Idle Hands

Books '08

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 05:23:07 GMT

I thought i might like to keep a running total and mini reviews of the book i read this year, just so i can see what the numbers look like. I'm assuming i'm gonna be above average in the numbers anyway, but it might be nice to keep track.

#1 - Sword in the Storm by David Gemmell. The first in a series of novels about the Keltoi, and obvious inspiration based on our modern mythologies and wishful thinking about the Celtic peoples. It tells the story of a young man named Connovar and the effect his life and his desires have not only on his family but also on his people. Connovar eventually unites the keltoi into an army to defeat the empire building armies of the Stone, which is an analogue of Rome in this world.

#2 - Midnight Falcon tells the story of Connovar's son's experiences growing up as the bastard of Connovar, and the effect it has on the Keltoi and the world, as well as the growth of the armies of the Stone and how they meet the Keltoi.

#3 - Ravenheart is set a number of years after the first two books, being analogous with the time period when the Highlander culture was being destroyed and suppressed by the English, called Varlish in the novel. It ends with what i think is one of the most heart wrenching climaxes i've read in some time.

#4 - Stormrider brings the series to a close, and ties back a number of threads that have been around since the first novel. It is the most outright 'magical' of the tales and is a fitting climax to the series.

I'd suggest picking these up

stolen from the ever enlightened oni_neko

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:34:42 GMT

What Jason Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you.
You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries.
You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice.

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.

You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong.
You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know.
You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do.

You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life.
You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you.
At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself.

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.
You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.
You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:14:23 GMT

What's your sexual style? Take the sexual style quiz for yourself!

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 05:23:35 GMT

Your Score: Buckaroo Banzai

181 Heart, 158 Genius, 161 Cool, 128 Excitability

Buckaroo Banzai - (Peter Weller)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

You are Buckaroo Banzai! Hard-rockin' neurosurgeon, brilliant scientist, and all-around cool guy. Maybe you didn't have the cinematic success of some of the other guys here, but it's okay - you're a cult classic!

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are."

Other scientific possibilities:
Gary Wallace
Wyatt Donnelly
Peter Venkman
Jordan Cochran
Egon Spengler
Doc Brown
Newton Crosby
Paul Stephens
Ben Crandall
Wayne Szalinkski
Winston Zeddemore
Ben Jabituya
Lazlo Hollyfeld
Ray Stantz
Buckaroo Banzai
Chris Knight

Link: The Which 80s Movie Scientist Test written by xxyl on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:09:49 GMT

interesting.....

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:44:09 GMT

If there's a reason that I can't answer you, I'll tell you honestly!

All comments and replies will be screened, so they're invisible to everyone except you and me.

The Meme
----------------------------------
1 question...
1 chance...
1 honest answer...
That's all you get...

Ask me 1 question. Any 1 question, anything, no matter how crazy it is. An honest answer.

No catch.

Except one. All comments will be screened so your question stays private between you and me, and only you will get to see my answer to your question. But I dare you to repost this and see what people ask you.

Fact-Checking.

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:14:41 GMT

Oh man, why didn't i listen. The warning was clear!

http://barkman.livejournal.com/2004/05/23/

Lately it occurs to me...

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 23:27:23 GMT

Wow, it's only been about 2 weeks since i last posted, but what a strange couple of weeks.

In that time, i've blown up a car, gotten a new computer, found out i have an allergy to the heat transfer compound used on cpu and heatsinks, driven my mom's car, attended a game convention, missed a wedding and gotten a new car.
Also spent a week home alone, and wasn't killed when morgandria got home.

So 2 weekends ago, Colin came up and played at the Orillia Beatles Celebration, playing 2 gigs (look at me with the lingo) in town; One at the Ossiwippi Express Restaurant and the other at the Legion. Both shows sounded great, with a number more people attending the legion show thanks to better advertising. I spent the weekend as a roadie, and was treated to dinner at Theo's Eatery on sunday night for my efforts. One of the attendees was able to give morgandria a ride to Michigan for silere and nagitaka's wedding. On the Tuesday of that week, as i was about to go out to my parents for dinner, I came out to find out that the car was overheating, with steam roiling out of the vents into the cabin. It appears that the fan had broken and wasn't moving any air. The steam ran the radiator dry, and blew the head gasket. This equals a dead car, as spending $1700 to fix a car i paid $3000 for 3 years ago just didn't make a sense. I got to spend the rest of the week driving my mom's 2001 Intrigue, which is a sweet ride. Got shot down from the bank for a car loan, and so i went off to Phantasm in peterborough, to get my game on.

Phantasm was great, and i want to thank jlindsay and acornya for letting me crash there. The con was pretty well attended this year, even if a pile of GM's cancelled at the last minute. I played some Battletech in the first session, managing to cripple a Commando with my last shot with my Jenner, scoring two random criticals through untouched center torso armour. I left hime with two engine hits. In the second slot i played digitalraven's Aeternal Legend, as game mastered by eyebeams, the publisher of said game. It was interesting to see the progression of the game from playing it last year at Phantasm. I got to play the gnome inventor, and added an afterburner to the TTC train we were riding around in. Saturday night was the LARP, ran ably by me. I had about 20 pre registrations, and the people seemed to really enjoyed it, as at 11:30, when i tried to wrap it up, everyone went, " Really? Already"

Sunday I sat in on a session of a local first time developer, that i went to school with. Chris is writing a game using eyebeams Ready2Run system, that is a Star Wars/Space Opera with a touch of over the top anime. It's got an interesting setting, and i hope he does well with it. I'll be looking forward to reading hte setting at least when it's published next year. The last session i played a little bit more battletech and tied for the lead in the circle of death. I convinced morgan_delvanna to play while we waited for another friend to return, and ended up getting him as a target. I managed to put him down, along with another target that had been softened up. We then played a few rounds of Illuminati, with a surprise first time player winning the first game by surprise.

I made out fairly well in the prize category, paying for 6 tickets, getting one for free, and 2 for the larp. out of the 9 tickets, i won 5 prizes.
2 books, a free pizza, a signed copy of urban legends for the nWOD, and a copy of GURPS Supers. I also got free meat from a friend. Luckily it's beef, so red meat, as opposed to some variant of white/pork. I have to say, I've been to a few cons, and this one always seem to energize me, and carry me through the year. It would be nice to get some people around here into gaming, but thanks to Phantasm, i don't feel so bummed out about it.

Early in the first week I ordered parts to replace my computer.They finally arrived this week. I cleaned out the old case i'm re using, and set it up last night. There was only a slight accident when i touched the bottom of the heat sink, not realizing they'd applied the transfer compound to it already. I woke up this morning to a swollen thumb, so a minor allergic reaction.

It's an AMD X2 4400 with 2 GB of 800 MHz RAM on a M2N-32 SLI Deluxe motherboard. I tossed on a BFG 8500 GT video card and a new power supply, and 160 GB SATA drive. So far i haven't done much with it, but COH is now so shiny. I'm slowly but surely transferring files and setup to it, and getting ready to convert my old machine to be a Server/Media Storage device for morgandria and I. I'll also swap some parts around to upgrade her machine a bit, so we cna save up some money to replace her parts.

The other new thing i got this week was a surprise from my parents. We'd taken a look at a car or two, and they decided that they would pick up a car for us, and got a 99 Chevy Lumina, in white again. only 92000 KM on it, and driven by a little old lady who had it serviced every 3 months, according ot the salesperson. Hopefully some pics will follow soon.

Work is work, and things are starting to settle down in to a manageable tedium. The initial start up rush is dying, so now hopefully we can get some other projects on the go, so that we can actually be pro active, rather than re active as things happen.

Lastly but definatly not least, i want to thank starfallz for bringing morgandria back to Canuckistan, and staying up and visiting us, even if our supposedly rock solid internet has taken this week to be the flakiest it's ever been since we started this account. Hopefully it'll stay strong for the rest of your visit.

Soon.... Thanksgiving, turkey and ham and pie!... also a chance to me my new nephew, Zachary Joseph George Barker, born on the first day of school.

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:25:18 GMT

I may have found the game to replace City of Heroes.......
YAR! The official game of TLAPD*

Other than that, work is work, and fairly busy for start up. building up a fair bit of mileage. I think it's time for new computer bits, been taking a look around at what parts to put together that'll last me another 4-5 years like orthanc has. One month till the birthday too.

Things are good, even if i have to be a bachelor for the next week because of a scheduling conflict.

*TLAPD - Talk like a pirate day!

My Gamer Home!

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 02:26:47 GMT

Your home is a

Philanthropic Gamer's Mansion

Your kitchen is stocked with chips, dips, and assorted caffeinated beverages. There's a pantry with emergency backup caffeinated beverages. You also have some breakfast cereals in there, but you haven't had breakfast since last Spring. Your master bedroom has blankets printed with images of Mario and Link. Your study includes unread copies of various gamer magazines, each purchased for the free demo CDs. One of your garages holds your collection of ferraris, and is measured in acreage.

Your home also includes a guest wing and private quarters for your servants. Your guests enjoy your collection of every console and associated game ever made. Except the Intellivision -- those controllers drive them NUTS. Outside is your hedge maze and gardens, meticulously tended by a team of world-class botanists.

And, you have a pet -- a koopa named "Shelly".

Below is a snippet of the blueprints:

Find YOUR Dream Home!

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 03:48:21 GMT

Go to www.careercruising.com.
Put in Username: nycareers - Password: landmark
Take the 'Career Matchmaker' questions at the upper left corner
Post the results. At least ten.

1.
Industrial Engineer

2.
Project Manager

3.
Biomedical Engineer

4.
Computer Engineer

5.
Mining Engineer

6.
Materials / Metallurgical Engineer

7.
Physicist

8.
Electrical Engineer

9.
Astronomer

10.
Operations Research Analyst

11.
Electrical Engineering Tech

12.
Electronics Engineering Tech

13.
Petroleum Engineer

14.
Avionics Tech

15.
Industrial Engineering Tech

16.
Chemical Engineer

17.
Optical / Ophthalmic Lab Technician

18.
Helicopter Pilot

19.
Optometrist

20.
Mechanical Engineer

21.
Aerospace Engineer

22.
Association Manager

23.
Computer Support Person

24.
Mathematician

25.
Economic Development Officer

26.
Tailor / Dressmaker

27.
Electrician

28.
Security Systems Technician

29.
Power Plant Operator

30.
Gunsmith

31.
Broadcast Technician

32.
Computer Programmer

33.
Cabinetmaker

34.
Plumber

35.
Dental Lab Tech

36.
Electronics Assembler

37.
Engineering Tech

38.
Small Engine Mechanic

39.
Electronics Repairer

40.
Automobile Mechanic

All things i have been interested in, or took courses in at university. My current job comes in at #23, and one of my other desired jobs at #32.

Project Manager is a likely next step up though.

Search by Cluster
Your matching Career Clusters are listed below in order of suitability. Click on a Cluster to explore the careers within it.
Science & Engineering
Computers & Telecom

Not quite what i expected as a result

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:02:27 GMT

Your Score: House Tyrell

45% Dominant, 63% Extroverted, 36% Trustworthy

Vivacious. Gregarious. Dangerous. Slightly gay. Not to be trusted, you are of House Tyrell.

You are of a more submissive personality, though this is not to say that you are unambitious. On the contrary, you know that the spotlight brings more than glory. Unwilling to be saddled with the accusations and petty treacheries of court life, you are content to let someone else hold the reigns of the empire. You’re in the thick of it, though; no one makes a move that you haven’t anticipated. Those headstrong types are so easy to control.

You are also extroverted, which means that no matter how subtly you move your hand, everyone knows that you’re a player--a major one. Your sociability makes you a boon to the smallfolk, though in truth they love a façade. Your god-given talents will often excuse you from criticism, but jealousy will follow you like a dog wherever you go.

You are definitely untrustworthy. Behind you beaming smiles and polite laughter lurks the most dangerous kind of enemy: a charismatic one. You’re opportunistic, and all the more treacherous for your subtlety. An efficient political machine, you are always evaluating yourself as well as your surroundings. There’s no room for error in your household or yourself, and you’ll cut off the hand that offends you.

Representative characters include: Margery Tyrell, Loras Tyrell, and Olenna Redwyne.

Similar Houses: Baratheon, Frey, Tully

Opposite House: Lannister

Seat: Highgarden

When playing the game of thrones, you play it with style.

Link: The Song of Ice and Fire House Test written by Geeky_Stripper on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Geek thoughts for the next few months.

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:46:19 GMT

I'm jonesing a bit for some role-playing. I've got at least one outlet in the next little while, and depending on how much i shanghai shlemkevich into picking up a little Twilight 2000 again i should have some outlets for this desire.

Upcoming for the end of September is the Phantasm Game Convention in Peterborough. I'm running the larp on saturday night again, and it looks like i'm going to be running a (with player co operation) high political conclave for the night. Called by a (to be determined) Justicar in the City of New York, the plots and politicking of the vampires of the city, and the world should be pretty interesting. I'm setting up plots and plot seeds right now, but those interested in playing, should, as always preregister by emailing congame@witchscauldron.net and let me know what you'd like to play ( High Policitcal, Low Political etc, and choice of 1,2 or 3 clans. If you have an idea for a character please send it in as well.) There are no garantees that anyone will get their request, but i will endeavour to fulfill them, as numbers and plots allow.

Other than that, i'm vacillatating between wanting to run either Paranoia, or in consultation with a couple of people, a DnD(3.5) game set in the Forgotten Realms, the City of Splendors, Waterdeep, to be precise. Having spoken to some people who, despite having played in the FR for a long time, have never played in Waterdeep. I'm thinking a relatively lower level start (2-3) this gives a bit of space for competence... another post may follow this. I'm tempted to run this on RPOL, or figure out something else to play it on, or set something up that would enable us to play it on tabletop, if we got everyone together. If you are interested in this please comment.

I've still got my Heroscape terrain to try out with Battletech, but that requires people coming over, so i think we need to find a time for a gaming weekend again. morgandria has talked about having one around her birthday, but i'm not sure if that would work out given timing and shortness of notice. The other option would be sometime in October, or November (for my birthday maybe). If you are one of the usual suspects (shlemkevich, otherjeff, jlindsay, acornya, arirthos) Let me know when you would be interested in getting together for games, or if sometime towards the end of august, or labour day weekend would be good for you.

The other thing i've thought about is getting MegaMek working on a number of computers and playing either a tournement of some sort, or do a large battle using the Megamek system. It's not quite the same as pushing minatures around on a table, but it's pretty close, and it doesn't involve me fixing the minatures i've got kicking around, as well as painting them up again.

What light through yonder window breaks? It's the photons of a post!

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:25:40 GMT

Wow...
talk about a long dry time of not posting.

Not much has changed since then, except that school is out, and i'm pretty much finished getting my schools set up for the fall. Not sure what that's going to leave me with for the rest of the summer, but i'm sure work can be created.

The summer is finally settling down in regards to the car at least. Had to get the brakes, cylinders and calipers redone last week, as the brake pads the school used were the crappiest crap that ever crapped crap. or just cheap brakes that can't withstand the heat. The car still needs to get looked at, as it's idling very high, and seems to putting out a lot of heat and burning through gas, but that'll have to wait a little bit.

Let's see. I've had fridays off since the start of july, been doing some side trips or relaxing mostly. morgandria's was up last weekend for a visit, which was quite nice, a trip to the Scottish Festival in Orillia for the parade and massed bands, some browsing, showing off the dowtown, then down to Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto for the Metis art festival, as some of morgandria's relatives were playing in the festival. To top the day off, we headed to the asia-pacific mall for some browsing, a fairly so so dinner, and some groceries.

Just getting ready for the Bancroft Gemboree this weekend, as well as a trip to peterborough for the weekend.

Some Geek thoughts to follow this post.

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 22:30:42 GMT

3.14

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 02:52:03 GMT

This is me with my Pie. Bumbleberry. Quite nice. Next time it's Pi a la mode with some nice Vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy pie day or the other holiday set for today: Steak and BJ Day!

No pictures of that were taken, since we didn't celebrate it this year.

expect a more dedicated follow up soon detailling Games Weekend 07, the first of a couple this year, hopefully.

Question Hub

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 18:40:55 GMT

This is the interview meme, this is where i tell people that if they want some interview questions, to ask for them here. If they'd like to ask 5 questions, ask them here.

From the ever popular nagitaka
1. If you could do the wedding ceremony over again would you change anything?

At the handfasting ceremony, it would have been nicer to get things moving earlier in the day. At the Bethrothal the year before, things finished at around sunset, as opposed to getting started in the dark.

That and the burning thing,would definatly skip that. We have no pictures of Heather and I in our handfasting clothes, no pictures with the family.

2. We've never really talked religion or spirituality, so my question is what path/beliefs do you follow if any in particular?

I'm at worst an agnostic, but open to others beliefs. I've taken a look at a number of the eastern philosophies, but given what's being discovered in scientific discovery, I can't shake the feeling that too much is linked for it to have happened by happenstance.

I'm very much against most main stream religious organizations, since like most human organizations they are rife with people taking advantages of others.

3. What's your favorite thing about City of Heroes?

Dude, I get to be a superhero! .... Ok, i like the fact that they've managed to make the game very casual friendly. It doesn't matter what level you are, or your friends are, you can meaningful join up with each other, either as a sidekick or as an exemplar, and do somebody's missions. The content is pretty standard superhero fare, i'm likin the directions they are taking the back story. Hopefully now that the two games are joined together, the free content issues will no longer be about technical parity, but instead about advancing the story line that's being setup in regards to statesman, the dimensional travel and the 5th Column/Council ( I hate paragon city nazi's!).

4. If you could change anything about yourself what would it be?

I'd definatly go back in time and get myself more physically active when I took my job at KPR on the help desk. Thanks to the car I got very sedentary, and the increase in income meant I could eat more. This is what probably led to an early onset of the diabetes. So really, just ditch the diabetes.

5. How did you meet Morg?

We were at a rover camp. She was hijacked by some friends to go there, and we met up. As is usual for when morg goes camping, she was sick as a dog, and doesn't really remember talking to me. We started talking online, and then on Valentines Day in 99 she came down to see me (hijacked by friends again). We've been together ever since, including the few hundred dollars in phone bills.

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 23:23:39 GMT

Mohinder Suresh
You scored 45 Idealism, 41 Nonconformity, 70 Nerdiness

My father spent his life chasing after this insanity. Now I'm wasting mine trying to prove he was sane.Congratulations, you're Mohinder Suresh! You're a curious, passionate, and intelligent person. You're prone to changing your mind about the important things in life, though. You're interested in doing what you can to help people who are gifted with special abilities. Your best quality: You're a maverick intellectual Your worst quality: Your opinions can change rather quickly and suddenly

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on Idealism

You scored higher than 99% on Nonconformity

You scored higher than 99% on Nerdiness

Link: The Heroes Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

There's no race like gnome for the hollandaise.

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 03:45:18 GMT

Wow, been a while since a meaningful post here, so this may be a longer post than usual.

Since the last time i posted, i've been confirmed in my new position, with a raise, and job security. I'm now 15th from the top in security with about 7 people below me. This means i'm pretty lay-off resistant. The job pays fairly well, and moves me within range of 3x my starting wage per year. I get a raise Jan 1 for our contract raise, and move up a pay grid next september. This makes me feel pretty good about things, but now i wonder what the next goal will be. Probably some certifications, and some work on the side. The certifications will get me ready for the next step up in a few years.

Christmas was good, we ended up having a small Christmas dinner with my family on the 22nd, then headed to Peterborough for Yule with Heather's coven. I got a nice hot chocolate basket in the gift pillage, and was disappointed that more people weren't there to fight over the present jlindsay stole the idea for from me.

We then headed up to Ottawa to have Christmas Eve dinner at Heather's brothers place. They have a nice townhouse, with tons of space. Dinner was a nice roast beast with home made yorkshire puddings. We played a few rounds of fluxx and exchanged gifts. We got the first season of Fraggle Rock, a Camera Cell Phone, a very nice sweater, a dress shirt, some socks.... We went back to Heather's mom's place to spend Christmas Eve, then went to visit a few people in Smith Falls, including Heathers Dad.

More to come... gotta reboot.

On a road, coming into somewhere.

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 04:48:08 GMT

I bet you can squeal like a morgandria.

Which movie was this quote from?

A more substantial post will be forthcoming after sleep.

all in all - good christmas.

I hope everyone had a happy and merry Christmas.

I have been ennobled.

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 16:27:22 GMT

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Very Sir Lord Jason the Lush of Much Leering
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Sex Assassin

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 15:14:50 GMT

I am now playing Infection, please join my team

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 17:11:13 GMT


THIS CARD RELATES TO GAME # 3
my status

my team status

last known infection

game status

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 03:52:45 GMT


THIS CARD RELATES TO GAME # 2
my status

my team status

last known infection

game status

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:50:00 GMT

There's still time to ask question in the previous entry on my journal.