When things are going wrong, there's a sense of detachment; the urge to do what can be done. Frustration when there is little one can do. Afterward, it takes time to drop out of crisis management mode, to reflect. For me, the moment early this afternoon that really snapped things home was when my apartment shuddered to the sound of heavy ( Read more... )

I hadn't made it on to campus yet when things started going pear-shaped, so I'm personally fine. We've heard from most of VTSFFC by one channel or another. VT's bandwidth has been pretty saturated, although that seems to be letting up enough that email is getting through a bit more reliably ( Read more... )

RL (kinda): Technicon, auuughh! (Insert Kermit-like flailing of arms ( Read more... )

Things have been pretty busy over the last several months (Technicon is looming, increased responsibility at work, family medical challenges, etc.), but I've managed to make some time for games.

Civ IV: I strongly recommend the Pirates! mod for Civ IV + Warlords.
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Inspired by this meme showing up all over my friends list, and by needing something to do while running long distances doing errands in FF-XI, I've done my slightly eccentric take on the random lyrics meme. Updated 3/18 with 6 of 15 guessed. ( Read more... )

The following Crock-Pot (slow cooker) recipe is not only unusually fast to set up, but particularly easy. I've tried to write it up in enough detail that anyone can follow the directions, even if they are a novice cook or haven't used a slow cooker before. Comments, feedback, and questions encouraged.

( James's No-Prep Slow Cooker Chicken and Vegetables )

Early December was fairly routine, with a certain amount of flailing about connected to shopping, wrapping, packing, and worrying about being behind on all of the above. Fairly little e-gaming, and largely spent keeping up a minimum presence on FF-XI and doing the holiday-themed quests. Office and VTSFFC Christmas parties were pleasant, with much ( Read more... )

The table has a computer and a complicated looking arrangement of monitors ( Read more... )

I made the following table to answer some questions I had about which character would be best for which roles in FF-XII, and figured others might find it interesting. Some of the results are not what I would have expected ( Read more... )

Work: Quite busy lately, with a high density of conferences and demonstrations people were preparing for, and trying to negotiate time-critical purchases through various layers of bureaucracy ( Read more... )