February 2008 Archives
My second playing of this game was much better. We played with the correct rules (well discounting that one minor hiccup). And we used my version of the game board (which I spent way too much time working on). But it worries me that there are a couple of people in this group who are against playing it. So sad.
Chapel brought this game last week and we did not play it. So I took it out and made sure that we played it. This game is very similar to Race for the Galaxy. Except it has a Roman theme where RftG has a Science Fiction theme. The rules, mechanics, and building powers are slightly different. But not different enough to make me want to play both. I still like RftG better than GtR.
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John Cleese's "Letter to America" link via
Mr Toledano's pictures link via
Do's and Don'ts with babies link via
Food photography: Lighting is everything link via
Pop bottle rocket into orbit link via
Panoramic photos of Tokyo link via
Evolution of tech company's (including IBM's) logo link via
[I wonder what the story about this one is] link via
Fire the product placement person (slightly NSFW) link via
Polish riot police try new mindf*ck technique link via
5 unbelievably cool research facilities link via
The worlds loneliest prada store link via
The meetup group played at Wells Branch today. And since the course is so tiny, we played it twice. John did well except for one hole. Where he broke down on putting and took five attempts to make it into the basket.
I had a couple of birdies. Hole one was one example. After throwing a hyzer out over the stream, it came back down to land under the basket.
After disc golf, we headed out to Cafe Panini in Round Rock where we played some two player games with meetup folks.
I came across this game when reading clearclaw's posts and became intrigued. A lot of people like this game and rate it highly. So I tracked down Winsome games and ordered it. When I ordered it, I was warned that the components are rather cheap. And they are extremely cheap. The rules are black and white and pixellated. They remind me of a photo copy. The map is a plain folded color sheet. The railroad income track is at least laminated. The cubes are standard colored wooden cubes. But the money and railroad stocks are cheap paper.
Gameplay was interesting. And i definitely want to play this again. On the forums, a couple people have already went to the effort of sprucing up the map and including some helpful information. But, due to fears of litigation, they have not shared their work with others. This motivated me to try it myself. I spent two very long days working with (and learning) Inkscape. I will see what comes of it.
To finish out the night, we played Tichu. I had an amusing pass where I received K,J,J! I love it when you trade up. Also, on one of my hands, I had an Ace bomb, Phoenix, pairs, and some low cards. I was all set on calling Tichu. However, Mike plays a length 8 straight, Kings full of Queens full house and has one card left. I did not know where the Dragon or the Dog was so I did not call it. I was sad to learn that my partner has both of them. And he also plays high enough so that Mike passed on singles a couple of times. Oh well.
Due to a scoring error, we shouldn't have played the last hand. But it was a fun one. We thought the score to be 745 to 955. It was desperation Grand-Tichu time. Jon was not paying attention as he was talking about Dexter. So I am forced to call it. I made my GT. And Jon goes out second for the win (we had all the high cards between us).
| GT/T | Team #1 | GT/T | GT/T | Team #2 | GT/T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MarkH & Jon | JohnG & MikeCh | ||||
| 300 | T+ | 0 | |||
|
390
|
10 | ||||
| 305 | T- | T+ |
195
|
||
|
375
|
225 | ||||
|
565
|
T+ | 135 | T- | ||
|
645
|
155 | ||||
| 665 |
335
|
T+ | |||
| 705 | T+ |
495
|
|||
| 735 |
565
|
||||
| 735 | 865 | T+ | |||
| 745 |
1055
|
T+ | |||
| GT+ | 1145 | 1055 |
Look out there, a ghostly Tux is floating above the parking lot! I wonder if it going to attack us after destroying New York city?
One thing that I notice beginners have a problem with is being overly aggressive when going for points. That happened in this game. When trip Kings are played, is it wise to go over it with your trip Aces? How many honours do you have left if you do? If you go out last because if it, then I don't think that it was worth it. The same is true if a pair of Kings are played.
Now if your partner has gone out first, then that strategy is fine. I will even focus on taking at least some points if my hand is likely to cause me to finish last.
| GT/T | Team #1 | GT/T | GT/T | Team #2 | GT/T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MarkH & Wayne | JohnG & JohnH | ||||
|
80
|
20 | ||||
| 125 |
75
|
||||
|
180
|
120 | ||||
|
295
|
105 | ||||
| 445 | T+ | T- | 55 | ||
| 645 | 55 | ||||
|
615
|
T- | 85 | |||
|
700
|
100 | ||||
| T+ | 1000 | 100 |
After two rainy and miserable days over the weekend, I just had to go outside when Sunday turned out to be beautiful. Jon and John were up for it and we decided to head down to Pease Park. It was unsurprisingly crowded. We had to wait in line for two groups to play hole one. And another group of people came behind us as we were waiting.
Look, how considerate! People left their garbage ice for us.
It seems that a low tech "cooler" is a bag of ice that they use to hold the beer. And it seems that these people left it hanging on a tree when they were done with it...
Hole six is heavily wooded. Jon makes his throw. And I convince him that he should have used a pancake shot (a hammer thrown horizontal that skips on the ground). Well, I was perfectly right! That throw landed in the basket! He would have had a birdie if it counted...
We stopped for beer at Opal Divines and played some darts. Well, let me rephrase that. Others played darts and I just threw them... randomly.
Jon had an interesting throw. One dart stuck in the back of another one! And look at that dart board. Why are the numbers randomly upsidedown or flipped?
I went to test drive a Smart Car today and noticed this small church. I must be out of touch. Do people worship water now?
I love magnets on the refrigerator. People love to play with the poetry ones. I wonder who left those words of wisdom?
P.S. Is anyone else tempted to add some hands to this picture?
A friend of mine gave me some venison which I used to make chili. So, in an effort to get rid of the leftovers, I used the chili for a pizza. It was not bad at all. Although it would have been better with some raw onions and Cheddar cheese.
You know, for the next pizza, I am thinking on using rice in some form. Perhaps a risotto? I need to search for some recipes that use rice and cheese...
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The eye is much more sensitive to the resolution of brightness than to the resolution of chrominance link via
The meetup group played at Cat Hollow AGAIN, so I ditched them to play at Wilco. Which is a challenging course. Unfortunately, this course is starting to get really popular. Man, was it crowded today! I had a couple of within range first throws for a possible birdie. However, I missed the putts. So sad. But I made up for that on hole 13. My first throw hit the ground and skipped up to hit the basket! An almost skip ace.
There is some more changes in the construction at Old Settlers Park. It looks like someone wised up and put in doors in all that orange fencing. Torn fencing from people having to climb over the fences probably gave them a clue. And it looks like the removed all of the trees on the side of the dam. So sad. That will change how two of the holes play. It looks like the basket for "C" hole (or is it A or B?) is still there. We'll see how long that lasts...
I started out with a long putt for par on hole 1. Which is nice. This is a challenging hole.
On hole 7 I had a great throw through the mandatory box. And it was while someone else was watching. It was close enough for a birdie.
Based on Tim and Mary's recommendation, I went to Monument Cafe in south Georgetown. The building itself looks nice, almost retro, but the parking lot is horrendous. They really need to fix it up and pave it. It make for an interesting contrast.
The food was pretty good. They had a good selection of local and organically grown vegetables. But, in my opinion, they were a little overcooked. I like them al dente and these were just bordering on mushy. The blackened salmon was a tad overcooked as well. The cherry fried pie was excellent.
I will definitely eat here again. Their menu changes frequently and it all sounds good.
While we waited for Jon to show up (he was late because one of his employees spent too much time talking to him), we played a light filler game. It has been a while since I have played That's Life! Which is a shame since it is a decent game. Yes, a die is rolled, but you still have a choice because you can move one of three of your pawns or one of the neutral pieces if anyone is on that same spot. Mike flew very low under the group radar. It seemed like he was quietly going for the win. Doug foolishly got in a fight with me over a couple of pieces. His mistake was not realizing that I was moving after him so he would eventually be forced to move off of those spots. And when he did, I was able to claim a couple of negative negators to tie Mike for the win.
Mike brought over Through The Ages for me to compare with the F. R. E. D. version. And that got him, Jon and Doug in the mood for a three player game. I instead played Brass. I took a couple of chances on shipping Cotton which failed. This cost me a couple of rankings in the final score. I also didn't think that the others would build the shipyards as quick in this game. It seemed that the going strategy was to take a lot of loans to pay for those buildings. I definitely want to play this game again.
Of course, after eating a couple of slices of hot bread with butter, what else does one do with a loaf of bread? I made a B.L.T. sandwich. And then cut the rest into cubes to dry over a couple of days.
Besides the usual cream and eggs that your basic pudding, this recipe adds beer. I used Young's Double Chocolate Stout. How many calories does it have? Does really it matter when you sinfully indulge yourself?
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Super Bowl XLII: The Ultimate Shoot-out link via
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The incompatible food triad link via
Time stops at Grand Central Station link via
Method for a preciselocation of the entrance pupil on a DSLR link via
Funky properties of frozen water may have made life possible link via
Its been a while since I have made some bread. So, on the sourdough life cycle N - 2 (where N was sleep in the refrigerator and N - 1 was pizza dough), I created this version. The recipe was:
- one and a half teaspoons of salt
- seven ounces of water (mix the Kosher salt until the crystals dissolve)
- three ounces of active sourdough culture
- fifteen ounces of flour (by weight)
- mix until homogeneous (I had to spray some water because of uneven mixing)
- cover with saran wrap and let rest overnight
- knead the dough and place on strip of parchment paper. Cover and let rise for six hours
- place a Le Creuset Dutch Oven into the oven and preheat to 500 degrees
- place the bread inside the Dutch Oven and reduce the heat to 425
- bake for thirty minutes, remove the bread, and place directly on the rack
- bake for twenty five more minutes
Today, the meetup group met at Old Settler's Park. We played the winter variant since the course is shorter and therefore less imposing to newcomers. I was surprised with the signs of new construction going on here. They took out half of the parking lot for construction vehicles.
And they fenced off a section of the park. But it seems that they respected the disc golfers and make the area around the basket accessible. Which is nice. But they did not realize that the tee is at the top of the path off in the distance. So they didn't need to change the fencing at all.
I do wonder how much construction is going on here and what the final result will be.
