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Account name: Password (OpenID?) (Forgot it?) Remember Me You're viewing ckd 's journal Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More Interest Region Site and Account FAQ Email IM Info Reload page in style: light shark bytes Recent Entries inner -- Previous 40 inner -- Overnights, 2019 2020 - 01 - 01 14:24 Overnights, 2019 In order by first visit; * for multiple visits. Steilacoom, WA* Seattle, WA* Bellevue, WA Detroit, MI Cambridge, MA* Boston, MA* SeaTac, WA Southfield, MI DL142 SEA-AMS* [twice; it's my usual option for Europe trips] Munich, Germany* Madison, WI St. Louis Park, MN Quincy, MA Dublin, Ireland KL682 YVR-AMS [for a little variety] Arlington, VA Ottawa, ON Portland, OR* Ann Arbor, MI Minneapolis, MN Surprises: No Bay Area trips for me this year; there were no work trips, and I missed FOGcon. OTOH, I wound up with three(!) trips to Europe: two work trips to MUC, plus Worldcon in DUB. Airports (none new-to-me this year, connection-only marked by *): SEA, DTW, BOS, AMS*, MUC, CDG*, SLC*, MSN, LGA*, MSP, DUB, ATL*, YVR*, DCA, YOW, PDX. Lots of repeated airports (again), with multiple trips to/through DTW, BOS, AMS, MUC, LGA, MSP, YVR, and PDX and a whole lot of time at SEA (heh). There were also two near-repeats: I was able to shorten one originally booked DTW-SLC-SEA routing to the nonstop, and the second MUC trip had been intended to include a side trip to SREcon EMEA in DUB (but the timing didn't work). Link 7 comments Reply Overnights, 2018 2019 - 01 - 02 00:02 In order by first visit; * for multiple visits. Seattle, WA* Boston, MA* Cambridge, MA* Novi, MI Ottawa, ON* Gloucester, ON Walnut Creek, CA SeaTac, WA Sunnyvale, CA Steilacoom, WA* Southfield, MI Montreal, QC* Madison, WI St. Louis Park, MN Quincy, MA San Jose, CA Brookline, MA Breckenridge, CO DL142 SEA-AMS Munich, Germany Airports (none new, connection-only marked by *): SEA, BOS, DTW, YOW, LGA*, SFO, BFI, SJC, SLC*, MSN, MSP, DEN, AMS*, MUC, CDG*. Travel was slightly down from usual, and much more repetitive than usual. Link 7 comments Reply 5 questions meme 2018 - 12 - 02 11:21 These are from yhlee . I'm not sure I can come up with questions for others at the moment, so no promises if you comment. 1. What's your favorite city to visit? No contest: London. The famous quote about being tired of London meaning you're tired of life is an understatement; even when I've been depressed (and tired of life) I've never tired of London. The incredible number of museums alone makes the city hard to leave, though I have objections to the collection practices of some of them (*cough*British Museum [of stuff stolen from elsewhere]*cough*). Many are free admission with a suggested donation (which I often exceed), making it practical to dip into a museum if I just want to see one or two items without feeling like I've wasted money. Add in a transit system I can experience in ways both historical and practical, good food (despite the stereotype of British cuisine), bookshops, parks, plays, and everything else and it's always tough to leave. 2. What is the nicest experience you've ever had at a hotel? I'm utilitarian about my hotels; I want them to be clean, conveniently located, and not too expensive. I appreciate the occasional upgrades, even when ridiculously overdone; several times I've been upgraded to a 1 or even 2 bedroom suite for a trip where I was staying by myself! Since I'm not coming up with any particular experience of note, I'll pivot to some of my favorite hotel features: in room mini fridges (increasingly common); in room hot tubs (increasingly rare; the Penguicon hotel removed them in the last renovation, apparently due to one too many overflows); TVs with easy to use inputs (or even better, streaming from your device; I've only seen that at one hotel so far); and sufficient seating (at least two comfy chairs, or one plus a couch). 3. What is your favorite animal that's not a friendly blue shark? :) Otters! Intelligent, playful, supportive of each other (holding hands while they float together). Not a bad role model. 4. What is your favorite comfort food? Two categories: (a) that I can easily make or acquire: pasta, usually spaghetti with meat sauce. (b) when visiting my parents: sauerbraten and dumplings. 5. Who is your favorite historical figure? Assuming that "historical" is defined by "did not overlap with my lifetime" (because otherwise I wind up saying Fred Rogers), I'll go with Ignaz Semmelweis. He was right even though he wasn't believed despite the evidence, and it took years for his hypothesis to become accepted wisdom...but in the end his ideas have saved countless lives. (Not, sadly, his own; he died at 47 shortly after being committed to an asylum and beaten.) I could also make a case for Nikola Tesla (in part because we share a birthday), though unlike Tesla I will never be played by David Bowie in a movie. Link 12 comments Reply The email I just sent to Arisia Programming 2018 - 10 - 27 13:14 I cannot, in good conscience, participate in the upcoming Arisia. One resignation is a good start, but systemic problems cannot be fixed by removing a single person's authority. It is clear from multiple reports that there have been significant failures to respond to safety situations over a number of years, and there is simply not enough time before January to identify (let alone fix) the issues that contributed to those failures. I will not be attending Arisia 2019, and will therefore not participate in programming. Link Upcoming movies 2018 - 02 - 04 22:26 I am seriously looking forward to Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War . I'm cautiously optimistic about Solo . How about you? Link 23 comments Reply Overnights, 2017 2017 - 12 - 31 19:27 Posting this early since I don't plan to go anywhere in the next few hours. (For the first time in a number of years, I'm home over NYE.) ( the full list of overnight places, 2017 ) Link 2 comments Reply Horizon Zero Dawn - the non-spoiler post 2017 - 09 - 04 21:22 TL;DR: possibly the best open-world action-RPG I have played. If you have a PS4 and like open-world action-RPGs, buy this. If you don't have a PS4 and like open-world action-RPGs, you may want to get one; it's that good . I finished the game and immediately started a New Game+ so that I could re-run the early game dialogue with the full story in mind. (Spoiler post coming later, because I really want to talk about the worldbuilding and story.) Trailer The open world design is great The various zones open up in a natural progression, starting with your tribe's inner lands, then you leave into the wilder hunting lands, and eventually progress into other tribes' areas. The map is huge and varied, with beautiful terrain that ranges from woodlands to snowfields to desert. It has the Ubisoft-style "climb towers to reveal the map" mechanic that's been around forever (I first encountered it in AC2), but instead of tall buildings or radio towers (which in Far Cry 3 always frustrated me by being platformer puzzles, so in FC4 I got good at landing the minicopter at the top instead of climbing the stupid things) they're giant robo-dino-giraffe things and the tricky part is figuring out how to get to the jumping-off point safely and then timing your jump onto it. Once you're on its back, it's a simple climb. The visuals are amazing Even on a PS4 non-Pro. the graphics are absolutely stunning. Mountain vistas, creature design, weather, flowing water, grass blowing in the wind...it's all there, and there's a photo mode so you can tweak a still shot if you want stunning desktop wallpaper.... Combat is good (ranged great, melee meh) There are a wide range (heh) of ranged weapons; several bows (with specialty arrows for each and tradeoffs between range/rate of fire/damage), two slings (one for bombs and one for elemental damage), a tripwire-launcher (possibly my favorite), and a rope-launcher for tying down enemies so you can bash on them. There's basically one melee weapon with a "light" and...