Spring Maximizer
No, I'm not back to creating titles from spam e-mails, though it sounds like it. No, "Spring Maximizer" is what Spring Green sprayed on our lawn today. (updated - I said ChemLawn earlier by mistake)
We didn't ask them to do it. They got the wrong address. But it's good that I hadn't put any other fertilizer or weed killer down yet this spring. And I probably would have if there hadn't been other things going on last weekend. Which is my segue to ...
How I spent last week:
Monday through Thursday I was in class. I was learning a new UML drawing/code tool we're using. The class was pretty much a breeze, as a chunk of it is designed to teach UML notation - which I already knew and have used extensively. The remainder of the course is on this specific tool, which wasn't that hard to pick up or that different from other such tools. I did pick up some useful stuff, though, and was able to generate programs from the tool, so it was worthwhile. Now we'll see whether we actually use the tool for more than drawing.
Oh, and a lot of the side conversation had to do with the announcement that Lucent is merging with (or being acquired by) Alcatel. So, we'll need to brush up on our French for future corporate announcements. As for how that affects me -- it probably won't much. We'll see.
Friday I took the day off work and went to the Cubs home opener with Bob. Good lunch, but at some point after my first plate I needed to sneeze, failed to stifle it, and instead wound up blowing particles of food all up into my nose and sinuses. Yuck. So, I was uncomfortable for the rest of lunch and couldn't eat anything more. That got cleared up before the game, though, and the Cubs played very well, did several little things perfectly, and won. And the game took just over two hours, so I was out of there quickly.
After the game I rode the 'L' out to my car in Forest Park and then drove straight to College of DuPage where CODCon was running. I hadn't volunteered to judge on Friday, not knowing when the game would get over, but I got there in plenty of time and wound up judging a table of "Time's Tide on Bright Sands" for a fun group of players. I then drove home and talked to Ryan a bit (home for the weekend to play on Sunday), and then Phil Thompson who was crashing with us for the weekend, and finally Ellen as she got home from work.
Saturday I judged three tables: "Phantoms on Bright Sands", "Touched by an Angel", and "Fallen Hero". The middle table was at APL 14, as high a table as I've ever judged but they weren't an insanely tweaked out group and the module combats are pretty straight forward (though I skipped one so we could get to the roleplay section that is the meat of the module). Everything else I judged over the weekend was either APL 2 or 4, low level players including several pretty new players.
Sunday I judged "Touched by an Angel" again, and almost killed a fairly new player. Actually, there was no 'almost' about it - I hit him for 20 points of damage when the character only had 10 hit points total (2nd level rogue with 0 constitution bonus). If it was someone's third or fourth character and a player who plays a lot I'd have let the death stand -- but it's no fun for the player if they get killed in their fifth game they've ever played, so I re-rolled one of the dice (hey, they were supposed to be working for a divine power) and let them still be alive (but at -8 hit points), and another player burned a VERY EXPENSIVE favor to get them all out of there.
In the second slot on Sunday I wasn't scheduled to do anything, but wound up wrangling the people who didn't yet have a table to play at and get them to agree on mods to play, since nothing that was scheduled had enough players (and more than half the attendees were halfway through two-round modules). After about a half hour of negotiating, we found we could split into two table with two modules people hadn't played yet, leaving only one player out (who wound up getting into a Living Arcanis table that started a while later - so all was good). I wasn't actually then needed to judge at that point, so I headed home and put another coat of primer along the edges of the walls in the downstairs bathroom. Ryan got back home and promptly headed back for Normal, and then Ellen and I went out for dinner at Carraba's Grill, and Italian place that opened down by Fox Valley recently (and she claims I'm supporting her diet!).
Monday - work and painted the ceiling in the aforementioned bathroom. Watched '24'. That's it.
I'll try to update again later, with details on what's happening in the aforementioned bathroom, after I actually try out the wall paint Ellen has picked out. It may be an experience, but that's for tonight.
We didn't ask them to do it. They got the wrong address. But it's good that I hadn't put any other fertilizer or weed killer down yet this spring. And I probably would have if there hadn't been other things going on last weekend. Which is my segue to ...
How I spent last week:
Monday through Thursday I was in class. I was learning a new UML drawing/code tool we're using. The class was pretty much a breeze, as a chunk of it is designed to teach UML notation - which I already knew and have used extensively. The remainder of the course is on this specific tool, which wasn't that hard to pick up or that different from other such tools. I did pick up some useful stuff, though, and was able to generate programs from the tool, so it was worthwhile. Now we'll see whether we actually use the tool for more than drawing.
Oh, and a lot of the side conversation had to do with the announcement that Lucent is merging with (or being acquired by) Alcatel. So, we'll need to brush up on our French for future corporate announcements. As for how that affects me -- it probably won't much. We'll see.
Friday I took the day off work and went to the Cubs home opener with Bob. Good lunch, but at some point after my first plate I needed to sneeze, failed to stifle it, and instead wound up blowing particles of food all up into my nose and sinuses. Yuck. So, I was uncomfortable for the rest of lunch and couldn't eat anything more. That got cleared up before the game, though, and the Cubs played very well, did several little things perfectly, and won. And the game took just over two hours, so I was out of there quickly.
After the game I rode the 'L' out to my car in Forest Park and then drove straight to College of DuPage where CODCon was running. I hadn't volunteered to judge on Friday, not knowing when the game would get over, but I got there in plenty of time and wound up judging a table of "Time's Tide on Bright Sands" for a fun group of players. I then drove home and talked to Ryan a bit (home for the weekend to play on Sunday), and then Phil Thompson who was crashing with us for the weekend, and finally Ellen as she got home from work.
Saturday I judged three tables: "Phantoms on Bright Sands", "Touched by an Angel", and "Fallen Hero". The middle table was at APL 14, as high a table as I've ever judged but they weren't an insanely tweaked out group and the module combats are pretty straight forward (though I skipped one so we could get to the roleplay section that is the meat of the module). Everything else I judged over the weekend was either APL 2 or 4, low level players including several pretty new players.
Sunday I judged "Touched by an Angel" again, and almost killed a fairly new player. Actually, there was no 'almost' about it - I hit him for 20 points of damage when the character only had 10 hit points total (2nd level rogue with 0 constitution bonus). If it was someone's third or fourth character and a player who plays a lot I'd have let the death stand -- but it's no fun for the player if they get killed in their fifth game they've ever played, so I re-rolled one of the dice (hey, they were supposed to be working for a divine power) and let them still be alive (but at -8 hit points), and another player burned a VERY EXPENSIVE favor to get them all out of there.
In the second slot on Sunday I wasn't scheduled to do anything, but wound up wrangling the people who didn't yet have a table to play at and get them to agree on mods to play, since nothing that was scheduled had enough players (and more than half the attendees were halfway through two-round modules). After about a half hour of negotiating, we found we could split into two table with two modules people hadn't played yet, leaving only one player out (who wound up getting into a Living Arcanis table that started a while later - so all was good). I wasn't actually then needed to judge at that point, so I headed home and put another coat of primer along the edges of the walls in the downstairs bathroom. Ryan got back home and promptly headed back for Normal, and then Ellen and I went out for dinner at Carraba's Grill, and Italian place that opened down by Fox Valley recently (and she claims I'm supporting her diet!).
Monday - work and painted the ceiling in the aforementioned bathroom. Watched '24'. That's it.
I'll try to update again later, with details on what's happening in the aforementioned bathroom, after I actually try out the wall paint Ellen has picked out. It may be an experience, but that's for tonight.
posted by TT at
4/11/2006 11:21:00 AM
3 Comments:
Who's Phil Thompson? The name kinda sounds familiar, but it kinda looks like a common name (or combination of names).
By
The Narf, at 4/11/2006 8:34 PM
You do support me! You have allowed me to spend this money on my own special food and leave you out of it. You think about where I can follow my diet when we go out to eat or let me pick the restaurant. You let me know that I am doing a good job, but if I eat something not on the diet, you don't become the "food police". So you support me in many ways. That just one of your many charms!
By
Nurse Penguinladi, at 4/11/2006 8:44 PM
Narf - Phil Thompson was one of the directors of the Living Kalamar campaign, and wrote a couple of the modules. Some of the Adventure Hooks have played LK mods with him judging, but you weren't around at those times. Anyway, we got to be friends during that time and since then he's been crashing with us when he comes up for a convention at COD. he opened a gaming shop in Missouri and has a vendor table at a lot of area conventions.
By
TT, at 4/12/2006 8:44 AM
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