Author Archives: Alan V

Vacation

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So I took the week off for a (much needed) vacation to visit Tim in Connecticut.

The Amtrak trip over was really, really nice. Totally stress-free compared to airports. The views were amazing (although maybe I’m just jaded about airborne pictures since I fly so much), the seats had a ton of legroom (I could stretch out my legs horizontally!), there were power outlets, and I could use any electronic device (and my phone) at any time.

The only slightly stressful part was Penn Station in NYC, which is one of the busiest places I’ve ever been, but even that initial feeling of being overwhelmed turned into a sense of adventurism (that’s totally a word) once I left the arrivals floor and got to the main floor.

Time at Tim’s has been filled with lots of games and awesome. Ian is here now, and Keith will be joining us later this week.

Last night we went to Sushi Palace, an all-you-can-eat place that isn’t a traditional buffet… you put down orders for plates of food or sushi on slips of paper, and they bring them out to you, freshly made. I ate a ton of sushi (and a ton of eel), but it was so good.

Yay vacation.

Games!

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There were board games last night.

Photodump!


Carcassonne.


Malta!


Bohnanza.


Crazy.


Happy Anna and apathetic Isaac.


Confused Emily.



More crazy.


That’s actually a pretty good screwdriver and screw.

Recovery

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Got back from San Francisco last night. Woke up this morning at 10:30 (!) and immediately felt like crap, so I decided to take the day off. Best idea ever. I managed to sleep in (some more), run KoL turns, process and tag all 1871 photos from the trip, and have meals on time. (Only 1871 photos? I’m getting more restrained with photos. Kind of. At least compared to my Carnival 2009 trip where I took 10840 photos and my Carnival 2010 trip where I took 6733 photos.)

As such, photos are now posted to photos. It was kind of an awesome week.
life has also been updated.


I owed Sharon some money. I decided to give it to her entirely in $1 bills (as per an earlier email conversation). It was awesome.

A couple photos also deserve a bit more explanation.


That’s the most oblivious cat ever. It always sits in exactly the same pose with a big goofy smile on its face. No wonder its owners left it behind.


San Francisco constructions sites cause cancer. Too bad there’s construction sites everywhere.


Poor Koyel. We didn’t think she would stop talking on the phone. Well, at least Shawn and Sharon didn’t. Or something. I was kind of out of it at the time.


It’s Andrew with Andrew! Afterwards, we tried to draw him in Crayon physics. It didn’t work nearly as well.


ZMONG best tofu ever :O

San Francisco

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I’m in SF for the week for work. If you want to do things, ping me soon, as the rest of my week is getting pretty booked.

It’s been a fun week. Dinner every night has been with someone… Local all-you-can-eat pizza with Mark and Ian on Sunday; Stone for tasty Bi Bim Bap with Mark, Andrew, Jeremy, and Ian on Monday; Ironside for mediocre mac and cheese with Sharon, Charles, and Ian on Tuesday; and Delancey Street Restaurant with Ian yesterday.


Yesterday was a dev team outing to Sonoma to go ziplining. It was actually pretty awesome despite my fear of heights. I think the knowledge that I was always tethered to *something* (even when we were walking up the spiral staircase in the trees and across the suspension bridges) helped a lot.



The weather here is also a really nice change from the horribly humidity and heat of Pittsburgh. Normally I’m not a fan of Bay Area weather, but summers I could get behind.

The rest of the week is filled with awesome plans, starting with games night tonight.
People are awesome. I wish there was this much to do in Pittsburgh. But still, as a whole, I am much happier in Pittsburgh. And the only reason I’m so busy is that I’m trying to cram in as much as I can during my week here.

Yay life.

More photos will appear on photos at some point. (Subscribe to the RSS feed!)

When everything goes wrong

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It’s only 10:30 AM and it’s already been a day full of unhappiness. Primarily in KoL.

I was on day 8 of my ascension (of what really should have been a 7 day, but still). DD screw meant I was short a key (two Boris, one Sneaky Pete, and one breath spray), so I had to open the DoD and get a wand (which I don’t do in Bees runs, since you don’t need the bang potions). Completed the battlefield with around 70 adventures remaining (after filling stomach, spleen, and drunkness), which should have been plenty. Except getting the wand took around 55 adventures. Spent an adventure making a disco banjo, The hedge maze decided to screw me, requiring 8 maps to pass (despite perfect solving of the puzzle). Tower took the expected 6. My last adventure was spent defeating my shadow (also did the familiars, but they don’t take an adventure), meaning I was left at 0 adventures ready to face the Sorceress. With no way to generate more turns. Sigh.

The worst part is it’s really my fault. I had two misclicks during the nuns (readventuring instead of healing), causing two beaten ups, wasting two turns of +400% meat buffs, which really probably ended up costing around 4 or 5 turns. Misclicked when trying to buy more MMJ, accidentally spending an adventure instead. Misclicked twice on the battlefield, getting beaten up and losing that adventure. Any of those being different would have meant I’d have the single adventure I need, including not running the DD again today hoping for the last key.

On the plus side, this at least means I’ll have plenty of adventures tomorrow to level to 14 and grab Flavour of Magic as intended. (Would have also been okay without DD screw, but meh.)

In my frustration with this, I had also completely forgotten the reason for getting up early in the first place… to check in to my flight tomorrow. As a result, I checked in well over 30 minutes after the starting time, and got the boarding number B56. Which means I’ll be stuck in a middle seat on the long flight from Pittsburgh to Phoenix (then to San Francisco) tomorrow. Sigh.

Additionally, today is the West Virginia walk. I ended up not going, and now regret not going. Sigh.

Now I’m not in the mood to work on Investigations cards, meaning the game is not going to be playtestable for my trip to SF, meaning it won’t get playtested until next month when I go to Tim’s. Sigh.

Edit: Joined up with the West Virginia people after lunch, only to bail about 3.5 hours later because it was way too hot. In doing so, managed to completely forget that today was Lilli’s birthday celebration and missed that too. Fail.