Bob Space

Eldest’s daughter’s first language was Sign. Same for The Lady. With the Lady’s hearing getting steadily worse, now is the time for me to really get serious about being able to communicate in Sign.

This isn’t my first dalliance with ASL … I created a mute character in GURPS who talked with his colleague in a sign language and used basic gestures with everyone else. I enjoyed that campaign more than most (and not only ’cause I kept pretty decent notes about it and can recall much of it, unlike many other campaigns) — it was a real challenge to communicate in-game. I let myself voice to the referee, but any interactions with the players or NPCs I had to sign. A lot of thinking ahead required for me, since my understanding of Sign was rudimentary at best.

This will actually be one of the biggest challenges of my language-driven life. I’m looking forward to it.

STILL no place to meet. Parents have agreed on some travel distance being okay, but my workplace let me down. (One of the few times.) I may try to put the touch on an ex-boss, or I might try the community college. Otherwise it’s coming down to the wire and I’m going to have to work out a deal with the School District … which will cost.

The silence in response to my last post has been deafening. It’s possible that I should have made FOR SALE (INCREDIBLY CHEAP) OR TRADE more plain. It’s possible no one in eyeshot of this blog wants or needs these. It’s possible a reader couldn’t figure out how to reach me (a comment on the post at my site, not the LJ feed, will do). But it matters not. Here are my current plans (subject to change — speak up now!):

TORG: Investigate the Cards in detail, which is why I bought the game in the first place. If I like (think I can really use), keep the cards and dump the rest. If not, cycle it back onto eBay … or just dump.

TWERPS: Those darn dice are so cute! I might just co-opt them for my Star Fleet Battle Manual box and ditch the booklets. (Battle Manual. Yargh. Now there’s a project that won’t go away.)

MARVEL CLASSIC: Dump the box, keep the CD-ROM and play aids.

TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE: No idea.

TRAVELLER (T4): No idea.

SHERPA: Was actually claimed by a correspondent. Thank you, sir! Your book will go in the mail in a couple weeks when I can afford to make shipments.

Having identified that worth keeping indoors, and that worth keeping outdoors, I’ve now isolated the stuff from outdoors which can actually leave.

I am open for a few trade items (a couple of older BESM books, or maybe a newer Girl Genius book), but mostly I will let these go for shipping costs (and if you care to pay a smidge more to help defer my Paypal business account fees or to just be nice, I’ll be glad but it’s not essential).

*Torg: Roleplaying the Possibility Wars

Complete, including d20, in nice shape.

*TWERPS (and KUNG FU DRAGONS, FLY-BY KNIGHTS, and MAGIC)

In a single zip bag, with 4 count ‘em 4 uninked micro d20.

*SHERPA (Second Edition)

A roleplaying game for outdoor use by Steffan O’Sullivan. Generically inscribed by the author; slight red drink staining on upper corners of pages.

*Marc Miller’s TRAVELLER (aka T4)

Core rulebook of the Imperium Games edition.

*TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE: The Anime Comedy Roleplaying Game

Adorable game from R. Tal.

*MARVEL SUPER HEROES (1994 Yellow Box Basic Set)

Box corner is torn, all components have a previous owner’s name written on them. No dice; otherwise intact. Including CD-ROM with all the PDFs I wanted from back in the days when TSR/WOTC was sharing copies on the web, plus two fan aids made tangible: Laminated versions of Zan’s universal table and universal table wheel.

(And yes, I’d use my Kai the Obsession! icon, except it’s for the wrong category.)

I like to program now and then. When I was growing up, to program, you typed in code, saved it, compiled it, and ran it. And then discovered what was wrong. Repeat until satisfied (which was, of course, never).

These days programming is done in integrated development environments (IDEs). An IDE is a single program that lets you do all the tasks related to program development. Very handy. I like the idea. Unfortunately I haven’t yet figured out how to actually work an IDE.
For example, my first substantial Java project I wrote with the Textpad editor, using its internal feature to do the compiling. And then I’d wander to a console window to type the command line and see what happened.

After a while, I got Eclipse and tried to use that. It was nice for debugging, once I finally got everything into it … and then I just manually hauled the source and class files out again to use them. Talk about driving a Lamborghini to the curb just to get your mail.

But I like the idea of IDEs. It just takes one that’s geared more for learners and the basics than one like Eclipse or NetBeans (or Visual Studio) for pros.

And I’ve finally found one: BlueJ. This is an IDE designed specifically to teach good object-oriented programming technique with Java. I’m still just in baby-steps with it, but it seems to have nice GUI features, which will probably show me how horribly convoluted my code is.

This thing deals with Java applets, too, and (with a couple of plug-ins) JavaScript. So this might become my all-purpose web-app workshop, for the stuff I’m doing at work in the next year, plus any fun and dim ideas I might come across at home.

More news when I get it. If I get it.

A few weeks back I was busy re-writing a calculus book into a personal quick reference, not long after creating a personal reference on logic and reasoning.

In short, I’ve recovered.

In long, I found a pair of free textbooks online to cover my full reference needs, and I’ll just buy handy laminating quick-reference cards from the bookstores for the rest.

I’m really enjoying the textbooks (yes, I’m that geeky) and recommend them highly. They are by California professor Benjamin Crowell and can be downloaded from http://www.lightandmatter.com . The two I’ve kept are Conceptual Physics and Calculus. Watch out for that last one — Crowell doesn’t built the foundation from delta-epsilon limit theory; he uses hyperreal numbers. It works out the same (and he re-derives delta-epsilon just for exercise), but it sure isn’t the way I larn’d kalkyoolus back in the day.

I’ve also recovered from trying to record the complete run of “The Mechanical Universe,” that excellent general physics series from the Annenberg Foundation. I got up to not-quite halfway when my source changed their schedule. Still, it was fun to watch them again. It was a very nice refresher, and a good thing to tuck into my belt as I turn up the rocketeer action.

I’m about halfway through my build of the Quest Astra … which is to say, the hard parts (motor mount and fin attachment) are done. One fin looks a little askew, but it shouldn’t hurt anything. And the fins actually have rounded edges, which is a first for me. I need to get the fillets in place, and then I can start filling and sealing the body. Then paint, and the final assemblies.

I have the template cut-out for the Astra Plus booster stage. I scaled them up just a little further, to make sure I get good fin presence. I’ll probably build on that while the fillets on the Astra “upper stage” set.

Meet-And-Greet for the 4-H club went nicely. I met the folks who had already made contact … one of them brought a friend … so we’re coasting toward an apogee in the 6-12 members range, which is just where I wanted to be. I’m going to have to rewrite the draft charter … we’re going to need to keep it VERY basic and simple this first year. But we already have a decent year shaping up:

– Nov: First Flight club event, for our new flyers and for experienced flyers to show off;

– Feb: Demo Flight at the Library;

– May: More Demo Flights for Schools;

– Aug: State Fair/4-H Expo

… and then September to wrap up our records for the year. And do it all over again!

Tonight is my first visit to the regular Leaders Council. Hopefully I can pick some brains for meeting places. (One of the parents might have found us a doable launch site, though. Yay!)

Jackie went to church with me Sunday. By all accounts she had a good time, and volunteered to help out on her very first day. So she has a “Volunteer” badge now and helps out during the K-5 session.

While I was giving her a tour of the building, we went upstairs so I could see what’s what up there … and that’s when I discovered the daycare kindergarten had moved into what was a meeting room/classroom in the original plan. Oops. Definitely no hosting 4-H there.

Sunday afternoon I attended a meet-and-greet, got to know some of the church staff, got to be my friendly, sometimes silly, self. We’re still trying to work out schedules to know when I can do some volunteering on the grounds. Feels like it’ll be Thursday nights, though.

Eoin Colfer has been tapped to write the sixth book in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series created by Douglas Adams. I applaud this: I’ve enjoyed Colfer’s Artemis Fowl books and I think he is a superb choice.

I read van Vogt’s Voyage of the Space Beagle last month. Good stuff, and one can see the influence it made on later works. I caught a really strong forward vibe to White’s Sector General stories.

Also devoured A. Brown’s “Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run” in a single sitting. ‘Nuff said.

Saturday morning the Girls and I went to the local library, and then to lunch afterward. This will become a routine now, with the addition this week of Casey’s riding therapy, then lunch, then library.

Sunday morning I attended a local community church, one which follows the Willow Springs model. The Sunday service is very different from what I’m used to, but the teaching is sound, so I’ll cope. I think this is going to work out. The Lady is going to give the new Women’s Ministry a try, and we’re both attending a workshop to help us clarify some motivation issues. There’s a financial planning class coming up, but we’ll have to wait for the next one to start due to (yup!) financial issues.

Monday evening, the family attended a potluck dinner with the Master Gardeners. We weren’t quite the youngest folks there, but it was a near thing. Interesting food and drink was had, and the new memorial garden was enjoyed.

Tuesday evening, the family attended a PTA ice cream social at the elementary school. The PTA secretary (and our Daisy troop-mother) took a picture of us which (to the best of the memories of the Lady and myself) is the first photo with the entire family in it. Ever. I’m looking forward to a copy. Next Tuesday is my meet-and-greet for potential 4-Hers. I have the displays designed in my head, but I’m going to have to settle down and get serious SOON about actually making them.

(Yup, that’s family events on two consecutive nights, folks. And the first Daisy meet of the year is tonight.)

Backtracking to Tuesday morning, The Lady got some marching orders for the transition to her new job. She won’t start formal training until 13 Oct, but she will be in the department as of the 1st. This works well for our budget.

There’s a deep feeling of satisfaction in my life right now. Oh, we still have money issues and car issues — Sunday night the Kia, jealous of the Honda’s new tires, insisted on new tires of its own. But on the whole we’re coming to a place I never expected to be and never thought we’d be: Both adults with professional-level jobs and incomes, working conventional hours, and just generally having a full, rich life. I think I’m going to like this second half.