Words On Wednesday

In the wake of Pope Francis's passing, I decided to listen to one of his books in his memory. Like many of my reading decisions, I picked this one up because it was the only audiobook that my local library had available from Pope Francis. At just 5 hours, it seemed like a very digestible approach to the theology and thoughts of the most cultural-friendly Pope that I can remember. Ten-plus years ago, I probably wouldn't have even touched this book. I was much more hostile to Catholicism due to the influence of my church family at the time. In my old age, and having worked with several devout Catholics, I've changed my opinion substantially. You can't really have a theological discussion with someone if you don't actually know what they believe, and Catholicism is so closely related to Protestant Christianity, I was doing myself a disservice to not at least investigate at a cursory level. I won't get into the intricacies of Catholicism vs Protestantism, although t...

Over-the-air television with an antenna may seem old fashioned, but it’s still a thing, it’s still free, and there’s a surprising amount of tech available with it. I recently set up an OTA antenna to feed into Plex, so I can watch local channels at home or anywhere, and I can DVR shows to watch later. It’s awesome. We had TVs with antennas back when I was a kid, but cable television was already more popular. Antennas were for the camper we kept down at Lake Murray, or the rooms that didn’t get as much use at home. Cable TV was the preferred source of entertainment, but cable providers like Charter only allowed so many boxes per subscription. Antennas gave you something to watch, but it was the inferior option. When we sold our house and moved into a camper for a while, OTA TV wasn’t even on my radar. This was in 2022, so cable TV was already on the way out and streaming services were the way most people consumed visual media. Problem is, we didn’t have great internet in the camper. We ...

Another year, another cruise , another bottle of liquor to bring home from the duty free shop on Royal Caribbean's Utopia of the Seas. Name: Pineapple Rum Source: Bacardi Style: Rum ABV: 35% Price: Two for $30 Volume: 1L Price per oz: $0.44 For this new tradition I'm creating, it's standard practice to pick up something from the ship liquor store. The lack of taxes is nice, even if technically I could get it cheaper from some places near home (namely Costco). Last year, I got a bottle of mango tequila, plus a bottle of white rum and a bottle of black rum by Bacardi. This year, we were in a bit of a time crunch to get back to our room and pack, so I just went with Bacardi again. They had the same 2 for $30 deal, and rum is never a bad thing to have. I didn't love the Bacardi black, and the standard "Superior" white you can get anywhere. Instead, I decided to grab one of the fruit flavored options. They had coconut, pineapple, lime, lemon, and raspberry. If I wa...

“ Stardew Valley ” is a farming sim released on all major platforms in 2016. It has an enormous fan base and the retro-styled graphics mean it will run on a potato. This sort of far-reaching influence and recognition is something that most indie titles can only dream of. Does Stardew deserve the following it has accrued, or is this another case of inextricable fame because of the right place at the right time? I first bought Stardew Valley on Steam because I wanted something my Surface Pro 7 could actually play. Eventually, I’ll get that Steam Deck and I’ll have much more powerful hardware that can play much more demanding games. Until then, I’m stuck with basically old emulators and pixel art indie games. Stardew seemed like something worth trying out (especially on sale), so I picked it up. (I did get the Deck , obviously) My youngest saw me playing it, and he was intrigued. Coincidentally, we were also planning on getting Chromebooks for both kids for Christmas, and ChromeOS can...

I mentioned a while back in January 2024  how I really wanted a Steam Deck. It seemed like a dream come true for a traditionally console gamer wanting to dabble in PC gaming. I certainly couldn’t justify the cost of a desktop gaming rig or a higher end laptop, but the Steam Deck is closer in price to (or even cheaper than) consoles. Furthermore, it maintains that console simplicity with SteamOS where you just select a game from your library and install it. Everything about the Steam Deck seemed to be exactly what I wanted, it checked all the boxes. As with any big purchase that I’m considering, I did a deep dive. Buyer’s remorse is awful and I tend to be more able to avoid it by digging in and understanding the product before I buy it. If I realize it isn’t what I need or I don’t want it as bad as I thought, I can pull the ripcord and get out before I’ve spent any money. It isn’t fool-proof, but it’s pretty effective. I looked up reviews. I joined the subreddit. I asked friends wha...

“ Astalon: Tears of the Earth ” is a retro-styled Metroidvania released in 2021. Pixel art is big now, especially with so many indie studios and developers wanting to create games without spending tons of time and money on generating art assets. Plus, the Metroidvania genre is experiencing something of a resurgence lately. With that perfect storm, there are a lot of games LIKE Astalon. What makes Astalon special? Is it worth your attention? I didn’t necessarily come across Astalon by accident, but I certainly wasn’t seeking it out in particular. I had just come off a 100+ hour Skyrim run and needed a palette cleanser game. Metroidvania games in general are some of my favorites, and they’re frequently very short. That makes them perfect between longer and more invested games. With tons of new Metroidvania games out in the past few years, I started looking around for good options in the genre. Lately, I’ve tried to start shifting more of my gaming to PC, but my Surface Pro 7 isn’t very ...