Weather: CLE-0 PGH-1

It seems like all I've heard about lately was the terrible weather. Granted, that's all been from Ohio people. The proclaimed 'Snowpoccalypse" shut down schools and universities with it's snowfall and freezing rain.

Tell me again why Pittsburgh sucks?

While all this weather-related nonsense was happening just one hundred miles west, we got rain. Then it got cold, but not before streets had a chance to dry out completely. It seems to be a trend just reinforcing my residency here.

Except for when this happened:

It was like "Where's Waldo" but a huge pain in the ass, and my car's name is Mr. T

But at least people were prepared and innovative:

It was also beautiful:

But that was an isolated incident, so I think I'll stick it out here.

2010-2011

I spent New Years Eve on the couch watching The Matrix and playing around with my new camera. In celebration of the passing of quite the decade I wanted a good "at midnight" picture. So this is how I spent the passing of a decade.

More Randoms

It seems every day the my flute becomes more of an extension of myself than the day before. The little epiphanies that, when playing trumpet, only came once or twice a year (if I was lucky) come monthly. In less than two and a half years, I've gotten better at the flute than I ever was at trumpet.

Maybe it's because even the drudgery is enjoyable. There's no rush to play through scales and arpeggios that one is usually forced into practicing, because even that normally tedious stuff is fun to play. The actual process of creating a sound on the instrument makes me feel good. I can't really say I'd experienced that kind of pleasure from playing until a couple of years ago.

In other news, I went back to Ohio this past Saturday. When I was asking for directions to where my friend Ben lives, he made mention of a particular stop sign. When I got to it, I got out of my car and took a picture of it.

Say what?

Apparently it's a sticker for a band.

Also, our later-than-midnight snack has instilled a newfound love for these little guys.

They're little green bundles of joy.

Veganniversary

If memory serves, today is my three year veganniversary. To celebrate I made a fairly substantial dinner.

That's a veggie burger, steamed kale, and split pea soup.

Burger:

1/2 cup rice (that's the dry measurement)

1 can pinto beans

1 can black beans

1/2 green pepper

1/4 spanish onion

mushrooms

oregano, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, garlic

matzo meal

rolled oats

Cook the rice and set aside. Drain the beans and cook them til they're soft. Dice the green pepper, mushrooms, and onion. Mix it all in a large bowl, add the spices and a handful each of the matzo and oats. Smush together into a patty and fry in oil (olive or peanut are what I've used).

Soup:

yellow split peas

green split peas

whole pepper corns

1/2 spanish onion

3-4 stalks celery

bay leaves

garlic

salt

Bring 8 or so cups of water to a boil and add the onion (chopped), the celery (also chopped), pepper corns, bay leaves, salt, and garlic. Let simmer for an hour, strain out the solids, and you have broth. Add the split peas and let simmer for about an hour and a half until it magically becomes split pea soup.

Both recipes are approximations as I tend to eyeball most measurements and can be adjusted to suit one's tastes. I tend to like stronger flavours so I go a little overboard with the amounts. There's also a lot in the way of leftovers. It was a delicious celebratory dinner.

Solitary Lifestyle

I think the inordinate amount of time I spend alone is causing my social muscle (gland?) to atrophy. It doesn't tend to affect my customer service skills, perhaps because I'm in my element at work, but it sure shows on the rare occasion I'm in a public setting.

On the plus side I got a Halloween card from my dad today and he put this sticker in it.

It seems that dorkiness is genetic. But maybe he's on to something.

New Game

So a week ago I bought Fallout New Vegas. I proceeded to create a very pale Hispanic character with a giant nose named Aldous. That's a very Hispanic name, I know.

I won't say that it's better than Fallout 3, but it does have some things about it that give it an edge. Perhaps the significant lack of Supermutant Overlords helps (I hate those things!).

I just need your love!

First off, it's harder. Combat is roughly the same, though it is almost easier to fight without V.A.T.S. I like that, as I had a hard time doing so in 3, except when sniping. The enemies are also very similar, but the addition of various levels of Deathclaws and Nightkin (so badass) give it a nice twist. Also, one might encounter these enemies at any point in the game. No need to wait for level 12 to run into some Deathclaws if you're brave enough to venture into the quarry.

It's also more difficult because there's no real safe haven. In Fallout 3, you could get house or apartment to store gear, there was an abundance of ammo, bottle caps, and aid, and levels came more quickly with less difficult quests still being worth boat loads of XP.

Not so in New Vegas, at least for me. But I like to take things slow. I'm also finding that the reloading and trying speech checks over and over doesn't work. If you only meet 43/50 for the check, you won't get it. It's a challenge and sometimes you have to wait to do things for a while.

The weapons are better though, and the ability to modify them (with enough repair/science skill of course) definitely adds a new dimension to the game. Also, the karma levels are specific to groups of people. I have a few towns and factions that like me and two that vilify me. They might have gotten me if not for my sniper and Eye-Bot followers.

The differences are really what make the game but it's always heartening to see some similarities.

Fallout 3

New Vegas

It's the little things that matter.

Crossed Fingers

So instead of coming home straight after work tonight, I decided to grab a newspaper and go to Murphy's Tap Room. When the crosswords, sudoku, and cryptoquip were finished I didn't feel like reading any History of the Kings of Britain (I'm not really sure if I can tolerate this translation after all). I instead decided to stare at my manuscript paper and the short motifs I'd jotted down and see what came to mind. Fortunately, six lines worth came to me. Unfortunately those six lines are probably only worth 25-30 seconds, but that's more than I've written in a long time.

I've got my hopes up that it ends up sounding like I heard it in my head.

Clara likes it so far.

Maybe that's the key though. I used to write in a bar all the time. The cacophony aids the creative process at times, but mostly it's easier to block out a lot of sensory distraction than just a few things. That, and there's no internet there.

Hopefully this trend continues.