gamerdad I think I remember why I played this game so much and for so long: it has a way of sucking you into that #justonemoreturn mentality. You will be be sitting there trying to accomplish some particular micro-task, working on putting a particular structure into a city or build a military unit or to move that group of explorers to the other side of the plot of land so that you can plan your next move, but the thing is that you are doing dozens of those little micro-tasks, not sequentially but in sort of this staggered overlap so that you’ve always—always—got just a couple turns until the next bit of action happens. There’s never a natural pause. That might be a long way of saying that I played this for like two hours this afternoon tho I only really set my mind to open it up for a few minutes. *sigh*

castironguy I may have decided that eating a bowl of supremely sour #haskapberry was a little bit of a waste if we wouldn’t actually enjoy them, so instead I bought some pectin and made a single jar of #jam

8r4d The outdoor chores payed out this week as I was doing some minor #yardwork trimming the shrubs in our front yard. A bit of paper caught my eye and it turned out to be a bit of #cash under the hedges. This five dollar bill has seen better days and apparently some little animal had a snack leaving about only four bucks behind in the mess, quite a feat considering that these modern bills are basically sheets of plastic. I did some online research and learned I can send this in to the Bank of Canada to have it replaced (as I’m sure it wont pass muster at the local Starbucks) but by the time I do the paperwork (yeah, really) then spend the stamp and wait the eight weeks for the government to do its thing, it might be more interesting just to keep the bill as a souvenir.

gamerdad I probably own this game on a couple other platforms but it is honestly one of those awesome titles that doesn’t hurt to keep handy for when one needs to dive deep into a game zen state. So when the platinum edition showed up on sale on #ps5 (well, technically ps4) this week for like 80% off I thought I should add it to my library and (of course) play a few hours. I’ve been playing Civ since version 1 and I’ve killed so many hours of my life building and defending cities that I should probably call myself a Civ veteran, but I’ll keep things updated as I dabble in a console version of this classic for the first time ever.

castironguy It was at least a dozen years ago when I first planted a pair of #haskapberry bushes in the backyard #garden and in that time the productivity of the crops has varied widely. Often we miss the harvest entirely and the birds chomp down on these tart little berries. This year I spotted a few purple glorbs catching the afternoon sunlight and realized that there was a small bounty of berries ready to be picked. These are rare little fruits that I’m sure have some storied history and lineage dating back to how they found their way into my yard, and I know it has something to do with adaptive breeding at the University one province to the east, but beyond that they are rarely anything more for us than bird food. Not this year, I guess.

8r4d The new #keyboard arrived in the mail sometime this morning after a string of email notifications that I’d signed up for last week when I got the original shipping notice. So that’s that then. I’m one of those guys with a fancy retro keyboard and no more excuses not to get lots and lot of words onto paper. I think I’ll be heading over to a cafe of some sort this afternoon just simply to make up for lost time and get some #writing done. One of the nicer features of this device, and I’m sure it is pretty much standard on any old keyboard these days anyways, is the multi-device functionality. That means with the press of a key or two I can flip between typing on my iPad (serious writing) and typing on my phone (for text like this.) I could go through a lot of rigamorole with the old keyboard unpairing it, repairing it and then back and forth that way, but it was a real big pain. It may not be something I ever use, or it could be exactly what i needed to get some more extensive posts going on here. Who can say? [read more...]

pixelazy Wild #flower pics in the dog park

8r4d Dad & Daughter #walk on Father’s day

8r4d Father’s day #running #trails with the #runcrew as they train for their mountain race in a few weeks. #rivervalley #sundayrunday

8r4dsfeets yet more muddy #running #trails

8r4d The baby #magpie chicks are learning to fly in our backyard this morning. It’s a bit of a party. #birdsong

pixelazy Moonrise on a Thursday Afternoon

pixelazy Bumbles in the raspberry bushes #insect #macro

8r4dsfeets #running #trails in the mud

8r4d #runclub switched to #trails #running mode this evening and we met at the Savage center to delve into the deep woods of Whitemud Creek which was slick and spicy from recent #rain … as recent as half way thru our run and a mad dash back to our cars.

pixelazy #storm #sky

adventuredog Someone is not a fan of a little thunder #storm

8r4d I’ve had a bout of what some may call writers block. Sitting somewhere with a #coffee trying to type out a block of fiction on a regular basis is a great plan, but sometimes you just sit there and stare at the keyboard and none of it works. Today has been a bit better and I’ve got nearly a full chapter knocked out, but #writing can be a helluva chore. I saw a post yesterday that said something like: Oh so you want to be a writer? Ok: Imagine having a homework assignment every single day for the rest of your life.

8r4d I probably should’ve gone down the #keyboard rabbit hole back when I was just starting my #writing efforts on this novel, but the slow deterioration of my current wireless keyboard (pictured) has made it a bit of a necessity this week. By the way, did you know there is a whole subculture of obsessive, keyboard enthusiasts? Visiting a crazy subculture is a neat way to spend an evening and I don’t think I’ll stay there, but I did buy myself a new mid range wireless keyboard out of the deal. These are folks who go far beyond your typical Logitech or Apple office peripheral and instead build and modify, highly customizable, high-end keyboard products with in-depth details and reviews on things like the pressure sensitivity of springs, the latency of key press, transmission, typing sound profiles, and of course, battery life. My biggest concern was to treat myself to a reasonably quality, portable, smallish keyboard to help with my fiction writing on a day-to-day basis as my trusty chiclet keyboard approaches the end of its life.And ultimately as a result of my adventure thru the looking glass I opted to buy a fairly good quality, but very small profile, portable mechanical keyboard, which should allow me to keep typing and maybe even finish this damn novel soon.

squwetchy For our penultimate #watercolour #flower class we did this little red rose. Given that a) this week is our last class and b) I usually only do my homework to show off in the next class, this might have been my last at home assignment painting for a while. That said, I’ve been snapping pics of flowers for a couple weeks now and I bought a pass to the local botanic garden so hopefully it will be a summer of painting plein aire in the park.

pixelazy Not all #spring #sky can be blue, huh?

Sunny Sunday and we were #running #trails in the #rivervalley —here’s some video

pixelazy #flower photos for future reference

8r4d #running #trails on a Sunday morning in the sunshine was a great way to round out the weekend which has been a little cloudy and cool otherwise #rivervalley