Monthly Archives: June 2011

Personal Blog

Any Cat Behaviorists out there?

So, just about every day, Mr. Davis and I go out for a walk. The routine goes like this: arrive home, snuggle time, cat gets dinner, I make him sit on his perch while I put his harness on, and then we go out. On weekends I usually take him out in the mornings, but the same thing, he has to “up” to his perch to get his harness on before we go out.

Most of the time he does this just fine, he will jump up right away and sit patiently while the harness goes on. However, every now and then, for several days in a row, he will not comply to this. He will fuss and meow at the door and window and pretty clearly wants to go out, but he will not obey the “up” to his perch. Sometimes he’ll do the up but then jump right back down and continue fussing. On these days, we either don’t go out, or I wait for him to settle down and we go out later in the evening, when he obeys his “up.” Either way it means I have to sit and listen to him fuss until it nearly drives me crazy.

Then, after a few days of this, he will mysteriously slip back into his normal pre-walk behavior and not give me any trouble.

Any ideas on what is going on? I thought at first that maybe when he does this, he just doesn’t want to go outside, and instead wants to play or more snuggles. But all the evidence, mainly the meowing and pawing at the door, and ignoring attempts to play, tell me otherwise. Could it be that he’s just trying to test his boundaries and see if he can get me to let him out without the harness?

Now, sometimes in the morning before work I will hold him outside on the patio for a bit, and I thought maybe THIS was what he wanted. However, he will not come to be picked up, so maybe not.

What could Mr. Davis be trying to tell me?

Personal Blog

Goal Progress Report

1) Free thing in LA every month: I went down to the Fiesta de las Flores at El Pueblo today, ate 2 churros (probably a mistake), watched some folkloric dances, wandered up and down Olvera Street, and took lots of photos – https://picasaweb.google.com/lisa.deanne.brown/FiestaDeLasFlores

This place is really one of my favorite spots in LA, I love it! So, free thing for June checked off, though I MAY consider going down to my CSA farm next weekend to pick blackberries. Only if I can get some folks to go with me, though.

Thinking ahead to July…
– FIFA Women’s World Cup. The Goethe-Institut is broadcasting select matches for this, and I’m considering wrangling up the Insomniac soccer crowd to go watch together. Matches run from 6/26 to 7/17, so it’s a little flexible. http://bit.ly/jZKpwW
– Obon Festival at the Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo. I am a big fan of these cultural festivals, may as well add another to the list! http://bit.ly/iBcoMO

2) Video Games: More LA Noire. Now that PSN is back up, I can get Outland, but I have to get around to it.

3) Financial: I’ve been having little mini stuff-sales that bring in bits of cash and help me de-clutter. It helps that I’m in another “stuff purge” mode. Otherwise, just plugging along!

Musings on Game Design

Battle.net RealID

http://us.battle.net/en/realid/

In spite of all the hooplah about using real names on the forums, one thing that RealID does EXTREMELY well is makes it way easier to find people you know who are playing the game.  Because you can view the friends of people in your friends list, you can easily find mutual friends that you didn’t otherwise know played, and adding them is very simple.
I know more than once I’ve been on Starcraft 2, and none of my friends have been on, so I browsed THEIR list of friends to see if I knew anyone, added somebody, and boom, someone to play with that I knew!
Games Played

Starcraft Nerd

14 Comments

If you had told me a year ago that by the summer I would a regular e-sports watcher, I’d have called you crazy. But here I am, Wednesday-Sunday evenings, planted in front of the laptop watching Starcraft 2, and all giddy about the North American Star League finals in a few weeks. Let this be a lesson, a lot can change in a year!

 
Anyway, you may ask, "Lisa, there are so many great pro Starcraft gamers, how do you ever decide who to cheer for?" Good question, reader! It can be complicated, especially when you’re new to watching e-sports and don’t know all the players. Fortunately, I made this handy guide for how I decide who to cheer for in a Starcraft 2 match…
Diagram Below
Personal Blog

Beef Stew

I think I made my most successful stew yet yesterday! This was adapted from a Joy of Cooking recipe, so I’ll merge the ingredients and the directions like they do.

Trim and pat dry and cut into cube:

  • 2 pounds boneless beef stew meat, I used chuck roast

Season with:

  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Dredge the pieces in:

  • 1/2 cup flour

Shake off excess flour. Heat up olive oil in a stew pot. Add the meat in batches and brown on all sides, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add more oil if needed during this process. Add to the pot:

  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 carrots, chopped
  • 3 celery ribs, chopped
  • 4-6 garlic gloves, chopped

Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until onions are tender (about 5 minutes). Add the meat back to the pot and stir. Add:

  • 2 bay leaves
  • fresh thyme sprig
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.

Add enough to cover the meat:

  • 2 cups beef stock
  • 1 cup red cooking wine

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until meat is tender (1-2 hours). Add:

  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 4 turnips, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 2 sweet peppers, seeded and cored and cut into chunks

Cover and cook until vegetables are tender, 30-40 minutes. Remove the pot from heat and remove bay leaves and thyme sprigs (the leaves will probably have fallen off by this point, just remove the stems). In a bowl, knead together until homogenous:

  • 1 Tablespoon flour
  • 1 Tablespoon butter

Roll the dough into little balls. Drop them one at a time into the stew and whisk until melted. This helps thicken the stew.

Serve hot with crusty bread. Enjoy!

Musings on Game Design

Team Fortress 2 “Coach” Mentoring

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/15/team-fortress-2-update-is-devoid-of-hats-full-of-training-and-t/

We thought that enabling player mentoring as part of the interface of your game would really help retention of new players seeking a safe way to learn to play.  This update doesn’t mention the specifics of the system for coaching players, but the thought of it is promising!
I will be listening for success stories or otherwise.
Musings on Game Design

Clever Asynchronous Co-op Idea

http://kotaku.com/5762842/this-game-lets-you-play-with-your-friends-even-when-they-dont-want-to

Asynchronous game modes and ways of play were a big point of discussion in our work group, because it increases the ability of people to play with people they already know, even if schedules don’t line up.  This connection can lengthen a player’s commitment to the MP community, so new ways of playing games together asynchronous are great!
Juan Says..

“They beat us to the punch! But I can say we did something similar in Snowfort, our latest game. You play against your friend’s team (managed by an equal level AI).

We’ve got nominated to the “most creative game” at the Flash Game Summit for Snowfort. Wish us luck!http://www.flashgamingsummit.com/awards.html“