Happy Birthday Nikkole! I know that this post is a little late in the making but Happy 8th Birthday to my princess! We love you!

Sorry for being so late with this, but Happy New Year to everyone.  Our New Years Eve was fairly uneventful, just the way I like it.  We stayed in with the kids, watched a movie, and played some cards.  Everyone stayed up to watch midnight come and go and usher in 2010.  Now we’re just winding down from the holidays, with just one more Christmas pot luck coming up this weekend.

I also have a fair bit of pictures from Christmas that I need to upload, so I’ll get around to that asap and post a notification when it’s done.

~MikeR.

I’ve decided to create the subdomain mike.roessing.ca for a more personal blog.  I figure most visitors to Roessing dot CA, namely family, won’t care so much to read about my thoughts and opinions on video games and WAR specifically (or whatever I happen to be playing at the moment), so I’m going to keep this blog more family related and use the new blog for my personal thoughts and what-have-you.

~MikeR.

Another Christmas has come and gone.  All of the anticipation and excitement leading up to that one day, and sadly it’s over before you know it.

I consider Christmas to be all about the kids.  I wasn’t always like this, but now that I’m older it’s far more exciting to see the magic in their eyes than to wonder what’s in that carefully wrapped box addressed to me.  I still enjoy sitting down and watching all of the Christmas specials (I made sure to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Garfield’s Christmas Special, and Merry Christmas Charlie Brown) but it’s not quite the same without one or more of the kids sitting there with me.  I’ve always been a nostalgic sort, but Christmas is one time that I can not sit there and wish I was young again and just enjoy the “atmosphere”.  It was also nice because everyone was here this Christmas; last year it was just Lisa, Nikkole, and I.

I think the kids got just about everything they wanted.  Austen got more tools than he knows what to do with and has decided to separate them into garage tools and basement tools.  Matthew got Wrath of the Lich King, an Action Replay for his Nintendo DS (it’s like the old Game Genie for the NES), the big WoW miniature starter set, and a bunch of other stuff he really wanted.  Nikkole got her pink Nintendo DS with a game (actually two!).  Santa also brought them new sleds since the ones we had got thrown out during our move as they were in really rough condition.

Lisa got a brand new pair of super comfy slippers and a new book.  Included with the book was a printout of a web page from Sears.ca showing a stand-up mixer.  Sadly, when I ordered it Sears was out of stock (despite their website saying otherwise) so it had to get delivered.  Estimated date; January 12, 2010.  Fortunately I received a phone call yesterday and it’s in so I will go pick it up today.  She was so excited about it… I had hinted about getting something from Sears, but made sure I steered her away from the mixer idea completely.

I believe I was really lucky this year, as I received a brand new red metal tool chest from Lisa.  I’ve wanted one for quite some time but they are just so expensive, or so I thought.  I also got a veritable slew of new books; The Infernal City, the second and third omnibus’ of Gotrek and Felix, The Ghost King, and Dog River Confidential.  I’m seven pages away from finishing The Infernal City and will move on to the second omnibus soon.

I can’t wait for next Christmas.

~MikeR.

News is out that Electronic Arts is shutting down Pandemic Studios, half of a $775 million purchase that also included BioWare, putting up to 200 people out of a job.

Not to detract from what the people out of a job are going through now, but is it any wonder what happened to Mythic and WAR, knowing how EA treats its studios and developers?  Origin Systems, creators of the incredible Wing Commander series, was acquired by EA and then shut down in 2004.  Chris Roberts was the man that first got me heavily interested in computer gaming (and lit the spark that got me into programming)… EA’s “touch of death” killed them off not long after Wing Commander 4 (the only one in the series produced under their influence).  Westwood Studios, creators of the venerable Command & Conquer series, was gutted in 2003.  At least EA allowed any willing employees to assimilate under EA Los Angeles.  Now, another studio is going under and I can’t help but think Mythic is next on the chopping block.  They’re losing 40% of their staff, up to 80% of which is content developers.

I knew it was a bad sign when Mythic announced the EA buyout, as did many others.  I knew it was a bad sign when shortly after, Sanya Thomas left the studio.  More recently, Mark Jacobs left EA after the BioWare acquisition.  I can’t help but feel that Mythic, as well as Warhammer and DAoC, would have been much better off if they simply stayed independent and true to their vision.  It may have meant a later release of WAR, but given how things have turned out under the (mis)management of EA, it certainly could have meant a much better game as well.

Here’s hoping BioWare doesn’t come under the death-ray gaze of EA’s (mis)management in the future.  Dragon Age may have been a huge hit, but it seems that as soon as a studio has a mediocre release the chopping block comes out.

~MikeR.

Sometimes I have a lot of faith in humanity, and what we are capable of accomplishing when “reaching for the stars” so to speak.

Then there are times when I shake my head sadly and wonder how society has gotten so far with so many stupid people around.  Apparently there are actually people out there who believe that the movie 2012 is real and are concerned for their future.  An astrobiologist at NASA has even gone so far as to post a FAQ on his NASA blog answering questions and assuaging fears from the unwashed masses.  What has me most concerned is that people are questioning whether they should off themselves and others prior to the year 2012 so that they won’t suffer.

My god, the stupidity here is almost corporeal.

~MikeR.

This year we’re hosting Christmas dinner, what with having moved into a brand new house and having bought a nice big dining table and chairs.  I think Lisa is a little nervous.

This weekend we invited my friend Chris over for Sunday dinner so that she could have a practice run.  Saturday we bought a chicken and let it thaw.  Sunday after Lisa got back from an art expo she went straight to work.  Sweet Nikkole helped a lot, actually getting her hands nice and dirty stuffing the bird.  She was so proud that she actually worked up the nerve to do it!  All afternoon the house smelled incredible.  Potatoes boiled, vegetables steamed, and the chicken baked perfectly in a convection oven.  I even made the gravy (albeit a bit too thick, I think molasses would have thinned it out).

All in all, it went very well and I think she is (we are?) prepared for what’s to come.

Having mentioned the art expo, Lisa bought a nice piece of art for our front foyer.  We have a little “cubby” by the front door across from the dining room/den and we hung it in there. It looks fabulous.  She also got the business card of a fellow that does granite work.  I’m looking to get something special made in the future that involves three small squares of granite with rough edges, and Dwarf runes carved onto a polished surface.  I think it would look really good if done properly and actually be something significant to both myself (being such a Dwarf fan) and the family.

~MikeR.

We did it!!  We moved in to our new house last weekend, besides a few hiccups getting the appliances, things went pretty well.  The kids rooms are almost set up, there are just some toys and things that still need to get put away.  There also seems to be a lot of boxes left in the garage though and I’m not sure at this point what is left out there that we really need.  Maybe it will just be some stuff that we can give away…  On a side note, I get to go shopping this weekend for blinds and a new table and chairs to go in the kitchen!  Here’s hoping that I can get the ones I want before Christmas because this year we will be hosting Christmas dinner!  I can’t wait to set up our tree and enjoy the space… and there is a lot of space!!  It’s Awsome!!

Q: What do you do when you have a cluster of servers, and one node becomes a homocidal maniac, feeding the other nodes a poison pill?

A: You kill it completely, nursing its victims back to health.

Yesterday, three of our four main cluster nodes continually rebooted themselves at random intervals.  It took me a while to find the problem, but apparently when a cluster node receives a garbled cluster packet that it doesn’t like it will choose to kill itself for the good of the cluster.  Too bad it doesn’t necessarily mean that the services provided remain available.  Fortunately I was able to get the cluster back up and running properly by noon.

I like it when work is a learning experience; it keeps me from being bored.  Plus, I enjoy visions of a server maniacally and brutally destroying its fellow servers in a rack.

~MikeR.

Yesterday after work I had decided to stop by 26 Kingfisher to see if any progress had been made over the past two weeks.  Boy has there been!

The first thing I noticed was that the scratch coat was done, pretty much ready for the stucco.  I’m assuming they won’t bother with the stucco this year, being so late in the season, but I may end up surprised since I didn’t think they would put in the driveway either.  I was lucky to find that the guy doing the wood finishing was still working on baseboards, and as such the front door was unlocked.  Walking in, I saw that the flooring was actually done.  The linoleum looks really nice and goes really well with the carpet we picked.  The floor is a giant mess with cut carpet pieces and dust and wood everywhere, but it will all be cleaned up eventually.  As well, the chocolate tiles are done around the jacuzzi tub and look fantastic.  None of the “problems” we noticed last time we checked in had been dealt with, but the site supervisor was away until Sept. 28 so hopefully we just need to be patient.

Not having a camera with me, Lisa and I went back today with my sister and her camera to take some pictures which I have uploaded to the House Progress gallery.

I was able to recruit my friend Chris back to EverQuest 2 this past weekend and he seems to be enjoying his time back on Norrath.  I’m glad I found out about Sony’s Recruit-A-Friend program, since I was able to get a Saryrn Deathcharger for my Shadowknight.  Lisa and I are also having fun (although I am probably enjoying it more than her right now, but she’s getting into it) and just completed the Screaming Mace Heritage Quest.  I’m really looking forward to doing a few more with her, and including Chris since he’s leveling up like a rocket.

~MikeR.