In my previous Goml post I wrote about Kings Quest 3, and how it was one of my first games. I always got stuck at one point in the game where it came time to cast some of the spells. You see, some of the guidebooks had the spells written down incorrectly, and if you type the spell in the game incorrectly, you die. Anyway, it's been out of print for a long while now, and unless you had a really old computer you couldn't play it even if you found a copy.

Last night Tigs and I went to Target to get a couple of odds and ends, and as we passed an end rack with a couple of clearance computer games Virginia paused and pointed and my eyes were immediately drawn to a very pretty box. It was a compilation of all of the Warhammer 40K Dawn of War games! (Ha! You thought I was going to say Kings Quest!) And right next to it was a compilation of the first 7 Kings Quest Games (which was what she was actually pointing at)!!!!

No, I didn't get both. Wanted to, but I realized that I barely have any time to play games as it is, and the Kings Quest set comes with 7 games!!

After we got home, I loaded it all up, and then clicked KQ3. The screen went black… and then popped back to the deck top after about 20 seconds. It turns out it needed a couple of patches to make it work, so I downloaded them, and restarted the game. I played for about 12 minutes before I died. It's amazing how much I remember. I spent way more time obsessing about this game when I was 10 then I needed to, probably because I got stuck. I'm so thrilled I can finally beat that damn wizard!

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1. What's your favourite TV network?
Netflix

2. If you could create your own channel, what would it be?
A mix of scifi, history/documentary, foreign and independent films, and home improvement shows.

3. What TV show did you watch as a child, that you wish they would bring back?
Star Trek The Next Generation

4. What show have you always hated, and wonder why they ever made such a dumb show?
Soap Operas

5. What TV show's seasons would you buy on DVD?
Heh. Lots of them!!

6. Are you a good worker?
I can be.

7. What do you carry?
Years of experience, less hair, my wallet, cell phone, and keys

8. Do you know your neighbors?
Not yet.

9. Where do you like to go for a day trip?
Hiking.

10. What is at your feet?
My backpack

11. What makes you feel old?
Everyone telling me I'm old.

12. What makes you feel young?
Sticking my tongue out at them!

13. What was better when you were allowed to do it the old way?
Summers (when it actually meant time off)

14. What's better now that you do it the new way?
Driving to work, I don't use the beltway anymore!

15. What's something you are old school about?
Video/computer games

Well, I blew it. I said I wouldn't, and I held out for a while, but the siren's call just took me in.

Saturday night I painted a miniature, and worked on another. I know I said I wouldn't, and I hadn't really planned on it, but when silentrequiem arranged a craft and movie night… what was I to do? I don't have any pictures to show you, but I painted Khamul the Easterling (a ring-wraith), and the base colors on Suladan the Serpent Lord. Pictures forthcoming.

Mostly we watched The Simpsons, and I played some Lego Star Wars on Elspeth's Wii with Jay.

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Today Lucy did really well at both her dog school classes. Go monster!

This was an exciting weekend. Not all of it exciting in a good way. Priya late last week had once again injured herself. A little scratch on her throat, which over the course of a few days became irritated and infected. Tigs noticed how bad it looked on Saturday morning, and we decided to take her to the vet. There aren’t a whole lot of emergency vets who know anything about hamsters, but one of them happens to be in Bel Air. We didn’t have to wait too long before they sent us in to be seen by the vet, and unsurprisingly Virginia predicted *exactly* what the vet would say. There was a funny moment while the vet was checking out Priya's cheek pouches, and he said, “There’s something green in here…” and out pops a small, green, slightly chewed sphere. “Mung bean,” Virginia and I said together. Priya just looked mad, and has not stopped looking mad since.

We were given antibiotics and benebac, as well as a sheet on hamster care. Giving Virginia a sheet on hamster care is kinda like giving Michelangelo a how-to-paint book, but it’s the thought that counts.

After that I trekked up to Lancaster to visit with my cousins. Dragging along a planet and some starships, we quickly divided up the fleets between the 4 of us. Cory and I took the Chaos fleet, and Alex and their friend Aubrey took the Imperial ships. There will probably be a separate post about that, once I go through all the pictures I took. The game was fun, and close, including things like one ship getting shot at by 18 torpedoes, ships ramming, and a light cruiser that survived far more then it should have. In the end the Imperials had crippled most of the chaos fleet and held the board, though they sustained some very serious losses. End result would have been a minor victory. We then played some Halo. I never want to play against Cory again. He’s insanely good at it! He switches between the sniper rifle and the missile launcher (which he uses at close range) for his kills. We ended up playing the 3 of us against him. By the time he got his 50 kills, we had only killed him 11 times. Total.

Last night I chopped up a bunch of stuff for chili, which is in the crock pot right now. There is a green pepper, a yellow squash, a potato, a quarter cup of dry roasted peanuts, and red, black and pinto beans, as well as a can of beets. It’s been cooking all day, and I can’t wait to taste it.

2 weeks ago the new power cord for my X-box arrived. For the first time since then I actually used it! Last night I began a game of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic . I played for a little over an hour, and so far I like the way the game progresses. I can definitely see why the game is popular, and why is spawned a sequel. The game play is pretty smooth, and as it’s d20 based I know how just about everything works. I’m not sure when I’ll get some more time to turn on the X-Box, but when I want something with a little more story than Halo I’ll probably be playing Knights of the Old Republic .

Today’s high is 81 degrees. 81!! Did someone forget to remind Mother Nature that summer is over? And that we are now a month into autumn? I’m willing to bet that by the time October is over it will go on record as one of the warmest in history. Not because there have been a ton of record highs on individual days but because overall the month has been 10-15 degrees warmer then usual. Crazy. And I am SO ready for cool weather. Not that we had a particularly hot summer, but I just haven’t been feeling in the fall mood. I haven’t even gotten any candy corn yet!!

So you know we got a guinea pig right? While at work today I’ve been reading up on them, and as crazy as it sounds I’m seriously considering getting her a cellcage mate. On the pro side is the fact that they are social animals, and Tigs and I are away 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, plus we have a puppy. On the con side is the worry that if they don’t get along we’ll have to separate them, just as Yann’s had to be separated.

You remember that “meet and greet” I went to back on the 3rd? Well, I heard back from them. There was a thin white envelope waiting for me in the mail yesterday. I’m a little disappointed, but really I wasn’t expecting too much to come of it. I hoped, of course, but had no real expectations. Ah well. In about 6 months it’ll be time to actively start looking anyway. That time will fly, especially as we should be winding down our house hunt.

Also yesterday was my first Intermediate Accounting test. I had squeezed in about as much study time as I could, rereading my notes, rereading the book, taking the online quizzes, and redoing some of the homework. 30 multiple choice questions later, I think I did ok. The grades haven’t been posted online yet, so I can’t tell you how I actually did.

Last weekend when we headed up to Frederick it was crazy busy. It was so busy that they had closed off one of the main streets. Unfortunately this was the main street I take to get to the comic store, and as we were cutting it close, time wise, we decided to skip that and just hit our usual downtown stops. We ended up picking up some more hiking socks and I got another warm weather hiking shirt that I wore on Sunday. (And of course we got dog food. And dog treats.)

To say that Lucy was not impressed with the events would be an understatement. It was twilight when we got there, and getting darker by the minute, and we happen to have a dog who’s afraid of the dark. Plus the number of loud drunk people who tried to pet her didn’t help any.

Oh, and a while back I mentioned that my x-box power cord was broken. The new cord arrived in the mail! Free!! Of course I still don't really have any time to play any of my games, but now I can!

Peace, Love & Hope

Man I feel like crap right now. Sunday night my nose started running. Monday my throat got sore. By Monday night I was feeling downright awful, but I made it through class. After I got back from class I took some NyQuil and tried to watch the pilot of Heroes. I think I remained conscious through the whole episode. Of course I some funky dreams when I did go to bed.

Tuesday morning, I wasn’t really feeling any better. I took some Sudafed and headed off to work. Managed to make it through the day, but tigergladys ran Lucy in agility class. I was sure I’d end up falling, cracking my head on something and bleeding on the floor mats. Then I’d get yelled at for staining the floor.

Wednesday was still crappy. My boss actually just told me to go home around 1, so I did. Took sort of a nap, relaxed, read some and had some soup. Tigs has been wanting mozzarella sticks for a while now, so when she got home we went down to the TT diner and she got her sticks and I got some more soup. Then I went to class.

Now it’s Thursday. Still feeling crappy. I wish I was sicker. As it is I just feel sick enough to feel sick, and not sick enough to stay on the couch and watch movies and drink tea. At least I don’t have anything I need to do tonight.

Tomorrow night Tigs goes to visit her sister for the weekend. So it’ll just be me and Lucy. We’ve got big plans too! I have to go to school first thing Saturday morning to take a test that I’m going to miss on Monday due to picking Tigs up from the airport and taking Lucy to her Rally class (not in that order though). Then I’ll be taking Lucy up to Oregon Ridge park for a dog charity event. When that’s over we’ll head home, and I’m going to study for the upcoming accounting test. Sunday will be more studying and some hiking with the Lucymonster. Not sure where we’ll go yet.

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In other news, my X-Box power cord has decided that it doesn’t want to play anymore. For those who don’t know there is a built in fuse on the plug. Well, mine has apparently burned itself out. It was kind of a bummer as I wanted to shoot some stuff in Halo. Anyway, I called the X-Box help desk, and talked to a nice lady in India , or maybe Pakistan , and spent a little bit of time going over the problem. They are sending me a replacement cord…. FREE! It turns out that all cords made before some point in 2003 are defective and can cause fires! Awesome! Now I just have to wait for it to arrive...

I have also painted up a number of BFG ships. I hope to have Tigs take some decent pictures of them tonight. If we succeed in getting decent pics, then you should see them this weekend. Aside from that I don’t have anything I really want to do except relax and try to feel better.

Also, an icon I've been meaning to upload for a while.

1. Have you ever been pulled over? How many times? I’ve been pulled over a couple of time for speeding, and driving with an expired registration.

2. What are you most likely to be pulled over for? (Speeding? Reckless driving? Expired tags/inspection? Bad signal/headlight?) In the future? Probably something stupid like a bad signal.

3. You're driving along on your merry way when you see a police car. What is your first thought? I check the speed I’m going.

4. When you see a cop car, do you hit your brakes or keep your foot on the gas? I keep my foot on the gas. Maybe let up on it a bit, depending on how fast I’m going.

5. What's your personal speed limit? How do you determine what it is for any given road? Usually around 5mph over the listed speed limit. This of course depends on how much over the limit everyone else is going.

6. What’s something you suspect you regularly overpay for? Car insurance.

7. What’s something you suspect you regularly underpay for?

8. What’s taking up more of your time than it should? The leasing office

9. What’s causing you stress only because you let it? Life.

10. If all your karma were based on your positive and negative attitudes, would it be in good shape, in bad shape, or perfectly in balance? It would be in good shape, but it would need a little work.

11. If you were a full course meal what would you be?
soup: French Onion
salad: Caesar
meat: Roast Pork
dessert: Pumpkin Pie with Vanilla Ica Cream!
beverage: Spiced Apple Cider

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Over the weekend tigergladys and I spend a couple of hours each day painting agility equipment at the club. Each day we went early and met up with the owners of another puppy named Tonks, and we gave the puppies the chance to play with each other. It went really well, they really liked each other, and they tired themselves out with greater ease and pleasure then we could do. The best part was that they offered to take Lucy during the day over the next couple of weeks, rather then us putting her into doggie daycare at Petco or the vets office.

Tuesday was Lucy’s first time spending the day not at home and not with us since we got her. She loved it, and now seems to love us less. She also came home completely exhausted. We needed to make a quick trip to Trader Joe's, and because she didn’t even get off the couch as we were leaving we decided to not lock her in the kitchen. When we got home, she had moved to the floor, but that was it. She was so exhausted I had to carry her upstairs at bedtime. She was ready to sleep on the couch rather then move!

As most of you know Friday we got a letter from the leasing office letting us know that they would be doing inspections of the property between the 4th and the 14th. With the arrival of the letter I contacted the bank where we got our car loan about getting pre-approved for a mortgage, and Tuesday we heard back. We’re pre-approved for $190,000, which depending on where we look can get us a fair house. That is of course, more then we can currently afford, though by the time Spring rolls around I should be making significantly more. So now it’s time to contact a realtor, and get ourselves into our own house!

In addition to painting, finding some place for Lucy to go for the next 2 weeks, and calling the bank, we spent a whole lot of time cleaning. It’s probably one of the top 3 cleanest the house has been since we moved in. It’s kind of nice having it all clean, but having to keep it clean for the inspections is a pain.

I finished the game of Galactic Civilizations that I was playing before. I won through cultural domination of the galaxy. It happened rather quickly too. I think I’m going to go for a variety of game styles as I go along, including an alliance/diplomatic victory, a military victory, and a technological victory, just to see how the game plays differently while attempting those styles. I have however discovered that trying to ally with some of the minor civilizations isn’t all that great an idea. It doesn’t work all that well.

I don’t know if it’s because of playing Galactic Civ that I’m also in the mood to work on my Battlefleet Gothic stuff, or I’ve been playing Galactic Civ because I’m in a sci-fi mood. And I don’t just want to paint them, but I want to do some converting and even some scratch building! Of course all this desire will come to very little. There is too much else going on that needs to be taken care of right now, and many other projects that have a significantly higher priority. Besides, I need more storage for my painted minis. I can keep the unpainted ones in ziplock bags, but ones that I’ve actually finished (and want to keep) need someplace safe to go.

Speaking of higher priority, Wednesday night was accounting. 201 seems to be more about theory and a deeper understanding of why we did all of the things we did in 101 and 102. The professor has stated a couple of times now that it’s not a bookkeeping course, it’s about understanding why you do bookkeeping the way you do. This is, as far as I’m concerned, a great thing. I love theory. Everything works and makes sense, in theory. We’ll see if theory matches reality in this case.

Thursday was payday, so we went to the bank, then came home and watched some TV.

Friday I took off to take Lucy to the vet. She was about due for her rabies vaccination. Her appointment was at 8:30, so up early we headed off. Lucy, thinking we were going to see her friend Tonks again was thrilled to get in the car, but when we hadn’t arrived after about 20 minutes she started to get a little upset with me. She eventually settled down, and just watched out the windows as we drove along. Things went fine at the vets, and he complimented Lucy on how beautiful she was. I agreed, saying she was a pretty girl. He then said that, yes, she is pretty, but he was talking about her personality.

Once we finished up at the vets I took Lucy off on a house hunt. I had found an online listing for a house from 1850 with over an acre of land for a mere $119,000. Ok, it is out in the middle of nowhere, but I’m willing to do the long commute thing for a house at that price. Anyway, we eventually found it (I forgot to print directions, and only had the printable flyer from the web) and it was awful. It was built in the 1850s, maybe updated once in the 1950s, and apparently by midgets who hate windows. Standing on the porch I could hit my head on the ceiling by standing on my toes. The sides of the house each had only one window. The front had 5. The sheds and barn on the land were kinda cool, though also needed some structural work. All in all it was a little disappointing, but not really surprising. Also it is right next to a quarry. That’s what that big white thing is on the map. It’s in a great little town though. Shame.

We then rode back to Frederick , swung by Two Paws Up and Brainstorm Comics, and then onto the park to relax, enjoy lunch, and get some homework done. We succeeded in the first two, and then Lucy started to feel the vaccines. On top of that the day was getting rather hot by this point, so we packed up and headed to the dog club building to get out of the sun. In spite of not feeling all that great Lucy really wanted to play, so again, not a lot of homework got done. Around 4 we headed home, and spent the rest of the night vegging out.

That was all last week. Tomorrow (maybe) I'll post about this past week.

The X-Box arrived on Tuesday, and unlike the last package that UPS tried to deliver, they actually left the box, instead of one of their little slips. This was at about 2 in the afternoon… while Tigs and I were at work, and with a massive thunderstorm rolling it’s way around the Baltimore/DC area. So I left work a little early to try to make sure it didn’t get soaked or stolen by the neighborhood hooligans. Luckily it was there, and dry. That evening we set it up, and tried it out. We played a little bit of Sonic, and it works perfectly!

Wednesday we got Star Wars Battlefront and Fables in the mail from e-bay, and yesterday Halo and Morrowind arrived. I borrowed Knights of the Old Republic from my cousins until I can get my hands on a copy for myself. We also picked up Oddworld when we got Sonic this past weekend, and all for significantly less then they would have cost from EB/Gamestop.

In related news, I am now in total lockdown mode as far as Harry Potter goes. My friends page is filtered, I’m not looking at anything that might even remotely have a spoiler in it. I mean we already know that 2 people die in it. Who? It really could be anyone… Though you figure it’ll have to be a semi major character, if not one of the trio. Only a week to go… How is this related to the x-box? What do you think will distract me this week as I wait? You know, besides Tigs, Lucy, Priya, work, school, other books, searching for new car insurance, etc.