Parentheticals

The Polynesia Vassal module is coming along nicely. I have a version that is for public consumption. It can be downloaded here . It is not entirely 'polished', but I believe that you could play a game with it. In order to test it out, all you have to do is download the module, and the latest version of Vassal (which is available free online). We have been drying apples recently. We got some more grapes and now we are trying to make raisins. They look totally gross so far. Baby Andrea has started walking around and kicking things. We have a big inflatable ball for her to kick, but she kicks other stuff too. It is fun to watch her. Just last night I was pumping up my bike tire and she was outside with me in the front yard. She would walk to the front door and then look in at Alison. She would then laugh and walk back to me. She loves walking in the leaves (and laughs when she does it). She is such a cutie.

This week I started making a Vassal module for Polynesia. It is not at a playable state yet, but it seems to be coming along. I will post it when it gets somewhere. We made 52 quarts of grape juice over this last week. Alison also picked apples for us, and we are going to be drying them over this upcoming week. I played a Polynesia game yesterday at work over lunch. Andrew (one of our QA) had an idea about making military more likely to win you the game, and I am looking into it. We went to the book sale on Tuesday and got some books. One book in particular was a fun find: Yotsubato. This manga was written by Kiyohiko Azuma the same guy who wrote Azumanga Daioh. It is a fun little story about a young girl who explores her world and discovers new things. Baby Andrea is doing well (though she does still wake up too early some days). She just got a new fork and spoon that are the right size for her, and she is able to eat things very well. I considered briefly having another...

Another big week is ending. I attended the Sort technology conference this week. It was fun. I got to learn about some cool new technologies. I have posted a new version of Polynesia in Picasa and Google Docs (for those of you who are interested. Whiro was updated, all the walls were made weaker, and the artwork was made more easy to see (specifically the defense values of the cards). We picked grapes twice for a few hours (but have not yet picked them all). This weekend perhaps we can do that. After we are done, we will make grape juice :) We didn't have a role playing game this weekend - it was delayed again. I am also starting to plan my NaNo novel. It will involve a pseudomancer, a mentally disturbed fairy, a bard that is useless (but everyone loves due to a curse), and multiple people trying to get multiple people cast out of power. hopefully it will be fun. Baby Andrea went to the doctors, and they said that she is not putting on as much weight as is usual. They said i...

This weekend we watched general conference at the Poulson's house. It was fun. There were lots of good talks. Baby Andrea slept horribly throughout the whole thing, however, and that made it tough for the adults to sleep as well. Work on the server is moving along. I have installed the Gentoo and got it to serve web pages and update dyndns with its new ip address whenever it changes. I still need to drive down to my parents house and install the server in their basement. When that is done, I should have a faster server, and perhaps my website will run more smoothly. I have not done any work on the card game recently. I am also not really working on the MSV much (I am thinking about making a new serializer, but I have not actually started it yet.) I have mostly just been reading. Finally, I remembered that I was supposed to be transferring VHS videos to DVDs for various people. I am going to get back to work on that shortly.

Those of you who have been trying to access my website know that it has been down for a few weeks. I am currently working on replacing the hardware for it (I have wanted to upgrade it for a while, and since it is down anyway it seems like a good time to do it). Baby Andrea can now walk most of the length of a room, and she walks of her own accord now (without us coaxing her). She is still kinda wobbly, but she is carrying things and feeling pretty confidant. We had a busy weekend. We went to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, had a primary activity, Alison went to the general Relief Society broadcast, and we had one of those sacrament meetings where the primary all get up and sing (Alison had to help the kids as she is in the presidency). The card game is moving along like usual. It looks like I won't be getting to do any play-testing in the near future, though. Perhaps Ryan will do some for me, though. I also just read Dark Lord of Derkholm. It wa...

Yesterday baby Andrea stood up by her self and took 8 steps four times. She stood up by herself numerous times, and even walked with objects in her hands. It looks to me like she has figured this walking thing out :). I have finished the artwork for the cards, (and re-did it all once). They look pretty good (if I do say so myself.) For those who want to see them, they are posted in picasa. I am hoping to get some more playtesting done soon (but can't really trust that I will be able to do it during general conference cause my parents are out of town, and I don't know what people are planning on doing). Now that the card pictures are completed, I am considering going back to my Mandelbrot set viewer. I will probably begin to code more for it soon. Also, recently we made apricot granola. (We replaced the honey with apricot jelly so that Andrea could eat it.) It ended up being very tasty.

Poor baby Andrea has caught a virus. The doctor says that she is no longer contagious, and should be getting better, but she had a temperature of 103 and has a rash. She slept almost all of Saturday, and was fussier than usual Sunday. Hopefully the worst is over. Role playing this Saturday went pretty good. they talked to an alien for the first time (in the aftermath of a huge alien attack). The alien's biting friend was returned, and the alien said that he would return later. I didn't plan on having the alien conversation so early, but it seemed like the right time, so it happened. I have started to work on images for the card game. Here are some small versions of them: