Precedents [s]

Renovation
I finished drywalling the 6x4 loft made accessible by the closet removal. It still needs to be patched, textured, and painted, but that's a breeze. What will it be? Storage space? Cat flat? Panic room?

I patched a couple areas on the lower terrace where the stucco had bubbled. Doing stucco sucks, so I gave thin set a try. The front wall had a couple spots where paint had peeled off, so I took care of that.



Dog
The pup may be getting over his fear of water. On our weekly run he charged through the stream crossing that recently swelled and washed away its footbridge. His display of courage emboldened Jes to do the same.

I've given him free reign of the garage now. The first day went well, the second day he learned to open the interior garage door (but didn't thrash the house).



On the third day he ate 31 (I counted) packages of Zack's Brainiac Snacks. Virtually none of it was digested. Curious how he got through so many, I gave him one and watched as he tore it apart with the grace of an intoxicated raccoon.

He's considerably smarter now.



Mass Effect 2
There are reviews everywhere, a few other thoughts:

• Darkness is totally the new pink. Empire did it. Batman did it. The sequel is much darker and seedier than the first. Fatalism dominates the mood throughout while there's an emphasis on moral ambiguity.
  
• Hooray for feedback. No planetary rovering (though it was great in doses). No endless buying/modding/selling equipment that only differs by level number. Load times have decreased appreciably.
  
• I'm worried that the number of primary characters will make their back stories either tedious or shallow. Thus far, however, I'm highly impressed that they brought back the best ME1er (Garrus). I wouldn't be the first to say the Doctor is awesome for his grim pragmatism and rapid, streamlined, multithreaded conversation style.
• The combat system is a definite improvement over the last, but falls a bit short of combat-centric games such as Gears of War and Army of Two.
• The mid-cinema interjections provide endless fun, but being ready for them is mutually exclusive with stuffing Funyons in my gaping craw.
  

More creatively, LittleThingies said,

My heart sank when i went to HMV at lunch and the guy told me they only received three copies of the special edition and they were all reserved. But he recognized me and started calling around. He managed to track down a store that had it. I went back after work and he had it waiting for me. Even God was seen to shed a tear of happiness that night.

I'm finishing up my PS3 game at the moment, hopefully will be done by tonight. I'm gonna spend all weekend playing this game in the dark, my phone will be off. My subwoofer arrives tomrorow, just in time for this game. When I was a kid and mommy told me there will be plenty of time for games when I'm grown up and making my own money. She must have been talking about THIS MOMENT.

SFS countered with:

Yesterday evening I paid CR an unexpected visit. The sight I saw was jaw
dropping: CR wearing grubby sweat clothes tucked away in a sleeping bag on
a bean bag chair playing D&D [Ed: SFS isn't "with it" anymore, he has never even been to Small Bar]. Next to him was unfinished hot pockets and cereal.

The smell accompanying the scene was "30 year old unemployed guy living in parents' basement."

As I left his house, I experienced envy for the first time in a long time.

DAMN YOU CR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super Sunday
Since Players has canceled the annual Super Bowl event, we've been forced to relocate to a residence.

Feathers in the Cap - Players

• Waitresses > 0
• TVs > 1
• Draught beers > 1
  

Feathers in the Cap - House

• Entry < $75 Catered food
• Heated(?) pool > 0
• Allowed to shoot dice > false
• Nearest bed < 40ft
  
• Couches > 0
• Wait-dogs > 0
  

Axis
It looks like there may be an Axis and Allies match coming up. I set up and snapped the 1942 scenario. Here is the board in higher res, with initial funds depicted here. There's been some discussion on possible house rules that might even the field and emphasize creative strategies.

• Curt suggested ipc bonuses for quick turns.
  
• I'm thinking a roll for free tech at the outset and perhaps a few turns in.
• East African pirates.
  

Full frame [s]

I rented a d2x this weekend. It handles quite well, all the extra frills don't diminish usability. A d3 is probably out of the question for the next camera purchase, but I'll be interested to see how the d700 compares. The most noticeable differences are the focus speed and frame rate, also the color management blows the d70 away.



This afternoon I had a jonesing for ditch digging, so I bought some materials for a drip system. I have a half inch line running along the fence on the upper terrace and several quarter inch drip lines branching off. The big [known] unknown is how close the drip lines have to be to irrigate a continuous area. I have a patch of Korean grass with a drip underneath serving as the guinea pig. Either way, the papyrus and birds will be better off.

Said:

• Took a long walk, no pee. Back in the house one minute, pee on the bed. ... A sleepy puppy is a good puppy. - Another new puppy owner.
  
• Hey you over there with the big white butt! ... You got a puppy? What a little flirt! I thought you've already got a girlfriend. ... I may be willful but I'm still innocent! ... Ew ew ew. I have to scrub my eyes out! - Lover of exclamation marks.
  
• I'm not one of your kind [not a cannibal] so I wouldn't call it that [cannibalism]. - Indulger of jokes.
  
• It's a good thing I don't believe in karma or I wouldn't have a chance in hell at happiness. - Introspecticus.
  
• I'll just piss in the car on the way home. - Locked out of a bathroom.
  
• Went to work instead [of surfing]. Bad life choice, I know. - Hobbyless.
  

Toasted [s]

The weekend featured a distinct increase in temperature.

Some of Saturday and Sunday entailed moving Jes out of her LA place and into her SD place. It was fairly painless as far as moves go. I'd even assert that if she left all the unnecessary stuff (plants) in a dumpster we probably could have fit everything in three rolling suitcases.



Of course this meant Kafka got to meet Kim, they have an icy relationship, but perhaps she'll warm up to the pup as time goes by. Little Kaffey had a stimulating weekend, he got to hang out with Jessica's childhood dog, most of his kin, and the many attendees of Brian's excellent seven eleven party. Then today he got his first swim lesson. It may be awhile before he paddles out with me, but he's doing okay with water.

I have a superb addition to the CR Yellow Pages. I snagged some camembert and a specialty NorCal cheese from Venissimo. It didn't last long as Sophie, Nicole, Scott, and I ate ourselves silly.

Independence cookout [s]

4 July was as it should be. Steak and chicken on the grill, libations aplenty, the sun above, water below, friends, dog, fireworks. Poker into the late night.







More fireworks: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. Some of these were expertly captured by Arthur.



More people/poker/dog: 0 1 2 3 4. Connie nabbed my camera for a few of these.

We will fight them in the living rooms... [p]

The crown jewel of my fledgling game collection is on its way, the 50th anniversary Axis and Allies set. Changes include re-revised rules, a very large board, cruisers, and Italy. There are optional research objectives, victory conditions, and start dates. I am preparing my fragile psyche for the brutal, taxing engagements that are to come. Each clash will demand cunning, flexibility, cohesion, and no small amount of luck. And they will be glorious.

War room accoutrements will no doubt include comfortable seating, caffeine/spirits, and time lapse image capture. A level of tension and investment can be achieved by anything ranging from antes to a half assed period-specific dress code (thankfully nobody wore pointy helmets in that war). If there are any closet Pattons (or outed Pattons, or 'just experimenting' Pattons) in the readership let me know and I'll put you on the contact list, everyone else shall have their fate determined by powers they cannot fathom.

Connie reclaimed her compendium of Settlers editions for a game night that included Ryan, Debbie, and Curt. Despite two newbies diving head first into Cities and Knights, after four and a half hours we were all tied at a mere eight points. After the dice circled once more we called it with three co-victors. Axis doesn't look so arduous now.

In other news I'm considering taking the sawz all to the master bathroom. It's a project that needn't be hurried, and I'm toying with the prospect of just tiling in the shower first, and adding vanities and a tub later.

More 'omg puppies'...

Pupdate [s]

It was a rough weekend so I don't have a gaggle of cute puppy photos. Since last week he's learned to actually pick up the stick (below) and has made it onto the couch more than once.



Shots are due Wednesday, but Friday night is a bit more realistic. After that I can take him out to interact with other dogs. He did well at Burger Lounge on Friday night, getting no shortage of attention.

He definitely has a Jekyll/Hyde thing going on, cycling between wanting to chomp everything to the most docile (and slightly oversized) lap dog.

The saga of the dog, episode one [s]

So the still-unnamed canine is resting peacefully. All it took was a mile run this morning, a visit from some Del Martians and Canadians (all photos by Connie), a mile+ walk this afternoon, and lots of trips up and down the stairs. Needless to say, it may be awhile before I find myself at the bottom of a bag of pork rinds watching Home Shopping Network as the sun comes up. Those were good Tuesday/Thursdays.

Of course, it's great to have a bright-eyed, clumsy rodent stumbling around the house all day. It'll be a relief when he requires a little less maintenance and he'll probably the the ideal running buddy.

Day 1: There were some whimpers as we drove away from his mom, but the pup just cuddled up to Jessica and was content. We kept him entertained all day in an effort to reduce the transition anxiety. He adapted well to the new home, though he would cry when left alone.

We coaxed him to sleep, and it wasn't until 02:30 that we heard anything. Neighborliness compelled me to bring him inside, but still crated. There were a couple more howling sessions, but such things are unavoidable.

Day 2: I had a go at leash training, he had to be dragged/scruffed from the door to the sidewalk and then realized it was much easier to walk. He was a big fan of his first walk, and liked running with Connie and Ryan even more. I didn't hear a peep until sunrise.

New resident [s]

Listage [p]

The occupancy at my house will soon triple, but this weekend it might double (in which case next weekend it would only double). Now I can handle the simple stuff like installing a dog door and removing poisonous shrubbery, but I'm fairly perplexed on how to go about naming the pup. There are so many approaches so I thought I'd cover a few name schemes and what would be the resultant dog name.

• Generic: Rover
  
• Self-evident: Dog
• Cute: Biscuit
• Mythological: Argos
  
• Gamer: Dogmeat
  
• Thug: Snoop
  
• Redneck: Trigger
  
• Cultural: Wilhelm
• Cultural-redneck: Aug
• MSTie: Croooooow
• Scrubs-ian: Rowdy
  
• Orwellian: Jessie
• Overloaded: Sebastian
• Nihilist:
• Delicious: Taco

We'll see how it goes. In other news The Heidi Report is gracing us all with her presence this weekend. Since there will be all kinds of people and events, I thought I'd dust off the old appearance probability algorithm. Or algorithms, we couldn't really decide on an accurate model, but such is the case when you ask the same question of a neurologist, an EE, and a software guy (walk into a bar...).

CR:
For extra credit, find out the P(W|C), since he did not supply us with the probability. You'll also need to know that P(C) = 0.5 and P(W) = 0.3.

W:
P(W|C) = 0.3
What did CS come up with? Since she is EE, she may have applied Maxwell's equations to solve this dinner conundrum. This is some ill J-Pod humor.

CR:
I got 0.42, P(C|W) * P(W) / P(C) = 0.7 * 0.3 / 0.5 = 0.42
Yeah CS, let's see the Bode plot of the W/Chris transfer function.

CS:
My attempt at pseudo-fuzzy interfacing...

Mamdani-type or sugeno-type of fuzzy logic operands shall we use? I don't think the output function is linear or constant, so that foregoes sugeno.
If prob(C) = 0.5 & prob(W) = 0.3, then P(W|C) can be calculated by fuzzy logic's probabilistic OR.

a=newfis('w_chris_cacluator');
a.input(1).name='w';
a.input(1).range=[0 10];
a.input(1).mf(1).name='no_show';
a.input(1).mf(1).type='gaussmf';
a.input(1).mf(1).params=[1.5 0];
a.input(1).mf(2).name='maybe';
a.input(1).mf(2).type='gaussmf';
a.input(1).mf(2).params=[1.5 5];
a.input(1).mf(3).name='yes';
a.input(1).mf(3).type='gaussmf';
a.input(1).mf(3).params=[1.5 10];
a.input(2).name='chris';
a.input(2).range=[0 10];
a.input(2).mf(1).name='no_show';
a.input(2).mf(1).type='trapmf';
a.input(2).mf(1).params=[-2 0 1 3];
a.input(2).mf(2).name='maybe';
a.input(2).mf(2).type='trapmf';
a.input(2).mf(2).params=[7 9 10 12];
a.output(1).name='dinner';
a.output(1).range=[0 30];
a.output(1).mf(1).name='okay'
a.output(1).mf(1).type='trimf';
a.output(1).mf(1).params=[0 5 10];
a.output(1).mf(2).name='average';
a.output(1).mf(2).type='trimf';
a.output(1).mf(2).params=[10 15 20];
a.output(1).mf(3).name='fabulous';
a.output(1).mf(3).type='trimf';
a.output(1).mf(3).params=[20 25 30];
a.rule(1).antecedent=[1 1];
a.rule(1).consequent=[1];
a.rule(1).weight=1;
a.rule(1).connection=2;
a.rule(2).antecedent=[2 0];
a.rule(2).consequent=[2];
a.rule(2).weight=1;
a.rule(2).connection=1;
a.rule(3).antecedent=[3 2];
a.rule(3).consequent=[3];
a.rule(3).weight=1;
a.rule(3).connection=2

Boil down to... fuzzy probabilities of probor(C,W) = C+W-CW.

But what.. what is C and W membership function?