Jordan’s Mindless Ramblings

I finally got to take my yearly sojourn down to Rogers Centre the Skydome in Toronto to see the Red Sox play against the Blue Jays this past Saturday.  We came expecting a massacre.

On our drive down to the city on Friday, Chippy Sunshine and I grabbed some of the first game of the series.  Boston beating Toronto a stunning 14-3.  The next morning, we set out early for the Rogers Centre Skydome: Chippy Sunshine, Evil Jordan, my brother Taylor and myself.  We were not prepared for one thing; the bane of basement dwellers everywhere: the sun. Read the rest of this entry »

I want to take a moment from the normal run of things to talk about the G20 Summit that recently took place in Toronto.  It’s been about four days now since the riots ended, and I wanted to take the time to cool my head so I wouldn’t go off on some rage-filled diatribe that would alienate readers, although regardless of my stance, I’m sure that somebody is likely to be offended by this.

Protesters who were complaining about being harassed and victimized by the police: kindly shut the fuck up. 

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So, I thought this year would be different from last.  2009 had an absolutely abysmal Spring and chilly Summer.  It would really be an exaggeration to call the Summer of 2009 a Summer.  It was really a pre-Fall season, with lots of rain. 

This year however, it was shaping up to be better.  Most of April has been warm, downright balmy some days.  Compare to last year, when there was snow, this Easter weekend was a complete turn-around.  It was shorts-weather.  It was awesome.

Today however, was a little different.  After continual heavy rain.  It decided to start snowing.  Not just a sprinkle either.  We had full on white-outs in Lindsay.  We’re talking zero-visibility.

Mother Nature is such a tease sometimes.

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Alright, so I wasn’t really planning on having to take a one month break from the website, but these things happen.  After nearly two years of on-time updates, this is what I get.

If you read my last post, you’ll know that Elan Games, the place where the server this website is hosted from, went out of business in late March.  John Prentice, the man behind the business had to move the server to a new location, a process that took about a day, during which the website was inaccessible.

Everything looked good until April 1st, when I went to post a special April Fools day page, and couldn’t upload my files.  It turned out that my FTP connection was no longer valid because of the move, and some later troubles came in. 

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Hi all, a bit of sad news to report today.  It seems that after a few years of awesomeness, Elan Games in Lindsay is shutting it’s doors for good this Saturday.

You might remember Elan Games from:

• The Great Crush Tasting
• Elan Tournament of Champions All-Nighter
• New Years at Elan
• Elan Games Halloween All-Nighter 2009

Elan Games or it’s owner John Prentice have also featured in:

• Mailbag: November ‘08
• From Soda to Superheroes

So, yeah, John means a lot to this page.  In fact, he is the official Useless Babble web host, which is why I love to plug him and his business as much as possible (besides the fact that I enjoy going to it, and would have liked to do so more often).  Not only that, but our servers are located in Elan Games.

Unfortunately, while John moves the servers to another location, this website will be down.  We’re expecting it to be Monday and possibly Tuesday of next week, and then back up and peachy keen.

So, for a short period this weekend, you can read one last blog article about one last All-Nighter at Elan.  The end of an era.

John, if you happen to read this, I hope you all the best.

Today, I’m not allowed to cook food.

That is because I am cursed, and nothing good happens if I cook food on St. Patrick’s day.  It’s sort of a reverse-luck of the Irish thing, and not at all pleasant. 

So, I’ve hinted to it on the main page, but here’s the whole story:

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An elderly man walks down the street when he notices a penny lying on the sidewalk.  He stoops over slowly, feeling pain in his back as he picks it up.  Smiling proudly as his prize, he proclaims “Today my luck has changed, for soon I will be a rich man.” as he places the penny in his pocket.  As he takes a step, a penny rolls down the inside of his pant-leg, over his shoe and comes to rest on the sidewalk, where the old man notices it and stoops over slowly to pick it up.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the term “cinematic games” lately, mainly because it’s a phrase we’ve been hearing more and more often nowadays.  It’s become a marketing tool really.  The quotes on the back of the box proclaim a game to be cinematic like it’s some kind of gift from the heavens, bestowed upon us poor wretched mortals.

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Ok, if you read the regular site, you may notice that about once a month, a little article called World Craft comes out.  There’s been about 8 installments so far.

The concept is simple: I show you how to create a campaign setting (the specifics are for D&D 3.5 ed, but the overall theory can be applied to pretty much any roleplaying game or even to anything else really), and give examples of each step.

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As far as I’m concerned, the best time to do any shopping you have to do is between the hours of 12 and 6 in the morning.  That’s any time between midnight and when the sane people begin to wake up and start their days.  It’s just one of those fantastic, yet absolutely bizarre experiences that everybody should try at least once.

The only problem is that your options are usually limited during the twilight hours.  Sure, there’s always convenience stores, but those don’t really count.  Grocery stores, even department stores are the best places to visit on your pre-dawn excursions.

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