Well the baby is home now, has been for a short while...impressive how tiny and how much they grow in a short period of time.
One thing that you don't get told about though when doing the car seat, or at the hospital is that when you leave the hospital, you really can only accelerate at the rate of a snail because even when well snug in the baby car seat, with the big sausage head cushion to keep head wedged in place, the wee little head still bounces forward quite scarily, but you get the hang of that pretty quickly I guess and so far all is good.
Oh, and while your at the hospital, grab as much baby stuff as you can like the sponge bath bowl, changing sheets, nappies and whatever else, you'll probably be given some stuff on top too, but it's for the cost of the hospital co-pay, you might as well as get your monies worth and whatever you have at home won't be enough.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Taxes
Well the deadline is coming up next week for everyone in the US and US citizens abroad to file their taxes. It's a pain in the arse, but one of those things.
We did get a refund from the state this year, a little smaller than expected because we boofed on one of the deductions.
One good thing though, if the head of the household earns less than $54K a year, the IRS has a link to free e-filing options which is pretty handy so you don't need to splash out on Turbo Tax etc.
We did get a refund from the state this year, a little smaller than expected because we boofed on one of the deductions.
One good thing though, if the head of the household earns less than $54K a year, the IRS has a link to free e-filing options which is pretty handy so you don't need to splash out on Turbo Tax etc.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Car Seat Fun
Well the big day is getting close, so finally gotten around to installing the base to the car seat.
We got a pushchair that included a rear facing child seat that is good for up to 25 pounds, this car seat has a base that gets installed in the car that the seat attaches too.
Following the instructions though is one thing, but it really needs to be checked out by someone in the know to see if the movement of the seat is way to much or just right and as it's pretty important, it's worth doing.
This is where the National Child Protection Safety Certification (CPS) site is handy. This site will help you find a CPS officer that will be able to do these checks and is currently certified. You can usually find an officer either in your local police station or fire station. Sometimes they have an open day where you just show up on a certain day of the week or month, or in some places you need to make an appointment.
It is something that shouldn't take to long, but should be done a couple of weeks before the due date so that you are comfortable with installing the car seat when you need to and not have to worry to much about it when you first take your baby home, which is going to probably be stressful enough.
We got a pushchair that included a rear facing child seat that is good for up to 25 pounds, this car seat has a base that gets installed in the car that the seat attaches too.
Following the instructions though is one thing, but it really needs to be checked out by someone in the know to see if the movement of the seat is way to much or just right and as it's pretty important, it's worth doing.
This is where the National Child Protection Safety Certification (CPS) site is handy. This site will help you find a CPS officer that will be able to do these checks and is currently certified. You can usually find an officer either in your local police station or fire station. Sometimes they have an open day where you just show up on a certain day of the week or month, or in some places you need to make an appointment.
It is something that shouldn't take to long, but should be done a couple of weeks before the due date so that you are comfortable with installing the car seat when you need to and not have to worry to much about it when you first take your baby home, which is going to probably be stressful enough.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Diaper Changing Classes
Nappy changing to us Brits.
Did a class lastnight, it was a free class by BabiesRUS, sponsored by Pampers. It lasted about 20 or so minutes and involved watching a short video about products ranging from nappies, wipes, creams and changing sations. Also we were shown how to change a nappy, clean the baby and help deal with nappy rash. We then got to practice on a doll before being shown around the store, pointing out where the nappies, wipes and other products related to the class are kept.
Even though the class was sponsored by Pampers, the person doing the class wasn't that bothered by brand to much, though did recommend the pamper line of nappies from personal experience, saying that Huggies weren't so popular because they tended to leak and more people had instances of nappy rash for some reason. When it came to wipes, and creams, we were shown a good variety of makes, though a personal favourite had to be the Butt Paste line of creams, the name is great, you know what exactly what it's for and it's supposed to work really well.
It was a worthwhile class, certainly for free and I would recommend any expectant parents to check one out, certainly to see what other free classes are available, because our local hospital do similar classes, but they certainly are not free.
Did a class lastnight, it was a free class by BabiesRUS, sponsored by Pampers. It lasted about 20 or so minutes and involved watching a short video about products ranging from nappies, wipes, creams and changing sations. Also we were shown how to change a nappy, clean the baby and help deal with nappy rash. We then got to practice on a doll before being shown around the store, pointing out where the nappies, wipes and other products related to the class are kept.
Even though the class was sponsored by Pampers, the person doing the class wasn't that bothered by brand to much, though did recommend the pamper line of nappies from personal experience, saying that Huggies weren't so popular because they tended to leak and more people had instances of nappy rash for some reason. When it came to wipes, and creams, we were shown a good variety of makes, though a personal favourite had to be the Butt Paste line of creams, the name is great, you know what exactly what it's for and it's supposed to work really well.
It was a worthwhile class, certainly for free and I would recommend any expectant parents to check one out, certainly to see what other free classes are available, because our local hospital do similar classes, but they certainly are not free.
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Crib...
This weekend saw our landlord finally getting around to replacing the broken window we had in our dining room, which will now be the babies bedroom. It's only taken him a couple of years, even though it was cracked all the way across even before we moved in apparently.
With that done, I got around to putting our crib together. We got an Ellis 4-1 crib by Simplicity a while ago on sale for a pretty good sum we thought from Baby Center.com As it turns out, it's always on sale. It also is supposed to be a 4-1 bed as the name suggests, being a crib going through to transitional and day bed through to full size bed. What is failed to be highlighted on the product description is that in order to turn it into a full size bed, using the parts and tools included in the box, would be additional steel bed frame, wooden side slats and mattress support slats all sold separately which is a bit cheeky.
Anyway, on towards putting it together. The directions were fairly good, though important notes could have perhaps been placed a head of the section direction, such as where to place the mattress support for the crib, the directions say and show the bottom set of holes, then in the notes afterwards you are told you can place them higher up instead to make it easier to reach the baby and adjust the height as the child grows. Well sod that, it's at the bottom, and that was way to fiddly to put in so not much chances of that being un-done and put back in at a different height. So apart from that being a bit awkward, and setting the crib mattress support together at the start, the rest of the assembly went quite well. You certainly do need more than one person to put it together though or you'll go barmy, ta to fiddly for one person alone, but it didn't take that long, an hour or so.
It looks good and has a nice finish, so I'd recommend it, certainly for the money.
So yay, we have a babies room at last, lacking in a comfy feeding chair and has a cheapo student fold out fabric bubble chair from Target because we're now very skint and watching the pennies.
With that done, I got around to putting our crib together. We got an Ellis 4-1 crib by Simplicity a while ago on sale for a pretty good sum we thought from Baby Center.com As it turns out, it's always on sale. It also is supposed to be a 4-1 bed as the name suggests, being a crib going through to transitional and day bed through to full size bed. What is failed to be highlighted on the product description is that in order to turn it into a full size bed, using the parts and tools included in the box, would be additional steel bed frame, wooden side slats and mattress support slats all sold separately which is a bit cheeky.
Anyway, on towards putting it together. The directions were fairly good, though important notes could have perhaps been placed a head of the section direction, such as where to place the mattress support for the crib, the directions say and show the bottom set of holes, then in the notes afterwards you are told you can place them higher up instead to make it easier to reach the baby and adjust the height as the child grows. Well sod that, it's at the bottom, and that was way to fiddly to put in so not much chances of that being un-done and put back in at a different height. So apart from that being a bit awkward, and setting the crib mattress support together at the start, the rest of the assembly went quite well. You certainly do need more than one person to put it together though or you'll go barmy, ta to fiddly for one person alone, but it didn't take that long, an hour or so.
It looks good and has a nice finish, so I'd recommend it, certainly for the money.
So yay, we have a babies room at last, lacking in a comfy feeding chair and has a cheapo student fold out fabric bubble chair from Target because we're now very skint and watching the pennies.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
On the job hunt?
Well it's a tough thing to do, but something that always needs to be done in this industry, either because you've been made redundant, the work atmosphere just isn't very good, or you need to bump jobs for a decent pay rise as well as for any other reason.
Connections are a great way to find leads, so sites like Linkedin are a great way of keeping in touch for colleagues as they move around in their careers. There are numerous job sites from the general to the more direct, Gamasutra is quite a good source for game industry jobs, but other sites can be handy too, such as Creative Heads.
If you get a selection of places, you'd probably want to find the skinny on them to see what they are really like. There are quite a few sites that review companies, such as the new site, RevYr and the Workplace amongst others. They all have their pros and cons as to how valid the information is and how current they are. So asking around on the Chaos Engine is a good thing too if you are a member because chances are, if someone doesn't work there, someone will know someone who does.
And whilst your at it, give us a job cos I'm in the first camp.
Connections are a great way to find leads, so sites like Linkedin are a great way of keeping in touch for colleagues as they move around in their careers. There are numerous job sites from the general to the more direct, Gamasutra is quite a good source for game industry jobs, but other sites can be handy too, such as Creative Heads.
If you get a selection of places, you'd probably want to find the skinny on them to see what they are really like. There are quite a few sites that review companies, such as the new site, RevYr and the Workplace amongst others. They all have their pros and cons as to how valid the information is and how current they are. So asking around on the Chaos Engine is a good thing too if you are a member because chances are, if someone doesn't work there, someone will know someone who does.
And whilst your at it, give us a job cos I'm in the first camp.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Duels as a Casual Game
Duels an online game that is vaguely a strategy game with some vague action involved. When I came across this, I thought it was a great little casual game that you could play a little over lunch, have some fun and have some immediate feedback. The first few days were a lot of fun, and the over all concept is quite a good one, but after a while, it becomes tedious, there is less draw to bring you in and you lose interest.
The game. Well you sign up, it's free, you create your basic character, there are quite a few styles to chose from. You have a bunch of ability type points that you can put towards certain character strength, the usual such as stamina, strength, perception, speed and others. How you use them affect how your character performs and which kind of path you want to follow from being a warrior to a magician typer person. This is all quite fun and you can build on this quickly by gaining experience points from having fights.
Fighting is down to a few groups, basically a skirmish which is a quick one, doesn't affect your win/loss ratio but you also don't gain as much experience or gold. Fights, which allow you to gain more. There are also tournaments and ladders, they are basically the same thing but you can gain more gold etc.
You gain tokens which you can use to "buy" packs that include potions and weapons etc, theses you can either use or trade for gold allowing you to buy other things such as armour, animals and weapons. You can only carry so many things and equip your character with so much depending on the level of experience, this is where the balance is a bit lacking.
When you begin the game, it doesn't take long to level up, allowing you to use more items and get a better character. This is quite satisfying. As you go along and reach certain levels you are then allowed to wear more types of armour and follow certain paths to get more skills such as an assassin. Level 25 allows you to use what is called action scripts, these are spells or abilities that you buy and when used in a fight can gain you a huge boost in experience points. The problem is, by this point in time, it is taking more and more experience points to level up, so it becomes less of a thrill for a quick lunch time thing, and as your character gains more and more health, the fights which you have no control over but are pre-calculated based on your stats that you can view take even longer to accomplish. They were a lot of fun to view to begin with, but after a while, they just took to long so personally I couldn't be bothered which took a lot of the fun out of the game. I was only playing during lunch after all, if you were a kid at home it might have a larger hold where you could spend more time trying to perfect your character, but I lost interest as it became a chore to go through. I still check in on my character for a quick couple of fights because I do want to reach level 40, the final level to see what happens, but I really don't care any more.
Other points that make this game interesting is the idea of "noble stones", these are things that you can buy with real world money that can be used to enhance your characters abilities, or change abilities that you have previously selected. You can also use them to buy weapons and armour. These can be bought as one offs, or as a pack. You also have the option of a subscription, this provides a number of these stones a month and depending on the level of the subscription gives you more features.
I don't think it adds anything to the game and playing it for free is just as much fun, but it is an interesting concept, it could do very well especially if the game was very engaging, allowing you to tweak your character much further than you could by playing it without a subscription. The only problem I see is that the game isn't that engaging that those with the money would be willing to spend the money. Those who seem to get into this are under age to pay for the subscription, so they are losing out on the core market. On the plus side, there are no google adverts, which is a plus to you the player I suppose, but for the makers, a loss of revenue perhaps, but as the game isn't quite as engaging as Desktop Tower Defense which has a huge volume of people clicking too on a daily basis, which really does earn the maker a good sum of money from google adverts.
The game. Well you sign up, it's free, you create your basic character, there are quite a few styles to chose from. You have a bunch of ability type points that you can put towards certain character strength, the usual such as stamina, strength, perception, speed and others. How you use them affect how your character performs and which kind of path you want to follow from being a warrior to a magician typer person. This is all quite fun and you can build on this quickly by gaining experience points from having fights.
Fighting is down to a few groups, basically a skirmish which is a quick one, doesn't affect your win/loss ratio but you also don't gain as much experience or gold. Fights, which allow you to gain more. There are also tournaments and ladders, they are basically the same thing but you can gain more gold etc.
You gain tokens which you can use to "buy" packs that include potions and weapons etc, theses you can either use or trade for gold allowing you to buy other things such as armour, animals and weapons. You can only carry so many things and equip your character with so much depending on the level of experience, this is where the balance is a bit lacking.
When you begin the game, it doesn't take long to level up, allowing you to use more items and get a better character. This is quite satisfying. As you go along and reach certain levels you are then allowed to wear more types of armour and follow certain paths to get more skills such as an assassin. Level 25 allows you to use what is called action scripts, these are spells or abilities that you buy and when used in a fight can gain you a huge boost in experience points. The problem is, by this point in time, it is taking more and more experience points to level up, so it becomes less of a thrill for a quick lunch time thing, and as your character gains more and more health, the fights which you have no control over but are pre-calculated based on your stats that you can view take even longer to accomplish. They were a lot of fun to view to begin with, but after a while, they just took to long so personally I couldn't be bothered which took a lot of the fun out of the game. I was only playing during lunch after all, if you were a kid at home it might have a larger hold where you could spend more time trying to perfect your character, but I lost interest as it became a chore to go through. I still check in on my character for a quick couple of fights because I do want to reach level 40, the final level to see what happens, but I really don't care any more.
Other points that make this game interesting is the idea of "noble stones", these are things that you can buy with real world money that can be used to enhance your characters abilities, or change abilities that you have previously selected. You can also use them to buy weapons and armour. These can be bought as one offs, or as a pack. You also have the option of a subscription, this provides a number of these stones a month and depending on the level of the subscription gives you more features.
I don't think it adds anything to the game and playing it for free is just as much fun, but it is an interesting concept, it could do very well especially if the game was very engaging, allowing you to tweak your character much further than you could by playing it without a subscription. The only problem I see is that the game isn't that engaging that those with the money would be willing to spend the money. Those who seem to get into this are under age to pay for the subscription, so they are losing out on the core market. On the plus side, there are no google adverts, which is a plus to you the player I suppose, but for the makers, a loss of revenue perhaps, but as the game isn't quite as engaging as Desktop Tower Defense which has a huge volume of people clicking too on a daily basis, which really does earn the maker a good sum of money from google adverts.
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