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Lately I've been working on a little web based game database, which I call gamedb, to keep a record of all of the board games that we own. Of course, boardgamegeek already has functionality to do this. But you know me and re-inventing the wheel!
The prime purpose of this exercise was to come up with something that would randomly select games for us to play, so that we can avoid the inevitable "What do you want to play?", "What do YOU want to play?", "I want to play what you want to play" discussions that plague us all (I'm assuming).
It's also good for other stuff too. I'll let you know once I find out. One of the plans I have is to use the session report functionality to generate reports on how often games are played, who usually wins, average scores, and other nurdy things that I always wonder about.
Some people on boardgamegeek expressed some interest in this little project of mine (although this may have been cooled down by the realization that I'm a linux dude), and so I have hastily made up some tarballs, written some stuff up, and plunked it here on the interweb for the masses at large.
You can find it by clicking here.
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Ok well, as my wife will attest, I never actually sweep.. or do much of anything at all in a cleaning capacity, really... but nevertheless!
I've trimmed out some parts of the site that haven't been updated in over 2 1/2 or 3 years, and which will likely never be updated again anyways. In the interests of maintaining continuity, all links to those pages that have been removed are gone. Of course, the text of the entries still sounds like you should be able to click it, but you can't! HAHA!
Just another funny joke I play on the person or two who actually visits this page. ;)
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I've upgraded my publishing system to the latest greatest version as of whatever time it was a few minutes ago when I realized that a newer, faster, better, sleeker, better looking and all around greater version was available. As such, the window that I'm typing this into is an altogether greater color blue than ever before!
But anyways, if any weirdness is noted, that's probably why. And also probably you should tell me about it.
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Just a quick update to point out that Puerto Rico pictures (the game, not the place) are now posted after all this time!
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Well, the vacation time is almost over. Only one day left to go. I did some stuff, though!
To start with, some new game pictures have been added to the picture site. In particular, Chrononauts, Crib Wars, and Fluxx. Still upcoming are some pictures I took of Puerto Rico which haven't been posted yet.
I also played some bitchin' Metroid Prime 2,, and bought some games (what else is new?).
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As mentioned in the previous post, we've been doing quite a bit of game playing recently. Also a fair amount of game buying.
Since it's been a couple of years since I radically changed the structure of the page in any way, I've done just that! You may or may not have noticed that the often unchanging Mini-rant on the right has been replaced with a notification box which will tell our faithful site viewers of any new game aquisitions.
Also, on the left there is a new link to the game list, which will give you a complete list of every game, along with a short synopsis of each of them, PLUS the same list broken out into different categories, AND, as if THAT wasn't enough, each one of the games links to the appropriate entry on the Board Game Geek website, which will give you tons more information on any of the games listed here.
Also as previously mentioned, more pictures are on the way of some of our favorite games, which will also serve as little "mini-reviews" of games, showing you all of the contents and describing the gameplay. They won't be REAL reviews, because they would all be biased, since we only buy games we know we will like.
All of that will come down in the next couple of weeks, during my enforced vacation time. You know, probably. I may get a little caught up in playing a lot of Metroid Prime 2, you never know.
Something to look forward to, at least!
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It's been a while since the last update, so allow me to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (both belatedly of course, since I'm all lazy when it comes to this web stuff).
We've been amusing ourselves with a lot of games lately, so I figured what better way to start the new year than to add some stuff to the pictures page to tell people all about it?! Well, a lot of ways probably. But this one seemed pretty low energy, so I chose it anyway.
And so, there is a new section in the pictures page for some games! Currently the only two listed are Carcassone and Corsari, though more will be coming soon, like Abuse, Settlers of Catan, and possibly Puerto Rico.
Assuming I don't get all lazy again.
Oh, and before I forget, I'd like to publicly promote the very cool Craving for a Game store in the Central City Mall (which used to be the Surrey Place Mall). Of course, if you don't live in the lower mainland, you won't know what I'm talking about. But if you do, I highly recommend you visit the store and check out what they have. They sell and rent games, as well as having tables right in the store where you can try out the game before you buy it to see if you'll like it! How can you say no? You can't!
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Just finished up a linux version of my NFI tool, a simple little file archiver for games and so on. Now all those linux users (like me!) won't feel left out when it comes time to manipulate some NFI archives for some purpose.
Incidentally, the windows version of the archiver seems to work just fine under wine. Go figure.
In any case, this is an initial version, free of the encumbrances of evil products like autoconf and it's ilk, so it may be hard to compile for some people. Most likely people who prefer BSD over linux. If you have problems compiling it and find a way to solve the problem (that doesn't include the use of autoconf), drop me a note to let me know what you did.
Now go off and enjoy, or something.
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Some time a week ago or so, I added 2 new sets of pictures to the picture site: The Crispy Apple Adventure, and The Pancakes made of Potato Adventure.
These of course go along with recipes that were added at some point before that. Unless I added those recipes along with these pictures, in which case, there are new recipes too! I can't keep track of this stuff.
Also, thanks to a good friend from irc, xshift, there is now a cool nerdy logo on the recipe section. xshift also provided the carrot icon that the recipe section uses. Hooray for friends with a lot of talent who don't mind helping out!
Lastly, the hosting company has been having a bit of problems lately with the dns for the subdomain for the recipe site. I think it's all nailed down now. However, if you try to go to http://recipes.nurdz.com and it says it can't find that host (and you spelled it right), you can get to the recipe section by going to http://www.nurdz.com/recipes/ and that should work just dandy.
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I've done some tweaking to the recipe section. Some display items have been fixed, some features have been removed, and it has a cute carrot icon now! (Well, for people using Mozilla. If you're using IE, you only get to see the carrot on pages you bookmark).
In addition, I have added in some new recipes: Chili, Pork Chops with Fried Spaghetti, Gravy Baked Porkchops, and the (apparently extremely evil and illegal) Tomato Macaroni (an old family favorite).
Let the food onslaught begin!
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Looks like the DNS issues have finally sorted themselves out, so the recipe section is now fully operational!
As if that wasn't exciting enough, I actually made links from the food adventures in the pictures section to the appropriate recipe. Turns out I've only entered recipes for 2 of them though. Oh well, more to follow. I have 3 or 4 sets of new food adventures on the camera already so far.
Oh yes, on an unrelated note: Do you have a small child? Do you live in vancouver? Would you like to buy a cool stroller from someone I know? Then you should visit Borderline Technologies right this very instant!
That is all.
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Welcome to the next level!
New section on the site, recipes!! I set up an online recipe database so that I could keep track of the recipes for all of the stuff that I concoct. Then I thought, "Hey, it's online, what the hell". So now you can go there!
Kind of. I'm having some technical issues with the subdomain. Theoretically, sometime in the next 12 hours, everything should be groovy. In the meantime, if clicking the link in the sidebar, or the one above, tells you to go to hell, you can get there by clicking here.
At some point in the near future (using my own clever definition for "near"), the various picture sets of food on the picture site will cross-link with the recipe for said food. Good times!
The recipe section is powered by PHPRecipeBook, which seems fairly cool.
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Anyone interested in art type pottery, Martin Brothers style in particular, should scoot on over to the Bur Oak Pottery website and take a gander at some of the things they have for sale.
All of their works are one of a kind pieces inspired by classic Martin Bros. pieces. Of course, this means that if you see something you like that has already been picked up by someone, you can't get something exactly like that. But they will create something similar for you if you so desire.
Now if only I was rich enough to own all of the Bird line!
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DriverGuy and I got back from The Keg a couple of hours ago. Much food was consumed by all. And by all, of course, I mean Me. Because DriverGuy only had half of his prime rib, and had the rest for takeout. Which almost didn't happen! But after a couple of laps around the place, we managed to get back into the parking lot and go back inside to pick it up.
On this particular trip, we had a rather cool waiter, who among other things made sure that our 7-up glasses were never empty. I'm sure he had a name, but as we all know, my memory is the suck, so I can't remember it. Which is a pity, cause he was cool! And tipped very well. At least, I hope so. DriverGuy and I are of course well known for leaving generous tips.
As part of the ordering process, we were once again offered the option of choosing the mighty Mega Kega size prime rib, though neither of us was crazy enough to order it this time around.
When it was mentioned that I have a picture of the mighty Mega Kega on the site, I was asked for the URL and prompty gave it out, because hey, might as well have someone besides me see the place.
Presuming that things got written down right, the cool keg waiter dude might be reading this THIS VERY SECOND! In which case, Hey Dude! You rock! The picture you're looking for is this one. Rock on!
If not, well, this can serve as a reminder for how large a slice of cow you can comfortably fit on one of those big Keg plates.
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After a couple of days of frantic coding effort, I've now finished lua-web version 1.1.0.
New in this version is the ability to handle multipart/form-data POST forms. These are the type of forms that allow you to upload a file. Previously, only application/x-www-form-urlencoded (the default) type forms could be handled.
Obviously this ushers in a whole new era of.. something or other.
I've been meaning to get around to this for quite a while, to save myself the hassle of uploading files manually on my picture site. But of course, one needs the right motiviation to get these things done.
In any case, enjoy!
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I shall now take this brief moment away from enjoying my Christmas to wish anyone that happens to be reading the page a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and Seasons Greetings, and so on!
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Having a bit of time during this evil software release at work, while I wait for our "super powerful" quad processor server to stop having a nap and let me type something, I have gone about the arduous task of posting a new page to the site here, the lua-web page.
This is a little something I whipped up so that I could write my CGI scripts in lua without having to have 80 other scripts laying around to parse URL's for me and such like. This still powers the page generation on my picture page.
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I've now done a bit of re-writing on the CGI I use to generate the pages on my picture site. Specifically, I added the ability to categorize the different sections of the page, so that looking at the list of sections doesn't make your head explode.
So.. enjoy! Or something!
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And now, for information that may not have had a chance to blow the socks off of various people: I have now cut this site over to different publishing code.
Everything has been migrated, metroidscreenshots were lost in the shuffle because I'm still trying to determine a good way to work those into the new publishing scheme.
All internal site links should be fixed. Bad news for anyone that had a bookmark, but I hardly doubt that is going to be a problem.
And now, I shall go to bed.
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And now, for information that could well blow the socks off of various people: I am now ready to cut this site over to using different publishing code.
Yes, you read that right! A project that started months ago as something to do during the day while my girlfriend was at work (I was visiting her at the time) is now FINALLY complete.
Under the new system, I can update absolutely any and all pages on this site with nary a tool but a web browser, even lynx!
Of course, I could shine you on and tell you that because of this, I will be even MORE inclined to want to update this page, because my current publishing system (made by me) only works for this part of the page, but not all of it. However, we all know that would be a big fat lie. But well, hope springs eternal.
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So I went and changed the Picture Page! Wow! Same lame content, new ugly page design! So go take a look! Marvel in the.. somethingness.. of the new design!
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Here's an update just for you, jim_the_hat (AKA Matthew Smith with the Uni-Brow (tm))
P.S. You smell!
P.P.S. Swooz is still waiting for her M&M's!
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A smallish update from Sunny-But-Not-Snowy Wisconsin, Heart of the dairyland, and home of my heart. I'm here for the Christmas and New Years season, to spend the festve holiday season with my Sweetie and her family.
So far, everything has been just amazingly wonderful. Meeting family is going well, no death threats of any kind. This could well be the best Christmas I've ever had, and I owe it all to Marisue, my sweet beautful adoring honey.
And to you baby, when you notice this: I Love You!
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I've updated all the pages on the main site and on the picture site to have favorites icons. This was kinda there before, but now it works like it's supposed to.
If you use Internet Explorer, then you might get to see one of these icons for a short time if you bookmark one of the pages anew, until the browser decides to delete the icon from it's cache, then you will see it no longer.
If you use Mozilla, then any page you visit will have the icon in the address bar. Way to advertise my geekiness, woohoo!
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A while ago I went on a trip to Wisconsin to see my sweetie. This involved two hellish nightmares involving the Minneapolis/Saint Paul airport. The first was a round of bad weather that left me in an airport for many, many hours. The second, arguably less hellish incident, occured on the way back. I noticed people using the moving walkway wrong, and took pictures.
This jives well with the fact that one of my rants is about people who can't use the escalator right. So, I've finally gotten around to adding the pictures to the stupid people rant. It's good for a laugh. Probably.
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Wow! Somebody stop me! I'm like, doing updates and stuff!
What I've done is update the WinLib that was already here on the page to the latest version that I've been using for a while. I also repaired the help file included in it so as to actually have correct contact information, fix up the debug code to be less ugly, add in a fix that allows the code to compile under Visual C++ 6 (because Microsoft has a brain damaged C Pre-Processor). This new version is almost identical to the last one with the exception of a new class and a better help file. The source for the help file is also included now, for those who care.
Secondly, TrayDebugger, which used to be part of the Winlib archive, has now been split apart. It's been slightly modified to compile with the new version of WinLib.
Lastly, NFI Tool has been added to the site. This is something I wrote a long time ago, when Quake was king. It's basically a tool to add a bunch of files into a single archive, which can then be accessed via the supplied sample code (or better code you write yourself). The primary purpose is for games and whatnot, but I'm sure there's at least one other thing that you could do with it. Like WinLib, it comes with full help, context sensitive help even, and does pretty much everything you need an archiver to do, except compress.
All of these three projects now include Visual C++ 6 project files, for ease in compilation. Tada!
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Thought I'd point out that I have added a new coding page to the site, for LuaHelp, a Lua extension which, among other things, provides help right in the lua interpreter for the main lua libraries, as well as some others.
Enjoy!
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You may or may not notice that the random line of text at the bottom of all of the pages on the site has finally returned. I had a bit of time to look into why it mysteriously vanished and didn't come back on it's own (as it has many times before).
With a bit of investigation, I discovered what the problem was, and fixed it all up. So, all I have to do now is add in some more sayings, perhaps actual funny ones, and everything will be good to go.
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I have secretly added some new content to the site in a non-sneaky kind of way. I've noticed that certain people (you know who you are) are having a hard time trying to find out what it is.
This update contains a super secret clue. See if you can find it.
And that's all I have to say about that.
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Ok so actually it's not a tractor. BUT, it does sound like one. But lets back up a little bit.
I have this job, see. And at this job I work with this guy, see. And this guy, he has this Unimog, see. And he would really like it if some sort of exchange took place wherein someone got richer and someone else got to own their very own Unimog, see.
So, if that sort of thing is your bag, perhaps you should tool on over to his page, where you can see copious photos of said Unimog, and determine if you would like to be the one who gets to own their very own Unimog.
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Well, an R/C car. A Tomy BitChar-G, to be exact. Which is a totally cool teeny little car 2 1/2 inches long. To commemorate this totally awesome event, I have updated the R/C Page to include it, including a picture.
Due to the fantastical japanese nature of the thing, the instructions contained no english whatsoever. Fortunately, there were many pictures to follow.
Now all I have to worry about are all the special cautionary type callouts telling me all the things I should never, ever do. I don't know what they are, but I hope they're just common sense, like the generally are.
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So I happened to notice today that the main index page was looking all stupid in internet explorer 6. Only that one page, though. A bit of investigation shows that the reason was because a long time ago, I was experimenting with making the page conform to some sort of HTML standard. So, just by telling the browser that the page was a specific version of HTML, it decided that everything should be centered. Netscape and konqueror, of course, did no such thing.
I'm not sure which of them is right, but I do know which of them is more stupid. In any event, I've fixed it by not telling anyone what they should be expecting. So it seems ok now. Broken HTML rules! (but still seems to work in all browsers).
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I recently got myself a SmartMedia MemPlug adapter for my Prism. I also picked up a 128 MB smartmedia card to go with it. So now, my visor is super memory enabled! woot!
Besides being able to have more applications, this enables me to ferry files between home at the office, or to anywhere I happen to be going. And most importantly, I can carry lots and lots of images of the super special woman in my life (who has a website here). Now, no matter where I am, I can see her smiling at me. Yay!
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So something horrible happened at my hosting site. Not only did the site get corrupted, but all their backups did as well. I can only thank god above that I happened to download a backup at the end of february, or this site would no longer exist at all, because I haven't the patience or inclination to redo the whole thing from scratch.
What this means is that a bunch of content was lost. Some game reviews that I added, pictures on the picture site, even some humor and new code that I added here. Needless to say, I am completely pissed right off by that.
So, that content may appear here again, or it might not. Cause really, it took a lot of inclination to even do it and post it the first time. Having to do it a second time, seems like, well.. too much work. We'll see, I guess.
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Allow me to modificate this to point out that the full site is now up! Woot! Well, more pictures could be added later, but all the ones I have currently are there.
So, here I am on day 4 of my vacation, and by god, I've actually done some work on the site! Specifically, I finished (well, mostly finished) the picture site that I've been meaning to do forever now.
You can follow the link on the left entitled pictures, or click on this link to go there.
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Alas, my world came to an abrupt end some number of days ago. I don't remember when exactly. Probably 3 or 4, anyway. Last thursday perhaps.
I finished Golden Sun. And after being more than a little cheesed off at the cliffhanger ending of this one, I fell into a dejected heap when I discovered that I can't buy Golden Sun 2 right this second. Bleh.
Anyway, I'm now in a position to do a complete review of the whole thing, though without giving anything away, of course. I'll see what I can do.
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Yesterday I picked up Golden Sun, for the GameBoy Advance. All reviews seemed to indicate that it was a pretty cool game, and you'd be a fool not to buy it.
Allow me to expand up that a tad bit.
This game kicks total ass. The sound actually sounds good (with headphones, natch), the graphics are amazing, and the gameplay is actually somewhat innovative. I'll put up a more in depth review later, when I've played it for more than just a couple of hours. But in the meantime, go buy this game, or I'll have to kick your ass.
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So now I'm working on a smaller sub-site to this one, where I can take all the stupid pictures that I've ever taken or will ever take, and stick them up for people to examine and/or laugh at. These sites seem to be all the rage, so I figured, what the hell.
Also, it saves me the trouble of having to individually makes sure that all the people I want to show certain pictures to get it. I'm such a lazy bastard. Too lazy to actually finish such a monumentally simple project? Time will tell.
But, yes, probably.
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Well, no thanks to my legion of fan (yes, I spelled those words right), I managed to think of some christmas presents that I was sure my girlfriend would like. So yesterday I went and bought them for her. Then I had the hell of wrapping the dang things. The trouble with buying odd shaped things, is coming up with boxes to put them in, so people can't tell what they are just by looking at them.
But, wrap them I did. Then I took them home, then to my girlfriend's house, where she promptly unwrapped them. Big smiles were afoot. And she enjoyed them a whole lot. So woo!
Another successful christmas gifting! That makes one in a row!
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So, after a long period of researching, theorizing, back-tracking and re-researching, I finally purchased myself a digital camera the other day. The brand I settled on was a Fuji FinePix 2600. It's a good mix between good quality pictures and a decent price.
Of course, the one I got was a bit of a dud. The switch in the sliding lens cover was all foobar. So I got it switched it for a not-broken one, and now all is well. Though I won't go into the backflips and tightrope walks I had to go through to get windows to recognize the new camera. Suffice to say, I fucking hate windows.
So now, I think I will retake the pictures I took of my R/C's, and see if I can get them to look any better. If I get around to it, I'll post a note here.
By the way, the icon for this entry is, in fact, the camera I bought. Neat huh?
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So christmas is fast approaching, and I'm still sorta stuck on ideas of what to get my girlfriend for christmas. I have a few idea's, but I don't know how cool they are, or where I could even buy them, since the more obvious choices didn't work out.
If anyone actually reads this page, and has an idea, and it's not too close to christmas, feel free to contact me, and let me know.
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Against my own better judgement, I ended up buying this movie I knew I probably wouldn't like, just because it was cheap. So, it came as no surprise to me (and should come as no surprise to you) that I didn't entirely like it.
The movie starts out boring, like most Tom Hanks movies. It then escalates into innane but amusing gilliganlike antics, such as wandering around on a deserted island and getting surprised by scratched feet. Or the inevitable surprise that if you crack a coconut open with a hammer, the milk spills on the ground.
Perhaps the best bit of the movie is when Hanks is off his nut, talking to the magic volleyball with a bloodstain for a face. He gets mad at it, and kicks it out of the cave, and then flips his wig and gets panicky when he can't find it.
Of course, the movie has a lame downer ending. At one point, at a crossroads in his life, Hanks actually stands IN an ACTUAL CROSSROAD. The symbolism was so apparent my ears almost started bleeding.
At least, now I can say I've seen it.
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All kiddie porn visuals aside, what really pisses me off (right now) is mentally inept school teachers who think that the best time to take a group of 4 billion school kids on a field trip via public transportation is right in the middle of the morning rush hour commute.
Now, maybe I'm the only one that seems to know this, but during the morning rush hour commute, lots of people are trying to find their way to work, where they make money to feed their wives, kids and pets. The last thing they need is to be getting to work late because little Billy's teacher thought he might well die if he didn't get to see a dinosaur skeleton at 9 in the morning instead of 10.
(I wonder if any FBI people will see this article based on it containing the words "kiddie porn" twice.)
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So I went to a big DVD sale tonight. Well, not a "big" sale, but a sale anyways. The thing about me and DVD's is, I shoudn't be around then when the notion is planeted in my head that some number of pennies will come off the price at the checkout counter.. so I got 12.. ouch! My wallet!
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So I got my hands on a copy of DOOM for the GameBoy Advance yesterday. All I had to do was hand over a big whack of cash to a sales dude, and he handed it to me. Not my preffered method of getting my hands on a game, but oh well.
So, is this a game worth getting? Well, yes and no. It does have some flaws to it.
Check out the GBA Doom review and find out for yourself.
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So I went to see The Highlander Matrix tonight. Or, as the general public knows it, The One. Despite what the critics are saying, or at least, the critics that I happened to look at, the movie doesn't entirely suck.
Sure, you have to check your intelligence at the door a little bit. And of course the guy with the red flag that telegraphs the stuff coming up is pretty annoying. All in all, I don't think I wasted my money seeing it, since I was entertained. I mean, it wasn't Star Wars: Episode 1 or anything.
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And lo, after many months of me claiming I was going to roll out a new web design featuring all sorts of cool CGI stuff to help me to edit most parts of the site remotely, I've actually done it!
I've changed focus on the page a little bit, as you can see. Besides being a home to information about me and my hobbies, I've also decided to jam on some game reviews. What can I say, Old Man Murray is my hero. Anyway, you obviously need to know what games I think you should be playing, right?
Most of the content from the old page has migrated to here and been spiffied up a little bit. If you never saw the old site, well, you weren't missing very much. I wouldn't worry about it.
Only one review up right now, for the original Metroid. More coming soon, even for platforms that are still alive!
That's all for now. More updates to come.. probably.
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