Sloe Times

So last week was full of fun and excitement... ok maybe not so much fun... and not so exciting. It was however busy as hell. Work over the last couple of months has sucked. The company has been working towards being merged and as that process has moved along the project work basically dried up. What this means is that the job I'm there to do just isn't happening. That's ok though because we're short handed on the production support side so I've been filling in there :( I don't look down on the job so much as dislike it because I've put in my time on the front line and don't really like being back there. The company on the other hand still pays me so I guess I'll do what needs to be done.

This past weekend the boy has started to stand with some version of balance. This basically means that he'll pull himself up on something... distract himself with whatever is in his hands and then realize he's not actually holding onto any sort of support and fall down. My money is that he'll be walking about in a month or so and then begins the reign of "The Terror of Tiny Town!" He's also started talking a little bit. According to the wife he really doesn't say much during the day but when I get home he's quite the chatter box. The only truly intelligible word is "Da-Dee" which is says when he's looking for me. That so totally rocks. Everything else is still garbled in jibber jabber but we try real hard not to coo or talk nonsense back at him so hopefully this is how the learning process works. The current concern is that we have a beautiful tile floor in the kitchen.... a nice hard tile floor. Bets on when he lets go and busts his head? There's really no way to prevent this from happening and we've resigned ourselves to the fact that it's a when and not an if event. I can only hope that I'm around when it happens to put humpty dumpty back together again.

I've kicked off my Dragonlance Play-by-Email campaign this week finally. I ended up starting fewer players than I wanted but I was able to alter the adventure enough to fit the group while leaving room for anyone else who is able to re-join. I officially canceled my Star Wars Galaxies accounts today so no more of that... Probably forever, but it was fun while it lasted (about a year of active playing). Beta testing still continues on Axis & Allies, the improvements there are steady and generally make the game more balanced and challenging. I received my discs in the mail for the start of the Sid Meiers Pirates! beta test over the weekend. I came into the A&A testing relatively late so I had missed a lot of the fits and starts that occur during the early stages of the testing. The first patch came out yesterday and playability actually took a step backwards when some things that were working well got broken. What can I expect, that's the process. We're pretty limited in what we can say about the game but I think it's safe to say that if you enjoyed the original, or enjoy Sid Meier/Firaxis games, you're going to love Pirates!

The work crew is getting together this Friday for our "Engineering Round Table." I'm pretty stoked about that. It's been awhile since we've been able to sit down for a night of cards and I think in general we're all looking forward to the trash talking, drinking, and attempting to empty each others pockets. This Sunday is also the next College Poker Championship satellite on Royal Vegas. I apparently missed a few between the last time I played and now but I couldn't exactly help it. Their email keeps getting gobbled up by the earthlink spam blocker even though I keep telling it that mail from them is ok. *sigh*