So, as most of you who actually know me, I work in the telecom industry and my company has begun the process of being sold to someone else. What that means is today I have a job, for the forseeable future I have a job, however that could all change by end of year. Just wanted to update everyone and make sure no one was worried (yet).
So, anyone who still reads this around? Well I have an Image for you of the completed casa. Hope you like it.
Well, first let me say I never wanted to build, but we couldn’t find anything that met our needs. To that end, let me also say building a house F’in sucks! Well at least it does with our Builder/contractor. There have been delays since day one, the whole process started out in July of last year with an estimated completion of end of December/early January. Bad weather, poor communication let that date slip to February, from Feb we had to sign a contract extension to April 1. Well here we are 2 weeks exactly to April 1. House is up, cabinets are in, painters are starting. However the builder just called to set up the tile man, who is already booked… Top that with the fact that the cabinets have been in for over a week now and they countertop company was not called to come out an measure the templates to get started. I called them yesterday and set it up myself, they are coming over the weekend, which via my wife from the contractor they dont measure on the weekends. Funny how stories change when you do it yourself. But the rub is they are a month behind and it will take that much longer to complete. Wonder what the law says about moving into a house without the kitchen counter installed?
I love my wife, I love my life, I love my home (if I can ever live in it).
Blatantly Borrowed from the New York Times
Gary Gygax, a pioneer of the imagination who transported a fantasy realm of wizards, goblins and elves onto millions of kitchen tables around the world through the game he helped create, Dungeons & Dragons, died Tuesday at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. He was 69.
His death was confirmed by his wife, Gail Gygax, who said he had been ailing and had recently suffered an abdominal aneurysm, The Associated Press reported.
As co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, the seminal role-playing game introduced in 1974, Mr. Gygax wielded a cultural influence far broader than his relatively narrow fame among hard-core game enthusiasts.
Before Dungeons & Dragons, a fantasy world was something to be merely read about in the works of authors like J. R. R. Tolkien and Robert Howard. But with Dungeons & Dragons, Mr. Gygax and his collaborator, Dave Arneson, created the first fantasy universe that could actually be inhabited. In that sense, Dungeons & Dragons formed a bridge between the noninteractive world of books and films and the exploding interactive video game industry. It also became a commercial phenomenon, selling an estimated $1 billion in books and equipment. More than 20 million people are estimated to have played the game.
While Dungeons & Dragons became famous for its voluminous rules, Mr. Gygax was always adamant that the game’s most important rule was to have fun and to enjoy the social experience of creating collaborative entertainment. In Dungeons & Dragons, players create an alternate persona, like a dwarven thief or a noble paladin, and go off on imagined adventures under the adjudication of another player called the Dungeon Master.
“The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group, cooperative experience,” Mr. Gygax said in a telephone interview in 2006. “There is no winning or losing, but rather the value is in the experience of imagining yourself as a character in whatever genre you’re involved in, whether it’s a fantasy game, the Wild West, secret agents or whatever else. You get to sort of vicariously experience those things.”
When Mr. Gygax (pronounced GUY-gax) first published Dungeons & Dragons under the banner of his company, Tactical Studies Rules, the game appealed mostly to college-age players. But many of those early adopters continued to play into middle age, even as the game also trickled down to a younger audience.
“It initially went to the college-age group, and then it worked its way backward into the high schools and junior high schools as the college-age siblings brought the game home and the younger ones picked it up,” Mr. Gygax said.
Mr. Gygax’s company, renamed TSR, was acquired in 1997 by Wizards of the Coast, which was later acquired by Hasbro, which now publishes the game.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Gygax is survived by six children: three sons, Ernest G. Jr., Lucion Paul and Alexander; and three daughters, Mary Elise, Heidi Jo and Cindy Lee.
These days, pen-and-paper role-playing games have largely been supplanted by online computer games. Dungeons & Dragons itself has been translated into electronic games, including Dungeons & Dragons Online. Mr. Gygax recognized the shift, but he never fully approved. To him, all of the graphics of a computer dulled what he considered one of the major human faculties: the imagination.
“There is no intimacy; it’s not live,” he said of online games. “It’s being translated through a computer, and your imagination is not there the same way it is when you’re actually together with a group of people. It reminds me of one time where I saw some children talking about whether they liked radio or television, and I asked one little boy why he preferred radio, and he said, ‘Because the pictures are so much better.’ ”
I think everyone who has ever played is deeply saddened by this loss. Tabletop Roleplaying lost an Icon, no a legend. Mighty Magic Always Gary!
There was once a wise woman traveling in the mountains who found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and she opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked if she might give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But only a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman who had given it to him. “I’ve been thinking,” he said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I’m giving it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. I want you to give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.” -Author Unknown
Sometimes in our continual drive to get ahead, we forget that the those things we gather around us, no matter how precious they might seem, pale in comparison to the love and light we hold within.
Well, its a new year, and that means I will do more of what I always say I’m gonna do (at least for a few weeks).
Resolution 1 - Be a better humanitarian - No I’m not giving away all my money, but you know I have it pretty good, so I am going to help where I can, first is I have decided after seeing those damn sad Sarah McLaughlin commercials for the ASPCA, that I am going to start making a monthly donation there. I am also going to try to take some time once a month to go my wifes office and read to children.
Resolution 2 - Get back into shape (mind you its been many years since i was offically “in shape” but…) So step one, I’m back with the trainer I worked with before the wedding, I didn’t do enough before, so i was just maintaining the weight, now its time to lose it. Day one training was horrible starting weight 265 lbs (my heaviest ever). Week 2 down to 260 lbs.
Resolution 3 - Go to decaf - self explanitory, cut the caffeine, already dont use sugar.
Resolution 4 - Water, hydration is your friend. Replace the 3-4 Diet Cokes a day with Water.
Well thats it, big steps, lots to keep up with, but with a little help from the wife and my friends, I should be able to accomplish these.
So some people say I don’t post, but I’m not the only one. So quick and dirty updates, married, working, house should be done in Mid March. Pictures will follow, assuming I can remember my password.
Well, its official, I am a landowner, my wife and I decided to build rather than buy, as we could not find anything within our price range that met our needs. So we are building a 4 bedroom, 3 bath 2200 sq. foot home. Its not really 4 bedrooms as we will convert one into an office. However I am excited to get in at the ground level, I plan on using the closet in the office as a central network location housing the printer, modem and router/switch, and have them run network to all four corners of the room, and possibly running a line into the living room for those who have networked consoles. But it all depends on how much thats going to cost or how much I can do it myself.
So now we are in the “fun” stages, where we have to make decisions on doors, tile, countertops, plumbing, windows, etc. I already told the builder, that I want a real tile shower versus those cheap plastic drop ins. This will affect the cost, but in the long run I think it will make the resale and also the overall aesthetic better. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know, we are trying to find countertops corian versus granite versus tile, if you have an opinion, please voice it.
Hope everyone is doing great, remember to keep in touch, I know I have kinda fallen off the face of the earth, but when are on the road 2 hours a day and then work for 8, it makes it hard to want to be social, don’t take it personally!
So, I have seen Fantastic Four, thank god the Surfer was in it, or it would have sucked horribly. What the hell happened to Jessica Alba? She looks like she needs to eat a sandwich really bad, and those horribly unnatural blue contacts, geez, she was a train wreck. Took the wife to see Harry Potter Tuesday after work. I must say I was very pleased, not as dark as everyone had said it was going to be. It has been a while since I read the book, but I seem to remember there being a lot more development of the Order of the Phoenix, but again, you cannot have everything in a movie, esp when its a 600 page book.
Trying to decide if I want to go out at Midnight Friday to pick up Potter 7, in my lovely small town I have two choices; Hastings or Wal-Mart, herto known as Hell. I am excited about this book, but also a bit sad, what will J.K.R. do next? How do you follow up the biggest franchise since LOTR or Star Wars? And then, what should I read next? Part of me wants to go back and read some of my old Forgotten Realms books, but I have a hard time re-reading something I have read and loved. If you have any suggestions, please let me know, if you know me, you will know what I like.
Still haven’t seen Die Hard, going to try to catch it before it leaves dlp at the rave.
