Chromebook

As I mentioned earlier, one of my goals is to walk a bit less, and write a bit more.

(It may not have been stated that way, but that's the way I'm thinking about it :)

With that in mind, I decided that I'd like to have a basic laptop that I can throw in a satchel and haul around with me on my walks. Part of the reason I've really started to enjoy walking is that it gives me time to think and gets my thoughts flowing. So in the past year, I've done more than a little bit of draft writing on my phone as I've been out and about... and, honestly, it's a pain in the patootie.  Even with text-to-speech, it's annoying.

Enter the Lenovo N42 Chromebook.

It's light, seems pretty rugged, and weighs in at just a bit under three and a half pounds.  Not a big deal, really.  A few extra pounds will help me work just a wee bit harder as I go, and I'll have the ability to stop and write for a bit along the way.

More importantly, it's cheap.  I like to walk back alleys.  That's where the interesting stuff is.  I've never been hassled, but if I'm going to be carrying around something, I'd rather it be a cheap Chromebook than a Mac Air or something similar.  Plus, being a Chromebook, it's got sync capabilities with Google Drive, so I can write sans network connection then let everything sync up later when I get back to work or home.

The performance is decent. Some things seem to load slowly in Chrome, but for the most part, it's responsive enough.  I'm writing this update on the Chromebook, in fact.  The keyboard layout is slightly different from a Mac (and even a Wintel machine), but I'm not sure how much of that is the underlying OS, and how much is the fat that everything seems to be running under Chrome.

The keyboard itself is absolutely FABULOUS.  It might turn out to be a flimsy piece of junk that breaks after a few weeks of used, but let me tell you, right now it's absolutely wonderful.  I was worried a LOT about the keyboard.  That and the display are the real reason for buying this thing, and a crappy keyboard would make writing a horrible pain.  As it is, I'm barely even noticing it.  They keys are just right - not too clicky, not too soft, not too stiff.  Since this is a 13" laptop, too, my hands actually fit comfortably on the keyboard.

The display is nothing to write home about, but it is perfectly serviceable for doing text editing.  Battery life looks like it's going to be pretty good, too.  I started off plugged in until I got to a full charge, then unplugged to see how well the battery lasts.  It's been about three hours of playing around so far, and the battery meter is telling me I'm at 88% with 11:25 left to go until I run out of power.  That's pretty sweet.

Speaking of playing... the thing that sold me on a Chromebook was the number of available minimalist writing editors available for it.  Anything that will let me do text editing would be fine, to be honest.  My plan is to bang out some drafts, save them to Google Drive, then yank them into Scrivener for organizing, cleanup and editing.  Heck, I could do all that (and have done that in the past, in fact!) as Blogger drafts.  Having something a little more sophisticated than a basic text editor would be nice, though, so I spent the evening installing and trying out a few.

The built-in Text editor is just that.  Looks a lot like Notebook with a little bit more oomph to it.  If you're comfortable with that sort of thing, and are looking for absolutely minimal setup, that's probably all you'd need.  I was interested in finding something just a wee bit more featureful, though.

Caret looks like a great little programming editor.  I've used Sublime Text and Visual Studio Code, and Caret is very similar.  I honestly didn't want a programmer's editor, though.  Don't ask me why.  Maybe because it feels too much like the tools I used day to day for work.  I'm sure I could write in it, of course, but when I pop open something with that look and feel, my mind immediately goes to code.  That's not what I want in this case.

Next in line I was going to try Writer.  I saw a lot of recommendations for it, but it a quick look at some comments about it showed that they use their own servers for storage.  To be very honest, I'm not comfortable with that.  I've had some recent personal experiences  where a change in ownership of a company has made getting backups of archival data difficult.  You can export data if you buy the Pro version, but... you know what?  No. I want something that will save to Google drive.  I've already got my Drive synced to 3-4 different places, so even if Google decides I can't access it anymore, I at least have backups.  I'll stick with that setup, thank you.

I ended up trying another editor called Calmly Writer.  Very nice, minimalist, with just enough configuration options (including white-on-black text mode) that I felt like I could make it just what I wanted without feeling overwhelmed by options.  It has the option to save in a bunch of different formats, including plain text, which is pretty much just what I want.  So I took it for a spin, wrote a few hundred words, then said, "That'll do, pig.  That'll do."

The very last thing I did was install Linux.

Yes, you can install Linux on a Chromebook now, alongside the Chrome OS... or on top of it, if you want to think of it that way. An install of Debian Linux runs in a container on top of Chrome OS, and you can start it just like any other app.  It comes set up with a bunch of the usual suspects, including ssh and vim.  That was completely unexpected, and very nice.  I've got a couple of things I do outside of work to help administer existing web sites for a couple of non-profits, and having the ability to do it from this little Chromebook is really appealing.

So, that's the state of the world.  Happy cheap little rugged Chromebook makes me happy.  Because writing, and Linux.

... but mostly writing.  Which is what I need to be doing now.  Time to take this thing out for an extended trial... :)

The Walking Man Walks On By...

December 29th, 2018.

That day's walk was five and a half miles.

Which put me at 2020 miles for the year.  My lovely wife was with me for 370 of them, including the last dozen miles. I could never have done it without her encouragement.

A special thank you to Dawn, Bob, Marcia, David, Jon, Martin, Debbie, Aaron, Amy, Michelle, and so many others who were a constant source of encouragement.

Plus a VERY special thank you to Lori, Sarah, Cheri and the rest fo the folks down at Prestogeorge Coffee & Tea for keeping me caffeinated throughout all my travels

Some stats:

• Walked 338/363 days this year.
• Average of 5.97 miles per day.
• Twenty-nine days walking at the Pittsburgh Mills mall.
• Sixteen days where I did 10+ miles.
• Five pairs of shoes.
• Two half-marathons.
• Over 18,000 photos.
• Over 1,000 photos of abandoned clothing.
• Shed 15 pounds, and went through two new belts.

Goals for next year?

1. Walk in 19 new locations for 2019.
2. Lose 19 pounds in 2019 - get down to 180.
3. Write 190k words in 2019 - 3700 words per week.

As an adjunct to #3, I intend to finish a novel this year, and publish it; either indie, or trad.

One way or another.

Here's to 2019!

Walking Man

So, I've been walking this year.

A lot.

Earlier this year, I decided that my goal for this year would be to try and walk 2018 miles in 2018.

As of today, I'm on my fifth pair of shoes for the year, and I have just a little bit under 100 miles to go to reach that goal.

As of tomorrow - if I can get out and do my daily walk as planned - I will have walked twice as much this year as I have last year.  Including running two (official) half marathons, and walking several unofficial "What the heck, let's see fi we can do 13 miles today" hikes.

I don't want to walk nearly as much next year.  I'm happy that I set myself a hard goal, and very happy that I'm going to meet it... but walking 5+ miles every day gets old fast.  I do like to take a longer walk every now and then, but I think I will enjoy my time much more if I don't have to focus on mileage.

So I think my goal for 2019 will be to walk in 19 new cities.  That should actually be pretty easy - I think I've managed a good two dozen different locations outside of Pittsburgh proper this year, just looking for new places to wander.

When I first started walking last year, I was doing it for my health.  Now, I'm doing it because it's a habit, and because I enjoy visiting new places and taking pictures of interesting things along the way.  I've been posting my photographs on Facebook, but I've been experimenting with using Flickr instead these days.  If you'd like to take a look, you can find me there as Walking Samrobb.

It Runs In The Family

Texting with my youngest brother about whether or not the new executive in his office is the rightful ruler of Gondor, or merely a steward. Evidence so far is inconclusive. He's going to bring up rumors of a ranger in the north during casual conversation, and see what kind of reaction that elicits.

"Support Gun Control, You Child Hating Bigot!!"

She's Already Lost The Critical Sasquatch Vote

I have it on good authority that Bigfoot exists, and is generally uninterested in politics.

His niece, however, votes Libertarian.

Proud Son

About 18 months ago or so, I made mention of my Dad's brain surgery.  While things went well... any time you start taking a scalpel to brain matter, you generally end up with a long road to complete recovery.

The past few months have been particularly hard on Dad.  I won't go into details, but will mention that they have had him on medication that has left him incredibly tried and often struggling to get his thoughts in order.  For him, that last bit has been a real trial.

This past Saturday, we went to visit, and took him out to see the local fireworks display at my old home town's Community Days.  Dad was - almost literally - a new man.  Still not back to 100%, but very, very obviously doing better.  Walked around, talked to some folks, and generally was more like his old self than I've seen him in a long time.

Now, Dad's on the borough Council.  He was president for a few years, in fact, when his party (call them Party A) was in the majority on council.  Things change, and while he's still on the council, Party B is now in the majority.

So I was kind of surprised that while we were there, waiting for the fireworks to start, he stopped by to talk to the folks manning the booth for Party B.

I kidded him about getting in trouble for talking to them, and he said, "You know, I tried to resign from the council last week."

"You had said you were going to if you weren't feeling better.  Didn't they let you?"

"No.  They talked me out of it."

"Why?  They didn't want to have a special election or something?"

"No.  (Party B) would have gotten to appoint somebody."

"So (Party A) talked you out of it?"

Dad stopped and looked at me.  "No.  (Party B) did."

"Wait a minute.  They passed up the opportunity to appoint another (Party B) guy to council in order to keep you around?"

Dad just shrugged.  "Yep."

Dang.

I mean... I love him.  He's my Dad.  I think the world of him, despite his faults and failings (just as he loves me, despite mine.)

But when your opponents would rather have you around than someone they agree with?  Man.  That is a special kind of awesome.

But... They're Just Ponies... Right?

So... taking Eldest Daughter to her SAT prep class this morning, the topic of My Little Pony came up.  (I'm the father of three girls. Don't judge me.)

Specifically, I was wondering - where are all the male ponies?

The Alldaughter pointed out that there's Big Mac, of course. There's also some male ponies - royalty, mostly - in Canterlot, and a few others. But the majority of the inhabitants of Equestria seem to be female.

"It's a show for seven year old girls, after all," she said.

Which kind of surprised me. I mean, there's one situation that immediately came to mind when I though about the lack of males hanging about...

War.

Total war.

A war so brutal that it has sucked up just about every remotely qualified male pony in Equestria into its unforgiving maw of death and destruction. A war so unforgiving that only the mentally deficient, the elite, and the infirm can keep from being drafted to serve. A war so horrifying that those left behind cannot even bring themselves to make mention of it, instead carrying on as if life was sunshine and roses.

Which got me thinking...

We know that the ponies can perform magic. They are also able to move between certain locations in Equestria and our world; and when they do, they do so directly. Their males are drafted to serve in a relentless war that those who remain behind dare not speak of.

Who else knows of a hidden, relentless war taking place in a realm just a hop, skip and a jump away from our world?

That's right... Harry knows.

Equestria is located in the Nevernever.

The strongest of their population - the male ponies - are off at the Outer Gates, fighting and dying in Mab's endless war to keep all of creation safe from the Outsiders.

Ah-yep. I just shoehorned MLP:FIM into one of the most epic storylines of modern urban fantasy.

"For Avoidance of Doubt"

Ruthlessly stolen from a friend's Facebook post, because he's far more eloquent than I am. Some advice for both Democrats and Republicans who wish to discuss politics with me in this election season:

If you're interested in talking to me about the issues that matter to you, it will help your cause if you refrain from assigning me the role of villain or hero on the basis of my demographics.  

For avoidance of doubt:

• You have an absolute right to the identity politics that are meaningful to you.
• However, I feel absolutely no obligation to engage with you on those terms. 
• If your intent is to hector or lecture me, save your breath. I'm not even going to pretend to take you seriously.
• If you're not interested in talking to me, then by all means keep talking to yourselves.

I think I may need to get these printed up on a business card.

Warcraft Quick Review

Two thumbs up for Warcraft. They did a solid job with the story, and the best part of the special effects is that they were well-enough done that they mostly faded into the background and just... were. It didn't take too long to stop thinking, "Oh, look at those special effects!" and think, "Wow. Durotan is really worried..."

The actors did a great job, particularly Travis Fimmel as Anduin Lothar and Toby Kebbell as Durotan. Gul'dan was especially loathsome, exactly as he should be, and Daniel Wu did a great job of bringing that across. I'd be lying if I said I didn't really like Ben Schnetzer as a (young!) Khadgar, too.

Someone who's a Warcraft player will obviously get the most out of the film - for example, there's a scene with a young Varian, which was amazingly cool. There were lots of little things like that which will have significance if you already know Warcraft lore; but knowing them really isn't essential to understanding the story, which can stand on its own.

I'm looking forward to watching the director's cut.  I heard that they trimmed the movie about 40 minutes, and I'd have a feeling that the story will flow better if it's spaced out slightly more. Based on the plot points and the box office take, I'm going to bet that there's at least a second movie based on TBC in the future.

Oh, and there's a murloc, which everyone rode past and just ignored. That made me laugh out loud :-)

A Few Of My Favorite Time Sinks

I made a comment to a friend the other day about time sinks, so I thought I'd document a few of my favorite here, in case anybody is interested.  Please comment if you have your own recommendations!

The SCP Foundation. Secure, Contain, Protect. The world is not what it seems, and the SCP Foundation is there to help keep things sane. Well, sane-er. Sane-ish. This isn't a web comic, but a shared mythology site where many authors contribute to help describe the SCP Foundations and other world-spanning organizations dealing with the paranormal, the occult, the extraterrestrial, and the Just Plain Weird.

TV Tropes. The all-devouring pop-culture Wiki. Enough said.

/r/nosleep. Just found this a few weeks ago. A Reddit forum for posting original horror stories. Read "Search and Rescue" and "Room 733", definitely. The quality of the stories can be all over the map, but there's some good ones in there.

Narbonic. If you haven't burned several hours reading this yet, go ahead and start from the beginning. The adventures of a middle-aged mad scientist and her favorite henchmen/experimental subjects.  The artwork was never bad; a little rough in the earlier strips, but it improves dramatically as time goes by. The storyline starts off nicely, mutates into awesome and then kicks it up a notch or eleven into uncharted territories of incredible.

Skin Horse. Essentially a follow on to Narbonic, with a few crossover characters. If you find the idea of a secret government agency dedicated to providing social services to the creations of mad scientists intriguing, this is the webcomic you've been waiting for.

Schlock Mercenary. A very, very long, very large scale SF webcomic. The artwork starts off very rough, but improves dramatically over the life of the strip, and the story lines and characters are amazing. Author John Ringo has done a series of books ("Live Free or Die", "Troy Rising", "The Hot Gate") set in the early days of Humanity in the Schlock-verse.

Digger. Dead gods and wombats. Won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story back in 2012. It's a truly delightful story, and one that I've re-read more than a couple of times, finding something new in each pass.

Order of the Stick. OotS started off as a Dungeons & Dragons funny comic, and... as they say, Things Happened. Rich Burlew is a fantastic artist with a very distinctive style, a great storyteller, and man... the *story* that grows out of those first few gag strips? Amazing.

Sluggy Freelance. One of the Ancient Elders of the webcomic world, the strip alternates between silly, serious, trivial and terrifying. Plus, it has a murderous, sociopathic, talking lop-eared rabbit. What more could you ask for?

Freefall. A SF webcomic. With DOGGY! Oh, and a morally-challenged space quid, about a bazillion robots, a veterinarian, and a story arc that is really, really quite impressive.

A Redtail's Dream. A incredible, very visually impressive story based on Finnish folklore by Minna Sundberg.

Stand Still, Stay Silent. Minna Sundberg's new story, about a world-ending virus and what comes after: zombies, trolls, giants and things that go bump in the night... sometimes, very, very forcefully.

Basic Instructions. You're living your life - do you want to know how to live it *well*? They you probably don't want to follow Scott Meyer's advice, unless you want your life to be more... interesting than it is now.  Eh.  You know what? Forget that. Take everything he says as a lesson in life. You might have some problems, but the rest of us will be amused.

Broodhollow. A sweet yet creepy webcomic by Kris Straub. The artwork is wonderful. Still in progress, and just returning from a hiatus.

Experience Boost. Not a WoW comic. Nope, nope. This is all about... World of Quests! Yeah! Totally different! Except in all the ways that make you laugh.

Girl Genius. by Kaja and Phil Foglio. Yes, FOGLIO. Go. Read. Mad science means never having to say your sorry (though it probably is polite, dear.)

Goblins. What happens when a group of goblins, guarding a poorly secured treasure chest, decide that THEY can be adventurers, too! Starts off kind of rough around the edges, and without much of a plot, but really grows from there, and ends up going into some dark places (and planting lanterns there, in a very satisfying way). Updates are not all that regular, but the wait is worth it.

Full Frontal Nerdity. A comic about gaming and gamers that really is really about... well, gaming and gamers. But, like, done really, really well. By Aaron Williams. who also does Nodwick, which is just as good, if not better.

Nodwick. Every party of loot-crazy adventurers needs a henchman, right? Well, that guy's Nodwick.

Use Sword on Monster. From the creator of Nodwick and Full Frontal Nerdity. What happens when universes collide? Well... heroes. Just not the heroes that you'd necessarily want.

The Whiteboard. Alaskan paintball, things in the fridge, romance, particle accelerators, and generalize silliness. Definitely worth a mention as Doc, the main character, has appeared as a cameo in more than a couple of other comics on this list... so if other web cartoonists think it's cool enough to read, you should read it, too. Obviously.

JL8. Ever wonder what the Justice League would have looked like in middle school? Wonder no more!

The Mansion of E. The artwork isn't as much bad as it is minimalistic; but the storyline and the world are... wow. Creative just isn't a big enough word to describe it.

Wondermark. An Illustrated Jocularity.

XKCD. You're probably already reading this, even if you're not. At least, that's what multiverse theory suggests. You should start reading it so you end up in one of the good universes.

Xylobone Tomes. A lich, a plant girl, and... well, strangeness is afoot. Lovely black & white artwork, and what seems to be an intriguing story so far.

I Shall Perform The Happy Dance Of My People

Just in case you missed it, John Ringo is working on a new book in his "Troy Rising" series.  Rough ETA is 2018.  Ish.

Success!

I may have mentioned that my brother appeared on Shark Tank last week.

Post-show, they got a nice little write up in Forbes:

At his day job, attorney Michael Robb seeks reparations for those wounded by asbestos exposure. At all other times, the president and CEO of Pittsburgh, Penn.-based Cold Can Innovations rectifies the injustice of drinking warm beer. His Beer Blizzard invention cools warm beer via a dome-shaped plastic disk that fits perfectly underneath a can. 

Robb and his partner Tom “Ozzy” Osborne — the company’s “chief redneck in charge” — dived into the Shark Tank Friday night (Season 7, Episode 25) seeking $100,00 for 20% of their company.

Let's cut the to chase, shall we?

Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire Mark Cuban offered them $100,000 for 25% for the business while  QVC Queen Lori Greiner offered them exactly what they were asking for. Robb and Osborne took Cuban’s offer because of Robb’s “serious man crush on Cuban” because they’re both from Pittsburgh, Penn.

I suspect that there was more to it than a "man crush".  If you read the article and the Q&A they did with Mike, you can see that he and Ozzy really did their homework while preparing for the show.  I expect that they based their offer more on particular Shark's personalities, management styles, and contacts than anything else.

It's A 'burgh Thing

Kennywood is bringing back the whale and the pink squishy tongue!  The tongue is back!  Woohoo!

What are you looking at me like that for?

Sigh... OK, yeah, I suppose that might sound a bit weird.  You really need some context if you didn't grow up in Pittsburgh before the 90's:

Not to bore you with the complete history, but a long long time ago, a guy named Noah built an ark.

Fast forward to 1936, when Noah’s Ark was erected in Kennywood. The ride was completed a bit late because on St. Patrick’s Day in 1936, Pittsburgh flooded up to its brim. 

A flood … delayed … the completion … of Noah’s Ark. 

Fast forward to the late 1960s, when Kennywood renovated the attraction to keep things fresh — which called for “a structure resembling the head … of a huge whale.” A blue whale became the entrance to the ark, swallowing yinzer Jonahs whole. And the whale’s tongue became your favorite thing about it... 

So Kennywood said, “People sure love that whale and its squishy tongue. TOO BAD!” They took out the whale and cut out his squishy tongue and replaced it with an elevator.

See, yinz guys have got to understand. Some of our most recognizable non-sport celebrities in the past decades have been (and still are) the city coroner, a woman who appeared in local grocery store commercials, a late-night horror movie host, PBS children's show actors, a personal injury lawyer, and a local weatherman.

Min your, I'm not talking about folks who would say "Oh, look, hon, it's so-and-so!" if they saw these people walking down the street.  I'm talking "people stopping them for an autographed body part" level of fandom.  Heck, I met the freaking SHOP N' SAVE LADY once!  The lovely Mrs. Robb and I went out of our way to attend an event where we would get to meet her!

WE'RE WEIRD, OK?

The squishy tongue thing is, to us, totally important.

Later this year, there will be freaking incipient brawls over HillBern vs. DonCruz, or whatever happens politically speaking.  Wise 'burghers will break it up by saying, "Hey, did yinz two hear about the Noah's Ark bein' fixed n'at? They put the tongue back!" At which point two men willing to defenestrate each other over political differences will fall into each other's arms, weeping in open joy and reminiscing about summer days spent at Kennywood park.

Of course, then they'll get into a knock-down, drag-out fight that makes the evening news because one jagoff insists that the Racer is the best roller coaster at Kennywood, when yinz guys all know that it's the Jackrabbit, right?

Like I said - we're weird :-)

Watch "Shark Tank" Tomorrow

Seriously - even if you normally don't watch the show, tune in tomorrow at 9pm.  You'll have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the network debut of my brother Mike and his partner Ozzy as they pitch their product to the Sharks!

Tom “Ozzy” Ozbourne (left) and Mike Robb got into character in this scene from their “Shark Tank” pitch for their “Beer Blizzard” product.” They got the inspiration for it at an annual gathering at Osborne’s property in Hamsher County, W.Va., called “the Redneck Reunion.”

The above picture is from the Charleston Gazette-Mail, where they got a nice little write up:

There were more than a few “A-ha!” moments that Robb and Osborne had on the way to creating their “Beer Blizzard.” They were moments that involved guns, frozen boots, drywall compound and one wildly successful Kickstarter campaign. 

They trace the product’s origin to an annual hunting, fishing and beer-drinking gathering at Osborne’s cabin near Moorefield, alongside the south branch of the Potomac River. 

The event has a rather more colorful name than that, said Osborne. 

“All my childhood friends and I still go to the Shenandoah Valley every Memorial Day for what we call ‘the Redneck Reunion.’ It was there at the Redneck Reunion where we came up with the idea and concept for our product,” said Osborne, who — while a full partner with Robb — self-styles himself as the company’s “CRIC.”

Because the acronym is not normally found in institutional flow charts, a translation is in order: “Chief Redneck in Charge.”

Yeah, they have a little bit of a schtick going on there :-) I can vouch for the parts of the story involving guns and drywall compound, though the frozen boots are new to me.  Our family has been watching Mike and Ozzy as this whole thing has unfolded, and we're all really excited to finally see them in the Tank!

Happy Dance

Decision Desk calls Kansas for Cruz... with a majority, not just a plurality.

In Maine, they are reporting Cruz with a 9-point lead, with 18% of precincts reporting.

Results from Kentucky and Louisiana still pending, but... I have trouble thinking that Cruz will do worse in those states than he appears to be doing in Maine.

As Moe Lane put it, "A lot of people will be acting that it doesn’t matter that Trump lost Kansas. Which is what he did. Trump lost it. In the way that losers of things can lose things."  Like debates, even when they break the rules to try and gain an advantage; and the military, when they open their food hole and allow stupid noises to come out.

For the record: while I like Cruz, I would be just as happy to see Trump loosing to Rubio, or Kasich, or...  well, to a syphilitic dead skunk, to be honest.  Though you that I'll grant the differences in that last case might be a tad hard to discern.

If You Can Imagine It...

... you can not only find it on teh intarwebz, you can find it for sale!  Witness: Plush Organs.  Pictured bellow, a plush gallbladder.

We ordered one for a friend who recently found herself gallbladderless.  Never know when you might need a spare gallbladder, you know.  Even if it is just a plush.

Achievement Unlocked

Tactical Hapkido Alliance.

Now to start training for High Yellow...

Killing Time...

... waiting to escape from Draenor.  What to do, what to do?

Make a million gold, of course.

Technically, that's my second million.  My first million went towards buying two years worth of game time and upgrading all my heirloom items to max level.

For those curious about methodology: six max-level alts, each will a full garrison (five with a full shipyard).  Each garrison includes an Inn (for treasure missions), a Salvage Yard (for extra loot from running garrison missions), a Trading Post (for turning garrison resources into crafting materials), and two profession buildings (typically the character's main profession, plus an enchanting building).

Oh, and the Menagerie, because pet upgrade stones.

The routine: Complete garrison and shipyard missions.  Send followers out on new garrison and shipyard missions.  Collect garrison resources.  Exchange resources for crafting materials.  Visit profession buildings to turn crafting materials into high-level materials or items plus sorcerous elements.  Visit Salvage Yard to see what my followers brought back from their garrison missions.  Vendor anything that had an auction price of less than 500 gold.  Exchange any excess Primal Spirits for Savage Blood.  Do the daily pet battle(s) and then put any leftover salvage items, crafted items, sorcerous elements, Temporal Crystals, and Savage Blood up on the auction house.

Overall, it takes about an hour a day, and each alt pulls in around 2000 gold a day (some more, some less), mostly from garrison and shipyard missions.

I've got a few more things to spend gold on; I'd like to bank another year of game time, for instance, and maybe buy some of the more expensive mounts and pets.  Honestly, though? At this point, I'm just doing it because I enjoy making the numbers go up.

Oh, and so I can blow it all on new neat stuff when Legion finally hits, of course!

Star Wars VII (Spoliers)

Oh, my... the feels.

If you haven't seen it, and you are a Star Wars fan of a certain age (i.e., between the ages of 8 and 80), you will like it.

To answer your question... It a great movie?

No; however... It is a good movie.

A really good movie.

Are their plot holes?  Yeah.  Do they matter?  Not really.  You most likely won't notice them until after you leave the theater, at least.

Yes, you get to see Luke.

Yes, the Big Bad is revealed, and pretty early, actually.

The hero is not who you think it is.  Even if you think you're parsing everything correctly, you'll still wonder.

You'll ask yourself why Chewie took that bet.

You'll appreciate the humor, which flows from the characters and their personalities, not from some bolted-on comic relief character.

You'll wonder at the lack of exposition, and then realize that real people don't do data dumps to make things easier for a viewer, and get a thrill when you think you've finally pieced together all the little bits of information and finally think you understand.

You'll wonder if you're right, or just thinking what the writers want you to think... And you'll decide that it doesn't matter, really.  Because even if you're wrong, it will be exciting to discover what's really going on.

You'll understand what he meant when he said "Anything."

You'll think "Wow, this is kind of like the first Star Wars movie", and you'll be right, but in a way that makes you wonder.

It passes the Bechdel test, not that that really matters, because it isn't contrived - it makes sense, and flows from the story.

You will be left wondering what exactly happened over the past 40 plus years, and hit the closing credits wanting to see the next one NOW, damnit!

And one of these statements is a lie.

You'll have to see the movie to find out which one, though.

Go.  See.  Cheer.

Cry.

Oh, yeah.  If you're a man of a certain age, at a certain position in life, it absolutely will suddenly get a bit dusty in the theater towards the end.

It's worth it.

To J. J. and the writers, and everyone involved... good job, folks.

Thank you for making this not suck.