Tanatoes' Journal

Colds suck.
I'm coughing and stuffed up and my eyes are watering. I'm tired because I can't sleep with my head all plugged up like this. When is somebody just going to find a cure for this already?

I often wonder what it would be like to be unfettered by this meat that is my body. Of course the problem with that notion is that to some degree I AM the meat. Stupid body.

CotD: Zumphrie - playing with limbs again. Why are Spore creatures all so cute?

Computer and health stuff
So my truncated post yesterday was due to my latest computer project. I've been installing Windows on a partition on my hard drive so I can play non-mac compatible games and such. So far I've met with limited success. At first it was crashing my computer all the time, and now it only crashes most of the time. The problem seems to have to do with some of the drivers for my ethernet connection. When the Windows partition detects the ethernet port and tries to install the drivers it just- freezes. Completely locks up. So I have a working Windows laptop as long as I don't want to do anything with it that involves the internet.

Other news is a horrible summer head cold that's knocked me out. Probably it is contributing to my computer problems that I can't work my brain. I left work early today, which should be some indication of how horrible I'm feeling. I need sleep, but I also have to open the store tomorrow.

CotD: Sluglor - another slug creature, but with new parts.

Posting from. . .
Oops. Slight glitch with my laptop so I'm posting with my iPod today. Details later once things are fixed.

Double shifts suck!
Worked today from 8AM to 10PM. Sure, it's only a fourteen hour shift, but I just can't take this any more. Double shifts can bite my ass! Twelve hours tomorrow and Saturday. Then a relaxing eight hour shift on Sunday. I need sleep.

CotD: Boogle. I made another avian guy.. and I just couldn't stop adding feathers. He's a bit of a freak.

Wii Fit update!
So my Wii Fit odyssey continues, but that's not what this post is about. Today my wonderful wife added her profile to the game and promptly beat my (pathetic) high score on hula hoop. She's a lot better than I am at the aerobic bits of the game, but I mostly play the strength oriented games. I know that I'm going to enjoy trying to keep her from toppling my other high scores.. it's good to have somebody else playing the game with me. I just need more regular free time to do my workouts.

CotD: Snoutzor. More playing with new parts. I spent some time working with trunks this time around. Man, my planets in Spore are going to be filled with crazy freaks!

Chrono Trigger!!
A rare second daily post: I just saw the news that Chrono Trigger is coming to the DS!!!!!! One of my most favoritest RPGs ever, and finally it's being re-released. Thank you, thank you, thank you Squeenix!

I'm having fun
I got the new Guitar Hero for my Wii on Sunday. (That's Guitar Hero Aerosmith for those keeping track.) Like the DS Guitar Hero before it this game is significantly easier than GH III, which was a real bastard of a game that delighted in taunting you with its impossibility. I've been able to get 4 stars on a coulple songs on Medium difficulty. Whereas in GH III I can barely get 3 stars most of the time.. and there are some songs I can't get through on EASY mode. Ugh.

I go cocky and tried out online play for the first time today. My first opponent quit suddenly when I started to win on easy (at that level of play we were both getting pretty much 100% perfect and he missed a couple notes.) My second try I went for Medium, and got THRASHED! But it was sure fun!

So far Pink is my favorite crayon.

If anybody wants to see my humiliation online they can check out my Guitar Hero online profile.

CotD: Panaram. I know there are hundreds of goat-men online already. Mostly I was playing with the face, horns and such. He really has a cute mug.

New stuff!
So we found a silver lining to the whole giant truck rental thing. A fluffy comfy lovely golden lining. We took advantage of our massive vehicle to go out to Ikea and purchase a nice new mattress. For ages we've been meaning to get a new mattress. Our old one was mighty worn after years of use. The springs poinged when you lay down and jabbed you all night in the back and sides. I'm really looking forward to a good night's sleep.

CotD: Podosudia - my first plant creature. I'm particularly fond of this thing, although about halfway through making it I realized that I was making a Triffid. Still- cool, isn't it?

Venture Brothers
Can I just say: Venture Brothers is one of the best things on television. I was a little put off by the bleak Quiz Boy episode, but I keep coming back for the oh-so-self-aware writing. Pure genius all the time.

That's all I wanted to say.

CotD: Tribeaken. Another creature with mostly new parts. I love playing with mouths and eyes on extra limbs!

More car stuffs
I had to take our old Ford Escort in to the mechanic today. The inspection sticker was set to expire next week, and it has plenty of little problems that need seeing to before it can pass inspection. (Coolant leak, leaky tire, evap code etc.) So I had to rent a car to use while our is in the shop. This time around I remembered that the rental place we use closes on Saturdays at noon, so I went right in at 9AM so that I was there the moment they opened the door. However, it is a rather busy weekend for them (what with the holiday next week and all) so I didn't exactly have my pick of cars. Indeed I couldn't get a car at all. Instead they gave me a massive, MASSIVE black pickup truck. This thing feels like it rivals the twenty-foot u-haul vans I've rented in the past.

My wife is not comfortable driving something so huge. I think I can say with great confidence that she is not the sort of woman who derives a sense of power and security from driving a big old vehicle and dominating everything on the road. (Seriously, I shouldn't be looking down at people in their SUVs.)

I'm glad we only have it for a few days.. maybe in the mean time we'll take a trip out to Ikea and buy something big to use all the hauling space. (We desperately need a new mattress for example.)

CotD Chippur. The first of my attempts with all the new parts I have. Also my first avian Spore creature. Oh, and my spore discovery of the day is that I don't need to be filling up my Photobucket account with all these thumbnails. EA very kindly has a 'download' button on spore.com that seems to give a URL I can use for the same effect. Testing it below.

Car fuelege update
Update from my car refueling log:

( maths behind cut )

CotD: Ticklor. The last of my pre-full-edition creatures. A giant disgusting hairy tick! Tomorrow starts the deluge of new full-edition creatures (I've created 3 descent ones so far.. still familiarizing myself with all the new bits!)

CotD: Ticklor

Today felt like two days
Today took so long. I worked 9 AM to 1 PM in the Central Square store moving the retail section around to make room for Blu-Ray. Then I briefly came home to nap and see my wife. Then I was up, showering and off to work again. I had to close my Hingham store since my shift lead was off picking up his girlfriend at the airport. So it was like today was two days back to back. Now I am tired. I have the new Spore editor, but I feel too tired to do anything with it yet.

Today's CotD is my first floating creature. But it still has no new parts.

CotD

Too little time
There's simply too little time available for all the things I want to do. I have piles of unread books, stacks of games I haven't had time to complete and so many movies to watch that it is staggering. If I were to quit my job and cut myself off from the outside world I might get through it all in a couple months.. assuming I lived that long with no source of income. Never mind that my wife would kill me long before I starved. I have to hope there is some kind of afterlife. One where you get all the time you want to spend with all the projects you had to abandon in your impermanent mortal life.

Only I don't really believe in an afterlife. Maybe if in our generation we finally unlock immortality I can spend all eternity catching up on all this stuff. And collecting more stuff.

In the mean time: CotD. Grapplor was an attempt to do a whole lot of complex limbs. I like how he came out. (I should be getting the full retail version of the Creature Creator in the mail Friday so expect lots of creatures with all new parts!)

CotD Grapplor

Game of the week
This week my gaming has been centered on Mass Effect (which I love as you know) and the new Guitar Hero On Tour for the DS.

( Read more... )

CotD: Landrus - I started out with this guy trying to do a catfish look using a lot of whiskers, but he sort of morphed into a walrus guy as I worked on him. I think he's cute!

CotD Landrus

Wii Fit update
Slow and steady is the way to lose weight, or so I've heard. If so then I'm doing something right at least. I've lost about five pounds since I started with Wii Fit slightly more than a month ago. Yes, it fluctuates up and down, but I'm now consistently below 200 pounds, which is a slight improvement. I also have ceased to feel achy and rubbery after my workouts. I do still feel spongy and pudgy around the midsection, which is why I've been concentrating on exercises which purport to work the abs and such. I just need to keep working on it.. I hope. I'd really like to lose a few inches 'round the belly.

Today's Creature of the Day is the Frogog. I started out making a froggy body, but wanted to work on forming a muzzle from multiple mouths, so he sort of turned doggy around the face. Cute, yes?

CotD Frogog

Early Post
Early post today because if I wait until after work to post I won't post until tomorrow. I have a partial inventory planned for today (confection, soda, videogame stuff) so I have to stay late after closing to key it all into the computer. Confection in particular I'm dreading since the company has updated its candy selection so there is an awful lot more to count this time around than there was last month. Still.. better than having to do a full inventory of everything in the store: my next of those isn't until September I believe.

It's been an extremely slow week at work as the first weekend after school gets out coincides with some truly beautiful weather. Not prime stay-at-home and watch movie weather. A whole lot of new customers though as all the grandparents in the area come in to get movies to keep the kids out of their hair.

The week after this one (the week of July 4th) is looking to be a very hard one for me, so I have to get all the down time this week that I can. I have most of my staff taking vacations either right before the 4th or right after it. Which makes for more hours for me.

I'm also going to add a new feature to my blog: the Creature of the Day. I hope to be able to come up with something original and cool every day until Spore comes out - today's creature is the Pearlback - my first attempt at a digitigrade creature and also a hammerhead. I think he came out really nifty! (Note to self: I need more HTML in my blog. What's the point of mentioning news and such if I don't link to it.. that's the whole point of the web!)

CotD Pearlback

Spore creatures!
I've posted these in a couple forums, but I'm so happy with them that y'all get subjected to them too. I'm so delighted with the Spore Creature Creator. I just hope the rest of the game runs as smoothly and flawlessly on my computer. And I'm astonished by how simple it is to share your creatures. If you look in the Creatures directory of the My Spore Creations folder you'll see a bunch of little thumbnail pictures of your creatures. What's awesome is that the data used to generate the creature is in the meta tags for that little thumbnail! So if you stick the tiny picture on, say, Photobucket, and post it where people can see it (like I'm doing at the end of this thread) then all they need to do to play with your creature is right click, save the picture to their own Creatures directory, and presto-bingo the creature is in their sporopedia if they check the 'everything' tag. Simple and streamlined.

I can't wait now for the full game!

Without further ado, ( some of my favorite creations: )

Tricky Dick Funbill
I got mail from the IRS telling me that I've got a check on the way from them. (Amanda got hers already.) Now, I know I'm going to be spending my Tricky Dick Funbill on our 5th anniversary extravaganza adventure to California next month, but still I've been pondering what I would do with it otherwise. I was thinking it might be fun to donate it to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to help elect more Democrats. And one of my co-workers suggested donating it to the ACLU. That would be fun too. Just to kind of stick it to the powers that be.

Anybody else have other suggestions?

Crab fishing
More crab fishing today. I played a couple missions. Took the tour of the Northwestern (loved Edger's video commentary introducing all the bits of the engine room that could break or go wrong.) And I started a career mode game, hired my own crew and set out to do some actual fishing. Then I promptly dropped my pots ahead of the season start and got in trouble, so I have to start again. This time I'll be ready. I'll have my first pot all baited and ready to drop as soon as the season begins - but NOT BEFORE! I can't believe how detailed this sim is. There's so much to keep track of with fuel considerations, stacking pots and bait, maintaining not just your ship but the morale and exhaustion of your crew.. and of course catching some crab at the same time. The wave physics are fantastic too, although sometimes I feel the ship lacks a sense of mass - tipping around on top of the waves instead of plowing through them. One thing though: this is the first X360 game I've played that has frequent slowdown. Clearly the limits of the system are being hammered by all the waves and such.

New games!
Time to review new games. This week it's the Incredible Hulk and Deadliest Catch: the Game.

Incredible Hulk is basically the same game as The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction but using movie designs characters and such. The good news is that I loved Ultimate Destruction, so I enjoy this game as well. The better news is that this is the very rare movie license game that is absolutely a joy to play. Remember when I talked about Iron Man and what a godawful mess that was? Well Hulk is everything that game was not! It uses actual actors! The characters look like the people they're supposed to be (although a little puffy-faced due to the engine technology being used.) The controls are spot on (at least for my button-mashing ways - and that really works for he Hulk.. it's all about smashing!) Most of all it's simply a joy to destroy New York.

Deadliest Catch is also lots of fun. In a completely strange way. It is an extremely deep, complex and thorough crabfishing simulator. If you can imagine such a thing. It's actually quite astonishingly detailed. I've only completed the tutorial and already I can tell it's going to be a real challenge to do well as a real crab captain.