Words On Wednesday

…he’ll ask for an absurdly hard to find game. And much like the children’s story about a mouse and a cookie, there were a lot of steps before we reached a resolution. This all started a few months ago when I was playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest. There was a puzzle in the spirit temple that I couldn't figure out, so I looked up some video guides to find the answer. One video in particular, part of a let's play series by ZeldaMaster, was super helpful and he had finished the entire game. If I ran into more problems, I would just check out his videos to find the solutions. The kids really liked his video, so they kept watching the series. This ended up helping me, because I got stuck a few more times in the spirit temple (worst temple in the game) and they actually remembered what he did to get through. I didn't even have to watch the videos myself. After they finished the let's play series for Master Quest, they still wanted more material. Fortuna...

A lot has happened with Runescape since the last time I  posted about it , over 3 years ago. I got max skills, a new skill came out, and then I got max again. The mobile beta that I was playing on saw a full release. It’s been a good time. Now, bear in mind, this post is written WAY before being published. As my previous post indicated, I’m writing way ahead just because I have the time available. These details are based September 3, 2021 and the status of my account then. I can’t tell you where I’ll be once the post is public. So, where am I now? My total level is 2865/3055 and I have both Magic and Invention at 200m experience. All of my skills are at least 99, and I’m working on getting skills to 120 when that provides extra benefit. Beyond working on those skills, I try to continue making enough money to afford bonds. Compared to the most recent post, the way I play the game isn’t even the same anymore. I started at first with a single bond, and then I ramped it up to groups of...

I normally gravitate toward large bottles of liquor for better value, but there is a time and place for shots or mini bottles. The place is here and the time is now. Let's talk about the party bucket from 99 Brand. A coworker was telling me about a recent time when he had some friends over and they got a bunch of different alcohol to try. His personal favorite was a pack of 99 proof mini bottles in a variety of flavors. He claimed they were super cheap (like a buck per bottle) and really good, which is really the name of the game for me. I was really curious to try them for myself. Normally the price per volume of mini bottles makes them cost prohibitive for me, especially if it's something I'd like a full fifth of anyway. The justification here is the plethora of flavors available here, and the fact that I live in a camper right now making storage space a premium. Mini bottles are tiny, hence the name. One recent trip by the grocery store (yesterday), I decided to stop by ...

My posts have been mostly consistent lately, but I’m afraid that probably won’t last much longer. Confession, I’ve been writing a bunch while working my notice at Michelin. I was still satisfying my job requirements, but naturally I had less work to do while I was wrapping up my time with the company. As such, I had a pretty good amount of time available for other things. Days when I was in the office, I couldn’t do any work around the house, but I could still write. So I wrote, and I wrote, and I wrote. Pretty much everything posted between September 2021 and now was composed during that window. But I had the opportunity, so why not? Problem is, I’m writing this on my last day with Michelin. I start my new job on Tuesday. I can’t know how much spare time I’ll have with the new job, but I have to assume it won’t be as much as I have right now. Given the situation, I’m expecting I’ll slow or even stop posting again very quickly. I didn’t post at all between December 2020 and June 2021. ...

That is the question. I like being on the water. Whether it’s cruising around on a pontoon, or getting pulled behind a boat on a float of some sort, I just enjoy lake life. So much, in fact, that I’ve considered buying a boat through the years. Every few years, we rent a boat on Lake Jocassee for a day in the summer. We’ll invite several people, cruise around the lake, and turn it in at the end of the day. It isn’t cheap, a rental seems to go for about $500 per day, plus fees for accessories and junk. The cost is easily worth it, especially if you have multiple people chip in. I considered, though, what if we just bought a boat? If you buy a boat, you make payments on it until you own it, and then it’s yours. Eventually, that cost probably evens out and you’re in for cheap lake days for life. You pay for gas, and I guess that’s it. And then, we could go out on the lake whenever we wanted, without that steep cost for the rental. I ran this idea by a coworker who owns a boat, and he actu...

These canned cocktails are EVERYWHERE now, but are they any good? In my experience, yes, but not quite as good as the real thing. They are undeniably drinkable. They are even close to the flavor of the drink they're trying to imitate. I spoke a while back of the Bud Light Mixx Tail, and these are even closer. With the Mixx Tail, you can see what they were trying to get at. Most of the canned cocktails I've had, I'd say it's very clear what the drink is supposed to be and it's pretty close. I worried at first that most of them would taste like a very synthetic form of the intended cocktail. In at least most of the versions I've tried, that isn't the case. My first exposure was the Jack Daniel's Whiskey & Cola. I feared it would taste like it was trying to be a Jack and Coke, but no, it genuinely tasted like a pretty strong pour of Jack and Coke. Now, mind you, we have to look at the companies who make these drinks. Mixx Tail was made by Budweiser, a b...

When you get the opportunity to do something new or scary, don’t let fear hold you back. Go for it, take the plunge, and jump. Our seventh grade class field trip was to Earthshine Lodge , in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. One of the activities we got to participate in was a ropes course. There were several segments to cross between trees, before reaching a rope swing from one platform to another. After the rope swing were a few more tree segments, and a final zipline back down to the ground. I made it through the first segments of the ropes course without any problems. Even without any athletic ability to speak of, I could make it from tree to tree. Everything went fine until I got to the rope swing. The gap wasn’t extremely far, and participants were secured with a harness, but I simply wasn’t confident in my ability to make it across, or the guide’s ability to catch me. There was an exit from that platform back down to ground level, and I took that exit from the course....