Games, Games, Breakfast And Dinner

 Today and tomorrow are going to be somewhat busy for me. Well, at least much busier than my usual days. It is Friday, so the Youngest has their Homecoming game tonight. I am not going - I do not care to sit in the stands, and all the walking.... plus I am sure parking tonight will be terrible, meaning full lots. Though myself or the Wife will need to pick him up afterwards. Also, a game my brother got into playing on the tablet, has this big 'cross-server clash' battle against three other clans, and today is the last day to "power-up" my teams to be in the battle. I will be concentrating on getting as many items to boost my team today.

Tomorrow starts out with a breakfast at Ronnie's Cafe (our favorite breakfast place) where RM will be meeting up with me. I think she mentioned she has not been there before. I mentioned to the Wife about going there, and she may join us as well. Heck, I even mentioned it to the Youngest, and he may be interested in going. Most likely he will be too tired in the morning to go after the HOCO game the night before, but will see. I am sure I will just 'veg out' the middle of the day, and late afternoon, we will be heading out to Olive Garden for dinner with Youngest and his date, prior to dropping them off.

Sunday, I would normally head up to the pub to watch NFL, but I just am not feeling it this year. a good friend that has been meeting up with me the last several years, has decided to not go this year - no reason given to me, and all I hear are stories as to why. I texted him last night, asking him to call me today at his leisure, to find out what the hell is going on. I don't know if he will call. The stories of the reasoning I have heard, are in my opinion stupid reasons to not hang out with friends. But what do I know?

Well, I best get started in on my games....

PeacE

Bloody Knuckles and Losers

There's a game out called 'Bloody Knuckles'. Nope, ain't a board game. No, it doesn't require a board, cards, dice, or actually anything else, except a minimum of two players. I guess the hardest part, is finding another player as dumb as you to play it.

But excuse me, I jump ahead of myself a little. From what I remember, this game has been around for MANY years, with many variations. I think, about 20 (or so) years ago, it was done by using them little black combs (that boys got) being rubber-banded to one's knuckles and hitting the opponent, the goal being to 'draw blood'. When I was in Junior High, that was the thing to do to show you, as a male, was "cool". Of course, me being the fat bookworm (not to mention other issues) I wasn't challenged but once. And that one time, there was more than just bloody knuckles (all I will say is that it was not my fault he moved his hand to suck on his knuckles when I swung my fist).

Based on that, those many years ago, the line is that I have done too many stupid other things in my life (I have some people, that will attest to this). I played this stupid game Sunday night. I know, I know. A man my age, doing this with some young, twenty-something punk, that was prolly only doing to try to impress 1) his friends, or 2) a girl. Is this where I mention, I did it to sort of play Devil's Advocate, to ruin his chances of impressing anyone? Well, no matter. My mission got accomplished, and after only 2 (yes TWO) exchanges, he quit.... though neither of our knuckles were bleeding. We weren't using combs, it was just the bare-knuckle thing. Problem is, at my age, with signs of arthritis already starting, I did that. Going into Thursday morning now, that hand still hurts, though, today I can function better than I could on Monday.

Yeah. Stupid shit. I know.

It gets worse, but maybe I can save that part until later.

PeacE

When Does Break Time Come?

Things are stacking up on my calendar it seems this weekend. Though, I am not getting paid for any of it, it is still nice to get out and do several of the things. Some of them are actually needed, and not just a luxury.

This morning I received an email from Blizzard. I have been asked to participate in a beta testing for 'Diablo III' (their newest game due out May 15). This is the same company that has World of Warcraft. I get a free version of the Diablo III just for signing a 1-year agreement to continue playing (and paying) for WoW. this is my first time doing a beta test, and I hope to be able to share with other friends how great (or not) this game will be. Unfortunately, I won't be able to really sit down and start playing until this afternoon. PT has been asking about going to the movies for the past three weeks, but nothing is showing that I want to spend the money for, or it is a movie that I would rather see with my family, knowing that they are interested in it as well. Today changes that. 'Lockout' comes out, and we are planning to see the morning showing. It's nice to be able to see the morning show as it is usually cheaper (about $5) and no one is crowding the theater. Plus, having the rest of the day free is nice.

Following the movie, I will be heading to the car part store to pick up pads for the Wife's van. A couple of friends and I are doing the brakes on it, and one of their cars tomorrow morning. I had stopped out yesterday to get he parts, but her van make/model/year had the option of pads or drums for the rear, and I had no clue. I had to crawl under there last night to find out out. Pads it is.Kind of almost sounds bad... getting pads for the Wife... lol!

Tomorrow, as stated, will be doing the brakes, but I feel it won't be but 2-3 hours. That is adding in some time to visit, as the friend's house we going to, his daughter will be there, and I want to meet her. She is a writer, and I have read the two books she has written, but never met her. Afterwards, I am not sure what our plans are. RM emailed me saying the Oscar Mayer weinermobile is going to be at a Walmart near us from 10-2, but I don't know if the boys would be interested - or if I want to brave the crowd/traffic to see it.

Sunday of course is softball in the morning, We are starting the tournament for the season. We play at 8am, and it is a double elimination, so have no idea when our second game may be. They set up the starting schedule based on win/loss record, and we were 7-7 for the season. We may have a second game if we lose, right after our first one, or with a win, may not play til 11, or even the following week. Much of it depends on how we do our first game, and how others end up doing. I don't expect to take it all, as there are a couple REALLY competitive teams playing. Our team is there for fun more than anything, though winning is always better feeling than losing.

Oh, forgot to mention... my buddy that has been in the hospital with pneumonia finally may want me to visit. He has been going through chemotherapy for the past 3 months (about) and this bout of sickness has had him hospitalized for the past month. From others, I have heard that he has lost ALOT of weight, just atrophy and not eating right (many things don't taste edible due to the chemo). I got a note from his girlfriend to call her - he wants me to visit. I may be doing that this afternoon before playing video games.

That means I probably won't be posting this weekend.

PeacE

Stubborn and Set In My Ways

For those of you that know me, this pretty much describes how I can be at times. For those of you who don't know me, well, you just learned some more. I am not much inclined to many changes. I like things to pretty much be the same way, with little deviation from what would be the norm. Minor changes and adjustments are acceptable.

I have been using Google Chrome for my internet browser for quite some time now. I switched about the time it came out, as it seemed to run better on my system than the Mozilla Firefox I was using before. I like Chrome, and use many of the extensions (additional programs it works with) and they help make things a bit easier for me. Though, occasionally, as in any program, there are a few spots that cause more problems. One example I can think of off the top of my head, is I come across every now and then a website that doesn't support Chrome, so the content is not as graphic as it would be if I used IE or Firefox. Small negative.

Last week I was trying to burn a CD from itunes, and was having issues. I went ahead and installed the newer, updated version. For those of you that aren't aware, Apple always throws up a window asking to update other software you may have as well, and offers to install a couple that are not on your system. Usually, updating itunes and QuickTime are not major issues, as I use both. It offered to install Safari, which is Apple's version of a web browser (as well Opera, though they don't offer to install that - I think it runs on Apple computers only but am not sure). I like my Chrome, but Safari is starting to make an impression on me. The graphics seem crisper; seems to work just as well, though it feels just a bit slower. Disadvantage: doesn't use the additional extension programs I like - though it may be I have not learned enough about it to use them, or set them up. Another advantage I particularly like, is it cuts the ads out of my Words With Friends games I play on Facebook.

Yeah, I started playing that game. I originally started it because it seemed an easy one that wouldn't waste much of my time. It's Scrabble basically. I had a handful of games going with others being mostly RM, PT, Stuman and Sis. A bad feature of this game is it gives you the option to start games with other friends that play it, or invite those that don't. Now I am up to like 12 games among these folks, plus other family members, plus people I know, and even a fellow blogger (Eric, of Straight White Guy) who is kicking my ass badly. I apparently suck at creating words, in the right places on the board to score the points, though one would make the assumption (as Sis mentioned) that with my vocabulary from as much reading I do, would give me an advantage. If it does, I don't see it.

Shrug. It's just a game, right?

PeacE