Rollingskull

Score one for the good guys… I’m back into running LINUX full time at home…

LET THE BORING TECHINCAL POST ROLL!!!!

I read a article on CNN.com earlier this week that said that tryptophan was more prevelant in Soy Beans and something else then Turkey… And the quantintiy of tryptophan was so small in turkey that the tired feeling you get is from eating to much not the tryptophan… so for all of you jonesing for a tryptophan hit… time to start hitting your soy bean stocks.

So I guess my next question is… what is almost pure soybean so I get the most tryptophan for my buck? Food for thought.

Anyway I had plans of buying a microphone for my iPod and then talking to myself through my iPod on the trip to Kingman and then using a open source speech recognition program to transcribe it all and give you guys tons of stuff to read for hours on end. That plan died a quick painless death when I 1. Didn’t buy the microphone thing for my iPod. 2. Dismantled my Linux box several weeks ago for a LAN Party in San Diego and have never reassembled it.

Basically you are left with your normal drivel… I hope you all are happy. I know I am.

OH yeah thanksgiving was good… both of them…

OK talk amongst yoursleves I have other things I need to attend too.

R.I.P. Bogart 1992 – 2005

This is a somewhat difficult post for me to write but it must be done… words cannot begin to describe what I feel right now.

I’ve just finished playing Star Wars Galaxies and I have to say that this game is now a pile of shit… I would like to say it’s a steaming pile of shit but that would imply some sort of freshness the how bad this game has decended cannot be described. I stopped my accounts some time ago to make room in my budget for EVE online I had been considering going back to Galaxies for a couple of weeks now but after todays experince with the latest publish and the “New game experince” I’m no longer intersted in what this game has to offer me.

I started Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) in January of 04. I fell in love with this game immedatly. It was my first MMO and it helped me to escape a crumbling “realtionship” (didn’t realize it at the time but hindsight is 20/20). The game was daunting but I got the hang of it. Within a month I had been hooked up with a group of fellow gamers known as IRON. I’m still belong to IRON and have moved to their EVE team. IRON is the best thing that ever came out of my time with SWG.

In the following months I became a “Master Rifleman” and “Master BioEngineer” I was a happy little wookiee doing my hunting for the materials to make my BioEngineering componets for a few people in my guild. I went on guild raids into the few dungeons that there were in the game and helped take down high end MOB’s on a regular basis. I was a happy little camper. It wasn’t unusual for me to spend my evenings on SWG rather then watch TV. I was interacting with people and it was fun to boot. The Geo-cave was added and IRON procededeed to wipe the floor up with our guild. People left the guild and people joined the guild but always there was the core group of Imperium, Silverwolf, Katana/Salinar/Ronin (dude could never decide on a name), Shuggs, Tailon, DeeDee, Atlantis, Zero, Masis, Excess3 (also known as Curtis to you regular readers) and Catalexiis (myself). Others came and went from but this was the core group through the summer and early fall of 2004.

When WoW and EQ2 came out we lost a couple of core people but the group carried on. With in 2 months most of the core group had come back and were splitting their time between games. I began experimenting with other professions keeping “Master Rifleman” but trying other various professions. In the spring of 2005 the long promised combat revamp became known as the “Combat Upgrade” or CU. The CU promised to change the game and make it more balanced and more dynamic for the older players and more enjoyable for the new players. The CU hit and the changes were dramatic to put it mildly. By this time the core group of players was less then half of what it had been a year before the CU killed the game for 4 or 5 players the day it hit and for all but 3 within 2 months.

The game continued I stopped my account in July of 05, I was one of the last core to leave. Curtis had left about a month and a half before me. By the end of September the last IRON member had stopped playing SWG full time and moved to another game.

In the middle of October news of massive changes started to circulate on the interweb… soon these rumors proved to be true these rumors turned into the “NGE” patch. This patch was supposed to balance the game and make it fun for everyone. Instead the patch made the game boring and it lacked the polish and dynamics of the game when orginally published. The UI was completely changed and not nearly as efficent as the orginal one, never mind that the guide interface keys were no longer editable.

The NGE hit on November 15, 2005

For me SWG died a slow painfull death from a once great game to a game that no one cared about at the publisher and was being pimped out because it was “Star Wars”

The Wookiee will not ride again… RIP Catalexiis 1-3-2004 / 7-27-2005

I have a new favorite beer!

Sam Adams Light! Yes I know it’s all about the propoganda on the commercials but seriously it’s a good beer that is Light… what light means in this case I don’t know since there is no info on the bottle and I threw away the box… but damn it’s good!

So yes I have found happiness in a light beer. And for the record my previous light beer of choice was Coors… so you can see how this is really a rather large step in the right direction.

So how is everyone… I mean because you all write in your own little blogs oh so much. Well actually some of you do like 4 or 5 times a hour… ok maybe not that much… but if you count comments yeah it might be damn near that number.

Life is good right now, house is setup… discovering the pain that is having a halfway decent looking back yard. Read as pain the ass in keeping it up. Discovering the pain that is not having a dishwasher… that part isn’t so much a pain as a inconvience. I will get over it but I don’t know if my dishpan hands will ever be the same again. Life is really quiet right now and I gotta say I like it like that sometimes. I’m sure something will rear it’s ugly head in dew time but until then lets talk about something else shall we?

**10 minutes later…***

yep I’ve got nothing else…. umm talk amongst yourselves I’m going to go do something else.

It’s after 10 and it’s well past my bedtime but I need to get a few things out there.

1. The new Depeche Mode CD is good… I know most of you think that Depeche Mode sucks… quite frankly that is your problem not mine.

2. I got my new drivers liscence this week so that means that “The Man” knows where I live now. Not like “The Man” didn’t know already… really the Drivers Liscence is more like a recipet that “The Man” is keeping tabs on you.

3. Time to take a quick stock of things

Beer… running low but not dangerous… get more tommrow
Snacks…. Batman Cookiee jar full of halloween candy. we’re good
Abundance of computers…. only 3 of 5 hooked up at the moment. not bad.

I’ve tried to lead my life in way that Karma owe’s me something…. I.e. I help other people so some blonde with big boobs will want to have her way with me… you know that Karma. I was thinking about Karma recently and realized that I’ve cashed in a rather large chunk of Karma recently. I’ve been having a good run as of recently and it didn’t dawn on me that it was enabled by 2 people… I’m pretty sure they know who they are and I know they read this. Thanks guys for making the beginings of a new life possible.

Yes I’m sober…

No I haven’t drank anything in a while…

get off my case will ya.

Seen my copy of Star Wars Episode II “Attack of the clones” I can’t find it with my DVD’s

Reward for who ever finds it…. call Tom for Details.

Amazing… I’ve been living in my new place for just a little over 24 hours and I’m already falling back into my old patterns. I only lived with Krissy and Curtis for 3months but even I’m surprised at how quickly I’ve fallen back into my old patterns.

At least that means that I will once again start posting on a fairly regular basis for your pure drivel enjoyment.

Or this could be a tease 🙂

Anyway in this episode of “One man’s quiet contemplation of all things that are not tied down”

I move into a new house
I learn all about living on a budget again.
New names all around!

So as stated before I’ve moved into a new house, for those of you keeping score this is house #2 in 4 years. That Batcave was home for the longest of any one place other then my parents house. I think I shall call the new house “The Watch Tower” Kingman will forever be the “Batcave” along with the new naming of my houses we should also clarify a few of the existing names that are out there to make sure that things stay straight with everyone.

Curtis’s office = “The Troll Cave” or “The cave” he’s tall like a troll and some might even argue he looks like a troll, it’s Curtis he now has to dial a phone or drive for five minutes to make fun of me.

Matt’s office = “Starfleet command” really do I need to explain this one? Didn’t think so.

Clint’s office = “The play room” he has kids and he has to share his office with them nuff said*

*Even though Clint and Brandi occupy the “Bat cave” there is nothing caveish about them living there.

Changing gears…

So last week I’m having breakfast with everyone down here (Curtis, Krissy, Don, and Bev) and the subject turns to my house. Krissy asks me “So Tom are going to have another bachelor pad or are you going to have a “Big boy house””.

I will give Krissy this she doesn’t beat around the bush with me.

I respond “Big boy house” and then ask her and Bev to help me…. 3 quaters of a football game later they have a list. Curtis and Don goto a sports bar… I go with Bev and Krissy to Ikea… do you know what $600 in Ikea looks like? 2 plastic bags and a bunch of boxes in my garage! I will tell you what though my house is looking damn good. I’m pretty sure they are no where near done (they still have money in the budget). All I have to say is I’m duly immpressed.

So big props to Krissy and Bev.

Watch tower out.

I’ve only met Nick twice… and he only knows me as “Kern’s brother”

Email forwarded to me from Curtis…

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Hey Buddy,

Got your package today. Holy hell, you guys go all out don’t you? This is single-handedly the coolest package I’ve ever recieved. Please give my thanks to everybody who pitched in and tell them they’ve made my life more enjoyable. I truly appreciate this. It couldn’t have come at a better time too… Its been a rough couple of weeks over here. I don’t know if I can ever enjoy fireworks or anything else that makes loud noises ever again. Rest assured that items recieved are tucked away behind a suitable amount of sandbags and hardend structure though. I hope things continue to go well for you and everyone else there in <!– D([“mb”,”Arizona\r\nand hopefully I\’ll join you there soon.

\r\n\r\n

Nick

\r\n\r\n

P.S. The\r\ne-books work fine, I just had to rework the file structure a little bit and the\r\nphoto of all of us in Vegas is my wallpaper now.

\r\n\r\n

P.P.S. Thanks again.

\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n

---

\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n

From: "Curtis Kinney" <ckinney2@cox.net>
\r\nTo: "\’Nicholas Killen\’"\r\n<propatriamori@hotmail.com>
\r\nSubject: Quick question.
\r\nDate: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 09:59:38 -0700

\r\n\r\n

You get any mail lately?

\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n”,0] ); //–>Arizona and hopefully I’ll join you there soon.

Nick

P.S. The e-books work fine, I just had to rework the file structure a little bit and the photo of all of us in Vegas is my wallpaper now.

P.P.S. Thanks again.

I know that I have become acclimated to the valley when it’s 87 out side and I’m thinking to myself “gosh it’s a bit chilly out here maybe I should find a jacket”

Yes folks that is how I know that I have become acclimated. 87 is cold 90+ is long sleeve weather and 100+ is nothing more then a annoyance while moving about my day.

Friday night we (we being the Kinney’s and Currin’s along me and myself (we had to leave I at home they weren’t feeling very well)) went to the Arizona Science Center. The science center is really geared for kids but it’s fun for adults too… Especially when it’s 1. free and 2. They have free food! (yes I know it’s very college of me but remember I’ve been a bachelor for many years now I find real food where ever I can). So there I am going through the science center and they have a exhibit on the human body. I’m looking through it and they have a ultrasound of a human fetus. COOL! Finally working in X-ray department is going to pay off. So I’m standing there looking at the ultrasounds of a unborn baby I see the nose, mouth, eyes, and other parts of the body. As I’m doing this a young 20 something couple comes up behind me and they are looking at the ultrasounds with me and I start pointing things out to them and I not making this next part up.

She says “Is that really a baby?”
Me “yes it is”
She Says “wow that is a really crappy picture, they need to get a better camera”
Me… *Tom says nothing and shuffles away quietly*

After the science center we hit Pizza Bianco…. Apparently it’s one of the places to get pizza… in North America!

You know what I believe it too. That stuff is good.

Now it’s off to look for basketball tickets… seeing as how I live in Phoenix I should probally start taking advantage of the things it has to offer me. 🙂

Kristina just informed me it’s colder outside then it is in the house (it’s 74 outside) I guess I should go find my sweatshirts…

Go see Serenity… if it is the only movie you see for the next three years go see it… I don’t care what your excuse is go see it. If I talk to you and I find out that you haven’t seen Serenity I will start to phase you out with Extreme Predjudice….

OK maybe that is a little harsh…. Maybe I will just put you on friend probation… or just something like that… Just go see it. You need to stop reading this drivel and go watch it!

OK now with the formalities out of the way it’s time to get on with it all. Life’s been good to me things are falling into place nicely down here I’m loving it. Things are going so well for me in fact I’m pretty sure they are going to be coming crashing down on me at any second. I don’t know this for a fact but nothing every goes my way for more then a minute or two before it all goes to crap.

Needless to say the paranoia has not gone away, and I’m still pretty sure everyone is out to get me. I don’t know who everyone is but I know they are out there. I doubt anyone will help me neither will someone they are both pretty unrealiable folks.

It’s pretty safe to say that my mental state still leaves quite a bit to be desired.