NockerGeek's Journal

Believe it or not, I'm still here and around. I need to update this more often; I blame Facebook for taking my time away. Not that I have the time at the moment to write, but I have every intention of making a new post soon.

Some background for the Dalmasca from my Ivalice D&D game. Since not all of my players have played FF12, and since I've taken some liberties by merging in the generic 4E background and the gods of Pathfinder's Golaria, it should still be fresh to FF12 veterans as well.

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Comments and critiques are welcome!

Hi there, LiveJournal! Miss me? Probably not, but here's what I've been doing since we talked last.

- Christmas was fun. The snow we got on Christmas, not so much. The follow-up snow around New Year's, even less so. Between the foot or so of snow we had, and the brutal cold that kept it around, the last vestiges of it didn't fade away until the end of January. And now, February has dumped two more snowfalls on us (although they have been much less extreme, and the temperature has been warm enough to keep it from sticking around.)

- I played in my first 40K tournament in almost a year in late January. Didn't do phenomenally well; I went 0-1-2, but that still placed me in the middle of the pack. evildennis  placed fourth, though, so it was a good day for him! Everyone had a good time, and I got to play against army types that I'd never faced before. I got a lot of painting done in the lead-up to the tournament, and I've turned out some of my best work yet (which still isn't amazingly good or anything, but I'm proud of it). I took some time off from painting this past week, but I'll be hitting it again this week as I start painting my first Chaos army.

- Work on the house has resumed! With some help getting started from my dad, I've been working on getting our drywall patch done. I think I've got one more batch of sanding to do, and we might just be ready for repainting. Then we get the kitchen counter done (and I have the laminate for that), and all the major work is done. There's a couple of minor touch-ups we can do afterwards, but nothing that will keep us from putting the house on the market.

- It's been a big gaming month. I played through Bayonetta at the end of January, and really had fun. Then I started up Mass Effect 2, and that has been an utter blast. I finished it last night/this morning, and it's joined its predecessor in my list of Most Favorite Games Ever. Tight gameplay, great characters, fantastic story and writing, and an ending that starts off with a blast and never lets up. Fortunately, I managed to keep everyone on my team loyal and alive, so no one got left behind. Now I can tool around the galaxy as a Big Damn Hero. Next up on the list is The Saboteur, and after that, I may just pick up Dante's Inferno. Still need to finish GTA4 sometime as well. Oh, and Dragon Age...

As dictated by my daughter:

"Once upon a time, there was a girl named Andromeda. She walked into a spiderweb, and she scared the spider. She got the spider to tickle her. The spider ran away over his web. Andromeda tap-danced. The spider climbed up a ladder and kicked a drum. The end."

Hi there, LJ. Miss me? The holidays are almost here, so I might as well take a moment to breathe and go ahead and update the world on what I've been up to.

On the home front, things are progressing. The large dent in the hallway drywall has been replaced with a new section of drywall. I still need to put up joint compound and tape (and hope I've done everything right so far), which I may do this weekend. This is mostly unexplored territory for me, so I've been moving forward with some trepidation. Not so much that I haven't been doing anything, but it keeps me from taking the initiative as much as I probably should. I'm probably being overly cautious; I'm just afraid of screwing this up. Also, the house is a bit healthier - the_z and Andi have been vaccinated against the H1N1 flu, so hopefully we can start going back to church (we'd been avoiding it because the children's area would likely be one big disease vector). I haven't had the H1N1 shot yet, but I've had the seasonal flu shot, so between the two of us we're immune to most of what's going around. At least one of us should be healthy at a given time.

Outside of office work (which keeps me busy, but not in a bad way) and house work, it's been a gaming month for me. I celebrated getting my laptop back by getting a copy of Borderlands. As expected, I'm lagging behind my friends, who have all finished at least one playthrough, but I'm making progress and getting near the end. Monday nights have been good - between evildennis, richman1, and myself, we have three laptops with the game installed, so we just LAN party out at Richard and Dan's place. The fusion of FPS and RPG is reminiscent of Fallout 3, but with more emphasis on the former than the latter, and with Diablo-style random loot, it's got me hooked. Also, I've been playing around with Torchlight, a budget-priced Diablo clone from the developers of Diablo (surprise, surprise) with some WoW-ish features thrown in for good measure. Finally, Z found a copy of GTA4 on clearance at Target last week, so I've finally been getting back to the adventures of Niko Bellic in the seedy underbelly of Liberty City.

I've also joined the Cult of the iPhone. I've been wanting one for a while, and last week I received my 2-year anniversary bonus at work, which was just the right price to get me upgraded. (On a side note - two years. Has it really been that long? It's gone by so fast.) I am still no fan of the Mac (and I'm a bit annoyed that the iPhone app SDK is Mac-only), but I can't deny that Apple makes a great GUI. The phone is just wonderfully intuitive. I was surprised by the lack of a real manual for the thing (compared to the ones that came with my past Nokias and HTC), but after playing around with it I've realized that it's not really necessary. It's slimmer than my old phone, easier to use, and far more powerful - what's not to like? I haven't gone crazy in the app store yet, although I did pick up Button Men for nostalgia value (and because I needed a game on there). I'm sure I'll pick up more over time, but for now I'm just enjoying exploring what the phone can do.

Thursday is Thanksgiving, and then my holiday season begins in earnest. Of course, Christmas items have been in the stores since before Halloween, and it creeps back earlier and earlier each year, but I'm trying to remain steadfast when it comes to the "traditional" holiday window. This means it's time to put up my Christmas list, get the tree out, get some lights up, and figure out when to do my shopping so I can surprise Z again this year...

Oh, it's been an interesting two weeks since my last post.

On the 13th (oooh, spooky), my laptop stopped recognizing the power supply/AC adapter. This was odd, as I'd just replaced the AC adapter two months prior due to frayed insulation, so it was relatively new. Fortunately, it was under a 90-day warranty, so I called Dell, explained the situation, and had a new adapter shipped to me the next day as a replacement. Great, I thought, no harm, no foul, and all is right.

When I plugged in the new power supply, nothing changed. It still wasn't recognized by the computer. I did a little research, and I must say that I was dismayed by what I found. There's a chip inside the power supply, and a companion chip on the laptop's motherboard. These two chips communicate directly to one another once you plug the supply into the laptop, which authenticates the power supply as an official Dell power supply. Without that authentication, the laptop runs at half speed and refuses to charge the batter. That wasn't the cause of my dismay, though; the fact that these unhardened chips communicate over the unshielded center pin of the power connector was, though. Basically, they've created a static antenna, and a good charge can hose one or both chips, leaving you with a gimped power supply, or worse, a gimped computer. This is not an isolated occurrence in the least.

Since the laptop behaved the same way with two separate power supplies, that meant the chip on the mobo was fried. Oh, goody. Even better yet, my laptop's warranty had lapsed. However, I was able to make a service request with Dell's out-of-warranty service department, and for $500 they would have the laptop shipped to a Dell service department, repaired, and shipped back. If they didn't have to replace the motherboard, they'd refund $300 of the cost. A box was overnighted to me, and by Saturday I had the computer handed off to FedEx on its trip down to Houston, TX, where Dell would be looking after it.

This past Friday, I received a call at work informing me that my computer was ready to be shipped back, and yesterday it arrived at the house. I took it out of the box, plugged it in with the power supply they'd shipped back (most likely the one I'd shipped with it)... and didn't see any change. The battery didn't charge, the computer was slow to even POST, and it threw up the "AC adapter not recognized" error. Looking in the BIOS, nothing had been touched. The battery was at the same level it had been when I shipped it, and the settings were exactly where they'd been right before I packed it away. They hadn't done a single thing to the computer. This was particularly frustrating because A) they hadn't refunded the cost of the service, and B) they hadn't contacted me informing me of this - they had collected my phone number and email address expressly so they could ask questions, and they hadn't bothered.

Needless to say, I was rather... upset. My first call that evening went to Dell tech support, where I learned a critical error had been made on their end. We have two laptops associated with our Dell account - my XPS M1730, and the_z 's Inspiron E1505. Each of these two computers, just like every other Dell computer, has a unique service tag that identifies the computer in Dell's information network. When I placed the service request, the operator - despite having been given my XPS's service tag over the phone - associated the service with Z's Inspiron. When the laptop arrived in Houston, it wasn't the one they were expecting, so they shipped it back immediately.

The first call last night didn't end well - I was disconnected when the operator attempted to transfer me to another department. This happened a second time as well, so I changed tactics. I called the order support system to file a complaint. This got me redirected to another department (which did not fail), and after I told them my story for the fourth time that evening, they successfully redirected me to a higher tier of technical support. After once again explaining the situation, they made the situation as right as they could. An on-site technician would be dispatched and the computer would be receiving a new motherboard and power supply. In addition, they extended my already-lapsed warranty by two years with on-site support. Unfortunately, they couldn't reverse the $500 charge, but the repairs would still be done, and in a timely fashion that didn't require me to ship it off for another 8 to 10 business days.

So, tomorrow I should hear from the technician (as it takes about 2 days to get the parts to him), and he will come to my office and fix my computer on site. Then, hopefully this whole debacle will be over.

Has it really been a month since my last LJ post? Wow, I have been neglectful. Partially, I blame Facebook, Twitter, and my hobby blog, all of which have been taking up the majority of my online communications. Partially, it's also because, well, I've had a lot going on. My 40K hobby blog has been busy because I've been diving into the 40K hobby headfirst. It doesn't hurt that I recently acquired a whole mess of new miniatures for my second army (Chaos Space Marines), so once again I get to taste the joys of miniature assembly. Unlike painting, there isn't a lot of set-up beforehand or clean-up afterwards, so it's perfect for squeezing into my spare time.

In the last month, we've visited family in St. Louis, and have made plans to go back next weekend for Archon (a sci-fi convention, for which the_z is making art to sell). I also got into a minor fender-bender which has left a roughly egg-sized dent in my bumper, so I'm still resolving that situation. I also received my first ever jury duty notice, so on the evening of the 13th I get to check if I go in on the 14th. Work has kept me busy as well, including some freelancing that occupied the better part of my nights last week. Home repair is going to get going soon too. We have two somewhat minor tasks to get done, but both are going to require a bit of assistance, as I've never done anything like them. I'm assured, though, that they're totally DIY-able, so perhaps I can tap family and/or friends to give some assistance. Once that's done, the house goes on the market. A few months later than we'd hoped, but it will get done. By the end of October, there's going to be a "For Sale" sign in the front yard, I swear.

There's been a bit of gaming squeezed in as well. My Shadowrun game is wrapped up now, and I'll be starting up my Ivalice D&D4E game before long. I'm a bit nervous - I've never designed dungeons - but I think I'll be okay. Also, I played through Batman: Arkham Asylum, which was a fantastic game, and have been working through the career mode on Rock Band 2 to unlock songs. Right now, my gaming time is mostly split between Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (before you say anything, I got it at Target for $8) and Muramasa: The Demon Blade (OMG so pretty). I even managed to finish Dawn of War 2's single-player campaign over my lunch breaks at work. It's nice to have my laptop at the office. :)

So that's it for right now. I promise not to be a stranger, LJ. Honest.

What a week it has been. This is not a bad thing; a lot of good things happened/got done. Breaking it down would probably be easiest:

• Our copy of Rock Band 2 arrived last weekend, which we got to share with my parents. Much fun was had, as mom and dad created band avatars and tried their hands at performing. Andi is also happy; she likes to watch Daddy play "rock an' roll" and wants to play the drums.
• The big news of the week is that our bathroom has received some major renovations. The bathtub and shower stall have been completely replaced with a new, much better unit. It was time, too; rust cracks were developing in the old tub, and I'd resorted to patching the tub with plumber's epoxy time and time again to keep it in one piece. Now we have a spa-quality tub and a beautiful new enclosure, done in a marble print. It looks like the bathroom in a nice hotel room, and taking a bath or shower there just feels luxurious. It's well worth the money we spent on getting it done, and it will certainly help us sell the house.
• I spent most of the week working from home to deal with the work crew. Thank God for remote access; I've used up less than 2 days of vacation time and still managed to be quite productive.
• We finally move the_z's studio out of Andi's room and into what is now a shared office. There was quite a bit of shuffling around to pull this off. I got a new, smaller desk for my laptop, she took my old desk. Her old desk was delivered to xvolph, who needed it badly (it was quite enjoyable to tear her old one apart). To make room for the two desks, one of the bookshelves in the office was emptied out and given to evildennis, who now has it in the basement to store 40K armies and terrain. None of this would have been possible without the help of my dad (who provided his truck and moving expertise) and tim_almasy (who provided muscle power and good company). A lot of work was involved, and I'm still sore today, but we got a lot done.
• Finally, I preordered Batman: Arkham Asylum. I am so looking forward to playing through this game; the demo was fantastic.

So that was our week. Next week should be pretty uneventful, except for the trip to St. Louis on Friday night to visit Z's family. Hopefully, it'll be a fun weekend.

It's my birthday... and my first present is a plague from Grandfather Nurgle, by way of Andromeda. She had a cold over the weekend, and just as she was starting to get over it, she stuck her fingers in my mouth when we were playing. I knew I was doomed, and sure enough, the next day I started coming down with symptoms. My condition fluctuates; my head is alternately stuffy and swimmy, I've had a sore throat that's mostly gone now, and I've been coughing up phlegm in the loveliest shades of yellow, all while my body tries to purge everything by sweating. Right now, I'm mostly fine, other than the stuffiness and the cough. I'm trying to avoid my co-workers as much as possible, or to at least sanitize myself before dealing with them.

It's made for a less-than-stellar start to my birthday, but I'm not going to let it get me down. If anything, it's given me more inspiration - I think my next 40k army should be a Nurgle Chaos Marine army. :P

Has it really been a month since I last made a post? I have been well and truly negligent of my LJ recently. Mostly, that's because I've been using Twitter for little, non-journal-worthy items. I've also been very focused in the last week or so on getting my website active again. So far, so good - I've joined one of the larger Warhammer 40K blogging groups, and that's starting to slowly drive traffic and discussion to my site. Of course, it puts the onus on me to keep adding content, but so long as I have miniatures to build and paint and games to play and discuss, I should be able to keep the site going.

What else has been going on? We've got the exterior of our house pretty much done. Next up is the interior repairs that need doing. We've got professionals coming out to redo the tub/shower stall, and that should look fantastic once it's all completed. Other than that, there's a dent in the drywall that needs patching, a countertop that needs topping, and a supply valve that needs re-packing. The drywall dent will probably be done this week, as well as the supply valve; I have other errands to do on Friday, so I might as well get the supply valve done the same time. We still have more things to pack up and declutter, and I have a few things I should put up on eBay to make some extra scratch, but progress is being made. The house will probably be ready to go on the market in early August. It's a bit late for the main buying season, but we're hopeful that the tax breaks for new homeowners should attract buyers. Our hope is that the house will be sold before the end of the year, and that we'll be in a new house soon after. I think we can make it happen.

In family life, Z is keeping busy with art commissions, and Andromeda keeps both of us busy just being a kid. It's amazing to watch how quickly she's growing and learning; she's starting to pick up the basics of phonics and stringing letters into words, and her conversations are getting more and more coherent every day. There's still a fair amount of filler babble when she's just trying to mimic conversation, but she can be very clear with short sentences. She's also independent, wanting to do everything herself, but she isn't afraid to ask for help when it doesn't work on the first few tries. Watching her play and imagine has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life, and it's just starting.