Huh? What?

Oh yeah, I guess I should update this blog! Well, in case you don't already know, I picked up a Mac mini as my new OS this past Sunday. My old computer (emphasis on the "old"!) was way past due for an upgrade. My brother suggested one PC and one Mac for my meager uses and I decided to exercise the Mac option--partly because I wanted a computer with more safety (the old one had recently become infected with a nasty virus) and partly just to try something different. Honestly, I could not be happier with this system. The lack of Windows is somehow freeing; that's the best way I can explain it. The thing runs like a dream (although, admittedly, anything would have been an improvement over the two squirrels in a wheel on which my old system was running). I haven't even scratched the surface of what this baby can do but we'll get there in time. In the meantime, I'll just sit back and enjoy the fluid computing experience.

To go along with the new system, Scot said I needed a new keyboard and mouse (or adapter for my old Dell units). Having already spent $600 on the system, I decided to play these replacements as cheaply as possible. We looked at Best Buy but the selection really wasn't good and the price of the sets was $45+ and that seemed like too much to me (and there was no adapters we could find to price compare with). So, at a suggestion from Zlaty, we stopped at Target on the way home. [Note to everyone: don't forget about Target for your needs!] I wasn't sure Target would have a good variety of electronics but I was confident that the prices would be better. Turned out I was right on both counts. However, when browsing the meager selection, Scot immediately noted the presence of a Logitech keyboard/mouse set and said it was quality. What's more, the set was only listed as $29.99 (score!). I picked it up and moved on through the store, stopping at a price scanner soon after. I just enjoy the scanners so that's the only reason I swiped the box under it. Turns out that swipe yielded an unexpected result--my set was on sale for $19.99! This convinced Scot and Zlaty to get a box for themselves too.

Let's see what else is going on...not too much over the holidays really. We had a very nice Xmas at home. I'm still enjoying DROID the second (no toilet incidents yet) as my main gift but received some nice stuff on the actual gift exchange day as well. The family had a good meal together and we then shared an UNO-thon until after 11pm. Somewhere in all that my brother and I squeezed in a game of NES Ice Hockey--fun to roll that out again even if I lost.

I've been negligent in my writing (mostly because of my old slooooow PC) having only worked on the main map for What Goes Up! in the last couple weeks. Hopefully the new year (and my fast OS) will bring unbridled creativity and output. After all, what more could a writer ask for?

Sales and Happenings

First off, Lotsa Blocks! is now permanently on sale for $4.00 ($8 was really too much for a bunch of stat blocks). Also, our recent Cyber Monday Sale turned out to be a nice little boost for us.

Second, even though I didn't see her more than a handful of times, it was great to spend some time with my sister and her family who were visiting for 3 weeks from Hawaii. Regrettably, she had soooo many other people to see and things to get done that 3 weeks wasn't enough time. I did get to see her and her three kids enjoying the Christmas presents I gave them though so that was cool. :)

Third, my job has hit an interesting twist in the road (pun intended). Rumor mill has it that the company I contract under lost the bid for the Sovereign Bank contract (which is the only work I do for them). Come end of January, supposedly, that'll be it. However, the rumor mill also says that the company who did win the contract will ask the banks if they're happy with their couriers. If they are, this company will offer those couriers the same work (possibly at a higher pay I'd wager). That'd be nice but we'll see what happens. If all else fails, the drug store has already made it known that they'd take me back (it's nice to be wanted). :)

Fourth, I'm making a bit of headway with Tricky Owlbear's What Goes Up! (our S&W adventure). It's much different than designing a 3.x module (and much less cumbersome!). I hope to have this project completed within the next few weeks. Haven't asked him yet, but I'm thinking of asking Jan Pospisil to do the cover (he did the fantastic art for the interior of A Matter of Faith).

Fifth, there's two Pathfinder projects in the works. The first is our second locale, The Favored of Skexxiz, and the second is a much larger project which I have two freelancers working on right now. Don't want to say much about it yet but it will nicely fill a hole in the current Pathfinder offerings, methinks, as well as giving something worthwhile to those who found the Bestiary a bit wanting in terms of mosnter selection (oops, I've said too much!).

Sixth, my Xmas shopping is complete and all is well with the universe.

New Store!

Trying something out for the holiday season...

Enjoy dry humor? Need a gag gift? Do you just have too much money? Well, then try out my State the Obvious! cafepress store!