Often, the best parts of a video game are early on. You enter a new world with zero baggage and a full mag. The narrative holds your hand as you explore every nook and cranny not wanting to miss anything. But as the brass rains down, you start to notice your quest or to-do list getting longer, the lore getting deeper. That NPC up ahead expects you to know he was the general that survived the unsurvivable and this is the big reveal. Meanwhile Miss Muffin still needs her 5 eggs

Happy Christmas Steve! Christmas Steve? December 23 rd , you haven’t heard of it? Of course you haven’t because it’s overshadowed by bigger holidays like Festivus. But let me bring you up to speed on the history and explain how you can do your part in celebrating Christmas Steve. A million years ago I thought holidays were sacred and indelible. Then, as I got older and society got lazier, I realized that holidays are just all-consuming holes in the calendar. Plant one and it

When I was a kid … Intro trope! It’s almost as bad as starting off every other chapter with the character waking up, coming to, or having reality crystalize before him (which I am definitely guilty of in the books). But it’s what people say as they age. Maybe the Greatest Generation started later in life as newfangled aeroplanes stole shiplife from their cross continental commutes, but lately our society is accelerating faster than generational turnover. Kids 20 years old rem

Almon's Shade as seen from the South Wall of Portcullis I'd love to have a more cohesive theme, but I'm in more of a rambling mood. For...

The heat is here in the form of humidity. Kids are still off for the summer, bored unless continually entertained. Other people with less...

As we get older and busier, we naturally look for ways to prune our schedules. We trade friends time for family time, long hours for...

Buildup's been busy. As a society, we're seeing tectonic shifts in our outlooks. At work, since a significant percentage of our income is...

It’s snowing. Living in temperate Virginia where every county has at least one random road that cannot be efficiently reached or cleared...

I totally get and respect the “no resolutions” attitude. I’m with you, usually. But I also think they’re fun and a way to collectively...

TL;DR: I’m getting my son a new Xbox for Christmas. Back in my day, yadda yadda.   Not long enough; can’t stop reading:   I am the best...

Where did summer go? Not my words, but I hear them a lot and feel a certain kinship. The blog definitely suffered. But i'm still here,...

It’s halfway through July. The grass is burned, the community pool is a body-temperature vat of sunscreen and sweat, and although we’re...

More like late spring/early summer break. School ended BEFORE Memorial Day and will restart in the second week of August. When I was a...

First of all, Belated Happy Mother’s Day! Second, Predator. Actually, FIRST Predator. For those unaware, Predator is a science fiction...

Let’s be real, mulch has to be a scam. Right? They are selling you crap that they scraped off someone else’s land to beautify it. And...

Until I’ve refined my vision for this website, updates will go into the blog. Ideally, I want it on the front page, but the tools and...

Sometimes I like to imagine that the Easter Bunny is real. That there’s some sort of rabbit-kangaroo hybrid out there hiding baskets in...

Let me drop some disclaimers first: this blog is more for entertainment than dispensing concrete medical information, people are variable...

What up, Arisen? I don’t get huge video game playing time, but it does happen. Usually single player and instantly pausable. In fact,...

I’m not going to name names here, but you know what I’m talking about. Schedule was busy and I needed an oil change before heading out of...