| One Reason I LIke Baseball... |
[Jul. 10th, 2009|09:56 pm] |
One of the reasons I enjoy baseball is that I like the stories that come from it. Tonight's story was a classic example. Jonathan Sanchez is a young pitcher cursed with carrying the heaviest label of them all: he's a guy with potential. While he's got some wicked stuff, he hasn't been living up to his potential, and the Giants finally pulled him out of the starting rotation and put him in the bullpen a couple of weeks ago or so. They brought up another young pitcher to take Sanchez's place in the rotation and it sure looked like Jonathan had lost his starter's job.
Then Randy Johnson got injured in his start on Sunday. The Giants needed someone to fill in a start, and call on Sanchez to do the job. Tonight, Jonathan Sanchez lived up to every bit of his potential as he became the first Giants pitcher in 33 years to throw a no-hitter. He was so good, he carried a perfect game against the San Diego Padres into the 8th inning, where an error by the 2nd baseman let a runner on base. Sanchez didn't let that throw him; he got the rest of the batters out, behind some excellent defense.
Tonight's story is about redemption, about how a man can step up and make the most of a second chance. I don't know if this is going to be the spur that Sanchez needs to settle down, or if he's going to return to his form as a young guy with a million dollar arm who gets rattled and loses game. Only time will tell us that, and I'm happy to have the chance to see how it plays out.
For now, I'm just thrilled for Jonathan Sanchez; I hope he enjoys his evening of rare accomplishment. Go Giants! |
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| Nights Like This Were Made For Baseball |
[Apr. 22nd, 2009|08:28 am] |
I spent last night at AT&T Park, watching the Giants beat the Padres. It was a beautiful evening, warm but not hot with absolutely no breeze. The flags hung dead on their poles and a heavy air had settled over the field. In spite of that, Edgar Renteria hit a Grand Slam at just the right time (is there ever a bad time for a Grand Slam?), putting the Giants up 5 to 2 over the Pods. The score ended at 8 to 3, a nice victory and two in a row. It's a streak!
Matt Cain started. Our seats are 3 rows up from the pitcher's mound of the Giants' bullpen, and you get a really good look at the pitchers as they warm up from that distance. The Giants ain the bullpen are life-sized and not at all remote, and you could hold a conversation with them, if you knew them. In fact, we got to watch the pitching coach, Dave Righetti, chat a bit with one of the fans in the front row towards the end of the game. That was nice to see; it kind of brought the Major Leagues back down to Earth for me.
Cain was not sharp; I think he put on at least one runner per inning. He went 6 innings, gave up 9 or so hits, 2 runs, and had 5 strikeouts. Fortunately, he had run support and earned the victory.
It was a great night at the ballpark, and I'm looking forward to going back next week. Next time, I think I'll bring my camera so I can take some better photos of the guys warming up.
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| End of the Story |
[Mar. 16th, 2009|08:57 pm] |
I ran the last session of my Balaren campaign yesterday. This segment of the campaign had been running since I moved back to the Bay Area in January of 2006 on a bi-weekly basis (with some notable gaps due to schedules and GM laziness.) I'd been running a story line in the same campaign world for a couple of year before I moved up to Seattle in 2003.
I think it went pretty well and the campaign story came to a nice conclusion. That's often rare in my campaigns; too many times they just kind of come to an end without a resolution. But this time our brave adventurers managed to fend off the horrible, evil bad guys and activate the plot device.
The first part of the run was a fight man fight where I did something I hadn't really done in any previous combats: I actively tried to kill PCs. First, I threw ridiculous foes against them (the first started with two mature adult black dragons [that used the gold dragon write up] and three mind flayer arcane casters on the board, and got worse from there), and then I did things like concentrate attacks, use dragon breath effectively, and brought in reinforcements at the worse times. My players rose to the occasion, and managed to stay alive. Man, they had gotten pretty tough for 12th level characters!
The session/campaign concluded with the PCs discussing if they would use the power of Chrysalis of Chrondell to remake the world and remove the huge mind flayer incursion before it even began or if they would incorporate the power into themselves, becoming new Powers in the world and use that power to sweep the mind flayers and their allies from the board.
In the end, they decided to ascend to Powers, as the consensus was that would have less of an impact on their families, friends, and beloved kingdoms than would going back in time and remaking the world. It was an interesting bit of roleplaying to end what was an excellent game and I'm glad it worked out they way it did.
The photo is a snap of the battlemat as it was when the party entered into their timeless moment after activating the Chrysalis. Both of the dragons were still up, as were two of the mind flayers, a beholder, and a couple of annoying human type fighters. The PCs were really low on heal spells and "come back from the dead" tricks. I think the tide would have started to turn in my favor in a couple of rounds had they not risked activating the dingus.
Thanks to all who played in the campaign. I'm noodling on a new setting, and I hope to be back running in a couple of months.
Farewell, Balaren... you were a good campaign.
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| Comedy Show to Benefit Child's Play This Saturday in San Francisco |
[Dec. 2nd, 2008|08:30 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Mountain View, CA | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | awake | ] |
| [ | music |
| | All the Way From Memphis -- Mott the Hoople | ] |
My friend, Jeff Reitman, wanted me to pass this announcement along. I've seen Jeff perform, and he's a very funny man. (I've also worked with Jeff at Monolith and LucasArts, where he was also a very funny man.) I'm planning on going, and I hope to see some of you there.
Hey everyone,
My friend Jeff Reitman (a programmer at LucasArts) wanted me to pass this along. I’m planning on going; I’ve seen a few of Jeff’s shows and he’s a funny man. The other comics on the bill are good too.
This is going to be a great show with all the profits going to Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity. The comic lineup is even better than last time. If you want to buy tickets with a credit card, please buy them online and early. You actually end up saving $0.11 or something trivial like that.
What: Cross Platform Comedy 2 Ultra Mega Extreme
When: THIS Saturday, Dec 6th, 7pm
Where: 414 Mason St 5th Floor (Door is to the left of the Ruby Skye door)
Cost: $12 > $7 goes to Child's Play Charity
Tickets: Brown Paper Tickets - This link should work
Website:
About the Comics:
Jeff Reitman created Cross Platform Comedy to allow the gamer community to be able to laugh at itself. Credits include Rooster T Feathers Comedy Competition and performances at 750 Pub, The Clubhouse, and the Seattle Comedy Underground.
Adam McLaughlin is co-producer of Scantily Clad Comedy @ The Clubhouse and was a finalist in the Rooster T Feathers Comedy Competition.
Joe Klocek has been seen on Comedy Central's, Live at Gotham and Last Comic Standing. Check out his web site, standupjoe.com or on YouTube
Tom Anderson One of the funniest new comics to come on the scene in the last year, Tom talks about his life as an aging nerd.
Luke Lockfeld A 14yr old kid with a mouth like a sailor! Is currently filming a reality show.
Sammy Obeid performs on the CoExist Comedy Tour and was a finalist in the Rooster T Feathers Comedy Competition. |
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| 16 Cases of Wine |
[Nov. 27th, 2008|04:33 pm] |
My sister, brother-in-law, and I went up to Sonoma yesterday to do some wine tasting. At the end of the day, we had 16 cases of wine in the back! It wasn't totally our fault; while we were there, we picked up a bunch of wine we had purchased through a friend who works for a winery. Still, it was a fine sight and we were reassured with the knowledge that if we became marooned in Marin, at least we have plenty of wine. 
Posted via LiveJournal.app. |
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| Pride and Shame |
[Nov. 5th, 2008|09:56 am] |
Today, I am proud to be an American. I'm proud to have been part of this historic* election and I'm proud that the majority of my fellow citizens stood up and were counted for Barak Obama. I'm eagerly awaiting the next 4 years. I don't know what they will bring, but I know we'll be heading in a different -- and better, I hope -- direction than the course my nation has been sailing.
Today, I am ashamed to be a Californian. I am appalled that a majority of my fellow Californians would vote to support something that deprives other human beings of the right to choose their mate and have that recognized in a legal manner. I'm appalled that these people are bringing their religion into my government, despite the clear separation of church and State. And my heart aches for all of those who are affected by this, who must feel like they are being treated like second class citizens. I did what I could to help defeat this hateful Proposition 8, but obviously all of our efforts weren't enough. I hope there are other avenues to pursue that will render Prop 8 invalid or meaningless.
Today, I am proud to be a San Franciscan. We had a City Initiative to rename a sewage treatment plant in honor of President George W. Bush. This was a typical bit of liberal wacko thinking that's really just expressing sour grapes. That man does not deserve any memorial that's going to preserve his name, no matter how it's intended. I'm glad the the citizens of my city voted this one down.
I am also relieved that this obscenely long election cycle is finally behind us and we can ignore that stuff for a year or so... until the next one. |
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| Adieu, Anjou, Adieu |
[Sep. 12th, 2008|10:04 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  nostalgic | ] |
Anjou, one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco, closes its doors for good tomorrow. It's sad; Anjou was my go to place for dininig with friends around Union Square and was also one of parent's favorite places. I also enjoyed recommending it to friends who were looking for an excellent bistro for a special meal.
My parents and I enjoyed our last meal at Anjou on Tuesday. Though they had less than a week to go, Anjou was firing on all cylinders. The place was full; I think there were a lot of customers saying good-bye with a meal. I started my dinner with some excellent artichoke and roasted pistachio soup, which was a smooth broth made without any cream. It was like the essence of artichoke, green and flavorful. I also split the Toasted Brioche of Duck Foie Gras with Heart of Leek Salad and Sautéed Apples with my mother (hey, she offered and I never turn down foie gras). Ah, tasty and rich, the sautéed apples provided a nice sweetness to counterbalance the dish. It was a tough choice, but selected the Confit of Duck Leg with Sautéed Wild Mushrooms, Frisee Salad, and Sautéed Rousset Potatoes. As you may know, I'm a big fan of duck, and I love confit. So healthy, so good for you, so tasty. Well, one of those is true! I finished off with the cheese course, which consisted of a nice brie, a blue, and a slice of Petit Basque, which is one of my favorites. I also had half of a raspberry tart foisted on me by my mother. (I didn't protest too hard, even though I was planning on skipping the sweet course.)
It was a good meal in excellent company, a fitting farewell. Now I need to find a replacement bistro. |
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| Back to the Basics: Roasting Coffee |
[Sep. 6th, 2008|02:44 pm] |
Since it is "beastly hot" outside (which means about 85 degrees here in San Francisco), I decided it was a good day to roast some coffee beans. I hadn't done that in a while; I didn't realize quite how long it had been until I looking at my roasting log and saw that the last time I had roasted some beans was well over a year ago!
My stash still holds a lot of green beans, so I pulled out some Brazilian I'd gotten a little while back and set up the HotTop and got the whole production rolling. Fortunately, I still remembered the moves and after about 25 minutes of setting up the equipment, weighing the beans, warming up the roaster and roasting, I had a half-pound of very nice looking coffee bean, roasting to a just-about perfect Full City+ roast.
I suspect that much of my green bean supply has gone "sacky" as some of it is quite ancient at this point. I should probably toss what I have, hop over to Sweet Maria's website and restock with some fresh greens.
I'm really looking forward to giving it a try on Monday. |
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| My First D&D 4th Edition Game |
[Aug. 30th, 2008|03:45 pm] |
I ran a one-shot 4e game last night for my friend ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) codrus, animated_max, seathan, Ray, and Garry. I've been playing in a 4th Edition game run by the excellent Dave Eckelberry and I wanted to give running the system a try. I created a little setting, wrote up a adventure designed to get the characters from 1st level to 2nd level (if we could get through it all), and did some prep work.
I found the prep work a lot of fun! I like the mechanics of building encounters; the system in 4e seems a lot easier than dealing with CRs as in 3/3.5. And it was a blast working up people's characters for them, printing up ability cards, and getting everything ready for a mixture of new and semi-experienced players. I also really like the concept of skill challenges and threw a couple of those into the adventure. Not for role playing situations; I think those should be handled by the players actually role playing, perhaps backup by skill rolls if needed. But I threw in a tracking challenge and a digging challenge, just for fun.
I really like the way treasure is apportioned in 4e; it makes a lot of sense and was pretty easy to do. It was fun picking out magic items that would be useful to the party, both for specific characters and in a general sense. And again, I enjoyed creating the magic item cards to hand out to the players when they found the loot; it reminded me of the old "card items" from our early D&D games.
( I'm going into a long, semi-detailed write up of the game, for some reason. Under a cut to prevent boring people who don't care. )
We all had a good time in the game. I really liked running 4e and I look forward to doing so again. I'm starting a game up at work for some of my fellow designers at NCsoft and I'm looking forward to that.
My take-aways:
- Print out the monsters. It's easier to run them that way rather than constantly be flipping back and forth in the monster manual.
- Make sure to get role-playing involved in the skill challenges, otherwise they are just borning die rolling exercises.
- Using status markers for things like marking opponents helps remind the players to use those abilities.
- The game flows well, and combats are fun.
- Prepping for runs is still a bunch of work but a heck of a lot of fun. (OK, so I'm weird that way.)
- I like the feel of the new magic items.
Yeah, I've rambled on way too long on this. That's about it. More thoughts about 4e as I have them. |
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refreshed
pissed off