houstonderek's page

Just what the title says. When I try to use the "focus" feature, nothing happens.

Taken from a speech in support of Egypt's protestors:

Obama on Egypt's protests: "I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protestors. The people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the ability to determine their own destiny. These are human rights. And the United States will stand up for them everywhere. I also call upon the Egyptian government to reverse the actions that they’ve taken to interfere with access to the Internet, to cell phone service and to social networks that do so much to connect people in the twenty-first century…. This moment of volatility has to be turned into a moment of promise…"

Obama on OWS: "The most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles and we are on their side, and that we want to set up a system in which hard work, responsibility, doing what you’re supposed to do, is rewarded. And that people who are irresponsible, who are reckless, who don’t feel a sense of obligation to their communities and their companies and their workers that those folks aren’t rewarded."

That's a nice sentiment, but...

Where's the big speech telling the Mayors across America to stand down? Why is violence against Egyptian protestors frowned upon and speech worthy, but violence against our protestors seemingly not worth decrying and, well, since the guy is the leader of the nation, not worth disallowing?

The national media is quick to make national news out of false reports of racism concerning the Tea Party, but why has this juicy little tidbit been left out of the national dialogue?

Arwen Grace (a.k.a. houstonbaby) came into the world at 4:31 a.m. healthy, with all of her fingers and toes and a nice crop of hair (and her daddy's cleft chin!).

:)

Seriously.

Hi, well, we're having a daughter in March, and we were thinking about some names. I like Arwen (yeah, I'm a geek geek), baby mama likes Ophelia (yeah, she's a lit geek). But, we're not really decided, so I'd like y'all to suggest some names as well, keeping in mind we dig literary, mythological or similarly referential names.

:)

From reading the Star Trek, Comic Book Movie, and old cheesy 80's cartoons made into movies threads, I want to ask all of the people who are always colossally disappointed in these movies a question:

Would you rather these movies all be 100% faithful to canon and whatnot, with a million in-references that the casual fan may never get, and they lose a ton of money (too many in-references tend to turn off people not "in the know"), or that they never get made at all?

These movies (mostly) aren't made for us, they're made with the mainstream in mind. Most people couldn't care less if they get Logan's back story screwed up, or if Romulans didn't appear until Episode X, or what time line the Stark Industries takeover really takes place in, or that Bumblebee wasn't a Camaro. They just want to spend two hours not thinking about their lives.

The writers and producers aren't going to read 30 years worth of comic books or watch 100's of hours of some old cartoon just to make sure some dude in Cedar Springs who owns X-Men from issue #1 is happy. They're playing on the nostalgia of people who mostly outgrew being a fanatic about these things.

I know it makes for good times in the threads, but seriously. I'm just happy they make these movies at all. I'm not going to let the details screw up my mindless escapism.

Mr. Arneson has been admitted to the hospital, as his cancer has grown worse. My prayers to him and his family.

Here's where I found out about this.

:(

Please cancel the balance of this order. Thank you.

I've found that the little "you posted here" dot isn't showing up in threads I've posted in using an alias. It used to do so.

Is anyone else having this "problem" (if, in fact, it is a problem, maybe it makes the site run faster?)?

Starring Jack Black

Look at the portrait ;)

Free speech will not disappear because of religious intolerance, political oppression or any other large scale event. It will disappear because people have thin skin, and feel compelled to shout down or marginalize people who express views or use words that "offend" them.

Thin skin is a crisis as profound as any other communicable disease, and is spreading like wildfire. People are "outraged" at the drop of a hat, looking for reasons to be indignant and feel morally superior to others less blessed with their brand of hypocrisy.

You can help. For only pennies a day, you can help some poor, epidermis challenged hypocrite get a coat of liquid latex to help them get through the day. By thickening a poor soul's skin, you'll help save the environment by cutting back on electricity usage by poor, thin skinned souls looking for things to get indignant over on the internet. Trees will be spared the pulper as fewer and fewer people bother to write the editor with their indignation of the week.

Again, for just a few pennies a day, you can help keep the day we are handed daily scripts with acceptable topics of conversations and words at bay, and keep the written and spoken word free, messy and wonderful.

Alison, Cosmo,

Please reinstate order #1072306 (Book of Experimental Might).

Thanks for everything :)

Derek

Ok, so I've been going through the various threads (especially the spell and magic threads), and I have a question.

Should Pathfinder be made kid safe?

Swords are sharp. Maybe they should be made of foam so no one gets hurt.

Pits should all have big fluffy pillows at the bottom, 'cause, you know, it would be unfair if someone fell to their death.

Dragons should all breathe cotton candy. Fire and lightning interfere with the "story", as characters might break a fingernail or something.

Wizards should be limited to pulling rabbits out of their hats and ribbons out of their sleeves. All those "SoD" or "SoS" spells totally ruin everything!

And those pesky DR X/whatever stats need to go, I mean, how is a party expected to handle everything that might come up?

D&D has been deadly for 30+ years now. There are other systems for people who have to get their bad acting and writing fix satisfied, so why mess with this?

Ok, so I finally broke down and created a profile on Facebook. Derek Jude Tallman. Anyone interested, shoot me a friend request.

Edit: here

I was trying to grab Weredragon #1 ($3.50), but I had three books on preorder (BoEM compilation, Pathfinder Bestiary, Pathfinder RPG Hardcover), and I wound up charging a crapload of money to my bank account I shouldn't have.

All of these charges showed up on my bank account summary after I went through checkout:

The $126.16 is for the preorder + weredragon stuff. I have no idea what the other three charges are for (shipping, maybe????)

Anyway, I'm looking at hardcore overdraft fees if these go through, and I can't use my debit card until they're taken off, so...

What can I do to correct this? I only wanted to charge $3.50 to my account...

Hi guys,

I'm thinking about running a PFS event at next year's OwlCon, held on the Rice University campus February 6th-8th. I need to know how many Pathfinder fans are planning on attending, so I may have an idea of how many tables/time slots i'd need to secure to make it open to all who'd like to play.

Furthermore, i'd like to know which scenarios players have already played, so I can ensure that the scenarios at the convention will be open to the maximum number of participants.

Thank you for your feedback, I hope we can have a great time sharing in some Pathfinder goodness!

Derek

(also, anyone interested in GMing, let me know...)

Sir,

Is there any chance i could get a ballpark figure on the number of PFS registrations from the Greater Houston area y'all have received? I am interested in getting tables at OwlCon in february to run PFS games, and would like to make sure i secure enough space and time slots to accomodate potential participants. (obviously, i'm not going to try for a 1:6 ratio tables/registrants, but a ballpark figure would allow me to make a decent guesstimate).

Thank you for your time!

Derek

Hey Guys!

I was wondering if y'all had a tracking number for postal deliveries. It's been nine shipping days since i received my shipping e-mail on this month's subscription order, and it has never taken this long before...

It'll probably show up tomorrow, and this will be moot, but i was just curious if there was a way to track it anyway.

Thanks for your time!

Derek

Hey guys,

i have two items in my side cart, pathfinder #14 and LB2. i was wondering if these were waiting for the late october stuff to arrive before shipping. if so, could you just go ahead and send them for me? thanks!

(and i still haven't been charged for my green ronin stuff - order #1061983 - that appears to have been shipped last thursday. just a heads up).

thanks for your attention :)

derek

thirteen years to the day of his aquittal in the murder trial.

guilty on all counts.

it's about time...

hi guys!

ok, everything is more or less back to normal for me now after the storm, so if you could go ahead and reinstate this order (or do a new one for this subscription item) that would be quite extraordinarily awesome!

thanks for y'alls help, you ROCK :)

derek

hey guys,

is there any chance you can wait until friday to ship and charge me for this month's subscription? with hurricane ike coming, i was forced to spend a lot of $$$ i normally wouldn't have had to spend, so i am kinda tapped until next friday.

thanks for your time and consideration in this :)

hi,

i was wondering if you could split the backorder item "classic monsters revisited" from the rest of the order, and ship the other four items asap? thank you for your time :)

i was just curious as to how long it ususally takes to get a backorder item in.

looking forward to getting the beta softcover!

got both of my subscription orders today, looks great ;)

hi there,

it appears, after looking at pending subscription order #1011001, that i am getting a second subscription copy of the pathfinder companion: second darkenss book.

according to subscription order #1004570, i am already receiving this book in the shipment sent out monday.

could you fix this for me? thank you :)

i just checked my bank account, and, as y'all have my stuff down as shipped yesterday, i was wondering why the hold for my subscription charge disappeared and there is no charge to my account for the stuff. i just want to make sure y'all get paid...

quick question: my shipping preferences for my subscriptions ONLY applies to my sunscriptions, right? if i order the beta softcover after i get paid friday, it'll ship immediately (or, as soon as possible, anyway) and not be held until my september sub is ready, right? sorry if this is a stupid question, but i just started ordering from y'all and don't know how it all works yet.

thanks for your time :)

howdy, im in houston (montrose area) looking for a game or to run a game (d&d pre 4e, pathfinder, shadowrun, well, just about anything but WoD). i'm willing to host if the group isn't too big, and i'm usually off most evenings (but i think i may start working sunday nights).

m ygirlfriend is intersted in playing as well, but she is a novice (only a handful of sessions to her name).

thanks :)

i noticed that i have a pending charge on my bank account. how long does it usually take for a transaction to clear? just curious, no rush.

thank you for your time :)

hi, could you tell me when my account will be billed for august's subscriptions? i get paid bi-weekly (direct deposit) and generally only keep what i need +$50 in checking, and i want to know if i need to wait until my next check (aug. 8th) before i buy some non-game related stuff (the paizo order takes precedent, by golly!).

thanks for your time. :)