Finally got a negative COVID test this morning, which means I can go back to the office tomorrow. I was barely sick from the virus but it took me over a week to test negative.
I attended an appointment with a specialist today. I had a trapped nerve in my shoulder which resulted in a burning 'pins & needles' effect in my arm, hands and fingers. He massaged my shoulder and back to relieve it. He mentioned that tomorrow I would feel like a bus had driven over me.
You got off easy. It took me eleven days, and I was on a foreign (back home to the US) vacation when I caught it. Lovely way to spend thousands of dollars, sitting in my friend's basement.
Got my Chicago style manual today. The size of this thing had me wondering if it was a brick for a moment.
Should one be strong enough to throw the thing, CMS can double as a defensive weapon. If CMS is outlawed, only outlaws will have CMS.
Defensive weapon? I could use this thing as a brick. I don't think that would hurt it much, if at all.
Defensive weapon, sure. If you can't throw it, just put it in the nearest trebuchet, wind 'er up, and let 'er fly. If you don't have anyone storming your castle on a particular day, then you can use it as just another brick in the wall.
Combined fourth Covid and flu vaccines. Covid vaccine went in my shoulder, flu in my leg, which ached a LOT for a couple of days. Also sardines, because I suddenly had a craving for them. And some more smart bulbs, so I can be one of the cool kids and turn them on by shouting.
A framed picture of Eddie Van Halen! My wife got it and hung it in my guitar room next to my Hendrix portrait. Pretty cool!
Black Forest gateau. I had to do it. I was in the supermarket, and it was just there, crying out to me.
Well, I'm trying to buy thermal Henley shirts from Cabella's, but got an email telling me three of them are "pending." The hell. Just try talking to a rep online to find out what the expecting "pending" period is. If it's more than a few days, send me what's in stock and cancel the rest.
Kindle Scribe, as I mentioned in another thread. So far, quite good for notes and marking up PDFs (and for reading, of course).
Decided to treat myself and ordered an expensive "reverse retro" Pittsburgh Penguins jersey. Has to come up from the States, so it's extra pricey with the duty and being paid in USD. The shipping status hadn't changed since Nov. 15, so I called them up. Looks like it was never shipped. They say that now it will be shipped, but I have to wait another two weeks (if they actually send it this time).
You should have pushed for a discount for lateness. Of course they could just blame the pandemic or something.
First-time purchase from the official NHL store, so I figured there was a zero chance for any kind of credit. They're limited edition, too. I figured they might've just blamed it on the fact that it's December, but they didn't even say why. I suspect someone printed a label and then didn't attach it to anything. It'll be worth the hassle. These babies take me back to the Lemieux days. The team has been wearing them for several recent games but not tonight it seems. Spoiler: jersey
Got myself an Atari 800XL. Yeah! You nerds don't have the rad system I do. After I finish watching Knight Rider, I'm going to play some River Raid and finish up with Ultima IV. Seriously though, I picked this up because now you can buy virtual drives for these systems. You plug the virtual device into the expansion port and it becomes everything you could ever want to plug in. You can mount disks off a compact flash card, or they can be tapes or cartridges. They're just files to you now, and easily locatable online. You can connect your Atari to the wifi. You can print and have it save to the flash card as a PDF. It's amazing. I'm still waiting for my virtual drive to arrive from the UK. The tracking number says it has cleared Massachusetts. The Atari expansion port was the precursor to USB. The guy who designed it joined the original USB design team, and they used that port as a blueprint. So that's where it all began. The Atari port is easier to plug in though. No mysticism involved.
My first gaming experiences were watching my mom play Ultima IV on the Commodore 64. I think it's got to be one of the first open-world RPGs. The concept of trying to be a good person in the game was unique at the time. Love the karma system. It's probably still free on GOG if anyone might be interested. I replayed it a couple years ago and you know what, it still holds up (well, sometimes I would get impatient and google how to do this or that).
I love Ultima IV. I've never actually finished it though. I did finish Ultima I, but I guess that one's easier. Ultima IV and The Bard's Tale were my first RPGs. When I get that virtual drive you better believe I'm firing up part IV again. As a kid, it really was an immersive experience. I guess we take such things for granted nowadays, but it was a different sort of game. The scale and scope of it were nearly overwhelming. It did not hold you by the hand either. Oh, I recommend that Richard Garriot movie on Netflix or wherever. Is it still on there? It's called "Man on a Mission." It's about him training with the Russians to go into space. It's funny, in those earlier Ultimas you would see his interest in space show up here and there. He took the profits from Ultima (and his other titles) and lived out his dream. That must be something, the culmination of one's lifelong aspiration. My father was telling me about how good that documentary was and I had to laugh. Both my parents hated Ultima (and The Bard's Tale). They threw out my games (which I rebought and they threw out again), but here they were watching documentaries about the creator and they loved it. Strange . . . during the 1980's Satanic Panic, they were like Grand Inquisitors. They love the Lord of the Rings movies too, so so much for AD&D. I just shrug at it all. Be consistent, people! haha Anyway, now I've got all those great old games back. Plenty of them are on my shelf and I have gigs of files, more than I can ever go through. They're harmless games. They're fun.
You got that right. You had to pay attention and ask all the NPCs the right things to get the proper clues from them. My mom took extensive notes, and also created handmade maps of the dungeons on graph paper as she explored them level by level. She wasn't a save scrubber, either. Entire party sucked into the sea from a whirlpool? Fine, everyone loses a level and we continue. Much respect for the commitment to immersion. Thanks for mentioning the Garriot documentary. I've never seen it, and I must check it out. He's an eccentric guy, as lots of great creatives seem to be. He also invented the MMORPG with Ultima Online, the first and last online game I'd ever play. Ultima talk makes me want to get back to my Ultima V playthrough; I abandoned it maybe 2 years ago even though it was really enjoyable (I did watch mom finish it way back when). I played through VI several times, it was one of my favourite games on the SNES, great story. But it was totally unplayable on the Commodore. They never should've released it. Disk changes every few minutes, bugs galore, basically unplayable. Glad you got all your games back. I also played some of the Bard's Tale series.
