Words On Wednesday

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...