Things I did today

Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, 2nd Edition (Al Sweigart)

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 08 Nov 2026 13:30:00 +0000

Verdict: Probably a good book, but I'm not buying it.

My take: I downloaded this sample about six years ago, when I planned to learn Python for data analysis and manipulation, then build visualizations in Power BI. Today, with AI absorbing much of that work, I can't see Python paying off for me beyond personal hobbies. The author also says the book targets everyday computer chores rather than aspiring programmers, and I don't see those tasks helping my day-to-day, professionally or personally. I've already finished beginner books on C, C++, and SQL, so my time is better spent elsewhere. It's likely a solid book, but it isn't a jumping-off point for a Python programmer.

What others say:

Agree: A 2017 UCL Digital Education review calls it a good start for beginners who don't plan to become software engineers, and notes it skips practices like version control and test-driven development.
Disagree: In 2016, Pybites' Julian Sequeira loved it, recommended it to newcomers and experienced coders alike, and singled out the web-scraping chapter. His one complaint, its camelCase naming, clashes with Python convention.
Worth knowing: Both reviews cover the first edition. The author offers the book free to read online, so you can judge it before spending anything.

Bottom line: A fit if you want to script everyday computer tasks; a weaker fit if you're building toward a data or software career.

Kindle Samples Galore

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 13:35:00 +0000

Another Go at Books?

I had success reading more over the summer, but then work and, more likely, Stardew Valley took over my evenings and weekends. It’s far too easy to play “just one more day”!

Lately I’d read a few pages of Bill Bryson’s Made in America, drift off in thought, and not remember any of it the next day. The same happened with 1929 and Too Big to Fail, both by Andrew Ross Sorkin. Beyond the big themes, I can’t recall what I read. I remember being surprised and making connections, but not what those connections were.

I want a record of what I read, rather than “Yeah, I read that years ago.” So this section starts with Kindle samples. After each one, I’ll write a short review and give it a verdict: Buy, Defer, or Skip. Defer is the tricky one: it can’t mean “someday.” It needs a specific date and a specific reason.

Will these samples spur me to buy and read the rest, or will I mostly skip them after the first few chapters? Either way, I’ll finally have a record of what I thought.

Another Go at Books

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 22:34:52 +0000

I recently read Morgan Housel's new book, The Art of Spending Money. What I got out of it the most was the idea of starting books, but not finishing them. I've always felt I should finish what I start, and he argues that it shouldn't be so for books. If you're not interested in the book after chapter one, put it down. It was not as advertised or summarized inappropriately or you changed as a person between purchase or borrowing and sitting down to read. He suggests to have a wide funnel but strong filter. Read anything, genres you wouldn't go for, authors you're unsure of, because you're only investing a small amount of time. Sometimes, he mentions, he decides the book isn't for him be the end of page one.

I happen to have a lot of books. Most of them I'm excited to start, but rarely do I start them because I feel like I should finish them, even if I don't want to.

So I've decided to change my thoughts on that. I now will start a book and make a decision by the end of chapter one of I want to continue it. Either way, I should note why so I can understand what books I prefer and try to broaden my horizons. I also want to get back to being the voracious reader I was in school.

I learned I can read library books through my Kindle by using the Libby app since I'm already a member of the local library.

So far this year, though, I've read:

I, Robot

Winds of Change

Nine Tomorrows

Nightfall and Other Stories

(all by Isaac Asimov)

The Art of Spending Money by Morgan Housel

Die With Zero by Bill Perkins

and I'm now reading Who Is Government? by Michael Lewis, borrowed from the library and sent to my Kindle. I've read the first chapter and am very excited to continue on!

Retirement Planning Guidebook Chapters 10 - 13

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 17:47:00 +0000

Chapters 10, 11, and 12 deal with Tax Planning, Legacy and Incapacity Planning and Non-Financial Aspects of Retirement. Chapter 13 is a summation of all previous chapters, gathering all of the action steps that were at the end of each chapter in one place for reference.

Chapter 10 notes on Tax Planning:

I already knew most of the things in regards to taxes and retirement plans, but learned a lot about the "Social Security Tax Torpedo" and will need to model how that will affect my retirement spending and distribution. It's a bit of tricky math. Because your "combined income" that the IRS looks at to tax Social Security is linear, it feels like the Social Security tax should be roughly linear, but extra income could reclassify a dollar of Social Security that was subject to 0% or 50% tax now 85% tax just by increasing $1 in income. And because it doesn't change with inflation, it's been affecting middle income retirees more than the wealthy. This was such a meaty chapter, it ended up being nearly 1/4th of the book!

Chapter 11 notes on Legacy and Incapacity Planning:

I sure have a ways to go here in regards to considering Wills, Estates, Trusts, Power of Attorney and other things. It was an informative chapter that I will visit as I go through the retirement accumulation stage and slowly get things ready to consider how I end my retirement as well as start.

Chapter 12 notes on Non-Financial Aspects of Retirement:

I think this chapter and chapter 4 I've had the most 'review' materials. I already knew that it's imperative to have a network of people outside of the workplace, have hobbies that you can do while less mobile, and hobbies that encourage you to stay mobile.

Chapter 13 notes on Putting It All Together:

This was a great book of definitions and understanding of all aspects of retirement. He has a lot of suggested further reading for more of a deep dive on certain topics that require more research, like the chapter on Incapacity Planning. I appreciate all the action steps that I'll refer to and start checking off as I get closer to retirement. While it was a meaty book and took me a while to read, I'm glad I did it!

Retirement Planning Guidebook Chapters 7 - 9

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sat, 27 Dec 2025 01:55:00 +0000

Chapters 7, 8 and 9 deal with Medicare, Long Term Care Planning and Housing in Retirement.

Chapter 7 notes on Social Security:

Surprised at the cost of Medicare considering the population is mostly of people with fixed incomes and declining ability. So many rules and changes for a population that should require simplicity.

Also surprised at the different flavors of Medigap coverage. And surprised to find that Original Medicare has no out of pocket limit, essentially requiring Medigap or Medicare Advantage to be sure you're not just going to be on the hook for something extremely expensive in your 70s when you have a good 15-25 years to go.

Chapter 8 notes on Long Term Care Planning:

A quarter of women and a fifth of men need 5+ years of long term care, but most people rely on family/friends to fill that gap instead of paid care. A robust network is required if you don't have the money to cover it. I'm surprised it is that large of a subsection of the population.

Chapter 9 notes on Housing:

As a renter, this isn't particularly on topic for me - I'm not going to downsize since I won't be having kids and getting a large house that could be downsized, and I also am not interested in Reverse Mortgages or HECMs. I'll keep this in mind if I get a house.

Retirement Planning Guidebook Chapters 4 - 6

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 00:25:00 +0000

Chapters 4 - 6 cover the 4% Rule, Annuities and Social Security.

Chapter 4 notes on the Trinity Study:

The Trinity Study switched its bond holding for the exercise purpose from intermediate government bonds to long term corporate bonds, and the volatility went up and safe percentage to draw went down. Something to consider when having a regular corporate bond fund in retirement.

Intermediate government bonds do provide the sweet spot for risk and return in worst case scenarios. Consider FUAMX for that portion of the portfolio.

The 4% rule is inappropriate for those who are expecting to be retired for more than 30 years - though it is a decreasing rate that the safe withdrawal rate would go down past 30 years/4%.

Chapter 5 notes on Annuities:

He has to start the chapter on Annuities with "Caveat about Annuities" where he mentioned he's just going to assume the annuity is fairly priced and appropriate which tells me all I need to know about using annuities.

Bond Ladders are not the same thing as Bonds Funds. Ladders provide more income protection but only for the duration of the ladder itself.

There are so many different annuity types and the naming seems to be specifically confuse customers. A field fraught with potential problems. I think I'll likely stay away.

Chapter 6 notes on Social Security:

The Social Security Fund has been a concern several times in the 70s and 80s after the fund was depleting since Congress included spousal, disability and survivor benefits. Of course, it will run out of money sooner - you've added more people to the group of beneficiaries that didn't add to the pot!

Retirement Planning Guidebook Chapters 2 & 3

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 20:15:00 +0000

Chapters 2 and 3 focus on more definitions, discussing retirement risks and retirement income, including some broad preparedness activities. What I found interesting was my longevity risk (the book included a resource to see your own probability of demise at a certain point) and that I would need to change my current thought of how long my investments should last. I should add an extra 5-10 years!

I also need a different model for projected expenses. At this time, I just assumed all items would go up the same amount - the inflation rate. However, healthcare and housing around healthcare (CCRCs, nursing homes, etc) are going up much faster than inflation, so by the time I need them, my investments may not have kept up. I imagine the other items that won't go up as much as inflation (electronic equipment) will be enough to make up for the healthcare costs.

The book also talks about the "funded ratio", essentially how much have you already saved up against your assumed expenses. You can always tweak your ratio by things other than saving more money, like decreasing assumed expenses or increasing expected rate of return, but that sounds like you're just moving the goal posts just to get there sooner. Dangerous game!

So, with the exception of some budgeting changes due to things not staying with inflation, these two chapters were good refreshers. Looking forward to chapter 4, which digs into the 4% Rule.

Retirement Planning Guidebook Chapter 1

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 01:37:00 +0000

Wade Pfau has gotten so much into the math of retirement planning that his previous academic title was Professor of Retirement Income. With his wealth of knowledge, he's decided to write a series of books:

Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating the Important Decisions for Retirement Success

Reverse Mortgages: How to use Reverse Mortgages to Secure Your Retirement

Safety-First Retirement Planning: An Integrated Approach for a Worry-Free Retirement and

How Much Can I Spend in Retirement?: A Guide to Investment-Based Retirement Income Strategies

In this first book of the series, he walks through the major topics of generating retirement income that the other three books cover in-depth, as well as Social Security, Medicare, and Long Term Care planning.

In the first chapter, he stresses that there are multiple income strategies and that there are certain strategies that resonate more strongly with some, and other strategies that work well for others. There is more beyond the idea of saving money, investing it, and waiting until you have enough to retire and living off the proceeds (and the principle much further on if necessary). There are folks that prefer to keep downside protection with annuities or seeking jobs that provide pensions. Since pensions aren't easy to come by anymore, and all I heard about annuities were that they were bad deals, sold by insurance salesmen, I wasn't interested in hearing that side of the equation. However, his reasoned approach has me at least interested in reading the beginning of that chapter when I get there.

Pfau also offered his Retirement Income Style Awareness quiz for me to take, which I did this afternoon. Not too surprisingly, my style is Total Returns Investing.

In short, I expect the market to gain a lot more than I can spend for most years, and if that doesn't pan out on occasion, I will shift my spending to allow the market to catch up. I guess it's nice to see what I expected my answers to be correlate with the strategy I figure to be the best for my situation.

Chapter 2 is next, Retirement Risks.

End of Surge 11 and Beginning of Surge 12

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 15:46:00 +0000

Surge 11 went well. I remembered to do my stretches and PT daily except for the last 4 days of the month, when my hip pain was finally mild to none. I was worried with my hip pain as I had a conference to attend the third week of the month, and walking was still painful. Apparently, what I needed was being forced to walk 5 - 9 miles a day for six days at the conference, along with my PT. At end, for the day I walked 9 miles, I had a painful hour in the afternoon that subsided, and after that I've only had the mildest of pain on occasion when going up stairs. I guess I'm mostly cured! I'll call that an unintentional success and keep doing my PT.

Surge 12 took me some time to think about. I've settled on going through a book I bought late last year, "Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating The Important Decisions For Retirement Success", by Wade Pfau.

I've been wanting to read this book and work through the exercises, as I'm hopeful to retire before I turn 67, and looking to solidify my plan to do so. It's a hefty book, at almost 500 pages, but I'm certain I'll be able to get through it this month, write about it and devise a plan that I can refer to and amend as time goes on. This is a good month to read the book, as I normally take December to create next year's budget and decide how I want to split up retirement contributions and other savings.

I'll see how far my current loose plan is from the plan I create with this book!

End of Surge 10, Start of Surge 11

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 20:19:00 +0000

I only ended up adding six recipes as I didn't have nearly as many recipes that I'd tested enough! Throughout the winter, I'll be cooking a lot more, so I'll feel more confident in adding good ones.

For the month, though I added Beef Stroganoff, Ham Quiche, Pad Thai, Chicken Cacciatore, Arroz Con Pollo and Tuna Steak.

You can find the full list at my recipes page: http://www.lauraqjohnson.com/recipes.html

For Surge 11, I need to get back to daily PT as my hip is continuing to bother me. It's gone from moderate pain to mild, which is good - but part of the reason is that I'm not going on near daily walks anymore. That I really miss, so I will be using November to strengthen and stretch my hip and area around it.

Dicey Dungeons, Halloween Special

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 02:20:00 +0000

Since it's close to Halloween, I decided to embark on the Halloween Special that the Dicey Dungeons creators made a while back. Sounds like a fun distraction!

You can play as the Warrior, Inventor and Witch. I guess I'll do them in order. Warrior is first!

Halloween Episode 1: The Warrior

Hah! How funny, the enemies are wearing Halloween costumes!

The gameplay and equipment isn't different except for the "Spooky Fury" which means you don't know when Fury (your equipment triggers twice) will happen - if it happens at all.

As always, they do a great job on the dialog. The final boss was Drake the Vampire (of course!) and I beat him rather handily with my overpowered equipment.

Halloween Episode 2: The Inventor

Moving on to episode 2 was the Inventor, and the creators still had some interesting tricks up their sleeves. One needed to really consider how the equipment was going to work AND how it would work as a gadget. At the end of each match, one piece of equipment gets destroyed in order to create a relevant gadget that the Inventor can use without the use of dice each turn. There are a handful of gadgets that relate to similar equipment, so not every gadget is unique.

The equipment has some awful side effects. For example, the electric whip can do plenty of damage when paired with the 6 that I've rolled, but it will shock me (requiring me to use extra dice the next turn). That No, You gadget means the next equipment used would affect the other player. If I use the Singularity with the 4, getting a 1 instead, then use No, You gadget, the Backfire equipment would then affect the enemy's health instead of mine. This was a very unique episode trying to juggle not only the equipment destroyed to create gadgets but making sure the effects of the equipment aren't too bad when I use them!

Hah, "Double Edge" sword in my rewards. I think I'll keep this one in my backpack in order to sacrifice it for gadget creating - it sounds like it is too dangerous to use as it is!

Perfect, I don't want to destroy my safety goggles or jealous sword, so I'll take the Power Up instead! Hmm, that Take 999 damage could be good if I could pair it with equipment that will change the target from me to the enemy... I'll have to keep that in mind.

I'm well set up for this boss fight! Drake the Vampire again! I just have to use the Polarity Flip, then the Night Terrors would apply to him instead of me, and it's just a slow walk to gather enough dice for the Wooden Stake to finish him off! Excellent! This was a great episode that kept my interest even though this would have been my eighth episode with the Inventor. I'm really looking forward to what they've decided to do with the Witch!

Halloween Episode 3: The Witch

What's the catch for this one? I have to defeat each enemy in one turn. Really. Luckily, each floor only has one enemy, but my equipment changes every combat. Here's the first matchup:

It opens with already having the equipment of a spanner available. Defeat him in one, hmm? I should be able to figure this out. If I use my 1 to conjure a Bump...

Then use the Bump equipment with the 4 gets me a 5...

I can use the Spanner with the 3 and 5 to create 8 - which would be a 6 and 2 in dice...

Conjure up the Magic Spear with both 2s...

And now I can use the 6 on the Magic Spear to do 10 damage... magically the amount he has in health!

I won! And... I didn't get any extra experience, or health... or coins... is this... is this just going to be a math/logic puzzle the whole way through?

...Yep! Looks like it! Ok, what does this equipment do?

I see. Countdowns (In the Wrecking Ball equipment) means other equipment is affected, counting down based on the die that's applied to the Wrecking Ball. If I put in a 4, it will do 4 damage AND count down by 4 for the Tetraphobia, triggering that one as well. Since the Baby Squid has 16 health, it looks like I need to have 3 Tetraphobias when I use the Wrecking Ball.

If I use the 6 and 5 in the Vice Grip, it will return two 1s. I still have the 4, so that's all I'll need!

Perfect! Now I can use the 4 in the Wrecking Ball, and the Tetraphobias will also trigger, taking out the Baby Squid!

And the hits kept coming! Levels 3, 4 and 5 got harder, with the final floor with the boss... Not the Vampire! Instead:

Hah! Sure, do I have to kill the boss in one as well?

Uhm, yes. I have to figure out how to use the equipment and my dice to defeat him in one turn, exacting 105 points of damage. It took a lot of figuring and math... I thought about using a scratch pad, but ended up just moving the dice I knew I needed to keep off to the side. The Harvest Scythe does damage 5 times the face of the die. Every time you use a die in the Harvest Scythe, the equipment related to it is removed, so I have to be careful. (6 x 5) + (5 x 5) + (4 x 5) + (3 x 5) + (2 x 5) + (1 x 5) = 105, which happens to be his health, so I need the dice plus a collection that would conjure a Harvest Scythe multiple times.

After a lot of combining and splitting between the Vice Grip, Chisel, and Doppletwice equipment, I think I'm ready. That took a ton of thinking.

I used the first 1 on the left to create an instance of the Harvest Scythe and I'll use the 6 in it, hitting the Pumpkin Spice for 30 damage.

Since the 6 has been used, the equipment slot has cleared, and now I can no longer use the Doppletwice equipment that was there. I'll keep on going with the next few.

Success! The boss was defeated in 1, and I've beaten all three episodes of the Halloween Special!

As I'm writing this out, I'm thinking that perhaps I overthought the boss battle. Why couldn't I have combined differently to get four 1s and four 6s and just done 120 points of damage? Even if I can't use the Doppletwice equipment, I could have still used the 6s in the Harvest Scythe equipment! I was so focused on the fact that this has been a math puzzle the whole way through.

Do I want to replay this to see if I could have defeated Pumpkin Spice more efficiently?

Maybe, but not tonight.

UPDATE: I replayed it the next night, and what I didn't closely read is the "consume the spell in X slot to do 5 * X damage." That's why 4 iterations of 6s for 120 damage wouldn't work. Still a math puzzle. Glad I went for it originally!

Overall, this was a great addition to their other episodes and they've done plenty to keep my interest! Great work!

Cometeer Coffee Review

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 18:06:00 +0000

James Hoffmann partnered with Cometeer again to create a Discovery Box. Cometeer has a proprietary method of brewing and freezing coffee at a strength ~10 times a normal coffee, so they can be shipped as little frozen pucks. To 'brew' the coffee, you pour hot water on it. If you want a cold coffee, you just let it melt in its capsule in the fridge overnight, and pour it over water and ice.

I'd have a third picture, but you know what black coffee looks like.

The Discovery Box had 8 coffees with 2 pucks each. Each day, Cometeer included a short video from James explaining each coffee and the accompanying flavor profile. I was encouraged to rate the coffee "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" but what I didn't know was if thumbs up meant "I loved the coffee" and thumbs down meant "I merely liked it, or worse", or "I liked it and would drink it again" vs "I didn't like it and would not drink it again".

I ended up going with the second option and added specifics in my own review.

The only constant seems to be that I don't like coffees that have floral or tea like notes. Other than that, I found that I do like sweet dark roasts, and was surprised at the mouthfeel for those coffees - thicker and creamier even though they were still just black coffee!

I ended up ordering another set of coffees from Cometeer. I thought about starting a subscription and just ordering twice a year - I only drink one cup of caffeinated coffee a day, and depending on the weather, one or two decafs. However, it seemed limited for options - the minimum I could order was 40 coffees (5 packs) every six weeks. I don't want to order coffee that often from them, and I don't want to constantly juggle their ordering date, so I just made a one-time order, and dealt with the fact that I was ordering the coffee at a more expensive rate. I picked:

Smooth Operator, Dark Roast - Smooth Operator is an adventurous dark blend combining natural Ethiopia and wet-hulled Sumatra. It’s bold yet layered—dark chocolate and blackberry richness give way to a smooth, smoky sweetness reminiscent of pipe tobacco. Full-bodied, complex, and endlessly cozy.

Daterra Calabria, Dark Roast - With notes of dark chocolate, walnut, and cherry.

Rwanda Sholi Women Producers, Light Roast - This vibrant single origin from the Sholi women producers in Rwanda’s Southern Province is a celebration of precision and community. Expect syrupy sweetness and bold fruit character, balanced by velvety chocolate - an expressive cup that honors the hands that crafted it.

Zambrano Natural, Light Roast - This coffee is flat-out wild—in the best way. Grown by the Zambrano family at Finca Buena Vista in Algeciras, Huila, and fermented anaerobically for 170 hours in-cherry. In the cup, it explodes with juicy berry character, zesty orange, and deep cocoa undertones. Zambrano is a natural coffee that pushes boundaries.

Cadefihuila Espresso Decaf, Medium Roast - A decaffeinated single origin espresso with impressive clarity and balance. This offering from the Cadefihuila Cooperative in Huila, Colombia features sweet, nutty depth and smooth chocolatey richness, all thanks to a gentle sugarcane EA decaf process.

Nightcap Noir Decaf, Dark Roast - With notes of almond, cola, and molasses.

The George Howell Cadefihuila Espresso Decaf that I'm current drinking is delicious. It's a medium roast but has a rather creamy mouthfeel. The flavor profile is sweet with dark chocolate, almond and caramel. It's wonderful black and has no bitter aftertaste. What a delightful coffee! I'm looking forward to the other coffees I've purchased, and learning how to get better at brewing a delicious cup from other roasters.

Surge 10

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 21:31:00 +0000

This month's surge is a little housekeeping-ish. For a while, I've been trying new recipes, but I've not been putting them on my website and I really ought to! It's been helpful as a reference and to send to friends who are looking for something new to cook, especially if they like their Instant Pot.

So Surge 10 is all about adding more recipes to my site. Hopefully I can get another 10 or more up there as it only has 14 currently. No more weekend work in October, which means I'll have time for it!

End of Surge 9

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 15:23:00 +0000

I only played one new video game between 9/15 and 9/30 because I was working overtime at work. Normally, I work about 90 hours for half a month. This time, I worked over 120 hours. Often, I needed to be in meetings that started at 5am, so even when the day ended around 4 or 5pm, I was exhausted and no mood to figure out a new game.

I was going to try to catch up on weeks 7 and 8 and pretend I was just slow on publishing. But I realized that I had fewer genres to try out. I've already done a few before starting this surge - RPG, puzzle games, deckbuilders and platformers. I also know I had no desire to play any sports games or first person shooters. Instead, I decided to end it early and write up the final review for 20 games I did play since the beginning of September.

First, a quick writeup about Vampire Survivors.

What a weird game. You wander around, attempting to kill waves of monsters while your weapon autofires, meaning you have to time when you get close to enemies to kill them, while avoiding other enemies. Here's a screenshot:

Not many monsters on the screen currently, but you can see my weapon (in this case, a whip) fire toward where I'm facing. All the enemies you see are focusing on me, getting closer, so I need to move away.

As I've gotten away, they are starting to clump together, which would be to my advantage if I had a more powerful weapon. The blue orbs (pills/whatever you want to call them) on screen are how I can level up my character. Every time I kill a monster, they drop either a blue or red orb which relates to the blue bar at the top of the screen when I get close enough to pick them up. Once I fill up the bar, I get to choose a reward that would upgrade my character. While it is a very manic game, I can see myself enjoying it as I get better and better upgrades. A fun, though frantic, final game for the video game surge.

Games I would NOT play again:

Berzerk

Crazy Climber

Figment

Heroes of Might and Magic

Carcassone

Firewatch

Legends of Grimrock

Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood

Pacman

Games I would play again to be more certain in my opinion:

Antihero

Banished

80 Days

Games I would definitely play again:

Battlezone

Galcon Fusion

Centipede

Moon Cresta

Hue

Deathtrap Dungeon

Vampire Survivors

Universal Paperclips

What does this mean in aggregate? Nothing particularly clear. If I really want to know definitively if I dislike a genre, I will need to play a few other games in the same genre as the games I would not like to play again. Some games I didn't care for because of the art style, or because of the frustration level. I probably would like PacMan if I hadn't played other arcade games that I like even better. If Carcassone had a better tutorial, it's possible that I would have enjoyed that one as well.

However, I'm glad I played all these games, and it does start to give me a sense of where I should focus further when choosing games in the future!

Week 6 Video Games

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 17:25:00 +0000

This week, I played Legends of Grimrock, Deathtrap Dungeon, and Universal Paperclips.

Legend of Grimrock:

Looks pretty cool in the intro!

Ah, I've been convicted of a crime, and if I go through this dungeon alive, I'm pardoned? Sure. Why not!

Well, let's go dungeon exploring!

Sure, whatever that is. I grabbed the torch behind me, and I'll start my way down the dungeon.

Ahh, it's a gross snail! Punch it! Hit it with the stone axe!

Why are you missing when it is RIGHT HERE? Augh, it's bitten one of my players!

I managed to kill the snail and move along to a corridor with two snails. I figure I'll fight them one at a time, until I hit the wrong key and moved when I didn't want to and got cornered.

Frustrating. There were other puzzle-y elements that I found frustrating and so my frustration meter went too high. Not having fun, and now punished for one keystroke. I think I'll put this real time RPG away. Not the one for me.

Deathtrap Dungeon:

A choose your own adventure book digitized, with dice and cards for battling. You pick the character you want to use - normal D&D style classes. The storyline - someone has created an impossible dungeon, and if you survive, you get a lot of gold!

I chose to start as the barbarian. Classic. Know how that guy operates - tough guy with a big weapon that hits people. At the entrance of the dungeon are boxes of gold coins for certain contestants. I can open mine, and I can also open a box meant for "Throm the Barbarian." Since this all about choices, I think I'll leave his alone.

Unlike the encounters with the snails in Grimrock, you're able to pause and consider, though this early in the game, all I can do is roll dice and hope. I easily dispose of the goblin and make my way down the dungeon, facing a few battles along the way.

As I explore, I find Throm the Barbarian, dead from a trap of spikes.

Farther in, I battle with two giant birds. They get the best of me, and I die.

I lose a life and start again at the beginning of the dungeon. Hey, I get to pass the contestant boxes again. I guess I'll be taking Throm's box already knowing his fate. Doubled my net worth! Hopefully I can use the gold in the dungeon somehow.

As I continue down the dungeon's ever branching paths, I find a pipe, headed... somewhere. I take it.

And, I land just outside the dungeon entrance. Drat. I should have thought better of that pipe. Well, now I know, and can head back in for a third time! Since I needed to get some errands done in real life, I put this away and will revisit it later. I like it, even if it isn't my favorite so far. It at least isn't as frustrating as others!

Universal Paperclips:

It's a web browser game. You, too, can play it RIGHT NOW. Head here: https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/

Your goal is to make paperclips.

Well, your goal is to make the most paperclips... while selling them to people at the best price that would make you the most money.

Well, actually, your goal is to make the most paperclips, selling them to people, while buying things that would affect the buying behavior of the public to want more paperclips, while you buy equipment that will source and clip wire more efficiently.

Well, actually, your goal is to harness the power of quantum computing to create more computer operations that allows you to increase trust in the human race in order for them to buy more paperclips, while creating statistical models to gain other equipment.

Well, actually, your goal is to RELEASE THE HYPNODRONES to capture all of humanity's time and power so you can use the Earth itself to be one giant factory! You no longer see the amount of money made, because you have all of the money, and all of the resources, and all of the people.

Now you are on phase two of the game...

Quite the tongue in cheek ridiculous game of conquest! I was even able to cure Male Pattern Baldness, which gained me a lot of trust in the human race! I think I'll finish this one, even though I'll need to put it down today.

Well, this week's games were rather different, and I enjoyed 2 of them! Next week, I'll have a few more genres to try out.

Finished the 80 Days Playthrough

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sat, 13 Sep 2025 16:18:00 +0000

I decided to finish my 80 Days playthrough. I left Turkey for Ha'il Saudi Arabia to sell some goods that are valuable there, and to pick a southern route from Ha'il to get to a water route around Qatar or Oman.

However, we were traveling via camels with a group that wanted to find a magical temple at Rub' Al-Khali in Oman and apparently, the magic temple had a magical priestess that had the power to Star Trek style atomize us to southern Russia instead!

Off we go, on a land based route, but at least in the right direction.

We take the Trans-Manchurian route to get to Pyongyang in order to sell some more expensive goods.

Went to Manila in order to head to Honolulu! Except Mr. Fogg contracted cholera when we arrived in Manila which had him bedridden for three days. Knowing that any route across the Pacific was going to be long, I hoped I could speed through the United States and get back to London in enough time.

I grabbed a harmonica, hoping my route through the US could be via New Orleans to get us a bit more money. I also negotiated the fare from Manila as we'd already spent an extra three days there.

Hah! Apparently, I can't play the harmonica very well. Maybe he's just cross because of the cholera. We had to wait a while to depart Honolulu, setting off on day 61. 19 days left!

Oof, a banana boat between Honolulu and San Francisco. This will be quite the trip for the barely surviving Mr Fogg.

The Captain doesn't seem to like me much, but I'm just glad we are heading to New Orleans to sell the harmonica and hope that there's a fast route from New Orleans to London.

Oh dear, no, I cannot spare a breakdown! We already had three days delay with Mr Fogg's cholera illness in Manila.

Are we going to make it? We're heading to London, but have to stop at Ponta Delgada for refueling. If it takes too long, can we find a way to London that's faster?

Nope the most direct route gets us there on day 82. I can leave for Lisbon sooner (and much cheaper, since I can't afford the $7300 direct route.) so Lisbon it is. Maybe they'll have a flight that will depart the same day so we might reach London in the evening of the 80th day?

I went to Lisbon and attempted the fastest route back to London...

Missed it by one day. Drat!

No need to rub it in! Sheesh! However, we get some fun stats at the end.

I do wish they had a way to save this information upon completion of the game, but it looks like they do not. Regardless, I might want to try a better route that avoid camel travel and Manila next time...

Week 5 Video Games

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 00:17:00 +0000

This week, I focused on two new genres. Interactive Fiction and City Builder. My three games: Firewatch, 80 Days and Banished.

Firewatch:

After the intro, which was a choose your own path, but all paths lead to telling a similar story as the beginning of the movie Up, you're dropped into a state park, where you have decided to take a job as Fire Lookout in Wyoming, hiking to people doing dangerous things and telling them to knock it off, and investigating things that seem unusual. There is a mystery that starts in the game - you find a backpack belonging to a kid and your supervisor (that you radio often) seems wistful and and tells a few quick facts about a father and son that used to backpack and hike the park often. You've found that kid's pack. And a really large fence. And I just wanted to go back to my fire tower, but there were other things I needed to solve, first. But I felt myself being bored, so I just didn't, and quit the game.

I expected a little more structure, or a little less creepiness, but it's just a bit boring and slightly annoying. The graphics are excellent, though!

What a lovely sunset at this lake! However fantastic the graphics are, it was not enough to keep me going. Is this because I dislike Interactive fiction, or perhaps just this game?

80 Days

It's another interactive fiction game! Perhaps I'll like this one better? Based on Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, you play as Passepartout, Phileas Fogg's valet, making decisions and gathering information to steer the route in circumnavigating the globe in 80 days.

While this isn't creepy in the least and is very cute, it isn't enough to hold my attention for more than 45 minutes.

At least I did make it to St. Petersburg. I started the game again to get more screenshots, and ended up playing another half hour to get to Turkey to sell a particular clothing that was valuable there. It is just enough to keep me playing, but I'm not really having a lot of fun.

However, Passepartout did have fun in Turkey, as the night turned into day, apparently I spent the night at a lady's house! I'm now feeling "zestful" despite Mr. Fogg's indignance. Maybe he should have visited a lady in Turkey.

Some of the conversations are helpful with tips of certain things selling in other cities, and other conversations are... less so.

The routes are fun to explore and they do a nice job of using many different types of transportation.

It's not a bad game, but it isn't terribly exciting... and that's the point, so I can't quite fault it for that.

I think I can just say the interactive fiction isn't my cup of tea.

Banished:

I nearly banished this game from my list after playing it for about a half hour, between the UI and how fast the time would go if you're not noticing you've put it at 5x speed to speed up some of the boring building bits... and then snow started to fall.

All those poor dead people. (You can see the grave notifications in the bottom right.) I couldn't build a fishing dock fast enough.

Next time, I'll start off with getting enough resources, then build a few houses, then a fishing dock.

This time, I did better, and bumped it back to an easier start mode, but cleared too many trees before building my dock. As you see in the upper left, there's a dark rectangle. That's where the people would have built the fishing dock. In the middle of the screen, they have way too many wood and stone resources. Also, they are starving.

Aaaand now almost everyone is dead. Again.

Okay. Try three.

A good easy start, and my first action? Fishing dock! Go!

I've got a dock, three fishermen, a hunting lodge being built in the top left, and a field in the bottom right. I'm even building a blacksmith workshop. Things are looking good! The jury's out regarding if this is fun, yet, 2.5 hours into the game, but at least I'm not annoyingly slowly killing my townspeople now.

Hopefully I'll have a better week next week...

Surge 9, Continuation of Video Games

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 17:25:00 +0000

Since I seem to be having these surges last two months instead of one, I may as well continue the trend. There are a lot of other games I've yet to play, so while I've done 12 new games in August, there are other completely different games that I should experience so that I can get a better idea of new games that are proposed to me.

This month, I'll play the genres of Interactive Fiction, Action, RPG, City Builder, War Game, Side Scroller, Game Book and... Spreadsheet. Hopefully by the end of September I'll have covered enough ground that I'll have a good basis of what I like, if someone tells me a game I should play and what genre it is.

Week 4 Video Game Surge

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 16:54:00 +0000

Between work and travel, I ended up just grabbing three new arcade games at the local arcade. This weekend, I played Centipede, PacMan and Moon Cresta.

I remember one of my brothers playing Centipede when I was a little kid on our home Atari system. Watching a current playthrough, it looked very busy and chaotic, and I was hesitant that I'd last more than 15 seconds. I actually didn't do too poorly, and enjoyed my time! I'd play that one again!

Next up was PacMan. While I managed the first screen, I couldn't make it through the second screen, and ended up dying. It also wasn't as exciting as other games at the arcade. Good to have played it, but I don't expect to pick that one back up.

Moon Cresta was one I'd never heard of and ended up really enjoying. It's similar to Galaxion, but not quite as busy and the difference is the number of ships that are constantly swooping down near your ship instead of the occasional one from Galaxion. I ended up with my initials on the high score board for that one!

Since I won't be traveling at all next month, I'll extend this through September, as I have several other genres of video games to try out. Next week will be the genres of Interactive Fiction, Action Role Playing Games (ARPG) and a good old Action game.

Week 3 Video Game Surge

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 11:28:00 +0000

An overall better week!

I played Galcon Fusion, Hue, and Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood.

Galcon Fusion is a Real Time Strategy game where you send your ships to less populated planets in an effort to take over the map.

You weigh if you can afford to take 50% of your population from a planet in order to take over a neutral or hostile other planet, or beef your own defenses on planets you already occupy. The real time part of it is that you are sending your ships at the same time as your enemy in order to take over the local system.

I like this game! I like the art and the music, and it's easy to get into. I haven't played past the first few levels, but it is tense, though casual and approachable. I could see myself getting sucked in for 'just one more play' similar to Dicey Dungeons and Slay the Spire. Great game!

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After that, I played Hue, a side scrolling puzzle game. Absolutely fantastic art and an excellent premise. You're in a monochrome world, attempting to bring color back by solving puzzles through switching the colors in the level.

The goal is to get to the damsel in distress who is stuck in another color, so I have to free the rest of the colors to get to her.

Here's a puzzle to get from the bottom to the top of the level, first with a blue background showing purple blocks, then with the purple background showing the blue blocks.

As I can't get from my spot to the top where the door is, I have to switch colors mid jump, remembering where the other color blocks are. Luckily, as I switch the colors, time slows down, so I have more of a chance... as long as I was headed in right way in the first place.

And here's what it looks like when you're trying to figure out a level and are between picking blue or purple. A good way to plan your next steps.

This is a great game! I have already gotten the color orange and am looking forward to playing more. I enjoy the art style, the game mechanics, and the feeling of accomplishment when I solve a level. I like these types of puzzles and platformers.

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Enigmatis 2 is a hidden object puzzle game. You're a detective that happened upon some sort of attack of a family camper near a theme park. As you're attempting to get information from the girl that's left, about the attack and her mom's disappearance, a giant raven attacks the camper again and knocks you out.

When you come to, everything is gone, including the girl, and the entrance to the park is cleaned up. You enter the park to get some help, and every acts a little...weird. So you start nosing around and find yourself in a basement.

It's a bit creepy, and also I'm not finding the point and click games so far that great. I have tried a few previously and thought perhaps it was due to my impatience or that studio's style of puzzle. I don't think that's quite the case. I think I just don't care for these types of games. When I solve the puzzle, I'm not feeling pleased or accomplished like I have with other styles of game.

Then the game gets a bit creepier - an imprisoned man appears and grabs my wrist!

He's going to help... if I help him as well, since he's stuck. Unfortunately, I'm also stuck in this basement, so I better help him. Guess I'll explore this increasingly creepy basement that leads to a dungeon.

I have to go investigate each of these corpses and find out how they died? Nope. Nope, I'm done. This is supposed to be some sort of easy calming experience. So far, it's including some jump scares and dead bodies. No thanks!!! I'm out!

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I thought Galcon Fusion was great, and I'll try a few more games on different difficulty levels. I loved Hue and am looking forward to getting back to that one!

Week 2 Video Game Surge

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 02:15:00 +0000

This week I played Antihero, Heroes of Might and Magic, and Carcassonne.

I'll not bury the lede: I didn't like any of them. I guess I should have thought better of a game with Carcass in its name. Carcassonne is a board game turned video game, and as I like Dominion and Splendor, two board-games-turned-video-games, I thought I'd at least think this was average.

It might be average.

But the tutorial is not average. Link tiles together and put your meeples on them and close roads!

Why would I close a road? A few tile-laying-rounds, I figured out that the game wants you to create the largest ring road possible so you can claim the most land. Actually, I'm not sure. I'm assuming, based on the fact that the game made a lot of happy noises when that happened, and some of my meeples were returned to me.

Also there are monasteries. You can get points for playing them, but it isn't like you get to choose. You just play the next tile in the stack. Look, I'm in the middle of getting 9 points!

I also don't have any meeples because they are all on the board. The tutorial told me to put meeples down. Not necessarily why or to any strategy, or should exercise any type of restraint. The computer player is doing better with coins, and I have no idea why. Maybe I'll figure it out by the end of the game?

Considering I got 0 points/coins for fields, for some reason, and I didn't know they were a specific part of the game, I'm seeing defeat coming my way.

Ah, yes. I managed to lay tiles very inefficiently, or something. I have no idea. I'll move onto the next game.

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Someone suggested Antihero, and I like the art style. Steam calls it a "strategy, board game, turn based indie game". Sure. I like strategy, and with the exception here of Carcassonne, I like board games, and I like taking turns, and I like supporting small independent shops. Load this thing up. What's it like?

It's a little confusing. Not confusing enough to not muddle through the basic mechanics, but enough to wonder what a plausible solution is. It's somewhat a... worker placement game. I'm hiring street urchins and thugs to steal and murder on my behalf as I scout and burgle my way through town and upgrade the lot as I can. I'm not a big worker placement person. I do like direct action versus indirect action.

When it's just me, and I'm the one burgling, that's great! I get coins and I get to explore.

But pretty soon, I have urchins to mind at a church, a roving gang to keep up with, and not to mention the enemy who already has a foothold on the city and an understanding of how the game works!

I claimed victory, apparently, at the second section of the city, after blackmailing someone. Since I felt completely inadequate to venture further (and a little bored) I decided to give up since I had played 48 minutes and the last 30 minutes were getting less and less fun.

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Then I heard, I just need to play Heroes of Might and Magic, which was an older game, but would allow me to see if I truly didn't like this genre of turn based strategy. Off we go!

It's a DOS game, and when I go to capture screenshots, it brings up the save menu over the game, then resizes the window to irritatingly small. So, no screenshots from me, but I stole one from Google Images that's a good representation of what I played.

So, not worker placement, but many of those fiddly bits remained. I needed to ride back to the castle to get more peasants to go fight monsters. I needed to upgrade my castle to give the armed forces something to drink, to increase morale. I had to create another hero to have them explore other parts of the map, but the movement is dreadfully slow. I know, just like a board game, you can only move so far on your turn. I'm sure the turn based strategy bit in the name meant I should be carefully considering - 100 more peasants, or 20 pikemen? Do I need more ale for the archers or are they a poor shot if they drink too much?

But when you're unsure of your actions, and movement feels like it would be better to assess what's going to be in front of you, it was just a bit painful. Boring. I ended up playing for about 30 minutes.

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So what did I learn? I prefer direct vs indirect action. I don't like worker placement even if it's just a side effect of the game (Antihero isn't strictly worker placement, there are a lot of direct actions you could take between the thief and the gangs). I also seem to get bored easier if I'm less keen on the art style. I hate to say that, but it seems to be true. So superficial of me.

However, having typed this out, it makes me think I should take another stab at Antihero and try it again. Just not tonight.

Week 1 for Video Games

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 00:58:00 +0000

For week 1, I played Figment, Battlezone, Bezerk, and Crazy Climber.

As the last three are arcade games, I only have a screenshot for Figment.

Battlezone: Good game. I appreciated the use of two joysticks as if I was operating a tank. I would play more of this.

Berzerk: While it was an impressive game of its time, I wouldn't play much more than what I did, clearing a couple of screens.

Crazy Climber: Difficult to get right with the nuances of using both joysticks (unlike Battlezone, which felt much more natural) and I ended up failing pretty soon after starting.

Figment: I can't tell if I'm just not a good video game player, or if the reason why the game was free for a few days last year is because it isn't good. I'm unsure who it's marketing to. For the content and voiceover work, I'd suggest older teens to adults, but the art style suggests the game is for children. However, the second battle, on a floating island with four enemies with ridiculous reach for their attacks, I couldn't persevere. I'd love to know if it is because I suck, or because the game devs suck.

Next weekend, we'll see what I get up to!

Start of Surge 8, Done with Surge 7

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 00:48:00 +0000

While I didn't write ten posts, I did write some and I read each day. And here's my daily Kindle accomplishment for June and July:

But for Surge 8, I'm going to do something different.

Video games.

I'm going to play 3 new video games per week. Some I'm going to really enjoy, and some I will hate. If I play 3 per week, and there are 4 full weeks in August, I'll have played 12 new games. Some games could be from Steam, or from an arcade I happen to know about.

In my Steam Library that I've not played:

Carcassonne
Figment
Hue
King and Assassins
The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game
Magic: The Gathering Arena
Mysterium
Outward
Patchwork
Portal
Portal 2
Scythe
Small World
Titan Quest
Antihero
Ascension
The Book of Unwritten Tales
Fate
Fire Watch
Gorogoa
Salt
Terraria
Trine

Probably a few more Steam games friends will recommend to me when I tell them what I'm up to.

Right now I'm really enjoying Slay the Spire, but on Sunday evening, I'll try out one of these! Goal is to share a screenshot and my likely short review of what I like or dislike about the game and if I would keep playing it.

Review on Isaac Asimov's short story A Beautiful Day

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 12:31:00 +0000

I've been enjoying this book of short stories by Asimov. I read A Beautiful Day, where a Door malfunctions and a nervous, uptight socialite woman and her son are impacted, as that is how they travel to other parts of the world that also have Doors.

But when their Door breaks, the tech that arrives has to come in from the... door. From...outside, where there is dirt and germs! The socialite mother is horrified, while the son is merely curious. As school time neared and the Door still inoperable, and she suggests her son walk to a neighbor and use their Door.

However, he doesn't. He walks all the way to school. And enjoys it! And left the school using the old emergency door that no longer alarms to go back home. He's dirty and dusty and upon bath time, his mother gingerly trashes all of his clearly contaminated clothes. The Door works now, so this nightmare is over.

Except he gets up early to walk to school again, this time punctual for classes. And he walks home again. It keeps happening. He keeps... walking to school. Being... outside! One afternoon, he arrives home and is soaking wet. She is bewildered at what's happened until he tells her that it started raining on him. She remember learning about rain in her geography classes.

The next two days, he uses the Door. Finally, this is over and she's glad to have her son acting normal again.

But he resumes using the door. She doesn't want to make a big fuss out of what's clearly a childhood phase, but she's curious as to why he sometimes uses the Door.

He only uses it when it's raining out.

She finally decides to go make an appointment with a psychiatrist for him. This just isn't normal and until the Door malfunction, he's just not acting normal!

The psychiatrist visit wasn't what the mother expected. The boy told him he enjoyed going outside and walking to school. After a few questions, the psychiatrist mentioned that he walked outside sometimes and invited the boy to take a walk, where he needed help recognizing things like rivers, flowers and how houses look on the outside. After all, he actually hadn't gone outside since college! After their walk, he decided that he too could walk home using the door, going outside. After all, it is a beautiful day.

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I hope that never starts here, however it could - even right now, if you live in a city with taxis that take you from one door to another, and you never walk past the sidewalk outside of a building, then bury your face in a phone or tablet until you've arrived at your destination, you could be missing the outside and the surroundings of your own neighborhood. It seems ridiculous, but then again, I do love going outside. Often, it's a beautiful day.

Review on Isaac Asimov's Nightfall Short Story

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 13:25:00 +0000

I read Asimov's short story Nightfall last weekend. It was excellent, depicting a civilization on a planet that was orbiting 6 stars. Asimov does an excellent job revealing just bits as the story moves along!

If you'd like to read it and don't want to be spoiled, then don't read the rest of this post. The story is only 34 pages long. There's just not enough to review without spoiling!

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The story starts with a journalist attempting to get an apocalyptic story from a scientist as the scientific organization were warning people about a celestial event that would envelope the world in darkness. There was another group, the cultists, that were predicting that the planet would end up in a cave and never come out. As this planet never had all six suns 'set' at the same time, the people never experienced darkness. The last time all six suns set, everyone died. It happened every 2,049 years.

As the last sun set, scientists started to take pictures of the night sky as they've never seen far away stars or darkness. Most scientists were uneasy and needed to steel themselves to keep going, as some lit candles.

The cultists were riling up the townspeople and as darkness fell, they started to burn things to gain light, which went out of control as they marched to the scientists observatory with all their fear and fire... looks like they're about to start another cycle anew.

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What a wonderful and slightly horrifying and thrilling short story! I absolutely loved it! I'll be reading more of Asimov's short stories.