HIH Thomas,Son of Richard, KA, DMH, LMMO, CES, etc

Today I had home made fresh angel hair pasta with a olive oil sauce flavored with capers, garlic, and anchovies. It was amazingly tasty.

Why yes, I did get a pasta machine. Why do you ask?

Last night we finished laying the corner flags for the Fence. I've got a game tonight, so tomorrow we'll lay the flags for the T-Posts and start designing the Gates. Its still going to be a long hard slog ahead of us, but we should be able to get it done. I hope.

In other news, I saw Indy 4: Awesome. :D

Also, last night I took 8 oz of hot country sausage, browned it, then sauteed some onions and garlic in the drippings, adding some spinach at the last minute and mixing in the sausage to make really tasty taco meat.

I served it with roasted carrots.
:D

This weekend was occupied by events, so it wasn't until today. Jess's sisters were up, and ended up helping us out. As a result, we got all the major clearing along the fence line completed. We're going to have to do some extra work along on side with a chain saw. technically, we're behind schedule, but I hope to catch up by working on the weekdays.

I smashed my finger. Its all yellow and broken looking. I was sawing up a sapling that was too big to use shears on, and when I got to the very end, I smashed the handle and the tree on either side of my index.

Once again, I get pansy wounds while doing stuff. :P

Last night we went to Home Depot and started buying tools. Ow, that was expensive.

We bought a 300' tape measure, some pruning sheers, twine, stakes, flagging, and then some garden stuff. Total: 120.00 bucks.

And we haven't even bought fencing yet. ;_;

This weekend, Jess and I are starting a project that should wrap up just in time for Nick and Thena to arrive for vacation. That project is the great Fencing of the Back Yard. Jess and I opted to do it ourselves, both for the price and because I think I need to tackle a project to prove I can actually competently build something.

So yeah, this will probably end in tears.

I've been doing a lot of reading, and Jess and I are going to be installing some 2 x 4" welded wire fencing using a mixture of wooden and metal posts. The wood posts will have wooden top rails, and mostly be the part visible from the road.

I'm breaking this up in to 4 weekends, starting on this weekend and ending on Jun 15.

The goals for this project are:

By May 26, Have the fence line staked and a general plan of attack in detail. Each post should have a stake place, with an orange or blue flag. Orange flags denote wooden posts, with blues denoting metal. Any trees in the way will be flagged and over the next week, I'll hire someone to come out and clear them, providing it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

By June 1, I want to have the post holes dug, and the posts up. I'll let the concrete for the wood posts cure of a week until June 8, when I want to mount the fencing. The following weekend I'm reserving for building and installing the gates.

I feel like I'm budgeting way too much time here, which makes me think that I might have just budgeted enough to get it done. I hope. We've already cleared the fence line along the cow pasture, but the back half of the lot is not cleared, and I know at least one tree will have to go there, so I better look up some tree removal prices.

( MEEMAGE )

You can tell just about everything immediately necessary about a man by how he treats Women and Dogs.

Everything else is just commentary.

This is mostly for wuxiadaddy, who I haven't seen in a couple of weeks and I know shares my love of cilantro.

Venison Tacos w/ Avacado, Sour Cream, onions, and cheese on corn tortillas.

( Recipe Follows... )

In accordance with the Royal and Splendifferous Title act of 2008, I have adopted the following style, and will begin using it in all official correspondence and ceremonies:

His Illustrious Highness, Thomas, son of Richard, King of Awesome, Duke of the Most Heinous, Lord Marchwarden of the Merely Okay, Count of East Spiffy, Lord Abbot of the Church of The Impossibly Long and Silly Titles, Defender of the Neat.

Please make the appropriate changes in your address books / social calendars.

Thank you,

HIH Thomas, Son of Richard, King of Awesome, DMH, LMMO, CES, LACILST, DotN.

Last night I ran L5R for our Wednesday Night, mostly Indie-Gaming crew. One of our regulars is in the End-Of-Semester Grind, so I stepped in with some L5R Action, since I ran it for Tyche's Games April 18 demo night.

Mysteries are tough games to run for GMs, because they rely on the audience often knowing things that the participants do not. Games like Gumshoe have attempted to mechanically recreate mystery shoes in different ways, but most accept that it is the GM's job to have a "correct" version of events for the PCs to discover. This invariably ends up in one of two ways: the correct hypothesis is arrived at within 5 minutes of the game start or the actual events are so arcane in relation to the clues that it becomes impossible for the players to make their case.

My solution draws heavily on Benjamin Baugh's original hack for Mutants and Masterminds Noir setting, so if you think this is brilliant, its mostly his idea. Keep in mind that the system I'm running is designed for L5R's Roll and Keep, but the philosophy can be adjusted to just about any system that allows for graduated successes.

The Mystery has 4 facets:

1. The Setup. This is the bumper for the Mystery, the first 3 minutes of the episode that set up the story and present the mystery the characters will solve. This is the only part where the GM actually has to come up with something. In my game, it was a Ninja attack on a dinner celebration welcoming the three PCs to the Daimyo's service. It seems someone poisoned the guards and allowed the Ninja into the Castle. The Daimyo tasked the new PCs with the uncovering of the culprit.

2. The Difficulty. This is the base difficulty of the mystery. In the case of the Ninja attack, I set the Difficulty at a TN 50. The Difficulty should be something rather high, above what a character would actually be able to accomplish.

3. The Duration: This is the time limit on the mystery. You must solve this before a certain date or time, or before an event takes place. If there is a duration, then there also must be an interval, or the amount of time it takes for a single scene to take place.

4. Clues. During each interval, the PC's have a chance to gather clues. Each player will have a chance to declare how their going to search for clues, and what clues they hope to find. I set the standard TN at 15, and each raise taken on the roll would provide an additional clue. Certain Skills used in clunky ways, such as using Acting in place of Etiquette when schmoozing the court, would of course, require extra raises in order to work, further increasing the difficulty.

Here's the important thing about clues: The PC's make them up. So when the PC asks to use his stealth to stake out the castle to see anything suspicious, if he succeeds, he will find something suspicious. If he took some raises, then he'll get more details, such as the gender of the suspect, or where they were going, or some other details that will eventually allow them to solve the crime.

As the PC's collect clues, each clue lowers the difficulty of the mystery, until someone wants to make an Accusation. In the game last night, the PC's collected the following clues:

Someone is Sneaking around the Castle at Night
It is a woman
The poison used to incapacitate the guards was Ghost Flower Mushroom Poison.
Once Plucked, the Ghost Flower Mushroom has only 12 hours of potency.
The Food was delivered by a new servant named Asuka.
Whoever plucked the Ghost Mushroom has unusually large Feet.
Ghost Flower mushrooms grow only under certain evergreens.

Each clue gave the Accuser a free raise to solve the mystery. When it was done, the PC's had used the clues to point to the Castle's Steward, Yogo Matsuda. There then followed an iaijutsu duel and a murtherin' great battle between the Crab PC and the dastardly villain.

The nice part about this was that the idea I originally had was rendered moot, and I didn't have to worry about keeping the PC's from barking up the wrong tree, because whatever tree the PC's eventually barked up, it was the right one.

I was very pleased with the way the system came out.

I need a new knife. :P

Last night I made this:

1 lb snap beans, washed, snapped, and strung.
1/2 lb carrots, washed, peeled, and cut on the bias in 1/4" slices
2 cloves of good garlic
2 tsp of dried chili flakes
1 tbsp butter,
2 tbsp olive oil.

Take Carrots and beans, and drop in boiling water for longer than a shock, but short of cooking them. Wash in cold water to stop cooking process.

Over medium heat, melt butter and olive oil together. Drop in sliced garlic and chili flakes, tossing to cook for 2 - 3 minutes.

Add beans and carrots and finish cooking, serve immediately.

Good stuff.

I was over akaihyo's house yesterday and we talked about the definition of Shadenfreude briefly.


Shadenfreude: (n.) See Elliot Spitzer.


In other note: Country Sausage Chili tonight!

I was going to rant about really self important blow hards on my Starbucks Caramel Mochiatto, which led to rant about Starbucks burning their coffee, which lead to a rant about Starbucks Ridiculous Names, which lead to me calling caramel God's Own Amber Love Pudding.

And thus, the entire experience is saved.

Now I just need to work in God's Own Amber Love Pudding into a conversation. With Jess around. SO I can watch her cry.


Life is potentially Good.

Today's Super Duper Tuesday and for the first time in 11 years, I don't feel like voting.

The only gumption I can gather is to go vote in the OTHER PARTY'S primary for the Guy I find less offensive than the alternative.

Is that suitably vague on the specifics, while at the same time conveying my angst?


Livejournal, I win at you.

I made Pork chops the other night.

2 center cut pork chops, bone in (at least 2" thick)
a head of broccoli
2 sweet potatos

For the brine:
2 c. vegetable broth
2 c. apple juice
1/2 c. soy sauce
3 Tbs salt
3 Tbs sugar


Brine the pork in 1/2 c. soy, 2 c. apple juice, 2 c. vegetable broth some salt and sugar for at least 30 mins.

Meanwhile, Preheat the oven to 375, and wrap some sweet potatoes in tin foil and drop in the oven.

Sear the pork chops and then drop them in the oven to cook for 30 mins.

Take Pork chops otu and set aside. Take au jus and put it over high heat, and drop in some fresh broccoli. Cook broccoli for 5 - 7 minutes, until tender. Then serve.



I also baked bread tonight, but I'm not typing as I burned my hand on the bread pan, and now need to change my icepack.

My friend Mary is moving to Indianapolis today. She's family, and I miss her, despite only seeing her once every six months.

:|

We went down to "help" move, but just ended up visiting for a little while, and then went and ate Korean Barbeque at this place off Pleasant Hill Rd in Gwinett. It was good, but expensive; I think we should have only ordered 1 order for 2 people, as I was very, very stuffed at the end.

Good times.

Now, werk.

Last night I made what I call Chicken with Mushroom Risotto Casserole, a kind of take on risotto, but based on my bachelor dish, Chicken'n'Rice.
( Read more... )
The rice was creamy, but with a texture to it, and the chicken flavorful. I think it could stand the addition of more chicken or less rice (with appropriate reduction of onion, garlic, broth, and mushrooms) as we have A LOT more rice left over, which will become a side dish sometime later this week.

Two week review this time, as I picked up Last weeks comics on Tuesday, and this week's today. Light haul, all things considered. You can check it ( under the cut. )

So there you have it.

In other news, I have new glasses. They are very, very flimsy. Yet, I can see Finally!

Comics this week were delivered 12/28, and I picked mine up yesterday. Light week, holidays, etc. Like always, 2 lines about each can be found ( below the fold )