Tuesday, August 30, 2005

mmmm...mindless entertainment

Doom Trailer

Aeon Flux Trailer


Both of these movies look awesome. I love movies like this. AVP, Resident Evil, they are all good. I especially like the FPS view of Doom. I know some people are going to get motion sickness, but for those of us that were brought up to learn to move with the controller, this is going to be heaven. I just have to remember not to move too much in my seat and try and look around the corners.

Monday, August 29, 2005

Sam to fight terrorists

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/reuters/0,24012,1098649_10_0_,00.html

If I knew better, I would have made that a proper link. Maybe they'll have some rudy/hobbit/goonies jokes.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Happiness Is...


Kirk
Originally uploaded by TheGirard.
Happiness is sitting down to design a specific top down card...

then inspiration strikes and the gametext matches the persona of the card

then you find an image that matches the point in time that you are trying to capture

and you get the piece of lore that goes ties everything together

Finally, you have a card that both fans and players will look at and go, "wow, I get what that card is all about, I remember that point in the movie and this just fits it all around."

It's moments like this that keep me in this industry and that keep me sane.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

I'm it!!!

So a connoisseur gave me a dollar bill and told me to go stick it in her g-string. Or rather, I've been tagged...

Ten years ago, 1995-08-24:
Wow, I guess this puts me just over 3 months since my cancer surgery. My strips should have fallen off by now and the scar is starting to take it final shape. I have done no physical activity since before my 17th birthday and am feeling pretty depressed at this point. I guess I'm also sort of chasing a girl named Heidi Steinmetz about this time as well. I never did get with her and pretty much gave up about 4 months later.

Five years ago, 2000-08-24:
This would put me right in the thick of trying to get geared up for Dcon 2k. It was to be held in Orlando Florida. I really didn't have my deck figured out at this point, but I was excited about the Lord of the Rings game that was announced.

One year ago, 2004-08-24:
Brad and I were putting the finishing touches on the Shadows expansion. He and I stayed behind from going to GenCon because the starter decks weren't finished and the set was still way over on card count. Brad and I were always a great team when it came to Design/Development. I miss working with him.

Yesterday, 2005-08-23:
I dropped Marnie off at the airport at 5am and then went to work. I spent the rest of the day working on Project G (more on that later). A lot of stuff going on and I don't have near enough time to work on it. My ADD flared up pretty bad yesterday as well, I had a spell for about 4 hours where I couldn't concentrate on anything.

Tomorrow, 2005-08-25:
I'm feeling crappy. I have the post-con creep and my sinuses are killing me. I will probably call in and work on Project G for the rest of the day. I gotta get that finished, I'm about a week behind on it. :(

Five snacks I enjoy:
Oreos, Black Pepper Jack Doritos, Pizza flavored stuff, Chips/Queso, Wheat Thins

Five bands that I know most of their lyrics:
CMB, Stan Bush....that's about it. Maybe pretty much anything from the 90s

Five things I'd do with a million dollars:
Give it to my wife, start a game company (in Vegas, of course), buy a house, invest

Five places I'd run away to:
Mesa-Arizona, Chandler-Arizona, Las Vegas, Carlsbad-California, Federal Way-Washington

Five bad habits I have:
Mouse Droid, losing my train of thought, thinking that I know it all, keeping my trap shut, Passing the buck

Five things I like doing:
Designing Cards/Games, playing WoW, Playing C/TCGs, Watching SportsCenter, Watching Fifth Element

Five things I wouldn't wear:
A Medium sized shirt, a suit, a Braves hat, a size 11 shoe, or a parachute pants

Five TV shows I love:
Law&Order:SVU, SportsCenter, That 70s Show, Dukes of Hazzard, GIJOE (80s, not that crap they have lately)

Five movies I love:
Fifth Elemant, Rounders, My Blue Heaven, Transformers:TheMovie, Varsity Blues (I will watch any of these movies at any time)

Five famous people I'd like to meet:
Mark Rosewater
Mike Piazza
Dan Marino
Mel Brooks
the person who would cure ADD (I may already know him)

Five biggest joys at the moment
World of Warcraft, Designing cards, Seeing my friends at the cons, the Mets, Comfort Food

Five favorite toys:
Online Simulation Baseball leagues, the internet, WoW, GIJoes

Five people to tag:
Threepio
Damn Sexy
Kirk E.
Baddest Man in Gaming
THE Ray Powers

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Back from Gencon


piratechick
Originally uploaded by TheGirard.
Wow, that was a long week.

Had a lot of fun, except for an infinite loop in Trek. Got to see a lot of friends and had a great time while I was in the tournament hall. I think all my judges did a great job, especially the ones that had to "deal with issues".

Congrats to Pulsfort and George for being the Trek/Rings Champs respectively.

Slops to Eric Butzlaff for runner runner'ing diamonds on me.

Now back to work and finding out specificially what "Genensis is".

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Live from Indianapolis

it's....GENCON!!!

I'm here, UDE owns 3/4 of the TCG hall. We got a healthy number for both Trek and Rings. After a lot of problems yesterday, today is running pretty smoothly. More to come.

Monday, August 15, 2005

The Valley of Fun/Sun


AZ State flag
Originally uploaded by TheGirard.
Wow, so I got back this morning and was in bed by 2am. I am beat. Let's go over what happened over the weekend.

Friday, I land and meet up with Jay and his new lady friend Lee (i probably spelled that wrong). It was great to see him again, I miss my friends from Arizona. Evidently his lady friend hasn't seen the flame shoes yet, poor her. We head to Black Angus.

Black Angus, on Alma School and Southern, is a mise. We meet up with Steve, D.Voigt, and daCanuck. I had the 16oz steak and a Cape Cod. Everyone else ordered foo-foo drinks as well. Brad's drink was some sort of pink-orangish foam looking thing. We reminisced about call boxes, the whale, Jay's flame shoes, the mirror bathroom, the fact that Lee hasn't seen ANY good movies, etc. Catching up is fun. Boobies are up next, so we head to Jay's new pad so I can get a nice clean shirt on.

His house is very nice for a starter home and the hard wood floors that they installed look really nice. Voigt's new TV is on a coffee table because it won't fit in the entertainment center. He won it on a radio show. We punch up WoW and converse about the Taran Icebreaker v. Blanchard's Stout debate and then finally head out to the strip club.

Bliss was the place on 19th Ave and Deer Valley. Only topless but the couch dances were amazing. Probably one of the few times I enjoy being a big guy, the girls like to use you as a pommel horse. It was pretty damn good. Get back to Ray's about 230am or so.

Ray (in my links to the right) is a good friend of mine and used to own Gamer's Edge. He has recently vacated the industry, which is unfortunate, but he seems really happy. He has too cute kids and his wife Kelly has always been good to all of us. His new house is a mansion. Well, maybe it's normal for Arizona, I'm just used to the small places in Va. Get up that day, played House on Haunted Hill a couple times, it was pretty fun. Watched Police Story w/jackie chan. That was a pretty good movie too, even with me not being a fan of subtitled japanese movies.

The Girardathon starts at about 645 and Ray's got some nifty tourney software to keep track of the blinds. It's Me, Jay, Kelly, Steve, Voigt, Adam, Clark, Brad, Bits, and Ray. Not a bad turnout, money pays to top three. Second hand, I get KQ suited, raise a bit and get a few callers, flop comes suit, suit, blank. I stay in, bets around, turn comes blank and river comes blank. Stupid flush chaser. Next hand I get rockets. I raise it up about 1/6 of my stack or so. I get a raise from Kelly and Brad is a caller and then Jay contemplates calling. He does and I reraise all in. Kelly folds and Brad/Jay call. Brad flips over Ace/Junk and Jay flips over K/Q off. K comes on the flop and a Queen on the river. Greeeat. I have a small stack left (I took down the first hand). That was crap, like three hands later I do it to Clark though with his rockets. Bits ends up winning with daWard taking 2nd. We head to Casino AZ.

I sit at 3/6 and have about doubled my stack when some pretty boy, business man, jackass sits down at the opposite end of the table. He's drunk and loud. Second hand he gets dealt, I get KK. I raise, he calls and another guy calls. Flop comes 3/3/J. I bet, 2nd guy calls, maniac calls. Turn comes A. I check, second guy bets, maniac calls, I call. River comes blank. I check, 2nd guy bets, maniac raises, I call, 2nd guy calls. I flip over KK, 2nd guy flips over A/4 (WHY THE F he stayed in post flop is beyond me). Maniac flips over 3/8 off. ... I thought I was going to have a heart attack right there. That pretty much set the tone for the night and I caught crap for the next couple hours and left down $100 or so.

Brad and I head back to Ray's to crash. We get there about 5am and crash. Get up at around 9am and I get to the airport for my noon flight. I get the miser deal and bump flights from the 1215 through pittsburgh to the 115 through philly and get in just an hour and a half later. For this I get a free round trip ticket and they upgraded me to first class for the trip to philly.

Philly's airport is crap. I had to take a bus to the F terminal, got my gate changed like twice. They were late boarding us and then we sat on the tarmac for a half hour because we were 15 in line to take off.

I hit my bed at 2am. It's tough keeping my eyes open today. Tomorrow I leave for Gencon.

It was great seeing everyone in AZ and I hope to see them again soon.

NOTE - if you are Joe Alread, get a hold of me, I have the newest edition of CardPlayer if you want to read it.

2nd Fantasy Football team

So while I was on my way to AZ (more on that later), my second Fantasy Football team got picked. I think I did better this time around. 10 man league, scoring is QB, WR, WR, RB, RB, W/R, TE, K, DEF

My team -
QB - D.McNabb, M. Vick
WR - R.Wayne, L. Coles, E.Moulds, D.Branch
RB - P.Holmes, S.Jackson, C.Brown, M.Faulk
TE - J.Shockey, J.Putzier
K - R.Longwell, S.Janikowski
DEF - Carolina


Not bad overall. I have two quality quarterbacks that can just as easily run for the TD as pass for it. I might need another "upside" running back like a Ricky Williams or a rookie that has actually signed that will get carries on a suck team (I think the Cardinals RB is still available). I think my two starting WR are solid. I should be able to win more than I lose with this team.

Friday, August 12, 2005

Leavin' on a jet plane...


CACTUS!!!
Originally uploaded by TheGirard.
...don't know when i'll be back again...

Just kidding, i'll be back Sunday night. I'm flying out to Arizona for the weekend. A good friend of mine's wife bought me a plane ticket to go out there for his birthday. This weekend is going to be a blast. I have a feeling that I'm going to get started on the Project G when I'm out there though. Oh well, I love what I do and tend to do it more than 40 hours a week.

Regardless, going to have a fun time this weekend and then tuesday, it's off to Gencon. If you are looking for me, try Casino Arizona.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

First Draft of the Year!!!

So football season is almost here and that means that it's time to start drafting and hope you don't get stuck with a Mike Vick of a couple years ago. This is my first draft this year and it's with some industry colleagues, so I'm hoping that there is plenty of trash talking. I wasn't there for the live draft, but I did set my roster before we drafted. I didn't really pick up anybody that I super wanted, but the team has "potential". First the scoring for the league, here is the positions that score -
QB, 2 WR, 2 RB, TE, K, D, 2 DB, 2 DL

Normally I'm not a fan of scoring individual defensive efforts, but I like to get in at least one of those types of leagues a year, just to stay on my toes.

So without further ado, here is my roster -

QB M. Bulger, B. Griese
WR T. Holt, D. Bennett, E. Kennison
RB E. James, R. Johnson, T. Jones, M. Shipp
TE J. Wiggins, B.Franks
K M. Stover, M. Nugent
DB T. McGee, Ro. Williams, F. Washington
DL L. Sape, K. Pope

And now some notes -
- at first glance, this my be a CK special, it just happened to turn out that way. Hopefully they have a soft schedule and Holt is in a contract year so that should be good for some double points.
- After Holt my WR really drop off. I need to see if I can pick up a David Boston type guy (who didn't look bad in Monday's game) or that guy for the Bears that had like 160+ receiving yards.
- My RB corps are solid and have three RB that are starting. I drafted Shipp in the last round (the only round I was there for) just so I can give chickey the middle finger and cut his sorry ass.
- I drafted defense earlier than I probably needed to. My scouts tell me that McGee is pretty good.

Overall, I don't think I did too bad. I gotta get a new 2nd WR and perhaps pry Todd Heap away from whoever has him (go Sun Devils).

Monday, August 08, 2005

Clarification not Errata

I have said, in a previous post, some things that might not have come across as to what I was meaning to say. Here is an updated version what I mean to say -

It hurts that I work for a company that I still believe in, with so many people upset and complaining about it all the time, I wish maybe those people would respect some of MY feelings and try not to complain about it as much.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Visiting Hazzard


dukeslogo
Originally uploaded by TheGirard.
"Now these Duke boys have been in worse pickles than this, let's hope they don't get canned."

This movie kicked ass. I love going to see a movie where you don't have to think about anything, just sit there an enjoy it. I was a big fan of the original show and was pretty skeptical about seeing this movie.

Some of that skepticism came from seeing the Jessica Simpson video where the General Lee doors aren't welded shut. When the movie started, the same thing happened and I was like "well damn, here we go, this is gonna suck". Well the General Lee gets trashed and Cooter fixes it up right. Well...he couldn't get to everything.

So the movie kicked ass. It was a cool flick. I liked all the jokes, especially when the General Lee visited Atlanta. I love that car man, I wish I could take it for a spin.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Moving On

*This may come off as pompous, and I'm not sorry about that*


I'll be glad when people actually move on. I mean people say they have moved on, but really they haven't. They continue to poke and prod about some of the experiences they had and just how bad it was to work for a certain company. Now that they are no longer employed there, they still feel it necessary to poke and jab at those that still do work there. Perhaps because "we aren't as smart as they are" or "don't understand that it's just a sinking ship."

So I'll be glad when those people actually move on, becasue you know what, they haven't.

As for the company, I am still enjoying what I do for a living. Am I looking for other opportunities, probably not as often as I was about 2-3 months ago. *I* feel things are about to level up and start working their way back up again. There are a few possibilities that have arisen lately (and no, you may think you know about what I'm talking about, but you don't) that seem promising.

Signed,
Bitter about the Bitter people