Oh, GothBard gave me permission to post, so in general you've likely heard about layoffs throughout the tech industry. GothBard got hit, but to its credit her company gave her a generous severance package so we should be good at least through November, and she's already had three interviews with other companies so we're fairly sure we'll be fine.
Global Megacorporation also did layoffs, but curiously shut down my department but not me (someone quipped that when Global Megacorporation shuts down, I'll be the one who turns off the lights). I've been off this week but I keep getting texts that the next-in-line for managing me is gone in some kind of grand Machiavellian scheme to keep me from actually having a job or a manager. And yes, having no formal position nor reporting hierarchy in a time of layoffs would be disquieting at the best of times. With GothBard already searching, I'd prefer to keep my position at Global Megacorporation at least until her status is stabilized. Yes, their severance packages would give me nearly half a year's pay due to my seniority so again we'd be fine through the end of the year, but I don't want both of us to be job searching simultaneously. Such events lead to excessive stress.
We'll see how things go. We're hoping GothBard lands something by early September so we can treat her severance package as a "bonus" rather than a "survival payment".
I was wondering about you with that. Sorry to hear it hit GothBard, but it feels like game companies come and go like the water cycle, so I unfortunately can't say I'm surprised.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So, the backpacking trip was quite "interesting":
Su-Mo: After last year's fiasco at one of the worst places I've ever stayed (and I have an amazing number of horror stories -- remember that my parents believed in staying in "rustic" cabins with no electricity nor insulation) for $120/night, I shelled out $270/night for the "Tahoe Seasons Resort".Holy carp.
As Talky put it, "This room is bigger than your house!"
That was an exaggeration, but it was a HUGE room, with a private bedroom, a dining room with a fold-down bed (I forget what they're formally called), and a living room with a sofabed. The staff was exemplary, and my only complaint would have been the valet-only parking... except...both the architect and the interior designer should have been beaten within an inch of their lives.
The room's layout was idiotic, with a giant in-room hot tub taking up the center of the room so that every other door was ridiculously narrow (26"). Worse yet, many of them were sliding doors, making moving around even more difficult. The shower was 72" x 24", but the shower head was mounted perpendicular to the long direction, so even Impus Major had trouble taking a shower in the confined space. There were two toilets, and the towels were mounted in the toilet rooms, in spite of the fact that the shower was in a completely separate room. There were towel racks by the sink, but they were cheap and decorative; if you hung a towel from them they pulled loose.
And on, and on, and on...
TONS of space, great soundproofing, good beds, excellent climate control, but baffling architecture and unbelievably cheap fixtures.
We slept well and the kids had a blast goofing around (for the second night Impus Major slept in the empty hot tub and said it was plenty big enough for him), but in spite of it being the most ridiculously huge place we've stayed in on a trip, everyone's reaction was, "Meh. This place is perfectly fine, but we could probably find better."
Not a fantastic reaction when square...
strange. Sounds like you got a semi-sex room.
...strange. Sounds like you got a semi-sex room.
It *really* did seem like one. And, being South Lake Tahoe, such places are fairly commonplace...
...except not in places that call themselves "resorts"... at least in my experience.| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Backpacking Trip, Day #1: I woke up at 1:46 am feeling anxious that I wouldn't be able to make the climb. For reasons beyond my understanding, Talky heard my statement that they'd have to wake up at 6:30 am as a statement they'd have to wake up at 5:00 am, so by 6 in the morning everyone was bouncing off the walls. I checked the hours of the local breakfast place and the valet so we could actually get the car, and both places opened at 6 so we packed up and checked out at 6:36 am (gotta love text check-outs so you know the exact minute you checked out, because that's obviously important). We had breakfast, drove to the trailhead, weighed in, took a photo, and headed on up.
And hoo, boy! A month of training hiking 3.3 miles and 500' up doesn't prepare you for a 4.3-mile, 1800' climb starting at 6600' and with a trail covered with steps and fist-sized rocks. I'm really glad we set off early (I think it was 8:17 am), because I don't know that we would have made it up in the heat of the day. As it was, by the last mile I was seriously concerned I'd have to suffer the embarrassment of having Impus Minor drop his stuff off and come back to get mine (the boy is in disgustingly good shape). Fortunately, I made it. Even more gratifyingly, once we'd set up camp all three kids conked out for the next 2-3 hours, so I wasn't the only one exhausted.
We sat around, played some cards, and in the evening I had a heart-to-heart with Impus Minor: He didn't mind the hiking, and the views were great, but sitting in camp for 9 hours at a time with people he already hung out with every single day didn't appeal to him at all.
I readily agreed that we could go out on Thursday instead of Friday if he still felt the same way after Wednesday's day hike, but then he pushed for leaving on Wednesday. "I really don't think that'll be possible," I replied...
EDIT: Oh, that's funny. I added the link and looked at the picture, and that...
'Desolation Wilderness: four stars'
Which makes me think that we really should have a TripAdvisor for mega-dungeons.
...strange. Sounds like you got a semi-sex room.It *really* did seem like one. And, being South Lake Tahoe, such places are fairly commonplace...
...except not in places that call themselves "resorts"... at least in my experience.
That used to be true, before the internet became...what it is now. Nowadays most mass intimate affairs(sounds better than swinger party) are far from the (somwwhat)sketchy 4-or-more-people-to-one-hotel-room-on-a-non-convention-weekend that it once was(which still happens but even so). Most people want to relax and feel comfortable before getting into intimacies, and most resorts want money. This coupled with a more enlightened populace means there's going to be more marathon-sex-capable furnishings as well as layouts in "higher class" establishments.
The mileage you can get out of the phrase "It might stick out past the cap" is absolutely astounding!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Backpacking Trip, Day #2: It's amazing the skills you learn aren't innate, but are rather honed through many years of experience.
The kids woke up ridiculously early again (considering Impus Major typically sleeps until the afternoon at home, finding him up at 7:30 am while on the trip was disconcerting, to say the least), so we had an early breakfast, got prepped, and were ready for our day hike by 9:15 am. Considering that with my ultra-experienced groups getting out of camp before 10 is considered an accomplishment, this was ridiculous.
Once again, we discussed the possibility of leaving. With Impus Minor and Talky feeling more strongly about leaving than Impus Major and I felt about staying, we agreed that if we got back from the day hike before 2:00 pm we could consider heading out that day.
I unfolded the map and showed everyone the situation: Gilmore Lake is on a plateau, and a flat contour due south-southeast takes you to Cathedral Peak and a spectacular view in about 2 miles. It's pretty much impossible to get lost because if you go too far in any direction you hit a cliff. We headed off and quickly hit an unmarked trail. Assuming it was headed for Cathedral Peak, we followed it. Unfortunately, it veered off too far to the right and too far downhill, so I encouraged the kids to keep watching to the left. We never left the trail, ended up dropping around 300', then having to re-climb that plus another 500' as the trail veered NNW and straight towards Mount Tallac. I could understand the kids not sensing that we were going in the wrong direction, but by the time I got them pointed in the correct direction we ended up at a cliff face about 1/2 mile beyond Cathedral Peak. The view was incredible, so we took a bunch of pictures and had a snack, but it was frustrating that we were half a mile too far and 500' too high.
I let Talky take the lead trying to beeline us straight towards Gilmore Lake, and in spite of having a compass and a map he headed downhill at a 90˚ angle to the correct direction. I corrected him. Within 5 minutes he was headed downhill and 90˚ off again. It was kind of amazing. "We need to go in a straight line this direction, following the base of this ridge," seemed like basic, natural instinct to me. And it was impossible for Talky to figure out which direction to go. It was quite the eye-opener for me, and now I understand how people get lost in the woods so easily.
So I took the lead, got us back to the lake (turns out the trail went so low because there were massive talus and sage fields that were a PITA to traverse if you stayed high), and it wasn't even noon. We'd already gone around 5 miles, but we decided to head out anyway. We took a half-hour break, packed up the camp, and had a hellish hike out down a sun-baked mountain in the high heat of the day. It was all downhill, but it was amazingly unpleasant.
But we got there, and I drove us home, and that explains how we were home two days early: 13.6 miles in 2 days, 8.6 with full packs, all over either cross-country roughage or a horrible rock-strewn trail. I was sore as heck yesterday. The only thing that made me feel better was that so were the kids.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I was sore as heck yesterday. The only thing that made me feel better was that so were the kids.
They'll recover faster.
The vitality of the young...
If we could only steal and bottle it. It's wasted on them anyway.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
...
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
There's really nothing like cleaning up after a backpacking trip to make you appreciate living in a .
Impus Major was asking how we'd purge our water filters and bottles of giardia. They're all sitting in a sinkful of clean tap water with 1 cup of bleach added, soaking for an hour. Yeah, not a lot is going to survive THAT concentration of bleach, and then I have clean tap water to rinse off the bottles and filters once they're done. Our doors and windows are open but we don't have to deal with mosquitoes because of local vector control (OK, AND the fact that we live in California and the nearest body of water a mosquito is going to find is someone's pool). And all our gear is getting washed and dried in a washing machine and dryer powered by the solar panels on my roof.
Living in the dirt for even a couple of days makes you appreciate the luxuries of what you have.
EDIT: For those unfamiliar with giardia, one of the marvelous wonders of my childhood was hiking trails in the Sierras carrying nothing but my Sierra Club cup, stopping at whatever stream I came upon, and drinking the pristine, ice-cold water. But along came pack animals and lazy filthy humans and all the Sierras' waterways are now infested with giardia, so drinking unfiltered water is a good way to enjoy a few days of horrific gastrointestinal discomfort. Bah.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Constructo Limey is a bit of a waste of space; Destructo Limey, on the other hand, can do a number on a room full of fitted wardrobes almost as fast as you can say 'crowbar', assuming that doing so takes you around three hours.
There was a gay contact magazine from the late 80s/early 90s in one of said wardrobes, where Gentlemen with Proclivities could meet up with other Gentlemen with Similar Proclivities and Proclivitise Together, and goodness me were there some Singular Proclivities in evidence therein.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
strange. Sounds like you got a semi-sex room.
is that how we get more autobots?
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
strange. Sounds like you got a semi-sex room.is that how we get more autobots?
Did your parents NOT give you the "Bentleys and the Beetles" discussion when you were growing up?!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Did your parents NOT give you the "Bentleys and the Beetles" discussion when you were growing up?!
No, it was pretty obvious I was going to be single hitch for the long haul.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Pep Boys lost my tires.
My 1300 dollar tires.
Lost em. Have to reorder them. So I get to do this alllllllllll over again next week.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Pep Boys lost my tires.
My 1300 dollar tires.
Lost em. Have to reorder them. So I get to do this alllllllllll over again next week.
Did they at least have the decency to put your car up on concrete blocks? I hear that's the New York way...
I always order my tires from Tire Rack.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Fantasy NPC: Thistles, The Obnoxious Gardneer
Milliam's devil of a gardener.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
It seems fairly likely that our 5e campaign will either end in ignominy or stupidity thanks to a personality conflict between our GM and our party leader, plus "good" roleplaying by the rest of the group.
The GM said from the start of the campaign, "I won't hesitate to put in encounters that will wipe you out, because I expect my players to be smart enough to know which fights they can win and which fights they can't."
Unfortunately, this has been nearly his entire focus: Every encounter is either, "You need to hide or you'll die," or, "It's a fortress with 200 grunts (yes. 200), so if you go in the front door guns blazing you'll die."
There are no straightforward encounters; they always take a lot of planning, and quite a few involve simple avoidance.
So the guy who plays the "tactical lead" of the group has given up, and he's insisting that we go in the front door of every encounter, daring the GM to kill us. We've been successful so far, so our PCs don't know any better.
And now our 7th-level PCs are about to confront an adult black dragon in an underwater fight. I don't see a reasonable way we can win, but our leader insists that we'll be taking the dragon by surprise, everyone believes him, and I suspect our PCs are about to get massacred.
I'm very interested in seeing how this fiasco plays out today...
EDIT: GothBard brought up a great point I'd neglected to mention: No matter where we go, no matter how powerful we get, the GM always puts in NPCs who are "way more powerful" than we are. Two sessions ago he openly admitted that he was making up an excuse to get the NPCs out of town because they wouldn't have any trouble with the dragon, so he needed a reason for them to leave so we'd have to figure out the problem. And that's true of pretty much every story line: "These NPCs are better than you, these NPCs could handle the situation, but since they're not available you can be their backups. Don't screw it up."
It makes one feel less-than-heroic.
EDIT 2: GothBard makes a nice comparison to Carrion Crown: In Book 1 of Carrion Crown, in the town where you start, every named NPCs has at least 5 class levels, making you wonder, "Why the heck do any of these people need our help with anything? Any one of them is more powerful than our entire party!"
Imagine an entire AP written that way, where all the NPCs dwarf you in power and ability, yet they're too lazy to take care of their own problems. You wouldn't like them very much...
Far Cry 6 sale.
How nice. Except useless to me because it's on Ubisoft Connect and not Steam/Humble Bundle. And even after the discount it's still more than I can spare.
*sigh*
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Back to wrecking havoc across San Francisco Oakland actually now I am going to Alcatraz.
But to get there I need to steal a boat or something in Oakland.
Just steal anything over a few grand really
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
*The carcass of the elephant/octopus hybrid starts to decompose.*
*As such, the stench is very horrific.*
*sniff, sniff*
Yeah...Smells like Brooklyn.
Hey!
Doesn't rain, but it pours.
Someone broke into my car.
Smashed rear passenger window. Rifled through our things. There's a discman in the back seat that I don't recognize. Along with all the glass. Went through the center console, all that was in there was my gas receipts and my charger cord. Oh ans buddy christ. He's just sitting there on the seat.
*sigh*
F+%$ing awful weekend.
Crap
Doesn't rain, but it pours.
Someone broke into my car.
Smashed rear passenger window. Rifled through our things. There's a discman in the back seat that I don't recognize. Along with all the glass. Went through the center console, all that was in there was my gas receipts and my charger cord. Oh ans buddy christ. He's just sitting there on the seat.
*sigh*
F~@~ing awful weekend.
Aw, crap, I'm sorry.
Hugs.
Doesn't rain, but it pours.
Someone broke into my car.
Smashed rear passenger window. Rifled through our things. There's a discman in the back seat that I don't recognize. Along with all the glass. Went through the center console, all that was in there was my gas receipts and my charger cord. Oh ans buddy christ. He's just sitting there on the seat.
*sigh*
F~*#ing awful weekend.
Well. Crap.
We know the police won't do anything, but the report has to be there for the insurance agency, and they're raking you over the coals for living in Brooklyn in the first place...this is just going to add more to your premiums...because insurance companies suck.
Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help.
That's rough - sorry to hear that, Freehold.
There's a discman in the back seat that I don't recognize.
Struggling musicians will do ANYTHING to get their mixed tape listened to?
Doesn't rain, but it pours.
Someone broke into my car.
Smashed rear passenger window. Rifled through our things. There's a discman in the back seat that I don't recognize. Along with all the glass. Went through the center console, all that was in there was my gas receipts and my charger cord. Oh ans buddy christ. He's just sitting there on the seat.
*sigh*
F~*#ing awful weekend.
Well. Crap.
We know the police won't do anything, but the report has to be there for the insurance agency, and they're raking you over the coals for living in Brooklyn in the first place...this is just going to add more to your premiums...because insurance companies suck.
Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help.
tempted to just pay for it myself to forestall that. If that would even work.
It would.
Someone broke into my car.
Smashed rear passenger window...
...tempted to just pay for it myself...
Sorry to hear about all this!
I agree with Vanykrye that paying for it yourself is probably the best option, but I'd first check on New York state law and policies. For example, in California replacement windshields are considered a "safety hazard" so even if you don't have comprehensive insurance on your car, your insurance company will replace your windshield for free without raising your rates. Unfortunately, I doubt passenger windows fall into the same category, as I see quite a few cars on the roads around here with duct tape windows...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Well, the fight was out-and-out appalling:
(1) There were around eight 7d6 acid Glyphs of Warding around the room, so we took massive area effect damage before even getting in. It wouldn't have been so bad to have them at the entrance, but the GM's approach was, "If a dragon can cast Glyph of Warding, why not put in as many as the dragon could put in every single day for as long as the dragon has been there?"
Uh, the sheer cost of that many glyphs?
Apparently not an issue for the dragon.
(2) We weren't only facing an adult black dragon; the GM put in a high priest (at least two levels higher than us, apparently with infinite diamond dust as the dragon got Revivified at will), a bard (at least two levels higher than us), about 6 warriors at 90 hit points each (we're 7th level, so we're all in the 50s and 60s), and a few trash warriors. Then even more troops came pouring in during the fight.
(3) In short, it was an impossible-to-win fight from the start, and the GM relied on unbelievable tactical incompetence and poor rolling by the bad guys so that we could win. A typical example? The cleric in full plate with a shield and the bard in leather armor and nothing else were side-by-side. Instead of the four lizard warriors surrounding and flanking the bard and one-rounding her, they flanked and surrounded the cleric, leaving the bard alone while wasting most of their swings on the much-higher AC, and letting the cleric heal through the damage. So, one cleric took four warriors out of the fight by just standing there, letting the bard buff the rest of the party and have free rein to do battlefield control. There were many, many other examples of, "Why did the bad guys do something so dumb?", and the answer was always, "To give us a chance to win."
Being put in an impossible fight and then winning because the GM puts on the kid gloves isn't "fun", in my book. A couple of players really liked the fight. Most of us were quite dissatisfied.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
So far no major problems. The place I am going to is affiliated with my insurance company so its been pretty smooth. Not sure about rates, but so far everything has been almost a pleasure. We had to let the insurance company know because at first it seemed like a failed robbery attempt, but it has gone in as criminal mischief on a city street. So far I have noticed at least three signs that insurance will not raise your rates for glass so long as it isn't an accident.
Well, the fight was out-and-out appalling:
(1) There were around eight 7d6 acid Glyphs of Warding around the room, so we took massive area effect damage before even getting in. It wouldn't have been so bad to have them at the entrance, but the GM's approach was, "If a dragon can cast Glyph of Warding, why not put in as many as the dragon could put in every single day for as long as the dragon has been there?"
Uh, the sheer cost of that many glyphs?
Apparently not an issue for the dragon.(2) We weren't only facing an adult black dragon; the GM put in a high priest (at least two levels higher than us, apparently with infinite diamond dust as the dragon got Revivified at will), a bard (at least two levels higher than us), about 6 warriors at 90 hit points each (we're 7th level, so we're all in the 50s and 60s), and a few trash warriors. Then even more troops came pouring in during the fight.
(3) In short, it was an impossible-to-win fight from the start, and the GM relied on unbelievable tactical incompetence and poor rolling by the bad guys so that we could win. A typical example? The cleric in full plate with a shield and the bard in leather armor and nothing else were side-by-side. Instead of the four lizard warriors surrounding and flanking the bard and one-rounding her, they flanked and surrounded the cleric, leaving the bard alone while wasting most of their swings on the much-higher AC, and letting the cleric heal through the damage. So, one cleric took four warriors out of the fight by just standing there, letting the bard buff the rest of the party and have free rein to do battlefield control. There were many, many other examples of, "Why did the bad guys do something so dumb?", and the answer was always, "To give us a chance to win."
Being put in an impossible fight and then winning because the GM puts on the kid gloves isn't "fun", in my book. A couple of players really liked the fight. Most of us were quite dissatisfied.
What would you have preferred?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
......What would you have preferred?
(1) A fight that wasn't so obviously well beyond our abilities.
(2) Bad guys who acted intelligently based on their intelligence scores. Lizardmen aren't geniuses, but, "I swing at the person in plate mail first," and, "We need to make sure to spread out our attacks among all the party members so we don't risk dropping any of them," is bad. "We focus our disabling spells on party members who aren't participating in the combat instead of on the fighter who's tearing apart our leader," is worse.It was an appalling set of, "Well, this guy has an action, but if he does anything sensible the party might lose, so I'll have him run off into the corner and attack the one PC who's not being attacked nor effective," choices by the GM, and it was obvious he was working hard to let us win.
......What would you have preferred?(1) A fight that wasn't so obviously well beyond our abilities.
(2) Bad guys who acted intelligently based on their intelligence scores. Lizardmen aren't geniuses, but, "I swing at the person in plate mail first," and, "We need to make sure to spread out our attacks among all the party members so we don't risk dropping any of them," is bad. "We focus our disabling spells on party members who aren't participating in the combat instead of on the fighter who's tearing apart our leader," is worse.It was an appalling set of, "Well, this guy has an action, but if he does anything sensible the party might lose, so I'll have him run off into the corner and attack the one PC who's not being attacked nor effective," choices by the GM, and it was obvious he was working hard to let us win.
mm.
A former friend ran a game in such a way that the bad guys could come up with one good offensive idea per intelligence bonus, and one good preparation idea per wisdom bonus. Negatives means there are holes for the PCs to exploit(one per negative).
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I prefer it when people remember that in 3.x games, and everything that's been based on 3.x since...INT 10 or 11 is considered human average. Average people do come up with better ideas than what NH was describing as the GM's actions.
IF the GM's reasoning is "I expect the players to come up with brilliance to get out of the encounters alive" then you can't counter the PCs with stupidity to ALLOW the PCs to survive.
IF the GM's reasoning is "I expect the players to come up with brilliance to get out of the encounters alive" then you can't counter the PCs with stupidity to ALLOW the PCs to survive.
This really is it in a nutshell. We walked into a fight, took one look and realized we were all going to die, then winced over and over again as every bad guy did some cartoonishly buffoonish maneuver to ensure none of us got hurt too badly. It was embarrassing. Then the GM had the gall to say, "Oh, I would've won if it hadn't been for my bad die rolling."
It was an absolutely obvious, "I'm going to put you in a no-win situation, then let you win so you can feel good about yourselves." Everyone at the table saw it. Most of us didn't appreciate it.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
In other frustrating news, I'm back at work after 6 days off.
- I still have no manager.
- No one has contacted me about what I should be doing.
- There's been at least one "customer catastrophe" where one team couldn't deliver to a customer because no one knew where anything was because my manager didn't maintain a, "Here's where all my stuff is," site. Which I consider perfectly reasonable.
So I'm here, sweeping up the bits and pieces, preparing for our next handoff date, and wondering whether I'm ever going to get any actual direction, or whether my job is now, "Do whatever you feel like doing forevermore."
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
I keep thinking about what it would be like if I had a job like Captain Yesterday's:
"Hey, Captain Yesterday! We laid off all your management, so you're on your own to choose and do your own projects now!"
"Oh, OK. What's in the pipeline?"
"Well, this customer wanted a swimming pool. But they rejected the last one (no, you can't see what it looked like), they won't tell you where on their property they want it, they won't give you any guidance at all, and if they decide they don't like it you'll have to re-do the entire thing."
Of course, CY would probably consider that a "fun challenge"... up until he was on his third pool for the customer because they'd rejected the first two as in the wrong place or style.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I keep thinking about what it would be like if I had a job like Captain Yesterday's:
"Hey, Captain Yesterday! We laid off all your management, so you're on your own to choose and do your own projects now!"
"Oh, OK. What's in the pipeline?"
"Well, this customer wanted a swimming pool. But they rejected the last one (no, you can't see what it looked like), they won't tell you where on their property they want it, they won't give you any guidance at all, and if they decide they don't like it you'll have to re-do the entire thing."Of course, CY would probably consider that a "fun challenge"... up until he was on his third pool for the customer because they'd rejected the first two as in the wrong place or style.
That is a typical day for me, yes. And yes, it is a lot of fun!
Though former coworker is the one that usually has to build things two or three times I get it right the first time.
I once got paperwork for a job and all it said was "material is on site. Do your thing".
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
"No one told me where swimming pool 1 is going, but swimming pool 2 will be in your living room. Its good here? Great.