Wertle's Journal

January Free Thing Recap

2012-01-23T08:24:00.001-08:00

I did two free events in LA in January, and both were pretty neat. The first was a free pipe organ concert by Hector Olivera. Unlike many other musical concerts, for a pipe organ concert you have to go to where the pipe organ is, and seeing as pipe organs are generally in churches in the choir loft and the pews face the opposite direction, there was that awkwardness of sitting facing away from the performer. The first half was just stuff on the pipe organ and it was super cool. For the second half, he performed on his symphonic touring organ, which is the kind that has synthesizers for all the other instruments in the symphony. While technically impressive to watch him hammer out all the instrument parts himself, unfortunately symphonic organs just don’t sound very good. It’s like listening to a midi keyboard. Nevertheless, the performance was good, and free, and they had homemade baked goods as refreshments, score!

The second event was a workshop given by graffiti artist, Galo “MAKE ONE” Canote. It’s part of a program by the Craft and Folk Art Museum called “Folk Art Everywhere,” which has various workshops held in different cultural centers all throughout LA. He gave us a lecture about his work and LA street culture, then had a workshop on very basic lettering, showing us the most basic way to deform letters without losing their inherent structure, and we all practiced lettering our names with markers on papers. Basically it was “How to make a locker sign.” It was cool, though, and I learned some things for sure. As a bonus, everyone who came was given free passes for the Craft and Folk Art Museum.

February Free Events that look promising:

Nature photography workshop at Franklin Canyon
Astronomy walk at the observatory
Staged reading of Sophocles’ Ajax

We’ll see what other events pop up

Poached Chicken and Stuffed Turnip

2012-01-09T22:02:00.001-08:00

This is a weird recipe. I was trying to mod an existing Poule au Pot recipe based on the ingredients I already had, which were chicken parts instead of a whole chicken (and different veggies and no pasta). I wanted stuffing, though, so I looked for something else I could mount it in, and happened to have a turnip, so there you go.

For the Stuffing, mix together in a bowl:

1 cup or so of breadcrumbs. I didn’t measure exactly, just grated a leftover third of stale baguette I happened to have
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 TBS melted butter
salt and pepper
handful of fresh dill, finely chopped
1/2 cup chicken stock

Gather together in cheesecloth:

1 whole shallot with 2 cloves shoved into the sides
1 bay leaf
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
a few stems of fresh parsley
1 rib celery, cut into chunks

Take:

1 large turnip

cut off the root end and the top (keep the top). Cut out the center of the turnip and set aside for later. I sort of worked my way around the turnip with a knife, cut an x cross-ways, then used a spoon to dig out chunks. I repeated this until I had an empty turnip casing.

Fill the turnip with stuffing, put the lid back on and tie around the turnip with kitchen twine to keep it shut.

Season with salt and pepper:

1 chicken thigh and leg
1 chicken wing

Add the chicken, cheesecloth bundle, and turnip to a large saucepan or pot and fill with water until the chicken is just covered. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, then uncover and simmer 10-15 minutes, skimming the fat, reducing the broth.

(this is where I messed up somewhat. I was trying to figure out the difference in poaching time between chicken parts and a whole bird, and I think I ended up simmering for too long or at too high a temperature, because the chicken was kind of mild. I may have leeched out the flavor like you do when you make stock. More experiments needed)

Add to the pot:

1 leek, halved and cut into 4 inch pieces
The turnip innards from before

Add water if needed to keep the chicken covered and continue simmering until the veggies are tender and the chicken is done (165 degree F internal temp).

Remove chicken and turnip and strain vegetables. Take the lid off the turnip and serve everything together.

2011 Review

2011-12-31T18:56:00.001-08:00

- This year included a lot of adventuring around LA, what with my do-one-free-thing-in-LA-each month goal. I definitely discovered some fantastic local festivals that I want to attend again, like the Kite festival and Shakespeare in Griffith Park. It got me on the metro and around the city more, and I feel a little more informed about this place because of it.

- This was also like the year of e-sports for me. Spurred on by my enthusiasm from last year’s Blizzcon, I got very involved in watching the NASL matches, staying up late with Nick to watch GSL finals, watching MLG events, and going to some tournaments (NASL finals for seasons 1 and 2, MLG Anaheim, and Blizzcon). It has been great fun, if not incredibly nerdy.

- On the game development front, Resistance 3 shipped this year! My first grown-up-game-designer cred! Hooray! I also started writing for Mike Acton’s blog, #AltDevBlogADay, which has been really fun and successful. Indiecade this year was once again thwarted by sickness, alas! But I did do a games-related podcast this year, and was a guest speaker via Google Hangout for a college game design club.

- I managed to go the entire year without a visit back to Kentucky until Christmastime, and I nearly went crazy from homesickness. It’s amazing to me how recharging I find Kentucky. As soon as I set foot outside the airport, I feel its energy rushing up through me, and I always leave feeling refreshed and renewed. So, for my health, I’ll be making some extra visits in 2012.

- Unfortunately, 2011 is winding to a close on a very sickly note. Poor Nick got terribly sick when he got to Kentucky, and since returning to LA I’ve been nursing him, so no extravagant New Year’s Eve party for us. Eh, no matter, I’m in a low-key sort of mood anyway.

In general, 2011 has been very straightforward, “business as usual.” Lots of cooking, cat-walking, starcraft-watching, game-making, and other such common day-to-day activities in my life. It felt hearty, like I got a lot of sustained mental nutrition out of the year, if that makes any sense. Anyway, I’m looking forward to what 2012 will bring, and hoping that one thing will be less sickly-times for my boyfriend. Onward!

On Efficiency

2011-12-15T23:22:00.001-08:00

Recently I started having thoughts about how to limit my futzing-around-on-the-internet time in order to allocate it to more productive ventures. I do spend a lot of time browsing around, consuming random articles about random topics, reading facebook and the like. However, in the middle of my efficiency plottings, I realized that I’ve tried this plan twice before already.

The first time was back in college, when I spent a lot of downtime reading Livejournal and participating in various forums. One year for Lent I decided to give up non-school-related internet activity, with the intention of using all the freed up time on all kinds of wonderful personal projects. A cunning plan that surely could not fail! So, when Ash Wednesday came and my habitual forum-browsing time arrived, what did I do? I took a nap. And that’s how it rolled for the whole time. All the time I saved by giving up those internet ventures went straight into sleep.

Several years later, after college, I had a similar scenario turn up. It was during my World of Warcraft prime, when that game consumed up vast amounts of my free time, that I at some point decided to limit myself in WoW so I could work on more productive personal projects. Again, I stayed true to my promise and strictly limited my time, but all that was freed up was quickly consumed again by sleep. Naps galore.

So I can only assume that the same thing will happen again. Is it my body’s way of demanding a certain amount of downtime from me? When I go into overachiever mode, it just counters by inducing sleep? Or is it some test or obstacle that I just haven’t overcome yet? Afterall, time is the one true currency. Am I wasting it?

When I give it some honest thought, I don’t ever feel guilty about the time I spend not-being-productive. I have no regrets about all those hours playing WoW, and in spite of my growing list of Someday/Maybe projects, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on something by not getting down to them. In fact, I’m rather content and happy with things right now, so maybe this is just something I need to shrug off.

Goal Progress Report

2011-12-15T08:49:00.001-08:00

So my intention to report on my goal progress really fell apart at the end of the year, but whatever. Next year I’ll know that a strict goal-reporting requirement doesn’t work for me :) Anyway, here is my last update on how I did with my goals this year.

1) Financial. I’m happy to say that I’ve completed 3 big steps for my financial goals this year. I paid off my smaller private student loan, and then I shifted gears and decided to bolster my emergency fund up to 3 months before returning to work on the big federal loan. This I have succeeded in doing! Finally today, after about a year of laziness and then a month or two of getting everything in order, I closed my Bank of America account and moved all my money dealings over to a credit union. In 2012 it will be time to attack the rest of the student loans full-force, and my new goal will be to get it paid off before Christmas of 2014.

2) Free Thing in LA every month. This sort of waned off towards the end of the year, too, since everyone is so busy with holiday events (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas…). Some of the latest attempts at adventure didn’t end up panning out (The Victorian Advent Fair was more of a small neighborhood community thing, for example) but whatevs. I still think I did an enormous amount of exploring of Los Angeles this past year due to my free outings, and some of them were a huge hit. I’ll definitely be returning to the Kite Festival, for example, and Shakespeare in the Park. Keep your eyes on your facebook events next year, LA friends, and I will try and keep digging up interesting events! Special thanks to Eye Spy LA’s free section, from which I get most of my inspiration.

3) Games. This is another one that waned pretty quickly on its specificity, but I still feel like I did a good job of spending time with new and different games this year. Since my last update, there has been Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted 3, Driver: San Francisco, TripleTown, Trine, Spacechem, Innercube, and so on and so forth. I do have on my list to get my hands on Batman: Arkham City, Skyward Sword, and Rayman Origins soon. We’ll see.

4) Sewing. Again, even though I accomplished my 3 things, I still have done a fair amount of mending and sewing stuff this year, keeping the sewing machine oiled and in use. My latest project was cobbling together some thriftstore clothes to make my wild-west costume dress for our Christmas party.

In closing, I think my goals-for-the-year experiment turned out more or less a success. Some of these things, like the free LA events and the sewing, I hope to turn into habits. Stay tuned for 2012 wherein I think up some new and exciting year-long goals!

Vegetable Soup Recipe

2011-12-14T12:49:00.001-08:00

I’m not sure this counts as a true recipe so much as an example of “let’s just throw everything I happen to have in the kitchen into a pot and see what happens.” I am feeling under the weather today and so thought I’d make some soup for myself.

Ingredients

olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
1 winter squash, peeeled and chopped into cubes
3 small turnips, peeled and chopped
1 yukon potato, peeled and chopped
1 granny smith apple, peeled and chopped
4 cups of vegetable stock or chicken stock or water or any combination thereof
bundle of random dried herbs (I had some from my CSA in a bundle but I couldn’t identify all the herbs, I think maybe sage was in there somewhere)
salt and pepper
spices to your liking (I used some ground ginger to good effect)

1. Heat the oil in a large pot and cook the onion, garlic, and pepper until fragrant, a few minutes.

2. Add all the other vegetables and cook for a few minutes, stirring

3. Add stock and herb bundle. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

4. Remove from heat. Remove the herb bundle. Transfer about a cup full of vegetables to a blender or food processor and puree, then return to the pot (leave the other veggies in chunk form for texture)

5. Add salt, pepper, and spices to taste. Heat through and serve.

Pomegranate Apple Sauce

2011-12-04T14:45:00.001-08:00

There was a request for the recipe for my pomegranate apple sauce, so here it is!

3-4 apples, peeled, cored, cut into chunks
1 pomegranate’s worth of seeds (youtube will help you with the optimal way to open a pomegranate)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Add apple chunks and pomegranate seeds to a medium saucepan. Mix together sugar and water and add to saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cover, let simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove cover and simmer 20 minutes more, until most of the water has reduced. Mash up the apples with a spoon. Done!
As for the honey cornmeal pancakes, I just used this recipe (sans syrup. I used some plum preserves and then spread the applesauce onto them):
http://www.honey.com/nhb/recipes/recipe-details?RecipeID=647

Thoughts On the Train

2011-11-04T08:56:00.001-07:00

Nick and I decided to take the train up to San Francisco just for the hell of it, because neither of us had been on a proper Amtrack ride before. It was really, REALLY nice. Perhaps you are wondering if you should try out the train on your next traveling adventure instead of flying and driving. Here are some observations that may help you decide.

First, if time is a luxury for you and you aren't in any hurry, then I'd say go for it! Certainly if you are on a tight schedule it would be way more convenient and not much more expensive to fly from LA to San Francisco (and we are flying back so we didn't have to take an extra day), but the time it takes is really the only downside to the train. Fortunately, if you aren't on a schedule and aren't in a hurry, there are plenty of things to do to fill up that time. Also, there's no "get there an hour early and suffer through security" that eats up that time. The train shows up at the stop, you give your ticket and get on. Boom, done.

The seats on the train are comfortable and have a million miles of legroom. There are no rules about bags having to be stored overhead, so you can just sprawl your stuff out at your seat (and if you're short like me and can't actually reach the footrest in front of you, it's nice to be able to use your bags as one instead). There are power outlets at every seat. You can get up and wander around at any time. The windows are large and the views are pretty, and it took me back to memories of being little and staring out the car window on any car ride, absorbing the landscape.

In the lounge car, they have even more gigantic windows and seats facing directly out, in case you are into the sightseeing part. They also have big booth tables and free wi-fi, and several people were just at these tables working away on laptops. One lady had even brought her scrapbooking project, and had her crafts spread out on the table. I think she was working on it for most of the train ride. Nick and I spent several hours at one of the lounge tables playing Magic: The Gathering.

The lounge car also has snacks that you can purchase, and either eat there or take back to your seats to eat. The diner car had some decent food, but that's the only other negative about riding the train - since space is scarce, if you have a party of less than 4, they will seat strangers together to fill up the booths. There is nothing I hate quite so much as awkward socialization with strangers when I'm trying to eat, but if you are an extrovert then this could be really exciting for you.

So, in spite of it being an 11 hour ride, I spent that time napping, gazing, playing Minecraft, Spacechem, Poker Night at the Inventory, playing Magic with Nick, watching a movie, and so on. It was no different than having a particularly lazy day at home, except there was no Mr. Davis to snuggle. When we got to San Francisco at 10:00 at night, I didn't feel exhausted the way I normally do after even the shortest of flights.

In conclusion, if you've never been on an Amtrak trip, and you have some time to kill and are in no hurry, and perhaps have many personal projects that you'd like to get some work done on, then yes, try it out at least once!

Free Thing for November

2011-10-30T11:17:00.001-07:00

So I slacked off in October for the Free Event for the month. Partially because Blizzcon and Halloween-themed activities ate up that time. Time to forge ahead and look at November!

Tuesday, Nov 2, 6-10pm Day of the Dead Festival. I know it's tough to get people rallied to go out and about on a weeknight, but I really love Dia de los Muertos stuff and would really enjoy checking this out. If anyone would be up for a middle-of-the-week adventure, please let me know!

Saturday, Nov 12, 2-3pm Family Origami Day. Who doesn't love origami!

Saturday, Nov 12, 3:30 - 5:30pm Myth-busting Bats. I love bats so much, they are the coolest critters ever. I also like nature lectures a lot.

Saturday, Nov 19, 2-5pm Yarn Bombing Los Angeles Collective. Just a meeting of a local knit group that's open to the public and free. I'm secretly a knitter.

If any of those sound intriguing, please let me know and I'll get an event organized up!

Tasty breakfast recipe

2011-10-29T11:13:00.001-07:00

(serves 1)

1/2 bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
2 radishes, thinly sliced
handful of arugula chopped
2 eggs
olive oil
black pepper
soy sauce

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Saute the peppers and radishes for a few minutes, then add arugula and stir until it is wilted. Beat the eggs and dump them in the skillet. Add some pepper and a dash of soy sauce, then stir the mixture until the eggs are cooked. Serve and enjoy!

Singing in the Car

2011-10-28T23:01:00.001-07:00

Tonight I drove out near LAX to meet up with Jesse while he was in town and catch-up on life and the universe. On the drive back there was some accident on the 405, so I took the non-interstate route, which was no faster but at least I was moving. It made me realize that I miss singing in the car very much. These days I live 5 minutes from work (and am FINALLY getting my bike repaired this weekend, so will be in the car even less!), so I don't get too much car-music time. I rather miss times when I drove to Louisville from Pittsburgh, and had 6 full hours of car singing.

Anyway, the hour I spent weaving my way through LA to get home was actually quite pleasant, from the singing but also because I was in no hurry to get anywhere, so I could take my time.

For your listening pleasure, I've made a playlist of some of the songs I sang on my evening drive home (predictably, there's a lot of Bryan Scary in there). Enjoy!

http://grooveshark.com/playlist/What+I+Listened+To+On+My+Drive+Tonight/62485448

Chicken Marinade

2011-10-27T20:05:00.001-07:00

A quick discovery when I was throwing together random things in the kitchen.

juice of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1 orange
some rice vinegar
ground ginger

Marinate for 1/2 an hour to an hour. Zing!

Books

2011-10-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've made a book post, hasn't it? Here's what I've been reading recently:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A story told from the perspective of an autistic savant boy, mostly about the mysteries and adventures in his daily life. I found it a good read from an interesting perspective.

Our Tragic Universe: A story about a writer which gets a bit meta from time to time, but has just the right touch of magic to keep me interested. I found that I kept coming up with plots that would help the main character solve her problems. Interestingly, there were two anecdotes in this book that also appeared in the previous book, even though the two are completely unrelated. One was The Cottingley Fairies, and the other was the joke about the economist, the logician, and the mathematician on a train who see a cow and derive various conclusions based upon what they see.

Anna Karenina: This was referenced several times in Our Tragic Universe, and piqued my interest, so I checked it out. I'd never read anything from Tolstoy before and I *think* I enjoyed it, though it did have sort of a depressing portrayal of how jealousy in relationships destroy people.

I'm looking for more books to read, so send suggestions my way!

Mashed Potato Empanadas

2011-10-02T16:55:00.001-07:00

Rather than my usual strategy of making a huge batch of mashed potatoes and gorging myself on them, I wanted to use my CSA potatoes and veggies to make something I could bring to work as a lunch meal. This was very experimental, thus there was a lot of winging it on measurements and simultaneous saucepan wielding and such.

These turned out great! I will say, though, that if I’d had cheddar cheese on hand, I totally would have loaded up the filling with that. Next time!

Ingredients
- Pie crust dough (I just made my usual recipe, but you could use pre-made ones or whatever recipe you prefer)
- 6-8 yukon potatoes, cut into chunks, with skins
- 2-4 Tablespoons of butter (i wasn’t paying attention, I just used a big ole chunk)
- milk (maybe like ½ cup ish?)
- handfull of fresh green beans, cut into chunks
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- handfull of cherry tomatoes
- schmaltz or stock or oil or something to saute with
- ½ a lemon
- salt
- pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
2. Make piecrust dough according to whatever recipe you prefer, or use pre-made pie crust. Set the dough aside in the refrigerator
3. Boil the potatoes in a medium saucepan for 10 minutes, until soft
4. Meanwhile, heat up schmaltz (what I used)/stock/oil/whatever in a skillet
5. Add garlic to skillet and saute
6. Add celery to skillet
7. Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan, then drop in the green beans and blanch for 2-3 minutes, until bring green. Drain, then add to skillet and stir.
8. Squeeze juice of ½ lemon over the saute
9. When the potatos are done boiling, drain, then return to saucepan. Add butter and mash with a potato masher. Add milk until the consistency is quite gooey
10. Add salt and pepper to potatoes
11. Add the contents of the skillet to the potatoes and mix
12. Add cherry tomatoes and mix
13. Break dough into 6-8 balls, roll a ball out flat, add a blob of the potato mixture, then fold the dough over and seal the edges with a fork.
14. Place the empanadas on a cooking sheet with parchment paper.
15. Brush the empanadas with remaining milk for glaze
16. Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown

Radish Risotto

2011-09-18T00:06:00.001-07:00

From this week's pile of delicious CSA vegetables, I made this tasty risotto for my friends. I like it because it turns out pinkish from the radishes and wine, and the tomatoes I used from the CSA were all different colors - bright red, orange, and yellow - so it ended up being very colorful!

Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 6 Tablespoons butter
- 2 small red onions (or one medium one would work), chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 4-5 radishes, thinly sliced
- 1 rib of celery, chopped
- 1 3/4 cups-ish jasmine rice (I was shooting for 2 1/2 cups, but I ran out)
- 2/3 cup red wine
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
- 2 cups-ish of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

Instructions
1) Bring stock to a low boil in a medium saucepan
2) In a large pot, heat up olive oil and melt 1 Tablespoon of butter
3) Add onions and garlic and saute until soft
4) Add radishes and celery and cook for a few minutes
5) Add rice and cook until it just starts to brown (stir frequently so it doesn't burn
6) Add red wine and cook and stir until it is absorbed by the rice
7) Start adding the chicken stock a cup at a time, stirring until it is all absorbed
8) Remove the pot from heat, add the rest of the butter and Parmesan cheese
9) Toss in the fresh tomatoes and serve!

Goal Progress Report

2011-08-28T12:12:00.001-07:00

1) Free thing in LA every month. August's free activity was the Independent Shakespeare Festival's free performance of Hamlet in Griffith Park. It was really fun, and a fantastic performance! I'm glad lots of people came out and joined in on the picnic.

Also, Insomniac's Wrap Party was at Six Flags yesterday, so I suppose that can also count as a free event. As part of the gift package they gave us all free passes to the water park to use in September, so at the very least that'll be my September free-thing. I'll try and scare up a good public event as well. Potential events include...

Chinatown Summer Nights on 9/10 (http://chinatownsummernights.com/). Seems to involve food and music.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has lots of nature-related events throughout September: learning about snakes, stargazing hikes, wilderness survival skill lessons, etc. However, these are usually a bit of a drive and often parking is not free, so I'd want to get a bit more organized with a small group before doing any of them.

An Interfaith Choral Concert on 9/11

The Dubnoff Outdoor Festival on 9/24 in North Hollywood - food trucks, games, prizes, various bits of entertainment

Citywide Yard Sale in Santa Monica on 9/24

Vintage Paper Fair on 9/24 and 9/25 in Glendale (http://vintagepaperfair.com/) - old photography, pinups, brochures, post cards, stuff like that.

Redondo Pier Car Show, if you like cars, on 9/25

2) Games. Nick and I have been playing Deus Ex, and I like it very much! I'm actually doing more watching and back-seat gaming with this one, which leads me to question, does this count as playing? Perhaps I should explore back-seat gaming in an #AltDevBlogADay article

3) Sewing. I'm making things! With patterns! But I can't say what they are because they are for presents.

Catwalk Story

2011-08-16T19:11:00.001-07:00

Tonight on our walk, Mr. Davis got himself stuck. He'd squeezed through the railing and ended up on the wall next to the stairs that go down into our parking garage (there were some dogs in the courtyard and he was avoiding going around them through the gate).

He found himself perched on the very corner edge of the wall on the outside of the railing. It was too high for him to jump down, and too narrow for him to back up or turn to go back through the railing, so he meowed pitifully. I stood below him and reached my hands up, telling him it was okay and to come on. I honestly wasn't sure what he would do.

Mr. Davis looked at me for a moment, then jumped towards me and freefell. I caught him awkwardly and we moved on, but I was rather amazed that he didn't even try to jump *on* me, he just jumped and knew that I would catch him.

It's a nice feeling when a pet shows that they trust you.

Where to Board Mr. Davis

2011-08-14T23:41:00.001-07:00

Tonight I booked my flights for the Christmas Holidays, and now it's time to figure out where to board Mr. Davis while I'm gone. The place where I normally board him unfortunately has closed down, so I have to pick someplace new. I've narrowed it to two candidates, but am having trouble choosing between them.

Option A: The first place operates under the philosophy that cats who aren't from the same household never are allowed to free roam together, for a lower stress experience. They have great big tower kennels there, bigger than the ones at the last place I boarded, but since they don't let stranger cats out together, I imagine each cat only gets a couple of hours of out-and-about time outside their kennel each day.

Option B: The second place is the complete opposite. While they do have private rooms for non-social cats, their main boarding areas are large open community rooms, where cats can socialize together. This means that the cats have way more activity going on each day, as they hang out and play with the other cats.

Now, I liked the old place because it was sort of a mixture of the two. The cats each had their own big kennel, but were let out in groups for long periods of time.

I'm not sure what is best for Mr. Davis. Even though he doesn't like seeing other cats on his walks, he does fine with them in "neutral territory" environments, like the boarding house, and the shelter where he lived for a year which let their cats free roam. I'm still not sure about Option B, though, because there seems like fewer opportunities to mitigate in a situation where particular cats might not get along. At least with Option A, he could interact with other cats through the kennels when he was out during his roam time, I just worry he might not get enough of it every day.

Right now I'm leaning slightly towards Option A, though i'm going to contact them and ask how much out time each cat gets every day when they are booked full (which I imagine they will be during the holidays).

Goal Progress Report

2011-08-03T22:56:00.001-07:00

1) Free Thing in LA Every Month. Since my parents were in town in July, we went down to El Pueblo and then on to Little Tokyo where a music and arts festival was going on. It mostly made me hungry for Japan, but was a nice walk, and I'd never been down near MOCA before to see all that artsy stuff, so it worked out well. The rest of July was filled with non-free events (NASL and MLG).

For August, I was thinking of hitting up the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival, because my parents' visit made me homesick and it reminds me of Shakespeare in the Park in Louisville. I'm thinking of trying to catch either Love's Labour's Lost or Hamlet, either the weekend of the 13th or the 20th. If you want to come have a picnic with me, let me know!

2) Games. I have actually been playing a TON of games recently, but a lot of it has been research for work, so I don't think it counts for this goal. Other than that, I've been enjoying Outland immensely. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a really fast and snappy platformer combined with color-switching bullet hell (like Ikaruga). Unlike Ikaruga, though, the platforming aspect of it lets you pace yourself, and learn more slowly, so you get less panicky and spammy.

The other game I've been playing a lot for fun is Sanctum, which is a first-person-shooter tower defense game. I really like the solutions they came up with for constructing defenses in a first person view. It's also a very mild shooter, since once the defense starts, you usually just teleport to various locations in your map, and shoot from a stationary position. Running and gunning is entirely optional.

Meanwhile, there were a few re-releases (other than Stranger's Wrath) that I was looking forward to, but I've completely forgotten which ones they were now, doh! I guess when they pop up in the PSN store, I will remember :)

Vacation

2011-07-31T13:52:00.001-07:00

With Resistance 3 wrapped up, and with me transitioning onto a new (SECRET) project at work, it was a perfect time to take a nice rest.

My parents came out to visit, which was great. I really am not quite used to only getting home at Christmas, so I get pretty homesick during the summer, and it was wonderful to see them. We did a few cool things: went to the botanical gardens, walked around El Pueblo and Little Tokyo, and saw a Dodgers game. Otherwise, we pretty much just sat around and did nothing by the pool, or took naps.

I had two days between their leaving and the MLG mini-vacation, which I spent sleeping for the most part. There were a few instances of taking Mr. Davis out for a walk, of course, and some reading, but the rest was blissful, blissful sleep.

This past weekend was MLG, and Nick and I stayed at a hotel down in Anaheim. It was super fun! I really love watching Starcraft in a great big riled up crowd, and man what a crowd it was! On Saturday I got there early to snatch a good seat, and Nick and I rotated out for food and breaks so that we could keep our spot. Everywhere else the chairs were packed and people were standing in the aisles, but the matches were fantastic!

We did decide to head back home today, though, and watch the finals on the stream at Nick's place. This was for two reasons: Nick lost his wristband and it would have been really expensive to buy another for just one day, and we surely would have had to get there at like 8am again to get a seat on championships day, but the matches go on all day, and it would have been incredibly exhausting to stay there until the grand finals. I don't mind, though, because I had great fun on Friday and Saturday, and would rather assure that this last day of vacationing is nice and relaxing.

Tonight I will mentally prepare myself for the return to work, and then tomorrow it's back to makin games!

Goal Progress Report

2011-07-03T15:16:00.001-07:00

1) Games. I've been doing pretty good on this front recently! Been playing a TON of Realm of the Mad God, which is a browser-based MMO fantasy-themed bullet hell shooter. It's extremely easy to jump in and out of, and it's not a grind to build up a character. Death is permanent, so if you die you just roll a new character. You unlock different classes as you level up the base ones, and it's just a generally great time killer. I might do a more in depth post about this.

Racettear: An Item Shop's Tale was on sale on Steam, so Nick and I have been playing that the past couple of days. It's a game where you run an item shop in an RPG, and you have to acquire good items to sell and haggle prices with customers and stuff. I think it's great!

2) Free things in LA. Still have an eye on that festival in Little Tokyo for this month, stay tuned.

3) Sewing: I am going to sew something for-reals! I'm assembling a pattern and everything! I really should acquire an iron for this, I think.

4) Plugging along. Contemplating selling my PS2 and all my games, we'll see...

Any Cat Behaviorists out there?

2011-06-24T19:28:00.001-07:00

So, just about every day, Mr. Davis and I go out for a walk. The routine goes like this: arrive home, snuggle time, cat gets dinner, I make him sit on his perch while I put his harness on, and then we go out. On weekends I usually take him out in the mornings, but the same thing, he has to "up" to his perch to get his harness on before we go out.

Most of the time he does this just fine, he will jump up right away and sit patiently while the harness goes on. However, every now and then, for several days in a row, he will not comply to this. He will fuss and meow at the door and window and pretty clearly wants to go out, but he will not obey the "up" to his perch. Sometimes he'll do the up but then jump right back down and continue fussing. On these days, we either don't go out, or I wait for him to settle down and we go out later in the evening, when he obeys his "up." Either way it means I have to sit and listen to him fuss until it nearly drives me crazy.

Then, after a few days of this, he will mysteriously slip back into his normal pre-walk behavior and not give me any trouble.

Any ideas on what is going on? I thought at first that maybe when he does this, he just doesn't want to go outside, and instead wants to play or more snuggles. But all the evidence, mainly the meowing and pawing at the door, and ignoring attempts to play, tell me otherwise. Could it be that he's just trying to test his boundaries and see if he can get me to let him out without the harness?

Now, sometimes in the morning before work I will hold him outside on the patio for a bit, and I thought maybe THIS was what he wanted. However, he will not come to be picked up, so maybe not.

What could Mr. Davis be trying to tell me?

Book Review: Too Rich for a Bride

2011-06-19T00:50:00.000-07:00

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Too Rich for a Bride is a romance about a young woman striking it out in the business world in late 19th century Colorado, finding herself and love and all that. I found the story to be a little dull and predictable, but I don’t normally read romances, so it could be that the pacing is just a little slower than I’m used to. The characters were pretty believable, with a few bordering on one-sided, but I thought Tucker Raines and Ida were both well-rounded.

My biggest issue with the book was that I never felt completely sold on the setting and period. When I was reading the first chapter, I at first thought it was taking place in the late 20th century, until I flipped back to check the date at the header, and was surprised to learn that it was supposed to be in 1896, not 1968. It comes out the most in the language of the characters, for example, in their openness in speech about one character’s pregnancy, which didn’t feel very believable for the time period that it’s supposed to take place in.

Other than that, it was an okay story that never got too intense. It seemed to focus a lot on sisterhood, so if you’re into that sort of thing, it might be for you. 2 1/2 stars.

Goal Progress Report

2011-06-18T23:24:00.001-07:00

1) Free thing in LA every month: I went down to the Fiesta de las Flores at El Pueblo today, ate 2 churros (probably a mistake), watched some folkloric dances, wandered up and down Olvera Street, and took lots of photos - https://picasaweb.google.com/lisa.deanne.brown/FiestaDeLasFlores

This place is really one of my favorite spots in LA, I love it! So, free thing for June checked off, though I MAY consider going down to my CSA farm next weekend to pick blackberries. Only if I can get some folks to go with me, though.

Thinking ahead to July...
- FIFA Women's World Cup. The Goethe-Institut is broadcasting select matches for this, and I'm considering wrangling up the Insomniac soccer crowd to go watch together. Matches run from 6/26 to 7/17, so it's a little flexible. http://bit.ly/jZKpwW
- Obon Festival at the Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo. I am a big fan of these cultural festivals, may as well add another to the list! http://bit.ly/iBcoMO

2) Video Games: More LA Noire. Now that PSN is back up, I can get Outland, but I have to get around to it.

3) Financial: I've been having little mini stuff-sales that bring in bits of cash and help me de-clutter. It helps that I'm in another "stuff purge" mode. Otherwise, just plugging along!

Starcraft Nerd

2011-06-15T16:49:00.000-07:00

If you had told me a year ago that by the summer I would a regular e-sports watcher, I'd have called you crazy. But here I am, Wednesday-Sunday evenings, planted in front of the laptop watching Starcraft 2, and all giddy about the North American Star League finals in a few weeks. Let this be a lesson, a lot can change in a year!

Anyway, you may ask, "Lisa, there are so many great pro Starcraft gamers, how do you ever decide who to cheer for?" Good question, reader! It can be complicated, especially when you're new to watching e-sports and don't know all the players. Fortunately, I made this handy guide for how I decide who to cheer for in a Starcraft 2 match...

From Blogger Pictures

Beef Stew

2011-06-12T12:16:00.001-07:00

I think I made my most successful stew yet yesterday! This was adapted from a Joy of Cooking recipe, so I'll merge the ingredients and the directions like they do.

Trim and pat dry and cut into cube:

2 pounds boneless beef stew meat, I used chuck roast

Season with:

1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Dredge the pieces in:

1/2 cup flour

Shake off excess flour. Heat up olive oil in a stew pot. Add the meat in batches and brown on all sides, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add more oil if needed during this process. Add to the pot:

1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 celery ribs, chopped
4-6 garlic gloves, chopped

Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until onions are tender (about 5 minutes). Add the meat back to the pot and stir. Add:

2 bay leaves
fresh thyme sprig
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper.

Add enough to cover the meat:

2 cups beef stock
1 cup red cooking wine

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until meat is tender (1-2 hours). Add:

2 carrots, chopped
3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
4 turnips, peeled and cut into chunks
2 sweet peppers, seeded and cored and cut into chunks

Cover and cook until vegetables are tender, 30-40 minutes. Remove the pot from heat and remove bay leaves and thyme sprigs (the leaves will probably have fallen off by this point, just remove the stems). In a bowl, knead together until homogenous:

1 Tablespoon flour
1 Tablespoon butter

Roll the dough into little balls. Drop them one at a time into the stew and whisk until melted. This helps thicken the stew.

Serve hot with crusty bread. Enjoy!

Successful Moderation of Brainstorming Meetings

2011-06-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

Originally written for #AltDevBlogADay

I think the game development community has done a pretty good job of sharing resources and ideas and tips and tricks on effective brainstorming. However, it’s one thing to tease out of your brain all the fantastic and creative ideas you could ever ask for; getting the same thing out of a group of people in meeting-form is a slightly different animal.

Have you ever been in a brainstorming meeting where people sort of sit around and spit out ideas, but by the end of it, no one is sure if anything was really accomplished, and you have the uneasy sensation of having just poured a bunch of creativity into a black hole? I hate that feeling! Brainstorming meetings should not yield that feeling, they should produce a bunch of really awesome and useful ideas for the problem at hand, and everyone should leave feeling like they have accomplished a great feat, and made strides in whatever the project is.

Design Charrette for Get In Line

I’ve had some success with moderating good brainstorming meetings that end with that feeling so I’m just going to walk through my usual process. Hopefully there are tips in here that are easy to adapt to your personal meeting style. So, come, dear reader, and let us walk through How Lisa Prepares For and Runs a Brainstorming Meeting.

Understanding Your Role

First off, it’s important to understand what you are doing when you initiate one of these meetings. Leading the meeting does not mean that you are first in line to present your brilliant ideas on the matter to a group of listeners. Instead, your job as moderator is to draw the brilliant ideas out of your team, the correct brilliant ideas, the ones that will solve the problem at hand. This involves a bit of a balancing act: If your meeting structure is too rigid, it could stifle creative idea generation. But if the meeting is too free and formless, you are at risk of that uneasy feeling of ideas being churned out and then lost to the nether.

Preparations

Let’s say it’s early in pre-production on a project, and you want to meet with your team to brainstorm mechanics to complement the core mechanic you’ve been kicking around so far. Or maybe your mechanics are solid and you’re meeting to hash out a story idea. Or maybe you have an opportunity to make a completely new IP from scratch and you want to kick around the possibilities. Before launching right into brainstorming, a few preparations are in order.

Choosing a Meeting Space

A whiteboardful of brainstorming

The most important consideration for your meeting space is to have a means of writing down the ideas as they come out, so that the whole team can see them at once. Giant whiteboards, giant sheets of paper that can be taped on the wall, or a projector if you are the typing sort all work fine for this.

Time

For this early-stage-in-the-project example, I’d carve out a nice chunk of several hours to devote to the brainstorming. You need enough time to get the idea ball rolling with some time leftover to review and plot next steps. This will always vary – I’ve been a part of all-day design charettes to plot the course of an entire project, or 30-minute sessions to brainstorm a solution to a very particular problem – but the important thing is that your teammates are clear on what to expect. Don’t just whip up the Outlook reminder and be done with it until the day of the meeting. If it’s going to be a 3 hour brainstorming meeting, communicate to your team so they can prepare themselves for the marathon and get their brains in the right place for it.

It’s a bit like inviting a group of friends for an evening of Arkham Horror (an epic board game that can run from 3 to 5 hours for a single game) – if you invite them over to “play a board game”, you’ll likely end up with a group of baffled and exhausted people who are antsy an hour into the thing. But if you tell them to prepare for this board game as though they were preparing for an evening of D&D, their minds will be in a much better place for a potential 5 hour board game experience. This is, of course, assuming your friends are as nerdy as I am.

Who to Invite

This is trickier than it appears. If you’re on pre-production on a project, chances are you’re already working with a small group and you’d just invite them all to brainstorm and be done with it. But don’t stop there! Remember, you are orchestrating these people in such a way to maximize brilliant idea output, and often the combination of who is bouncing around the ideas with who will affect that flow. Perhaps there’s someone else in the company who’s not on the project who has had noticeable enthusiasm about the idea – invite them! Maybe there’s a person in your company who sets everyone at ease when they’re in the room, an affective hub, so get them in on it.

I’d also say it’s a good idea to get someone in on the meeting who thinks differently than you or your team. Not saying haul in a nay-sayer, but if there’s someone who always comes at matters from a perspective that you rarely consider, perhaps someone who makes you uncomfortable in this way such that you’d naturally be apt to leave them out of such a gathering, bring them in too. That person is an ingredient that we often leave out of our brainstorming meetings because it’s easy to do, but they can be a catalyst for molding a bunch of good ideas into really useful and relevant ones.

As for people to avoid including, watch out for those who dominate an entire room by their mere presence. You don’t want the idea output to clamp shut on your team during the meeting because there is someone in the room that makes them nervous to spout off potentially ridiculous ideas. You want the atmosphere of the meeting to be playful and maybe even slightly on the silly side, so your team should feel free and at ease with each other.

Toys

Candy and Snacks are good compliments to toys

What? Yes! I recommend having toys at any brainstorming meeting. If I had my druthers, I would have toyboxes in every meeting room to unceremoniously dump on the table at the start of any meeting. Barring that, chances are that your game studio is littered with toys at every desk, and people usually are willing to lend them for a meeting. For the last brainstorming meeting I conducted, I wandered around the office beforehand with a big picnic basket, asking for donations. By the time the meeting rolled around, I had a sizeable pile of playthings that were toyed with and used to illustrate points all throughout the meeting.

So why toys? Well, I like having toys around during brainstorming for two reasons. There’s already material out there I’m sure about how having toys around promotes creativity and all that hoojaz (it is handy if someone can grab an action figure and puppet them about to illustrate an idea). The other reason is that having a pile of toys on the table feels ridiculous and silly, and people in the room tend to be more likely to treat the situation as play or a game, and less likely to try and prove their coolness by only sharing what they think are the most impressive ideas. This is a good thing, as the more comfortable people are with not holding back and spouting an idea that may be completely ridiculous, the more likely you are to get out the really good ones.

Choose a Meeting Structure

Freedom and playfullness make a great atmosphere for brainstorming, but if there is too much freedom, then you can get that black hole feeling of throwing ideas into the nether and not accomplishing anything. This feeling by itself is enough to put a damper on your team’s creativity, so you need to corral the meeting in some structure. Not too rigid of course, but enough that your team feels like the meeting is going somewhere, and not just 3 hours of brain dump. Here’s a few ideas that I’ve used with success in the past.

Springboards

The idea here is that you come into the meeting with several related springboard questions or scenarios, present them all to the team at the beginning of the meeting, and devote a period of time to brainstorm off of each springboard. This method helps structure the time of the meeting, and helps periodically reset your team’s thinking as you move on to the next springboard. Springboarding can also serve as working in an icebreaker if your brainstorming meeting participants may not be familiar with one another. In my graduate school project on what would later become Get In Line Entertainment, we held a big design charette in the very beginning of the project using springboards. Our first two springboards were “best experience standing in line” and “worst experience standing in line.” This let the meeting participants get to know each other a little bit through the sharing of their stories, and at the same time started some useful threads in the brainstorming process (“problems with standing in line to solve” and “good things about standing in line to take advantage of”).

Elemental Tetrad

A snippet of brain storming in elemental tetrad form, from an assignment to redesign Hopscotch

This is one of Jesse Schell’s lenses, and it’s a personal favorite of mine on structuring brainstorming. Use the categories of mechanics, technology, story and aesthetics when coming up with ideas.

It’s a general enough structure to not be too stifling, and it helps create reset moments during the meeting (you’ve been hammering on mechanics for awhile but let’s shift gears and talk about aesthetics) and it’s a great way of laying out ideas so that your team can see and draw connections between ideas of different categories.

And Then What Happened

This is actually an improv game that really helps out if you have places where you are stumped, or if you have great ideas for the beginning and end of an experience but a cloudy middle, or if you have really strong ideas for the outcome of a mechanic (how you want the player to feel) but no clear ideas yet on the steps or actions to get the player there.

We used and-then-what-happens to walk ourselves through a menu process. Many a gap was found and adressed as a result!

It’s as simple as it sounds, you draw up on the board the steps you have strong ideas for, pick a place to begin, and then decide “and then what happens” for every individual moment after the beginning until you get to the clear-idea step. This game is great for when you feel like the team is churning out lots of great meta-ideas, but that if you stopped the meeting there you’d wind up with a bunch of cloudy feeling ideas with no substance and no clear next steps. Narrowing it down like this can bring the team’s brain down to the nitty gritty what-button-is-the-player-actually-pressing-right-now steps, and since the meta idea that they were all excited about is the goal, then they are more driven to churn out good practical ideas to get there. This is also a handy game for filling in the gaps for story brainstorming, especially if you have a great idea for a story twist, but haven’t given much thought on how to get there.

General structuring

Whatever way you decide to structure the meeting (and there are many more possibilities than what I’ve listed above), I’ve found it useful to divide the overall meeting time up into at least three periods.

“No noes allowed,” “Yes, and” only period. This is the “anything goes” time, when any idea is accepted, and no naysaying is allowed, even at the most ridiculous or clearly out-of-scope ideas.
Review time, where you go over what the team has churned out in the last section and think about what’s practical and doable. This is where you let risk mitigation and “that probably won’t work because…” comments from your team come out.
Next steps. I always make sure to leave at least 10 minutes at the end of the meeting to wrap up and make at least one decision, even if that decision is just “we’re going to start with idea X” and everything else is still on the table. Usually this goes something like “okay, we’ve come up with these ideas and reviewed the feasible ones, what’s the very next thing we’re going to do with these after this meeting?” It often ends up that we say we’re going to prototype x, y, and z ideas to start. Giving a sense of closure to your meeting is important, because you don’t want people fretting about unclosed loops of ideas when they leave.

During The Meeting

So now that you have everything prepared for your meeting and a structure of some sort in place, time to kick it off and moderate! Here’s what you’ll be doing as the moderator during the actual meeting.

Writing

In graduate school, my professor suggested that the person writing stuff down during a brainstorming meeting shouldn’t also be the person talking the most. This is to prevent someone dominating the conversation and using their powers as marker-holder to highlight their own agendas, so it doesn’t turn into one person lecturing their ideas to everyone else. However, I think it is just as detrimental for the writer to be a person who never speaks. Have you ever been in a meeting where someone is quietly writing up the notes in a corner, and the point comes where everyone is completely ignoring that person and just talking with one another, while the writer scrambles to keep up with the ideas? We don’t want that either, for the sake of the poor writer, but also because it can create the situation where your team is more focused on getting their own ideas out instead of listening to one another.

This has all the elements for a successful meeting: 2 forms of big seeable writing (whiteboard and laptop-on-big-screen), snacks and toys, comfortable seating, and pie

While you shouldn’t be dominating the conversation as the writer, you should definitely be leading it, so that all of the eyes in the room remain focused on you and what is being written. Don’t be afraid to say “hold on hold on!” to make sure you get the current idea written down so you don’t miss the next one, and make sure no one is sitting with their backs to where the writing is going down if you can help it. This really isn’t about keeping everyone’s focus on you, it’s about keeping their focus on the ideas, so people don’t get caught up in “when do I get to talk next,” that they forget about everyone else’s contributions. If they have to wait a moment before speaking while you catch up on writing the last idea, they are more likely to be staring at all the team’s ideas written so far, perhaps making new connections in the brief moment of stillness where they aren’t waiting to pounce on the next pause in conversation to take it over.

On Your Participation

So, I have a super-power that I take for granted. I have the ability to fully participate in brainstorming and also write down all the ideas at the same time. I’ve always assumed this was completely normal, but I’ve had people tell me on multiple occasions that this is actually really really hard to do. If I figure out how this works, I’ll write a whole other article on simultaneous moderation and participation. In the meantime, I’d say focus more on the moderating part so that your team is freed up to not have to think about it. Just remember that it is important to maintain leadership through the meeting, so you don’t end up frantically running about catching ideas with a butterfly net to keep them from slipping into the black hole.

Respond to People

As the designer must observe the playtester, watching for those non-vocalized signs of confusion or excitement or surprise, so you too much watch your team during the brainstorming. Watch for a comment that might excite people, and push to riff on that idea. Watch for confusion on faces, and push to clarify the idea at hand (even if you understand it completely!) If you find your team bouncing ideas down a very deep path at the expense of breadth, such that you fear you may spend too much time on it, coax their brains back out. I sometimes do this by finding and pointing out a connection to another idea up on the board.

Do not tolerate interrupters! It shuts down idea generation in those interrupted, though sometimes people don’t even realize that they are interrupting, they just get excited. I remember a brainstorming session in grad school with an interrupter, and I threatened to obtain a Taboo buzzer and buzz him every time he interrupted someone! It was a silly threat and there was much laughter, but he checked himself for the rest of the meeting (and, as it turned out, every meeting I ever had with him after that). Do not be afraid to get a taboo buzzer. Put a spin of silliness on it.

Afterwards

How do you know if you’ve had a successful meeting when the time has run out? I judge this based off the feeling in the room. Your team should feel the tiredness of mental exertion, but it should be the good tired. Like the tiredness you feel after a good physical workout. There should be a feeling of having accomplished something, like it actually really took that whole 3 hours to get where you wound up, not that you just did something until you ran out of time. You should feel like you’ve just closed a hundred bugs! You want the team to feel excited about what they came up with, and ready to move on.

Tying things up

So, success! The meeting is over, your team generated a ton of useful, relevant, and amazing ideas, and you all feel like you really made progress in your project. As everyone goes back to their respective day-to-day work, there are still a few things left to do as moderator to finish things up.

Capture the results

What does this drawing mean?? You may have no idea, but the people present when it was whipped up to illustrate a point my remember an entire conversation just by glancing at it.

I do this in two steps. One, I take a photo of the board as written, for those people on the team with strong spatial memories. These are the people who might think later “what was the idea on the middle left side of the board underneath the squiggly diagram? I remember that one being good…” Two, I type up all the ideas and then sort them by prevalence that emerged during the meeting, highlighting all of the big ideas that everyone got excited about up at the top, but still not leaving off the chance one-mention-only ideas that ended up not being as relevant. They just get sorted to the bottom.

Send them Out

I usually don’t send this compilation to the team right away, instead I give it a few days for the brainstorming to dip back down into the backs of peoples’ minds. I of course have no data to back this up, but I get the feeling that if you let all that stuff sink back down and simmer in the subconscious for a bit, and then send out the compilation of the meeting results, it’ll drag the ideas back up to the surface with a fresh coat of clarity, and people will see much more quickly the ideas that are really relevant and exciting, and will be quicker to clip out the ones that won’t work out. The waiting ends up saving time, which is a bit counter intuitive, but it’s true, I promise!

Conclusion

Moderating brainstorming meetings is really all about good orchestration of people. As moderator it’s your responsibility to create an environment that feels safe and playful to get those great ideas out of your team, but also to maintain a structure and keep those ideas from getting sucked away into the nether. As with most things in life, this sort of wrangling gets easier with practice. So go forth and moderate! And, perhaps just as importantly, get other people some practice with hosting brainstorming meetings. Moderating these meetings is a different kind of work altogether than doing actual brainstorming, so you want to be sure you don’t miss out on being a brainstormer just because you happen to be good at running the meetings.

Book Review: Plain Wisdom

2011-06-04T22:40:00.001-07:00

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

Plain Wisdom is a simple collection of brief life-lesson stories from respective modern and Old Order Amish lives of the authors. I was expecting more crossover of the two and connections between the different societies, but most of the short stories are standalone and just share similar themes.

A surprising number of the tales revolved around motherhood, so I found them less easy to relate to. However, I think it’d be a good mother’s day gift for this reason, or a good read for anyone who feels a close connection to motherhood.

I was hoping to find more insight into the Amish way of living as I’d experienced reading another of Cindy Woodsmall’s books, but I think her narratives painted a more graspable picture of the lifestyle than these short stories, which were more focused on experience. Other than that, it’s a very simple collection of life-lesson style stories that’s good for one straight read or for picking up now and again over time.

Goal Progress Report

2011-06-03T22:03:00.001-07:00

1) Games: Nick and I played a fair ways into L.A. Noire on Monday, and I am really enjoying it. I feel like it's a sort of love-it-or-hate-it game, as it is very much like Phoenix Wright. That is, it is a highly cinematic, low-impact sort of game that it is easy to play as a pair while lazing on a couch, finding clues and identifying liars together, trading the controller back and forth, and guessing the outcome of a case well before we solve it (which I find very gratifying). I am anxious to get back to it, but I would like to continue playing alongside Nick, and as it is crunch time for the programmers on R3, it may be a bit yet.

2) Financial: Today was a glorious day! I sent in the final payment for my small private student loan. GOAL ACHIEVED! Now all that money will in turn go towards the last big beast of a federal loan. I'm working on ways to break it down into short-term goals for myself, so that I can stay focused and pay it off as efficiently as possible. With my current budget, I can be debt-free by October of 2014, but I feel like I can keep pushing that further and further.

3) Free Thing in LA Every Month: When at the soap box race, we swung down to El Pueblo for a bite to eat, and I noticed banners for La Fiesta de Las Flores, which takes place June 18. I'm definitely going to hit this up, but am still perusing EyeSpyLA for other free events of interest in June.

Roasted Herb Potatoes

2011-05-24T20:11:00.001-07:00

I often make meals that are so crazy simple that I don't bother sharing or writing down the recipe. But, I realize that the reason most people don't like to cook is not because it's hard (it isn't) but because it's time consuming. So, for you, one of my simplest and fastest recipes.

Ingredients
- 1-3 potatoes
- a few Tablespoons of olive oil
- salt and pepper
- ground or chopped herbs (I like ground thyme and rosemary, but whatever you have on hand will work)

1) Peel and cut the potato into chunks
2) Toss in a bowl with the other ingredients
3) Spread the potatoes out in a cast iron skillet and cook in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 - 25 minutes

It's always amazing to me how you can turn a single root into a meal with just a bit of olive oil and herbs

Goal Progress Report

2011-05-22T12:47:00.001-07:00

1) Sew 3 things. 3 of 3 complete! I have reached my goal of sewing 3 things with the sewing machine this year! I decided to try and think of more things that I could use my scrap fabric for, and ended up making a sort of hanging pouch to keep my books and notepads in when taking a bath. Just because I've completed this goal doesn't mean I'll close up the sewing machine for good, but I will stop reporting on it unless I do another project.

2) Free thing in LA each month: Yesterday, Josh Noble and I went down to see the Redbull Soapbox Race, which was really fun. It was craaaaaaazy crowded. The entries were judged on speed, creativity, and showmanship, so all the cars were decorated in ridiculous ways. My favorites were a food truck soapbox car and one that was done up to look like a Mexican ice cream cart. There was even an Angry Birds entry, and feathers flew everywhere as it zoomed down the course. There were a few spectacular crashes, too! We didn't end up seeing all the entries (there were 40!) but it was a fun time and we ended up grabbing lunch in Chinatown and eating at El Pueblo, which is fast becoming one of my favorite spots in LA.

3) Games. Still slacking on this, as I've been playing League of Legends pretty much exclusively all month. It's going to be hard to re-focus until after Gold, but I do still intend to get Outland once the PSN store is back up.

4) Financial: Nothing exciting to report here, just plugging along.

Plan of Attack

2011-05-16T20:53:00.001-07:00

When times get busy at work, my apartment tends to fall to pieces. Usually it just takes enough motivation to get started tidying and before too long things are in place and my energy restored. I don’t have a huge place, so it never takes too long to clean, but this weekend I decided a different approach was in order. I went around my apartment and inventoried the places that were messy and what was out of place, to see if I can put in some measures of prevention once things get clean again.

Here are the problem spots and some brainstorms for solutions. Any thoughts are welcome:

Entrance Hallway:
This is the worst offender. I have a nice empty to-do crate on the other side of my apartment, and the idea is that this is where I drop mail and stuff to be processed later. It used to work really well before I got Mr. Davis. Now, as soon as I enter my apartment, I am met by the happiest, most affectionate kitty, and snuggle time begins. This means that mail, grocery bags, and anything I carry in winds up on the floor and stays there for days or weeks.

1) I clearly need something here right at the entrance to throw my stuff down on, and ideally I would just move my to-do crate right here. However, I still need to keep the entrance from feeling cluttered, and it’s a very narrow hallway.
2) I have my bike bags hanging here, and this is where I store flattened CSA boxes, I can move these elsewhere.

Bathroom:
I read books while in the tub, and sometimes make notes or lists. This usually means that the bathroom floor is covered in books and notepads. Next is that I tend to leave stuff like floss or tweezers or nail clippers out on the sink, because my medicine cabinet is narrow and they fall out easily. Next is dirty clothes on the floor. This one is baffling to me, because I have a built-in cabinet hamper right there. It’s RIGHT THERE. I do not know what stifles my motivation to lift my discarded clothes a mere 2 feet vertically and put them into the hamper.

1) I really just need a basket or something to stick the books in, maybe with a towel cover to keep them from getting dripped on. Maybe something with pockets that I could hang from the towel rack.
2) I should probably clear out one of my pull-out drawers by the sink to use for the stuff that clutters there, or just put a small open basket out on the sink that I can lay the things in.
3) I really have no idea what to do about the hamper issue, this might just be a behavioral thing that I’ll have to hammer on. IT’S RIGHT THERE.

Kitchen:
For some reason I’m always really unmotivated about emptying the dishwasher. Filling the dishwasher and running it is great. Totally on top of those. But when I’m lazy about emptying it and dirty up more dishes, I get the gross sink backlog. Also, I’m terrible about shutting cabinets. It used to drive my mother crazy, and I’ve never been able to shake the habit. Lastly, my garbage can and recycling can are difficult to get to.

1) The dishes thing might just be behavior, but I could also address the issue by culling some of my dishes, which would force me to wash as I go. I don’t have a ton of dishes as it is already, though. I think easier-to-reach dishtowels would help me wash as I go. I hang them on the oven handle right now and they fall off really easily. I should just hang them on the wall.
2) Is there some device you can put on cabinet doors that makes them push closed automatically? Surely this has been invented.
3) The issue with my garbage and recycling is that there’s not enough room under the sink for both of them, and there’s no other room in the kitchen for them. If I went for a small thing that I could keep on the counter, it might encourage me to empty it more often. Or I could try and find something narrow enough to fit in the gap between my fridge and counter

Living Room
Biggest problem here is the laptop with its cables and accessories dragging all over the place. That and cat toys laying all around the place.

1) I think i can solve the laptop issue by running an extension cord from an out-of-the-way socket around to the couch, so that it isn’t crossing walking space. then I can keep most of my power cable tucked away in the laptop bag.
2) One of my neighbors moved out and didn’t want to haul along their cat tree, so I took it on. Mr. Davis has 2 cat trees now! SPOILED! Anyway, this new one has a cubby at the bottom that he doesn’t seem interested in, so I think I’ll pile all his toys in there

Crafty Area
When I’m not actively sewing, this area stays tidy, but the moment I open the machine to mend something, it explodes with mess. I think that’s because right now I just have all my scrap fabric shoved into a cabinet, so it all spills out when I open it to get something.

1) I can solve this by condensing some things in my chest of drawers and organizing the scrap fabric in the drawers. I can use the rolly cabinet for something else.

Goal Progress Update - lost count

2011-05-14T17:52:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when the Gold deadline approaches, I fall off the wagon! Here’s an update all the same.

1) Free thing in LA Every Month: Alas, I fell off the wagon and missed an event for April. I had one lined up - a free pass to the Renn Faire, but when the day came Nick and I were so low-energy that we decided it was best to stay in. However, I am determined to make May count. Here are some ideas

Tomorrow - NASA/JPL open house. Science! http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/open-house.cfm

Friday, May 20 - Jazz and Steel Drums. I like steel drums. http://bit.ly/mErrAv

Memorial Day Weekend - DOG SHOW. I have a secret, guilty pleasure for watching dog shows. The genetic manipulation just utterly fascinates me! I need someone dog-nerdy as me to come, too http://bit.ly/ioKx4u

2) Sew 3 things. 2 of 3 complete. That’s right, I completed my second sewn thing! It’s a pretty simple project, a sachet I made as an apartment-warming gift for Josh when he moved. It’s filled with dried lavender leaves from last year’s herb garden, and dried thyme buds from this year’s. Simple enough that I need to buy another lavender plant and make more (last year’s plant didn’t make it). I also have an idea for project number 3, but it will actually require me to go buy fabric instead of using stuff from my scrap pile.

3) 20 minutes of games every other day. I’ve really fallen off the wagon with this one. Part of it was that my game plans were disrupted with the PSN outage - no Outland and no Portal 2 (I wanted to get it through steam to get a free PC copy), and no updates on HD Stranger’s Wrath. The other part is that Nick and I have been watching the NASL Starcraft II matches, which just makes us want to play Starcraft II. Oh, and League of Legends. Lots of League of Legends. Fortunately, PSN seems to be stirring with signs of life, so Outland may be soon within my grasp.

4) Financial. Lots of frugality for April. We had an easter egg hunt at work, and amidst all the candy, one of my eggs had a Target gift card (groceries!) and another had a free commissary lunch. I am super excited about paying off the private student loan next month, which I guess makes me a big ole nerd.

Zucchini Spice Bread

2011-04-30T23:36:00.001-07:00

I got a ton of zucchini in my CSA box, so that's what made this all come about. For those of you who have never tried zucchini bread and think it sounds totally gross, do not be put off! It yields something similar in style to carrot cake. Anyway, here's the recipe, which i modified from something I found on the internet.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon or so white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground dried lavender
2 teaspoons lemon and orange zest *

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan. (these would probably make great muffins, too

2. In a bowl, beat together the zucchini, sugar, honey, egg, and oil. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder; stir in the cinnamon, lavender and zest. Stir the flour mixture into the zucchini mixture just until blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

3. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from heat, and cool about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

* I took the orange and lemon that i got the zest from, cut them up, stuffed them in a jar and covered in water and put it in the fridge. It's a nice tasty drink to go with this bread.

Book Review: Breath of Angel

2011-04-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

Breath of Angel was a great fantasy story and a strong setup for future stories in its world. Melaia, a young priestess, finds herself entangled in the secret struggle among angels, who have remained mostly hidden from the normal populace. She soon is carried off into adventure and ends up with more responsibility in the secret war than she had bargained for.

The mythology and backstory for the setting of this book is quite strong, and I will be curious to see what comes next in the series. I especially liked the eerie depiction of the draks, vulture-like creatures made from human souls that bear their former inhabitants' hands instead of talons.

There were parts of the book that felt a little bit hasty in development of character relationships or the unfolding of events, but it is a minor criticism and didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the story. 4 stars!

Weekly Goal Progress Report #12

2011-04-11T20:52:00.001-07:00

Missed a week. Oh well! Forging on...

1) One free thing in LA per month. I think I'm going to take a rest on the events and instead check out the California Science Center either this weekend or next.

2) Financial: Been stickin close to the budget, and as such I will pay off my small private student loan in June, which is a big deal to me. Otherwise, budgeting isn't terribly exciting.

3) Sew 3 Things. 1 or 3 completed. Some mending, but no updates on the next project. I contemplated making a rain coat for Mr. Davis, but that might be crossing the line. Tips for good beginner sewing projects welcome!

4) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: I've been a busy gamer, recently! Still charging through Okamiden and enjoying it immensely, and I'm dabbling about in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, plotting to try the multiplayer eventually. If I had the time to devote to games that I did in high school and college, I feel I would be the sort of person to just play the crap out of Assassin's Creed. Meanwhile, I hadn't played League of Legends or Starcraft II in awhile, so I took them off the "doesn't count" list. Well, now they have to go right back on! The HD Stranger's Wrath is supposed to come out this month, though I haven't heard any updates on release dates or price. Still, that is the next game on my radar.

A Year with Mr. Davis

2011-04-01T15:49:00.001-07:00

As of March 19th, Mr. Davis has been with me for a whole year! Time certainly flies! I remember how excited I was when I first brought him home from the shelter, and a little nervous about how he would settle in. Now I can't imagine life without him as a part of my family!

Here's a recap of Kitty Stats for the year:
- Mr. Davis's clicker-training repertoire now includes the following: Sit, come, stand, high five, jump up (stand on hind legs and touch my hand with his paw), up (onto furniture), down (off of furniture), paw (shake), jump over, go underneath, and spin (turn around in a circle once).

- Click tricks we're currently working up: climb up the carpet wall on command, and chase a ball on command

- He sleeps next to me every night, sometimes getting fussy if I stay up too late. I now understand his "come to bed" meow. He wakes me up in the morning by kissing me on the forehead

- We go on a walk just about every day, unless it rains. My neighbors love to say hello to him. One said he was the most famous cat in Burbank

- When he gets too lovey or riled up he is prone to chomp, but we're working on this with training. Petting sessions do not begin until I make him do a trick, and he must come and sit in certain places before being fed or having his harness put on. All play, petting, and clicker training have definitive end signals (clapping, showing him my empty hands, and saying "all done")

- Nick is Mr. Davis's favorite person in the whole wide world, and when he comes over, Mr. Davis can't stop rolling over and begging to be petted.

- Mr. Davis does not like seeing neighborhood cats, but he's made friends with 2 cats in my complex, and he meows excitedly and runs up to see them every time they appear on the balcony or at a window when I'm out on my walk.

- He may be a fusscat sometimes, and sometimes he's too cool for school, but more often than not he's a big ole sweetheart and I'm so happy and thankful that he's part of my life!

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite Davis Photos

From Birthday Cat

From More Mr Davis

From Mr. Davis Lounges

From Walking Mr. Davis

From More Mr. Davis

Weekly Goal Progress Report #11

2011-03-26T19:00:00.001-07:00

Switching up the order to keep things fresh

1) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: I think I've reached my limit with Lost in Shadow, unfortunately. At first its slow and cautious pace seemed fitting with the mood and the teaching of mechanics, but it's stretching on for too long. I'm certain there's some sort of changing moment to be had, but I'm tired and anxious to move on to other games. Maybe I'll come back to it someday. Meanwhile, Okamiden came and I've been playing the crap out of it! I enjoy it very much, and it warrants a post all to itself. More lunchtime Minecraft this week as well.

2) Financial: I did my annual credit report (which you can and should do once a year, here) to make sure my credit card was closed properly, which it was! I found another error on the report, though, so I submitted a dispute and it's already been cleared and removed from my report. It was a way faster turnaround than what I was expecting!

3) Sew 3 Things. 1 or 3 completed. No updates here.

4) One free thing in LA per month: Starting to think ahead to April. I haven't run across any events I'm interested in yet, but there are still several free museums I am interested in, so perhaps I'll check one of those out in April. Ideas include the California Science Center, MOCA, and the Museum of Television and Radio. Sound interesting to anyone?

Weekly Goal Progress Report #10

2011-03-19T21:33:00.001-07:00

Switching up the order to keep things fresh

1) Sew 3 things: 1 of 3 complete. Just some mending this week, as I got my set of bobbins. I think that'll go a long way in encouraging me to sew more, since changing thread when you only have 1 bobbin is a pain. I think I'm getting the hang of the darning foot, but sometimes my thread breaks so I might not have it attached properly. I really wish I knew someone in LA who knows sewing machines inside and out so they could come give me a crash course in these attachments. LA friends? Any tailors or seamstresses?

2) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: More Magicka! I think we've just about beaten the adventure mode, but I'm not sure. I've also been Minecrafting a bunch lately. The latest updates fixed monster hit detection on multiplayer servers, so the Insomniac server is much safer. Also been playing Shining Force, which I don't think counts since it's a game I've already played. BUT! My copy of Okamiden should get here soon!

3) One free thing in LA per month: Oh man, the kite festival was amaaaaaaaaazing. There were so many kites in the sky of all shapes and sizes and types! It was beautiful! I particularly liked the dragon kites. The atmosphere on the beach was really nice, too. Everyone was super chill, and maybe your string got tangled on another kite but whatevs, there were a billion kites up there so how could anyone complain! They had a big 25ft wide kite that had a cord so thick that you could see it all the way up to where it attached. My favorite was a teeny tiny butterfly shaped kite that someone was just dragging along behind them on a short string, and it still fluttered up in the air like a pet! So cool. Definitely going again next year.

4) Financial: I updated my annual mileage with my auto insurance company, since I haven't driven back and forth across the country in a few years, and they sent me a reimbursement check on my insurance payment for the lower mileage. Nice! I wasn't expecting it to kick in until the next time my premium was due.

Plight of the Pacman Cup

2011-03-19T20:01:00.001-07:00

When I was a little girl, my grandma had a pacman drinking glass, this one here. Every day after school, I would walk to my grandma's house and pour myself a beverage, usually orange juice, and often in this favorite of drinking glasses. I remember peering at the image of the game board on the back, fascinated, wondering where pacman would go next, frustrated at his inefficient pellet collection strategy. Such love for this glass!

One day, in pouring myself some orange juice, perhaps too excited to get to my peering and pondering, I knocked over the pacman glass and broke it. I was devastated! I pleaded with my grandma that we glue it back together, convinced that it could be saved! But no, it had reached its time, and was relinquished to the trashcan. Heartbroken, I moved on with my life.

Fast forward 12 or so years.

I'm working in the theater, living in New England, out shopping for props at the local antique stores, like we do. I was photographing a chest of drawers of some sort, arranging purchase with the shop owner, who was so excited that one of his antiques would appear on the stage (I did not tell him that we would be sawing it in half and beating it with a rasp and hammer. I'm still amused at the relationship between prop shop and antique store, and remain convinced that if they knew half the things we did to their wares, they would never speak to us and would kick us out of their shops.)

Anyway, after taking some measurements and notes, I looked up, and there it was. A pacman glass! Just like my grandma used to have! It was sitting among an arrangement of vintage clutter, easily overlooked by the average passerby. After hopping around in a little dance, I purchased it in a heartbeat, relaying the sentimental story to the shop owner. Once again, pacman glass was in my life!

When I had it at home, I sat down to make an important decision. Would I use this glass for drinking? And chance another accidental knock-over? Or would I use it as a pen holder, a much safer occupation where it could be constantly in my view. I chose the latter, and pacman glass held my pens and sat on my desk through many adventures and moves.

Fast forward 7 more years.

On his nightly play romp, Mr. Davis miscalculates the angle of his leap from dresser to cat tree, and pacman glass falls to the floor, shattering.

I'm contemplating trying to glue it back together.

Book Review: The Ale Boy's Feast

2011-03-15T20:33:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

The Ale Boy’s Feast was a fantastic read in a rich, vivid fantasy setting. It was the last book in a series, but the opening synopsis was thorough enough that I never felt lost, and though I felt like I was missing some of the subtleties of some of the characters’ relationships, it just made me curious and did not frustrate me. That said, I will most definitely go back and read the series from the start, because Jeffrey Overstreet’s wordsmithing is just an absolute joy to read!

The world that the story takes place in is rich and original in terms of fantasy standards, and the conflicts are complex without becoming confusing. It follows where I presume the previous storylines diverted off and eventually brings them all back together: Cal-ravan the young king, Rescue the aptly named ale boy, Krawg the thief-turned-storyteller, the kite-taming sky man, the mage and his dragon, the insidious Seers...The strong characters in this book make a solid foundation for the plot to weave around.

Even though I read the last book first, I am incredibly excited to go hunt down the rest of the series and start over from the beginning. I would highly recommend checking out the sneak-peak on the publisher website to get a taste of the writing style. 5 stars!

Weekly Goal Progress Report #9

2011-03-12T21:59:00.001-08:00

1) Financial: It was a tough race, but I'm deciding to go with Lockheed. The main reason is, even though USAA sounds more awesome, there are a few little things I need to be able to do that they can't, and everyone's response is that they recommend to also keep a small local bank account in addition. Well, the small local bank account is the one that I'm looking for! So, credit union for now, though USAA definitely sounds super awesome.

2) One free thing in LA per month: Kite Festival is tomorrow! Nick and I also snuck down to the Lantern Festival last Saturday for our Anniversary. Got to see some shadow puppetry and a dragon dance, very cool stuff!

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: Finished Stacking. SUCH a delightful game! I would recommend it to anyone with a PS3 or XBox to buy, it is certainly worth it. It's very low key to get through the whole story, but there are plenty of extra puzzles to solve for the completionists. Also, we've been playing Magicka this week, which is fun and hilarious! But it keeps overheating my laptop, which is unfortunate

4) Sew 3 things: 1 of 3 complete. Nothing to report here, though I did order some extra bobbins. Woo.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #8

2011-03-05T11:28:00.001-08:00

1) Financial: Bank of America started blocking connections to Mint.com, which annoys me, and I'd always felt bad about having an account with those jerks anyway, so I'm investigating local credit unions to switch my checking account to. So far, Lockheed FCU is in the lead, but I'm still collecting opinions and recommendations.

2) One free thing in LA per month: For March, I've settled on the Festival of the Kite! I'll set up a facebook event like I did for the dragon parade, that seemed to work well enough

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: Still playing lots of Lost in Shadow. It remains simple platforming and puzzle solving, but I still have a hunch that something is going to change in an exciting way, so I'm holding out.

4) Sew 3 things: 1 of 3 complete. Today, I experimented with the darning foot to mend a hole in a pair of pants. I've never used any of my sewing machine's attachments before, so it was a bit of an experiment. The hole is mended, though it's a bit of a patchy hack job. I feel like I have quite a piece of machinery here that I don't appreciate.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #7

2011-02-25T20:53:00.001-08:00

1) Financial: Wrapping up February's budget on a good clip. Cutting back on eating out is tricky, but hopefully with Saturday's grocery shopping I can add some variety to my foods to bring for lunch (I want to make a pork pie, which should freeze well in pieces. YUM).

2) One free thing in LA per month: Time to start thinking about March. There are several events I have my eye on, so maybe my LA friends could help me choose! Here they are:

Chinese Lantern Festival at El Pueblo, Saturday, March 5. They'll have LION DANCES so this is super tempting!

Long Beach Mardi Gras (what is it with Long Beach and the New Orleans culture stuff anyway?), including a parade, on Saturday, March 5

The Festival of the Kite at Redondo Pier, on Sunday, March 13

St. Patrick's Day Festival in Costa Mesa, Saturday, March 13. Looks like a lot of dance troupes and musicians.

LA Friends, I await your input!

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: Started Lost in Shadow this week. I am enjoying it so far for its aesthetics alone. So far the gameplay is pretty basic platforming and environmental puzzle solving, but I keep getting taught new things that make me think the game is going to ramp up. We'll see!

4) Sew 3 things: 1 of 3 complete

Book Review: Blind Hope

2011-02-22T23:07:00.000-08:00

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

Blind Hope was a very fast read - I finished the day I received it, in fact. However, I think it would have benefited from being shorter than it was in some ways. You see, the stories about Laurie and Mia are wonderfully inspiring and well presented. The stories are heartwarming, and each one offers unique spiritual insight.

However, after each life tale, the author feels the need to spell out the meaning of the dog-to-human/human-to-God analogy in careful detail. Explaining why a metaphor is insightful is akin to explaining why a joke is funny, it takes all the humor our, or in this case, diminishes the insight. A summary of the lesson wouldn’t be burdensome, but it goes too far: “When Mia did this it taught me this,” for every moment. These explanation moments took so much out of the otherwise fantastic spiritual life lessons which were perfectly capable of standing alone.

So, Blind Hope is a heartwarming animal tale of insight, but the meanings are way too spoon-fed for me. 2 1/2 Stars.

The publisher has the first chapter up for a preview on their website.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #6

2011-02-18T22:54:00.001-08:00

1) Financial: After some budget reworking and tightening up a few categories here and there, I realized that I can actually beat my 5-year student loan payoff plan and pay them off in 3 1/2 years. Gogogo!

2) One free thing in LA per month: I actually got in an extra bonus free thing this month. At work the HR department gets tickets to various venues, and every so often calls on us to nominate someone who has done something awesome to

give the tickets to. So, apparently someone thought I was awesome! Nick and I went and saw the LA Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and it was very nice. Especially because we were able to take the metro and avoid driving in the rain :)

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: Slacking on this goal this week. I played a bit of stacking, and have been playing Minecraft at lunch every day. I really need to start up Lost in Shadow!

4) Sew 3 things: SUCCESS! I completed Mr. Davis's kitty quilt, thus accomplishing 1 of the 3 things to sew this year! It's a little patchy, but he doesn't seem to min

Book Review: Dragons of the Valley

2011-02-11T22:24:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

If I hadn’t read this as part of the Blogging for Books program, I would have stopped after 3 pages. However, I felt a sense of obligation to give a proper review, so I suffered through the whole thing. I had high hopes for Dragons of the Valley because a) it has dragons in it, usually a win for me, and b) the premise - with the three interlinked statues and an artist-turned warrior - seemed an interesting fantasy setup. I was unfortunately very disappointed.

The writing in this book is just awful! There is almost no variation in the sentence structure throughout the entire book, no voice to the storytelling, no voice to the characters, and the figures of speech are crudely executed. Occasionally you’ll run into a piece of dialog that seems to remember that the characters need distinctive voices, and gives a frail attempt at doing the job before falling back to the same tone for everyone. Reading the story was agonizing because of the repetition of Subject-Verb-Object sentences with very similar length. And don’t give me any flack about target audience! There are plenty of examples of young adult fiction with good basic writing. But please, don’t take my word for it, check out the sneak peek of the first few chapters on the publisher website.

Besides the writing style obstacle, the style of fantasy in this book was really bland. I was excited at first at the mention of so many different races, but there is so little visualization of the various races that it may as well be 7 styles of humans with made up fantasy style names. It felt like a lot of the fantasy elements weren’t very unique, and had some pretty overbearing TSR-feeling fantasy standards. The kimen were very much like kender (only not as interesting) and the wizard very much like Fizban (only not as endearing).

Lastly, the religious messaging in the book was completely transparent, and took me out of the world of the story (what little I was able to immerse myself in) every single time. It was not elegant at all as an allegory.

The one saving grace of this book is that there were indeed dragons in it. That won it 1 star instead of a half of a star from me.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #5

2011-02-11T20:58:00.001-08:00

I missed a week! Curses! Oh well, moving on!

1) Financial: Since eating out is my Achilles Heel when it comes to spending money, I made some huge batches of food that can be frozen and eaten over the month (the lentil soup and the kimchi borscht). I also nabbed some knitting needles and extra yarn on Freecycle.

2) One free thing in LA per month. The Golden Dragon Parade was a big hit! There were lots of dragons and lion dances and that was fine by me. Photos here. There was also an awesome moment at the end where they set off a bajillion firecrackers at once. There are no photos of that because I was too busy gawking. The parade was really long, but fortunately there was this fast food dim sum style place right next to our spot, so we feasted on dumplings. It was a smashing success!

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day. More Donkey Kong, and LOTS more League of Legends and StarJeweled. The latter two are moved to my "doesn't count" list. WoW is moved off that list, since I haven't played since my Cataclysm binge over Christmas Break. I also got Trino off Steam, since it was made by some of my ETC friends. Using the mouse to control it isn't so bad, except that it's really easy to get stressed out and accidentally click outside the game window. I also got Stacking off of PSN, which is wonderfully charming. How can a game about matryoshka dolls not be?

4) Sew 3 things: Alas, I'm slacking on this one. I have the fabric cut and measured for Mr. Davis's blanket, and I have the batting, but I have yet to fire up the sewing machine. Meanwhile, I have picked knitting back up, but that doesn't count for this goal.

Kimchi Borscht recipe

2011-02-09T21:35:00.001-08:00

This experimental recipe turned out so yummy that I just had to share it. I give you, kimchi borscht, or Lisa Borgscht (it's a long story, ask Brian Evans). You don't have to worry about anyone giving you a hard time for it not being "authentic" borscht because you can be like "of course not! It's got freakin kimchi in it!"

1 russet potato, peeled and thinly sliced
3-4 beets, peeled and thinly sliced
6 cups water and a big pork bone (or you could just use stock, if you have it. Or water, if you don't)
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoons salt
2-3 cups of kimchi. If it's been aging in the fridge for awhile, all the better
black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup tomato paste
sour cream, for topping (optional)
chopped tomatoes, for garnish

1) In a saucepan, boil the water and pork bone (or stock). Add the beets and potatoes and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.

2) In a large pot, melt butter. Stir in onions and salt, and cook until onions are soft and translucent. Mix in the kimchi. Pour in the stock (keep the beets and potatoes separate, I used a strainer, but do add the pork bone if you're using it. Cook, covered, for about 10 minutes

3) Add the beets and potatoes. Season with black pepper. Stir in vinegar, honey, and tomato paste. Cover, reduce to low heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove pork bone. Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Lentil Soup Recipe

2011-02-03T20:52:00.001-08:00

Making some soup tonight! It turned out really yummy last time I tried this variation, so I'm writing it down this time. This makes a big ole pot, but could easily be halfed.

Ingredients
- olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 5 or 6 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 4 garlic gloves, minced
- 1 bunch chard, stalks chopped and leaves cut in strips
- 2 potatoes, cut into chunks
- 2 cups of beef stock*
- 2 cups lentils
- 1 teaspoon of ground thyme
- 2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (or your favorite flavored vinegar)

1) Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add onions and carrots and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.

2) Add stock, lentils, chard stalks, potatoes, thyme, and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 15 minutes

3) Add chard leaves, cook for 15-20 more minutes, until lentils are tender.

4) Add vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Serve!

*for Burbank folk, I made my beef stock out of the bones from the giant beef ribs at the Handy Market Saturday BBQ. It is really good.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #4

2011-01-28T21:06:00.001-08:00

1) Financial: Did my taxes. Got my refund. Dumped it into the ole student loans. Adjusted my W-4 accordingly.

2) One free thing in LA per month. January complete. Waiting for February

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: Bit of Donkey Kong, and a lot of League of Legends and StarJeweled. LoL is great, it's free to play, so it's easy for a busy person like me to just pick up and play a match. The paid portion seems to support the more hard core community, so it serves both audiences really well! I've already posted about StarJeweled, but man I love that game.

4) Sew 3 things: I have started on my first project: a cat blanket! I figure Mr. Davis won't mind if my scrap fabric is ugly and clashing, it'll give me a place to start. I already cut out and sorted the squares of scrap fabric to use for his blanket.

Book Review: The Bridge of Peace

2011-01-28T18:35:00.001-08:00

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

The Blogging for Books program recently had a mishap where the book suggestions for review, which are based on user preferences, got all mixed up. It’s since been corrected, but let’s just say I’m not the target audience for an Amish romance novel.

However, I found the story to be very enjoyable. It chronicles the adventures, relationships, and struggles of several different members of an Amish community. The characters are varied and likable (except the ones you aren’t supposed to like) and have good depth to them, making them believable and easy to relate to. The details of Amish lifestyle and community are interesting and play in well with the storylines.

Cindy Woodsmall does a great job of giving hints of further depth to her characters, like referencing something in the characters’ past that they are aware of but the reader is not. It keeps readers curious and rewards them with further explanation later in the story. The pacing of events throughout is done really well.

There are some moments of romantic emotional inner drama among the characters that I wasn’t too fond of, but once again, I am not a usual fan of romances. That said, it was not so distracting that I wasn’t able to stay interested in the rest of the story. 4 stars!

A Conversation

2011-01-26T12:16:00.001-08:00

So I was playing the StarJeweled beta last night (it's a mash-up of Bejeweled and Starcraft II, where you play bejeweled to get energy to create units, which auto-attack the other team's base). On one match, my partner was just doing insanely good, and had like 3 times the energy as anyone else. But I was baffled because he kept chatting, suggesting strategies and cheering when we broke through and stuff.

"You're really good at this!" I said, amazed at how he could be typing and clicking on the bejeweled board and getting such a high score all at once.

"It's my girlfriend," he said, "she plays and I can type, lol."

"Well, she's really good at this!" I replied

"Girls tend to be good at this game, lol"

I hesitated, as I always do when about to reveal my gender to strangers in an online game, but went ahead.

"I'm a girl, but I'm only so-so at bejeweled."

"...u a girl?"

"Yes"

"Not many girls play Starcraft II"

"Yeah, I always hope to see some girls in the big tournaments someday"

"Yeah"

By then the match had ended and we went our separate ways. Anyway, it just made me thoughtful.

Meanwhile, I like Starjeweled a lot, and I noticed that there's not a lot of chatter if you're not doing so well and your partner is, as can happen in some other games. Part of this is because you would sacrifice so much energy to stop playing and type a message that it's often not worth the effort to say "why are you sucking!" But I think part of it is that there's just something weird about berating someone for not being good enough at bejeweled.

Anyway, StarJeweled - it's fun!

Weekly Goal Progress Report #3

2011-01-22T15:41:00.001-08:00

1) Financial: I'm focusing on reducing my eating-out spending this year, and have started with a budget of $40 every 2 weeks. So far I'm sticking to it!

2) One free thing in LA per month. Nick and I spent last Saturday at the Getty. It was beautiful! The grounds alone are enough that I would spend all day out there, lounging around the water features. Art-wise, there was a great exhibit of illuminated manuscripts that I found really fascinating. I love seeing the tiny detail in the illuminations, and all the shiny gold leaf. For February, I think I'm set on the Golden Dragon Parade.

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: Lots of Sonic Colors this week. And Starcraft, of course, but I've already said that doesn't count.

4) Sew 3 things: No progress this week, but I have a rip in one of my pants that needs mending, so that will get me to fire the machine up.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #2

2011-01-14T23:49:00.001-08:00

1) Getting rid of the credit card: This goal is pretty much complete! I called to cancel, got my confirmation letter, and now I just have to wait a month to check my credit report and make sure they did it right. Part of the thing that made it so easy was that right off the bat, I politely requested that we skip any steps that involved persuading me not to close my account, and the person helping me complied. There were a few mentions of benefits as he loaded up my account, but I didn't have to deal with any long speeches read out of a manual. Turns out you can just ask for stuff! Since this goal is wrapping up, I'll devote slot 1 in future updates to general financial goals that are part of the big 5 year one.

2) One free thing in LA per month: Tomorrow, Nick and I are going to the Getty. Thinking ahead for February, there are two free events which have my eye. One is the Golden Dragon Parade in Chinatown for the Lunar New Year (on the 5th and 6th). The other is a lecture in Santa Clarita about the early history of Warner Brothers Studios (on the 26th). Thoughts from people who may want to join in?

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: More Donkey Kong and Sonic Colors this week, with a dabble into Metro 2033. That game does SUCH a good job of establishing post-apocalyptic environmental storytelling. The combat is kind of so-so, but I like some of the wackier mechanics, like the gas mask above the surface thing. I have Lost in Shadow sitting here, too, which I want to get to soon.

4) Sew 3 Things: I'm trying to figure out where to get bobbins for this ancient beast of a sewing machine and spent some time searching this week. I found a place I can order them online if need be. I'm also going to try and check out a sewing machine supply shop in my area and see if they have more than just repair stuff.

Book Review: Lady in Waiting

2011-01-14T00:20:00.001-08:00

So in an attempt to force myself into new genres and new books, I signed up for a program in which the publisher sends you a book for free on the condition that you write a review for it. In fact, I even have to post this disclaimer, ahem: “I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”

Lady in Waiting is a dual-story book, one centered on modern-day Jane Lindsay, the other on Lady Jane Grey as the girl who would become the ever brief Queen of England. The two Janes are connected by a ring, found by the former and belonging to the latter, and the relationship between their plights of love and choice.

I found the book to be a quick and moderately enjoyable read. The move back and forth between the two stories kept things engaging without either one dwindling in interest. Both were connected in the themes of love and perspective of choice, but took unique perspectives on each. Susan Meissner does a great job of shifting language between the time periods of her two stories, so that you can pick up the book after a break and instantly recall in which time frame you last left off. I felt personally more drawn to the historical story and the close relationship between the servant Lucy and Lady Jane Grey, but I can see how the personal doubts, struggles, and revelations of modern Jane would appeal to certain readers.

The cons of the book were few but poignant. There are some religious overtones in the modern day story that feel heavy handed and inelegant in execution. They took me out of the story, and as a result probably lessened the impact of any spiritual connection that they were trying to instill in the first place. In particular, some subtle digs at Catholicism were pretty awkward. These were less out-of-place in the historical story, which was placed at a time between Henry executing Catholics and Mary executing Reformers, so the tone from the perspective of Jane Grey on matters of faith felt more believable. When these showed up in the modern story, they disrupted my immersion in the fiction rather than enhanced it.

For example, here is an excerpt from modern Jane’s story:
“I wish I had the Onyx rosary too. I found myself whispering prayers to God to make Brad love me again. And to silence the questioning in my own heart. An easy fix. I could almost hear Stacy, who prayed without a rosary, telling me it doesn’t work like that.”

I found that this bit came off as particularly tasteless. It feels “out of the story,” and doesn’t make sense with, nor make me feel a closer understanding to, the modern Jane character.

In spite of the awkwardness of the religious overtones, I think the whole book does a great exploration on the choices we have in our lives, even in times when it seems we are given none. I can’t speak on the historical accuracy of the Lady Jane account outside the fictional relationship with Lucy, so Tudor lineage buffs might or might not find fault if they are very picky. As a non-historian, I found it enjoyable.

I give Lady in Waiting 3 of 5 stars. If you want to give it a go, the publisher has the first four chapters up for a preview.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #1

2011-01-08T10:53:00.001-08:00

Here it is, the first of my goal progress reports!

1) Getting rid of the credit card: I spent this week going through any of my online accounts that are linked to the card for auto-billing and such and changing it over to my debit card. The balance is at zero, so the next step is the dreaded one of calling to cancel my account and having to suffer through some poor representative having to try and convince me not to close it. Hate the phone so much!

2) One free thing in LA per month: I researched a bunch of potential options and listed out places and events I'd like to go to. I think the first visit will be to the Getty, perhaps next Saturday. They have a few exhibits that I'm curious about.

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: This week's gaming included Donkey Kong Country Returns and Sonic Colors. I like them both very much! DK is just a joyous co-op platformer, and I'm really surprised how much of the original music is in the game. Sonic Colors has a very old school Sonic feel to it, which is great, because I grew up on those games. The wisp mechanic fits in with the basic Sonic mechanics really well. I think these two games will keep me busy for awhile. I've also been playing Shining Force on the iPod Touch, but I'm not sure if that counts since it's an old game I've played several times before.

4) Sew 3 things: No sewing yet, but I did clean and organize all my sewing supplies into a single drawer. I need to do a couple of maintenance things: get some more bobbins, and clean/fix/find a new oil dispenser to oil the machine with.

Goals for 2011

2011-01-01T08:55:00.001-08:00

Time for 2011 Goals! Sharing your goals helps make you feel accountable for them, so you are all my witnesses to this year’s.

1. Get rid of my credit card*. This is actually part of a larger goal, that I am going to get crazy with my budget and pay off my student loans in 5 years. I never have a balance on my credit card, but I know that using it for day to day expenses makes me less frugal than I could be. Also, I kind of hate credit cards and all that they stand for and I want to put my foot down about it**.

2. Do one free thing in LA (Entertainment-wise) every month. Also related to the long-term budget goal, but also to get me out of the house and exploring and learning about the city. There are several free museums I want to go to, and free events that take place throughout the year. It’s a little ambitious considering how busy things get, but if I plan ahead I am certain I can make it happen

3. Spend a minimum of 20 minutes every other day playing a game that is not one of my standards (that is, not a game that I’m already into and playing regularly). Someone told me once that if you can’t devote 20 minutes every other day to something, then you aren’t really interested in doing it. This was in terms of stuff like practicing learning a new thing, so the application is a little loose. I really want to spend more like an hour every day on games, but I also want to be realistic with this goal so I can achieve it.

4. Sew 3 things. Because I want to use my awesome sewing machine more. I do not know what the 3 things will be, and even if they end up being ratty little toys for Mr. Davis, I will consider it a success!

5. Update my blog once a week with an accountability post about all these goals, so I can assure that they actually happen!

* I don’t want to hear any guff about my credit score going down, or rewards
** I also don’t want to hear anyone say “but if you carry a balance and pay it off every month you are sticking it to the man!” Because we all know that’s not really true and it’s just a way to make us feel okay using a credit card :P

2010 Review

2010-12-31T17:48:00.001-08:00

- 2010 was a very social year. Granted, a lot of it was geeky socializing (Venture Brothers marathon, D&D, board game night, frisbee golf, Magic the Gathering, craft fairs, crawfish festivals) but I was still probably more regularly socially active than I’ve ever been in my life.

- Goal 1 for 2010 was “Get a Cat,” and so I did! Mr. Davis has become a beloved member of my family and a huge part of my life. He is simultaneously the most affectionate cat I’ve ever had while also being the most headstrong, and I love him very much. I miss his snuggly face and can’t wait to get back to it!

- Goal 2 for 2010 was “Go to Japan,” and thanks to the generosity of host and friend, Scott Coffrin, I had another short but AMAZING trip to the country. I really do love that place.

- The biggest bonus for the year was starting my relationship with Nick, my awesome boyfriend. Last year’s review noted how I was putting off the attempts of dating, and it wasn’t long after that I found someone. Turns out all I had to do to find someone amazing was stop looking, and he came into my life :)

- I joined a CSA, which is a small note, but one which I’m proud of (both in that I’m supporting local farmers and doing more experimental cooking, and that I’m actually eating vegetables now).

- 2010 was a big year for me at work. My team was tasked with creating our level into a demo for Sony, and trying to get it to a polished state as a visual high bar for the rest of the game. If you’ve seen the recent stuff for Resistance 3 with the gameplay on the boat, that’s my level! It was a big challenge but a fun one, and my awesomesauce team really pulled together and made something great and fun. It was really exciting when we hit that milestone, and it’s even more exciting now that gameplay from my level is out and about in the world.

- I started playing Starcraft II, went to Blizzcon, and discovered I really like watching RTS games in a tournament setting.

- I visited home and educated the youth about game development, and then turned around and went to another fantastic Project Horseshoe.

- Didn’t get home for Thanksgiving, but had a really fun Orphan Thanksgiving Dinner in Burbank.

- Had a fantastic winter break! First of all, I am ever grateful to work for a company that is not in education and still has a Christmas Break! Second, it was really fun to bring Nick to Kentucky and show off my hometown and introduce him to my family and my most beloved of friends. Showing Louisville to someone who had never been made me look at it through the eyes of a newcomer, and it made the whole experience of being at home feel fresh.

- Meanwhile, I’m finishing off the break with a crazy relaxing time in Sarasota. Many a day I have slept in, and upon waking, reached for my laptop and spent hours WoWing in bed, which is like having breakfast in bed only way nerdier. We’ve had strolls on the beach and met up with Nick’s family and friends, and just mostly chilled. I feel very relaxed and ready to jump back into the swing of work next week.

Maybe it’s a little out of form to post my year review before 2011 has fully rung in, but I anticipate a relaxing evening, some socializing with Nick’s old friends, and then falling asleep in the laziest of fashions. I’m really excited about what the next year has in store!

More Christmas Stuff

2010-12-28T20:13:00.001-08:00

This Christmas vacation so far has been just the right balance of lazy relaxing and fun adventures. After Nick left I spent the remaining days with family and friends (mostly being lazy) and had a lovely family Christmas.

I got:
- Donkey Kong Country Returns (played a bit here in Florida with Nick, it's super super fun!)
- Sonic Colors
- pre-order for Lost in Shadow, which should arrive in January
- a WoW trivia desk calendar
- Amazon gift credits, intended to be used for presents for Mr. Davis. I'm going to get him a cat condo/tree. I also used some of them to pre-order Okamiden
- Some cash monies
- a new pair of pajamas (I get one pretty much every year, which is good, because I wear through pajamas like crazy!)
- Betrayal at House on the Hill

A splendid collection of gifts if ever there was one! My brother and I got my parents Netflix, which they liked a lot. Hopefully they won't watch through the whole streaming library in a single month :P

After Christmas I flew down here to Sarasota to spend the rest of our break with Nick. We went to the Ringling Museum, which was pretty varied and interesting. Otherwise there has been a lot of lazing and meeting friends and playing games. I think it will be a relaxing way to see out 2010!

Meat CSA?

2010-12-24T08:43:00.001-08:00

So, I absolutely LOVE my CSA (http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com). It encourages me to eat vegetables which I would never do on my own, the produce is yummy, and I like to support local farmers.

Does anyone know if there is something similar in southern California for meat and dairy? Like a meat CSA? I'm going to google it up, of course, but if anyone knows something firsthand, do let me know!

Vacation and Goals

2010-12-22T10:06:00.001-08:00

My visit home to Louisville has been splendid thus far! Nick and I hit up the Speed Museum, Science Center, and Slugger Museum. We ate at Dragon King's Daughter, Ramsi's, Old Spaghetti Factory, Coco's Chocolate (fondue!!) and Nord's Doughnuts. We met Ian's puppy and played many games with friends and hung out with my family.

Now he's off to Sarasota so we can spend Christmas with our respective families, and then I'll join up with him again in Florida afterwards. Josh checked in on Mr. Davis for me at the Cat Hotel, and apparently he's settled quite nicely and made friends with the other cats! Yay!

Meanwhile, I'm starting to ponder my goals for 2011. Last year the goals were: get a cat (check!) and go to Japan (check!). I already have a few goals in mind financially, but I'm molding some others in the meantime.

First, I'm feeling purge-ish again, and every time i get in the mood to get rid of stuff, the circle of influence of my grip shrinks. This time it's the old game consoles that are feeling invasive to my space. I've been really thinking a lot about the way I consume media. Earlier in the year I borrowed games to try them (offering pies in exchange) and I liked the way it felt. I felt motivated to finish the games because I had to return them, and didn't feel any guilt over a game half started and then sitting and staring at me from the PS3.

I find myself drawn more and more to Steam and PSN and investigating Wiiware titles because of the lack of physical "stuff" that comes attached to them. Perhaps I will pick up the borrowing habit once more in the New Year.

Which leads me to my second goal of consuming more games more regularly. Right now I play games in long stretches and revel in them, such as Starcraft and WoW and Minecraft. But as has been pointed out time and again, one of the flaws of my industry is how much really good content is pushed out so frequently. I feel like everyone knows someone who has a mountain of unwrapped games that they haven't even touched yet.

I've attributed this need to keep up with games to be like practicing an instrument, and I think this year I need to buckle down on that and really set aside time each day for games. NEW games, I mean, not just the ones I'm in love with and playing anyway. If I can work it into my routine I think I can pull it off, but new routines are very hard to get rolling!

We shall see what the new year brings.

Blog idea

2010-12-01T09:41:00.001-08:00

You know how when you're explaining an idea to someone, sometimes you whip up a little sketch that makes things so much clearer? And yet, viewed out of context, the little sketch looks like an indecipherable scribble?

I'm considering starting a blog and posting these guys, just for fun, unless such a blog exists already. If it doesn't, would anyone be interested in contributing?

Educating the Youth

2010-10-27T14:58:00.001-07:00

Yesterday and today I went back to my old high school (an all-girls school) and spoke to several classes about game development. They were really into it and asked really great questions, so I'd call it a success for sure.

One of the theories about the low number of women working in games is that it's just not on a lot of young girls' radars as a possibility. I found that to be the case here, as during QA time I turned it around and asked what about my presentation surprised them the most. Every single time, for the 8 classes I presented to, they said it was that they had no idea how many different people and roles it took to make a video game.

Seed planted. Mission accomplished!

I also learned a bunch of interesting things myself, which I will share. For the most part, each of the classes I spoke to were freshmen and sophomore girls (with one group of seniors thrown into one class). Usually the groups were between 20 and 30 girls, and I presented to 8 groups. Early on in my presentation, I polled them about who played video games and what sorts. Here are my findings:

1) In general, 99% of the girls played video games (maybe one or two groups had like 1 or 2 girls who didn't)

2) The majority of the girls played console games

3) PC games (like the Sims and MMOs) came in second for most show of hands

4) iPhone and cell phone games came in 3rd

5) Very VERY few of the girls played facebook games, even though they used facebook. This was probably the most startling finding for me, as I assumed that teenage girls would be big on facebook games. Not necessarily, it would seem! (in fact, many groaned in distaste when I asked if anyone played facebook games)

I was really impressed with how interested they were. My presentation was 2 parts, one was a summary of the general roles in game development (artists, programmers, designers, audio, producers). I explained the jobs and what they did, then showed a clip of Ratchet gameplay and diagrammed out where everyone had a hand in it.

The second part was about how I wound up as a game designer and my path after graduating high school. The theme of this section was "if you have no idea what you want to do with your life, don't worry, because it might take you 8 years to figure it out."

They asked really perceptive questions, the most popular being "how long does it take to make a video game" and "what's your favorite game," but a good variety of other ones. Again, I think my visit was a huge success, and maybe I'll make it a regular thing to go back and speak every few years.

Now to enjoy the rest of my vacation (and hopefully get rid of this cold!)

BlizzCon Wrap

2010-10-24T04:47:00.001-07:00

So, I had a really great time at BlizzCon, even though I did not go see any panels (I hear I didn't miss too much on that end).

I got to try Diablo III (I like the Monk), StarJeweled (BEST STARCRAFT MOD EVER), Left 2 Die, (probably would have been more fun if we'd had more time), and Cataclysm beta (<3 Goblins). I enjoyed seeing all the costumes, and of course seeing Will's epic dance contest entry.

On the downside, Jay Mohr is teeeerrible, how is this his 5th BlizzCon? His humor is off and his jokes are tasteless and he nearly ruined all of the costume/dance contest for me, bleh!

The most surprising part of the event was how much I enjoyed watching the Warcraft III and Starcraft II matches, and the WoW Arenas were great, too. I think I spent most of my time there at one of the two stages, watching the epic battles unfold. I suppose this seals in a new layer of geekdom that I never thought I would have acquired.

My favorite part about the matches was how positive the audience was. One annoying thing about watching sports for me is how much team support can override and diminish the experience of just watching a good game. For example, watching football or watching the World Cup, when "the other" team makes a good mood, it is impossible to acknowledge without scorn, and I haaaaaate it when the non-home-team makes a great play and is met by booing from the home fans. So annoying!

With these tournaments, the audience just wanted to see people who play really well. Sure there were favorites, but all in all, if either player made a fantastic play, the entire audience erupted in cheers. The atmosphere was fantastic! It's a shame there aren't many Starcraft II tournament viewing venues in the US.

Anyway, I have a long layover before getting back to Kentucky, but I can't wait to see my family!

15 Games

2010-09-29T21:17:00.001-07:00

Can't resist a meme, sometimes.

The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. 15 games you've played that will always stick with you. List the first 15 you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what games my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your 15 picks, and tag people in the note -- upper right hand side.)

1. Super Mario Bros. 2
2. Doom II
3. Sonic the Hedgehog
4. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
5. Gemfire
6. Shining Force
7. Okami
8. World of Warcraft
9. Spyro the Dragon
10. Final Fantasy 7
11. Silent Hill
12. Warioware (the gamecube one)
13. MarioKart: Double Dash
14. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
15. Halo

You'll notice I didn't tag anyone. That's how I roll.

Benedictine Spread

2010-09-26T12:29:00.001-07:00

The Benedictine Spread was a big hit at the beach firepit party last night, so I'ma share the recipe! Of course you can find recipes just by googling the term, but they all have some variation in them, so this is specifically the recipe that I used last night.

(Extra info: Benedictine Spread is a Louisville, KY recipe, so if you make it that means you're all cultured and stuff)

Ingredients
- 16 oz neufetal cheese (the original calls for cream cheese, but neufetal is just sliiiightly more savory, so I used it instead)
- 2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and grated
- 1 medium onion, grated
- 1 Tablespoon mayonaise (some recipes use more of this to the point that it becomes a more dominant flavor, but I think mayo is gross, so I just use a very small amount for a creamier consistency)
- 2 tsp salt
- dash of cayenne pepper

Directions
1. Grate the cucumber and onion, then drain and dry with paper towels. This is an important step, otherwise the spread will get too watery
2. Mix all the ingredients together in bowl
3. If you want, you can add a drop of green food coloring so that it turns bright green and looks like the lost boys' food from Hook. I just didn't have any handy last night
4. Serve cold on chips or bread or whatever

Cat Field Trips

2010-09-24T19:17:00.001-07:00

I need ideas for field trip locations for Mr. Davis

When Josh's cat-allergic roommate was in England for months and months, I used to take Mr. Davis over there for day trips. He enjoyed it very much, and I think it started the trend for his thinking of "car trips are okay." But alas, Ryan has returned to the states, so a new venue is in order.

I did take him to our soccer park once, but he did not like the wide open space, and we crossed the street to the residential sidewalk instead. I've also taken him on a few errand car rides (he's a star in the In-N-Out drive through line when we go for milk shakes).

He does pretty well in the car, but he seems unsure of how he feels about it from time to time. Often he'll stay up in the front seat, paws on the windowsill, watching outside. If I leave his crate open in the back seat, he'll sometimes climb back there and do repeated short, soft meows. I'm not sure what they mean, they aren't his "scared" meow. Josh's theory is that he wants me to know where he is.

Anyway, I'd like to keep up the trend of car trips, just because exposure to new places and people and experiences is good for him. Any ideas? Anyone want a cat visit?

Why I hate voting-based internet contests

2010-09-11T12:51:00.001-07:00

Attention humans! This is a public service announcement. Oft times on our internets, there are contests that involve voting. Inevitably, someone involved in the contest will send a link, asking all their friends to vote for them so they win the contest. Pretty common occurrence, yes?

I just want to make sure everyone knows that these drive me mad. There is nothing worse than "hey here is an organized competition on which people really should vote on the criteria of the content itself but instead it's really just how many people you know you can get to vote for you without considering what the contest is even about." It's an insult to the people who organize the competition hoping that people will treat it legitimately.

If I am linked to a contest, I want to treat it fairly. That means I would want to review the applicants and vote for the best one, not just vote for the person I know. Usually, the thought of having to go through all the applicants and judge them fairly is exhausting, especially if I'm busy or not particularly interested in the contest subject or whatever. So, I just don't vote at all.

Be aware, that when you send me these things, and I do not vote for you, it is not because I don't love you. It's because IT DRIVES ME CRAZY WHEN PEOPLE DO THAT.

It would be easier, I think, if all content were stripped from the contest, and the criteria were simply "see how many people you know you can get to vote for you, for no reason, really, other than that they know you." Then whoever rallied the most people would win! And really, that's how these contests tend to work, right?

in2books

2010-09-09T21:18:00.001-07:00

Ben showed me this awesome volunteer program he's doing, and after looking it over, I signed up right away. Basically, you act as an e-mentor and penpal to a 3-5th grader. The kid reads books throughout the schoolyear, and you read the same books. Then you write letters to one another discussing those books.

The idea is to both get the kids excited about reading, as well as help them improve their writing and vocabulary by modeling it through your letters. It sounds great!

I'd been snooping around for volunteer opportunities because I feel like that is one area of my life that is lacking these days. It is difficult, though, with the busy and often erratic schedule of a game developer to create time for a regular commitment. This is something that I can slide right into my life and keep up with.

I'm surprised I hadn't heard about it until now, and I wonder how common it is in grade schools across the country. I will have to suggest that my teacher friends look into it.

Hey! Teacher friends! You should look into this.

Todayborday is Labor Day

2010-09-07T00:32:00.001-07:00

This weekend was fun-busy and restful all at the same time, as any good Labor Day weekend should be. There was lots of Starcraft II, some WoWing, some Magic, some Critter Crunch, and some Halo: ODST Firefight mode. I sadly missed Rich when he was in town (sadface) but I did snag a lunch with Bryan Cash on his brief stopover (happyface).

The Starcraft phenomenon is baffling to me. Could it be that I wasn't ever as bad at RTS games as I'd thought? Or was it the privileged one-on-one (or one-over-one's-shoulder) coaching I received in the beta? Somehow or another, I'm enjoying this game, and hold my own well enough that Nick and I moved up to Gold League in 2v2 (I remain convinced that this is 90% Nick, but I do feel I am improving!)

I am still skulking around in the practice leagues as far as 1v1, though. Every time I muster up some courage to do my placement matches, it fleets away before I can go through with it. Right now I rely on Nick during 2v2s to help me identify stuff when scouting if the other guys are playing Protoss or Terran. At work at if I'm lunchcrafting and doing my practice matches, I do the same thing with Nick and Ben, yelling "you guys what is this that they are building what does it meeean??"

In theory, I should play some Protoss and Terran myself so I can at least have an idea of what the strategies and structures are. But, I don't wanna. <3 zerg. Ah well, I'll figure it out eventually!

Mario Galaxy 2 and Scott Pilgrim

2010-08-14T11:29:00.001-07:00

Upon entering Nick's apartment last night, we discovered that Nathan was playing Mario Galaxy 2, and the two of us immediately had an epic battle to see who would get the privileged position of Bit Collector. With a sigh of resignation, Nathan dug out a second Wiimote, and Nick and I settled to take turns collecting Bits.

Like its predecessor, the game is an absolute delight, but it took me awhile to realize that the role of Bit Collector had been expanded somewhat. I could now pick up coins and 1up mushrooms in addition to grabbing bits, and if I chose, knock down and kill enemies in addition to just holding them in place for Nathan to stomp. These were nice additions, but still didn't put too much pressure on the Bit collector, which I liked.

Will and I had this conversation about the last game, about how it was very clever for Nintendo to acknowledge that gamers have friends who are not necessarily as good of gamers as them, but would still like to be involved, and accommodate that role. And not just that role, but the role of the Watcher, which is one that I often adopt, even though I do enjoy playing games.

Watching other people play games takes me back to my childhood, and the times when I would sit and watch my brother play games. This is a comforting experience, though confusing to some when I deny their offer to play as well, and insist that I would just like to watch. Bit collecting is just enough sideline opt-in engagement to involve me a little more in the game without overwhelming the brother-watching comfort feeling.

Third on my list of "Lisa's indie games that she'll make someday" will be a hard core shooter that has a casual opt-in support role for the players' less skilled or watch-savvy friends. I'm not sure what that would be, but I have fun brainstorming about it.

ANYway, after collecting the Bits, we gave the Scott Pilgrim game a go. It is a good time, as one might expect, even though I am terrible at 2D beat-em-up games (I have a really hard time figuring out if I'm on the same horizontal layer as the enemy I'm trying to attack).

Cats, Vets, and Starcraft

2010-08-11T09:27:00.001-07:00

I am so proud of my cat! He did really well at the vet, wasn't scared at all (though he was grumpy about being restrained to get his heartrate, and was absolutely affronted by having his temperature taken). He's also in great health, so I feel reassured as a cat mom.

He had a little tartar buildup on his teeth, but the vet said we could safely wait until next year for a teeth cleaning, so I have a new goal. See, the vet offers a service where they can clean the teeth without putting the cat under, which would be ideal. But, Mr. Davis isn't keen on having his mouth handled right now, so he wouldn't be a candidate for that.

My goal for the next year is to train him to accept handling of his mouth, so that he wouldn't have to get put under for the cleaning. Can it be done?? Only time, clicks, and a lot of treats will tell.

In other news, I've been playing Starcraft II 2v2 and occasionally 3v3 versus the computer with Nick and Nathan, and having a fantastic time. We've worked out a way to play that is great fun for me, but I don't think it'd work very well against human opponents.

I'm not very good about dividing my attention between base management and then microing my units out on the field of battle, so I just give Nick control of the units and churn out dudes and send them his way, whiles't he lays waste to the opponent with the ever increasing army. I'm like Hydralisk Depot over here, which is fine, because base management is fun for me. When Nathan plays with us, he does his signature move of "build a ton of expansions."

We rocked the computer's face for the most part, but after a faulty mouse incident, it was clear that Nathan and I are as defenseless as newborn puppies without Nick leading the forces. Oh well, it's still a fun time!

Crawfish and Fun

2010-08-08T01:00:00.001-07:00

It'd been a rough time for me in terms of sudden and terrible vertigo that plagued me for most of the work week. This happened to me once before about 2 years ago, and it's probably just a viral inner ear infection or something, but I was out flat for most of the week.

Today it was mild enough that it didn't interfere much with our adventure to the Long Beach Crawfish Festival! This was my second year for the festival, and it was tasty as ever with good music and an amiable crowd. I didn't actually partake in the crawfish feast this year (those little crustaceans are too much work for the sustenance they provide), but I did hit up the booths for some jambalaya and bratwurst.

We also waited in the longest line ever for beignets, but to their credit, they were pretty tasty.

Hoping for a reprise of last year's festivities, we walked over to the nearby arcade only to find it had been shut down. How depressing! No worries, though, for we all ventured over to Josue's place to partake in some good old fashioned 4 player split screen Halo 1.

It was a blast! For a bit there I was back in my junior year of undergrad, in Rodes 2, pistol sniping (and regular sniping) an jaunting about Hang 'em High and Blood Gulch and running my Halo mouth just like old times. That game holds up incredibly well :)

It would seem that most shooters these days don't support 4 player split screen, often because of the decrease in visual quality (we can't have poor visual quality on our beautiful next gen games! It would be SCANDALOUS. I was not a fan of the original Goldeneye, but kudos to them for supporting it) or because it's just not possible given how much the game squeezes the console. What was so common in the past has become rare in the hopes that "everyone plays online now."

This, in my opinion, is a damned shame.

In addition to my platformer that uses Rock Band peripherals, the next game on the list of "Lisa's To-Do Indie Game" list will be the ugliest freakin shooter known to man, made explicitly for the 4 player split screen experience.

But! Enough sighing for the lost past. There is WoWing to do and StarCraft to squeeze in at lunchtime and board games to play and D&D sessions to be run and Indie Picks of the Week to play through. Adventure!

Thoughts on Home

2010-08-05T12:29:00.001-07:00

One of my secret guilty pleasures is managing my monthly budget, which, I suppose there could be worse guilty pleasures. This month I hit my savings goal to get home for Christmas, so I can now start planning that trip.

It's tricky to plan so far ahead, since I haven't even done my first trip home slated for October, and since it's inconvenient for most friends in the area to know what they're going to be doing 5 months from now.

Last year I doubled up and went home to Louisville for Christmas and then to Pittsburgh for New Year's, which ended up being a fantastic trip. This year I'm less certain of my plots, especially since I'm already worried about who's going to catsit for Mr. Davis in October, let alone for 2 weeks in December when most everyone I know in LA will be out of town anyway (and I'll need a fishsitter then, too)

I'll figure it out eventually, I'm sure, but in the meantime, here's a list of things that I miss about Kentucky:

1) Lightning bugs, as was previously established (thank you Eric for the video)
2) Thunder storms, even though they cause me pain. There's nothing quite so soothing as napping safely inside while it's storming outside. Except for the pain part, that is.
3) The smell of season transitions, which we don't really get out here.
4) The greenness, which is something that Josh observed when he flew out to drive me across the country, and which I didn't really understand at the time. Now that I've been in the desert-pretending-not-to-be that is LA for a year, I understand completely.
5) Katydids and tree frogs at night in the summertime
6) Autumn and trees changing color
7) Cardinals, pileated woodpeckers, and robins (there are supposed to be robins out here, but I've not seen any)

Plumplings

2010-08-04T19:35:00.001-07:00

As mentioned on Twitter, I used plums from today's CSA delivery to make dumpling-like pastries, thus called plumplings.

I essentially just used this tasty recipe for plum pie, only halved.

Instead of the pie crust, I split the dough into 12 balls, flattened each, put them in muffin tins, filled each with the filling, and sealed it up at the top.

They are nothing to write home about, presentation-wise, but MAN they are tasty!

Out and About

2010-07-24T23:40:00.001-07:00

I feel like my life as of late has been rich and full, like a giant chocolate cake. The days and nights outside of work have been filling up with new experiences and adventures and time spent with various friends in varied circles.

Today, Josh, Nick, Nathan, Ben and I set out to the Renegade Craft Fair, which was fantastic. There was a huge variety of local and touring craftsfolk selling their wares.

One interesting thing about it was that every booth was incredibly unique in its ware, be it the style or the craft itself or some clever idea or twist. However, when you have a huge collection of things and every one is unique, it creates a weird, noisy effect that's hard to digest. You can't really easy group or categorize things, and my overall impression of the festival was "loud," but not in terms of audio.

There was great stuff, though! I helped myself to a crafted pocketwatch, a wallet made from photography, and a few homemade scented candles.

Pho was had for lunch and we set out for home and a brief nap. Afterwards, Rob, Carlos, and Carren came over to my place for a last minute pool party, grillin, and games. It's crazy that Carlos has been here for as long as he has and I've only gotten together with him but one other time!

We played The Great Dalmuti, Monty Python Fluxx*, and Give Me the Brain, and generally caught up and played about. When everyone departed, Nick and I closed off the evening by taking Mr. Davis on a late-night walk.

For the moment I'm content to chillax here and blog on the couch with a Nick at my feet and a DJ Hero-ing Nathan at my side. Socializing and adventures are all fun and healthy, but I feel like tomorrow is going to be the laziest of days.

*Note, the Monty Python theming still didn't help Fluxx win my heart. It's just that the game has no pacing whatsoever by its very nature. I know some people love it, but I don't think I ever will.

Zucchini Chips

2010-07-21T06:35:00.001-07:00

Nick vetoed zucchini from the stew we made last night, so I improvised this recipe. Fortunately, Nathan likes zucchini, so they got eaten up.

Ingredients
- 1 egg
- olive oil
- pepper
- coriander
- ground ginger
- thyme
- sliced zucchini
- sea salt

Combine egg, oil, and spices/herbs in a bowl. Heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet (if you have previously browned beef in said skillet so there's leftover beef goo, all the better). Dredge the zucchini slices through the egg mixture and cook them a few minutes each side on the skillet. Sprinkle with salt and let cool. Nom.

Today's CSA delivery included plums and nectarines, which I will use for a pie. It also included radishes. What am I going to make with radishes?? (Other veggies included: white corn, carrots, tomatoes, more zucchini, and lettuce. Suggestions welcome)

New laptop in my future

2010-07-20T20:01:00.001-07:00

I'm contemplating a new laptop. My little Fujitsu tablet gets the job done, but with Starcraft II and WoW Cataclysm on the horizon, and my grumpiness at not being able to use UDK, it may be time to move on.

I got my tablet for grad school, and used it and its tablet feature to death all throughout. I do draw with it occasionally now and again, but I don't think I'm in the market for a tablet PC in the future.

Nor do I want a desktop. Getting rid of my desktop towards the end of grad school was incredibly liberating, and the thought of getting another one and all the baggage it brings along is exhausting (baggage being monitors, speakers, a desk, a chair, etc...)

I am looking for a laptop:
- with a dedicated video card
- on which I'm able to enjoy the highest graphics settings in WoW and still get a good framerate
- used primarily for gaming and development, but not an actual gaming rig
- reasonably affordable

I do not want a mac (sorry, Eric)

Shopping around Newegg, something like this seems up my alley, though I've never heard of ZT before. The reviews seem good, all the same, and with having to buy Windows 7 on top of it, it would put me in the $1000 range.

Honestly, though, by the time I save up the money, there will probably be something else better on the market for about the same price.

Input desired. Thoughts? Suggestions?

The games I'd make

2010-07-12T19:58:00.001-07:00

My team just finished hitting an intense deadline at the end of June, and I'm finally winding back down to a normal pace. As such, I've been thinking a lot about games and that question that every game designer gets asked...

"If you could make any game you wanted, what would it be?"

I've been asked that a fair amount recently, and I've always responded with "I have to think about it," not as a dodge but just because I really did have to think about it. I spent the better part of 2 months pondering the matter, and have finally come up with my response.

If I could make any game I wanted, I would make another platformer that used the gamecube kongas as a controller.

Wait wait, before you say I'm crazy, let me explain a couple of things. First is my unusual relationship with Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, from whence this inspiration is derived. When that game came out, it was during a period of my life where I was in a lot of pain and no one knew what the hell was wrong with me. It had come to the point where I could not manipulate a video game controller for very long because it was too painful.

Thoughts of carpal tunnel syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis had been spinning around in my brain*, and I'd thought that there might come a time when I couldn't play video games at all. It was incredibly depressing.

When DK:JB came out and I played it at a friend's, amidst much laughter and hilarity, I found that using the kongas, as bizarre and silly at may have been, did not trigger pain like a normal controller, I imagine since there wasn't as much fine motor manipulation involved. Needless to say, I got the game for myself and played the CRAP out of it. Over and over, collecting more and more bananas, getting more and more skilled at racking up combos and surprising myself to learn that you could get platinum medals on the levels.

That game has such a special place in my heart, purely from the fact that I could play it at the time.

The second factor is that I've figured out what stirs my passion the most about games, and it is unusual interfaces. Whenever I snoop around the indie game picks of the week, I'm always most drawn to the games with the weirdest, cleverest, or most experimental means of controlling the game.

This delight may tie as far back as high school, when a group of friends and I managed a 5-player-at-once game of Spyro the Dragon using a DDR pad.

So yeah, it may not have to be the kongas specifically, but maybe a platform adventure for, say, the Rock Band drums, or some other bizarre input device that was never intended for the type of game I intend to make. This is what I want to make!

"But Lisa, no one would play those games."

Yeah, so? What of it? I'd play 'em, and I know like 3 people who would also play them. I can make a game for a 3 person audience if I want. So there.

*Eventually, after way too much money spent on medical testing, it was determined to be fibromyalgia, which is not progressive, and now I take pain-thwarting meds such that I can play games all day and all night once more.

Walking Mr. Davis

2010-05-30T11:44:00.001-07:00

As most of you know (and occasionally doubt my sanity for), I walk my cat on a regular basis. It only took about a week to train him on the harness, and now we go out pretty much every day.

From Walking Mr. Davis

It's forced me to learn how to relax my brain in new ways. Before I had Mr. Davis, when I came home from work I would usually crash right away, occasionally sleeping the night through. Now, I have to force myself to stay awake long enough to take him out.

Walking a cat is not like walking a dog. It's more of an amble, really. The cat just wanders about and sniffs here or there, and you follow along, and if he ever starts to go someplace you don't want him to (under the hedge, perhaps), you just let the lead go taught.

It gives me a lot of time to still my brain, and I think it's probably good for me. It's definitely good for Mr. Davis! I don't know if it really gives him more exercise, but it certainly gives him more intellectual stimulation. That's important for cats - a bored cat is generally trouble.

More photos!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lisa.deanne.brown/WalkingMrDavis#

Some Kind of Soup

2010-05-27T06:54:00.001-07:00

I recently joined a CSA, as incentive to eat more vegetables. So far the routine goes like this: The vegetables arrive, I hunt around for recipes using those ingredients, Nick comes over and we cook up something experimental, we take it back and feed it to Nathan, success of the experiment is gauged.

This week we made Some Kind of Soup, which is mostly my own concoction after perusing a bunch of recipes and getting ideas. It turned out pretty tasty!

Ingredients:
olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
carrots, chopped
bunch of swiss chard, stalks and leaves, chopped
1 head of cabbage, shredded
2 cobs worth of white corn
2 cups lentils
7 cups pork stock (I used this because I have a ton in the freezer, it gives the soup a pretty distinct taste)
thyme
bay leaf
cumin
salt and pepper

1) Heat some olive oil in a large pot. Saute the onions and garlic
2) Add the carrots, chard stalks, and corn and cook a bit
3) Add the chard leaves and cabbage
4) Add pork stock and bring to a slow boil
5) Add lentils and stir up. Add water if necessary to cover
6) Throw in seasonings to your liking.
7) reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes
8) Taste and adjust spices as you like

Enjoy! It's particularly tasty with sourdough bread dipped into the soup.

After eating it, I felt the urge to eat chocolate or ice cream to counter the healthy, but I ended up just falling asleep instead.

Osaka Adventure - Day 6

2010-05-04T04:51:00.001-07:00

Well, the trip is winding down to a close, and just in time (I think I'm just about out of fuel). We spent the day at a nearby amusement park that JC was jonesin' to go to. The rides were pretty tame, but the company was good, so it made for a fun day. Managed to sneak in another nikuman for dinner, so I'd call it a day well spent just for that!

I've had a fantastic time here. We pretty much nailed every kind of experience I wanted to hit in the short week I was here, and I am extremely grateful to Scott and his friends for hosting me. Thanks, you guys!

Tomorrow we're going to chill out in Osaka before I have to go to the airport, maybe hit up an arcade or two. Who can say! Anyway, that about wraps it up.

Hooray for Japan!

Osaka Adventure - Day 5

2010-05-03T06:23:00.001-07:00

I really should have called this series "Kyoto Adventure" and been done with it, since we've been spending way more time in Kyoto than Osaka. Anyway, today Scott and I went to Monkey Mountain, which is exactly what it sounds like.

On the train out, two little old ladies sat down next to where we were standing and started doing origami. Scott commented how unusual that was to see - people randomly doing origami on the train - and we laughed and chatted about it a bit. When they were done, the little old ladies handed their origamis to us without a word! It was the cutest thing ever! Scott thinks they were intending to give them to us from the start.

The monkey part was, like all things cool in Japan, at the top of a very tall and steep mountain. But the climb was worth it! The monkey colony that lives in the park is very chill with the presence of humans, so it was great to sit and observe them and feed them in the feeding area. Plus, the view of Kyoto was fantastic! Photos of monkeydom found here.

At the base of Monkey Mountain we did some shopping (I got so much Kyoto-style mochi candy to bring back, you guys. Insomniacs, prepare yourselves, because it's coming to work!). We then went into the city for dinner, and I had two nikuman all to myself. NOM!

We went to one of the conveyor-belt sushi restaurants, only this one had a second track where you could place orders and a little shinkansen would bring it to your table. Glutted on fish, we set out for home, and I am exhausted! I think I'm done climbin mountains for a bit, you guys. Still, it was worth it!

Osaka Adventure - Day 4

2010-05-02T08:51:00.001-07:00

More of Kyoto adventure again, sort of, kind of. Today we ventured out to the boonies at the very end of the rail line to visit Mr. Kurama, which is host to the Kurama Temple and a fantastic natural onsen. We climbed about a billion stairs and winding paths up the mountain, but every step was a magical corner, so it was totally worth it.

I'll let the photos tell the story of that place.

Meanwhile, the natural onsen was amaaaaaaaazing. I feel like the onsen is the one experience that I truly can never get in the United States, so I soaked up as much of it as I could. Japanese treats can be sought out and bought if you try, but I don't have my hopes up for the public bathhouses to ever catch on in the States. Alas!

After a busy day on the mountain, we came back to Scott's city and played about at the arcade. Here I was introduced to purikura, which OH MY GOD WHY DO WE NOT HAVE THIS IN THE US?? It would go over SOOOOO well with the fledgling teenage girl crowd! Hells, it would go over well with the ballers.

For those who don't know what purikura is, it's essentially a photo booth that prints out stickers, only way elaborate. You can fit like 5 people into the booth, and you pick your backgrounds and whatever, and then you have countdowns to get into your poses. The photos are lit really well, so when you're all done, you get to draw on them and put stamps on them and add fake eyelashes to people and change peoples' hair colors. All kinds of fun stuff like that. The photos you get are tiny, of course, but they're super cute and fun to stick on whatever.

After arcading, Scott, JC, Marius and I did karaoke into the wee hours (look, midnight is a wee hour for me these days). It was my first Japanese karaoke experience, and while it was fun, it really just made me miss my Rock Band sessions with Nick and Nathan. I will be full of songs upon my return, guys!

Osaka Adventure - Day 3

2010-05-01T05:08:00.001-07:00

Well, Kyoto adventure today. Scott lives in a town that is smack between Kyoto and Osaka, so it's great for day trips to either one. After a tasty gyoza lunch, we set out on the train to visit Kyomizu Temple.

I love temples and shrines in Japan! They are so beautiful! It was very busy today, since it's Saturday on holiday. It was pretty big and sprawling, but we made it to the top eventually. There was a beautiful view of Kyoto on one side and the mountain foresty area on the other.

I'll let my photos do most of the talking for this one (on facebook for now, I'll get them up on Picasa eventually)

At one moment I noticed a worm worming its way across the footpath, and was like "oh noes he will get squished!" so stopped to capture him and transport him to safety. This apparently utterly baffled an older lady who passed me, and she looked at Scott in amazement. Can't help it, the worm was in danger!

On the way back down from the temple, we found a nikuman stand, much to my delight. LOVES ME SOME NIKUMAN!

It was an exhausting day at the temple, so we're just takin it easy for tonight. The future holds museums and onsens.

Osaka Adventure - Day 2

2010-04-30T14:10:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the one day on my visit that Scott had classes, so I took it easy and did the vacationing part of my vacation (meaning lots of naps). I did venture out for a walk around the neighborhood, hence the most recent batch of photos.

When the crew came back from class, we began preparations for the night's nabe party. Nabe is like hot pot, except there's just one big pot that you shove everything into and everyone dishes out from it. We went to the grocery to pick up ingredients, and I rode on the back of Scott's bicycle. It kind of gave me flashbacks to when I was little and rode in that plastic seat attached to the back of my dad's bike, though less terrifying and more painful over bumps.

The nabe party was delicious! There were 11 of us packed into the room, so we needed 2 pots, but there was plenty of tasty food to go around. Scott explained that nabe parties are pretty typical for the college crowd in Japan. I think I'd like to wrangle one together back home!

Now, even though I'm pretty much over my jetlag, I'm still an early bird and get sleepy way early. The plan was to go to karaoke after the nabe party, but 11 rolled around and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I do not have the stamina to keep up with these college kids! Granted, when I was in undergrad I rarely had the stamina to keep up then, so maybe it's just me. Anyway, I ducked out of karaoke, and it's a good thing because they JUST got back (it's like 6am over here). There's no way I would have made it.

Anyway, a fun day!

Osaka Adventure - Day 1

2010-04-29T06:03:00.002-07:00

We got right off to an adventurous start today. After waking up and enjoying a tasty Scott-cooked breakfast, we made our way to The Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum.

Lo, the educational wonders of the rich history of instant ramen! A large timeline wall displayed every product since instant ramen's inception in 1958! A colorful cartoon clearly geared for 10-year-olds explained the birth of the idea for cup noodles! And best of all...

That's right, I got to make my very own instant ramen! And I mean the noodles themselves - we got to roll them out and cut them and decorate our own package! Let's ignore the fact that Sena and I were the only two adults participating. Don't worry, photos will be forthcoming.

Other than that, I got reacquainted with all the little things I loved about Japan from my last visit: the textured sidewalk paths for the blind, CC Lemon, those little shortbread and chocolate things in the shapes of mushrooms, etc.

This evening, Scott cooked a delicious dinner of rice and pork and veggies. They have lemon-infused soy sauce here! I want to bring some home, if I can, but the logistics are tricky since I don't have any checked luggage. Anyway, Scott's mom would be proud of the cooking prowess he has inherited from her :)

Osaka Adventure - Travel Phase

2010-04-28T01:32:00.002-07:00

I am safe in Osaka, all! Chillaxing at the airport, currently, as Scott went to the wrong airport to get me, doh! Worry not, through the magic of Skype and free wireless internet, we were able to touch base and he is on the train bound for the correct airport :)

Meanwhile, the traveling phase went well enough. One of my super powers is my ability to sleep like a rock in even the most uncomfortable of situations, so I snoozed soundly through the long flight to Seoul. On the brief moments I was awake, the lady next to me was very enthusiastic about chatting and sharing her life story. She was bound home for the Philippines, she has seven children (all grown up), she and her husband have been married for 50 years and just got done driving up the coast of California and back. She was very nice, and envied my ability to sleep for the majority of the 14 hour flight.

Meanwhile, I had the longest layover EVER in Seoul. I got in at about 5am and my flight out wasn't until 1pm, so there was ample time for killing. I'd never been to Korea before, and even though I don't technically count being in just an airport as having visited a place, I did find the place enjoyable. For one, I think all airports could do with more large touch screen displays that give you step by step visual directions from where you are to whatever gate you need to go.

Also, they had these classy relaxation/lounge areas on the upper floors of the airports, with really comfy lounge couch chair thingies. I promptly took a nap for several hours :)

I killed the rest of the day with naps, a nice breakfast/lunch/jetlag meal (gyoza and orange soda, does it count as ethnic? I think it's still airport food, but it was tasty), interneting (I wish all airports in the world had free wifi!) and playing Phoenix Wright.

The hop from Seoul to Osaka was short enough, and now I wait for the arrival of Scott. What remains to be seen is if I can hold out for real food or if I'm going to buy 3 boxes of pocky and devour them before he gets here. Only time will tell!

General Update

2010-04-17T14:33:00.001-07:00

Things are going well in the Lisa-verse! Life is busy but good and generally on the up-and-up, though Derby season always makes me a little homesick for Louisville.

Last night, Nick and Nathan and Ross and I spent the evening playing Arkham Horror, which was my first time playing the game. I liked it quite a bit! I'm a sucker for cooperative board games anyway, but this one had a nice adventure element going on with it. It is very much like playing a one-shot session of D&D without the planning overhead that the DM has to do. Thinking about it in this way made it much easier to stomach the fact that it's a 5 hour game.

Granted, we all were devoured in the end, but I'd happily devote another evening to it. Next time I play I'll have a much better understanding of how things work, and make a more educated choice in my character.

Other updates!

1. Mr. Davis is doing really well - he loves the clicker training, goes out on walks with me, and is generally all about affection and snuggles. However, he has recently taken up the habit of climbing up the screen door when he's riled up and playing, which is problematic. What I need is a long, narrow strip of carpet that I can mount on the wall for him to climb up. Any idea on where to procure such an item?

2. I'm going to Japan in like 2 weeks! SO EXCITED! I'll be visiting Scott Coffrin, who I haven't seen in years, so that will be fun. It's a short, week-long trip, and I'll be in Osaka for most of it, with a day trip to Kyoto somewhere in there. Can't wait!

3. I have a boyfriend! That's old news to most of you, but I know not everyone keeps up with facebook relationship status changes :) We are going out on a fancy-pants date this very evening, in fact.

4. Work remains busy and fun and exciting and awesome.

That's about it from me for now, I suppose.

You seem to have alot of interests/hobbies/activities your currently active in, are all game designers like this or are their "lazier" ones?

2010-04-05T07:55:00.002-07:00

Hmmm, an interesting one... I'm going to switch out "lazier" with "more directed in their interests," because I honestly don't think I know any lazy designers. It is true that I have a pretty eclectic pool of interests and experiences, and I do pull from each of them to help me in game design. Let me do a mental tally of the game designers I know and stack up their interests and hobbies, just a sec...

*Thoughtful intermission*

Interesting. On the one hand, 99% of the designers I know do each have a pretty varied range of other-than-game activities in which they participate and incorporate into their lives (cooking, music (listening, creating, performing), creative writing, outdoorsing, juggling, curling, building ninja warrior courses in their backyards, epic badminton tournaments, photography, going to the theater, slacklining, and on and on). Even the ones that are extremely passionate and devoted narrowly to playing games are generally up for the seeking out of new experiences. I guess that makes sense, it's like field research - the gathering of experiences.

On the OTHER hand, it would seem that most of the other game devs I know - programmers, artists, etc. - also fall into this boat of eclectic interest. Could it be that this is a common feature among game developers in general?

Ask me anything

If you could be any kind of tree, how would you use that power to help mankind?

2010-04-04T09:55:00.002-07:00

Were I to be a tree, I would be the mighty baobab tree! Roots are branches, up is down! I would dance about and stir up wonder about whether things are what they seem. Are those roots in the air? This is very un-treelike!

I would use this power to remind mankind that the world is full of puzzling things, and not to be afraid of contradictions.

The baobab is the Tree of Insight, and mankind is nourished by his insights.

Ask me anything

Training Mr. Davis

2010-03-30T07:30:00.002-07:00

I decided before I ever got my cat that I wanted to do clicker training with him. Mr. Davis is taking to it extremely well! One of the more recent things we were working on was having him jump up onto my wooden cube and wait there as I got his food for him - we've probably been at this for a little less than a week - me clicking and treating to get him up there, then clicking for him staying there for longer periods of time, then making the food and stopping to cue him back onto the cube and click and treat whenever he jumped down.

This morning, he meowed, jumped on the cube on his own, and watched me intently (and quietly) completely unprompted. He stayed there the whole time while I got his food, and waited until I said "Okay" to jump down, all without any clicks. I was so proud! It's super helpful, too, because he was one of those cats who twined around your legs while you were in the kitchen, making food preparation a treacherous occasion.

The biggest trick is figuring out the course of action to take to train him to do something, since it involves shaping tiny steps in the right direction. My current challenge is his morning "is it time to get up yet?" habit, which includes climbing up onto my chest, meowing in my ear, and putting his paw on my face. Since the idea being clicker training is that you reinforce behavior you want, and I can't very well bring the clicker and handful of treats to bed and spontaneously click when he's sleeping quietly, I will need a different strategy.

Other clicker skills I've taught him are "up" and "down" on cue, and to sit and let me put his harness on. Still working on a reliable "come," and a way for him to ask for me to play with him (his current strategy is to meow sadly and threaten the couch). Also, I'm teaching him to go into his crate, and to let me handle his paws so that I can clip his nails.

New Kitty

2010-03-19T23:56:00.002-07:00

I brought home my new cat from the shelter today! This is my first cat as an independent adult-type-person, and he is wonderful. His shelter name is Mr. Davis, and though he's been at the shelter for about a year, he doesn't seem too attached to it, so new names are up for grabs.

We were apparently meant to be, as when I visited him the first time at the shelter he crawled right into my lap, bypassing the finger-sniff-test altogether. Today when I went to pick him up, all the cats were stressed and cranky (they are moving locations, so everything was being packed and shuffled up. Mr. Davis was laying on the ground with a very "don't touch me" swishy tail, and the shelter people were looking for where they had packed the treats so they could lure him into the carrier. Then, all of a sudden, he stood up and waltzed right into the carrier, and then laid down and made himself comfortable. The shelter volunteers were in awe. Didn't make a peep the whole ride home.

He was very low key when I brought him home, and after some sniffy exploring, made right in with the purring and the snuggles. He's quite big, but very sweet. Here are photos!

And no, he doesn't have a drinking problem, Josh was just using that bottle as a scale clue.

From New Kitty

Church trap

2010-03-14T20:37:00.002-07:00

Every morning on my way to work, I pass a little church on Buena Vista which, like many little churches, has a sign out front with a new message every week. This place, however, has the most bizarre, quippy, and humorous messages I've ever seen on a church sign. It's to the point where I eagerly look forward to passing it, to see what weird or witty message is up.

Some favorites:

"I love the smell of chaos in the morning"

"It's not about the shoes"

"Avoid churches" (which was followed by a bible verse, Matthew, I think, I cant recall it)

I'm intrigued to the point that I might stop in one Sunday and see if the sermons are as snarky as the board sign.

Website wonders

2010-03-07T22:22:00.002-08:00

Internet, what am I going to do with my website?

I've come a long way as a builder of website, from scrappy do-it-yourself php, to work-done-for-you plugins like Gallery, to now when part of me just wants to dump everything and use Google Sites because of how simple it is. I realize that everyone's website is "under construction" to some degree, but I have a bad habit of stopping early in grand designs.

Right now my biggest problem is that I feel dispersed across the internet. I want my website to be a centralizing force, but I'm not sure what I want that to mean, exactly. Here's an inventory of my internet doings:

My portfolio site, which rose up to a state of half-finishedness before my getting a job and losing all motivation to make it pretty. The process was this: I'll just lay out all the text and the basic format, and go in and make a stylish design and fancy menu later. As is evidence by my straight up text link navigation, "later" never happened. It is certainly minimal and straightforward, and I did toy with integrating some personal site stuff (as evidence by the sidebar on the first page), but nothing is set in stone.

My personal site, which is in absolute shambles. My intention for this place was to store my various non-professional projects and art, and at the time I was super proud of myself for getting Gallery up and running and integrated. I love to have that stuff sharable, but I hate that my personal site is tucked back and hidden. Is it appropriate, now that I have a job, to once more integrate all this stuff together?

My blogs, one of which is this one, and crossposted to Livejournal, my personal site, and Facebook notes. The other two could fall under the category of "projects," I suppose.

My Picasa site, where I post my photos, both social fun photographs and my fledgeling attempts at Photography.

Add my Formspring and Twitter pages and I am spread and crossposted pretty thin.

Everyone has the sweeping desire to overhaul their website from time to time, and I'm up for the undertaking, I just need a *plan* before I go in this time. Should I Google Site it afterall? What are my goals with my web presence, beyond just consolidation? Who is my audience? What are my intentions??

Any advice is welcome.

Strawberry Kiwi Pie

2010-02-28T08:46:00.003-08:00

My pie-for-games program at work has been a huge success. The long and short of it is, I want to play a new game that's just come out, so I say that the first person to finish the game and lends it to me gets a pie of their choosing. Cheng won this round with Heavy Rain by lending it to me before he'd even played it, as he wants to play Assassin's Creed 2 first.

ANYway, he requested my strawberry kiwi pie, which is somewhat of a Lisa Brown concoction, and I thought I'd record it here to share (and so I can look it up easily later. I swear I wrote this down on the internet sometime before, but maybe not.)

Crust:
I always use the crust from this recipe for my pies. It's simple and tasty. If you have another crust recipe you prefer, then go ahead and use it.

Filling:
2 1/2 cups(ish) of strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise
2 1/2 cups(ish) of chopped kiwi
(I'm really guestimating these amounts, I tend to grab "what looks right." So maybe 4 or 5 kiwi fruit and a container of fresh strawberries)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees F

Prepare the crust as per this recipe.

Mix the filling ingredients together.

Line a pie pan with half the crust. Pour filling into the crust. Dot the filling with 1 Tablespoon of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces. Cover with top crust and slice vents.

Put some foil around the edges of the crust. Bake for 30 minutes, then lower the heat to 350, remove foil, and bake for 25-30 minutes more, until it's all bubbly and such.

depict1 and Robot Unicorn Attack

2010-02-12T23:49:00.002-08:00

Two games to discuss tonight, go!

First up is depict1, a platformer that's also kind of a mind trip. It's full of smiley surprises, and it has a subtle way of playing with our natural instinct to trust and listen to the tutorial man. In a way, it probes something deep down and makes me a little squirmy, but just barely, and not enough to decrease how enjoyable the game is.

The trick is not to get frustrated by its initial premise and the search for controls. Just check the readme file, it's not that big a spoiler.

Secondly is the ever-popular Robot Unicorn Attack (short ad before the game). Now, I thought that Canabalt was pretty clever, what with its procedurally generated courses and all, but I played it like 2 or 3 times and then shrugged it off. Robot Unicorn Attack, on the other hand, I can't stop!! The music! The rainbows! The sparkles! I cannot resist their juiciness!

It just goes to show how important the theming and aesthetic wrapper of your game can be. (For those who don't feel like playing them or don't have the time, here's the spoiler: it's the same game).

Also, I want that song, surely that song has to be in downloadable form someplace by now, right?

Football insight

2010-02-07T22:22:00.002-08:00

While watching the Superbowl tonight, I had an insight. I realized that the time I started enjoying football corresponded with when they started using augmented reality to render the first down line.

I used to be all, "I don't know what's going on! Wait, why are they switching out? What happened? Was that a good thing? Did something good happen?" And I pretty much gave up on attempting to watch the sport.

Now it's easy, I just look at the screen and think "Okay, they have to get to there, got it." Suddenly, football is enjoyable to watch!

It's amazing how a little piece of technology can make something so much more accessible to a casual audience!

Game Design Toolbox

2010-02-05T19:49:00.002-08:00

One of my favorite assignments in Game Design was building the Toolbox. We had to think of games we'd played from every year starting when we were 5 years old, and jot down a useful memory about the game. Useful in terms of something we learned from it game-design-wise. It was a very useful tool, and I'm always adding onto it.

However, I wanted to do two things: 1) Put the toolbox in a format that would be easily categorized, searchable, and easy to add on to, and 2) A format that was easy to share with others.

As such, I've started a new blog: Wertle's Game Design Toolbox

I've already copied over the information from the original toolbox, but there is still MUCH to add. For example, as a preliminary exercise, I made a list of every video game I can ever remember having played EVER. Now I have to add each one to the toolbox with a corresponding memory.

I have about 200 entries to add, and that's just video games. I haven't even started a list for other types of games!

This is a huge project, but I intend to catch up, so that eventually adding new entries will be gradual. I also intend to make lots of tags, so that I can look up entries by system, by genre, or by insight.

How long do you think it'll take me to add all my games?