Killing friends and family in a subterranean dungeon

No, I haven't gone insane. Well, perhaps it is insane to be playing Angband again considering I do have a win over Morgoth with a priest. However I couldn't resist the call once I got my new Linux box up and running. I had forgotten how freakin' hard this rogue-like game is.

I feel bad for Dan and Angela, I did kind of kill them stupidly by reading a scroll of monster summoning. As a result, I decided to give Dan the human priest a second try by reincarnating him as Daniel the Dunadan Paladin.

Currently Helen from the pool league in Jacksonville is atop the leader board of my new install of Angband. She had the bad luck of failing three actions in a row while trying to take down an orc captain from an orc pit. I probably should have left well enough alone after taking down some of the easier orcs in the pit and stayed well clear of the captains, however I got overly ambitions after taking one captain down without too much trouble.

If I haven't already killed you off and you have a request for a rogue-like alter ego, let me know and I'll see what I can do. (If it's any consilation, I killed myself by falling into a spiked pit and bleeding to death.)

Helen - High Elf Mage, killed by an orc captain
Meagan - Human Warior, killed by a kobold archer
Randy - Dunadan Ranger, killed by a giant clear centipede
Chip - Gnome Mage, killed by Bullroarer the hobbit
Angela - Elf Ranger, killed by a blue worm mass
Jason - Human Rogue, killed by a hill orc
Suzanne - Human Paladin, killed by Bullroarer the hobbit (I got wishy-washy about wanting to fight or run, and got my sister's alter ego killed by Bullroarer.)
Dan - Human Priest, killed by a wolf

A week of great inertia

I had been doing good about keeping the house clean and accomplishing useful things, however being sick, spending a weekend in Dayton, and drinking about a gallon of coke at a party then not being able to go to sleep until 5AM pretty much thrashed my sleep schedule. I shall endeavor to cook, go to bed at a reasonable hour, and avoid mega doses of caffeine this weekend.

My parents are out of town this weekend, so I'm taking care of the dogs. Perhaps the need to get up on Saturday morning so they don't pee all over the floor will help get me back on track sleep wise.

I'm excited to be working on something new at work. I've been supporting our franchise program for the last year and a half. This April, I'll be working on cross currency reporting. Exchange rates, here I come.

Random kindness - random oops!

I had a coupon for a free sandwich at Chick-fil-a, so I ate there for lunch today.  When I was leaving, I realized that someone was about to back out of their parking spot with a coke sitting on the roof of their car.  I walked over to tell them, and the young lady driving was confused at first, then she realized what I was pointing at.  She had a couple of young kids in the back seat, so I'm sure she just forgot about it getting them into their car seats.

While I was out running errands, I went to Barnes and Noble to use a coupon I had there to get The Watchmen graphic novel.  When I went to pay, it said my card was declined.  At first I was confused because my credit card company had recently sent me a replacement card with a new number.  Then I saw that I had tried to pay with the new card.  When I activated the new card, I swapped the new and the old putting things back in my wallet.  Unfortunately, I shredded the wrong card just a few days back.  I had to call for yet another replacement card when I got back.

Rub some Tussin on It

I believe that the title of this post comes from a Chris Rock comedy skit.  I'll feel bad if I have the wrong commedian, but not overly bad.  Most of last week was lost to feeling miserable, except Wednesday, which was lost to Kroger brand Nyquil.  I must have looked really rough, because the clerk working the U-Scan lane gave me the senior discount.  The fact that I was using the U-Scan lane should have immediately disqualified me though.  There were a dozen seniors waiting in the express lane, but I was able to walk up to an empty scanner and check out immediately.  I'm mostly better now, but I'm still coughing.

Fortress expansion

Well, it's the winter of 203 for my dwarves.  The fortress population nearly doubled in the spring, and with a few births and a few more migrants arriving in the fall, there will probably be nobles showing up in the spring.  I'm not entirely ready for them.  I've also noticed dwarves sleeping in the beds I've laid out to use as hospital beds, so the bedroom situation needs work.

One problem is that even though I've dug out some new bedroom areas, they are still cluttered with stone.  I've hollowed out two otherwise useless areas on the path into the mountain.  One is holding stone, and the other useful garbage.  Even with the extra stone storage, I don't have room to store all my rock.  I'm going to have to work on that.

I've got quite a bit of ore, but I'm low on charcoal to do anything with it.  I'll have to expand my tree cutting and charcoal burning.  One good thing that happened is that I've got an artifact leather shield.  I'm sure that will be useful if I can get someone to wear it.  I did have one dwarf die of melancholy because I didn't have any turtle shell when he wanted to make an artifact.  I've traded for some, so hopefully I won't have to start fishing.  I've got more food than I really need from farming already.

Puttering Around the House

I had a great time last weekend in Dayton.  Chip and I got some useful stuff done around his house, and I got to see my youngest niece Karina.  I'm still quite proud of helping restore Chip's fridge to bachelor status. (see the virtual band post)  However, I'm looking forward to staying at home this weekend.

I'm planning on doing a fair amount of cooking this weekend.  I saw a gumbo recipe on the cooking channel that I have wanted to try for a long time, so I think I'll finally get the ingredients to make that.

I also got a new Linux box up and running recently.  I switched desks between the Linux box and my windows box recently too.  Now that those things are done, I want to get my computer room all cleaned up and organized.  There was no good way to make progress on that while the room was full of boxes of computer parts.

Many fortress milestones

I played a little DF last week, but didn't get my blog entry in.  It is now early winter of the year 202.  The dwarves of Darkbrew the Eyes of Elders have accomplished quite a bit since last I wrote about them.

They constructed a waterwheel, and used it to power gears underground which will eventually power a series of millstones.  They also finished construction of a well, which in addition to providing water to the dwarves, not that they would drink any of it unless they were out of booze or wounded, it makes a much better meeting hall than a tiny dining room.

New migrants arrived in the fall of 202 to push the fortress population to 35.  I appointed a dwarf to serve as sheriff of the growing community.  She's is currently cranky about not having furnished quarters or an office, but she'll get over it.

Finally, the fortress has it's first artifact and legendary crafter.  I've got an artifact quality rock idol, and a legendary stone crafter.  However, not having enough crafters to fully specialize yet, my legendary stone worker is currently weaving thread into cloth.