11/11/14
Well it is good to see that Winter isn’t coming
anymore. I woke up this morning at about
2:30am and looked outside and there was nothing. In my hubris I mocked the Weather Terrorist
Gawds, and when I again awoke at 4:15am they had begun to show their
displeasure. It isn’t that bad out,
although we spent almost an hour and a half on the commute into the place that
pays us this morning. It is just that I
don’t know how ready we are for another Winter.
Saturday I spent about 5 hours on the yard, Cassandra made
it out for over half of that and together we got our leaves taken care of, did
some general clean up, and I thought had prepped for at least the rest of the
month. This morning I had to rush around
and grab downspouts and the concrete runoff that was trying to freeze to the
driveway. We also realized that our
snowblower issue could no longer be put off.
As I write this in the afternoon on the 10th we
are getting ready to go out and drop another chunk of change on a new
snowblower. To say I am nonplussed about
doing this is an understatement after getting nailed with another Car Repairs
bill on Friday. However it is a
necessary evil. It will not just save
our backs and shoulders, but it will save us a LOT of time. Our driveway is fantastic in the Summer; all
our friends can park there, we can have fire pits there, we grill there,
etc. In the Winter it is a 2 hour job
with a shovel at best.
Being able to get out in front of the snow, get it
effectively blown with a machine that isn’t from the 70’s, and get the driveway
cleared in a short amount of time is really priceless. So while the money thing sucks, especially
with Cassandra’s birthday & Christmas staring me in the eye, it is worth
whatever we pay if it keeps us from going through what we went through for most
of the Winter last year before Christina saved us with her plowing.
I have more to talk about, but I think I’ll just lump it in
with the…
RANDOM CRAP!
- 1st Group met on Saturday night! The group; THE Karl, The Geneious, Sassie
Cassie, Electric Elyssa, James & his Chaotic Neutral Beard, & the
lovely Cassandra assembled and did a great job of coming up with a coherent
reason to be associates. I am going to
run 1st Group like a Hex Crawl, but upon the advice of people whose
opinions mean a LOT to me I formed some introductory adventures for each
group. For the 1st Group it
allowed me to create my own ‘wretched hive of scum and villainy’ just outside
the walls of the outpost they were invited to.
In theory it was meant to be a bit more open ended, but since most of my
PC’s are a lot like I am and don’t like to have NPC’s sort of get in their face
early they didn’t make all the positive connections I had hoped for. Instead they dealt with a Halfling Wererat’s
gang who wanted them to pay a ‘Squatter’s Tax’ just for spending the night in
‘his’ town, an overblown and quite thick headed Mercenary, and a nasty group of
female murderers. The first encounter
had ‘Big’ Harold’s, the Halfling Wererat, boys dress up like Orcs in the middle
of the night and start a fiery ruckus to draw the PC’s out. The thing was the PC’s had pooled their cash
to make sure most of them had ‘Silvered’ weapons so the lone Wererat wasn’t
quite the threat I hoped he’d be, although the Bandits were nasty once they
used their crossbows and stayed at a distance.
The 2nd Encounter was MUCH better as the three killers used
three fields of magical darkness to control the battlefield. I gave them Goggles Of Sight that allowed
them to see through magical darkness so they could use the fields as an area to
just fire out of at will. This made the
PC’s really think outside the box, and they didn’t disappoint. The evening had a LOT of productive role
playing, shouting, kazoo playing, and even a feisty discussion on alignment
shifts when it comes to murdering a helpless captured foe. The Players seemed to have a blast, and are
really keyed up for what comes next so I think it went pretty well. This was also a good way for me to get my
proverbial feet wet with 5E from behind a DM Screen. I think it went pretty well. I’ve laid some groundwork for the next
session, I’ve some adjustments to make to some of my ideas, and I really want
to step up the combat next session so it was by no means perfect. I’ve got some work to do, and I like that.
- I really need to get that final session of Microscope
posted.
- I finally DIPped about half of the miniatures I have
painted. The rest of them still need eye
work. I’m hoping to cajole and convince
my lovely wife into coming down into the basement and doing that this
week. DIPping took about 2 hours and I
was shocked at how well the minis turned out as I was pretty distracted and
lacked focus while getting it done. I’ll
have to post another photo blog with the results. The vast majority of the miniatures turned
out wonderfully. It is always so nice to
make
some painting headway.
- Saturday night The Geneimal showed me pictures of his
Warmachine army he painted and I was blown away. He is a DAMN fine painter.
- Speaking of miniatures apparently the BONES II stuff will
not be reaching most of us until after the New Year. Sad Panda Face. Lately Kickstarter hasn’t been all that great
at living up to the shipping ‘promises’ it makes, but Reaper and Mantic have
tended to be the exception. Seeing that
now even Reaper can’t deliver on what I thought was a pretty reasonable
schedule sucks. Now all that being said
it isn’t like they are ‘Cool Mini Or Not’ing me. You know where I get an update of swanky
painted miniatures every damn week and yet am given little to NO information
about when I’ll actually get the product I helped fund.
- I sort of thought I’d hate the name Finn Baylor, and yet
after watching him I have to admit it fits.
- Watching John Constantine throw on headphones and use the
Sex Pistols ‘Anarchy In The U.K.’ to fight off the sound of the ‘First Fallen’
in last week’s episode of Constantine literally made me giddy. As a comic book fan, but not necessarily a
Hellblazer fan, I am fascinated by how far they are able to take this network
show and just how damn entertaining it is.
I think I’m going to have to go back and start reading the trades now.
- I am hoping that I can grill up some steaks for Cassandra’s
B-day. I might have to do some more
garage grilling this year.
- Because of the awesomeness that is Dougflix, I purchased
another Google Chromecast for the basement.
The thing is I can’t get Dougflix to work. Currently it won’t work on the 360 in the
living room or either of the Chromecasts.
It is as if The Casual One is sitting in his palatial home, thinking
longingly of Canada, and pushing a large red button that says “NO BEN!” So I am publically beseeching you, NAY
pleading with you Casual Doug. Help me
with the Dougflix, you are my only hope…to watch the Paul Heyman DVD.
- Anyone interested in Podcasting this week? I can’t do it Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday
night…
And with that I think I’m done…
STEAK?! You said steak!!! Now I'll have to hold you to that....
ReplyDeleteYou grab 'em, and I'll grill 'em!
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