Monday, December 31, 2012

List #781: A Few Favorite Things from 2012

A Few Favorite Things from 2012

1. Portland visit in the Summer
2. New Puppy at Mom's House
3. Community, Season 3
4. Return to Ravnica
5. Brussells Sprouts
6. Dad's 60th Birthday Party
7. Boot Hockey at Christmas

Sunday, December 30, 2012

List #780: Goals 2012 Report Card

Goals 2012 Report Card  (see this list)


1. Get back to being in good shape   (OKAY)
2. Read more books (and get caught up with WoT)  (READ MORE, DIDN'T GET CAUGHT UP)
3. Out of bed by 6:05 (EXCEEDED)
4. Bake Muffins  (NO)
5. Be better at my job (SOMEWHAT)

Friday, December 28, 2012

List #779: Winter Sports Engaged In During the Break

Winter Sports Engaged In During the Break

1. Hiking/Dog-walking
2. Boot Hockey (pike lake)
3. Downhill Skiing (spirit mountain)
4. Ice Skating (woodland)
5. X-C Skiing (hartley)

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

List #778: Favorite Christmas Gifts Given This Year

 Favorite Christmas Gifts Given This Year

1. Cajon Bongo (brother)
2. Jingle Bells (sister)
3. Return To Forever CD (dad)
4. Duluth Pack Scout Pack (gf)
5. Story People print (mom)

Thursday, December 20, 2012

List #777: 7 More Favorite 7s

 7 More Favorite 7s  (see list #700)

1. ROY G. BIV (is a colorful man)
2. 7 Samurai
3. The Magnificent 7 (cowboys, not gymnasts)
4. Fmaj7
5. The 7 Kingdoms of Westeros
6. Up
7. "7th of a 7th Son" by Iron Maiden

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

List #776: 5 Reasons I'm Proud to be American

5 Reasons I'm Proud to be American

1. The First Amendment (which allows me to write this list, and, someday, it's counterpoint)
2. The path to our Nation's Capitol building is lined with institutions of learning and repositories of knowledge
3. The ability to vote
4. We invented jazz
5. It is theoretically possible for anyone to find success

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

List #775: 5 Reasons I know I'm a giant child

5 Reasons I know I'm a giant child
1. Construction paper, Crayola crayons and markers are my art supplies of choice
2. I love tag
3. Dinosaurs!
4. I still get super excited on Christmas Morning (and have trouble sleeping on Christmas Eve)
5. I would eat kraft macaroni and cheese for every meal if I were allowed to.

Monday, December 17, 2012

List #774: 5 Reasons I know I'm Old

5 Reasons I know I'm an old man

1. I have no desire to ever drink Mt. Dew again
2. I still think that it's important to read things that are more than 140 characters long, with the purpose of gaining Knowledge
3. People that can't be quiet and sit still for a movie, shouldn't be going to movie theaters
4. I don't think that print Newspapers are obsolete
5. My "phone" makes telephone calls

Sunday, December 16, 2012

List #773: How to Build 100 EDH / Commander Decks


How to Build 100 EDH/Commander Decks*

1. Don't Be Hung Up on Perfection:   Not every deck is going to be an hyper-optimized pile of staples

2. Play "Bad" Cards:  your decks will get boring if every deck has the same staples.  Use this opportunity to try out "less good' cards

3. Proxy (fairly) --  Some cards that are good enough for a lot of decks are big $, and you might not have stacks of them.  To me, fairly means you can proxy something as long as you own at least one copy of it, but no more than 3 non-dual-land proxies per deck.

4. Restrictions = Creativity:  not every green deck need be "Ramp to Fatties". Giving yourself restrictions can lead to more ideas for decks...  Mono-blue beat-down,  creature-less green,  all one-drops, Samurai tribal, Ice Age Block Constructed etc.   

5. Sleeves are for Wimps:  or people with extra time and money to keep decks in the right sleeves.  I'd rather spend money on more cards, than on 10,000 sleeves, but your mileage may vary.

6. Play for Funsies:  see #1.  If you are tournament-hustler Spikey McSpikerson, you're probably only going to optimize one deck to KILL and win all of the prizes and money and glory.  Building in bulk, not all of your decks are going to be optimized to win, (or at least not win in the same old way).  Be happy to play for the game to pull off an awesome play, or be part of epic games, or just to sling cardboard with your friends.

7. Build for Art Sometimes:  an extension of #4.  Some of your decks might be exercises more than anything else. Try building a Rainbow Stairwell, or Tag-Team decks, or 'drafting' out of your deckless-cards (see #9), keeping a few "teaching" decks is a good idea too.

8. Have a Lot of Cards:  it helps if you've already got a ton of cards to build from. any card that isn't in a deck should make you want to put it into a deck or make a deck for it.

9. Play Favorites:  some decks are worth going back and tweaking with the newest cards, others can be built and finished. Keeping all of the decks up to date would be foolish, costly, and time-consuming. On the other hand, keeping a few favorite decks as fresh as possible, is also important.

10. Don't Go Bankrupt Trying to Do it All at Once:  My initial goal was just to have one of each possible combination (including no-color and 4-color). Once that happened I thought about going for two of each legal combination.  The idea of shooting for 100 didn't come up until about #65.

*As of this posting, I have about 80 complete, with 5 more in the works (and 5 more Guild Wars waiting for Gatecrash)

Saturday, December 15, 2012

List #772: Comics I Currently Buy


Comics I currently Buy, in order of excitement to read

1. Fables
2. Invincible
3. American Vampire (and mini-series)
4. Walking Dead
5. Fairest (fables spin-off)
6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 9
7. Angel and Faith (and other Buffy Spin-offs)
8. Uncanny X-force
9. Dial H-for Hero
10. Unwritten
11. Edison Rex (digital)

Friday, December 14, 2012

List #771: Favorite characters on Freaks and Geeks


Favorite characters on Freaks and Geeks

1. Bill
2. Mr. Weir   (because's he's a nuanced TV dad)
3. Nick Andopolous (because one day he became Marshall)
4. Sam Weir
5. Lindsey Weir
6. Daniel Desario  (mostly because of the finale)
7. Mr. Rosso
8. Millie
9.The Gym Teacher  (because he was basically an alright dude)
10. Harris

Thursday, December 13, 2012

List #770: Favorite things to do with Tortilla Chips

Favorite things to do with Tortilla Chips (assuming they will be eaten)

1. Put hummus on them 
2. Melt Cheese on them 
3. Eat rice with them
4. Eat them Plain
5. Salsify them
6. Crumble on top of Mac'n'Cheese
7. Put them in soups
8. Eat all other left-overs with them

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

List #769: A Few Things About the Digital World that Bother Me a Lot


 A Few (among many) Things About the Digital World that Bother Me a Lot

1. the balkanization of media outlets (why can I buy DC comics from comixology's website, but not their "app")
2. privacy vs commerce  (I am Google's product)
3. idiots who write comments on youtube, amazon, etc. (no comment)
4. proprietary formats (this is better)
5. net neutrality being threatened 
6. the appification of the internet and the death of the web. 
7. leasing things in the cloud instead of having them
8. the "bleed" of the major tech companies in their quest for dominance (Facebook should not be a search engine, Google should not be a social networking site,  apple should make cool devices,  Amazon should sell content and products)

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

List #768: 5 Reasons I lost interest in Heroclix


5 Reasons I lost interest in Heroclix

1. too many new sets or different releases of sets
2. too many rule changes (especially the TK rule changes)
3. too many new or more complex special powers
4. too many Must Have pieces as prizes for highly competitive tournaments only
5. E. D. H.