Grant's Blog Archive

03 July 2008 11:14:17 EDT

Some work-related video showing how we are working to return to the moon. This is real. We are working on this today.

02 July 2008 08:28:46 EDT

National Security Decision Making was excellent as always, though they steadfastly deny being a LARP.

I want to thank Evan Tormer for some great games of Mortal Coil and Steal Away Jordan.

Bought Grey Ranks and Dogs in the Vineyard. Finished Dogs by the time the plane touched down on Sunday.

I found a great little Rio Grande game called "Stone Age". I think the S.O. will go for it. Also liked "Gangsters" and "Lascaux".

Finally scored a copy of Advanced Civilization.

Dread was a blast. Need to get a Jenga tower.

27 June 2008 09:24:36 EDT

PHONE: Having a good time. Picked up some new games and am in the process of reading them.

25 June 2008 07:18:16 EDT

Had this horrible feeling this morning, that I was about to leave for Origins without my badge. Like showing up naked for work. Fortunately, the Internets say that Origins doesn't mail out badges. You pick them up at pre-registration. Sounds like a nice long line to me.

24 June 2008 19:55:53 EDT

PHONE: School is going well. Online course. Tests are multiple choice and, of course, open book. I am graded on the best ten tests out of 13 and I get two tries on each. Halfway there. But I don't think it will work for 'Human Behavior in Organizations'.

24 June 2008 19:48:26 EDT

PHONE: At the hospital. A friend had a seizure for the first time. The room was getting crowded.

23 June 2008 09:20:35 EDT

On my way to Origins this week in Columbus, OH.

17 June 2008 18:11:36 EDT

Finally added tags to my weblog. It only tags the topic name, but its a start.

17 June 2008 11:43:10 EDT

Picked up the new Player's guide for Dungeons and Dragons yesterday. I didn't have a lot of exposure to the previous edition, and I haven't gotten very far into the new book, but I don't see a great departure from D&D's design goals and techniques. They are clearly and explicitly spelled out at the beginning of the book. The game focuses on combat and on detailed mapping of the fantasy environment.

I admire it as a design aesthetic. It made me realize that my own game design is more of a "sandbox" game. The players have freedom to explore the whole world, which in the case of Secrets and Lies is the modern world. This is easier than dungeon design, but less disciplined. A dungeon is a finely crafted mechanism, each room's challenges depending upon the ones that came before. To sit down and design a dungeon requires patience and thoroughness. It is is to be admired. In the age of multimillion-dollar video games, it is also quite the marketable skill.

But it can lead to disappointment for the designer. Even in a best case, most of a dungeon probably goes unexplored, its best traps untriggered. In the worst case, the players want to skip it entirely; sometimes innocently, sometimes to tweak their friend who worked so hard. It's reasonable to want to cushion yourself from that kind of disappointment.

Enter the sandbox. The Planner describes the setting in general terms and lets the players make the next move. In the case of Secrets and Lies, the next scene can be pulled from a Florida guidebook or the day's newspaper. The Planner improvises and play moves on.

But it's important to own up to the fact that this sandbox play relies on improvisation over preparation, and to appreciate the intricacy of a well-stocked dungeon.

Personally, I try to have it both ways by cultivating a library of maps, settings and adventures that can be easily translated from one game system to another. Modern settings are more difficult to find than fantasy settings, but there are a few. I want to recommend the GM's Companion for Millenium's End (long out of print), a d20 product called the New Glory Naval Base, and the Floor Plan series from Steve Jackson Games.

16 June 2008 13:12:54 EDT

Good news and bad news about Netflix. The good news is that it has won over the girlfriend. The bad news is that the cable companies are experimenting (thanks to I Want Media for the link) with caps on bandwidth, and Roku uses lots of it.

For now, cable companies are trying to fight illegal video file sharing. But Netflix has the potential to transform this into a problem with legal file downloads. The cable companies would lose their moral high ground and have to face up to the real issue: that this video sharing is a threat to their core business. For now, Netflix has replaced cable for me, though that's because the TV season is over and I have a lot of other things on my plate.

The service providers (cable and DSL) have a legitimate concern here, and a bandwidth cap is a major threat to the disruptive technology of the Roku. We'll see how it plays out.

UPDATE: I meant to mention another potential use for the Roku, for parenting. The Roku interface should be simple enough for a small child (not that I have one to test it on) and the worst they can do is remove videos from the Roku. You need a computer to add videos to the device. So a parent can regulate exactly what a child can watch, but the child might be able to navigate through hours of video on their own.

11 June 2008 18:40:29 EDT

Just got the prototype of Secrets and Lies from Lulu.com. A printer friend of mine thinks that book-binding such a small page count (currently 85) will cause the pages to fall out quickly, so the jury is still out on an actual print run. But I will print them for distributor review and for conventions.

11 June 2008 09:48:09 EDT

The Roku box came in. But with class starting, I don't have time to play with it.

UPDATE: Yes, I connected it. Component didn't work, had to use Composite. It has wi-fi; used virtual keyboard to enter security code. Video quality is nice; will want to get Component working.

ANOTHER UPDATE: There are 4 'levels' of video quality, depending on your network connection. Only level 1 looked pixelated.

It's a bit inconvenient to have to queue movies up on your computer, then watch them on the box. It seems like at least a top 10 list would be a simple software update. The virtual keyboard is already there as well.

So the delivery works fine; Netflix just needs to improve the content offering. I'm still interested in the really obscure titles. In 2008, it's probably easier to mail them out than to have them queued up on a server for a handful of people to download. But that will change, and this Roku box is the right way to get it done. Now that I've gotten rid of cable, it's a keeper.

09 June 2008 14:32:50 EDT

Got my girlfriend connected to Comcast high-speed Internet this weekend. I want to say that Verizon DSL actively helps to get your wi-fi router connected while Comcast actively hinders it. Comcast wants to charge a $150 service call and a $15/month rental for wi-fi. With Verizon, the support person was able to control the desktop remotely and configure the router for networking. Now that's customer service.

04 June 2008 16:24:36 EDT

Spent some more time with Grand Theft Auto 4 last night. Finally met the feds.

My last save file is two weeks old. I'm really not being pulled into this one.

Just read that the Civilization demo for consoles will be available on Thursday. Finally a little strategy gaming for the next-generation consoles.

So far I have Star Trek: Conquest and Battalion Wars 2 for the Wii, if you can call the Wii next-gen. Star Trek is very shallow. BW2 turned out to be a third-person shooter and the online multiplayer got old fast.

04 June 2008 10:20:50 EDT

Just filed a complaint with the Do Not Call registry. It was remarkably easy.

03 June 2008 10:55:20 EDT

Just registered for my first class towards a Masters in Finance. Wish it weren't Internet-only; they don't deliver as much as face-to-face. Will see how it goes.

02 June 2008 08:48:15 EDT

The playtest went well. We recorded it, but there was a lot of sharp, painful noise created by the forks on plates at the beginning. Also, a transient was created whenever someone put something on the table.

The game itself went very well. This was the first version that didn't need major changes afterwards. While I have made a few changes, we will be using the same hardcopies for the next game.

30 May 2008 09:09:16 EDT

Separated my personal web site from the main page. Now the main page is sparsely populated, but it's all about the game. Next playtest is tonight.

28 May 2008 14:45:06 EDT

PHONE: Bought stock in Netflix today. Will let you know what I think of the new media player.

27 May 2008 23:52:41 EDT

Updated the demo for Secrets and Lies to match the current changes to the rules.

27 May 2008 13:05:14 EDT

WII: Just ordered the Roku box from netflix. Great deal on cables to go with it. Will see how it goes.

26 May 2008 23:31:50 EDT

Finally finished Moby Dick on audio. Any particular passage is brilliant, but precious few of them move the plot forward. If only Melville had been appreciated in his own lifetime, perhaps he would have attracted a better editor. My mother says that Tale of Two Cities is plotted much more tightly.

22 May 2008 10:07:54 EDT

It hasn't been updated, but I have restored the Demo at a player's request.

20 May 2008 11:15:28 EDT

Something interesting happened on Sunday. It was easier to use the Wii to check something online than it was to use the PC. I didn't have the wi-fi card plugged into the PC. A transitory event, but significant for the future.

19 May 2008 02:50:07 EDT

PHONE: Bought and connected an antenna today. ABC looks good. My emancipation from cable is nearly complete.

17 May 2008 18:15:58 EDT

PHONE: My game demo will be down until May 30 so I can do some revisions.

17 May 2008 13:51:18 EDT

Playtesting went well last night. The Draft sheet needs bigger cells, but generally went over well. We had another short combat and will be taking some things out.

16 May 2008 10:07:47 EDT

PHONE: Playtest tonight. Will experiment with video and audio recording.

15 May 2008 08:31:01 EDT

PS3 : Finally got DSL. Plan to cancel cable and get HDTV over the air.

09 May 2008 19:50:20 EDT

Welcome to everyone from Story Games. I don't know if you'll find my game to have a strong emphasis on story. There are so many talented players out there that I can concentrate on the game-related aspects and let Game Masters do what they want with that.

07 May 2008 14:12:22 EDT

I'm finally ready to announce my new role-playing game, Secrets and Lies. I've had playtesting and now have a sample ready for release.

I downloaded some forum software called Vanilla and have set up plumbagolounge.com to overlay my web site. I'll continue to use the main page for blogging.

02 May 2008 09:24:19 EDT

Played Grand Theft Auto IV again last night, past 12:30 this time (though I was writing for most of the evening). My character got drunk and while I had him take a cab home, I now understand what this article is about.

In my opinion, MADD couldn't be more misguided on this one. Drunk driving in GTA seems like a strong incentive *not* to try drinking and driving in real life. Once again, the grown-ups show how out of touch they are.

30 April 2008 12:26:41 EDT

PHONE: Bought GTA4 yesterday. Played until 10:30 last night. If it was awesome, would have played until 2. Pretty, though.

29 April 2008 16:28:23 EDT

PHONE: My girlfriend is asking me about our slingbox because she heard Kelly Ripa talking about it. Could be a real boost for them.

28 April 2008 13:49:16 EDT

Now that this document is fairly stable, Here are my character creation notes for GURPS Transhuman Space. The campaign has been dead for six months, though I will talk to Michael and Ben on Friday.

07 April 2008 13:45:42 EDT

PHONE: Griefed on Advance Wars. Exploit allows you to move the same unit over and over. Very disappointing.

03 April 2008 09:37:01 EDT

As I may have mentioned, I download my checking transactions into Quicken, match a receipt to each one (except online ones), assign each to a category, then shred the receipts.

This became very tedious for dining out, which I do at lunch every day. Sure, I could save money, but the point is to rent some table space away from the office each day. The point is that this generated a lot of receipts, and sometimes I would let them pile up.

A few weeks ago I went to paying cash only for dining out. A few years ago I was playing with Pocket Quicken for a Palm Pilot, and I found that 70% of all cash transactions were for eating out. Now it's probably closer to 90%; I'll even use the debit card for a small non-dining payment, so as not to pollute the category.

Quicken insists on classifying AMT withdrawals as Cash, and I got tired of fighting it, so I have to remember that Dining really equals Dining plus Cash. Someday I can do a mass reclassification of all those Cash transactions to Dining.

So now the number of receipts is way down, less than a half-dozen last week. Since the pile is smaller, I don't put them off as much, creating a virtuous cycle of a tidy receipt spike.

27 March 2008 00:04:42 EDT

Just saw an episode of CSI: New York about Second Life. Insultingly bad. Sets virtual worlds back a decade. I might as well be watching the Lawnmower Man.

21 March 2008 09:09:50 EDT

Got my tax refund today. I want to thank the government for their rapid turnaround.

17 March 2008 08:16:37 EDT

Went to see "The Bank Job" last night. Really enjoyed it. Statham was great as usual, the bank heist was a simple caper story, and the politics were remarkable in the way that British media could just be shut down in the days before Drudge. Saffron Burrows does a much better job here than in "Timecode".

14 March 2008 20:18:38 EDT

PHONE: I agree with what the President said about the mortgage crisis today. As someone who didn't buy into the obvious housing bubble, I don't think that those who did should be rewarded.

07 March 2008 17:01:39 EST

After two and a half years, finally fixed a bug in the RSS reader. If there was more than one valid link found, it would concatenate the two. So I had to decide; do I want the first valid link or the last one? I chose the first one and am checking out all the feeds.

27 February 2008 20:44:12 EST

PHONE: There has been speculation on the fate of the moon program under a democratic president. If we found a signal from space that was clearly from intelligent life, no one would question what we do. They would question why we weren't doing it faster.

02 January 2008 10:04:39 EST

PHONE: dreaming so intensely last night that I remember trying cryptography in my head.

21 December 2007 16:58:17 EST

Broke my first baseball bat this week.

21 December 2007 16:57:52 EST

Updated my boardgame and RPG collections. Took the editorial comments out of the RPG section, but kept a copy. Decided not to include games which exist only as PDFs.

07 December 2007 09:15:26 EST

PHONE: Finished my last DVD last night. No more until xmas.

23 November 2007 07:42:25 EST

PHONE: Mission accomplished. got tvs for my mother and sister. madness.

23 November 2007 05:50:44 EST

PHONE: In line at Circuit city. If we had come at midnight we might have a chance at the cheap tv. Cold.

15 November 2007 01:05:05 EST

PHONE: structure, subjectivity, collaboration.

08 November 2007 23:46:28 EST

WII: If I can keep this up, there may be some more and longer posts here. I look at Microsoft Windows all day at work, and when I get home I want an Internet experience that looks completely different. I definitely need to get my mother a bigger-screen TV for her Mac mini.

08 November 2007 23:42:44 EST

WII: I have been listening to role-playing game podcasts ever since GenCon. By far, the best one I have found is Sons of Kryos. I've also been listening to Fear the Boot because they're from St. Louis. If anyone out there knows how to reach Jamie Schneider, tell him to drop me a line.

Listening to the podcasts, in turn, has led me to some interesting independently-published RPGs. I would really like to run Panty Explosion as a one-timer, but the name always turns people off. Fred Hicks has some very impressive products with Don't Rest Your Head and Spirit of the Century. I also managed to find a copy of Burning Wheel at my local game store (Nan's in Houston). I see why so many people get excited about it. It was almost enough to get me going on a few campaigns rolling around in my head: Lord of the Rings, Warcraft or Romance of the Three Kingdoms. But the rules would still need some work. In particular, I don't see how players would get enough Persona points to get over certain Advancement humps. Also, there is such a thing as being too averse to wound accumulation. As I read it, each weapon does exactly three discrete levels of damage. To me, that's like saying that you can only be struck in exactly three points, none of which are necessarily fatal.

Since this post has turned somewhat negative, I suppose I should say something about the notion of distributed storytelling. I suppose that we've all had some politics with the idea of the all-powerful game master, and there might be a desire to share the load. I can relate to Ron Edwards' comment on the podcast Theory from the Closet, that there can be power struggles in a gaming group followed by 'Maoist' tendencies for the loser to be written out of history. But a single GM isn't an inherently harmful concept. In terms of social contract, someone has to organize the game, to host it, to set a time and try to get people to come. It's reasonable that the same person prepares an adventure for the night and runs people through it. If you are lucky to have a game group that is both willing and able to share the load of creating the whole adventure (rather than just their character's action), great. But it's not for beginners, and you can't neglect beginners if you want to grow the hobby.

My purchases have been somewhat limited because I try only to purchase from e23. I trust them and am even willing to pay Texas sales tax to use them. But their selection of independent RPGs seems limited.

08 November 2007 23:09:05 EST

WII: My first post with a wireless keyboard on the Wii. I got it as a christmas present over five years ago. It's a Gyration keyboard; I see them all the time at work now. It works fine.

21 October 2007 20:40:46 EDT

PHONE: Trying to grill in the dark. Last minute party. Saw Tony at his birthday party yesterday.

15 October 2007 10:22:20 EDT

This weekend I purchased an old-school dungeon-style role-playing game book for a modern setting, 'New Glory Naval Base' by Darkfuries publishing. Lately I've had my eye out for realistic maps of modern settings. I realized that what I was looking for was a dungeon, something completely mapped and thought through. Since, in general, I don't run fantasy RPGs, I didn't make the connection until recently.

Thinking back on it, I can't remember the last time I drew a map. I bought Campaign Cartographer for my Battletech 3000 campaign, but just used Fractal Terrains to draw the planetary features. I might have transferred that over to a GURPS Space planetary record sheet. But the most important map, of cities and their adjacencies, was taken straight from King Arthur Pendragon.

There was a map sketched out on dry-erase paper, somewhere down on this blog topic. Usually I grab a map from some unrelated game; my favorite is the Millenium's End GM's companion. I was sure to pick up all the maps released for Lord of the Rings, though I will need to write a game system from scratch.

08 October 2007 13:47:13 EDT

PHONE: Been listening to RPG podcasts since GenCon. Picked up an RPG called Burning Wheel at Nan's. Very meaty.

05 October 2007 15:24:55 EDT

Got an unconfirmed tip that an Office Depot or OfficeMax is coming in at NASA Parkway and El Camino, where the Kroger used to be.

02 October 2007 12:01:20 EDT

No Heroes, you ask? I received the first four episodes from Netflix. It's good, but again, not good enough. Also on that list: Ergo Proxy, Full Metal Alchemist.

Shows that are good enough, that I need to catch up on: Stand Alone Complex and Battlestar Galactica.

I would purchase Stand Alone Complex, but they want $100 for 11 hours of show. That's slightly more than I pay for The Wire, which I consider to be the peak of quality vs. cost.

On a related note, I'm waiting for the following shows to come out in High Definition: Rome, My Name is Earl, Lost, Ugly Betty, How I Met Your Mother.

02 October 2007 11:26:22 EDT

Good new shows on tv: None are must-see. None (not even Moonlight) are so bad you want your hour of life back, but my video consumption is too high and something has to go.

The SO likes Chuck. I like Journeyman. We like Bionic Woman. Big Bang, Cane and Life are good but not good enough. Big Shots seems so derivative.

I started Dirty Sexy Money, but I liked the first scene so much that I stopped until the SO gets a chance to see it. Still haven't seen Private Practice, but will probably make the cut.

Haven't seen Desperate Housewives from 9 days ago; may be the first casualty. Shark may be the second, but it's in the queue. Returning favorites are My Name is Earl, CSI, How I Met Your Mother, Ugly Betty and Gray's Anatomy.

24 September 2007 09:23:47 EDT

Getting back into the stock market today. I finally have some money to put away and my horizon is less than six months. I can afford to take a little risk now.

24 September 2007 09:22:04 EDT

I'll be checking out zaon.com today. As I mentioned after GenCon, they sell detailed maps of starships for your role-playing game, and their online store is supposed to open today. I noticed a plethora of map-selling booths for fantasy games, but hardly anything else. So I'm looking forward to buying a couple of maps today.

Alas, I won't be buying Halo 3 tomorrow. If I was going to get an Xbox 360, it wouldn't be for Halo. This weekend I finally got around to purchsing 'God of War' for the PS2 and it was as good as people said. Looking forward to Batallion Wars 2 for the Wii next month and I hope to share it with friends.

17 September 2007 16:37:20 EDT

PHONE: Star Wars d6, DC Heroes, Marvel RPG, Aliens. These are the role-playing games I would introduce a new player to.

14 September 2007 00:10:07 EDT

WII: Realized from hurricane Humberto that I was prepared to shelter in place, but not prepared to evacuate. So I have packed two t-shirts, swim trunks and flip-flops in a duffel I don't like. I don't have shirts, and especially pants, to take out of rotation. I already carry a toothbrush and phone charger around all day between desks.

12 September 2007 11:28:33 EDT

Bought an HD-DVD player last night; watched three hours of 'The Matrix' extras in Standard Definition.

12 September 2007 11:27:20 EDT

Something to keep in mind about the supposed decline in housing prices: most of that decline will be in California, Florida and New England, where prices had skyrocketed. Places around here will probably see flat prices for 5-10 years, though there will be a bump up if the Fed cuts interest rates by a percent over the next year.

10 September 2007 12:07:22 EDT

PHONE: Forced to watch the new Halloween. Exactly as bad as I thought it would be. No plot twists. No characters to empathize with. Violence to put A Clockwork Orange to shame. Leave Rob Zombie to his dark places.

07 September 2007 14:53:23 EDT

PHONE: Rented Tiger Woods 2007 for the Wii. Controls are bad.

07 September 2007 14:49:33 EDT

PHONE:Lost my travel toothbrush and paste. Need to replace.

31 August 2007 12:30:21 EDT

PHONE: A friend recommended anime called Stand Alone Complex. Like it.

29 August 2007 18:43:38 EDT

PHONE: Managed to get hooked on Gain Ground for the Wii virtual console. Continues seem to be disabled at Stage five.

21 August 2007 21:16:20 EDT

I went to Gen Con in Indianapolis last week. Computer gaming has vastly increased this year, possibly in the wake of E3's cancellation. Apparently the biggest news coming out of the convention was a 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, which I will let others comment on.

I want to start off by telling you about a neat little service I found in the Art show. Zaon produces high-quality deck plans for science-fiction starships. Apparently their online store isn't ready yet, but they had one drawing for sale and I immediately picked it up for my game on Friday. I like it so much that I'm going to find a way to work it in, even though it's far too large for a typical Transhuman Space vessel.

13 August 2007 23:26:52 EDT

I have purchased a new webcam to include a friend in my game night. We'll see how it goes.

10 August 2007 16:28:02 EDT

The class I was to teach at UHCL has been cancelled; only one person signed up. Maybe in the spring.

06 August 2007 23:54:55 EDT

WII: Will try to post more often. I read that people can only have a meaningful social relationship with 150 people. I feel so far behind.

27 July 2007 10:18:44 EDT

PHONE: Motorola just updated the software for my razr. Now the volume of the media player really is quiet at the lowest levels.

21 July 2007 15:57:51 EDT

For any of Minerva's friends who were interested in what we were playing last night, here is a link to the game. Just "check out": you don't have to register to download free PDFs.

20 July 2007 20:08:17 EDT

PHONE: Happy, Michael?

08 June 2007 10:28:28 EDT

PHONE: Beat Advance wars for the DS last night. need to give the handheld a rest. got the web browser for it as a birthday present but cannot bring up my personal site.

30 May 2007 09:25:22 EDT

PHONE: regular expressions continue to plague me. I have to learn a new logic language today.

29 May 2007 22:14:07 EDT

WII: Got my mother and sister set up on the Internet this weekend. My mother is using a Mac mini; I like the media player.

So I see that my last post was also on the wii. Right now it's just gadget-mongering; I'll need a few weeks to decide if it's really the paradigm-shifter I've been waiting for.

24 May 2007 00:27:41 EDT

WII: Wanted to recommend Thaddeus Greibel's paper in the Dec. 2006 edition of gamestudies.org.

21 May 2007 09:33:24 EDT

PHONE: They finally dropped the price on Star Trek. watched two discs of deep space nine this weekend. forgot how good it was.

08 May 2007 09:43:40 EDT

Update on the Wii; I'm returning the cable modem today. Too many headaches and too many problems with customer service.

06 May 2007 13:16:34 EDT

WII: My first post from my Nintendo Wii. GrantDavis.net looks great, YouTube works, I like it. Need to try my keyboard.

24 April 2007 16:12:17 EDT

PHONE: something just occurred to me that most people may not know. when we switch to high definition television in 2009, you will not need a new antenna. even rabbit ears might pick up the signals when tv stations turn them to maximum power. the trick is having a television that can interpret the signal properly.

24 April 2007 15:03:58 EDT

I'm updating RSS feeds on the site today. I see that several sites in my database now have feeds. I have also decided to trim out feeds that are not useful to me with my mobile phone.

To be a useful RSS feed, either:

the feed has to contain the content, or

the site itself must show up reasonably well on the phone, without too much clutter to scroll through. Most sites are not meeting this requirement, so for the most part I am keeping the sites that have all the content in their RSS entry (though there are many exceptions).

22 April 2007 18:44:14 EDT

Got to Best Buy first thing this morning and purchased a Nintendo Wii. I like the Sports games it comes with as a novelty, but I'm really looking for some kind of strategy game I can play with my friends. I'm also interested in the Virtual Console; we're getting cable modem set up as soon as possible.

19 April 2007 09:38:02 EDT

PHONE: This morning i woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep. but i did not want to go to work early. so i started up my fifteen year old genesis and played desert strike, back when it was honorable to attack iraq. Meanwhile, my xbox is up for auction on ebay.

30 March 2007 10:06:41 EDT

Last night I unpacked the stereo. I decided not to use the surround speakers; too many wires around the house.

I also unpacked the Sega Genesis in the bedroom. I decided that the Sega CD and 32X would be too much clutter. Besides, my favorite games are on the core system, though I would like to fire up "Sewer Shark" and "Double Switch" again.

My four favorite games on the core Genesis are Shadowrun, Midway Arcade Classics (none of the later ports do it justice), X-Men, and Desert Strike. "Joust" remains one of the best two-player games in existence, along with "Combat".

I can't believe the Genesis is over 15 years old and I still keep it around. The Xbox is in my trunk, waiting to be dropped off at the Ebay store. It's about the quality of the games and the willingness for the manufacturer to keep them playable on some platform; next-gen, mobile, whatever, as long as the controls are faithful. If the Nintendo Wii would carry these games, I could finally retire the Genesis.

27 March 2007 09:23:03 EDT

So I hear that Starbucks is trying to market itself as a Third Place where people can feel comfortable just hanging out. I don't understand the business model here; people just hanging out should be taking up far more real estate than they're paying out in product.

I wonder why this plan didn't work for comics & roleplaying game stores. Here in Clear Lake, Horizon Games closed down over the year that I was gone and another comics/games store at El Dorado and I-45 seems to have shuttered before I could even check it out. In Boca Raton, Lost Realms moved from one depressed shopping center to an even more remote location.

But even when selling coffee to gamers, I've seen this business model fail. There was a place called "Haven Coffee" in St. Louis in 1995. They catered to gamers, allowed trading-card games without restriction, even allowed live-action role-playing. They went out with a whimper.

Part of it is the fact that most gamers, spending so much time on games, don't make enough money to flow it back to the stores. Also, the enormous markup on upscale coffee probably has something to do with it. Nevertheless, I'm surprised that a tipping point exists where a for-profit business, not selling alcohol, can afford for people to just sit around. I guess that's why the Starbucks guys are rich; they saw the opportunity.

23 March 2007 08:39:12 EDT

For those of you I told, my mother is doing fine. Thank you for all your encouragement this week.

21 March 2007 08:01:58 EDT

It looks like my plans for "How to Host a Murder" are going to fall through. The game requires exactly eight people - four men, four women - to play. I just don't know enough women who would be into it.

My GenCon Event is ready to go, but I've asked a friend to look at it and see if it needs more work.

That leaves GURPS. I plan to design the rest of the Transhuman Space campaign with an ending in 6-12 months while working on my next project. The core combat rules will be Phoenix Command, which has some GURPS-like elements (e.g. 3 dice) in its free-form task resolution system.

Brent is starting a couples night of gaming at his place; I hope he keeps it up.

21 March 2007 07:48:54 EDT

Last might I dreamt that John Kerry moved in next door. I wasn't living in the condo; it was some kind of compound-like place with low ceilings. Most of this I can blame on an HGTV show we were watching last night, though I have no idea where Kerry came from.

15 March 2007 10:07:09 EDT

[Moved from Language page] Try to listen to Japanese every day, even if you don't understand (especially if you don't understand). In Tokyo, I learned that culture shock is a physical condition, not a clash of values. Being surrounded by all this stimulus and not being able to understand will drive you crazy.

12 March 2007 09:45:08 EDT

PHONE: so it was six last night and i was on a plane back to houston. it was remarkable how empty the plane was. i would think that sunday night would be busy.

11 March 2007 05:09:44 EDT

PHONE: checking daylight savings time.

08 March 2007 08:59:49 EST

Exported video from Quicktime Pro to 3GPP format, downloaded it to my Micro SD card, got it to play on the phone. Now working on a ripped DVD.

UPDATE: I just watched the opening credits of "Spiderman 1" on my phone. The complete movie is 67 MB, just a little too large for the micro SD card that came with the phone. If I buy a 1 GB, I can fit a dozen feature-length films on a card the size of my smallest fingernail.

07 March 2007 16:24:10 EST

PHONE: last night i got 'lunar lander ' for the game boy. quickly becoming addicted to it. seems even better than i remember in the arcade.

07 March 2007 10:26:12 EST

PHONE: Two hawks perch on a lamppost outside my office window. their white chest plumage is majestic in the morning sun.

06 March 2007 12:47:56 EST

PHONE: it seems impossible to play mp3s on my phone without buying them through power vision. It may actually be easier to play video. Must investigate.

03 March 2007 17:22:15 EST

PHONE: we're having our first barbeque of the year. Beautiful.

28 February 2007 11:00:22 EST

Changed my front page to show all blog posts for the week, rather than just the last 25 hours. Similarly updated the RSS feed.

28 February 2007 10:12:50 EST

Someone is building condominiums next to mine "starting in the 190s". That usually means $190,000 for a one-bedroom that isn't right next to the water. In our case, "the water" is simply a canal that is part of Clear Lake, not a beach or anything. That is about three times the offer made on my 2-bedroom unit last year.

Now, I like the things that are happening in my area. Baybrook Mall is becoming more upscale, the new bypass brings I-45 almost to my door (though not too close), and things are starting to ramp up at NASA with the new Moonshot. But $190,000 is close to the numbers I was hearing in South Florida.

While it is certainly in my interest to hype these properties right along with the builder, I have to wonder what could possibly be so good about these new condominiums. People usually think of real estate as an investment, something that will go up. But then you have to ask why the price of my 25-year-old unit would not pop right up with them, something I am skeptical of.

Doubtless someone would say that a new unit is less run-down, that it hasn't decayed. This leads me to question the underlying assumption that real estate is always an appreciating investment. By this logic, it should be treated as a depreciating capital investment or even expensed as a consumed item.

$190,000? I would like someone to show me the reasoning. Better yet, show me the money.

23 February 2007 08:57:20 EST

PHONE: I was up early again this morning, looking for a place to work on the computer. With my new consulting arrangement, I'm trying to stay away from work until more people arrive. Starbucks is too crowded and noisy, so I'm enjoying some caffeine at the L & L Deli on Upper Bay Road. Looks like I missed Open Mike Jazz night at the Arts Alliance center up the road.

22 February 2007 21:45:04 EST

Years ago, I bought faux-wooden drawer-type storage cases for my VHS tapes. Since then, they have languished in obscurity, neglected not because the VHS is slightly harder to load or because they lack cache, but because they were hidden away in these drawers.

With all my available media - books, CDs, DVDs, VHS, video games, collectible card games, boardgames, and wargames - I need a way to advertise them to myself more regularly. I don't generally keep these things just for the sake of having them - though I almost bought 1835 last night for exactly that reason.

The boardgames have the best advertising, being the largest, yet they are the most difficult to use, needing a group of interested players. The DVDs and video games have a decent presence on my shelves, but the CDs languish in their small boxes with thin spines, or buried in the iPod. I try to keep the Nintendo DS game boxes visible, even though the actual games are on a tiny chip.

I need some kind of solution that weights each medium's share of my attention according to convenience (audio can be consumed in more situations than video, while boardgames are difficult to play at all), how long since last being sampled, and how much time they would take.

A holographic solution would be ideal, but seems to be out of reach. My web-based inventory is out of date and doesn't give the the attention-space options I want. Perhaps something could be done with augmented reality, maybe aural rather than visual. The 'Hot Links' on the front page of GrantDavis.net have been helpful in organizing my web surfing.

21 February 2007 10:20:42 EST

First day back at my old job went well. Hopefully I will be back on full time by April.

20 February 2007 08:14:56 EST

PHONE: first day back on the job in houston. i'm in at seven am without a door key or an assignment.

17 February 2007 18:47:57 EST

PHONE:At a chinese buffet in birmingham. going back to the freeway.

17 February 2007 12:29:39 EST

PHONE: from ft. Lauderdale to the georgia border in six hours. Weather is beautiful.

16 February 2007 13:50:41 EST

My old employer is bringing me back on short-term as a consultant. It's a new experience, having to send out invoices and file self-employment tax.

16 February 2007 13:46:59 EST

I don't normally use the journal for personal announcements, but there are too many people to inform. My last day in Fort Lauderdale is today and I am driving back to Houston tomorrow. Florida is beautiful but it is crowded, expensive, and too far away from family and friends. I'm not leaving on account of the work; the job has been challenging and intellectually stimulating. But this is my chance to get back to Houston and I'm taking it.

15 February 2007 08:59:02 EST

Saw HD-DVD at a friend's house. It was the first time to see it 'in the field' rather than at an electronics store. I can see the difference and am definitely going to get HD, though I am still leaning towards the Playstation 3.

More remarkable that the picture was the sound. My friend built his own speakers and his surround sound is amazing. I see that poor-quality speakers are holding back my own home theature in a box - a moving box, unopened.

08 February 2007 17:37:09 EST

If anyone out there is reading this, I'm looking for a flash drive that plays any MP3s it finds, without any special software other than the auto-loading driver.

More generally, I wonder why so many of these wonderful data readers are still tethering themselves to the general-purpose computer. The iPod is dependent upon iTunes; Sony's PDF reader needs to download from a PC. These devices will never supplant the personal computer until they can function without one.

There is no technical reason people couldn't purchase music, video and electronic books from a kiosk.

08 February 2007 08:04:24 EST

PHONE: I'm back up on my phone! The Samsung A920 didn't allow me to log in here. But my sister got me a RAZR for xmas and yesterday I was able to sign up for web access without extending my contract.

07 February 2007 08:45:35 EST

Played Lost Planet yesterday. It was pretty good, better than Perfect Dark Zero.

04 February 2007 10:05:40 EST

This Sprint mobile broadband is choking me. Not only is the service too slow for video and software patches, but this single card is such a tenuous link to the ether. I can't set up a network with Slingbox and my game consoles.

28 January 2007 09:17:27 EST

When talking about cable and satellite subscribership in households, some people remark about the 10-20% of homes without either one as being disposable. Keep in mind that this is your seed corn, the way that people get video when they have no other way. Don't dismiss it.

26 January 2007 19:33:58 EST

Went to the beach today. It was cold and I didn't go swimming, but there were plenty of white clouds drifting across the blue sky, covering and uncovering the half moon.

25 January 2007 08:36:36 EST

We plugged the high-definition DVR into a standard-definition TV. The HD channels are translated properly and the color looks good. I think that the HD producers (at least at ABC) are working harder in general to deliver quality pictures.

22 January 2007 20:14:02 EST

Went to see "The Pursuit of Happyness" this weekend. Very good. Makes you appreciate what you have.

21 January 2007 09:21:07 EST

For being so pro-business, some Republicans in charge in this country don't seem to have a head for it. They don't seem to understand the principle of sunk cost. Trying to give "meaning" to the death of American troops is poor stewardship of the ones who are still alive.

Also, think about how this 20,000 troops are being brought to Iraq. In addition to sending more units, we will be breaking our promise to 20,000 troops already there, telling them that they will have to stay. Wouldn't it be a stronger show of support to the troops if we kept our promises to them?

18 January 2007 21:33:37 EST

We all thought that telecommuting would have revolutionized the workplace by now. But we didn't think far enough afield. If a job can be done from the beach, it can be done from another continent. Remember how everyone else learned English as a foreign language? Hoist on our own petard we are.

18 January 2007 00:40:05 EST

In pencil-and-paper role-playing games, there would often be an equipment table. This table is a list of what characters can buy, how much things cost and how much they weigh. An equipment table for a fantasy setting might look like this:

Item	Cost	Weight
Rope, 100'	1 gp	10 lb.
Rations, 1 day	5 cp	2 lbs.

There's no marketing involved, no advertisements that obscure important details (such as weight), no auctions, no used item discounts, no holiday sales. It's a utilitarian delivery of information.

This got me to thinking about data. In 1990, Steve Jackson Games published a book called GURPS Cyberpunk, which is famous for being seized by the U.S. Secret Service for being too realistic. In this book, they speculated about the cost and weight of data storage in the early 21st century. A few months ago, I cracked the book open to see how well they guessed.

So after extensive research (on the website of a popular big-box store), I have come up with a list of modern equipment for carrying and accessing data. Disclaimer: none of this is a solicitation to sell.

Modern Data Transport and Readers

Item	Cost	Weight
Card, 2GB	$100	.01 lb
Stick, 2GB	$100	.03 lb
Stick w/Audio, 2GB	$150	.1 lb
Hard Disk w/Audio, Video, 4" screen, 30GB	$250	.3 lb
Hard Disk w/Audio, Video, 4" screen, 80GB	$400	.5 lb
Hard Disk protection	$20	+100%

Older Data Transport - for Computers only

Low-Capacity Disc (w/case), .5 GB	$0.50	.2 lb
Medium-Capacity Disc (w/case), 4 GB	$1	.2 lb
High-Capacity Disc (w/case), 50 GB	$20	.2 lb
Disc, GURPS Cyberpunk, p.65, 10 GB	$5	.1 lb
ROM Cartridge, GURPS Cyberpunk, p.51, 1 GB	$500	1 lb
Hard Disk, 80GB	$150	1 lb
Non-Portable Hard Disk, 250GB	$150	2.5 lb
Non-Portable Hard Disk, 750GB	$450	2.5 lb
GURPS Cyberpunk, p.68, 1000 GB	$10,000	500 lb

Specialized Data Access Devices

Electronic Book/Audio, 6" screen, 64MB plus stick or card memory	$350	.5 lb
Audio, 1 hour (Low-Cap Disc)	$20	1 lb
Video, 6" screen, 3 hours (Med-Cap Disc)	$150	2 lb

Phones

1.5" screen, Text Transmit, Speakerphone	$20	.25 lb
Add Camera, 100 phone numbers, reads cards	$30	.25 lb
Add Data Transmit, Emergency Locator	$50	.25 lb
Add Video, 2.5" screen, Satellite Navigation	$150	.25 lb
+Push-button Talk	+$30
+Wireless Headset	+$100	.05 lb

Handheld Computers

Comes with Phone, Audio, Video, Data Transmit, and Emergency Locator. Reads cards. The Global Network is accessible, but difficult to navigate.

2.5" screen, .1 GB	$400	.25 lb
4" screen, .25 GB, Productivity Software, High-Speed Data Transmit	$600	.5 lb

Portable Computers

Comes with Audio, Video, and High-Speed Data Transmit. Reads cards, sticks, or discs. Can add any function in these lists.

12" screen, 80 GB	$1200	4 lb
15" screen, 160 GB	$1600	6 lb
17" screen, 240 GB, Hi-Cap Discs	$3000	10 lb
Non-Portable	50%	+100%

Typical Media

Item	Cost	Space
Text, per letter	Free	.000000001 GB
Audio, 4 min., Low Quality	$1	.04 GB
Audio, 4 min., High Quality	$3	.4 GB
Video, 1 hour, Low Quality	$2	.4 GB
Video, 1 hour, Good Quality	$5	1 GB
Electronic Book	$15	.002 GB
Audio Disc, 1 hour, Good Quality	$15	n/a
Video Disc, 3 hours, Good Quality	$20	n/a
Photo, Low Quality	varies	.0001 GB
Photo, High Quality	varies	.001 GB

16 January 2007 20:52:35 EST

Did some interesting work on the PCI bus today. Need to look at the specifications.

16 January 2007 08:33:47 EST

It occurs to me that in Florida traffic, people will take advantage of you for using your turn signal. I usually use my signal to let other drivers know that I need to get into a lane. In Florida, drivers will actually pull up and cut you off when you broadcast your intention.

14 January 2007 10:07:06 EST

I try not to talk about politics much, but I have something to say about the President's speech last Wednesday. I am more concerned about what the president announced about Iran than about the extra 20,000 troops. A carrier group deployed and interdiction of Iranian operations represents a much greater escalation of the conflict. The extra troops are distracting people from this.

We can be totally opposed to the leadership with Iran, but we have more in common with the Iranians than people think. Most Iranians don't want to live under Islamic law, but Iran is a dangerous place to be a moderate. War with Iran is not inevitable and should not be resigned to.

11 January 2007 15:19:19 EST

I went way over my minutes during the Christmas break and owe an extra $100. I need to use text messages more and check my usage more often.

10 January 2007 18:58:02 EST

Updated my resume again today.

10 January 2007 10:59:10 EST

A TV show like 'The Dead Zone' was first filmed in standard definition and in later seasons was filmed in high definition. So there is a possibility of it being released on high-definition disc. But later seasons of a TV series on DVD never sell as well as the first season, so could that delay a show from ever being released in HD?

A more immediate question is when they will start releasing TV shows in some HD format. So far I am waiting on HD before buying the following shows: That's Life, Lost, How I Met Your Mother, and Desperate Housewives. Even for an old show shot in standard definition, you might fit an entire season of 22-24 episodes on one disc. How about a reasonably-sized box set of an entire series?

09 January 2007 17:07:57 EST

Minerva and I went to the beach together this morning.

08 January 2007 08:08:21 EST

PHONE: I got my fiance satellite radio for Christmas and I think it's great. The receiver is not removable and has no recording feature; I'm trying to get something for her, not me. It has 30 presets and I took the last ten. Preset one is the preview channel, to get samples of what is available. Two are music, two are traffic (Houston and Miami) and the rest are news/talk. My favorite so far is BBC World Service.

07 January 2007 10:08:34 EST

Bank of America has made a mistake in setting up security for their online banking today. Computer technicians usually make upgrades like this on a Sunday in order to minimize disruption. But it also means that mistakes aren't caught as quickly.

Security on their site is guaranteed by a chain of security certificates from VeriSign, Inc., for which a company pays north of 800 dollars a year. Their root certificate certifies an intermediate certificate (also from VeriSign), which certifies Bank of America's security.

Bank of America's certificate was certified by the wrong intermediate certificate, which expired in 2004. Expired certificates are like expired milk; they may be safe, but they shouldn't be trusted. I'm going to hold off on banking for now.

UPDATE: Bank of America has already fixed the problem. It may have only been wrong for a few minutes.

06 January 2007 16:56:37 EST

PHONE: It may seem obvious, but the beach is different when it's crowded. Usually I come in the morning, stand at the pavilion for a short time and go on to work. On the weekend afternoon, the crowd makes it different; not necessarily worse, if you are into people-watching. But a crowd is probably better experienced by being in it, on the sand.

06 January 2007 09:10:53 EST

I'm thinking about the next game I want to run. I need something for GenCon and something to run locally once per month, in addition to hosting "How to Host a Murder" each month. Today I considered WWII, but that's just because I bought some GURPS books recently and have been playing a couple of PC games about the war. I still have DarkStryder ready to run off the shelf, but I need to come up with something myself.

I wonder why GenCon is taking so long for event registration and housing signup to get started. I seem to remember signing up around the beginning of the year.

UPDATE: Speak of the devil. GenCon is starting Pre-Registration on Sunday, February 11.

04 January 2007 21:05:19 EST

PHONE: Last night I was watching a Marilyn Monroe movie from 1960 called "Let's Make Love". I'm struck by the depth and sophistication of the dialogue compared to movies today. Perhaps it came from the tendency to take a stage play and just film it, there being very little action except for one stunt ; an actor falls down a flight of stairs and you can see his head and neck landing in a way I think could easily make him a paraplegic, yet he got right up. I'm impressed.

03 January 2007 21:57:58 EST

I think that the slow speed of Sprint Mobile broadband may be due to the connection strength. In Little Rock, at the top of a hill, I was able to watch YouTube with only a little difficulty. Different people upload videos of different bitrates.

03 January 2007 07:20:40 EST

PHONE: This morning I decided to eat before dressing so that my pants wouldn't get stained. On the way to work, I see this coffee stain from the last time I wore them, which I would have noticed had I put them on first thing.

01 January 2007 09:20:20 EST

I am making plans to leave South Florida. Thinking back on the decision to move here, I hadn't visited beforehand, neither to interview for the job nor on vacation. The last time I was in Florida was around 1980 when we went to Disney World.

I think that I got more accurate picture of what it would be like from the Internet than I would have from a one-day interview or three-day vacation. A trip would have shown me that South Florida is beautiful, that the weather is usually good and that the beach is spectacular. The Internet told me that the population density was triple that of where I lived before and that even with my raise, my purchasing power would be diminished (though it underestimated by how much).

But neither of them would tell me about transplanted New Yorkers, about rich people and old people going around with a sense of entitlement. On the other hand, the cultural diversity is a pleasant surprise. People just need to learn how to drive and generally how to be civil towards one another now that they're in the US.

01 January 2007 00:24:16 EST

PHONE: Keeping my New Year's resolution, I am starting up my journal again and intend to update it every day. As far as content today, let me say that the right for you to be wrong outweighs the need for us to be right.

30 December 2006 14:47:24 EST

I'm trying to get my mother set up with a high-definition DVR for her new television and Comcast in Little Rock has none available, with or without DVR. Did Comcast not know that Christmas was coming, that there would be people buying HDTVs and wanting high-definition programming? As the monopolist provider of landline video, I think I have a reasonable expectation that they would have a stockpile ready.

29 December 2006 23:16:20 EST

Went through the links at Terra Nova and picked out a few for games/news. It doesn't get very far afield, of course, but it's a few more perspectives on different aspects of gaming.

28 December 2006 12:52:34 EST

Updated the style sheet today. I know that Monotype Corsiva is a risk; we'll see how long it lasts. Took out the tipjar to reduce clutter in the lower right cell. Took out the XHTML validator because I don't know how often it is wrong.

22 December 2006 08:06:48 EST

Today is my last day of work for the year. I won't know what to do with myself for a week.

19 December 2006 22:08:09 EST

PHONE: This morning, when I got to the train station, both ticket validators were broken. This is the second time this has happened. When it does, I buy a one-way ticket right away. I never want to cry to the conductor how unfair it is that I couldn't validate my 12-pass. But it affects my future choices.

11 December 2006 06:19:44 EST

PHONE: I have lost the ability to beat the computer at Starcraft. Of all the realtime strategy games out there, I think that could be the Chess of our time. Like chess, you have to get very good at it before you even try to compete. Beating the computer only scratches the surface; you need to beat the higher difficulty, then try two computer opponents. A graphical update of the game would probably fail and new rules would just be a hassle, but there are other options: a better computer player or a new single player campaign.

04 December 2006 22:39:04 EST

Updated my resume again. I don't know why I ever try to use Microsoft Publisher. It mangled things so badly I went back to hand-coding the HTML again.

03 December 2006 22:32:30 EST

PHONE: From all I have seen in my career, it's amazing that anything gets done above a tribal level. The whole of civilization is astounding, and I am quite blessed.

02 December 2006 08:38:33 EST

PHONE: It's not he who dies with the most toys that wins. It's he who can spend a day as he wishes.

30 November 2006 07:59:51 EST

Went to the beach this morning. I slipped into the last free parking space as the light had already started to arrive. Perhaps you might get tired of the beach if you saw it every day for years, but I am far from that point. It makes you feel so small, that your problems are insignificant.

29 November 2006 08:06:50 EST

I finally connected my VCR to the DVR to start recording Season Four of "The Wire". I have all the shows available on Video on Demand, but I have also been recording late-night reruns to capture the episodes. I haven't taped a show in years, but I didn't like waiting 18 months for the third season DVD.

29 November 2006 07:59:30 EST

PHONE: Still haven't decided on a Playstation 3 or a Wii. The answer is probably neither; I don't have time to play the consoles I have now. The Nintendo DS has been the best for the kind of interstitial gaming I am forced into.

28 November 2006 08:01:17 EST

As I'm packing to move, I am following a "play-or-pack" rule for media consumption. If I'm looking for something to watch or play and my eyes rest upon a video, a game, a book, etc., then I have to use it or pack it. No more time for procrastination.

Packing it doesn't mean I should throw it away. Nostalgia is a tricky thing; it provides value when you least expect it. There is a board game called "Road to the White House" that I would never impose on my friends again, yet I have discarded it before and regretted it. Besides, my last move was only eight months ago; almost everything here has already made the cut.

29 August 2006 15:20:56 EDT

Things seem to be calming down here; Tropical Storm Ernesto has not strengthened as they expected.

Nevertheless, I plan to write more here as Minerva goes on her trip. Right now I need to get some work done from home.

29 August 2006 00:20:09 EDT

I need to get to sleep. I came down with a cold this weekend; I feel well enough to work tomorrow, but I need to get some gas first. I also need cash and toilet paper.

Minerva bought a Sprint "wireless broadband" card, which I think I've mentioned here before. It's about as fast as DSL, but works anywhere Sprint has service. So I'll update this site whenever I can.

21 July 2006 19:45:03 EDT

HBO is finally releasing Season 3 of The Wire on DVD. This should be advertised on their web site MUCH MORE PROMINENTLY. I may have to re-subscribe to cable next month.

27 June 2006 22:27:23 EDT

At my sister's recommendation, updated the list of my DVD collection. Probably not what she meant, but they are one of my most valuable possessions.

09 June 2006 07:00:32 EDT

Finally stole some time this morning to fix the Houston clock on my site. I've been very busy lately.

01 June 2006 17:05:38 EDT

Updated my resume. Work is going fine, this is just my lot for now.

19 May 2006 14:30:46 EDT

Finally found some time to trim some links. Left most of them in the database; they just won't show up on the front page.

Need to get back to studying for MCSD.

09 May 2006 23:04:14 EDT

I have a retraction to make. I just found out that the modem card had been limited to 112k. It now runs at over 400k, as advertised.

07 May 2006 15:12:46 EDT

Yesterday I saw a commercial for "Sprint Mobile Broadband", which Mineva subscribes to. A few days ago I alluded to the slow nature of this service, but this advertisement compels me to state it outright. Sprint is engaging in deceptive advertising. This service is not broadband, nor is it fast enough to qualify as an equivalent. The other day I was able to download a file at about 128k, nowhere near the 400k-700k advertised. It's a few times faster than dial-up, and it is literally a dial-up connection using a cellular modem. Landline modems are limited to 53k because of the electrical limitations of older telephone wires. Sprint is not bound by these limits and thus can run faster, but not nearly fast enough to be worth $60/month, nor to advertise it as broadband.

03 May 2006 06:29:06 EDT

Updated the site's style sheet. Used color names for now; will go back and fine-tune later.

30 April 2006 22:25:31 EDT

Minerva is wholly responsible for paying for, and setting up, cable and/or satellite. So for now, I've got the HDTV connected to an antenna. We've got NBC, CBS, and Fox, but no ABC or WB. PBS is, as always, at the forefront with several interesting channels through digital multicasting. There is a channel called Create, with a cooking show Minerva liked, a channel which carries the Florida Legistature, and a channel called 'The Tube' which carries music videos. I purchased an amplifying digital antenna for the HDTV and hooked up an analog amplifier to the television upstairs.

30 April 2006 21:00:22 EDT

I bought a PCMCIA adapter card for the desktop; I am now accessing through Minerva's Sprint PCS Connection.

There are nine wireless networks within range of this machine, and four of them are unsecured.

The connection speed is pretty slow. Sprint advertises 400k-700k, but speakeasy clocks it at 241k download, 22k upload. The upload was faster on the laptop, but the download was about 87k.

26 April 2006 18:36:00 EDT

PHONE: Last weekend I picked up a book of poetry by Keats.

26 April 2006 16:53:13 EDT

PHONE: I'm going to try to find a prepaid phone that allows web access. I miss being able to update this journal. I also miss using this phone that Marivic and Joseph gave me.

26 April 2006 16:48:29 EDT

PHONE: apparently, the commuter rail doesn't even try to run on schedule until rush hour. I think I'll hold off on my monthly pass.

26 April 2006 07:53:14 EDT

PHONE: Took the train to work this morning. It was much less stressful, though the view was unsightly. No one checked my ticket.

25 April 2006 08:54:41 EDT

PHONE: Commuting is as bad as I thought.

20 April 2006 17:31:14 EDT

Minerva switched to Sprint, so I followed her and picked up a Samsung A920 phone. The XHTML browser is crippled; it doesn't support old-style password authentication, so I haven't been able to update my web site from it. Sprint Power Vision is massively overpriced, and despite my complimentary month of Ultimate Vision ($25/month) I couldn't find any decent video that wasn't an extra fee. I dropped it.

20 April 2006 17:28:03 EDT

The hotel is right across the highway from work, and I'm not looking forward to commuting in South Florida. They don't have anything nearly as sophisticated as Houston Transtar, and the people are terrible, selfish, dangerous drivers. Commuter rail is still an option.

20 April 2006 17:27:50 EDT

If anyone is still out there, I'm still around. I'm still at an Extended Stay Hotel, and Internet access has just now been restored.

The job is going well, lots of challenges. It's embedded software testing, like I was doing in Houston. The emphasis here is upon trigger/response testing, where they stimulate the hardware inputs in such a way as to get the desired response. In Houston, I only did such testing as a last resort. There are no test harnesses; all testing seems to be on a full build, although there may be an option to turn off some outputs.

They need 100% code coverage for DO-178B Level B certification, but their Software Verification Plan has a clause that lets them verify coverage by analysis if necessary. Instrumentation philosophy is to insert probes in as many modules as possible, not to test the modules in isolation.

06 April 2006 19:51:02 EDT

PHONE: The cars actually made it easier to get to sleep, a kind of white noise. But the neighborhood is not good; the houses are run down and the graffiti artist "OXID3" has the neighborhood in his grip. We are definitely moving when Minerva gets down here.

05 April 2006 20:33:21 EDT

Got Jason to the airport today and checked out of the La Quinta. Checked into an extended stay hotel. It's nice to be able to cook my own meals again. The place is right across the freeway from work - *directly* across the freeway. We'll see whether the cars keep me up.

04 April 2006 20:09:53 EDT

PHONE: we're at an amazing italian place on Federal called Bon Gusto.

04 April 2006 16:30:20 EDT

I have just been informed that if I show up at 8 AM for work, nobody will be there. People usually get in around 8:30 or 9. Good to know.

04 April 2006 16:25:25 EDT

Places - so far - where I forgot to apply sufficient sunblock:

Top of my feet
Top of my head

Stay tuned.

04 April 2006 13:09:44 EDT

PHONE: driving down the Gulf Coast, most of the man-made structures were rebuilt (at least along the freeway). What I noticed were the trees down. I'm looking at the effect of a hundred year storm, something that can't happen annually without resulting in shorter trees like the ones here in Florida.

04 April 2006 12:21:42 EDT

PHONE: sitting on the beach at Fort Lauderdale, enjoying a philly on stale bread. I could get used to this.

03 April 2006 18:29:03 EDT

PHONE: We've unloaded the truck and checked into the hotel. We're trying out a pizza at a local place. I really like the pastel motif.

02 April 2006 21:59:40 EDT

PHONE: what time is it?

02 April 2006 18:22:07 EDT

PHONE: I've just crossed into Florida, perhaps to stay.

27 March 2006 15:24:37 EST

Replaced the Florida Sun-Sentinel link with the Miami Herald. I noticed that the Sun-Sentinel seemed not to report as many crimes as the Herald.

24 March 2006 15:00:22 EST

Someone is coming to look at the condo this afternoon. We still haven't started packing in earnest. I got the dirty dishes out of the sink and made up the beds this morning, but it's still not anything close to presentable. I don't want to try living in a "showcase home", and I don't want to put Minerva up to that either. When we leave and take everything, people will be better able to imagine themselves and their things. Until then, I accept that we won't make a good impression on this buyer today.

UPDATE: The showing was cancelled; no interlopers today.

22 March 2006 11:08:32 EST

My condo is now listed for sale. I've called my realtor with a few corrections: there isn't a breakfast bar, I don't think the tub is a "Hollywood tub", and there is only a small amount of laminate flooring. The living room has hardwood flooring.

19 March 2006 16:53:22 EST

For everyone who thinks that I should consider buying instead of renting in South Florida, I offer the following:

A condominium comparable to the one I am living in now would cost $240,000. Assuming interest rates and property taxes of 10%, that would cost $24,000 per year, or $2000 per month. That is simply for the privelege of borrowing such a large sum of money; none of it goes toward principal. Since I can rent a comparable place for no more than $1500, the conventional reasoning that "renting is a waste of money" does not apply.

Real estate prices are so high that, if they were real numbers, the rational thing to do would be for almost everyone to quit their jobs and spend two man-years building their homes. We're in a bubble and it will take a long time for reality to catch up.

17 March 2006 16:25:09 EST

I have no problem with Felicity Huffman hawking Dove, because those ladies made hardly anything for the first season.

It got me to thinking, perhaps these shows could take out "celebrity insurance". If the show becomes a hit, the insurance could kick in and provide for drivers, bodyguards, etc. for these people who become overnight celebrities without the money or infrastructure to deal with it. This is not theoretical; people have died from sudden celebrity.

16 March 2006 19:39:01 EST

I just re-organized the 'Games' section of my Windows Start Menu. I noticed that I have a lot of Strategy Games, including The Sims and The Sims 2, so I created the category 'Simulations' just to split them up and make it manageable. I put Hearts of Iron 2 in there because of the level of historical detail, and Republic in because, frankly, the idea of Republic is more intriguing than the actual gameplay. Let me explain.

In Republic, you play a man who starts out trying to overthrow a brutal dictator. Your avatar travels through a clockwork city with a decent level of detail, with artificial people you can follow (with the camera, not your avatar) through the city, living out their lives. Eventually, you can engage in nefarious tactics and, once you have taken control, resort to the same brutality as the man you deposed. Unfortunately, the game tends to be slow and bug-ridden, though I intend to give it another chance when I upgrade my computer. It's more interesting to follow people around the city than to actually play, though eventually even this wears thin.

So that's why I placed it in the "Simulations" category, being a clockwork city. This is not to say that "The Sims" and "Hearts of Iron 2" are also boring to play, but that their entertainment lies in the details.

Along this line of reasoning, perhaps Kuma/War is being judged by the wrong yardstick. While its graphics are sub-par for action shooting game, its purpose is the same as that of toy soldiers and civil war re-enactments. People are interested in battles, and now they have the chance to re-enact these battles almost immediately after they happen.

Now, by *this* metric, Kuma/War has a disastrous flaw. The scenarios in the game are deliiberately "balanced" to provide a more challenging play experience. This is anathema to any war re-enactor. So if you dislike Kuma/War, do so for the right reasons.

14 March 2006 23:20:46 EST

Long-term deficit spending is the greatest lie a government can tell. It says that your taxes won't be higher in the future, when in fact they will have to be raised to pay off our debts.

14 March 2006 09:57:59 EST

I was just reading this article decrying low voter turnout in the primaries. It's a little late this year, but I have to recommend that you think twice before voting in a primary election. In a general election, you have an absolute right to privacy in whom you vote for. This is also true in a primary, but you have to choose which primary you vote in, Republican or Democrat, and that is a matter of public record. I got some junk mail recently as a "loyal Republican" because I voted in the 2000 Republican primary. So think about how you want to be labeled before you vote in a primary. As for this year, I deliberately didn't in a primary so that I could sign the petition for Strayhorn for Governor.

10 March 2006 14:27:01 EST

I have some happy news: my new work place will be 0.2 miles from a commuter train station. I could live anywhere from West Palm Beach to Miami and get to work within an hour. Best of all, that's an hour of *not driving* in city traffic. I can just ride the train and look for apartments nearby.

08 March 2006 11:30:00 EST

This morning I resigned from my job and accepted a position in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

08 March 2006 11:29:19 EST

Added the Florida Sun-Sentinel to the local links, as I will be moving there soon.

21 February 2006 09:17:46 EST

I have an unusual song stuck in my head today: "Busy Prepositions" from Schoolhouse Rock. I never thought much of the song when I first heard it, but now it's stuck in my head. I don't even know all the words.

14 February 2006 21:30:42 EST

Created and posted a Video Resume.

14 February 2006 12:49:53 EST

We finally got through all our shows on the DVR, except for 'Lost'. We haven't finished the first season yet. The DVR, a Scientific Atlanta 8000, is starting to act up and I need to take it back to the Time Warner service center for a replacement.

14 February 2006 12:47:10 EST

I've started using the memo feature in Quicken, trying to attach whatever I can remember about what I spend on. It's like the memo line on a check, just some text to remind you what the check was for.

Looking at all these expenditures, I'm beginning to feel that my life is being swallowed up by all these transactions. The memo lets me reclaim a little bit of that life, something to reminisce over at tax or budgeting time.

08 February 2006 14:19:00 EST

Updated The Library to the new style.

07 February 2006 14:01:19 EST

One of the greatest problems with Digital Rights Management is the conundrum of flexibility: How can someone enjoy media (movie, TV show, podcast, song, etc.) in all their different life spaces (mobile, living room, computer room, car, work) when 1) You can't make copies and 2) you can't use your one copy everywhere?

The iPod is coming very close to solving this problem. You can watch it:

on the iPod's small screen,
on the computer that you used to purchase or subscribe to the video (note that this is actually your second copy)
with a car charger/player (we just bought one of these), or
connected to the television (I haven't tried this yet).

By the way, the iPod is also a really big USB drive. Just plug it in.

Some obstacles remain before the iPod achieves critical mass and takes over the entire non-interactive media space.

Having to use a computer to buy the media. Starbucks is talking about selling music directly to your iPod. If this technology spreads, a dedicated iTunes device might make it into the home. Since one of the goals of the iPod is to sell more Apple computers, expect this to be delayed for some time.
Making more content available. The iTunes store needs the top-quality news podcasts, recent films and the best video entertainment (what we call "TV shows" today). It's not there yet.
Better picture quality on screens larger than the iPod's own. It's good, but it's not as good as TV, much less HDTV.

Even if this all comes together, it won't completely replace TV and radio. They can still offer critical services:

Live events. All of this media has to be downloaded, and that takes time.
Aggregation. Most people don't really know what they like, and the art of finding the best media and arranging it in a pleasing order is not going to go away.
Picture and sound quality. As I said before, the iPod picture is not as good as TV. Also, the MP3 sound files are not as high-quality as a regular CD. Even if you burn your MP3s to a CD, some audio data has already been lost.

Nevertheless, we are on the cusp of a major revolution in media. Soon, people may be deciding to get rid of cable just as they got rid of their landline phones.

06 February 2006 09:32:39 EST

Updated resume to stress that Shuttle Guidance software is heavily requirements-driven. Its requirements are called Flight Software System Requirements (FSSRs), and I've been heavily into them for the last six years. Shuttle software follows the FSSRs to the letter.

UPDATE: Extensive changes to resume. Using Microsoft Publisher won't work, though I did make a nice one to hand out. I also populated the resume with hyperlinks to explain different parts of what I have done. It makes the resume more real than a single sheet of paper, sort of proof that I didn't make it all up, though of course my name isn't on any of it.

05 February 2006 06:25:06 EST

PHONE: Channel two is making video of their nightly newscast available on Time Warner video on demand.

03 February 2006 17:51:06 EST

Removed link to TV show 'Rome'. What is the point of continuing the series after Julius Caesar dies?

I'm also ready for the new season of "The Wire". It's 2006, so they should be starting soon. I also want HBO to release the third season on DVD.

01 February 2006 09:30:38 EST

Updated my resume.

30 January 2006 12:34:59 EST

Removed link "LawMeme". Site has been down for more than a week.

30 January 2006 11:55:55 EST

I have discovered Painter's Pants at Old Navy. I'm starting to accumulate gadgets again and I need some cargo capacity. Painter's Pants have pockets on the back below the knee, so things don't fall out when you're on the toilet. Even the 'change pocket' is so enlarged you can't keep change in in, but I can keep my cellphone in it.

I got a wireless headset with a flip-out microphone, so I'm using it as a clip to my front shirt pocket. I'm sure it wasn't designed for that. When the phone rings, I pull and flip-out the small headset instead of the larger phone.

30 January 2006 11:35:09 EST

As I get older, component quality of my games becomes more important. This weekend I found a great deal on Hasbro's Clue and Sorry games packaged together in this nice wooden box. There's also a deluxe Scrabble in a wooden box at Barnes and Noble, but I haven't picked it up yet. For a time, I showed my miniatures in this beautiful display case I inherited from my Grandmother. Fantasy Flight has finally learned this lesson with their latest edition of Twilight Imperium, and Eagle Games definitely has the right idea with their game pieces sold separately as metal. I bought a copy of Fury of Dracula at the GenCon auction a few years ago, with the metal minatures instead of plastic, and painted them. Games Workshop included a flyer in Blood Royale for minatures available for purchase, but now that I have money I could never track them down.

24 January 2006 09:45:12 EST

I just received the worst service I can imagine at the post office. I thought that service this bad was long gone, part of the bad old '90s. I have encountered someone who is completely immune to the consequences of poor performance.

The important thing is that I had a chance to practice my New Year's Resolution: to be thicker-skinned and, inverting the Golden Rule, to be less sensitive towards what others think of me. I was firm, I threw her doubletalk right back at her, and now I need to walk away and forget the whole thing. When I need to mail something, I need to go right back in there and conduct business again.

19 January 2006 10:36:13 EST

PHONE: Last night I downloaded and played the demo for Star Wars empire at war. It uses the mechanic from Battle for Middle Earth where you construct and select a whole squadron of soldiers or fighters. I was able to do well in space but battle on the ground was frustrating.

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