Nerdism at its best

March 30, 2015

Gamenight – Pandemic

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Pandemic, a board game in which players work together to protect humanity from four world-devouring viruses. The game ranks up there with Settlers of Catan as a sure-fire “gateway drug” to German-style boardgames; it is thoughtfully designed, deeply polished, and has just the right amount of story world. Most everything about the game suits my idea of ‘fun’: strategic thinking, a healthy dose of variability from play session to play session, emergent complexity, cooperative play and thoughtful communication design.

One problem though my game had misprinted instructions that inadvertently made our attempts at playing really hard. I have owned the game for quite awhile but never played it. Having contacted the game maker they emailed me the proper instructions that I can print out.

But be careful, because it’s addicting. When you lose, you’ll just want to start all over again. And when you win, you’ll want to increase the difficulty level and try again.

March 22, 2015

My Gadget Bag

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When I am out and about you normally will not see me without my gadgets bag. I use to carry around a swissgear backpack, but my gadgets out grew that bag and it has now become my tool bag. I have been sporting a swissgear messenger bag. This bag is starting to become out grown as well and I have been starting to look for a new backpack style bag. For now it works. So what do I carry around on a daily basis?

  1. A laptop. I have a windows machine and a macbook that I switch between depending what I need to have. For longer trips I normally take my macbook as it is much lighter than my 17in msi gaming notebook.
  2. Extended battery. This thing is awesome. I can use it to extend my phone battery/charge my tablet or my 3DS and kindles.
  3. Which brings me to my next items my 3DS XL and USB NES controller. I have a NES emulator on all my laptops that I can use my NES controller on the go. I also have a flash cart for my 3DS that contain Gameboy and Gameboy color emulators and roms plus my DS games. Hours upon hours of video game entertainment
  4. Kindles, that is right your read that correctly two kindles. I have a paperwhite and 3rd gen that I have stocked up with all the books. the 3rd gen supports audio files and has the ability to read to you. the paper white is just easier to read on and has a back lit screen.
  5. Leather Notebook w/ pens. You never know when you might need some paper to write something down.
  6. Tablet; This is my newest edition to my bag. I use it to access spread sheets that I use to track my weekly carb and calorie intakes. Plus this thing makes for a great comic reader.
  7. USB drive/card reader. Though I forget these a lot. Thankfully my computers all have sd slots on them.
  8. Pocket knives. These are a must though these are also what I forget to grab as well.
  9. Charging cables. Though not pictured I have usb data/power cables galore.
  10. Electrical tape. Not even sure why all my bags have a roll of electrical tape in them, but they do.
  11. headphones. also not pictured above is my Razer headset.

So there you have what I carry around with me every day.

March 20, 2015

Coins

I was going through some of my boxed up stuff and came across my coins most of which are wheat head pennies. ranging from 1910(maybe) to 1956. I noticed the container I had them in was starting to not be a container any longer. As I was transferring them to a new container I noticed that my 1943 steel pennies are starting to corrode a lot more. technically its the zinc coating and not the steel, so the coating is doing its job at protecting the metal.

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even though they are not even worth that much to a collector they mean a lot to me i only keep them as one day I would like to pass them on. My grandmother gave me these. They were split between my brother and I. My grandfather collected wheat head pennies through out his life and needless to say there is a rather cool collection even though it is not worth anything. Here is what I think is 1910 and a 1911. The 1910 could well be a 1916 that has been worn down. I am also certain that I have a 1909 somewhere in my collection I just didn’t want to spend a couple hours going through it.

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These wheat heads are not the oldest coin in my group that is reserved for my 1851 one cent coin. This thing is much larger than a quarter. This coin is probably also my favorite coin in the lot based solely on its age. 1851; that is 164 years old and I have had this coin for at least 20 of those years.

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my next oldest coin is a nickel from 1883(i don’t have any good photos of it) followed by this dollar coin.

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I do not collect coins in hopes that they will be worth money some day I do it because I find it fun to look at them and imagine the life of these coins. The stories these coins could tell.

March 16, 2015

Planet Comicon 2015

PlanetComicon-NewLogo-Color-Processed-2smallerI had the awesome opportunity to attend Planet Comic Con and it was everything I hoped it would be. There were cosplayers. There were fantastic panels. There were celebrity guests (Cary Elwes). Basically, if you are a fan of comics/movies/TV/gaming/POP CULTURE – and your psyche can handle fighting through thousands of people; this is the event for you. As my first time at an event like this was definitely a learning experience. Being that it was my first convention, I had nothing to compare it to though I asked the many who have been multiple times how this year stacked up to years prior. there’s a sense of enthusiastic, creative, and obsessively loving heart at the center of the convention that’s particularly present in its attendees. Everyone was happy to be there, happy just to be amongst their fellow nerds, obsessing and loving the same things together with abandon and pure, unadulterated glee.

Things to remember for next year:

1) Wear comfortable shoes!

This is the most important lesson learned. I cannot stress this enough. Even with sneakers, my feet felt like they were going to fall off every day due to all of the standing and walking. Next year, I am going to invest in some inserts or SOMETHING that will make my feet feel better

2) Resign yourself to the fact you will be waiting in lines.

I waited in line close to an hour and a half to meet Cary Elwes(this was on Friday). Saturday the lines just got worse. 30-40 min lines for food. You thought Disney World was bad?

3) Leave extra space in your suitcase for all of the swag (free and purchased)

Some exhibitors hand out free swag. Though I didn’t have that hard of a time repacking my roommate did. We made it work though.

4) Bring an external battery for your electronics.

If you’re like me, you will be taking LOTS of pictures. and your devices will eat up battery like none other.

5) Pack lunches, if possible.

The food at the Center is INSANELY expensive. For a sandwich, fries and a drink you’re probably looking at $12-$16. Not only that, the lines end up getting ridiculous too.

6) Have cash on-hand.

If you’re like me and never have cash, that needs to change. There were many instances where lines were shorter if you paid with cash, some exhibitors didn’t have credit card machines at all. Make sure you get your cash before getting to the Con. Lines at the ATM are long AND there are convenience charges.

Planet Comic con is the perfect place for entertainment nerds. Attendees are really accepting, excited, and there to have a great time. Although your feet and wallet might be hurting, I dare you to not have fun at the Con. After all, you may get to see one of your favorite artists/writers/actors/filmmakers/etc. in real life! Let your inner fanboy/fangirl run wild.

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March 1, 2015

LEGO update and Nintendo woes

An online friend of mine sent me some items to add to my Lego collection. A LEGO computer and keyboard! I have known this block to exist, but it is hard to find. I welcome it into my collection and now I just need a minifig that will compliment it. I also updated my Hero minifig I took away his axe and gave him a crystal mace. I found this to be more fitting for a paladin role I have been snatching up parts and pieces to create an adventurers group. So far you have seen my barbarian, warrior woman, dwarf and my paladin all I am missing is a ranger/thief.

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I have been playing a lot of Animal Crossing New Leaf on my 3DS. I decided to see how I could back up my save data. Well you cannot. That is if you bought AC:NL from the Nintendo e-shop. I am starting to really consider going back to only buying hard copies of all my games now if I am not able to back up my save data!

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Nintendo has been all about control since basically forever. Matt over at bgwillers.com reminded me today of this “Since they put the 10NES chips on the carts back in the NES days. Which caused flashing screens on millions of people’s NES’s and much blowing in carts.”

Every time the AC:NL saves it changes the NAND id number in the savefiles. According to Nintendo this prevents you from having multiple towns with one copy by using multiple SD cards and to prevent loading of old data save to prevent changes you are not happy with. AC has always been a game about permanency. This game is also a game that has no end to it really. Back in Animal Crossing Wild World you could get around some things by time traveling. Back then I had my DS set 12 hours behind because I worked most of the day and could only play at night missing all of the store items. The store was always closed.

Time traveling does not work any longer. Nintendo changed the way the unit knows what time it should be and the way the game saves. If I want to buy a NEW 3DS I will not be able to transfer this game and save. So I will have to rely on that my 3DS will continue to run for the rest of my life. This is also why I follow the homebrew community so tightly. Not because I want access to pirated software which is what homebrew enables most of the time. But I feel I should be able to assure my data is safe from corruption and having to start over. For now I guess ill just buy hard copies and no more e-shop copies.