A website dedicate to games of all favors and varieties, from video games to good old D&D.
Saturday, January 6, 2024
Where You Can Find Me
Saturday, December 30, 2023
New Ko-Fi Store
Saturday, September 23, 2023
Topical Topic
I've mentioned my love of Disney. but I have yet to mention my wife's love of Lewis Caroll. When we first met, I pigeonholed her as a non-reader. I was very wrong, she is merely a non-book collector. I was shocked to find that she had read everything by Lewis Caroll, Poe, and T.S. Elliot plus many, many more. She reads something and disposes of the book.
Blasphemy! How could you get rid of books you read and liked? We are still working on this issue.
This is one of those odd times where our interests collide on a topical subject and also highlights the need for patrons of this website.
How do a D&D module, Lewis Caroll, and patrons merge with current events?
AI, of course.
I imagine that most of the people reading this site expect me to produce my own content, with my own opinions no matter how odd or off-beat they may be. It's a matter of getting a different perspective. By way of example, I did a review on dx/db. The author dropped in to say thanks, while some of my readers on social media absolutely hated this title and said so.
Well, I engaged with both and everyone is happy. This website is a service to people of all kinds and perspectives. And I thank them for those differing views.
Let me take a moment to thank some major backers of this website: Blackrazor, Pulp 716, and a co-worker.
Blackrazor provided dozens of games after the house fire. Pulp 716 provided a safe haven for my family after the same. It's a wonderful place to meet up, buy THEN read comics, and relax. And my unnamed coworker provided a fabulous Macbook, which comes in handy for writing posts for These Old Games.
My coworker hit the nail on the head when he asked, "How is that useful? What can you do with a computer too old to connect to the internet?"
The answer to that is easy, I use it to disconnect from the internet. He didn't see the value in that until I showed him my workflow and then it all made sense. Basically, I write my text and note what sort of image I want in my post on the iBook. Then I can sneaker-net a USB drive between computers and use Blogger's integration with Photos to get the images from my phone.
Very rarely do I type directly into the Blogger interface, usually only to change wording or kill a typo not found by Apple Works and whatnot. Today, I tried to use it for speed and ease of use.
Yeah, wrong.
The interface has broken down. I am experiencing a corporate AI takeover. I use Chrome and Blogger plus Grammarly. At some point, the various spell-checking options switched to highly aggressive mode. It's crazy, I can't really type anything in the standard interface without getting a mess of suggestions that make no sense.
I've turned it all off which was about as effective as turning off Skynet was.
On top of this, I have noticed the integration with Photos has gone off, like 6-day-old Chinese food on a soft taco shell. It could work, but I am taking chances.
If I didn't have the refuge of my good ol' iBooks, I'd be screwed.
Sunday, September 17, 2023
What's Up?
Man, things never go the way you expect. Stuff changes.
As you can see, there have been some changes to my website. Minor stuff that I always meant to do.
On the right, I now have a contact form where you can email me directly. Also on the right is a new link to The Magic Candle Company, a product I very much enjoy. We haven't done candles since the house fire, but they carry oil diffusers. If you want the coupon code instead of the link, it is TOGWEB for 15% off.
Other changes since the start of this year have been work-related. We picked up a second home, cute rental property in Clifton Springs near Canandaigua to simplify work travel. It's odd having a landlord again. My wife does travel nursing and this facilitates this. Having a vacation home is pretty cool, too.Canandaigua and Clifton Springs are beautiful places with a rich history and amazing natural resources. There are many homes dating back to the Revolutionary War. They have a game shop called Dork Forest Comics and is just down the street is a sulfur spring. Believe it or not, Elvis, Elizabeth Taylor, and Paul Newman used to visit the sulfur spas.
The springs don't smell all that bad. Being a natural property of the springs the smell ebbs and flows from day to day. It is very pleasant due to the canal-like setting and the wildlife that inhabits the waters.
Now that Bo passed, we discovered we can't do without a rabbit in our home.
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Update From The Real World
We've got about 43 (correction - 56.) days until we return home. Progress is really happening now. We have a heater, walls, floors and now paint. Windows come next week as do cabinets.
It is unbelievable how much work was needed to get this back to livable.
Before | After |
---|---|
Kitchen |
Kitchen (reverse angle) |
Bedroom 1 |
Bedroom 1 |
Living Room |
Living Room |
Dining Room |
Dining Room (Reverse angle) |
Bedroom 2 |
Bedroom 2 |
There was nothing left to take pictures of Bedroom 3 |
Bedroom 3 |
Bathroom |
Bathroom |
As we are coming to the end of this project, my oldest son Paul has stepped in to do the drywall, mudding and painting. My wife picked out the paint colors.