of a podcast I’d listened to but I’d lost when I’d swapped phones. So, this will be a list of podcasts I recommend, which can also double as an easy place to reload my podcasts if I swap phones again. Giantbombcast. – Solid Video Game discussion with a mix of interesting personalities and digressions. Stop Podcasting Yourself – Vancouver-based comedy podcast, with Overheards, material taken out of context. Video Games Hot Dog – A…
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Future Projects
I’m debating making changes to this site, for the purposes of making it more functional. One of the major changes I’m thinking of putting together a link to some of the content I’m more fond of, either as a header or a sidebar. I might also add in a function to sort by category easier. I’m not sure how many people interact with my site, so I’m not sure how much work I should put into making it easier to interact with. I’m also considering learning how to do some basic audio/video production, and potentially putting together a podcast/youtube channel.…
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Mayday…
So, the last while… things have happened. Nothing major, beyond Gram coming back to the house for at least one night, and maybe more. That’ll be a bit different. I suspect I’ll stress in the evenings for a bit, til I get used to her being back here. Mostly just not sure she wants to be alone for that long. Though I know she’s got plenty of friends who will come over and visit, if she lets them know she wants company. For now, I think she’ll want just piece and quiet. I ended up getting some new hardware, a…
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Productivity
I’ve entered into a phase of high productivity, insomnia and mild mania. I’m unclear as to the catalyst to this state. I’ve no illusions that I understand how to maintain it, no solid predictions on the duration or the potential aftermath. I notice I’ve become less detail oriented, more absentminded, but for now this is compensated for by the drive forward. Momentum over precision. Forget a required piece for this step? Work around it. Hit a wall on one project? Bash head into wall until cracks appear or something shiny interrupts. Chase the shiny.
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True North Facts : Water Features
Before foreign architects included water features in designs for their buildings, Canadians needed to travel into the wilderness to take part in recreational ice climbing. Now that many buildings include them, urban Canadians can enjoy a nice climb during their lunch hour. The practice has become so popular that a some restaurants have included a “winter entrance”.
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I need to write more.
I’ve looked over the dates on my blogs and I’ve had a period recently where I haven’t really been writing. I’ve worked on a couple of articles for Erotic Vancouver, but I’ve only managed to publish one. I’ve got another one that needs to some work, the idea is there, but what I’m going to do with it isn’t there yet. Beyond that, I wrote one short piece of fiction, and a couple smaller things, but almost nothing of any note in the last month or so. Partially this was related to stress and tech issues. I had a couple…
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#30for30. I failed.
Well, last weekend, I managed my 30for30 on the first day off, but not the second day off, as I spend the day buried under the blankets with a sore throat, drinking fluids and generally trying to conserve energy. That carried over for a couple more days, and I didn’t continue my post work walking, though I should have. So, I’ve failed the challenge, though I’ll be trying to get back into the habit of it soon. My hours at work will be changing. I’ll be doing the Monday to Friday, noon to nine shift. I’m going to try to…
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ISLE
The Irresponsible Scientists League of Earth (ISLE) claimed responsibility today, sort of, for the horrific events of last week. They admitted that they installed the intelligence expansion devices in churches, mosques and synagogues around the world, but claim that the devices were intended to slowly increase the intelligence of attendees and not cause rapid cranial expansion. ISLE had expected depression and confusion, followed by enlightenment and an increased interest in science. Not the showers of blood and gore that accompanied the head explosions. “Apparently one of the guys overclocked it for better performance, and the result was perfectly logical.”
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Upgrading my current PC
I’ve got an invoice for a PC I built in 2012, for around a grand. I want to figure out what’s the best upgrade path. Aiming for playable Star Citizen at 1920X1080. Any thoughts would be welcome. The parts list from the invoice: EVGA GeForce GTX 460 823MHZ 1024MB 4GHZ GDDR5 SLI Ready 2DVI Mini HDMI PCI-E Video Card Antec Truepower New 650W Modular Power Supply ATX12V V2.3 Active PFC 80 Plus SLI Ready 120MM PWM Fan Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9 Vengeance 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1866 CL9-10-9-27 Memory Kit AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Quad Core Processor AM3 3.4GHZ 8MB Cache…
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Scheduling issues.
So, I thought I had a shift tonight and so I showed up at the office at 2:30, only to find all the desks were taken. But, we’ve had busy evenings lately, so they figure I might as well stick around. After about an hour, the morning shift clears out and I get my desk back. Not long after that, one of the regular night shift guys finds himself developing a migraine. So, it worked out. I finished a full Friday shift, and headed home. I’ve got Sunday booked off for recovery after helping with the Noir Setup and Teardown.…
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Lord of the Rings – LCG
The other day, I picked up a copy of the Lord of the Rings card game. It’s a co-op LCG, where you run a trio or sextet of heroes through a series of encounters on their way through the events of various sections of the LoTR mythology. The starter box comes with Through the Mirkwood, where you face off against the giant spiders, and two other scenarios. I’ve done about half a game of through the Mirkwood, attempting to get a feel for the game. So far, I really like it. I picked this up after listening to the Low Player…
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#30for30 day 16 & 17
After writing my article yesterday, I had enough time for a nice walk down past Dick’s Lumber before catching my bus. I’m not sure exactly how much time it took, but I left my place just after 1:10 and I arrived at the bus stop at 1:53. I’m used to being able to check the Google Fit record to see how long I was walking for, but I don’t currently have that option. Today I’ll get a walk in before I head over to visit Gram and Carol. And tonight I think I may end up soaking in the hot…
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Upcoming events from Rascal’s Club.
Last year, I met up with Gem from Rascal’s club after Taboo to talk about her upcoming events. The Ms. Rascal’s Pageant and their Kinky Camping. Both were great events, and this morning I met with Gem over coffee to discuss her plans for this year. Well, that and to catch up on all the latest news from the various corners of the community. One of the topics were got talking about was Markus and his VR Porn company, MetaVerseXXX. The change we had discussed last year, where the Ms. Rascal’s Pageant will include a Mr. Rascal’s title, has come…
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#30for30 Day 15 – More Gremlins
I didn’t get my full walk in before work, so I figured I’d do what I’ve done lately and walk home via BCIT, getting in a good 30-50 minutes of walking down a rather quiet bike route. This plan was sidetracked by the gremlins deciding to take the life of my celllphone. It’s stuck in rebooting when powered up loop. So, I had to head home to switch to my backup phone before continuing my walk. But, I managed to get my 30 minutes in before midnight.
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#30for30 day 14.
Walk down towards BCIT, a 50+ minute walk. Decent speed, until I got into the maze bits where the road isn’t what the map says it should be.
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#30for30 day 12 & 13.
Day 12, I had a coffee with a friend. Well, sorta. She ordered a basic cold green tea and I did the same; instead of my usual mocha frappe. It was different, not sure how likely I am to order it again. However, still an improvement. After that, took a walk around the heights, playing some ingress in the process. Ended it after I’d gotten my required 30 minutes because it started to rain. This morning, I’m going for a walk before work, despite the rain. I’ve put a work shirt into my pack for changing into after I get…
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The Society of the Ethical Top
Over the years I’ve heard my share of horror stories about the BDSM community. Many of the events that become the stories are probably avoidable though education and negotiation. An aspect that is often neglected in that regard is mediation; an attempt to discover how things went wrong and grow from them. In some cases, meditation won’t improve matters, as the intent behind the violation was harmful. In most cases however the intent to harm isn’t present; but misunderstanding can result in demonization as an attempt to rationalise the harm felt. Overlooking this can result in both division and gossip,…
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#30for30 Day 10 and 11.
Last night, I walked home from work in the rain. It was reasonably intermittent, so I didn’t get soaked. I made it down to the bus stop by Deer Lake parkway, checked the time til the next bus, it was long enough that it made sense to walk down the hill to the next stop. I probably could have made it one more before the bus, but it wasn’t worth the risk of missing it and having to wait 30 minutes for the next one. Today, it’s a nice sunny day, I’ll go for a wander around the heights and…
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Gremlins
I’m suffering from some serious gremlins lately. The mail server at the office had issues, google thought I was in China, my cellphone just decided to crash and go into a state where it wouldn’t boot, and other tech has been acting up. Oh, and that nice ADSL outage and ERX server issue the other day. I’d blame a technomancer, but I haven’t seen any evidence of resonance. Working in Tech support, I’m supposed to deal with other people’s technical inabilities, not be suffering from my own unexplained ones. Well, at least I’ve got the training to make them work…
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#30for30 day 9.
Longer walk tonight. Two short walks during the day to visit gram and then to get to work, then a 45 minute walk down to Goard way stop after work. The timing meant I didn’t need to wait long for the bus. Then another 10 minutes after the bus to get home. Thinking about installing the zombie! run app and doing that over the weekend, since I’ll have the time and it’ll be something different.
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#30for30 day 8.
Laggy day before work again. After work, headed north along a north south bike trail that goes down to BCIT. Had a nice 40 minute walk to get down here. If my bike was 100%, I’d consider riding to/from work. I need to get the chains checked and oiled before I take it on long rides. Oh and of course get some practice riding on the weekends to be sure my muscles and balance will handle riding for an extended period.
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#30for30 day 7.
Didn’t get a walk in before work. Work ended at 9:05. Walked down to bcit, over 30 minutes. Good enough.
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#30for30 day 6.
Took a walk this morning. Miscalculated the route, should have taken a different one to catch the 123 after I finished it. Oh well, 40 minutes is decent.
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Monday plans.
It’s Monday, the start of another work week. I’ll be working til 9pm every night this week, so that limits what I can plan. I’ve got my #30for30 going on, so I’ll need to be getting in at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. That means a walk every day before I head to work, preferably before I shower, so I’m not offending my coworkers. I’m thinking I might try for more, during the evening, after I have my dinner, since I haven’t done night walks in a while, and I kinda miss that peacefulness. I’d like to get…
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A military academy, really?
So, this morning I woke up with memories of having taken a giant ant robot out to a military academy, by way of a golf course. While I was out there, I had to deal with a rather hardcore religious ceremony, befriended by some Ukrainian orthodox crew who had some strange rituals of their own, including some strange complicated handshake. The nuns had strange crucified monkey puppets, something that made sense, but confuses me now. Then the giant ants got into a fight with a half dozen other ant robots that had been hidden around the grounds. And then the…
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#30for30 day 5.
After work, I walked north towards BCIT and got in a good 30 minutes before finding a bus stop to catch it home.
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#30for30 Day 4. A walk around the Heights.
It wasn’t raining, so I went for a walk. Then the phone rang. Richard wanted to go to Neptune. After I spent another 25 minutes walking around, I headed out there, and spent 5 hours fixing phone systems.
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Cleaning up my categories.
Just doing some vague maintenance on the site, cleaning up the various categories that I’ve got things flagged under. I probably need to add a few more categories, especially as I add more random posts.
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Day 3 of the 30for30.
#30for30 – Well, day 3, managed 3.33kms in 34 minutes. Plus the time that I had to wait for the traffic lights to cross Hastings.
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More strange dreams
Warning. This will probably be disturbing to some readers. This was an unexpectedly violent dream. Writing in strange places, like a wooden picnic table, cantilevered over a pool. Having to adjust the table, so it wasn’t sinking into the pool. People asking for the WiFi password, and not taking the hint that I didn’t want to give it to them. A computer set up in my old bed room; someone stealing files from it. A confrontation with the guy who’d taken the files, being told they were nothing to worry about, just my porn collection; broken up by his…
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If I had friends…
…I’d plan to spend this weekend playing board games with them. Since I don’t seem to have friends with free time or an interest in board games, I’ll binge on netflix, play some ingress, and walk until my feet hurt. And maybe do some writing.
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Day 2 of the 30 for 30.
I woke up at 6 am, and couldn’t get back to sleep for about 2 hours. After I got back to sleep, I had a dream involving a really nice classic car, that I had helped offload into a driveway. Afterwards, I backed into it. Immediately. Then I woke up. It was around 11am. Gram was checking to see if I was still coming to visit her. I got a lift over there with my mother, chatted with Gram for a little bit, then we took the two dogs out for a 40 minute walk around the neighbourhood. Decent exercise,…
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First day of 30 minute extra exercise.
35 minutes, 3.69kms. I could post the route, if it had value to anyone.
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30 for 30.
My mother convinced me to get involved with a 30 for 30 challenge. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be doing an extra 30 minutes of exercise a day, every day. Today, I walked for about an hour, before I headed to work. Unfortunate shoe choice meant I’ve got a strange blister on my left foot today, to go along with the lack of healing I’ve had on the small toe on the right foot. In theory, it would be nice to have feet that don’t hurt, but I’m not sure how one manages to have that. In any case, tomorrow morning, I’ll…
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Ultrasound.
Well, that was fun. 30 minutes of poking with a rod and being told to take a deep breath and take out. Hit a coffee shop after, then headed down towards Hastings. Got in a bit of a walk, and now I’m sitting down for a bit of breakfast at the Red Wagon. Mental note, come back here. The doctor will get the ultrasound results in a few days then he’ll contact me. 8 hour day after I get back to Burnaby. Short week though, what with the long weekend coming up. Really feeling the need to roll some d6s…
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disrupted
Apparently I pressed the wrong button and failed to save about a page of writing that I’d just typed up. I wrote that I had a pretty quiet weekend. I helped with Noir’s setup and teardown, though I didn’t attend the event. I wasn’t really up for socializing in a loud place. I also skipped the socializing at Starlit citadel’s open house on Saturday, though I don’t have a good reason for that. Got home around midmorning, and mid-afternoon I got a text from someone asking me to help with some community drama. I also found out that my plans…
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brief update
I need to write things more often. I’ve been slacking lately. There was some recent news regarding my liver. It scored a 16 on a test where anything above a 10 is a bad thing. But that’s been covered on my facebook, which this posts to, so most people who read this will already have read about that.
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Raspberry Pi
So, I’m definitely thinking about buying a Raspberry PI. They’re pretty cheap, pretty interesting to work on, and surprisingly powerful now. Also tiny. 85.60mm x 56mm x 21mm. I’ll need to build/find a case for it. I’m not sure what to do with it after that.
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Domlander 2015
Well, that was a fun night. I wrote a decent piece. It’s up over here, at Erotic Vancouver. And now I’m tired. Tomorrow, I’m going to wander Victoria for a bit. Maybe do some ingressing.
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Live Blog.
Well, I’m about to make another attempt to channel the spirit of Spider Jerusalem once again, and put together a live blog. A stream of my thoughts, coherent enough to be understood and interesting enough to be worth reading. If you’re curious what I’m up to tonight, it’ll be going up over on EroticVancouver.com.
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Decompression.
Well, it’s Tuesday now. I had an interesting weekend at GottaCon. On Sunday night, I got news that my grandmother had injured herself on the stairs, she’d slipped fallen a few stairs. She didn’t break anything, but has a few bruises and is obviously stiff. She’s currently walking with a walker, and will be staying with my uncle for a bit. We headed back after we heard the news, rather than sticking around for the extra day. During a rush to catch the last ferry, we managed to leave behind a big IKEA bag full of board games, which have…
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live fire enviroment.
Testing in the laboratory is a good start. Once its solid there, then you test it under field conditions. Then you get someone else to test it; if it can survive that, then you’re ready to deploy it. Remember the key to success is being able to recognize when you’re completely unprepared and having the fortitude to go for it anyways. Having a wide ranging skill set and the right tools is far less stressful though.
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Medication
I started wondering tonight if the maturity and social awkwardness of the last few years is the result of growth or the result of the cipralex that I’ve been taking as a mood stabilizer. Prior to taking the cipralex, I was having issues with stress and a bit of anxiety. At least I think that it was the reasoning at the time. As usual, I’m a bit fuzzy on the exact motivations of something that happened a while back. I know I had experienced a few panic attacks, when I’d come up the stairs at night and didn’t hear anything.…
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Games for Gottacon.
Those that are coming: Cthulhu Wars Roll for the Galaxy Xia : Legends of the Drift System Netrunner Dead of Winter Doomtown Reloaded Evolution ? – Joe Likes Five Tribes? – Mancala Alchemists ? – Fancy Black Fleet ? – Pirates Among the Stars? – (7 Wonders in Space) Robinson Crusoe? – Co-op. – Highly Thematic. The Maybe List: Seasons? – Drafting mechanics Arctic Scavengers? – Deck Building. Among the Stars? – (7 Wonders in Space) Robinson Crusoe? – Co-op. – Highly Thematic. Abyss? Caverna – Big and Complicated Agricola Shadowhunters? Pandemic : The Cure? The Nope list: Eldritch Horror Galaxy Truckers Lords of Waterdeep Eclipse Escape Smash-up…
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Sunny morning.
On my way to work on a nice sunny day. I’ve got an hour til I start, and about 15 minutes worth of travel time on my current route. So, that’s 45 minutes to wander and enjoy the sunshine. Tomorrow I’ve got a work lunch, which will be nice. Friday I’ve got the day off since I booked time off to help Reive with the Noir setup down at the Astoria. Instead I’ll be working the Sunday. Saturday, I’d intended to attend the Netrunner pub tournament, but if I’m helping with Noir until at least 4am, I don’t think I’ll…
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Obviously, I need to write more.
Today I decided to invest another $100 into my 2009 White Unibody Macbook. I’ve already replaced the main hard drive with an SSD to keep it functional and stripped out the CD room drive for a space to throw in a bigger storage drive. While my chromebook is my preferred machine for writing on while I’m mobile, the mac, when plugged in, is still a better machine to work on, especially since I can actually load a bunch of applications and have them all function properly. On the chromebook, I’m having to root it, load a xfce shell, and then…
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Predatory Behaviors discussion
Recently on Jezebel, there was an article about a Male Feminist being accused of rape. I brought the topic up with Reive, as something Erotic Vancouver should address. The biggest problem is, currently EV is a bit lacking in active female writers. We recently added 2ndNature, though I think she’s still getting stuff sorted out. We were also adding Moon Dancer, though I’m unclear when she’s going to have the time to write, as she tends to have a busy life. So, I approached a couple of other females from the kink community, for their opinions. We’ve got a few of…
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Thoughts on a rainy day
I’ve noticed that it’s been nearly a week since my last post. Well, I posted something in the meantime, but I posted it elsewhere, so that doesn’t count. It’s felt like a busy week, even though not much has happened. Mostly I’m killing time until the end of the mouth. Gottacon, over in Victoria. Gaming and socializing. And of course the Portal 2 musical. And then the following month, Domlander. The current plan is that I’ll get set up with a table where I can write about it live during the show. I’m looking forward to that. Speaking of writing,…
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Underground
Sitting in an underground parkade, outside something that can best be described as a rave. Reminds me of a similar parties ages ago. I’m trying to have some deep thoughts, but the surface tension seems pretty solid. Just skipping stones across the surface at this point.
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Hatchets
The other night, while reflecting on the past, I was reminded of my role as the hatchet man lurking in the shadows of the community. That’s a thought that requires some explanation. I don’t know that I can pinpoint when it started or how, but I do have an understanding of why it came about. It is open to interpretation whether my compulsion to make decisions that are unprofitable but morally satisfying is a result of moral fibre or self hatred combined with an inferiority complex. It’s also possible that I’m just addicted to the self satisfaction of taking the…
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There will come a morning after…
I’m on the bus on the way back into the office. I’ve had an interesting weekend. Created more content than I’ve created in a long time. It can be found over on EroticVancouver. That’s the majority of the writing I did this weekend, though there’s another 50% again as many words that have been written and will be released on EV over the next couple weeks. While I was at Taboo for most of the weekend, I did manage to get some work done. Delivered three modems that should go live sometime today. And sat in the dungeon programming an…
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Intensions (SiC)
My intentions for this blog were to write about the concept in Gaming known as Murder Hobos, the adventurers who lack moral fibre and motivation for their violent kill sprees. I was reminded of this the other day, when someone on a shadowrun podcast referred to their players as murderhobos. It reminded me of what I intended to write here, what I wanted to examine. It was always partly my intent to chronicle my personal experiences, but I had also wanted to examine gamer culture. The big thing standing in the way of that, is that due to personality conflicts,…
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The Calm before the Storm
Well, it’s Saturday morning, and I’m sitting on a couch, watching House with my Grandmother, who is currently cuddling my stuffed Cthulhu. We’ve been watching House for a few weeks now, since I had it on one night after work. Prior to that, I’d been watching it to decompress after work, and I’d gotten through five or so seasons. I think we’ve only got a season or two left. In theory, I should head down to Taboo soon, but Gram isn’t feeling great, so I’m sticking around here for a bit. On Monday, she had some heart problems, and was…
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Breakfast at Cozmos
I’m relaxing at Cozmos up on Hastings; east of the Heights, just past Kensington. Lovely little place, run by some great people. Really friendly, really welcoming. I just had a lovely Italian Benny and am getting myself mentally ready for what promises to be a pretty heavy day. At 4pm I’ll be meeting Reive, Cap’n Matt, Mikey and Gutrot at the OV train station to take the Modo Promaster over to the storage locker. All the Noir pieces from the locker will get loaded into the van, driven to Chapel and unloaded. Then, after the party, around 3am, we’ll reverse…
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Drunkard Dance 0.56
Duggan regained his balance. He was standing in a bathroom; it was somehow familiar. His attacker hadn’t followed him in, just shoved him through. Duggan turned and twisted the bolt on the door, locking it. His head spun for a moment, and he stepped towards the sink. He twisted the right hand tap, ran his hand under the water and then splashed it up into his face. He stared into the mirror, collecting his thoughts. A sticker on the bottom corner of the mirror caught his eye and he focused on it for a moment. His head cleared, he turned…
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Drinks unfinished – 0.47
Gorman held the bottle up to the light. “Well, that’s just about half the bottle. And according to the letter, I should save the other half.” He paused dramatically. “For the Future.” He raised his glass towards Duggan. “Right. The future. Does the letter mention the next bottle?” “Believe it or not, it does.” Gorman reaches down under the table again, into the little cabinet that has been installed there. “I think that’s the main reason I’m playing along. My uncle had good taste.” Duggan toyed his glass and set it back on the table, a little bit left in…
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iCandy Thoughts
This is my attempt at a review of iCandy, a party that is thrown on Friday nights at Club 8×6, by ScottyHotty half of the [adjective not found] Plur Duo, with his partner, Markus|edge. The Plur parties have been some of the better events that I’ve attended. I’ve also enjoyed the energy on the dance floor at Noir when Markus has been up on the decks. The events they throw have had a good energy, a good vibe, a good [word for a spiritual thing that is hard to put into words without sounding like a hippy] or something like that.…
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Drunk man down 0.45
Despite the allegations against Gorman, he and Duggan had remained friends. They weren’t as close since the school had been putting pressure on Duggan to provide evidence that Gorman had been involved in the disappearance. That had understandably strained things between them. It was a few days after Duggan’s birthday, and Gorman had invited him out for a drink. He’d skipped out on the party that Duggan’s staff had thrown for him the weekend before and felt a bit of regret about it. He’d known he shouldn’t attend, given how some of them felt about him. They had met in…
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Loading Order
Just for future reference, when I’ve brought a vehicle to an event, the loading order is thus : People I brought with me. People I consider extended family Event staff and their cargo (Human or otherwise) Drunk Friends who couldn’t get home on their own Friends People going the same direction And it’s always good manners to chip in some gas money.
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Wormhole Descending.
It had been nearly a year since the disappearance. They hadn’t found a body, they hadn’t found any evidence or any witnesses. That hadn’t stopped the rumours. They’d had a fight, he’d blacked out, she’d gone missing. To say that people were suspicious of his story was an understatement. The hostility had grown over time, as he had tried to live his life, attend classes and deal with the hole in his life where she had been. He’d been trying to function, but it had gotten progressively harder. He’d gone out for drinks a few times, with the few…
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Navel Gazing.
Last time I checked out iCandy, I was in a strange mood. I sat in a dark corner entertaining people with the neon wand and typed up an article on my phone, something that was technically against the rules of the club. This time, I’m in the same corner, but I’ve brought along a laptop and so my ability to type has greatly increased. I’m sure on some level, this is probably against the spirit of the rules, though I doubt anyone has been strange enough to bring a laptop with them to necessitate such rules. But, as always, I…
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shower thoughts
While I showered this morning, I thought about who I am and how I communicate. In some ways, I’m a fairly private person, and in others I’m rather open about things. I try to be transparent about things, and that means it’s mostly things that I feel have no ability to harm me. Areas where I feel vulnerable, become fairly obfuscated. They are still there, but I tend to adjust the lighting around them so they’re harder to notice. For the most part, these tend to be things that I feel would be “whining” to talk about. I find I’m…
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Review – Xia: Legends of a Drift System
Background : (Why I got the game, skip if you don’t care about context) A while back, I heard great things about Xia from a couple of different people. A guy at the local Trumpeteer Gaming club was drooling over the copy he’d gotten from the Kickstarter campaign, and it was mentioned by a couple of podcasts I’d listen to. I’ve gotten a bit burnt out on Kickstarter, after the Zombicide and Miskatonic School for Girls failed to live up to the hype. I’ve still got the bonus minis for Zombicide, which are apparently selling for a ton each, though…
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Drunken wormhole 0.25
“Let me get this straight, you’re pounding on his door to tell him his fiancée’s parents are going to murder him if he doesn’t get her home immediately” she paused, grinning “and he tells you that he just came out of the closet. And neither of you find that funny.” She quirked her eyebrow, “at all?” “I would, if I knew where she was. Maybe.” He sighed and rubbed his head. The coffee was helping a bit. “I’m worried about her.” “You two broke up, didn’t you? Why is it your problem where their spoiled brat ended up?” She frowned…
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Drunken Wormhole 0
“Alcohol is the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems.” – Homer Simpson – For James Arthur Gorman, it certainly started his problems. Gorman was invited out to a party to celebrate his recently published paper; not normally a drinker, the good news and lack of stress encouraged some indulgence. A whirling dance of images and sounds later, he wakes up to a pounding in his skull and on his door. Disoriented, he attempts to make sense of where he is. He’s on the ground, in a small space; reaching out his arms find the walls with ease.…
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Post Mortem. New Years.
Well, I went out for New Years eve. And not long ago, I made it home. The last leg of my trip home was a 3 km walk, from Renfrew up to my place. During the walk, I had a decent amount of time to reflect. Right now, my gut says that it was likely my last night out at Noir or other kink events for the foreseeable future. It was not a bad night, but a few minor things have left me feeling like I need to take some time away from things for a bit. The difficult part…