86 thoughts on “11/19/2014 – Coffee and Chicory”

  1. Do any of y'all have suggestions on webhosting? I'm looking to host my own site, but I'd rather not give go-daddy any money.

    1. I have heard good things about HostGator, but I have no idea how competitive their pricing is or anything of the sort.

    2. Squarespace is outstanding. It's both a platform and a host, and while quite robust it's still exceptionally easy to use and manage. I use it for my (currently neglected) site, and I recommended it to my mom for the small business she manages. She had never done any kind of web development before, but using Squarespace was a cinch for her. Squarespace is particularly attactive for people presenting any kind of visual content (photographers, chefs, artists, etc).

      If you're looking for a domain registrar, I recommend Hover. They don't do any of the shady stuff hosts like GoDaddy or 1and1 do, and they have great customer support.

    3. I use Dreamhost for my hosting and they're great. Squarespace CH mentioned above is also really good. An added benefit of Squarespace is their templates. Dreamhost is good if you're staying from scratch and building your site yourself.

      Either way, avoid GoDaddy.

        1. Same here - I like the TC on the cap - the rest is disastrous.

          Lowest team in the division should have to wear a rope belt.

          1. The outlined TC?
            Or the old classic Killebrew/Oliva/Carew TC?

            They should break out black alternates and just pull the plug on my fandom now.

  2. Today I'm expecting three new board games in the mail. Just in time to introduce to the family for Thanksgiving.

    Splendor is a game for 2-4 players. You collect gems in the form of poker chips and use those to collect cards which have more gems and victory points. Played a couple weeks ago at FlatCon and really enjoyed. I think the kids will like this as well. Very colorful.

    Forbidden Desert is a cooperative game for 2-5 players. You've crash landed in a desert and need to find the parts to your airship before the storm overtakes your party. Very similar to Pandemic. I think the kids will enjoy this one a lot as well.

    Bora Bora is a worker placement / resource management game for 2-4 players. From popular (and my favorite) designer Stefan Feld, your goal is to get victory points by building huts all over the islands, get men and women to your tribe and a number of other tasks. This has become a fast favorite of mine over the last 6 months. It was on sale for $25 on Amazon and I had to jump on it.

    Let's just say that I'm wishing my day away so that I can get home and play.

    1. Is Forbidden Desert from the same makers of Forbidden Island? I got together with my curling team before the season started and played that (comically, at a bar) and it was a good time. We even managed to achieve victory on our first try.

      1. I believe so. I haven't played Forbidden Island, but I often see them together and in similar packaging.

        1. They are indeed from the same place. I got my sister Forbidden Island and a year or so later, she got me Forbidden Desert. They have certain similarities (capture treasures to escape before x happens), but the mechanics are enough different that they are both interesting. The consensus around the z house is that the Desert is a bit more fun (and less stressful), as the board does not physically disappear as you play.

      2. Forbidden Island is a ton of fun. I wish I could get people to play it more often. Collaborative games generally appeal to me more than ones that are strictly competitive.

    2. I haven't played any of these. Looking forward to hearing how they play. I feel like I need a new game or two. It's been a while.

      1. Here's my shameless plug: Sentinels of the Multiverse. It's a cooperative card game that's modeled off of comic books. The creators have lore for this entire universe set up, and there's actually a story that kind of unfolds through the different settings for the expansions. Anyway, while that's certainly cool, it wouldn't matter if the game didn't rule and oh my heavens does it rule. It plays 2-5, and the more the better.

        Each player selects a hero, each of whom has their own deck and own very unique play style (for example, one of the characters requires you to play cards as "modules," which allows him to deal damage to others when he deals damage to himself, another needs you to basically discard as many cards as possible to get a chance to use a super powerful attack, in one of the expansions there's a "hero" where you have to play 4 separate characters simultaneously). You also select a villain, who has their own deck, and a location, which has its own deck. Essentially, you have to work together as a group to defeat the villain and stave off any negative impacts of the environment. The villains and environments are as unique as the characters, so every game is very different.

        The best part about it, to me, is that when you play a game, it feels like a battle that would take place in a comic book. Sometimes it feels like you're in control, sometimes it feels like you're rallying to beat the villain. It takes about two or three turns for the game to really click, but once it does it's just a blast to play. My buddy owns hundreds of board games, and we go back to Sentinels constantly. It's easily my favorite of the games we've played.

        1. Speaking of card games... Spooky? It'd be awfully nice to have that for when I'll be seeing family around Thanksgiving?

        2. I've heard Sentinels mentioned on Dice Tower quite a bit. I'm interested in playing it, but none of my friends have it. Oh well, maybe at Geekway next year.

    3. One of the reasons Thanksgiving weekend is one my favorites of the entire year is our annual Friday evening gathering with friends to play board games and eat tacos. It lasts late into the night and is always a great opportunity to try new games.

      I'll be bringing Suburbia with me this year. Municipal planning probably doesn't sound like the most exciting framework for a game, but the (often amusing) hidden goals and high variability of play instantly made this game one of my favorites.

      1. Last year at Thanksgiving, my BiL and I completely ruined a game of Suburbia just to mess with my brother. I, running a town I christened "New Birmingham" had concentrated largely in manufacturing and he in cheap housing over in "New Detroit" Once our towns touched, we formally announced the merger of our towns and formed the new town of "New Birmingtroit". Article I of the new town charter was "Suck it, Boog." as there was nothing in the rules that said we couldn't. And he looked for a long time.

        Needless to say, the combined might of New Birmingtroit was no match for Boog and his - then - girlfriend - now - fiancée.

        1. This sounds like something I need to try out.

          Also reminds me a bit of a recent game of Settlers I had. I've been playing it for years, and I've never won. I came close once, but it was not to be. However, last time I played I was getting smoked but ended up holding all of the power over the two guys who were 1 and 2. I held the largest army, with one guy one card behind me, but I also had a stockpile of about three army cards. I also had a near monopoly on a resource (I think it was sheep) that the other guy needed to use to win. I toyed with both for about five or six turns before deciding to let the one guy get the largest army and win. I've never had more fun losing a game than that.

    4. Assuming I get back home one day, one of the first orders of business will be to get a game thing going. I mean, I run my own online constantly, but I need some in-person stuff.

    5. My mom got Qwirkle a few years ago and I found it awesome.
      Kind of like Rummikub where tiles can be in two sets at the same time.
      And Scrabble-y in that there has to be somewhere to put the tiles.

  3. It's been a hard couple of days for The Girl around here. She's pretty tightly wound to begin with, and the self-induced pressures of college application season have gotten to her, leaving her a crying mess. The Mrs. and I are kind of at our wit's end, and are looking for a counselor. First-world problems, I know, but very real nonetheless.

    1. I can already tell, based on the trinket's developing personality, that this will be a similar thing that I will most likely have to deal with in 15 years. I can't wait! (Maybe the FAFSA process will be less stupid by then, though, so I won't also have to be reduced to a crying mess.)

      1. Skim isn't wound tightly enough. She's apathetic and disorganized, and forgets her homework at school at least once a week. Her younger sister is the example to follow at the moment.

        1. Apathetic and disorganized pretty much describes me in a nutshell. It makes life as an adult a lot more challenging than it needs to.

    2. I know a pretty tightly wound seven year old. I've decided that my mission in life is to help her loosen up just a little bit.

      1. What if, hypothetically, someone had a tightly wound three year old but is also a tightly wound father? Hypothetically.

        1. The father should be able to relate to the three year old and through his own experiences help her to unwind a little. And maybe, just maybe, seeing the daughter struggle with this stuff can help the father deal with the tight winding himself. Not that I would know anything about such matters.

          I have said many times that by the time my daughter is 12, she will be completely assimilated into my way of thinking. People have laughed at that and misunderstood what I was saying. I didn't mean that we would agree all the time, but that her thinking processes would mirror mine.

          It's not going to take that long. She is so much like me, I can't believe it. It's like I'm raising myself all over again, female version. In some ways, though, she seems to be passing me. She's a gifted ice skater, and she's really taken off with piano lessons. She practices both more than I ever would have at her age. She's just so focused on her "things" and she's quite dedicated and serious about both skating and piano.

          Here's the best thing: my wife always gives me grief about my spreadsheets that I use to keep track of things. Miss SBG doesn't know about them, but the other day, she made a little hand drawn chart that tracked her progress as a skater. It was a thing of beauty. It was something I would have done. She is a better me, female version. I might have said that before.

          1. The Girl, according to the Mrs, already mirrors me in a lot of ways. But not the same, Because Female.

            No offense to our distaff Citizens, but there are real differences in how men and women, boys and girls deal with emotions and with The Other. It's like the male and female sides of the One Power -- I can't ever see or understand the female side being wielded, but I can certainly see the effects.

            1. My wife has a very difficult time dealing with my daughter because although they are the same gender, they are profoundly different personality-wise. My wife was expecting a kindred spirit; she didn't get it. I have a much easier time with her because gender differences aside, we are quite similar and our thought processes are very much the same. Yep, there are gender differences and I am sure they will become more pronounced as she matures, but the core attributes of Miss SBG's personality are very similar to mine. So, me, female version.

              'Spoiler' SelectShow
          2. Good advice. Its really hard to relate to a three year old (as I know most of you are aware), but I'm trying. Dinner time is a particular sticking point for me.

          3. My wife always gives me grief about my spreadsheets that I use to keep track of things.

            Hey, me too! Fortunately, I can stop making spreadsheets whenever I want (I just don't want to).

              1. Spreadsheet Winners!

                Couple of weeks ago I made a graph on my swimming distances over the last two years. Because Excel!

                1. One reason I don't want to upgrade iTunes: i understand that I can't copy playlists to spreadsheets.

    3. First-world problems, I know, but very real nonetheless.

      No doubt and, boy, do I see this coming down the pike. Our oldest daughter turned eight this year and the dramatic emotional swings are already taking my breath away. One minute, her room is declared a "daddy free zone" and 10 minutes later she's sitting next to me on the couch reading a book. Roller coaster.

    4. As I have not raised children and am unlikely ever to do so, I have no advice to offer. I can tell you, though, that it appears to me that lots of imperfect parents raise children who turn out to be just fine. Hang in there and do your best. Chances are, it will all work out.

    5. Awwww, good luck to her! I've always found impending transitions stressful and difficult (and often tearful), though they're a lot better now than when I was younger. I saw a psychologist before starting college--all it took was a couple visits, and it was very helpful in calming me down.

      Because I have never met a problem that I won't attempt to solve with a book, I wonder if she might enjoy Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham. I'm partway through it and just keep thinking, "where was this book when I was 16?" It may or may not be for her, but I find it to be a refreshingly honest and funny take being female, ambitious, confused, and much more.

      1. Read quite a few good reviews of Dunham's book - was thinking about getting it for my wife for her birthday.

    6. What a timely share.
      My boy, 8, was given an autism spectrum diagnosis years ago. Wishfully, perhaps, we are often able overlook the diagnosis part and he can do most things mainstream with little difficulty at first glance, but if you observed him and weren't aware, most of the time you'd think he was just a jerk. That doesn't help
      He loves music and performing and is in the midst of a tech week before their school's performances this weekend, but it has become painfully obvious how different he actually is as the only child not able to cope with the lights, props, direction in a new environment. This greives the wife something terrible and she's finding it exhausting to deal with as it's obvious he doen't have the necessary energy and executive function to keep it together. Most days he can barely get through his homework without despair, and this looks like it's just too much, even though he's involved in something he loves. He might grow used to the situation by the end of the week and be just fine, but I don't know if my wife will make it through in one piece.

      1. I'd like to say something supportive but it almost feels like breech of confidentiality or something.

        For everyone else here, the WGOM has intersected with real life: I'm Zee Germansohn's Cub Scout Den Leader.

    7. Our son is 11 1/2 and running straight headlong into adolescence. He's challenging us on so many fronts, actually more my wife than me. What gets me is that his whole life he's been our guinea pig on how to parent. With all the others we sort of have things figured out since we've gone through that age with him. Lucky him, he's the one we mess up while we figure it out.

  4. RANT SelectShow
    1. It just works. SelectShow
      1. I've had basically no problems with my iPod or iTunes for the longest time. Hence my not wanting to "up"grade.

    2. Potential solution: Add stupid new iTunes to old hand-me-down netbook. Use that to get iPad working again.

      1. I just copied a playlist from iTunes to an xcel spreadsheet. No problems, rows and columns intact. What problems you having? I admit I like the older version(s) better but I haven't experienced any thing that can't be overcome with familiarity.

        1. I don't know, I haven't moved to new iTunes.
          Since the change, Bootsy's moved to pasting his FMD random 10 as images,

  5. If you once donned a Twins uniform, you get a job

    Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino
    Per @Charley_Walters, #MNTwins will name Eddie Guardado as new bullpen coach.

    1. Souhan must be happy. He championed for Guardado as the bullpen coach, Morris or Blyleven as the pitching coach, and Gladden as the outfield coach.

      1. Gladden as a coach makes me laugh. He probably could do it, but that would mean giving up going to Strugis.

        I guess I dont mind the Guardado hire, but would love to see someone from way on the outside come in. Maybe they have had talks with folks and turned the Twins down. I dunno.

  6. Shat is still the world's greatest thespian, but the tv performance of the year has to be Tim Duncan's "week of greatness" Footlocker performance. Stunningly great. Acting coaches will use it as a model for the art for decades.

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