I cleared my deleted files just now, so I can't copy-paste, but apparently our server uptime distribution list's World of Warcraft character is transferring servers and I need to log in at http:/ww.w.warcraft.account-managment.no-really.blizzard-sent.this.com.ru to confirm the transfer.

Sad that selling that stuff is big enough business for this to work on some people.

I want to restate my frustration here.  I am not frustrated by the fact that Onstad quit making Achewood.  It is his right and in that sense he owes us nothing.  He's made quite a lot of content that I have enjoyed, and the vast majority of it has been enjoyed at no cost to me.  If he wants to stop that, it's fine, it's his right.  Watterson did the same thing, and while I would dearly love for there to be more Calvin and Hobbes, I still thank him for not making soulless joke-a-day cash-in Calvin and Hobbes, produced by Calhobs, inc.  Achewood wouldn't be good if you didn't have the sense that Chris himself was just as surprised at the day's strip as you were.

I am frustrated that he quit in 2009 and didn't have the guts to tell us so we could go off and do other things.  I'm frustrated he actively asked for donations while knowing he did not want to produce any new art.  I'm frustrated because he produces what he acknowledges is substandard product and continues to charge for it.

And yeah, when he blames us for caring enough to express opinions, that frustrates me too.  I was worried for him.  I thought he was seriously depressed and needed help.  No, turns out he's not depressed, really, but it's somehow my fault that he doesn't enjoy his job any more.

Again, I want to reiterate that I know how this feels.  What I do is seen and interacted with by tens of thousands of people every day.  A lot of them can't understand the difference between a rock and Edwin Moses, but feel justified in calling me an idiot, directly, on a web forum that my company pays for.  It is disheartening to read that, because I know that if we talked we'd be able to at least come to an understanding.  I'm really good at that, one on one.  I can't do it on the web, because every thing I write is picked apart, scanned for clues, played backwards and at half speed, and generally dissected to produce further ways to disagree with me.  If I ever leave this job, the yammering masses of entitled shitheads will be the reason why I do it.

But I'm not going to tell them that, because I think it's classless to do so.  And that's what frustrates me about Chris' announcement most of all.

Sigh.

I hate that the level of political discourse in this country has gotten so low that people who agree more than they disagree can still yell at each other for hours, and then feel even more justified in entrenching themselves in their position when they're done.

Note: this isn't what just happened here.  What happened here required all parties to think rationally and respond to things the other parties actually said, not what was inferred.  This, unfortunately, doesn't happen all that much any more.

Whoops, didn't realize I'd messed up my post.  Sorry, I fixed it.  Medici is not a board game with zombies in it.

Dominion is a REALLY fun game where you basically build your strategy as you go.  The game crew at work has all the expansions and will play it until 3 AM.  On Tuesday nights.

I personally enjoy Fluxx and its variants, but it's not in favor with others at work because it's got a very high degree of randomness in it.

Mall of Horror is a great deal of fun, even to watch.  It's centered around a mall that is, naturally, under attack by zombies.  Each player has 3 pieces - a strong guy, a guy with a gun, and a girl.  Each of them has an advantage - the strong guy counts as two people when "holding back" zombies (if zombies at a room outnumber people in it, they break in and eat someone), the girl is worth the most points if she survives, and the gun guy counts as two votes if the room has to have one.  Votes determine who gets the room's bonus (some have things you can use) or who dies if zombies break in.  It's really funny, allows a decent amount of backstabbing, and has just enough randomness to allow a lucky player to beat the one with the better strategy.  The game ends when there are only two players left or if all the remaining characters are in the same room.

Medici is a really fun trading game.  Every player has a boat with 5 slots for goods, and you take turns drawing random goods out of a bag, which everyone then bids money on to put in their boat.  Depending on how you build your boat, you can get money for having the most valuable cargo, or for having the most goods of the same type, or both.  It's a really simple game to grasp, but offers a lot of fun little choices for both overall strategy and individual tactics.

Age of Steam is a good game, but not necessarily a fun game.  It's heavily strategic in the Ticket to Ride "screw everyone else" mode and in the Agricola "I can't do everything every turn" mode.  You'll spend a lot of time doing math and planning ahead, only for someone else to build over where you were going to go.  On the other hand, you build trains!  And train tracks!  And move cubes of goods to towns that need them!

fixin bbcodes - choop
fixin text 'cause I can't apparently fix bbcodes - Lister

Today I'm gonna find out that the update I've been busting my hump over for the past 30 hours isn't actually approved yet, and won't be until next week probably.

Sigh.

I see two options with Bob Sanders.

1: He plays early and maybe the Chargers win some games before mid-October.  He gets hurt just as the rest of the team remembers that they can play football, too.

2: He gets hurt in pre-season and returns just in time for the standard mad scramble to beat out whoever's ahead of the Chargers in the division.

Either way ends on a stretcher in someone else's building in the divisional round of the playoffs.